The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 36. Many Changes

“Yes, I told your doctor to have you call me,” Danny confirmed, “because I think I might have a solution for your problem.”

“Did my doctor tell you that even though I need to give my baby up,” she continued, “I still want to be part of his life? I’ll only let someone adopt him if they agree to let me see him once in a while. I want him to know me, but I also want to be able to tell him about his father and explain why I had to give him up.”

“Yes, your doctor made that very clear, and I have a couple that is very interested in doing this,” Danny told her. “I just have a question for you, before we go any further though.”

“Okay. What do you want to know?” she agreed.

“My brother is one of the people I’m talking about,” Danny continued, “but he has a male partner. Would you have a problem with allowing a gay couple to adopt your baby?”

“No, not just because they’re gay,” she confirmed, “but are they nice guys and will they make good parents?”

“They already have a five-year old son and he is a very happy and intelligent boy,” Danny confirmed. “He also loves his daddy and poppy, since that’s how he distinguishes between his fathers.”

“That’s cute,” she agreed, “but do they also know the child will be half-black? That’s why my parents don’t want to help me keep him.”

“That’s not a problem, since my brother’s son is also mixed-race,” Danny explained. “You see, my brother is also black. We were all adopted.”

“Wow! You were all adopted too?” she asked, amazed.

“We were and raised in a very loving home,” Danny replied. “We will see to it that your baby grows up in a similar environment.”

“And they’ll let me see the baby once in a while?” she asked next. “I probably won’t do it very often, maybe just on his birthday or Christmas, and I might not even do it at all until he’s old enough to understand what I want to tell him.”

“That’s not a problem and they have already agreed to work this out with you,” Danny confirmed. “My brother already lets his son see his mother and her parents, and they have a very friendly relationship. In this case, my brother is also the boy’s biological father, but he said that wouldn’t make a difference.”

“So he was a sperm donor?” she asked.

“In a way,” Danny answered. “My brother is bi-sexual and actually got this girl pregnant. When she decided she couldn’t keep the baby, my brother took sole custody of his son and has raised him since. He has also made sure his son’s mother or her parents have been involved in his life.”

“That sounds perfect,” she agreed.

“Would you like for me to arrange a time when you can meet them?” Danny followed. “I’m sure they would love to have you come to the house for a visit. They, along with another brother, my partner, me and our son all live with our father.”

“That sounds pretty crowded,” she observed.

“You’d think so, until you come to know us and see the house,” Danny replied. “Our dad adopted a bunch of us after his wife died and raised us as his second family. We are also close with his biological children, but we’ve always had a lot of people in the house when we were growing up. That’s why I want you to visit, so you can see how this works.”

She agreed and Danny set up a time for her to visit on the weekend. He gave her our address and directions to the house, and then he asked if she had transportation. She said her father would let her borrow the car for the day, as long as it will help ‘to get rid of the abomination that’s growing inside of me,’ she told him.

Danny felt badly that she was being treated so harshly, but he was glad they might be saving the baby from having to endure the same kind of treatment. When he finished the call, he asked the rest of us to join him in the family room, so he could explain what would be happening. I think we were all excited about meeting her, but I presume we were more excited about having a baby in the family again.

The girl showed up Saturday evening, shortly after we finished dinner. Danny had selected this time, because he knew we’d all be home then. After greeting her at the door, Danny brought her in and introduced her to each of us. She introduced herself as Penelope, but said everyone calls her Penny. Once the introductions were completed, Danny allowed her to spend some time alone with Dion, Trey and Joshie.

After they had talked for a while, she asked if she could speak with Jesse and Elliot, so Danny told her she could. She asked the boys about what they thought of being raised in a house with only guys and they gave her their answer. They also told her about their own situations and Jesse also explained that we had helped his mother move here, after his stepfather was out of the picture. He also told her how his mother is now invited to many of the family gatherings and is considered part of the extended family. He even explained that all of the other boys call his mother Aunt Alice now, which I think really impressed her. The boys even offered to take her on a tour of the house, so she could see we really weren’t that crowded.

