Baby Love Lite (31 page)

“
Well, no, he didn’t say
that,” Gina replied. “He just showed up thirty minutes late at the
accountants looking all bleary-eyed and unkempt. He snarled at me
about my prowess at shadiness and referred to me as “the Shady
Lady,’ how coincidental is that?”

Oh shit!

“
Oh, Gina, I’m sorry. I told
him you were considering changing the name of the club to The Shady
Lady.”

“
That’s certainly fitting,”
Trey chimed in. “I’m going in to pack. This conversation's
over.”

“
You see?" Gina whined after
he'd left. "You see how he treats me? Why am I the bad guy in all
this?”

“
Sit down, Gina,” I replied.
“Let’s talk.”

She sat down crossing her legs and arms. Her
body language definitely told me that she wasn't going to be
receptive.

“
First of all, I don’t think
that you're the bad guy in this and neither does Trey. In fact, he
thought the way you went about getting Libby to admit what she'd
done was pretty clever. Tristan needed to know what she was about.
So what happened this morning? Is Tristan actually angry with
you?”

“
Well, I wouldn’t say angry
is the word. I mean, it was really hard to tell because he was
bleary-eyed like he hadn’t slept and kind of disheveled. He still
looked hot," she giggled.

“
Well, he didn’t yell at you
or anything; did he?”

“
No nothing like that. It's
just when Rob was going over the figures with him it seemed like he
was preoccupied and miserable.”

“
Well you of all people can
understand that right? Seeing that video of Libby admitting that
she wanted Trey had to be a shock for him. How were things left
about the club?"

“
Tristan got copies of the
financial information. He's flying back to Bristol tonight. He said
he'd review everything and be in touch early next week.”

“
Once he comes to terms with
the fact that this thing with Libby was nothing more than him
acting out a mid-life crisis he'll shake it off. Trey says Tristan
has the Midas touch when it comes to managing
businesses.”

“
He looks like he probably
has the Midas touch with a lot of things.” Gina was giggling like a
school girl. I suspected she was crushing a bit on
Tristan.

“
Hey,” I said, “That still
doesn’t explain why you were so late in getting here.”

She fidgeted a bit then said something about
she had to go back to the condo to pack her stuff for her stay at
our place with Preston. That was strange. Apparently it was none of
my business. Perhaps Tristan had kept her longer than she cared to
admit.

“
Maybe if he has to come
back next to week to finalize the papers, he can stay here and have
Thanksgiving dinner with Trey and me.”

“
You’re not going to
Bristol?” she asked.

“
No. Trey’s parents
alternate each year between their house and the Andrews. This year
it’s the Andrews turn and Trey and I decided not to make the trip.
Are you going to Becky’s for Thanksgiving this year?”

“
I can’t go this year on
account of the club. That’s a very busy three-day weekend for us,
so I'll be sticking around here.”

“
Well good. We'll expect you
here for Thanksgiving then.”

Trey emerged packed and ready. I filled Gina
in on the last minute instructions concerning the baby. She'd
picked Preston up out of the playpen and was holding her. I kissed
my baby on the cheek and Trey did the same. I told Gina I'd call
her later.

Trey and I relaxed on the plane in first
class. I hadn’t been away with Trey since our honeymoon when I was
so stressed about leaving the baby. Today, I'd no such
trepidations. I was excited about going to this oral argument or
whatever it was called. I needed Trey to clarify it for me.

“
Trey, I know you’ve tried
to explain this whole process to me but start with the basics, if
you will, and explain why this Motion has to be heard by a panel of
judges from different districts. I mean, I understand that your
clients reside in different districts, but why so many judges on a
panel need to decide?”

Trey loved explaining the law to me; it was
his life, his passion. I got that. I loved hearing him talk about
it because it was complicated, subjective, and passionate - just
like Trey.

“
Okay, baby, well first of
all, I think you’ve already realized that multidistrict legislation
or MDL as its commonly referred to is a special federal procedure
to speed the process of handling complex cases having multiple
litigants from different jurisdictions.” I nodded wanting him to
get to the part that I didn’t already know.

“
So, in this particular
case, we have a product liability issue with mass torts and
multiple plaintiffs from different states. Some of those states,
though neighboring, fall under different federal court
jurisdiction. The purpose is to get the federal judges on this
panel, which represents different federal court appellate
jurisdictions, to agree that it's first of all the right thing to
do; and secondly, to specify
which
federal jurisdiction should hear and rule on all
of the pre-trial motions.”

“
Does this sort of thing
happen a lot?” I asked.

“
I wouldn’t say that our
firm runs into it that often, but it’s not all that rare either.
The MDL statute came to be enacted in 1968. It was a belated
response to a major price-fixing scandal that occurred at General
Electric in 1961. As a result of GE’s activities in 1961, the
federal courts were flooded with criminal and related civil
litigation. The statute was put into place to consolidate pre-trial
proceedings and discovery under one court for efficiency and
timeliness.”

“
My husband seems to be an
expert on this particular legal topic,” I said with pride in my
voice. Trey smiled at my compliment.

“
Thanks, baby. Actually I
did my senior thesis on that particular case involving GE's
price-fixing and anti-trust violations for my entrance into law
school. It was titled, "Edison’s Evil Empire: Conspiracy and
Collusion". I got an ‘A’ on it,” he grinned.

Trey continued to educate me on the
procedures that take place during this hearing with time limits and
the random calling of dockets. I think once again in his own way,
he wanted to prepare me in case I couldn’t get close enough to
Judge Tylar to see if he was related. I was hoping for some
recognition on my part, though with all of the lies that Maggie had
told over the years, even I couldn’t see how that would be
possible.

