Baby Love Lite (48 page)

“
We'll go home, baby; how
about tomorrow?”

Trey booked our flight when we got back to my
father’s estate. We had a late afternoon flight out of Baton Rouge.
My father spent the evening playing with Preston while Trey and I
relaxed in front of the massive fireplace.

The following morning Dad took us on a tour
of the grounds. He had several thoroughbred horses stabled in his
barn. “Do you ride?” he asked me.

“
A little,” I replied
smiling.

He had one of the hired hands saddle up two
horses Trey had stayed behind with Preston. My father and I rode
the trail that went the full perimeter of the estate. It was
breathtakingly beautiful. I could tell my father had a passion for
horses. He was an excellent English rider as well. Perhaps
something else I'd inherited from him, I thought.

When it was time to depart for the airport, I
hugged my father tightly. I'd grown close to him these past several
days. I knew that we'd continue to bond as parent and child. He
promised he'd let me know the status of the investigation as it
unfolded.

He shook Trey’s hand before we left and
mentioned that he'd recused himself from the decision relating to
the oral argument Trey had given a few weeks prior in Baton Rouge.
He explained it would've been a conflict of interest for him to
opine on the matter.

“
Shit,” Trey said later on
the way to the airport, “here I thought it would be a slam-dunk
with your father on that panel. Now, I have to sweat it out while
waiting for the others to decide.”

I was glad to be going home. It'd been nice
spending time with my father and getting to know him but I missed
my routine at home. The holidays were fast approaching and I needed
to prepare for our baby’s first Christmas. After that, I needed to
prepare for our move into our new home. I leaned my head against
Trey on the airplane. Preston was asleep cuddled in his lap. “I
love you, Trey.”

“
I love you too,
baby.”

“
Trey?”

“
Yes, Tylar?”

“
Truthfully, what did you
feel if anything, yesterday when you saw my mother in that
casket?”

He looked down into my eyes as I was nestled
against him. He looked a bit distraught. “I was overwhelmed with a
feeling of despair,” he replied thoughtfully.

“
Why despair?” I
asked.

“
Because part of me was
totally in despair at the thought of how tragic her situation was;
it saddened me to think of someone close to you having had to
suffer through that. The other part of me despaired at the
knowledge it was exactly that same tragedy that'd allowed your life
to intertwine with mine. I couldn’t imagine my life without you. It
really tore me up.”

“
I don’t know,” I replied.
“I guess I believe in destiny. I mean, I think that you and I were
destined to be together. I don’t want to think that the tragedy
with my mother was the only way we would've found each
other.”

“
I like the way you think,
Mrs. Sinclair.”

C
HAPTER 47

As the Christmas holidays approached, Trey
and I'd decided to stay in Atlanta. We hadn’t heard anything
definitive since we'd left Baton Rouge the week before. My dad had
stayed in touch but he'd know more the following week when the
Grand Jury convened. The toxicology report on my mother’s autopsy
was due the first part of January. Dad had invited us to Baton
Rouge for Christmas but I told him we felt like we needed to stay
in Atlanta for Preston’s first Christmas and he'd understood.

Gina and Tristan had been working night and
day preparing the club for its official grand opening on Christmas
Eve as "Tristan’s Shady Lady Saloon and Restaurant." The contractor
had made most of the minor changes; the health inspectors had
approved the kitchen for food preparation; an area had been walled
in as the restaurant and the wine cellar was completed.

Tristan had discussed with Trey taking over
his lease on the apartment when we moved. The tenant's association
approved the lease transfer so both Tristan and Gina would be
staying on after we moved.

Trey and I'd decorated the apartment for
Christmas. We'd bought a live tree and spent the whole Saturday
before Christmas decorating it. Preston wouldn’t leave it alone; we
had to watch her constantly as she crawled over to it and tried to
snatch an ornament here or there. Gina had given her one of her
gifts early. It was her “Ho-Ho-Ho” plush Santa Claus.