“Wow! This place is huge,” she exclaimed, once she’d seen everything and returned downstairs. “It’s more like a motel, than a house.”

“Actually, do you see that sign?” Jesse mentioned, as he pointed to the old plaque that still hung in our foyer. “Dad’s friends affectionately refer to this place as the ‘Castaway Hotel,’ because Dad took in kids that others had either thrown away or had nowhere else to go.”

“I guess that would certainly describe the situation my son would be in, if I’m not able to find someone to adopt him,” she stated. “It’s not that I don’t want him, but my parents refuse to let me keep him and I can’t afford to do it on my own. That’s why I want to tell him when he gets older that I did the best I could, but I didn’t have much choice.”

I think it was after she’d talked to the boys that she made up her mind. She was definitely going to let Dion and Trey adopt her baby. They then agreed to take care of handling the legal paperwork and to get everything set up. Then, they brought her back into the family room with them.

We sat and talked to her for a while longer, but before she left, I asked her if she had insurance to cover the cost of the delivery. Penny told me she was still on her parents’ insurance and it would cover most of the hospital and doctor bills. She also said her father had told her she’d have to pay whatever the insurance didn’t cover, because it was her mess and she’d have to take responsibility for it. Hearing this, I told her to bring those bills to me when they came and we’d cover the rest of her expenses as part of the adoption agreement. She thanked us for being willing to do this for her and then left. I just wish there was something more we could do to help her as well. Maybe I’ll ask her if there is a way we can be of assistance, more than we already are, the next time we meet up with her.

I was pleased that everything had been agreed to and the adoption was working out. Now, it was time to get back to focusing on the health center and pharmacy. Kevin told me that the contractor had begun work on the bank building the day after the closing. The first thing he did was to have the general contractor meet with Dustin and the two guys he was having handle the plumbing and electrical work. He did this so they could arrange times with the general contractor when they could complete the work they needed to do, as he was making the structural changes.

After a quick meeting, Dustin said he’d be back the next day to take care of checking out the HVAC systems and tweaking whatever was needed. He said he could finish what had to be done in only a couple of days, since there was nothing major that needed to be addressed.

There also wasn’t a great deal the others would need to do either. The general contractor merely had to section off the pharmacy area, make a security room with direct access from outside, close off a limited area for storeroom space and then build the checkout stands and counters. Kevin was also having some extra electrical outlets put in throughout the store and was wiring it with security cameras, plus he was also enlarging the rest rooms, so his customers could also have access to them.

While the work was being done at the building, Kevin was able to purchase the shelving he would need, courtesy of a now defunct department store. He was also able to buy their cash registers and security system, which the electrician was going to install for him. Kevin would then set up the shelving himself, with the help of some temporary laborers.

Once the building was taken care of, all Kevin had left to do was to handle the legal issues that needed to be addressed. This was because he still needed to arrange for the appropriate certificates and licenses that were required in order to open his business.

Since work was nearly completed at the pharmacy, Danny and Brandon spoke to the contractor and arranged for him to begin work on the center right away. They had been informed that the school building was totally empty when they had the closing and the boys were anxious to get the work started.

While Kevin, Danny and Brandon were doing this, Dion and Trey were busy with the legal paperwork for the adoption. They checked to make certain the specific details they felt should be included in the adoption papers were there, and then once these papers were signed, they’d have another son. There were certainly a lot of changes happening in our lives, but fortunately all of it was good.

Speaking of good, Elliot and Hayden were doing better at tennis as well. Jessie, Joshie and I went to their next match, but unfortunately Danny and Brandon couldn’t be there. They had already taken so much time off from their jobs or had switched hours so many times to deal with the mortgage and to keep things moving on the health center that they didn’t feel they could take off more time to watch their son. Elliot told them he understood and was fine with it, as long as the rest of us came and cheered him on.

This time when we went to see Elliot play, he did fairly well. It was a tough match for him, but he won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Hayden also won, but he didn’t have as tough of a time doing it. In the end, he pulled his singles match out with a 6-4, 6-2 decision.

