The Castaway Hotel: Book 9

Before I knew it, September and some of October had passed me by. That’s why I was slightly stunned when Andrew and Jesse confronted me about having the haunted house again. After realizing Halloween wasn’t that far away, I explained it would be difficult to do it this year, with only four of them at home. However, Andrew and Jesse seemed determined to have it, so I agreed to speak with the other two, to see what they thought of the idea.

Sammy and Little Ricky weren’t really into the idea of having the haunted house this year, but since they didn’t want to disappoint their two younger brothers, they agreed to help out. When I told Andrew and Jesse, they were ecstatic, although I think Andrew was doing this more for Jesse’s sake than for his own benefit. The boys then suggested there were others they knew that had expressed an interest in helping, so I told them it would be fine to invite them to participate.

Andrew recruited the boy he had invited to the Valentine’s Party at our house one year and Jesse included three of his classmates who were eager to do this. It was pretty much just a replay of the past couple of years, except this time around we had new participants to play the various roles.

This was also Joshie’s first Halloween with us, and even though he would only be six-weeks old, I wanted to include him in some way. We’d take pictures, so we could share them with Dion and Trey later, but we’d also have them to show Joshie when he got older. I wanted him to see he had always been included as a fully participating member of the family.

I quickly decided that this year, Jake, Joshie and I would greet everyone when they entered. We would be located just inside the backdoor, so Joshie wouldn’t get too chilled, and just a short distance away from Dracula and his coffin. I had talked it over with Jake and we had agreed on what we were going to be, so we started going to garage sales to collect the props we would need, after we made certain we could get the required costumes. We were going to be the ‘Three Bears,’ of Goldilocks fame.

Jake and I had rented bear costumes that resembled cuddly, not ferocious, bears, and I had also purchased an adorable bear outfit for Joshie online. I would be the Papa Bear, seated in a tall, and very stiff looking, wooden chair. Jake would be the Mama Bear and have an overstuffed living room chair to sit in, while Joshie would be in his infant car seat, but it would be placed in a comfy recliner. We got into position, after we fed and changed Joshie, and waited for the children to arrive.

Everyone immediately recognized who, or what, we were and the kids had a great time asking if they could sit in our chairs. Joshie seemed to like watching the other children, dressed in an assortment of costume, go by and only fussed once. When he started crying, I quickly took him into our bedroom, so I could change his diaper, and then gave him his bottle, while sitting in my chair. Sammy and Little Ricky took several pictures of us throughout the night and I was sure Dion and Trey were going to love them.

Once Halloween was behind us, we started getting ready for Thanksgiving. Since my biological children were coming for Christmas, they would not be joining us for Thanksgiving. It would just be the boys, minus Frankie and Nick, plus some of the extended family. We’d make do.

As the big day drew closer, Jake and I got things ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had purchased everything we’d need, for both the dinner and desserts, so all we had to do was put it all together and pop it into the ovens. Sounds easy! Right?

Well, when Thanksgiving finally arrived, I spent most of Wednesday baking pies, cakes and puddings. Jake helped me finish them up when he got home from work, so they were all done before we went to bed.

Thursday morning, I stayed up after giving Joshie his 4:00 feeding, so I could start the turkey. Dion and Trey had come home Wednesday night, but they were so tired that I just told them I’d take care of Joshie one more day, so they could get some sleep. They thanked me, went in and gave Joshie a kiss, before dragging off to their room.

When the other boys came stumbling downstairs the next morning, Jake and I fixed them some breakfast. Once they finished, they went to lounge about in the family room for a while, before our guests started to arrive. Around 1:00, I suggested they go get cleaned up and changed, since our guests would start arriving around 2:00. Dinner wasn’t until 3:00, but I wanted to spend some time with everyone first, before we ate.

Unfortunately, Duck wasn’t going to be able to be with us for this holiday either, since he and his girlfriend were going to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her parents. Duck had told me he wasn’t excited about this, but it was something he felt he had to do, in order to keep peace between them. Therefore, I told him I’d see them both at Christmas.