“
Jesus Christ,” Trey
complained after he'd heard the “Ho-Ho-Ho” several hundred times as
Preston played with it. “I just got rid of that damn ghost. Leave
it to Gina to provide another irritating toy for the
holidays!”

“
Ah-ha! I knew you did
something with that ghost! Where is it?”

Trey had grinned sheepishly then finally
admitted he'd put it in one of the Goodwill boxes that I'd filled
when cleaning out the closets.

“
Shame on you,” I admonished
him gently. “She loved that ghost.”

“
She never knew it was
gone," he replied laughing.

“
Well, I warn you, Trey
Michael, you won’t be pulling that shit with Santa
Claus.”

We'd sent our Christmas presents on to
Bristol, planning on going there right after Christmas to ring the
New Year with Trey's family. Even Tristan and Gina were planning on
going. Tristan had hired an assistant manager for the club in an
effort to free up some of Gina’s time. It was evident that they
were totally in love.

Gina and I'd spent some BFF time together
after my return from Baton Rouge. I'd told her everything. “I can’t
imagine how that must've felt for you,” she'd consoled.

“
It was almost like looking
at me, Gina. It was bizarre. It was like me but at the same time,
it was someone I didn’t remember.”

“
I just have to tell you
that I really think your dad is awesome.”

I'd shared with her my feelings of anger and
resentment for not finding my mother and declaring his everlasting
love for her before his marriage. Gina told me I was too much of a
romantic and not enough of a realist.

“
Speaking of which,” I
stated, taking the opportunity of segueing into the subject. “It
appears to me that you and Tristan both have been bitten by the
love bug.”

“
Girlfriend, we're taking it
just one day at a time. We still fight like crazy but hey, the
making up is fucking fantastic.”

“
So, any talk of you two
getting engaged or anything?”

“
Seriously, Tylar? I'm just
freshly divorced; Tristan is just freshly off of a broken
engagement. We're simply enjoying each other. It’s not that
serious, I keep telling you.”

“
Whatever,” I commented
shaking my head.

Jean was coming over Christmas Eve to stay
with Preston while Trey and I attended the grand opening of Tristan
and Gina’s club.

I'd just enjoyed a luxurious bubble bath
while Preston napped. Trey was finishing up some work in his study
where the baby slept.

“
Whatcha doing,
Trey?”

“
Hey, sweetie,” he said
turning to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m almost done for the
night. How about meeting me in our bed in about thirty?”

“
What can I say, Mr.
Sinclair? You're so fucking romantic,” I teased. I went back to our
room and climbed into bed enjoying the feel of the freshly changed
sheets. I switched the flat screen on and before I knew it I'd
dozed off. I was awakened some time later when Trey crawled into
bed next to me, drawing me into his warm embrace.

We'd just started getting down to it when our
play was interrupted by loud voices coming from the guest room.
Tristan and Gina had come home. They were arguing about something.
Trey stopped what he was doing to me at the moment which had been
feeling really great as their voices got louder. We both sat up
straining to hear what was taking place. I was hoping they didn’t
wake the baby in the room next to theirs.

“
I’m sorry, Tristan,” Gina
shouted, “It just seemed to me as if you spent an inordinate amount
of time training Amy. It’s obvious to me she's totally crushing on
you and you enjoy it!"

“
What the fuck are you
talking about, Gina? I didn’t spend any more time training her in
the restaurant than the male waiters. What the hell's really going
on? Are you premenstrual or something?”

“
Oh, yeah, a typical guy
thing to say when a female calls them out on something. Don’t cloud
the issue, Tristan!”

“
Gina,” Tristan pleaded, “I
swear to you on all that's precious to me, that I don’t feel a damn
thing for Amy. I’m all about you, babe. Can’t you see
that?”

“
Oh, Tristan,” Gina whined,
“Why in the world do you put up with my shit?”