Their doubles match went quite well too and they were definitely working better as a team. They won this match in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) and were all smiles as they come over to join us afterward.

“See, I told you that you were our good luck charm,” Elliot told Jesse. “You come and we win.”

“Maybe you’re just playing better,” Jesse countered.

“Maybe, but I still think you being here has something to do with it too,” Elliot replied.

I could see his comment had pleased Jesse, even though he was trying to downplay whatever role Elliot thought he was playing in his recent success. It was also obvious that there was still a feeling of closeness between them, even though they weren’t spending quite as much time with each other.

As the weather got warmer, I noticed that Elliot was often taking Joshie outside to play. Elliot would let Joshie use one of his old rackets and then toss or bounce tennis balls to Joshie, so he could hit them back. Elliot was making sure he was teaching Joshie to do this with both his forehand and backhand, which impressed me. Not only that, but Joshie seemed to be enjoying his time with Elliot and eagerly attempting to please his mentor by trying his hardest to do what he was being told.

Elliot would also pitch the Wiffle ball to Joshie, so he could hit it, and he also shot hoops with Joshie on our portable backboard, next to the driveway. Since I knew these were sports Elliot wasn’t actually interested in, it was clear he was doing this just to please his younger cousin. It was really cute to watch how Elliot took Joshie under his wing and spent time with him, but there were also times I’d see Jesse out there with them too, and other occasions when Hayden would join them as well.

It was clear that Joshie was enjoying this attention and actually beginning to think of himself as one of the boys. He would even tease me when he was doing things with the others and tell me I was too old to join them. I’d pretend to pout and try to make him feel badly, but he would just laugh at my antics, because he knew this really didn’t upset me.

When the boys went swimming though, Joshie couldn’t quite understand why they had to wear swimsuits now. Since I didn’t want him blurting out in front of Hayden that they usually skinny-dipped in our pool, I pulled Joshie aside and explained that they had to do this now because Hayden was with us. I told him that Elliot and Hayden didn’t feel comfortable swimming naked and we never did this when we had company. Although Joshie didn’t seem to comprehend why this was such a big deal, he didn’t fight with me over it and didn’t say anything to the others.

I also used one of the swim outings to get even with Joshie for constantly telling me I was too old to join them. When the boys were planning to go out and hop in our pool, one of the older ones would always came to get Joshie’s Daddy, Poppy or me first, so we could go out with them and play lifeguard. One time when Dion and Trey weren’t there, I told the boys to tell Joshie I was too old to do this, so Joshie couldn’t swim with them today. When this happened, Joshie came running into the house to find me.

“Papa, you’ve got to come out so I can swim too,” he pleaded.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” I responded. “You keep telling me I’m too old to be with you boys, so I’ll stay in here.”

“No! You’re not too old,” Joshie insisted, while looking totally panicked. “I was just making a joke.”

“I don’t know,” I reasoned. “It didn’t sound like a joke to me, so I guess you’ll have to wait for one of your fathers to come home.”

“Please, Papa. I’m sorry,” Joshie pleaded. “I won’t say you’re too old any more.”

“Are you sure about that,” I teased, to drag this out.

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “You’re just the right age.”

I couldn’t make him suffer any longer, so I told him I would do this, as long as he never told me I was too old to join them again. Joshie promised he’d never do that again, so I accompanied him out to the pool.

Andrew was also home for the summer, but Little Ricky would only be with us for a couple of weeks. He was planning to return to college so he could finish up the last of the requirement for his M.S.W. degree during the summer session. Once he’s done this, he’ll be able to come back home and start looking for a job. He won’t be attending his graduation ceremony until next spring though, because his college doesn’t have fall or winter graduation ceremonies. It is just nice to have both of my college boys at home, if only for a short time.

Things were also going well for Kevin. The construction work had not only been completed on the pharmacy, but he had been able to get the shelving delivered by the beginning of June. The contractor had also just finished installing the signage across the front of the building, because the large letters had been delivered only a short time before. Now, in big block letters, the front of the building read ‘Currie Pharmacy.’ Kevin had also put up a professionally made sign in the front window that announced ‘Opening in August!’