As the final items for dinner were cooking, we started greeting our guests as they arrived. Of course, Steve, Mary and Sally were there, along with the Spences and Arlene, and Susan (Mark’s mother) and Alice (Jesse’s mother) had joined us as well. While we were chatting, I began showing everyone, including Dion and Trey, the pictures we had of Joshie, including the three of us dressed up like the ‘Three Bears’ for Halloween. The women told us we were adorable and loved the chairs we used to heighten the effect. Dion and Trey loved seeing the pictures too and were pleased we had burned them on a CD for each of them, so they could take it back to college. There were about 25 different pics and the majority of them were of Joshie.

When we finally sat down to eat, Joshie had his own place of honor. He was seated in his swing, which was placed just off the corner of the head table, between his father’s chair and mine. Once we were all seated, we observed our tradition of having everyone tell us what they were thankful for this year. I’ll spare you all of the details and just give you a few of the highlights of what was slightly different from what had been said in the past.

Dion and Trey were thankful for Joshie and that his mother had signed over custody to them, as well as for me agreeing to take care of him, until they had finished with school. Ricky said he was thankful I had treated Peter so well and let him stay with us for a year, as well as for taking the family to visit Australia and allowing Peter to show us around. Dustin said he and all of his brothers, were thankful that I had taken them in and set up accounts in each of their names, so they would be assured of having a decent start in life.

Steve and Mary said they were thankful they had been able to adopt Vinnie and take a more active role as an integral part of our wonderful and unique family. Susan was thankful for her son, Mark, and all we’d done to help both of them. Finally, it became time for Alice to say something.

“I find this to be a very nice tradition and I can see why you are all thankful for the things you’ve mentioned,” she began, “and I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful that Josh took Jesse in when I left him here and he’s done so much for Jesse since. I’m also thankful for Andrew and what a wonderful friend he’s been to my son, but I’m especially thankful that the Curries helped me move here, so I could remain part of Jesse’s life.

“Although I feel guilty for not figuring this out on my own, I’m thankful Jesse confided in Josh about what his stepfather had done and Josh helped set the situation right. Most of all, I’m thankful to everyone here for accepting me and making me feel a part of this wonderful and loving family – especially since hardly any of us are related by blood. That’s what a true family is all about.”

It was nice to see she understood and appreciated what we were trying to do, by opening our arms and welcoming those who wanted, or needed, to be part of something greater than themselves.

After that, we enjoyed the meal and the great company. We finished dinner off by stuffing ourselves full of desserts, about an hour later. Some of the family adjourned to the family room afterward, so they could watch the football game, while the rest stayed in the dining room to talk.

Dion and Trey had been taking care of Joshie all day, although they did get some help from their brothers. The other boys wanted to get to hold their nephew and spend time with him too, and everyone was really great with Joshie. Surprisingly, Joshie didn’t mind being passed around like a hot potato and merely enjoyed whoever was holding him at the time.

When bedtime rolled around, Jake and I switched rooms with Dion and Trey again, so they could stay with the baby. It was their turn to take care of the feedings during the night, even though Joshie was sleeping nearly three hours at a time now, rather than waking up every two.

The next morning, while we were sitting at the breakfast table, Dion asked me a question. “Do you think this is the color Joshie’s going to be?” he wondered. Joshie appeared as if he had a nice tan.

“It’s possible, seeing he has a mixture of your and Shelly’s genes,” I answered. “Even though you’re not very dark, he is even lighter and may stay that way. It is also possible he could get a little darker, but I’d guess at most, he might attain your coloring.” I don’t think Dion was concerned about how dark Joshie might get, it’s just that he was curious about how Joshie was going to eventually look.

Everyone returned for leftovers later and we had another wonderful day with the family. Dion and Trey were like two doting parents and wouldn’t even leave Joshie alone long enough to go out and participate in a game of touch football with their brothers later. I guess their paternal instincts had really kicked in.

We did go out and do some early Christmas shopping on Saturday, but we spent most of the day just relaxing and being very laid back. I was enjoying my little vacation from the constant demands of raising an infant, as well as reveling in how seriously Dion and Trey were responding to those demands.