“
You know why, baby. I love
you.”

“
I love you too, Tristan,”
she wailed.

“
Jesus Christ,” Trey
grumbled, “I fucking knew she'd somehow wheedle her way into the
family!”

“
I think it's very
romantic.”

“
You would,” he
griped.

I crawled onto his lap and started kissing
him very passionately. We were just to the point where things were
progressing nicely when we heard the banging of the headboard
against the wall in the guest room.

“
Holy shit,” Trey
snarled.

“
I guess we’re going to need
to move that bed to the fucking center of the room the way that
those two go at it!”

“
Trey,” I pleaded, “Put
those two out of your mind. It’s just you and me right now. I want
you to make love to me.”

“
You’re right, baby,” he
said softly, pressing me down against the mattress and kissing me
passionately. His hands roamed over me in all of the right places.
My body responded to his touch, like always. His lips traveled
downward to my sex. His expert ministrations with his tongue
brought me to my foreplay orgasm.

“
My turn, baby,” he moaned
laying back.

Just as I took his erection into my grasp, we
both heard Preston crying from her room. “Jesus Christ; want to
guess what woke her up?” Trey snapped, leaping from our bed and
pulling his pj bottoms up. He opened our door and went down the
hallway coming back with Preston in his arms. He handed her to me
and I turned my nightstand light on.

She'd soiled her diaper so I asked Trey to
bring me a fresh one and some baby wipes. I got her cleaned up and
changed pulling her pajama bottoms back up. She smiled at me
showing me her eye teeth.

“
Hey, pretty girl,” I cooed
to her, “two more days until Santa visits here bringing Preston all
kinds of presents because she's been a good girl this
year.”

She put her fist up to her mouth giggling.
“What does Preston want Santa to bring to her?” She rolled onto her
stomach and crawled closer to me repeating “num-num” over and over
again. She'd gotten a view of my still bare breasts.

“
I think Mommy can
accommodate that,” I replied laughing. I settled back on my side
with my head propped up on my arm. She crawled over and snuggled up
beside me and gently began nursing. Trey came out of the bathroom
just then spotting her cuddled up against me.

“
Well, it looks like
everyone is getting theirs tonight but me,” he complained, throwing
his hands up in the air.

“
Don’t pout, honey,” I
chided him. “Santa doesn’t like that.”

"Ho ho ho," he replied, getting into bed with
us.

Preston was up at dawn on Christmas morning.
Of course, she'd some help because Gina and Tristan were making
enough noise to wake the dead in their bedroom.

“
Jesus Christ,” Trey moaned,
rubbing his eyes. “Don’t they ever give it a rest?”

I got up to check on Preston and found her
sitting up in her crib playing with her Santa Claus. She smiled and
scrambled to her feet upon seeing me come into the room. “Merry
Christmas, baby girl,” I crooned to her lifting her to me. I
grabbed a clean diaper and her baby wipes and took her back to our
room. Trey was still in bed sitting up. He reached to take her from
me.

“
Da-da-da-da,” she squealed
smiling at him.

“
I think she has a Christmas
package for you, Trey,” I said laughing as I headed to the
bathroom.

“
That’s all right,” I heard
him croon to her from the bedroom. “Daddy will change his baby
girl.”

I was sitting on the toilet; I waited
counting down to the inevitable gag that always occurred after he
unfastened her soiled diaper to take it off. There it was.

“
Christ, Tylar, stop
pureeing the green beans,
please
!”

It was always my fault her baby poop made
him gag…..LOL!

I finished up in the bathroom just as Trey
was fastening her clean diaper on her. I put my robe on as I headed
back out into the bedroom. He was taking the offensive diaper to
the lined and covered trash can we kept in his office now that she
slept there.

“
At what age do you normally
start potty-training?” he asked as he headed out to the
hallway.

“
It differs. It helps if
they’re walking though.”

“
Smart ass,” he mumbled as
he headed down the hallway.