The reason Kevin had decided to delay the opening of the pharmacy until August was due to the fact that he wanted to wait for a few of the practices to open at the health center first. By doing this, he’d at least have a few of them sending business his way when he first opens, so he’d having some money coming in until he has a chance to publicize his business, build his clientele and establish a reputation.

He also needs a little more time to cover the legal aspects of opening his own business, which were taking longer to handle than he’d first thought. For that reason, he ordered his supplies and stock to be delivered in July and he would work at night to stock his shelves the way he wanted. During this time, he would also keep working where he was currently employed, so he’d have an income to help cover his expenses.

Danny and Brandon also had a decision to make, once things started to come together at the health center. After talking this over at great length, they felt they would get Brandon set up on his own first and Danny would keep his job at the hospital a while longer. This would give Brandon time to get established, but it would also mean that some of the other offices would be opened too, before Danny opened his practice. Danny was hoping the OBGYN would be one of those opening before he hung up his shingle, because some of those patients might decide to bring their children to see him, once they were born.

Fortunately, Brandon’s current boss has agreed to let him tell the patients he was working with that he was planning to start his own practice and then give them the choice of staying where they were or going with him to his new office. Brandon was amazed at how many of the parents of the children he’d been treating had agreed to have their kids continue with him as their dentist. Many told him their sons and daughters really liked him and had even improved their dental habits since they had started seeing him. This gave him an instant patient list and meant that Brandon would have an immediate, although limited, source of income when he opened his door, although he’d have more expenses as well. Unfortunately, Danny would be starting from scratch, so he would wait a little longer before jumping in.

Now that work had started at the health center, Danny and Brandon would go there to check on the progress whenever they could. Dustin had pretty much left his employees to handle his other jobs, so he could oversee what was going on here. He had built up a relationship with the general contractor while they worked together on the pharmacy, and even though they didn’t have nearly as much work to do there, they had still worked well together. The general contractor was even pleased with the two groups Dustin had set up to handle the plumbing and electrical work. Who knows, this guy may opt to use them in the future on some of his other jobs too, now that they’d built a rapport with him.

All three of my entrepreneurs were getting a little nervous by this point, because so much money was rolling out and so little was coming in, as they got themselves set up in these new ventures. The good news was, they each knew this was what they wanted to do and understood it would eventually pay off, somewhere down the road.

Although Elliot was busy with school and tennis, he wasn’t oblivious to what was going on. He knew full well that his dads were busy preparing to open their own medical center and that many of his uncles and I were playing some sort of role in making it happen. He also knew how worried Danny and Brandon were concerning their financial situation, since it seemed as if all their money was going out and very little was coming in.

Knowing this, Elliot wanted to contribute something to help, but they’d already turned down his offer to loan them the money they needed to make this happen. Still, he wanted to do something to show them he thought this was a great idea, but he realized they wouldn’t let him do that directly. Therefore, he tried to come up with a way of doing this, without their knowledge.

The next day at school, Elliot told Hayden to head to lunch without him, because he had to take care of something and would meet up with him later. Elliot then found a quiet spot where the other students wouldn’t bother him. When he was sure he wouldn’t be interrupted, he pulled out his cell phone and called Uncle Mark in New York.

When the receptionist answered, she indicated that Mark was busy, so she asked Elliot to leave a message. As she was taking it down, Mark returned from his meeting, so the receptionist asked Elliot to hold briefly, while she told Mark about the call. When he heard it was from Elliot, he decided to take it in his office.

“Hey Elliot, how’s my nephew and favorite new client doing,” Mark greeted him.

“I’m good, thanks,” Elliot responded. “You said I could call you if I ever had any questions and there are some things I wanted to ask you about. Is that ok?”

“Sure, what can I do for you?”

“Ok, first, what’s the Castaway Foundation,” Elliot wanted to know.

Mark hadn’t seen that one coming. He assumed Elliot was calling to ask something about one of the investments he had made for him.

