Chapter Nineteen

“I need to wash my face,” Riley said while wiping his face with his palms. “But I want to see him. Is it okay? And I want to be there when you tell him. Please.”

“Yes, you should be there.” He went upstairs and washed his face. He looked in the mirror and pictured Adam’s face. His son…

His heart beat in his chest and it felt as if he’d never felt a heartbeat before. Why did everything feel so new? He felt good. This is what it felt like to be a parent. His love for Adam had bloomed from nowhere into something that was now so big that it took up his entire perspective.

He dried his face and then hurried down the stairs and over to the cottage. Adam answered the door with a hopeful expression on his face.

“Hi Riley. Mom said it’s okay if I come over and watch television with you some time. We can watch ESPN. Mom doesn’t really like sports.”

“Adam, will you let Riley in?” Stella called out in amusement. She was sitting on the love chair. The Bluetooth speaker was back to playing more R&B. He liked it and the way the cottage seemed so full of life now that Stella and…and his son were here.

He smiled at Adam. He was big for a five year old. He got that from his old man. “We can watch whatever you want to watch.”

“Can we do it now?” Adam asked in excitement.

“Adam, remember what I told you-” Stella warned.

“It’s fine. I have a few hours before work.” And thank God there was a job to go to since he now had a little boy to support. He wanted to laugh out loud at the thought. Oh my God, he couldn’t wait to tell Sully…

Oh shit.

The smile fell from his lips. Riley frowned. I have a black son. It was the first time that thought had crossed his mind. It fucking sickened him that it had only crossed his mind in conjunction with his racist cousin and family history.

His eyes settled on Adam again and his anxiety fell away. He looked at Stella and smiled. “Shall we go now?”

Stella nodded and stood.

 

 

When Riley’s eyes opened he blinked and then checked the time. It was just after four. He yawned quietly into his fist and then looked around. Adam and Stella were fast asleep on the couch. Adam’s head was thrown back and his mouth was open and soft snores issued from him. A proud smile spread across Riley’s face.

Next to Adam was Stella. Once again her legs were folded beneath her and her head was propped on her arm, which rested on the couch’s armrest. He got up from his seat in the armchair and tipped upstairs to the bathroom and to prepare for work. Before he got to the stairs he turned back and looked at Adam and Stella asleep on his sofa, in his house and for the first time in a very long time the house felt like a true home.

A home is made of people…

His eyes settled on Stella. She had done an amazing job of taking care of his son single-handedly, but was there someone taking care of her?

He went upstairs. Half and hour later when he had returned to the living room, Stella was awake and Adam’s head was resting on her lap. He was still fast asleep.

“Hi sleepyhead.” He greeted her. He sat down on the couch, placing Adam’s feet on his lap.

“Sorry for falling asleep,” she yawned. “It was a rough day.”

Riley had to agree with that. “No worries. I napped also.” He reached out and gently stroked Adam’s short curls. “Jeez…”

“Still hard to believe?” Stella asked.

“Well it helps that he looks like me. How did I miss it?”

She chuckled. “Who would think that they had a son with a woman that they’d never met.”

“True.” He patted his son’s legs and then examined his fingers. “He’s got my hands too. Look at those nails.  I guess he’s got a habit of biting them too.”

“I try to discourage it but I can’t always catch it. He bites them down to where they sometimes start to bleed.”

Riley’s brow gathered and he had a flash of memory again. It was of Sully being punched repeatedly by his father. What kind of man would do that to his own son? But that’s when the nail biting began for him. He felt a surge of protectiveness at the thought of anyone hurting his son or even Stella.

He saw the witch’s finger sticking out of Adam’s pocket. He had shown it to Riley while they watched television. They had ended up watching a kid’s channel and Riley had been completely intrigued by it. He realized that kid’s shows were also low-key geared to adults.

Adam had waved the witch’s finger at him and had included him in the family’s protective spell. Riley got up and dug through his desk until he found a length of string. Then he tied it securely around the finger and knotted the ends. Stella watched as he slipped it carefully around Adam’s neck.

“There.” He whispered. “Now you’re protected.”

Stella watched him. She’d made the right decision. The expression on his face was different than when she’d first met him. She couldn’t explain it, but he seemed to have come to life.

“We better get going.” She made to lift Adam but Riley gently picked him up.

“I got him.” Adam sighed in his sleep and then rested his head against Riley’s shoulder. Riley took a moment to press his cheek against Adam’s head and then he carried him to the cottage. Once in the loft he placed him carefully on his bed and then slipped off his sneakers and lined them up against the wall.

Stella was still downstairs so Riley took a moment to scan the room that his son had claimed for the summer. There were video games, some clothes and shoes strewn about. A typical boy’s room.

Riley went downstairs and Stella was pouring herself iced tea. “Do you want something to drink?” She asked.

“No. I better head out for work. When do you think we should tell him about me?”

“Do you work tomorrow?”

“Yea but in the evening. We can do it in the morning. Can we have breakfast together?”

“Yeah. Come over about eight?”

“I didn’t mean for you to have to cook. I can make us some ham and eggs.”

“That’s right. You do cook.”

He nodded. “I do fair to middlin’.”

“Okay. Well we’ll be at your house at eight.”

He nodded once and then headed out the door. Before closing it he turned back to her. “Thank you for this Stella. Thank you for telling me. You didn’t have to.”

“It was the right thing to do.”

His eyes locked onto hers. Stella didn’t move or look away until he finally turned and left.

She pressed her back against the closed door. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. Stella. Stop.

She was attracted to him.

She rubbed her hands across her face tiredly. This wasn’t about her. It was about Riley and Adam. She didn’t need to try and create something between her and Riley just because he was Adam’s father. She wasn’t good with relationships. And the last thing that any of them needed was to create strain between themselves once they attempted a relationship only for it to fail.

Besides, he was white. And he’d already been in a relationship with one black woman that he had carelessly dumped. He was probably a good person—she had no doubt that he was. But his record with black women said that he was a lousy partner.

She thought about Evan. Maybe she had been too harsh. Maybe she would respond to one of his Facebook posts…maybe.