The Castaway Hotel - 9 - 14. Chapter 14 - December Winds

As you already know, December is always a very busy time for us, and this year was no exception. Even though there were fewer boys at home, it still seemed as if the hectic pace continued. Dion had a very special role in the Christmas concert at school this year and would be singing both a solo and a duet. He would perform the duet with the girl that was taking voice lessons with him at the University of Pittsburgh. Those lessons started up again, once school had resumed, and now his music teacher wanted to highlight each of them. She was giving each one a solo and then having them do a duet together. I knew it was a rare that individual performers were featured this way, but the music teacher explained it was something she felt she had to do. She stated that such talent rarely comes along, and she definitely didn’t expect to find two such talented vocalists in the same class, but she wasn’t about to squander this opportunity either.

I didn’t want to spoil the possibility for Dion by pushing the issue; especially since it was so obvious that he and Shelly were looking forward to it. They had grown very close over the past few months, but this might also have something to do with Dion using his singing as a distraction from dwelling on other matters. We all could tell he missed Trey tremendously, since Trey had gone off to college, but even if this had begun as his way of forgetting about that, it had later blossomed into a friendship.

I did wonder if his being featured in this way might bring too much more attention to our family, since it seemed my boys had been in the spotlight quite frequently. I just hoped it didn’t produce the negative fallout that I feared it might or give the ex-board member something more to hate us for and come after us about.

This was also a remarkable and wondrous time with Jesse. He was still young enough to believe in Santa Claus and I was glad that was one thing John hadn’t taken away from him. I’m not sure how Jesse had managed to hold on to this innocent pleasure, considering everything else he’d been through, but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to use it to his advantage. Jesse was a mass of excitement and childish awe, from the moment we started playing Christmas music and continued through the period when we decorated the house and put up the Christmas tree. He even made me feel young again, and that was quiet a feat.

During this period, I approached Andrew and asked him to see if he could find out what Jesse might like for Christmas this year. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a clue as to what to buy for him and was grateful when Andrew said he would find out for me. I thanked him for his help and then sat down to figure out what I was going to get everyone else.

As we entered the final two weeks of school before the holiday, I spent a great deal of time running to one concert, sporting event and family errand after another. It was nonstop for me, but I did take enough time out so I could enjoy Dion’s special night – and oh, what a night it was.

The concert started with the choir performing a couple of numbers and then a traditional Christmas carol, before Dion and Shelly did a duet of “Oh Holy Night.” It was simply beautiful and I marveled at how well their voices blended and how they complimented one another. I was also overwhelmed when they received a standing ovation from the audience, because that was indeed a rare occurrence at school functions.

After the band came out and performed a couple of selections, Shelly strutted on to the stage out and belted out a beautiful rendition of “Silver Bells.” Her sweet soprano voice was clear, crisp and without flaw, and her angelic tonal qualities brought the song to life. Once again, she received another standing ovation when she finished and I saw Dion give her a congratulatory hug as she went off stage.

The orchestra performed a couple of selections next and then Dion strode out for his final number. His solo was also the last event listed in the program, so his performance of ‘Ave Maria’ would close the concert.

Knowing how difficult this song is to perform, and after spending several previous Christmases listening to Luciano Pavarotti belt it out on my favorite Christmas CD, I was a little concerned for him. It was not only a challenging piece to sing, but I was also fairly positive the rest of the audience had heard other marvelous renditions of it by famous entertainers, so he also had mighty big shoes to fill. As Dion came out on stage and stood in front of the microphone, his music teacher began the accompaniment on the piano. As I heard her play those first notes and saw Dion open his mouth to sing, I held my breath.

I shouldn’t have. It was pure magic and he was perfectly on pitch, and from there it only got better. Even before he was halfway through the piece, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I realized the maestro would have been proud, if he could have heard this too. As soon as Dion finished, not only did everyone rise to acknowledge his masterful performance, but the room was also filled with cheers, whistles and the sounds of thunderous applause. I almost fainted with pride, when Jake turned to hug me and let me know he felt the same way. I think this moment, more than anything else, convinced me how truly talented Dion was and what his music teacher had noted in him, long before I did. I always knew he had a lovely voice, but until now, I didn’t realize how absolutely special and unique his gift was.

As soon as the concert ended, I rushed to find Dion, so I could hug and congratulate him. I couldn’t find words appropriate enough to tell him how marvelously he had done, but I did stumble through it. He was slightly embarrassed by all the attention he was getting, but he thanked me nonetheless, before he asked a question.

“Dad, there’s going to be a concert party in a little while and Shelly asked me to go to it with her,” he rambled out. “Would you mind if I used the Grand Am to take her and then drop her home afterward?” He looked at me and I could read his hopeful expression.