“Oh, that’s a charity your grandfather set up to help kids from broken homes,” Mark replied.

“Wow that’s cool,” Elliot agreed. “I’ll have to ask Papa about it sometime.”

Out of curiosity, Mark was about to ask Elliot why he hadn’t just asked me in the first place, but Elliot interrupted his train of thought with his next question.

“What’s a venture capitalist?” Elliot asked next.

“Where did you hear that term,” Mark inquired.

“My dad had a job a lot like yours, you know, investments and stuff,” Elliot answered. “He dragged me to a lot of business meetings with him when I was little. Anyway, I picked it up from him and I think I know what it means, but I want to make sure.”

“Basically, it’s a person or company that invests money in new businesses or buys out existing companies to either improve them or break them up for parts,” Mark answered.

“That’s what I thought. Is any of my money invested in a firm like that?” Elliot continued.

Mark informed him that he had put a little of his money into a venture capital firm out of Boston that was run by an old friend from college. Mark explained that it was a small company, but his friend had presented him with an interesting investment opportunity, so he placed a small amount of his money in the hands of that firm.

“Do you have any say in what they invest my money in?” Elliot asked next.

“Not really no, but as I said, the manager is a friend of mine and I’m sure he’d consider any proposal I made. Are you ready to tell me what this is all about?” Mark asked, becoming a little concerned.

“Well you’ve heard about how my dads are buying this old school, so they can turn it into a medical center?” Elliot asked. “Papa is even going to help them out with some money from this Castaway Foundation. Right?”

Mark informed Elliot that he was indeed aware of what we were up to.

“I’d like for you to find out how much money my dads need and then put that much into your friend’s company and ask him to use it to invest in the medical center.” Elliot stated bluntly.

“First of all, I’m not certain how much money that would entail,” Mark responded, “but as your advisor it is my responsibility to look into any investment and access the risk level involved, regardless of who owns it. On top of that, I can’t move any money without Danny or Brandon’s signature. Have you talked to them about this?”

“No, I don’t think they’d accept this money if they knew it was from me,” Elliot confessed. “They’d say it was for my future and I shouldn’t be touching it. I figured if you could invest it with one of those venture guys and direct them to invest it in the center I’d be able to help out and no one would be the wiser.”

“Elliot I think that’s a really nice gesture and I’m sure they would appreciate it, but I have to agree that they probably wouldn’t go along with this,” Mark explained.

“But this is really important, isn’t there anything you can do?” Elliot whined.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll think about it and see if I can come up with a way to legally make some kind of arrangement,” Mark offered. “If I do, then I’ll give you a call back. Will that be okay with you?”

Elliot assured Mark that would be fine. He then said goodbye and went to find Hayden in the lunchroom.

Mark had been sincere when he told Elliot that this was a nice gesture, but he knew there really wasn’t any way he could make it happen. Besides, even though it was Elliot’s money, until he turned eighteen Danny and Brandon were in control of how it was invested. Mark felt he had no other choice but to call them and tell them about his conversation with their son. He hated to betray Elliot’s trust, but the laws governing his profession were very strict. With that in mind, he picked up the phone to make a call.

Mark reached Danny at the hospital and let him know about his chat with Elliot. Danny then called Brandon and discussed it with him. When they got home later, they pulled me aside so they could fill me in on the situation, while Elliot was still up in his room.

“That was really sweet of him to want to help with the medical center,” I agreed, “but he shouldn’t be going behind your back like that, even if it is for a good cause. I’m not sure how you should handle this though.”

“We’ve talked about it and have a plan,” Brandon answered. “We just wanted to let you know so that you could tell the others and back us up at dinner.”

They quickly shared their idea with me and I thought it was brilliant. None of us felt punishing Elliot was a good idea. After all, his intentions had been noble even if he hadn’t gone about things the way he should. Instead, Danny and Brandon thought we should make him sweat a little. I secretly shared the plan with the rest of the household and they eagerly agreed to help out.

When Elliot came down for dinner later, after showering and cracking the books for a bit, he exchanged his usual greetings with his fathers. Then, Danny and Brandon put their plan into action.

