Be My Baby (13 page)

"Someone is asking for Mama," she said
smiling holding Preston's hand as they walked into the room.

"Mamma," Preston said smiling and running
over to the bed.

My father scooped her up giving her a kiss
on her cheek.

"I will leave you two alone to spend some
time together. Tylar I will see you at dinner?"

"Yes Dad," I said as I scooped Preston up
and pulled her close to me. "You will see us both."

Once alone in the suite I turned the
television on while Preston and I sat on the bed taking turns
putting a wooden puzzle together. She was really getting good at
it. I noticed that she had passed some gas several times while we
played.

"Preston, would you like to sit on a
big-girl potty?" I asked her excitedly.

She stuck her index finger in her mouth
biting on her nail. She saw me smiling as if whatever I had
proposed to her was going to be lots of fun.

"Uh-huh," she said, smiling.

"Okay, come on sweetie," I said, lifting her
from the bed. I grabbed one of her story books from the nightstand.
Once in the bathroom I laid her on the bathroom rug and removed her
leggings and then her wet diaper.

I sat her on new potty chair and promptly
opened the storybook and started reading to her so that she
wouldn't try to get up. I pointed out the pictures in the book,
naming the characters for her. Thankfully she was totally involved
in the books. I was on the second book when I saw her little face
get red and heard her audibly grunt. I kept reading as if I wasn't
aware of what she was doing. Several minutes later I could tell
that she was finished. She wanted to get off the potty so I stopped
reading.

"Oh look Preston," I said excitedly,
pointing to the bowl of the potty chair. "Preston is a good girl.
She made doody in the potty."

I clapped my hands smiling at her. She
grinned showing her dimple and giggled. I continued to praise her
for going potty like a big girl. I grabbed a baby wipe and
explained that we wiped our bottoms once we were finished on the
potty.

I emptied her bowl into the toilet and
flushed. She was crushed that I had disposed of her 'doody'

She looked up at me and whined, "Mamma -
doodee . . . doodee."

"Don't cry baby girl," I said laughing. "You
will have lots more doody. We will tell grandpa about you going
potty like a big girl too."

"Pappaw?" she asked sniffling.

"Yes sweetie, Grandpa will be so proud of
Preston."

I went ahead and put a diaper on her. I had
neglected to buy training pants for her. I would remedy that
tomorrow.

I could tell she was ready for her nap. I
put her in her crib with a couple of her stuffed toys. She was
yammering away to them for a few minutes and then it was silent. I
checked on her and she was sleeping soundly sucking her thumb. She
was so much like Trey I thought as I pulled her blankie up to her
waist.

I went back into my room seeing that it was
now after 3:00 p.m, I figured Trey should be home. I took a deep
breath as I picked my Blackberry up and phoned him. I was nervous
as hell. What if he didn't answer?

Trey answered but his voice was distant.

"Yes, Tylar?"

"Trey - you left without saying 'good-bye'
this morning," I stammered.

"I didn't want to wake you," he replied
flatly.

"But still you had another day here with
Preston."

"Trust me Tylar; I didn't want to leave her.
It was the hardest thing that I've ever done. I just needed to go.
I don't think that I could have dealt with looking at you right
now."

My first instinct was to grovel and cry and
tell Trey it was my entire fault. Then I remembered what Gina had
said to me earlier. This was a two-way street.

"I understand how you feel Trey. That was
exactly how I felt too, you know - afterwards."

"Oh I see. So I guess this goes under the
heading of "payback is a bitch?"

"Not at all, Trey. I wasn't looking for
revenge. It's more complicated than that."

"I can't deal with you right now Tylar. I
need time to assess this situation."

"I totally get that Trey; I know how you
feel. I just wanted to tell you that I apologize and that I have
had a long talk with my dad. I think he has helped me to put some
things into perspective and I am taking the necessary steps to get
some counseling so that I can deal rationally with all that is
happened. There are just two things that I want you to take away
from this phone call right now and then I will let you go and say
'good-night'."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I'm sorry baby. I love you."

CHAPTER 9

The following Tuesday I had an appointment
with my father's physician, Dr. Whitlach. He had me sign a release
so that copies of my medical records with Dr. Addison could be
electronically sent to him. He went ahead and prescribed the same
anti-depressant that Dr. Addison had prescribed for me last year.
He also recommended a grief-counseling group that met once a week
and provided me with their leaflet as to time and place for the
meetings.

After my doctor's appointment I went to the
styling salon where I had my hair returned to its previous color,
highlights and all. That itself had made me feel better
immediately. I knew the anti-depressant would take a couple of
weeks to fully kick-in.

After getting my prescription filled I
stopped at a department store and purchased some training pants and
pull-ups for Preston. I decided to use the pull-ups at night and
the regular training pants during the day at least initially. I had
checked on-line for some potty training tips.

I drove my dad's car back to the estate. He
was not in court today so he stayed with Preston while I was out.
When I got back home they were playing in the living room together.
Dad was showing her how to build a fort with her colorful plastic
blocks. Once they finished the fort she climbed on his back and
they charged the gate knocking all of the blocks down. It was
humorous watching my dad on all fours playing 'horsey' while
Preston was on his back, rocking back and forth and squealing with
delight.

"How many times have you knocked the fort
down Dad?" I asked grinning.

"More times that I can count," he laughed.
"She is wearing her grandpa out."

Preston was gathering up the blocks to
stack.

"Gain Papaw, gain?"

"Preston why don't we give Grandpa a break?
I bought you some big girl panties today. How about we change?"

"Kay Mommie," she said.

"Did you hear that?" I said smiling, "She
called me 'Mommie' instead of Maama!"