On Sunday, all the various groups of college boys began to pack up and leave again. This was a very tough time for Dion and Trey, since neither wanted to leave Joshie again. They had spent so much time with him over the past few days and didn’t want it to end, but eventually they gave in to the reality that it was the way things had to be. I think both boys had tears in their eyes, as they hugged and kissed Joshie, before hopping in their respective vehicles. I reminded them they’d be back in another month and the time in between would go quickly, so they sucked it up and took off.

For the first time in a very long time, I found the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas somewhat relaxing. Sure, I had a few concerts to attend and Christmas shopping to take care of, but I didn’t have nearly as many parties, concerts, functions or sporting events that I felt I also had to attend. Heck, I was almost beginning to enjoy this time of year for a change.

I was spending my days playing Christmas CD’s and singing along with them, to Joshie’s delight – or at least I hoped he was delighted. At three months, his personality was beginning to emerge and it appeared he was going to be a happy, carefree baby. He laughed and smiled a lot, plus he cooed whenever I held him, read him a story or just talked. We were growing very close, so I knew I was going to miss spending so much time with him while his daddy and poppy were home.

When Dion and Trey arrived for the holidays, I packed up Joshie and drove all of us to the mall. I had been waiting to do this until Dion and Trey had arrived home from school, so they could be there when Joshie had his first picture taken with Santa. Unlike some of the other children, Joshie sat on Santa’s lap and looked around at all the colored lights. He had the biggest grin on his face when the picture was snapped, so it was definitely a keeper.

Christmas was on Sunday this year and the boys started arriving home on Friday. It was nice to see them all again and we started off by making certain their was room for the others when they arrived. Since Frankie and Nick’s rooms were already open, we just shifted some boys around so the third floor was filled up first. This left the guest room and a couple of rooms on the second floor open for our guests. I’d give Marie the guest room, so she wouldn’t have to navigate the stairs with the baby and Dion and Trey were going to use the master bedroom with Joshie. Jake and I would use their room and then the others would stay in the other open rooms. We would fit everyone in without a problem.

Duck and his girlfriend showed up on Friday too, and it was nice to see them both again. After they got to meet Joshie and his girlfriend got to hold the baby for a while, we talked about what they had been up to since we’d last seen them. It’s nice to be able to catch up on things, once you’ve been apart for a while.

Everyone else showed up on Saturday, along with another surprise. Frankie was with them. I was shocked. It turned out he was able to finagle a two-week leave over the holidays in return for volunteering to spend another year at Guantanamo. He wanted to surprise me, so he’d contacted the others to find out what they were doing and then scheduled his flight to coincide with their arrival, so he could ride in with them from the airport. To say the least, I was thrilled.

“I promised you last year I’d be home for Christmas this year,” he announced, as he gave me a tremendous hug. “I would never willingly break a promise to you, so here I am.”

“And I’m happy to see you,” I confirmed, “as long as you don’t or didn’t get into any trouble by doing this.”

“Nope, the C.O. agreed to give me the time off, since I had volunteered to stay there for a second tour,” he explained. “This is what I asked for, if I agreed to bail them out and stay longer.” Man, this is great and I am sooooo excited that Frankie was here with us.

We quickly introduced everyone to Joshie and they all told Dion they thought it was wonderful he had named the baby after me. Dion said he had to give the baby the name of the most important person in his life and I think that scored him some extra points with the others.

Jordan and Nicky held the baby for a while, but soon tired of it. They had both held their little sisters, so it wasn’t a big deal for them. Their eyes did bug out of their head though, when they happened to walk by when Joshie was being changed.

“Wow, the baby sure has a big pee-pee, Papa,” Nicky observed.

“Yes, he does, for a little guy,” I told him.

“Dang, what did you do to make it that big?” Jordan asked.

“I didn’t do anything. It’s just that his father passed along some pretty good genes,” I explained.

“What does his jeans have to do with it?” Nicky wondered.

“Not jeans, like in the type you wear, but genes as in the stuff in your body that determines whether you are a boy or a girl, what color your hair is, what color eyes you’ll have, how tall you’ll get and things like that.”

“Oh!” Nicky said, as he turned back to stare at Joshie’s genitals again, before I covered the area with the diaper.

