Dancing in the Gray (34 page)

“Ok, so now you have the time and
financial stability to do both of those things. What
else?”

He took that surprisingly well. “I want
to fulfill Martie’s bucket list. Sad thing is, I have no clue
what’s on it.”

“Well, you have time for those
discussions now. Once Martie finishes one bucket list, she can make
another. You have the time and money to do that now. What
else?”

“I don’t know, maybe some charity
work.”

“Ok, with who? What cause?”

“Something with education or maybe at
risk youth.”

“I actually made a contribution this
week to a school district where the teachers were paying for normal
classroom needs out of their own pocket. Can you imagine having to
buy updated reading materials for your class when that should be a
staple provided by the state?”

“Do they still need more money? Or
maybe time?” Elise liked the idea of helping the teachers or
students. Her education is what got her so far, and if she could
pay it forward, everyone wins.

“I’ll get the contact information. I
had to ask Sophia to put up the money since it may look like I was
trying to buy votes if it actually came from me. It all has to look
ethical since my bank accounts can come under scrutiny.”

“
You should have asked
me.”

“I thought about it, but it was the
morning of the television interview. I didn’t know exactly where I
stood with you after I fucked up.”

“Do you know where you stand with me
now?” Elise loved him so much and she didn’t want any lines
blurred.

Trey cupped her face in his hands,
“Yes. I think I do.”

“I love you, Trey. Being here over the
past two days has felt so right. I want to be in your life, and I
want you to be in mine.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I.”

“Let me show you something.” Trey took
Elise’s hand as he guided her back into his office. He opened his
briefcase that was on the desk and pulled out a key ring that had a
couple different sets of keys on it. Trey placed the key ring in
Elise’s hand. “These are all of my keys to everything in my
world.”

Elise looked down at the key ring and
saw two keys that looked like car keys, and there were five other
keys that Trey would have to explain. “So what are all these
for?”

Trey lifted each key one by one, “This
one is for my office in D.C. This one is for my office in New York.
This one is for the main entrance to this house. This one is for
the side entrance to this office. And this one is for the carriage
house across the way.” Trey pointed out the window to the building
that was on the far side of the driveway against the tree line. “I
actually wanted to show you the carriage house and to get your
thoughts on something.”

Elise was a little puzzled,
“Ok.”

Trey led Elise out of the side entrance
to his office across the long parking area to the two story
carriage house that had its own two car garage. When they got to
the entrance, Trey unlocked the door and let Elise walk in. It was
a beautifully designed space that consisted of a spacious living
room, kitchen, and bedroom on the first floor. There was an
elevator that took them up to the second floor where there was
another sitting room and two more bedrooms.

“The previous owners had adult children
that went to college so they built this for them as a way for them
to have some freedom away from their parents without the expense of
renting.”

“It’s an amazing space. The natural
light coming through is beautiful.”

“Well, what I was thinking was maybe
one day in the future when you are ready, you could move in with
me, and this space could be for Martie.”

Elise whipped her head around and
looked up at Trey. The look on his face was so tender that tears
immediately stung Elise’s eyes. She was choked up when she tried to
speak. Trey grabbed a tissue from the sitting room and brought it
over to her. “Martie?” That was the only word she could
muster.

Trey nodded his beautiful head causing
Elise to break down into a full on bawl. Who was this perfect,
wonderful man? What did Elise do to deserve someone like
this?

“I know how important a relationship
with a parent is, and I would never want to have her any farther
than arms reach from you. I don’t want to rush you Elise, but I
would be lying if I told you that I haven’t thought about a future
with you. And in that future, Martie is there, too.”

Elise buried her face in Trey’s chest
hugging him to her, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. Just think about
it.” Trey held Elise for a long while until her emotions were more
in control.

Elise finally lifted her head from
Trey’s chest. “So what are the other two keys for?”

Trey smiled down at her and lifted the
two car keys, “My Mercedes and my vintage Jag.”

Elise wiped the remaining tears from
her eyes. “What kind of Jag?”

“1956 Jaguar XKSS,” Trey had a look of
pride on his face. “Just like Steve McQueen’s.”

Who knew Trey was a fan of the King of
Cool? “Can I see it?”

“Yeah, follow me!” Trey was nearly
sprinting across the asphalt heading towards the three car garage
that was attached to the main house. When the garage doors opened,
a silver CLS550 Mercedes was parked on the far left hand side. It
was the same on that she saw parked outside of the house two days
ago not realizing that it was Trey’s car. The far right hand bay
had this beautiful emerald green convertible roadster. The steering
column was on the right hand side and it had black leather
interior.

“She’s beautiful.” Elise walked over to
take a closer examination of the interior of the car. “Does she go
fast?”

This was obviously Trey’s baby. “Yes,
very. Wanna take a ride?”

Elise was giddy with excitement, “Hell
yes!”

Trey laugh echoed in the garage. “Hop
in.”