I took her upstairs and removed her diaper.
It was still dry. That meant I needed to put her on the potty now
to see if I could get her to 'pee-pee.' I decided that was the word
I wanted to use. The on-line tips suggested a word be used
consistently with the child to represent urinating and another one
for having a bowel movement.

I walked her into the bathroom and asked her
to sit on her potty. I ran some water in the sink which supposedly
helped with the process. She looked up at me and giggled. I gave it
a couple of minutes and then went over and lifted her up. Sure
enough she had deposited some yellow 'pee-pee' into the bowl.

"Good girl Preston. You pee-peed like a big
girl in your potty," I praised. "See?"

She looked down at her potty and
pointed.

"Doodee," she shrieked happily.

"No honey, that is 'pee-pee,' I said.

"Doodee," she said firmly.

(Whatever - I guess with potty training it
was best to pick your battles. I wasn't going to get into a war of
words with her.)

"Preston is a good girl."

I got toilet paper and showed her how to
wipe.

I put a pull-up on her until I could get the
new cotton training pants laundered. I waited until she was out in
my room playing before I emptied the bowl and flushed away her
'doodee' not wanting her to get upset like she had the day
before.

I had a sudden urge to share with Trey what
she had accomplished. Then I remembered we weren't really talking
much. I hadn't heard from him since I had called him Saturday
evening. I had talked to Gina once since then and she said that he
and Tristan had not made up yet so she wasn't sure how Trey was
doing.

I stuck close to the house for the next
couple of days working with Preston on the potty-training and
interviewing for Danny's replacement. My father had entrusted me
with that responsibility probably because I was the main reason he
had an open position to fill.

By Friday I had made my selection for
Danny's replacement. He was a man in his early fifties named Ronnie
Mitchell. He had great references and Larry had liked him best out
of all of the candidates. I had insisted on Larry's input since
they would be working together. He would start the following Monday
which worked out perfectly since that was the day Matthew's trial
was starting. The jury selection had finished up along with opening
statements. On Monday the prosecution would begin hearing
testimony.

At dinner on Friday my father asked if I had
heard anything from Trey. I told him I had not heard anything from
him since I had called him the previous Saturday.

"I'm getting a bit tired of this nonsense,"
he commented.

"What nonsense Dad? I made the last move now
it’s his turn."

"No daughter; now I think it is my
turn."

"Whoa Dad, hold on one minute. I thought you
weren't the type to interfere in my personal business?"

"When it comes to my granddaughter I will
damn well interfere," he said. "No matter what is going on between
you and Trey or Trey and you, Preston is not a part of that."

He was downright ticked off at the moment. I
decided it was best I kept quiet. He was going to do what he was
going to do no matter what. Besides, I kind of liked the idea of my
dad giving Trey a butt-chewing on Preston's behalf.

I looked over at Preston who was sitting
next to him in her high chair. She was eating some sliced banana
which was a favorite. She must have sensed she was the center of
attention she gave me a big grin squeezing out mushy banana through
her teeth.

"Oh Preston yuck," I said getting up and
going over to her with my napkin.

I was dabbing up her face and hands when I
heard her start chattering.

"Doodee, Mommie."

(Uh oh - I needed to move fast!)

I lifted her quickly from her high chair and
high-tailed it upstairs with her.

I realized that I had lost the race when I
heard her grunt loudly as I reached the upstairs hallway.

"Doodee, doodee," she whined now feeling
uncomfortable in her cotton panties.

"Yes sweetie, I can smell it from here."

I got her cleaned up and put her on the
potty to see if she needed to pee-pee. It took several minutes but
she complied with high praise from me. I put her in clean panties
and we retreated back downstairs.

"I take it she didn't make it to the potty,"
my father observed with a chuckle. "I'll get another potty chair
for her down here."

"By the way," he added, "Trey will be here
tomorrow morning and will stay through Monday afternoon."

"How do you know?" I asked perplexed. I had
only been gone for ten or fifteen minutes.

"I called him," he replied. "Trey now knows
how I roll."

I giggled silently wishing that I had been a
fly on the wall during that phone conversation. It would be hard to
determine who could top whom in stubbornness between the two men in
my life.

Something inside of me fluttered at the
thought of seeing Trey again. I guessed it was my dormant
butterflies. I hoped that they wouldn't be disappointed. I had no
clue as to how Trey was feeling about me these days. I had an idea
I would be finding out tomorrow.

After getting Preston bathed and put to bed
for the night I took a leisurely bubble bath. I waxed and shaved;
gave myself a pedicure and a facial. My hair looked much better now
than it had when he was last here. I even felt better with the
antidepressants starting to work a bit already.

I slept soundly that night dreaming of Trey
and what I hoped would take place during his visit.

CHAPTER 10

I took extra time with my appearance the
following morning. I selected a dark blue sweater and a pair of tan
corduroy pants. I wore a pair of my new boots that had heels making
me taller. My hair was now just long enough to put up in a short
ponytail so I did so.

I got Preston dressed in a dark plaid jumper
with a white turtleneck under it. I decided against tights due to
her 'big girl' panties as we had been calling them. I put knee high
socks on her instead with a pair of dark brown loafers. She looked
like a tiny parochial school girl. I pulled her dark locks up into
a ponytail and tied a bow around it.

"You look so pretty for Daddy," I said to
her.

"Daddy?"

"Yes Preston. Daddy is coming to visit
you."

We had just finished up when my father
knocked on the door letting us know that Trey had arrived. My legs
suddenly felt like they were made of rubber. I felt dizzy and
sweaty.

"Dad - could you please take Preston down? I
need a minute or two."

"Certainly darling, are you okay?"