Since this was the first I’d seen of Elizabeth and Tim since the reconciliation, I spent quite a bit of time with them. We chatted about many things, including her ectopic pregnancy, what they’d been up to, Jake’s and my commitment ceremony and about us flying off to Canada to get married.

“I won’t say I understand it – well I understand that you want to be together, but if it makes you happy and you love each other, then I’m happy for you,” she informed us.

We thanked her for that, and we also thanked Tim when he told us he agreed with what his wife had said. It was nice to have the family back together and not at odds over some petty squabble.

That evening, I read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ again, and just as soon as I finished, Santa appeared in the window. “It’s just Papa Jake,” Jordan stated.

“No, Jordan. Jake is right here,” I announced, while pointing to where Jake was standing.

“But I saw him leave,” Jordan added, with conviction.

“Yes, I went to the toilet,” Jake answered.

“Then it’s Uncle Robert,” Nicky offered.

“No, I’m here,” Robert stated, while standing up. The pair quickly looked around and accounted for everyone else, but outside the window they could still see Santa Claus. How could that be?

Let me explain. We thought the boys were getting suspicious and catching on, so Steve volunteered to play Santa this year. When Jake went to the toilet, he called Steve using his cell phone and Steve drove over. Jake then pushed the ‘send’ button to enter the text message he had entered earlier, to let Steve know it was time to ‘appear.’ The boys were confused, Jesse and Megan were excited and we got all of the kids to bed without too much of a struggle.

Oh, we did pay for it the next morning, when a little after 4:00 we began to hear shouts of, “Santa’s been here! Santa’s been here! He’s left us all kinds of presents!”

The rest of us dragged ourselves out of bed, shuffled down to the family room and passed out presents. Once everything was unwrapped, some of us literally were ready to pass out. We were only able to go back to bed because some of the older boys volunteered to stay up and keep an eye on the little ones.

Before I was able to do that though, Elizabeth handed me a card. “What’s this?” I asked. “You’ve already given me a gift.”

“I know, but this is just something a little extra,” she replied, with a twinkle in her eye.

I opened it up and it was a Christmas card to ‘Dad.’ I began to read it and discovered she had written a personal note inside. “You’re about to be a grandfather again. I’m pregnant and the baby is due near the end of May.’

I could hardly believe my eyes. My baby was going to have a baby too. “Really? This is great! Have you told the others?”

“No, you’re the first person we’ve told,” she explained.

“Then come with me,” I urged. “We’re going to tell the rest of them right now!”

I quickly hollered for everyone to come back to the family room, so they dragged back downstairs. When they were all there, I turned to Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth has something to tell you,” I announced, and then let her have the floor.

“I just told Dad, but now I’ll tell all of you,” she began. “I’m pregnant and the baby is due near the end of May.”

Everyone congratulated her, but Marie had to tease her as well. “It’s about time,” Marie told her. “Even Dion beat you!”

Dion blushed, well sort of, when he was dragged in to this, but everyone else laughed. Our family was going to increase by one more. Then some of the others got on Robert and asked him when he was going to get married and become a father, but he just joked it off, as he usually does.

We ended up having a great day, which was topped off with a great meal with our extended family. Jake and I made sure to thank Steve for his help and told him what had gone on. He merely laughed and said he was happy he could help and would do it next year too, if we wanted. We assured him we did and Jesse and my grandchildren never were able to figure that one out.

After dinner, Dion and I packed Joshie up and drove him down to see Shelly and her family. We had him dressed in little red jammies with white trim, which looked similar to the outfit Santa wore. We also placed a red conical hat on his head, which also had white trim and a white cloth ball on the end. Joshie looked really cute.

While we were there, we took a picture of Joshie with each of them and they took one with each of us. After that, we took group shots with Joshie and their family, and then another with Joshie, Dion, Trey and me. We took one more with Joshie and his mother and father and then a final shot with Joshie, Dion and Trey. The Novaks appreciated our visit and we had a great time there. I’m sure Joshie didn’t understood what was going on, but we had plenty of pictures so we could explain it to him later.

The day after Christmas, my biological children had to leave and return to their homes. They had to go back to work the following day, so we said good-bye, but it was an emotional parting. After having missed so much time with each other, it was tough to separate once more. However, we did all agree to get together this summer, even if it was just to spend time here at the house.

