A little sneak peek into Ryu

 

“It says here that you love soft things and story time, cuddling, and watching movies, that you don’t like when things are dark or scary, and that there is a night light in the basket for you. I’ll plug it in for you before bedtime. You love to put things in your mouth, especially lollypops and binkys, but you’ll suck on anything you’re given. Really? I can see us having a bit of fun with that. It also says you love to color, which I’d already guessed from the coloring book and crayons I unpacked. You sleep with your stuffy and get cranky when you stay up too late. When you’re naughty, timeouts work best, but no spanking. You don’t have to worry about that little one, I never hit my boys. It also says that too much sugar makes you hyper, so snacks before bedtime should be as close to sugar-free as possible. That might be a problem until I can go grocery shopping.”

“Snacky?” Ryu said, having heard the most important word to him at the moment.

“Let me guess, you’re hungry?”

Ryu nodded, smiling and wiggling a little closer to Kissmass Daddy, glad he was no longer being grumpy, talking loud, or scowling at him.

“Joy.”

Grumbling, he reached for the basket and pulled it onto the floor, his hands parting the bits of paper and other things tumbling about, until he came up with a baggie of the yogurt-covered strawberries Ryu loved. Clapping, he giggled and reached with grabby hands, opening and closing them until Daddy handed them over. Ryu had no sooner removed one of the fat berries when Kissmass Daddy took it and the baggy back again.

“Snacky!” Ryu whined, reaching to get them back.

“Wait,” Daddy barked, making him jump and clutch his ice bear stuffy.

His lower lip trembled as he tried to sort out why Daddy was suddenly upset with him again.

“No. No, it’s okay, no need to cry little one,” Daddy said, lowering his voice as he reached to brush the first tear from Ryu’s cheek. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I’m sorry. I’m worried you might choke on these if I let you eat them this way. I’m going to take them into the kitchen and cut them in half, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Ryu sucked faster on the binky and nodded his head, still uncertain, but Daddy had said he was sorry, which meant everything would be okay. He soon brought back a plate with Ryu’s berries and carefully placed it in his hands.

“I’m afraid I don’t have plastic ones anymore,” Kissmass Daddy said. “You’ll have to be careful until I can get some, okay.”

Ryu nodded and pulled out his binky, setting it carefully on the plate with the berries so it wouldn’t get any yuckies on it.

“Okay, I be careful,” Ryu said before gobbling down the first few pieces.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Daddy said, catching Ryu’s hand and holding it gently when he went to reach for the next one. “I’m not going to take them from you again, I promise. Take your time and chew them carefully, please.”

Up close, Daddy’s eyes were kind and filled with worry. They weren’t angry or scary at all.

Ryu can be found here: Amazon.com: A Daddy for Christmas: Ryu eBook : Dorine, Layla: Kindle Store