A/N: So happy everyone is continuing to enjoy this- your reviews are always SO appreciated! I love Castillo, but writing Andy was fun in the previous chapter... we'll see him again later in the story, but first some Mama Raydor Time...

CHAPTER 25

Sharon found Rusty at his usual spot during the mid-morning time of day, seated beneath a turquoise & white striped market umbrella, at one of the tables in the hotel's pool bar.

Her son had an ongoing chess ritual with another guest, an elderly man who called himself Pistol Pete, and claimed himself to be a Master.

So far their match series was at a draw, with Rusty and Pete at two games each. The winner of this game went home the Champion of the Marbella Sand & Spa Hotel Chess Series Classic...

There were further grandiose additions to the title, but Sharon couldn't list them without laughing, as each day it got more and more over the top.

She just couldn't get enough of how much her son had grown, and for the person he was maturing into.

Holding back, Sharon watched as the last few moments of the game played out.

Within three moves, Rusty's king was finally held in checkmate. Graciously, he shook hands with Pete, and even bowed for effect.

Sharon took her cue to join him, once the winner excused himself to adjourn to the bar in search of a pink squirrel.

"You threw that, didn't you?"

Rusty didn't even flinch as Sharon's arms engulfed him in a hug.

"Yeah," he confessed with a shrug.

They sat, and Sharon ordered a Plantation Iced Tea, while Rusty continued to enjoy his Sprite. He started to put away the chess pieces furnished by the hotel's concierge, but Sharon motioned that she wanted to play, so he gladly re-set the board.

"So..."

Rusty raised his brows and looked up at his mother, after jumping one of his knights in an opening move.

"Sooo," he mockingly drawled. "Did you and Marty have fun last night?"

"Yes." Without saying anything further, she moved a pawn two spaces, as was legal in an opening move.

Her son grinned.

"And no, I'm not going to tell you which box we used, the size Large or Extra-Large," Sharon said in speaking of the Trojans that Rusty had bought her.

"Good," Rusty replied with a shudder. "Becuz' I really don't wanna know!"

Sharon flashed him one of her famous Mona Lisa smiles, as she moved a bishop.

"Just as long as you're happy, Mom."

"I am."

"Good."

After a few moves between the both, Sharon finally moved her queen out into the field of play. "Marty asked if you and I would like to do something fun later on today. Something involving nature, and an alligator farm. I said yes."

Rusty nearly choked on his soda. "You did?"

Taking advantage of her son's distraction, Sharon put herself in position to take one of Rusty's bishops with a pawn backed up by one of her knights.

"MmmHmm."

"That's so cool!"

"I thought so, too."

Finally, Rusty saw his mother's trap. Quickly he moved his bishop out of harm's way.

They played on, in companionable silence.

"You really love Marty, don't you?" Rusty asked as he took Sharon's last pawn. When his mother blushed, he couldn't help but ask/tease her further, "So are you guys gonna get married, and then he can be my new Daddy?"

Sharon arched a brow.

"Would you like that?" she asked in all seriousness.

"Um, yeah..." Rusty studied his mother's face and knew the look she was giving him, as he'd seen it many times in the past when they'd had heart-to-heart discussions such as the one they were having. "Would you?"

"It's not that simple."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "This marriage to Jack and Catholicism-bit is getting really old, Mom. If Sharon Raydor really wants something, she goes out and makes it happen. I think that's why nothing has ever really happened between you and Andy–"

"Honey–"

"And that's exactly why I haven't been on-board 100% between you and the lieutenant... because you're not really there either. Am I right?"

Sharon didn't answer, but instead moved her king out of harm's way.

"God wants us to be happy, right?" Rusty continued. "He loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for our sins, and Jesus willingly did that for us, right?"

Sharon's heart ached with pride, knowing that after dragging Rusty to church for countless Sundays, that he was indeed listening after all.

"Yes," she replied quietly.

"So when are you going to finally put down your cross, and realize that maybe, just maybe, God has steered you back here to Miami, and Martin Castillo, for a reason? Mom, we all think that you guys are magic together–"

"We all?" Sharon cut in, while repeating Rusty's words.

Her son suddenly became fascinated with the inside of his glass of soda. "There may have been a bet going as to whether or not you and Marty were finally going to have Sexy Time."

Sharon squeaked in horror.

Rusty continued, "It was our group, plus Marty's family and his lieutenants. Gina and Trudy both thought that Marty had forgotten how to have sex, it had been so long since he'd been with someone... Amy and Provenza each thought you'd chicken out... Kat was undecided... but Kara and Lee, and I all knew that you and Marty were bound for explosion, one way or the other. Kara knows her Old Man, and I know you, so that's why I bought the condoms. Last night was a really special night, and you both looked like a million bucks, so it had to happen."

Sharon studied the chess board to center herself, and saw that Rusty had her king boxed in, and it was no doubt Check Mate.

In more ways than one...

"If things are supposed to work out between Marty and myself, they will," Sharon said finally as she and Rusty packed up the chess set for the day.

"I know," he stated with a sigh. "It's just that you guys are such a good thing. I'd give anything to have that. I mean, you and I are a good thing, and something I can't believe is even happening on most days, but-"

"You want romantic love for yourself," Sharon cut in gently. When Rusty answered with a shrug, she couldn't help but pull him into a warm embrace. "Is this also about Kat?" Sharon surmised in askance.

Rusty was quiet before replying. "She kissed me the other day when we were at the Casa Mia site. I didn't know what to do, so kissed her back. It was all pretty quick, and kinda nice... but the feeling just wasn't there. I wished that it was, and I told her so..."

"She knows you're gay."

The young man huffed a bit like Martin Castillo, and it made Sharon's heart ache.

"Yeah, of course," Rusty said as he and his mother headed for the elevators to go back to their rooms to better prepare for the day. Sharon was fully dressed in jeans and a Guatemalan peasant top, but he just had on board shorts and the t-shirt he'd slept in. Once they were alone in the hallway to their rooms, Rusty continued his impromptu confessional, "Actually, Kat told me she kinda goes both ways herself, and she just took a chance thinking that maybe I did or could too."

"I see," Sharon replied with a nod.

"It would be so cool... Kat and I get each other... and she's really like the girl version of me."

"Your soul's mate."

"Yeah."

Swallowing that piece of information, Sharon could not help but be reminded of William Shakespeare's famous line about the course of true love never being smooth.

It was a notion that she knew all too well for herself.

#TO BE CONTINUED#