Mr. Johnston then picked up the phone again to make his next call. called Mr. Hermàn. "Ryoden, it's Robert."

"What can I do for you?"

"I talked to Ivera about you renting that cabin you have just outside of town and having her just sell her place."

"No way. I talked to her and although not all details were worked out I was going to move in."

"Noah isn't a child anymore. He willingly submitted to me."

He could almost see the snarl on Mr. Hermàn's face. "Willingly? He didn't fight or cry?"

"Not even a little." He could almost see the disappointment on his face. "Look, help me convince Ivera to sell her place, move and let me keep Noah."

"Why would you want him? You said he didn't fight."

"Unlike you I didn't want that. I'll make you a deal. I have a friend who takes in runaways and orphans. He owes me. We could go see if he has anything to your liking."

"Won't people question it?"

"Why should they, your wicked wife just abandoned you for another man and you have no children. Most people in town will praise you for taking in a poor orphan child. Even if the brat tells what you do to him, deny it. Tell them he's just mad at you for whatever the reason."

Mr. Hermàn thought about it, he was respected in town and some kid he adopts spouts crap. Few would believe it. But to be safe he'd have to keep the brat under wraps till he was sure he wouldn't say anything.

Mr. Johnston could almost see the wheels turning and decided to give him a push, "I don't know how young you'd want or what he has…"

"Are you saying I could get more than one and really young?"

"If you don't want to make townspeople too suspicious then I'd advise no more than two."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to Ivera and show her the place and then invite Mrs. Winters at the same time and tell her Ivera was thinking of renting the place from me and after Mrs. Winters tells her what a good idea it is. It would be good for meetings and it should be easy to get her to agree."

"How can you be sure that's the way Mrs. Winters will react?"

"Simple, Mr. and Mrs. Winters have been my long term rentals for a couple of years now. She has been shipping a lot of stuff out recently so they eventually only need a small suitcase to finish moving themselves out. She wants to find a suitable replacement before stepping down and moving for good."

"I see. Let's meet up early. You can either follow me with a covered wagon or horseback. If you go by horseback it's faster but if you find more than one kid you like, delivery will be an extra expense you'll have to pay."

"In that case I'll have to rent a wagon. It'll probably be cheaper than what your friend would charge for delivery."

"You're probably right. See you in the morning." As he hung up he stretched and curled up around Noah.

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A couple hours later Noah yawned and stretched. He had hated the thought of doing it with this man, but now he couldn't believe he was thinking this but wanted to do it again. But first the man owed him some answers. He shook him awake.

Mr. Johnston yawned and stretched. He reached up and expected Noah to slap his hand away but was surprised when he simply blushed as his hand caressed the young man's cheek.

Mr. Johnston sat up and started kissing on Noah's shoulders and neck. Much to his surprise Noah didn't object, only squirmed a little. Only when he reached down and started to gently tug on his member did Noah speak up.

"You-You promised to tell me what I want to know."

Mr. Johnston chuckled and let go, smirking at the disappointed noise he got. "What do you want to know?"

"Granny Adler said I look more like Robert than John."

"She's senile. You look nothing like me."

Noah's eyes went wide, "What?"

Mr. Johnston smiled at him, "Fine, let me start at the beginning. My first name is Robert. Katalena and I were childhood friends and I thought sweethearts. We'd been together off and on since we were very young. Despite other kids in the area it was always just the two of us."

"Why didn't your parents bring in other kids?"

"I didn't know or care at the time. All I knew was that my father and her mother were real close and I assumed at the time they would just go off to talk in another room. It wasn't till I got older I realized our playdates were just a cover for their affair. My mother either never learned of the affair or didn't care."

"What about her father?"

"He caught them and after an ultimatum she reluctantly gave him up."

"Even after the affair ended and we made other friends. We'd still hang out. We'd go to school functions, dances, things like that together. We even went to plays and dinner just the two of us, as young teenagers. I was in love and I had always assumed she was too. This went on all the way through high school. Although in high school she did date around as did I, but we always came back to each other. Then in college she told me she met someone, I was devastated. She dated him for a couple of months and I was so happy when she came back to me after telling me she broke up with him. I was very happy as she never mentioned him again. After we started getting serious and making out more than ever. Once we started college we would talk about marriage. I just assumed when I asked and she dismissed it, saying we could discuss this later she wasn't ready yet. However after one marriage discussion she got cold on me. I assumed she thought I wasn't serious about her. I knew the time was right. So I went to her father and asked permission to marry her. He said yes. However when I told Katalena, she got angry that I didn't talk to her first. I didn't understand the problem, we had discussed marriage more than once. She said she wouldn't marry me."

"Wait, you were almost married to her?"

"No, I was married to her."

"But you just said…"

"That she refused me. It turned out she had gotten back together with John. The guy she had been seeing in high school. However he didn't go to college, he was training with his father to be a traveling salesman. While I was going to college and was going to train under my father to be a banker."

"I guess her parents didn't want her to be with a traveling salesman. I know mother didn't like it as it kept papa away from home all the time."

"That and I'd be making five times what he might make. I'd also be able to provide her with a good life and a stable home. Something he couldn't do."

"Did John object to your wedding?"

"He did try to talk Katalena out of doing this, but she was scared of disobeying her father who had a violent temper. Tell me Noah do you know the name of your father's brother?"

"I haven't seen him in years, but I think his first name started with a K."

"No, Kelvin was your uncle's middle name. It's the only name your mother will call him, despite his hatred for the name. since Katalena's death that's all she's ever called him."

"You know my uncle?"

"Your Uncle John, yes. We had many battles and many talks about Katalena."

Noah's eyes went big, "Are you saying my uncle was the man Katalena wanted to marry?"

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A/N: I am making a side story to finish out Mr. Hermàn's story. When I finish I'll post a link to it. Of anyone is interested. It won't appear in this story as that is rated R. First it's not going here due to the rating and second it distracts from the main focus of the story.