“Dad, you won’t believe this,” Brandon announced, “some investment firm called earlier. They heard about our plans for the medical center and want to invest a huge sum of money in it.”

Before I answered, I looked over at Elliot. He was having a hard time keeping the Cheshire-Cat grin off his face.

“Wow that’s amazing. Do you know what you’re going to do with the money?” I asked.

“Yes, we looked into it and think we’ve come up with a way to double that money,” Danny announced. “I know a guy at the hospital who said we should bet on this horse at the racetrack. It’s supposed to be a sure thing,”

The grin suddenly disappeared from Elliot’s face and he looked at me, expectantly. He figured I’d set his dad straight and not let him handle the money so foolishly.

“Hmmm, a sure thing like that doesn’t come along very often, and it’s not like it’s your money. What the hell, I say go for it,” I said, giving them my full support.

Elliot’s jaw dropped open, as he stared at me in shock. Then, he turned back to his dads.

“But… uh… what about using the money to buy equipment for your medical center?” Elliot asked. “I think that’s a better idea.”

“Nah we’ve got the financing for that all set up,” Brandon replied. “It’s not every day you get free money and a shot at a sure thing.”

Elliot began to look very uncomfortable.

“But what about the investors that are giving you the money?” Elliot asked. “Didn’t they do it so you’d spend it on the center?”

“Ha, what a bunch of suckers. If that’s what they had in mind they shouldn’t have made the check out to us,” Danny laughed.

Elliot couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could his dads be so irresponsible with the investors, no, with his money!

“Maybe Dion and I should get in on this too,” Trey interjected. “It would be nice if I could quit my job and focus on my novel.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Jesse stated.

I saw Elliot breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, someone was making sense, or so he thought.

“I want in on this too,” Jesse stated. “Why don’t you cash in my college fund and make a bet for me? That will give me twice as much money to use later.”

Elliot nearly spit out his drink.

“That’s not a bad idea either,” I agreed. “I’ll have to speak to Mark and see if I can close out your account.”

Elliot couldn’t take it anymore and he slammed his hand down on the table.

“NO, NO, NO! This is insane! You can’t take that money and bet it on a damn horse!” Elliot shouted. “I gave you that money so you could…” but Elliot never finished his sentence.

Instead, he clapped his hand over his mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d just let the cat out of the bag. Seeing his discomfort, the rest of us burst out laughing.

“Dude, I can’t believe you are such a sucker,” Jesse taunted him.

“Wait, you mean this is a joke?” Elliot wanted to know.

“Duh,” said Jesse.

“And it’s why we won’t go behind our dad’s back and try to make investments without talking to them first,” Brandon told Elliot.

“Jeez, you almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you’d all lost your minds,” Elliot stated, as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“No, Mark called and told us about your little chat,” Danny admitted.

“Oh, he wasn’t supposed to do that,” Elliot grumbled.

“Don’t be upset with him,” Brandon scolded. “The rules for the kind of work he’s doing for you are very strict. He didn’t have any choice but to call us.”

“So you guys aren’t mad?” Elliot asked next.

“We think it was very sweet what you were trying to do, but we’re definitely not happy with the way you tried to do it,” Danny told him. “From now on, you talk to us before you go and try to do anything like this. That money is for your future.”

“Besides, we have all the financing in place for what we’re doing. We don’t have as much as you do, but we’re not exactly hobos you know,” Brandon added, which got a chuckle from the rest of us.

“I just wanted to help,” Elliot explained.

“And you can help,” Danny told him. “Once the center opens, we’ll find something you can do to pitch in. How does that sound?”

“That’s great, I’d like that,” Elliot agreed.

“So everyone was in on this?” Elliot wanted to know.

We answered him with another round of laughs at his expense.

“Ha, you guys are so busted when I think of a way to get you back for this,” Elliot smiled.

We continued to banter back and forth while we enjoyed the rest of our meal. I think Elliot is starting to see that talking to us before acting is the best policy, so he’ll think twice before doing something like this again.