Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,37

but he hadn’t heard Bastian cry or make any sounds. He let the light strand hang where it was and took the monitor out of his back pocket to look at it. He smiled at the monitor when he swiped the screen and saw his son sleeping in his bed. Maybe he’d just turned over or shifted enough to set off the motion sensor. Riley decided to go check it out.

“Ya’ll got this for a minute?” he asked.

“Sure,” Lazarus answered from up above.

“I’m going to check on Bastian real quick,” he said, climbing down the ladder and going inside. He set the monitor on the side table and went upstairs to check on Sebastian. He quietly opened the bedroom door that used to be Richie’s, and tiptoed inside the room. He smiled as he stood beside the baby bed and looked down at his son.

The child was beautiful. He had hair like Maia’s, but with a few more red undertones. His complexion was creamy like Maia’s with a slight spattering of freckles across his nose. He had large hands and feet, indicating he would one day be a big man. Riley reached out and placed his hand on his son’s belly softly, and Sebastian opened his bright blue eyes and smiled at him. He had Riley’s eyes, and the dimple in Riley’s chin was there on the baby as well.

“Are you pretending to sleep?” Riley said, gently tickling Sebastian’s side.

Sebastian turned over and immediately started trying to get his knees beneath himself so he could move around like he wanted to.

“Here,” Riley said, scooping the baby up, “let Doddy get you.” Riley lifted Sebastian from his bed and blew raspberries on his belly making the little boy laugh and grasp the sides of Riley’s head.

“You ready to get up?” Riley asked. “Okay, let’s get you changed, and you can help Doddy put up the decorations, alright?”

Bastian watched his Doddy talking to him as he changed his diaper. When Riley was done, he bundled up the baby, then put on the baby papoose that Maia had insisted they get. He settled Bastian in it, held snugly against his chest, so he could hold him while he worked. “This thing is pretty handy, but don’t tell Mommy,” Riley said as Bastian babbled away happily while Riley headed downstairs.

“Let’s get you something to munch on while I’m busy, and I’ll be done in no time,” Riley said, looking down at his son strapped safely against his chest.

Sebastian looked up at his Doddy and started to gnaw on his own fist. “You are the eatingest kid I’ve ever seen!” Riley commented, as he walked into the kitchen and gathered a few of the teething biscuits Maia kept for Sebastian to snack on, dropping two of them into a sandwich bag. Then he filled one of the small baby bottles with apple juice and handed it to Bastian along with a biscuit. “There ya go. We all settled?” Riley asked, looking at Bastian, who was drinking his juice with one hand while holding the biscuit with the other.

“I think we’re set,” Riley said, shoving the other biscuits into his pocket as he headed outside to help finish the lights.

As soon as he stepped outside, Sebastian squealed delightedly and turned up the volume on his babbling.

“Oh, I hear the boss is awake,” Lazarus said.

“He is,” Riley agreed. Riley looked up when he heard shuffling above his head and found Lazarus hanging over the side, looking at them.

“Hey, Bastian! How are you, buddy?” Lazarus asked, still hanging upside down looking at them from the roof.

Bastian twisted his head, looking for the source of the familiar voice. Riley turned enough for Sebastian to be able to find Lazarus. The minute he saw Lazarus hanging upside down, Sebastian laughed. He kept laughing, every time Lazarus would disappear back on the roof, then slowly let his head hang out over the edge again.

“Alright, we need to get this finished,” Riley said, chuckling himself at Lazarus playing with Sebastian. “One day, Laz, you’re going to make a wonderful father.”

“Naw, not me. Uncle? Yeah, I can do that. But I’m too broken to raise anybody to be a good person.”

“Seems to me the broken are sometimes the best parents. They know all the bad things to avoid and can teach survival like nobody’s business,” Riley said.

Up on the roof, Lazarus stopped stringing lights around the second floor windows and thought about what Riley had just said. He’d never thought of it that