Author's Note: Hey y'all. Okay, so this update has been a long time coming. I know, I suck. But in my defense, I wanted to upload this last week, but the document manager wouldn't let me. LOL. SO yessum. Thank you to all the reviewers, you really mean a lot to me! If y'all ever had any questions or ideas, by all means please message me! You guys are awesome, happy reading!

Chapter 4: The Ornaments

When I woke up the next morning, Troy was fast asleep on my chest. I wrapped my arms around him, reveling in the warmth that he provided. He stirred a bit, and lifted his head to look at me. He looked extremely cute as he blinked his eyes trying to figure out where he was.

"Hi there," I said. He yawned before answering me back.

"Morning," he said a little more awake. In one swift move he straddled me, and leaned over to give a more proper wake up call. He let out a moan as I deepened the kiss and pulled him down to me. He ground his hips into mine, promptly getting the reaction out of me that he had hoped. Before we got too carried away we could hear the first few lines of "Good Morning" coming down the hall. Troy slid off of me with a groan, clearly not liking the fact that Riley's impeccable timing was ruining his morning plans. I sat up but kept my arm around him keeping him positioned right by my side. Just as the door opened, he rested his head against my shoulder.

"Morning Daddy, morning Troy," she said climbing up on the bed on the other side of me, her feet dangling off the edge. She hugged me as Troy kissed her head.

"Morning baby girl," I replied as she snuggled in next to me.

"What are we doing today? Do we get presents?" She asked excitedly, almost borderline hyper. I questioned if she had got into the sugar bowl before she came to our room.

"Yeah do we?" Troy begged along with her. I shook my head, not knowing what to do with these two.

"No, you don't. It's Christmas Eve, not Christmas morning!" I said tickling Riley. She laughed out loud and soon she was in my lap with both Troy and I tickling her. Before the tickle fight got out of hand Troy stopped, pulling Riley to his lap and stated he was hungry. Riley immediately agreed.

"Okay, let's all get dressed and we'll make breakfast together," I stated.

"Yay!" Riley cried as she hurriedly crawled off of our bed and out of our room. In her haste she didn't realize where she had stepped, and I groaned in pain.

"You okay Ry? Want me to kiss it better?" Troy asked with a suggestive wink.

"If you do that, Riley won't eat until lunch," I laughed kissing him. "I'll be fine, you go get dressed." I could see his pout as he climbed out of bed looking for his jeans.

When Troy and I finished getting dressed we found Riley sitting at the island in the kitchen with a hair brush in her hand and hair elastic around her wrist. Troy started putting her hair in a pony tail as I got out the ingredients to make pancakes.

"Thanks Troy," Riley said kissing his cheek. She ran back to her room to put her brush away. I could see Troy chuckle, as she came rushing back, not wanting to miss a second with us.

We liked traditions in our house, and we had a lot of them. One being that every Saturday morning the three of us would sleep in, then make a huge breakfast brunch together. It usually consisted of the same things, but everyone had a job. I would make the pancakes, Troy would make the eggs, and Riley would make the toast and help the two of us out as well. While we were in the middle of making things we would start singing random songs together. We always enjoyed it, and we let nothing get in the way of it. One time on a business trip, I took a red eye flight at three in the morning just so I could be home for Saturday morning brunch. Like I said, nothing got in the way of this.

We sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Troy started playing footsies with me under the table; he was definitely in a playful mood today. I gave him a look, letting him know that he was so gonna get it later. All he did was smile, and lick his lips. I squirmed in my seat, as Troy laughed out loud knowing the reaction he got out of me for the second time that morning.

"What are we doing today Daddy?" Riley asked, interrupting my thoughts of revenge for tonight.

"Well, this afternoon we are decorating the Christmas tree in the living room, and then we could watch a movie I suppose."

"Cool!" Riley said. She loved Christmas and always looked forward to decorating the tree. Just last weekend we had gone out to pick the tree from one of our neighbor's yard who sold them as a side business. Unfortunately, that also meant that I had to cut the tree down. By the time Riley yelled "Timber" from the safety of Troy's arms, I was down right exhausted.

