Philippe

I can’t find the “open on” date...idk?? Hahaha

I think you’re suspicious of Ary, but while I agree too, one can be innocent of the crime and still carry much guilt; so I’m betting he knows more as either witness or innocent contributor. Then comes his fear or guilt, or both. But no doubts we’re in total agreement on Levine, he is worst than a low life, he is a low life with too much money; making him a very dangerous predator (creepazoid maximus). 😂 I lean towards Levine showing his colors by compromising Toby for blackmail, either actual compromise or by creating the smear, just for the sport of divide and conquer for him to win Rhys. We have lots of speculation until we know a little more; sooo...I eagerly await stepping to the next cliff! lol 😂

The long dark tentacles of the burning feather need to be pruned back to the root. Hopefully the plotting by Nisa and the Empress will finally reveal the dark forces threatening the kingdom and manipulating the kids.

Absolutely @Mollie!! In your summary, @vanalas, you stated “I know this wasn't the ending you probably were expecting but i had to follow my plan for the story.“ I believe you forced the storyline to that original plan without allowing the story you developed to flow to a more logical ending that the characters and storyline demand; it’s not a good story with this ending, it was ruined by this abrupt and senseless loss without at least a little fight against the dark and evil that gathered around poor Praveen. As it is written, it is way too dark, with continuous references to higher powers being present but then failing the main character, a devotee, allowing him to just end the story in a poof. This ending is disregarding the strength Praveen was finding and a building relationship that was of true and honest feelings with Sebastian and his long lost father. As it is, the story drags us in to Praveen’s despair and then the story itself joins Praveen in committing suicide. Prehaps the almighty should allow his mom to reject his attempts to join her and instead introduce his father, telling Praveen to fight back and return to shore, to forgive her for accepting the marriage that tortured her beautiful and pure son who’s destiny is yet to be fulfilled.

Woah, totally disappointed to see THE END. That is an abrupt ending with so many open questions of consequences for the people involved: the priest stated his confidence that Praveen wouldn’t be allowed to go to the almighty (due to prevention or restrictions of suicide), Santiago was begging for the almighty to restore his faith by saving Praveen, the adulterer Antonio goes without guilt and accountability, the marriage recking Bruce gets his prize?, The houses haven’t fallen on Emma and Andrea yet, the Devine plan of the mom w/baby that saved Antonio’s life to then drive that baby later to commit suicide, to allow suicide to claim a devotee with all the above items just begs to ask, what do you have against religion, because your storyline loses much of the central theme with a disconnected and abrupt BYE PRAVEEN!

Lmao 😂, so true, but Andrea is not traditional and puts herself above all else. So now we have the ultimate “TRUTH OR DARE” and it is hilarious that now the evil deceit she has practiced has finally come back to bite her with vengeance! I believe Santiago is safe but Bruce, Andrea, and Antonio will have lots of dirty laundry hanging on a shared line. Antonio has succeeded in making Praveen unhappy in marriage but he has made himself unhappy in life. The lack of full commitment and acceptance of his marriage may have also put him in jeopardy of family inheritance as there are usually protective clauses or periods of demonstrated sincerity of intent. My second nature says there are bigger surprises than Santiago in store for our spoiled collective of rich kids, and the remaining sons, blessed as Santiago and Praveen by the Garcia matriarchs, may have renew lives when the naked truths are exposed. An exciting chapter with several new twists. Thank you for sharing Praveen’s journey to bring family enlightenment.

Finally, a mini-victory for Praveen! Woohoo 🥳

Great chapter; that tackles the issues and frustrating processes of working with family services. Hopefully this tale will be a journey of success and reward; opportunities to experience family by the child(ren) and the hosting family, joined by fate, can be a wonderful growth experience for all when they open their minds and hearts to the possibilities.

Hahaha, yup, unfortunately the baking and making pies of your story had me under a spell. So just after midnight I was collecting persimmon pulp from 6 large persimmons to make a home cooked persimmon pie; I chose a graham cracker crust as I think that crunch and cinnamon adds to the pie, but unfortunately it adds to the body too! Ahhh, to be young and a furnace of metabolism! This is a great love and comfort story that brings out the comfort of both the relationships and the food; love it!

The weaving of the storyline and more specifically the building relationship of our newly discovered couple is wonderfully done. The budding and never before experienced emotions of the characters are telegraphed to the readers In such fashion so as to evoke the shared experience. The first steps toward bonding and becoming one seems to have taken a giant leap as our young mage has instinctively extended his protective bubble to include his “date,” Mace. Likewise, it seemed to somewhat imply that while rapidly gathering his power to protect them, young Vincent may have tapped into more native powers and abilities; that could indeed indicate a bonding could indeed yield a powerful couple, the likes of which tales of legends tell. Wonderful story, easy to be drawn to follow this exciting adventure.

Unlike many countries, the US doesn’t have a universal or national rule on fostering children and their adoptions; this falls under state management and even some states push regional management with state oversight. With the Supreme Court rulings against LGBTQ discrimination this practice of discrimination in child placements is slowing being challenged when the case can be shown to be somewhat provable. So yes gay couples can foster and adopt, but this issue is not beyond personal discrimination to still exist with longtime employment allowing domains to be controlling with only the judicial review available to challenge as there are no national inspectors and possibly limited motivation for state review in some areas.