Nick came back near the end of the week, so he could be with Shannon for New Year’s. We were all happy to see him and Nick got to meet little Joshie for the first time too. Nick also teased Dion about being a breeder. It was harmless, but somewhat comical.

Since last year’s celebration had worked out so well, we decided to do the same thing again this year. I rented out the Elk’s club, hired the same DJ and allowed the boys to invite whomever they wanted. Some of the straight boys, including Frankie, invited dates and Dion invited Shelly. She understood that Dion and Trey were partners and would be spending most of the night together, but she was just happy to be out of the house and able to be with Joshie. Dion, Trey, Shelly and I had planned to take turns taking care of Joshie, but we had more than enough offers of additional help. It seemed as if every woman in the building wanted to get her hands on the baby, so he got plenty of attention and wasn’t neglected at all.

Duck, Mark and their girlfriends also joined us, along with most of our extended family. We were all excited and anxious to enjoy this wonderful night. We danced and drank, although not to excess, and had a great time. Once again, the DJ played a wide selection of tunes, so we all found something to identify with and more than enough to dance too. The evening was going great, but just before midnight we received an additional surprise. Danny and Brandon went up and used the DJ’s sound system to make an announcement.

“Seeing all of our loved ones are here, along with a few very special friends,” Brandon began, “Danny and I want to give you a special invitation. After we come home from college this May, we will both have our bachelor’s degrees, and we’ve decided to have our own commitment ceremony, like Dad and Pop did. We want all of you to attend, if you are willing and able.

“We’ll let you know the exact date and time later, but it will most likely be during one of the last two weekends in May,” Danny added, “and we would really love for all of you to be there. Since we’ve just sprung this on Dad too, because he didn’t know this before we told you either, we hope he will be willing to work with the minister and set this up for us.”

I quickly agreed and everyone gave them a round of applause. Danny and Brandon then moved about the room, getting congratulated by everyone. I also noticed them having a very serious discussion with Dion and Trey, and before long, that pair was using the DJ’s microphone and asking for everyone’s attention again.

“Sorry to keep interrupting,” Dion began, “but Trey and I have talked it over with Danny and Brandon and they’ve agreed to let Trey and me have our own commitment ceremony with them. We just wanted to let you know this will be a double ceremony, but we still want all of you there. That means you too, Shelly,” he added, which caused her to blush.

Oh, well, this night has turned out to have many surprises, but I was soon to learn there were even more to come. About twenty minutes later, I saw Kevin, Vinnie, Nick and Shannon going up to speak with the DJ too. Before long they had also called for our attention.

“Vinnie and I have been planning on doing this for quite a while,” Kevin stated, “so we just thought it would be wise to do it at the same time as the others. This way, you will only have to come to one more ceremony.”

“Danny and Brandon said they don’t have a problem with us doing it with them,” Vinnie added, “and said they’d be happy to have all of us do it together.”

“We’re really sorry about how long this interruption is,” Nick stated, “but we’ve decided to make it a real family affair and have a quadruple ceremony. Shannon and I want to commit ourselves to each other at the same time and hope each of you will join us.”

“Dad, I’m sorry if this is a surprise,” Shannon added, “but we’ve never hidden the fact from you about how we feel about each other. It’s just that we want to follow your and Pop’s example and do it right.”

I don’t think Jake could argue with him after hearing him say this, even if he had wanted to. However, for the rest of the evening, Jake and I were being congratulated too, since four pairs of our boys were committing themselves to each other. Good grief, it meant we were having a quadruple wedding of sorts. Boy, this was going to take some planning.

Well, when midnight hit, we had a lot to celebrate and celebrate we did. I’m not sure Joshie was up when it happened, but the noise certainly woke him within seconds afterward, if he had been sleeping. He didn’t cry or anything, but he did look around as all the streamers flew through the air and the horns, whistles and other noise-making devices sounded.

Once we got home, Jake and I talked about what the boys had done and Jake had no problem with any of it, not even with Nick and Shannon. He said he thought it was a lovely idea and even better that all four couples were doing it together. Now, we just had to set it up with the minister. Let the party begin.