Clancy59

Kalum was subconsciously afraid Robert was interested in befriending someone else, probably because of his unwillingness to fight against Jasper’s obvious (to Robert) bullying. The other kids don’t notice it because it’s been status quo for so many years, they’re blind to it. Robert, being new, can see it. He likes Kalum. He’s told him as much. Since he can’t be open about it, he’s finding subtle ways to say it while keeping him protected. Kalum now realizes he hasn’t lost Robert at all. I can’t wait to see this come to a point where Jasper is found out and proper punishment is meted out to the little psychopath!

Great chapter. Like we’ve said, Dominic is dealing with things extremely well. He is behaving very maturely for his age. He really hasn’t had much of a breakdown yet, though, about Lacy dying, other than some tears at the funeral. Despite his words, the actuality of it may not have really sunk in. Daddy’s been taking care of him while Mommy was in the hospital, and even though things were good for a short while, things happened so quickly when she went off the deep end, I doubt he has truly processed it. When he realizes that she isn’t/won’t be there for him for something important in his life, there will be a breakdown of some sort. It could be in the form of crying, temper issues, arguments, or some other kind crazy misbehavior. Dylan may be caught off-guard if he’s not careful. Yes, keep going as they are (Thanks, Dad, for being there now!), but be prepared! And keep that psychologist’s phone number handy! Also, can Dylan put the condo in his name legally? According to Lacy’s will, everything goes to Dominic, so he is technically the owner. Dylan would probably be named conservator by the probate court. If Dad wants to buy the condo, it would have a lot of extra legal hoops to jump through as a result, I would think. They would be better off simply to keep the condo as part of the estate and have Dad pay a nominal fee/rent ending in the same result as discussed in the story. The monies could be put into a special account, maybe for Dominic’s college fund.

Well, the worst is behind them now. Yes, they still have the grieving process to go through, but now they have Dylan’s dad to help them. Thank goodness Aunt Jessica realizes how devastating it would be to Dominic to be taken away from Daddy. Even so, I have a suspicion she’s going to be keeping an eye on this ‘pervert’ and ready to swoop in to ‘rescue’ that poor, innocent boy. It seems Lacy’s attitudes were developed as a child in a home front with little tolerance for ‘differences’ from their narrow viewpoints. The only way from here is up. So, the condo is real. We now know what the $215,000 was for. It was actually a good use of her windfall. It now, technically, belongs to Dominic since Lacy’s will left everything to him. I am a bit surprised the realtor didn’t catch or flag Lacy’s name when it appeared in the obit. I know not everyone looks at them. I just happen to live with someone with an Irish heritage who has always turned to the ‘Irish Sportspage’ first when looking at the paper in the morning! Dominic, with Dylan’s input, could decide to either sell the condo to Grandpa, or just let him live there. Personally, I’d just let him live there and have him keep it up. It’ll save issues a few years down the road when Grandpa passes. It’ll already be Dominic’s property!

In addition to all the very valid observations above, I am curious if the murderers were ever caught. I get the definite impression that they were not and they are still running loose. The question is, indeed, ‘why?’. Why did they focus on Micco’s family in particular? If they set fire to the house to hide their crimes, did they take any valuables before setting it? If so, what? Why did they leave Micco alone to possibly escape and identify them? Were they that incredibly inept or were they trying to make a point or set up a 9 year old child for something? How early did Micco start demonstrating his talents with his animal friends and were those talents recognized and feared enough that someone tried to thwart him? If I really let my mind run wild, I can come up with some incredible conspiracy theories that could include all the clues to come up with crazy reasons. OK. Get me out of the stratosphere, back down to solid ground. Now that Calhoun got Micco to answer his questions, and all but admitted he believes Micco is actually innocent, but has to put on a ‘dog and pony show’ for the so-called eye witness in order to hopefully get them to come forward, it’s his turn to keep his promise. He now needs to go and help Marina get the various animals into safety. Hopefully, he will find that she’s simply been too busy to answer her phone for inconsequential chats, and not another unexplained mystery!