Yeah the earlier conversation referring to Andy motorbiking to their place and then to ride the ATV on site probably should be a summer plan and then the winter plans puts him on the safer atv when weather is not permitting a two wheeler but still suitable to drive home; otherwise, the bedroom there awaits! lol

My, that Andrea is a mean one. She, Antonio, Aunt Emma, and Bruce deserve such happiness that only being shipwrecked on an island can support;

Simple: T3A T3B T3C T3D

I wonder if those two floors are big enough for Pete’s, single owner and smaller footprint, business; with a separate business (public) entrance but with the residential access for Pete. The flexibility for Pete, Jimmy, and growing family could bring returns in spades for such family benefits. Hmmm 🤔, @CLJobe, hasn’t bound the restaurant size in previous chapters, that I remember, so the latitude and opportunities are....HUGE! Hahaha 😂

What, you mean he gets in to a wreck of a situation where he is abused terribly by a woman, to then fall into the arms of a healing and nurturing man, that kinda wreck? Hmmm 🤔, ...that could possibly wake him up.

Whether Pete’s parents were too curios to stay away or still trying to impose their public shunning on Pete with their attendance, it was very well right to call them out and adjust their attitudes; their retreat tells me that they didn’t truly plan to make amends. Hooray for Alex in his challlenge of the grandparents’ hypocritical attitudes and actions towards his brothers...ahem, cousins.

OMG, two freshly removed bachelors, now trying to manage a household of two abused adolescent boys, now marching in the shadows of an abused, outspoken, hyper, teenager,...we’re off the the rodeo as our new dads will need to hang on! LOL 😂 This is a real feel good chapter with just a sprinkle of abuser references in the discussion to build the family understanding and ties. I loved it!

OMG! Tears, tears, tears, and more tears; Tears empathy, tears of compassion, tears of love, and tears of heartbreak. Mom’s sacrifice and possible errors have given birth to new strength and determination. Fortunately, Butch has found aid and support before the harsh realities of life claimed another innocent soul.

Omg, we need two sets of the emoticons; one for Antonio and the other for Praveen. Ironic that Antonio’s best friend may actually be Praveen’s best friend and ally in this new life. Antonio is a spoiled brat, not without reason for emotions, but to not talk and to then plot against his own family and Praveen shows the flaws of his spoiled character. Unfortunately, his sister, Andrea, is encouraging the wilds of a beast to be unleashed against poor Praveen. The children hardly seem to be of the nature that the parents would have raised, as they seen to have elevated themselves to royalty without compassion and empathy. Emilia, mom, is not without guilt as the arranged marriage should have been known to Antonio, even if the partner was to be secret. Likewise, the compassion and understanding she feels should have been taught to the children in any case, but especially knowing the arrangement to be a family expectation. Love Praveen and even Ethan, but it’s a sad to hate for Antonio and Andrea.

Oh yeah, that was totally tongue in cheek. I Unfortunately understand the topic all too well. I went through the official training for adoption and mentoring in child protective services. Now I would not have been allowed to adopt; you’re too old...hmmm, I was only 51 and wasn’t looking to adopt a baby but an older adolescent or young teen. I likewise saw another rejection for the person being single?? How many kids have good single parent homes? Can the system really believe it better to keep a kid until aging out as being better than allowing the less than perfect: young, two parent, economically and financially secure couple (gays accepted but amazingly at much lower percentages). So I really knew I was just trying to mentor or be a big brother to a kid(s) needing someone to care beyond a job and a case file. So, Even the kids that are placed in government care, group homes, and foster care, it’s so sad to see the out of sight and beuricratic mentality for kids. The contracts on group homes are made for keeping occupancy and not finding placements. Job security and imposing that authority is again paramount while kids sit for years to time out at 18 years of age; totally unprepared and without even a license to make job opportunities realistic. So It’s no wonder the government kids wind up incarcerated or destitute in very high percentages; often >70%, good thing the government took them from the unsafe home environment. How sad that there are no follow up programs with realIstic metrics to place these kids. Now this leads to just why many kids would avoid “government help” in lieu of the streets. The street being more favorable than dismal stockyards of the group homes.

Please verify no changes to the provisions of your certificate of mental, physical, and financial well being...no changes? Thank you, please step forward for the retinal confirmation of your recertification. We’ll then be able to have the hormonal and neurological damper flash deactivated for the period requested and approved, at the expiration of your permit to bred certificate your horneu-damper will automatically reactivate until your next recertification. Thank you, next!

I was hoping that the prized necklace was not forgotten and found the beach scene was to finally answer my desire, but then you teased with the fake leg injury that made me doubt. Then much to my delight the real prick to the foot and joined investigation revealed the necklace wanting to be found. What wonderful symbolism that the necklace was discarded in the hate of the sacred but broken vows. Then after witnessing Luis’ love, the healing of Luis’ wounds, and with that their wounds of betrayal are fully exposed but starting to mend. We see that healing then move beyond the immediate family bonding with child, siblings, and the generations of parents. The beach scene brings us full circle to the original bonding of the two, and now, with the injury of broken vows finally healed they find themselves, their bonded souls, and the necklace unbroken. BEAUTIFUL! I love your expressionism and the passion of your story. I would rejoice to find a 15 year epilogue with the chaos of the kids coming of age and the spirit of Mang continuing to be a beacon of the kingdom.

This story seems to have plenty of twists and turns but I’m loving the way you’re developing the storyline with these characters; murder she wrote with characters we’re starting to love; great job, I’m eagerly awaiting the next twist! lol

Unless you’re trying to publicly pat yourself on the back for single handedly unearthing these jewels, or you believe yourself to be above us unlearned ruffians you’re trying to educate with a public shaming, a private message would achieve constructive criticism without having to display your credentials as a pedantic SOB. Many authors here work hard to bring forth a story to entertain us, balancing personal lives and livelihoods to post regularly without the reward of a mere thanks from many. To bare ones sole, their creations, and to accumulate a following that surely bears witness that their efforts as a minimum command enough respect to receive the common professional courtesy of a private submission for edits and administrative drivel. So, @Ken Ransom, you can tap on the messsge envelop at the top toolbar and address to @Laura S. Foxto submit edit type inputs with details that go beyond the spellchecker.