“I think you’ve both earned the right to have a little fun after what a beautiful job you both did tonight,” I quipped. “Just don’t get home too late. You still have school tomorrow, Okay?”

“Yes, Dad, and thanks. I really appreciate you letting me do this,” he stammered. “Wasn’t she great?”

“You both were,” I countered, before I hugged him again. Once I released him, he rushed off to find Shelly, so he could tell her the good news.

When we got home, the rest of the boys wouldn’t stop talking about how well Dion had done and how proud they were of him. They said they knew their friends were going to be telling them the same thing tomorrow, because some already had when they ran into them tonight, once the concert was over. I think we were all amazed and busting our buttons because of what he had done.

Dion came home a little later than I hoped, but he did get in before midnight and didn’t give me any problems the next morning. By the time I got to work, I found numerous messages on my email account and received several phone calls from people passing along their praise of Dion’s vocal ability. There was fallout from his being featured, but it was far from the negative kind that I had feared. It appeared that his outstanding talent had silenced any of the detractors he might have had that would have suggested he only got so much recognition because he was my son.

Once the concert was behind us, the time remaining until Christmas just flew by. Before I knew it, school was out for the holidays and all the boys were home from college. Unfortunately, Frankie, Nick and my biological children, other than Robert, wouldn’t be here this year. Frankie would be spending this Christmas at Guantanamo, Nick would be with his parents and most of my biological children were still staying away. At least I’d seen my grandkids at Thanksgiving and their parents were now letting them send emails and IM’s to us on the computer.

Robert showed up on Christmas Eve and I was thrilled he had made it. All the boys were excited to see him too, because Robert was just another kid to them, even though he was considerably older. Since he was still single and didn’t have the family responsibilities or an example to set, he usually let loose and played around like he was fifteen or twenty years younger and the boys loved him for it.

After he got settled in, we talked for a while, but eventually I had other obligations to attend to. He went with me, as I led him to the family room, so I could do my traditional reading of ‘The Night Before Christmas.’ I always try to be very dramatic when I do this and had just finished when one of the boys looked out the picture window and announced, “Look, it’s Santa Claus,” while pointing outside. I knew Jake had slipped out the room and dressed in our Santa outfit, so he could do this. Then, he waited until he knew I was finished with my reading, so he could peek in at the boys. Jesse was all hyped about seeing Santa and started asking questions.

“Why is he here already,” he wanted to know.

“I guess he’s just checking to see if you’re in bed yet, so he can drop off the presents,” I explained.

“Come on, Andrew. We’ve got to hurry up and shower, so we can get to sleep,” he announced, as he tugged on Andrew’s arm. “Everyone else too. I don’t want to miss out on getting things from him just because some of you want to stay up late.” He scowled at the others after saying this, as if it would motivate them to do what he wanted.

The other boys grinned and started to get up, to do as their little brother had commanded. They all remembered the time when they still believed in Santa too, so they didn’t want that to end just yet for him either. I kind of chuckled to myself, as I watched them all disappear.

Once Jake came back, changed and joined me, we began taking the presents from our hiding places and putting them under the tree. Thanks to Jesse, we were able to do this a little earlier this year, than we would normally be able to.

Although everyone went to their rooms, it didn’t mean they all went to sleep. This was especially true in Dion and Trey’s room.

“So, have you missed me?” Trey teased.

“Big time,” Dion replied.

“And you haven’t messed around while I’ve been away?” Trey followed.

“I haven’t even spoken to another guy, well except at our gay-straight alliance meetings, but I haven’t done anything with any of them,” Dion assured him.

“So you haven’t been hanging around with anyone?” Trey pressed.

“I didn’t say that,” Dion countered. “Shelly and I have been spending a lot of time together, especially when we were getting ready for the concert and all, but she’s the only one.”

“And I heard you two were unbelievable that night,” Trey gushed. “I wish I would have been there to see it for myself.”

“Well, my music teacher did have someone film the concert for her, so I probably can get her to make a CD for me, so you can see it too,” Dion suggested.

“Oh, yeah. I’d love that,” Trey agreed, and then he leaned over and kissed Dion.

Of course, one thing led to another, so before long both boys were clawing at each other’s clothes, until they were totally naked. Dion then covered his huge shaft with a condom, lubed it and a few seconds later was burying it into Trey.

“Oh, God, I’ve missed this,” Trey moaned, once Dion was fully inside him.

“Me too,” Dion agreed, as he began his long and slow thrusts in and out of his lover.

“Is it my imagination or have you gotten better?” Trey asked.