When brunch was done we all pitched in cleaning up the dishes, and making the kitchen clean again, before we headed to the living room. Troy put on a Christmas Classics CD while I took the lids off of the decoration boxes, trying to find the string of lights.

Troy and I put up the lights together while singing along to Frank Sinatra. Luckily they worked because I hadn't tested them before hand. Then we started putting ornaments on the tree. Troy had never seen our decorations before so he asked about each one as its place was found somewhere on our tree.

"This one," I said pulling out a bell shaped picture frame, "was from Riley's first Christmas, sort of." I stared at it for a minute before I handed it over to him as he looked at the picture inside it. Jaime was nine months pregnant in an elegant red Christmas dress leaning against me for balance with my hands on her waist.

"She's gorgeous Ryan," he said in awe.

"Can I see Momma?" Riley asked reaching up to see the picture. I picked her up on my hip as Troy came to my side handing her the picture. "I miss her Daddy."

"I know sweetheart. I miss her too." I said as she hugged me tighter. Troy looked at the floor not too sure what to do or say.

"Is she watching us Daddy?"

"She is honey, everyday. I know she is proud of you." Riley nodded at me as she slid down and started looking through the box of decorations again. I sat down on the couch beside Troy as she quickly pulled out another picture framed ornament. I knew immediately which one it was.

It was the last Christmas we ever had with Jamie. It was from her hospital room. She had Riley in her lap, and the two of them had the biggest smiles on their faces. I was sitting beside Jaime on her bed with my arm around her and Riley holding onto one of my fingers.

"I know she is happy Daddy," she looked up at me and smiled, showing me the ornament while she sat on Troy's lap.

"Why is that?"

"She's happy because you're happy. She sent you Troy." I love my daughters timing. I know Troy did too because his frown was no longer displayed across his face.

"Honey, that's sweet, but I don't think Jaime sent me Troy honey. I knew Troy before I had ever met your Momma," I explained. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she needed to know that.

"He's right Riley. I never knew Jaime," Troy said trying to help. I threw him a look of thanks. He always knew when I needed backing up.

"Silly Daddy," she said as she shook her head with a smile. She got up and headed back to the boxes; she turned around halfway and just gave us a look. "Who do you think brought him back for you?"

Troy and I just looked at each other. Neither one of us had an answer for that one.

We finished decorating the tree, with me lifting Riley up on my shoulders so that she could put the angel on the top of the tree. We all stood back to look at our work. It really was a perfect Christmas tree. I needed to capture it, and start a new ornament collection with my new family. I set up my camera on the table with the self timer and took a picture of the three of us in front of the tree, with Riley between Troy and I, and our arms around each other.

"Okay peanut," I asked stretching out my back. "You want to have a basketball tournament?"

"Yes!" She squealed. Both she and Troy ran right out the back doors before I could say another word.

The three of us played basketball, until I had to go in and make dinner. Troy and Riley were too busy playing one on one to notice anyways. It was dark outside before they came in and washed up for dinner. The rest of the evening went by pretty quietly, with the three of us on the couch watching Christmas movies. Eventually Riley passed out in Troy's lap.

"It's getting late Ry," Troy said shifting so that he was cradling Riley in his arms. "I'm gonna put her to bed."

"Okay darlin'," I stood up along with him. I kissed him. "I just have to do a few things, and I'll meet you in bed okay?" He nodded.

I ran out to my Denali and grabbed the portfolio from work that had everything I needed for Troy's Christmas present. I quickly placed the envelopes everywhere I needed to, and then hung the last part of his present in the tree in a less obvious spot, so the surprise wouldn't be ruined. Besides, he'd be more interested in what's under the tree along with Riley, instead of what was in the tree. With a silent prayer to God that everything went smoothly tomorrow, I headed upstairs to Troy.

DisneyKid