Well, things seem to be falling into place for Dylan with everything he’s going to have to be dealing with. He was quite clever finding that ‘Recipe’ file with her passwords. It will be interesting to find out what that $215,000 is for. That’s no chump change, even considering her $M windfall.

Those are both good ideas. However, there are a couple of babies to whom I would like to leave something (with a separate trustee managing the funds for them and stipulations on how the funds can be used. My parents did something like this, but those babies attained adulthood before their passing and their wills were changed.). These babies are not to blame for the stupidity of the previous generations. It’s not much, but it’s enough to give them a start for a college fund.

Yeah, we’re in the process right now. I’m concerned about some relatives, who have already proven themselves to rather greedy and money-grubbing, to try to contest my will especially, since I have no children. As such, I am making certain of mentioning them, by name, and bequeathing them minimal amounts. That way, they can’t come back and claim they were overlooked.

We have a number of these trees around our community, including some of the local restaurants and businesses known for their charitable work. We’ve participated in the past. However, every tree I have ever seen has asked for the gifts to be unwrapped. I guess they don’t want any unwanted surprises upon opening them 😢. Most tree sponsors then have a major wrapping party before distribution! Our niece’s church sponsors a tree and she coordinates a couple of tags among the family. She collects the funds and purchases the gifts requested and adds things like hats, gloves, scarves, etc. These gifts are donated in memory of her son and my parents, all who have passed away. Christmas was an important holiday for all of them, especially my mother. Since I have no children of my own to pass traditions down to, we try to, at least, make sure other children have a good holiday.

Poor Dominic. I think he knew, however, by the way he guessed and accepted it so quickly. Part of it, possibly, was having been prepared for her death when she had the tumor. Her behavior that night brought back memories of that time to him and, subconsciously, he expected this, especially after witnessing her seizure. From what the doctor said, this was actually a mercy for all of them. It sounded like Lacy would have been in a vegetative state after all the injuries she sustained. While any death is hard, that kind of living death, I would think, would be much harder on everyone. And in many places, once a person is on life support, it can be very difficult to remove it. Now comes the heartbreak of the funeral. OK. Where are Lacy’s parents in all this? I know what has been said about them being older and, maybe, unable to travel easily, but they’re probably going to be traveling now. Why didn’t they show up when Lacy get sick originally? Will they cause problems for Dylan regarding Dominic?

I agree. I think Lacey had a seizure and passed. That’s why the EMTs wanted Dominic out of sight, especially when they saw how young he is. It’s not up to them to officially call a death or notify family. What I don’t understand is why she was brought in as a Jane Doe. The EMTs would have had that information and given it to the hospital as part of the transfer protocol, I would think. They have to explain how they found the patient and what they did to treat the person, or even if they found the person DOA. It’s all record keeping in today’s society, because, heaven forbid, Dylan or her parents could be litigious and try to sue for malpractice. In addition, medical personnel need to know about previous treatments, because earlier ones could affect decisions regarding subsequent treatments. Dylan was understandably confused by Lacey’s actions tonight. It sounds like she regressed into a previous time when the original custody rules had been enacted. @Al Norris is absolutely correct that there is no possibility that Dylan, who has full custody at this time, would have been kept out of the loop. Even if she had tried to do this, they would have had to investigate first. Once her medical history had been disclosed, which would have been legally required, I would think the first person they would speak with was her doctor. I’m quite certain he would have been alarmed at this development and brought her back in for examination. The person who is the real victim here, in my opinion, is Dominic. First, he has to deal with a Mommy who is, once again, angry for some unknown reason. Then, she ‘grabs’ him (his almost words!) and locks him away from his Daddy, who has been taking care of him and loving him, even yelling at him for trying to call to Daddy for help. Then he has to witness Mommy have a seizure. Right now, he doesn’t understand what he witnessed, but he knows Mommy is desperately sick. He’s a smart kid, though, and got help from the best source available. He didn’t panic. He listened to Daddy’s instructions and even stopped him from hurting Mommy more when he was going to smash the door in. He got the patio door open and sat quietly to the side while Daddy dealt with the EMTs. He knew all these adults were trying to help Mommy. He was even collected enough to bring Dylan’s attention back when they needed to get to the hospital! I find it unbelievable that there is no one covering for Dr. Hsu. He has critically ill patents. The answering service may not know who the covering physician actually is, but they most definitely have an emergency contact. This operator needs more training! If they don’t know, the hospital should. Whatever happens, this is going to be a very long weekend for Dylan and Dominic. (Hmmm. I just thought. Lacey claims to have had some kind of promotion and received over $1M, already deposited into her account. Dylan never saw any paperwork about this. Is this true? Or could it have been an early warning signal of the return of the tumor/cancer/dementia/whatever?)