“I think you just forget how good I was,” Dion quipped back, as he continued his steady rhythm, while slowly working his way toward an explosive crescendo.

The pair gradually melded into one combined, rhythmic body, as they carried out this sensual and passionate dance of love. If anyone had been observing, I think it would have been obvious that they were destined to be together for life. Each boy carried out his role, which didn’t infringe on the other, and together they fulfilled the desires burning deep within the other’s soul. Trey preferred being on the receiving end and Dion was happy to oblige. Dion always saw to it that Trey enjoyed a body-shaking orgasm as well, and was also very happy to be on the giving end. Two creative souls, the writer and the singer, each unique and special, but together they created the ultimate pairing for love.

Once Dion reached the point from which there was no turning back, and neither of them had been in any hurry to get there, Dion buried himself as far into Trey’s body as he could, embraced his lover and kissed him passionately, as they both exploded in total bliss and reckless abandon. Once again, they had satisfied each other in many ways, not just sexually, as their emotional and psychological well being was also tied to this single event.

Now that they were spent and totally satisfied, they quickly cleaned up and then cuddled together for the rest of the evening. Well, at least until a little banshee went running wildly about in the middle of the night, reminding them what day it was. Just as I suspected, Jesse woke up very early Christmas morning, in fact it was only about 5:00, and began running around waking everyone up, starting with Andrew.

“Come on, it’s Christmas! Get up so we can see what presents Santa left us,” he urged.

Although Andrew was still groggy and would have preferred to sleep longer, he knew this was important to Jesse, so he rolled out of bed. He even went around helping to wake the others up as well, since he felt it would be better to get this over with as quickly as possible.

When they came down to get me up, I resisted the urge of telling him to go back to bed and we’d do this in a couple of hours. I could see how excited Jesse was and didn’t want to stifle that enthusiasm in the least. Even the other boys were very good about him waking them up so early, although I suspected a few of them had stayed up quite late getting reacquainted with their partners, after their long abstinence and time apart. Robert was probably the grumpiest, seeing he was never much of a morning person, but he joined us too and held his tongue about how early it was. Once we were all in the family room, we merely chuckled, as we watched Jesse tearing about.

“Oh, wow!” Jesse exclaimed. “The room is full of presents. How are we going to sort them out?”

I quickly explained how we did it and then Robert and a couple of the older boys began passing the gifts out. They made sure everyone got something during every round and even noticed that Jake and I had remembered to use special wrapping paper for the stuff Santa brought, so Jesse wouldn’t ask questions.

It was a wild time, as Jesse went around checking out what everyone else received, after they opened their present. He did this with each and every gift, until we were down to the final one.

“What’s the big one over there?” I asked, pointing to an unopened present way in the back.

“I’m not sure,” Dustin said, “but it says it’s for Jesse from Santa.” Jesse’s eyes grew wide when he heard it was for him and his mouth hung open, as Dustin carried it over to him.

“Jeez, I wonder what that could be?” I asked. We all watched as Jesse tore off the wrapping paper and saw what was underneath. It was a green, two-man mountain tent.

“That looks like it might be the same type of tent Frankie uses in the Army,” Jake offered, on cue.

“It certainly does,” I followed. “I guess Andrew and you might have to wear those army clothes Frankie’s friends got you whenever you use it.” Both boys’ faces lit up.

“Can we do that tonight?” Jesse wanted to know.

“Well, it’s a bit cold outside right now, but I’m sure some of your brothers will help you set it up in the rec room later,” I suggested. “Then you can get out a couple of the sleeping bags to sleep in tonight, if that’s what you want.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jesse confirmed. “Dustin, will you help us put it up? Please.”

Of course, Dustin eagerly agreed, and then coaxed Danny, Brandon and Pat into helping him. Instead of using tent pegs, they tied the ropes to other things, to keep the tent upright, and they had it up in no time.

“Oh, thank you, thank you,” Jesse squealed, once he saw it. “Come on, Andrew. Let’s get our things, so we’ll be ready to sleep in it.”

“Jesse, we just got up,” Andrew protested. “We won’t be going to sleep for a long time. Can we at least have breakfast first and then go back to bed for a while, before we do that?”

“Okay, we can have breakfast,” Jesse agreed, “but I want to get everything ready after that. We can go back to sleep after that’s done.”

Reluctantly, Andrew agreed and then Jake and I went off to fix everyone a big Christmas breakfast. The rest of the day went by in a blur. Most of us did go back to bed for a little while, once the presents were all opened and the boys’ bellies were full, and when we got up again later, we spent some time together and talked about what we’d gotten.

Later that afternoon, before we sat down to eat again, I received a phone call. It was from Frankie.

“Merry Christmas!” he screamed into the phone.

