Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,93
seat by Laz, but if that’s a problem we can rearrange a few people.”
“No, not at all. It’s not a problem,” Alex answered, walking over toward Lazarus, kissing a few people on the cheek as she passed them. When she reached the seat Lazarus patiently stood beside, waiting for her to sit down so he could do the gentlemanly thing of scooting her chair closer to the table, she smiled at him. “Thank you, Lazarus.”
“You’re welcome. I’m really happy you’re here,” he said as she allowed him to nudge her chair closer.
“Me, too. I’ve missed everyone,” she said, looking everywhere around the table but at Lazarus.
Dishes began to be passed her way and in only a matter of moments, her plate was filled.
“Alright, if you don’t mind waiting a minute longer, Cristie’s been practicing a blessing for this evening. She wouldn’t let us hear it until tonight so we’d all be surprised. Go ahead, baby girl,” Riley said proudly.
Cristie stood from her chair, which barely changed her height at all and primly clasped her hands in front of her. “Thank you for this food, it feeds our bodies. Thank you for our family, they feed our spirit. Thank you for all we love, it feeds our hearts. All we have is a gift, and we are thankful. Amen.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling. “Poppy taught me,” then raising her voice even louder she grinned and proclaimed to all in the room. “Past the teeth and over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!”
When everybody laughed, she sat down and started eating.
“Of course, he did,” Maia said, chuckling.
Taking advantage of the moments of silence as everyone first dug into their meals, Lazarus produced a small unwrapped box from his shirt pocket and placed it beside Alex’s plate.
She looked down at it, but refused to look up at him. “What’s this?” she asked quietly.
“Something I saw and wanted you to have,” he answered.
Alex’s first instinct was to push the box back over toward his plate, but she didn’t want to cause a scene, and she was really curious. Alex laid her fork down on the edge of her plate and picked up the box. It was a deep blue velvet, and obviously contained some form of jewelry. She opened the box and when she saw what was inside, she couldn’t help but smile. “You shouldn’t have done this,” she said, still not looking at him.
“I shouldn’t have done a lot of things, but this is something I most certainly should have. Merry Christmas, Alex,” he said, placing his hand on the back of her chair.
Finally, she turned her head to look at him.
“It belongs to only you,” he said, not clarifying if he meant his heart, or the necklace.
“It’s beautiful,” Alex said, touching the heart-shaped ruby surrounded by little round diamonds, and set in gold.
“You want me to put your necklace on you?” he asked.
Alex nodded. “Yes, please,” she said, turning her back to him and lifting her hair.
Lazarus took the pendant from her, placed it around her neck and fastened it from behind.
Alex let her hair fall and looked down at the heart-shaped ruby falling just above her cleavage. “It’s beautiful,” she said again as she ran her fingers over it.
“I’m glad you like it,” Lazarus said.
Alex smiled at him for a moment longer, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Lazarus had made it a point to shut her out, make her feel like all he wanted was a casual relationship, then he goes and buys her a ruby and diamond pendant, shaped like a heart no less, and Lucas said he’d been stalking her.
“Eat your food, Alex. It’ll get cold,” Lazarus said, smiling at her like nothing unusual had just occurred.
Alex nodded, and picked up her fork. She placed the fingers of her left hand over the ruby heart again, and when she looked around the table, Maia was watching her with a sly, knowing smile on her face.
Maia winked at her, and Alex offered a smile in response.
The rest of the meal went off without a hitch, and was enjoyed by all. After a dinner of Cornish game hens, oyster dressing, bacon wrapped asparagus, cauliflower in cheese sauce, and a dessert of homemade bread pudding with peaches baked right in served with a whiskey sauce, everyone eventually returned to the living room, to the great relief of the children.
The kids were practically vibrating with energy they