I was/am highly suspicious of those parents who decided to wait to cure their boys. I understand what Kbois said, but it’s simply unconscionable. I still think Huntington has something to do with that. I also agree that the guys were selfish to do this recon, especially after promising Dante and Duncan the family they desperately want and need. Duncan, especially, has trouble trusting adults and the two he finally does trust does something this stupid? Yes, it would have provided important intel, but they should have told someone what they were doing so that when one (or both?) don’t show up, a rescue party can be organized. And Sebastian has every right to be furious at them for the risk they took—and lost. They just blew up all the plans.

Kalum is so fearful of his brother that he doesn’t trust anyone to help him get out of the abusive situation. If he reports Jasper, Jasper could talk himself out of trouble, given the history Kalum has portrayed. Then Jasper would/could truly harm Kalum. Robert needs to step in with what he has witnessed. He, at least, needs to wake up the teachers to the problem. Too bad he doesn’t know that Mr. Johnson is already suspicious. Yes, teachers are mandatory reporters, but he doesn’t have any actual proof, yet. Hopefully, he has spoken with the principal and/or the boys’ counselor(s).

Jasper is sounding more and more psychotic. Robert now definitely knows why Kalum has been so reluctant to advance any kind of relationship with him, whether romantic or simply mere friendship. He’s 17, also, and not versed in how to handle someone like Jasper. If he has an open relationship with his parents, that should be the first place he could go for advice. He may/should have to report this physical attack to the school authorities, especially if it left marks that fast. Most schools have a zero tolerance policy regarding violence, substance abuse, etc. Kalum also needs to be removed from rooming with Jasper. The home, in all innocence, thinks they are doing the boys a favor, but it’s only adding fuel to the fire by reenforcing to Jasper that HE has control. I’m a bit surprised that no one seems to have caught on to the situation between the two boys, especially the home, after seeing them interact for several years. They are not being very diligent in their duties beyond basic physical care. Mr. Johnson is the first adult who seems to have caught on to the dynamics that Kalum is the intellectually superior, yet Jasper seems to be the controller. As an educator (educators are mandatory reporters of any kind of abusive situations), he is obligated to continue his observations and he should now be collecting his evidence and discussing the situation with the boys’ counselor(s) and the principal. They can quietly alert the boys’ other teachers to watch for the behavior, also. Together, this team can begin observing the boys, collecting the information needed, and, hopefully, get Kalum away from Jasper while getting Jasper the psychiatric help he obviously needs.