“And Merry Christmas to you too,” I replied.

“I hope this isn’t too early or I didn’t interrupt anything,” he offered, apologetically.

“Jesse had us up hours ago, and even if you had interrupted something, I wouldn’t have minded,” I informed him. “The best Christmas present I’ve received today is hearing your voice.” There was a pause and I began to wonder if we’d been disconnected.

“That goes for me too,” Frankie confirmed, and I noticed his voice choked with emotion. “Look, I have to make this real quick, because everyone else wants to call home today too and it’s been really hard to get through. Tell everyone I wish them a Merry Christmas and send my best, and that goes for everyone who is there or will be there later. I wish I could talk longer, because I have a lot to tell you, but I guess I’ll have to do it in an email. Love you, Dad, and make sure you tell everyone else that too.”

“I will, Frankie, and I hope your next email says more than the last few,” I hinted, before he had to hang up.

I was hoping he’d call again later, but I wasn’t sure he’d be able to. He sounded well and seemed happy enough, so I guess I might have read more into his emails than he’d intended. I then went to tell everyone else I had spoken with him and that he sent his best. They were disappointed that they hadn’t gotten to speak with him too, but after I explained the reasons why his call had to be so short, they seemed to accept it. We were just settling down, when my phone rang again.

“Merry Christmas, Papa,” a child’s voice wished me.

“Merry Christmas to you too, Jordan,” I answered, as I wondered if he had his parents permission to make this call.

“Papa, I wish we could be there with you,” he added, “but Daddy says we come there next year.” I almost fell out of my chair when I heard him say this.

“That would be really nice,” I replied, “and I hope you can.”

“Papa, I have to go now, cuz Daddy wants to talk to you too. When he gets done, can I talk to everyone else?”

“Jordan, you MAY,” I replied, “as long as it’s okay with your parents.”

“It will be, but here’s Daddy,” he informed me, before I heard Michael’s voice.

“Merry Christmas, Pop,” he began.

“And the same to you, Andrea and Megan,” I countered.

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened in the past, but my son has enlightened me about how foolish and stubborn I’ve been,” Michael continued. “He told me how much fun he’d had there, when Marie took the kids with her for Thanksgiving. She and I talked for a while too, when she dropped them off, and she filled me in about a lot of things. I am really sorry I let that get to me. I’m sure Mom would want to see you happy again and she might find it easier to accept that she wasn’t replaced by some cute, young lady.” Michael laughed after saying this.

“I think you might be right about that,” I replied.

“Pop, Andrea wants to wish you a Merry Christmas too, before Jordan gets on the line with all of his uncles,” Michael informed me. “Speaking of which, I hear we have a new little brother.”

“You do,” I confirmed, “and I’ll send you an email and some photos soon, but I won’t take the time to do that now.”

“Okay, here’s Andrea and I love you, Pop,” he told me.

“And I love you too and thanks for calling,” I replied.

After speaking briefly with Andrea and Megan, Jordan got back on the line to talk to everyone else. When the phone made its way back to me again, all of us wished him a final Merry Christmas by shouting as a group before I hung up.

A short time later, we had our big Christmas dinner with the extended family and they were happy Robert was with us too. Not only that, but due to Jesse’s youthful innocence, we all enjoyed this Christmas more than any that I remember since my grandchildren were last here.

Just as we were finishing, Marie called to wish us all a Merry Christmas too. After this, she began to hit me with questions.

“Have you heard from anyone else?” she asked.

“Well, Robert’s here and Frankie called a little while ago, but then Jordan called. I got to speak with Michael, Andrea and Megan too,” I stated.

“So Michael did call?” she repeated.

“Well, Jordan called, but I did speak with Michael too,” I clarified.

“And was he civil?” she pressed.

“Yes, in fact he even apologized about before and told me Jordan had showed him that he was wrong,” I explained. “Jordan even told me his father said they’d come here for Christmas next year.”

“Great!” she exclaimed. “Now I’m sure Michael will mention that to Adrian and he’ll change his mind too, but I’ll leave that for another time. Right now, I’ve got someone standing next to me, begging for the phone. Here he is.”

“Hi, Papa. Merry Christmas,” he told me. “Thanks for the presents. I really like them.”

“I’m glad, little man, and I hope your sister liked hers too,” I responded.

“I think she does, but she’s too little yet to tell me. She has been playing with it,” he added, “and her eyes get all big when it lights up and moves, and I think she likes the music too.” I had to chuckle, because I could just picture her reaction to it in my mind.

We had a lovely conversation and my day was nearly complete. The only one I hadn’t heard from was Elizabeth, but she always was the most stubborn of my children.