Once we were on the ground in Baton Rouge, an
airport limo took us to our hotel which was located within walking
distance of the federal court where we would be in the morning.
Trey was busy on his Cell and laptop, so I called Gina to let her
know that we'd arrived and asked how the baby was doing.

“
Everything's good, Ty. No
worries here. Preston sure does like those green beans you made for
her. I spooned in the whole jar and she still acted like she wanted
more.”

Really? The whole jar?

“
Gina, you probably
should've only given her half of that jar with a half of jar of the
fruit that I left in the fridge.”

“
I did give her a half jar
of that fruit stuff. I think she'd have eaten it all, but I got
tired of cleaning it off of myself when she kept hurling it at me
with her fingers. It was quite a food fight we had going. I think I
got most of it off the walls in the kitchen.”

Holy shit!

“
Where's she
now?”

“
She's playing in her
playpen. I’m about ready to give her a bath and put her in her
jammies. Do you want to say good-night to her?”

“
Yeah, put the phone up to
her ear I want to see if she recognizes my voice.” I heard Gina
talking to her as she took the phone away from her ear and put it
near Preston’s.

“
Go ahead, Ty, the phone is
next to her ear.”

“
Hi, Preston! How's Mommy’s
baby doing, huh?”

I could hear Gina’s voice in the background.
“You should see her, Ty; she's grinning ear to ear and slobbering
on my damn phone to boot.”

“
Mommy loves Preston. You be
a good girl for Aunt Gina, okay?” I gave her loud kisses over the
phone. Gina got back on.

“
That's so cute how she
recognized your voice. She was smiling away at the phone!" It did
my heart good to hear that. I missed my sweet baby.

"Hey, Ty, we’ve got to cut this call short,
Tristan's calling in. Have fun; don’t worry. Bye.”

Tristan's calling in? Why the hell is
Tristan calling her already?

“
That’s weird,” I mumbled
aloud.

“
What’s weird, baby?” Trey
asked looking up from his laptop. “Did your phone drop the
call?”

“
No, Gina was in a rush to
take Tristan’s call just now.”

Trey glanced at his watch. “He’s probably
just now at the airport. Maybe he’s had an opportunity to look over
the financials and wants to back out of the deal,” he chuckled.

“
I've a feeling that’s not
the case,” I replied, stretching out across the king-sized bed. I
propped my head up on my elbow, watching my gorgeous husband
tapping the keys on his laptop.

“
Whatcha doing, Trey?” I
asked coquettishly.

He looked over at me and smiled. “Just give
me a few minutes, baby, to finish typing up these notes and then
we'll go get something to eat,” he said. “Do you have any
preferences?”

“
I was actually in the mood
for some protein,” I replied giving him a smile. Trey looked up
quickly from his laptop, a sly grin spreading across his face. He
stopped typing and stood up to stretch. He unbuckled his belt and
kicked his shoes off, closing the distance between the desk and the
bed.

“
What the hell; I can finish
those notes later,” he grinned joining me.

Trey set our alarm for 6:00 a.m. so that we
could get to the courthouse in plenty of time. I'd finally nagged
him into getting there early so that we could have seats in the
courtroom as close to the judges’ bench as possible.

He explained that during the wait most
attorneys take care of other legal business through use of their
cell phones or laptops remotely. They don't necessarily stay in the
courtroom until their case is called. The remote activity is done
out in the corridor. The judges frown on the distraction from
beeping phones or hushed conversations within the courtroom. He
also explained that entering and exiting the courtroom repeatedly
is frowned upon as well.

I told him once he got me seated he was free
to go out in the corridor until his docket was called. I wanted to
watch the proceedings. This was something new for me. Aside from
that, I wanted to observe this Judge Tylar. I'd pulled a picture up
of him when I did an internet search of his name. There was no
obvious resemblance to me but the picture didn’t divulge a lot of
detail. I guessed his age to be late forties; he seemed handsome
enough for an older guy.

I'd dressed conservatively in a black
turtleneck sweater dress. I'd pulled my hair back into a ponytail.
As I finished getting ready in the bathroom I removed the two blue
velvet boxes from my carry-on bag. I put the pearl drop earring in
my ears, and fastened the single tear-drop pearl necklace around my
neck. Trey came into the bathroom asking me to tie his tie.

“
What'd you do all those
years before I was in the picture?” I teased him.

“
I had girlfriends,” he
replied snickering.

I smacked him playfully on the shoulder.
“There,” I said, straightening his tie and smoothing it out. “You
look very handsome counselor. What judge could possibly refute your
argument?”

He leaned down and kissed my lips several
times.

“
What’s with the earrings
and necklace?” he murmured softly against my lips.

“
Is it too much?” I inquired
looking up at him.

“
You’re
too much, baby,” he replied kissing me again.

“
I know you think this whole
thing with the names is weird and meaningless Trey; but at the very
least, we get to spend some quality time together and I'm looking
forward to seeing you in action.”

“
Baby, you see me in action
on an almost nightly basis.”

“
I meant in the
court room,
counselor.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Trey and I ate breakfast at the hotel. We
decided to walk the few blocks from the hotel to the Russell B.
Long Federal Building on Florida Street. It was a sunny and
pleasant November day. I was excited about this excursion.

Once at the courthouse, Trey went to the
clerk’s office to sign in and confirm which court room was assigned
for these oral arguments. Trey said it was on the third floor. We
took the white ornate railed staircase instead of the elevator to
the third floor. There were already plenty of attorneys milling
around in the hallway, their cell phones up to their ears.

We found the double doors to the court room
and went inside. There was still ample sitting room available. I
told Trey I wanted to sit as close as possible to the bench. The
seating reminded me of church pews. We took a seat in the best
available which was second row front.