First of all, @weinerdog, your aunt didn’t think those bad things about you when she passed. In all likelihood, she didn’t even remember the incident. That’s one of the problems with dementia—the recent memories simply don’t stay. I am now at the point that if I want to have my husband do something or go somewhere, I have to give him step-by-step directions (go to your right. Yes. Now look up. See the cabinet? Open the door. Etc). I take him to Adult Day Care that provides Memory Care 3 days a week. I have to explain every time where we are going and what it is before I get him dressed (yes, I now dress him) and then I can repeat the information at least 5 times during a 15 minute drive. No. Don’t worry that she was upset with you. Dylan had a very difficult job to do in telling Dominic about his mother. He may say he understands, but I highly doubt he truly does. Dominic has some difficult decisions of his own to make—how often to see Mommy, if he even wants to, does he want to be there when she dies, does he want her at home (he seems understandably afraid of that), etc. I mentioned in the last chapter that he would probably be afraid that Daddy would leave also. Of course, one of his first questions was to ask if Daddy was going to die, too. Dylan handled the issue quite well, including the napping issue. I felt so sorry for Dominic at daycare. That other child needs to be talked to and have it explained, with his parents present, why what he did was considered bullying. Of course, the parents will only see that their child was hit by another one. Their little angel did absolutely nothing to cause it (believe me, we dealt with this all the time in school). I understand the theory behind zero tolerance, but it’s a ridiculous policy. Too often, it punishes the victims rather than the perpetrators. That’s exactly what will happen here if they do kick Dominic out. Poor Dominic with his mother. She’s having more psychotic episodes. I’m glad they will be starting the psychologist tomorrow. He needs the help. It’s obvious that Lacey can no longer have solo visits with Dominic in case she has an episode while he is there. Dylan is probably right to stay out of her sight as much as possible, since he seems to be a catalyst that can set her off, even though she had evidently been like that all day. It may be time for Social Services to monitor her visits now! They need to get to that judge now! They have to get that custody decree voided so that Dylan can have proper, full custody today! I have to tell you that I was a little leary of starting this story. I didn’t warm up to it in the first couple of installments, which has always been what I told my students—if a story doesn’t grab you within the first few pages, it’s doubtful it ever will. Well, this is one instance where that rule of thumb was wrong. I continued reading your chapters and I am quite glad I did. This story is getting better with each one. I am looking forward to continuing this story.

Kalum instinctively knows that Robert will be, not only a friend, but, also, a protector. He’s already starting to let him in and acknowledging that he may need help, even if on a subconscious level. Robert seems to have the ability to see below the surface and into the heart of a person—it let him know he wanted to befriend Kalum. Now that he has seen the burns, alarms are probably ringing in his head. He doesn’t know the details yet, but he’s going to be more alert and paying attention to things. He’s already aware that Kalum doesn’t seem to be allowed to have an opinion of his own. He just doesn’t know how deep this goes.

OK. I forgot about that. You win! 😉

I’m a retired teacher. Believe me. We’ve seen all kinds of things!

That wouldn’t matter if they think they are protecting Dominic from some kind of deviant, as Lacey painted him. They can easily arrange for future proper care for him. They just think they are protecting their grandson after their daughter was bamboozled because of her illness. And, by the way, by your math, Lacey’s parents would have been in their 50s when she was born! They should have been in their 20s-30s, themselves. That means they should only be in their 40s-50s. That’s plenty young enough to adopt Dominic!

He has to. He has Dominic to take care of. While Lacey has to have high priority for healthcare, even she will say that he takes first place. He’s about to go through a traumatic circumstance, and at this time of his life, he won’t know how to deal with it properly. If he’s typical, he’ll be acting out, especially at school and other places he may not necessarily feel safe in. He could become introverted and withdrawn from others, including, and maybe especially, Daddy, fearing that he might leave again and he would be completely alone. They need to notify the school and any other people Dominic associates with, including friends’ parents, other doctors like his pediatrician and even his dentist, and, if they are involved, the minister/priest of their church. They may need to find a child psychologist to help Dominic and his father through this transition, reassuring Dominic that Daddy will stay with him. Mommy could write him a series of letters, maybe, to be read as necessary to help him understand that this was beyond her control, but her love for him will always remain. Dominic will need a lot of love and reassurance over the next few months. But, he’ll survive. Kids are amazingly resilient. He will eventually remember Mom with love and fondness and forget/forgive those bad times, understanding that it was the tumor causing them. It’ll just take some time and patience.

