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“I’d like that.” His attention shifted as he looked around the house as we walked through the small foyer and into the living room, studying the ridiculous amount of furniture I had as he took everything in. “This is beautiful. I can see why brown is a color you really like too. Aside from the scales part.”
Some people might’ve said I had too much wood in the house but I knew there was no such thing…just like there was no such thing as too many chairs or side tables. “Yeah, Kenzie’s family is really talented and did a lot of the woodwork. It’s exactly how I imagined it would look.”
I was pretty sure their talent for crafting wood was magical in nature, but I hadn’t been able to prove it yet.
“It’s amazing.” His gaze landed on the bookshelves on either side of a large fireplace. “Oh, that’s—”
“I thought you’d like that part.” It was filled with books, some newer than others, and now there were quite a few that spanned a large age range. “You can look at them now or you can open your present. Which would you prefer?”
“Present. Then books.” The words popped out like the cork on a bottle of champagne. “Please, Daddy?”
Oh, he wanted it enough to pull out another Daddy?
“I think that’s a great plan.” Setting the bag on the coffee table, I helped him put his books beside it and settled on the floor. “Come check it out.”
“Yes. Thank you.” He threw himself down by the table and took a deep breath as he looked at the bag.
It was blue and decorated with balloons in primary colors and I could see him nearly vibrating with excitement. “It’s…it’s not big boy stuff, right? That doesn’t look like abig boy stuffbag.”
I wasn’t sure what was going through his head, but he didn’t seem frustrated at the idea that I’d gotten him little stuff. “Why don’t you check it out and see?”
Nodding faintly, he let out a slow breath and reached for the bag, but he stopped before his hands reached it. “Let’s…let’s do it together, Daddy.”
Something about his voice felt softer but I didn’t let myself overanalyze it as I scooted around behind him. “That’s a great idea.”
The nervous energy running through him seemed to fade slightly as I wrapped my body around his and he settled back against my chest. “Yes, doing things together is a good idea. Relationships should start as you mean to go on. I read that in a book.”
It was good advice no matter where he’d read it.
“I think that’s smart. We want to start off with honesty about what we want and who we are.” Wanting to keep things light, I grasped for a silly example. “What if you said you liked cheesecake just because you knew that was my favorite, and then ten years down the road, I find out you hate it? That would be terrible.”
Stefan giggled, nodding as he snuggled against me and reached for the bag again. “That would be very sad for both of us. But I like cheesecake, just to let you know.”
Kissing the side of his head, I sighed dramatically. “That’s a relief.”
That time when he shook it was from barely suppressed laughter and it took him a moment to get himself under control. But that gave him time to pull out the silly decorative paper that kept everything hidden. “I thought you’d think so, Daddy. What…what dessert don’t you like?”
“Oh, that’s a hard question.” I made thinking sounds to keep him distracted as he slowly reached into the bag. “I think black licorice is disgusting, and every once in a while, Kenzie makes something with that seed or spice, whatever it is, that tastes like it. He’s very polite when I decline but he’s perfectly convinced that enough sugar covers up the taste. It doesn’t.”
Stefan was shaking again and that time the laughter escaped. “That’s terrible, Daddy.”
“I know. It’s like he’s torturing me.” Stefan’s hand was going insanely slowly as he started pulling something out of the bag, so I kept up the distraction. “Of course, he only makes the godawful stuff when I disagree with him about something, so he might actually be torturing me.”
Stefan immediately started nodding. “He did it just after I got here. He was mad at you about tattling on something—I missed that part, so I don’t know what you did—but he made those cookies just to punish you.”
Kenzie was such a brat.
But he was saved from being tattled on again when Stefan pulled his first present out of the bag. It was wrapped in the same white tissue paper, but I thought it was fairly obvious what it was as he slowly unwound the paper.
A bottle.
As soon as he had it open, he looked down at it for several long moments before he petted the pictures on the outside. “I like the bears, Daddy.”
“I thought they were very cute and they reminded me of you.” The way that made his head cock made me chuckle. “You’ll see why in just a minute.”
“Oh.” He looked up at the bag again. “There was more stuff.”
“That’s right. I picked out a few things for you to try.” Picking up the bottle, I set it on the table. “You like sucking on the applesauce and this way I can help you with water or juice or anything like that.”