@weinerdog, a simple declaration signed by her will not be enough at this point. She has been officially diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor which has already been shown to alter her behavior. Her parents could still sue for custody using this as the basis—that she didn’t know what she was doing. They need to get a judge to vacate the previous decision with testimony from, not only her doctors, but from specialists, including psychologists. There should also be testimony from the various social workers who observed Dylan with Dominic who can tell the court that Dylan has always been a caring, respectful, loving father. Lacey should also give testimony about her choices, as should Dominic.

I agree with @drsawzall and @mayday. While I am very happy the Dylan has Dominic back, I’m very sad at the reason. It must be horrible to be in your 20s and be told you are terminal. How can a person come to terms? Especially when a child is involved. At least she had the grace to make sure that Dominic would receive the care and love he deserves from the correct person. She knew what she did to him in the divorce. If it came to that, they could probably prove that the tumor had already been affecting her decision-making processes and sent her into that hyper-vengeful state. I hope she is covered by insurance, either by herself or by Dylan. She’s going to need it. And the comment was made at the end—Dylan doesn’t need all the extra jobs because the alimony no longer exists since he is now back in the apartment and responsible for both his ex and their son. Whether anyone else agrees or not, he will take care of her. Make sure he has her Medical PoA! Wow. Now he has to explain to a 7yo that his Mommy is going away and won’t be able to come back. That’s going to be hard. Dominic could wind up blaming himself—Mommy was always yelling at him and punishing him for something she said he did wrong. That must be why she’s sick and going away forever! Kids have to have an explanation for everything. Good luck, Dylan!

I’m still catching up in this story, but I still had to comment. Ed came into Gustavo’s apartments, seeing him raping Fran. Unfortunately, with his feelings and lack of understanding of the situation, I fear he thinks that Fran is doing this willingly and is using Ed as the dupe. Lothar may have alerted him to the reality, but it may take his intervention, again, to save the relationship between Ed and Fran.

Hopefully, the judge will recognize this as psychotic and the terms of custody as vengeance and negate those terms once he hears how Dylan has actually been treating Dominic. The counselors should give testimony and the judge should also talk with Dominic. Dylan should be granted full custody at this point, considering how Dominic’s mother has been treating him. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Because she’s a manipulative narcissist. She wouldn’t recognize a real problem if it hit her in the face! As far as Miles and brood taking care of her… Miles would still try to get Colin to do it, but Colin can legitimately argue that he is gone the majority of the day. On the other hand, Annalisa is around more because of the twins and can spend more time taking care of her. Miles also has more flexibility to care for his mother once his wife threatens him with divorce if he doesn’t do something.

I am very happy to hear of those statutes protecting people who have already been victimized once. They shouldn’t be victimized again by the taxation department. Get those scumbags who cheated in the first place and make them pay! You know these ‘donations,’ as well as those sent in by the general population who have been duped by their hallelujah speeches, goes right into their personal coffers and into building those monstrous monuments to their own vanity, declaring that they are proclaiming God’s word. This sort of thing has been going on for centuries. Unfortunately, people think that if they support these ‘churches’ on a regular bases, that the ‘church’ will come and support them in their time of need. I have never seen or heard of that actually happening except in situations where they can get media coverage so they can dig up even more donations because of their benevolence to the victims of whatever disaster as seen through the televised coverage. If you think about it, even holiday support is extolled from the general membership. “Please donate to the cause!” I understand they can’t help everyone, but I don’t think I have ever seen them contribute much of anything from their own pockets. OK. I’ll get off my soapbox now and go get some housework done. (We’re downsizing rapidly because of hubby’s health needs. We may need to move in a couple of months and I am not ready to think about it. See? I’m procrastinating again!)