Chapter 26

Elise was laying on Trey’s chest when
she heard her BlackBerry ringing on the nightstand. She looked at
the clock which ready 5:45 am. She pressed the ignore button on the
phone without even looking at the caller id and laid her head back
down on Trey’s chest. Her phone immediately began ringing again.
She picked it up and actually looked at the home screen. It was
Jeremy calling, which was odd.

Elise answered the phone sleepily,
“Before 6 am, really?”

“Ashley’s water broke. She and Caleb
are heading to Mount Sinai Medical Center as we speak.”

Elise sat up, “Holy shit! She’s a week
early!”

“I know. So exciting! We are going to
be Aunts!” Elise couldn’t help but laugh.

She jumped out of bed and started
running around Trey’s master bedroom causing him to wake up in a
panic. “Elise, what’s wrong?”

She smiled as she covered her cell
phone and whispered to Trey, “Ashley’s water broke. She’s having
her baby.” Trey’s eyes widened with excitement as a small sexy grin
curled his lips.

Jeremy snapped Elise out of her Trey
trance, “Do you want me to call Martie? Are you bringing her with
you?”

“Yes, and if I want to live, yes!”
Martie was the mother hen to all of Elise’s friends. Ashley’s baby
would be like a grandchild to her. The relationship that her mom
had with both Jeremy and Ashley was so special, and Elise love her
mom so much for it.

“Ok. So are you driving or
flying?”

“I think it’s just best if I drive. By
the time I book a flight and get to the airport, I could be half
way to New York by then. Tell Martie I am heading straight there
now.”

“Ok, doll. See you soon.”

Elise threw her phone on the bed and
started stripping out of her nighty. She grabbed a white tank top
and pair of jeans out of her overnight bag and threw them on
quickly.

“Do you want me to cancel my meetings
today so I can go with you?” Trey’s question caught her off
guard.

“God, Trey…no…you don’t have to do
that.” Elise was shaking her head. She was so touched. “I’m sure
she will be in labor for a while before the baby even comes. Plus,
I had to be in New York tomorrow for the meeting with the attorneys
so I’ll probably spend the night there.”

“I’m going with you to your meeting
tomorrow. I already cleared my schedule for that.”

“I saw that on your calendar in your
office. You are just … wonderful” Elise ran over to the bed and
crawled onto Trey’s lap. “So, how about you just meet me in New
York after all your meetings are done today? If you fly over, let
me know and I’ll pick you up at LaGuardia. How’s that sound?” Elise
ran her hands through his tousled hair.

“That sounds like a plan! Ronald will
be with me so don’t worry about having to pick me up. You just go
spend time with your family and tell Ashley congratulations for
me.”

Elise pressed a hard kiss onto Trey’s
mouth, “I love you, and I’ll see you tonight.” Elise hugged Trey
tightly one last time before she hopped off the bed and slid into
her gold Tori Burch flip flops and brown cashmere cardigan. She
grabbed her purse and phone before she headed down the stairs and
out of the door.

~

Elise and Martie arrived at Mount Sinai
around roughly 10:30 am. Jeremy kept them posted on Ashley’s status
throughout the trip. Her contractions were very far apart, and she
was still only one centimeter dilated when Jeremy called a half an
hour ago.

Elise and Martie had linked arms as
they were walking swiftly to the entrance of the hospital. There
was a ton of press and paparazzi outside the main entrance due to
some pop star having her first baby there. She heard one of the
photographers shout her name which alerted the rest of them to turn
their camera’s in her direction. The group rushed towards her and
Martie taking still shots and video as she tried to make her way to
the door of the hospital

“Elise, what are you doing here? Is
Trey ok?”

The group was continuing to close in on
them which caused Martie’s grip to tighten around Elise’s arm. She
just wanted to get her mother into the hospital and get away from
the cameras.

“Please back up. Trey’s fine. My friend
is having a baby, and we need to get into the entrance.” Elise
pleaded with them to just let her by.

“Martie, what do you think of
Trey?”

Elise was getting pissed now since the
herd was now in front of her purposefully blocking her way into the
hospital.

Elise whispered, “Momma, you don’t have
to answer them.”

“I just want to get inside, Elise.”
Martie’s voice sounded nervous which escalated Elise’s
anger.

“Back up, now! I need to get my mother
inside!” Elise shouted at the group, but they just kept surrounding
them. That’s when it happened. Elise didn’t see it coming but
suddenly one of the cameramen got too close as someone in the back
of the pack pushed him into her. The zoom lens of his camera struck
Elise very hard on her forehead near her hairline. When Elise
brought her hand up to her head, she felt warm liquid. When she
looked down at her hand, it was covered in blood.

That’s when security from Mount Sinai
stepped in and pulled Elise and her mother into the hospital
entrance and forcefully removed some of the cameramen from their
property. Elise heard the cameras snapping get louder the second
she was struck, and they continued to snap pictures as the security
guards led them into the hospital. None of those jerks put the
camera down to help her because they didn’t want to miss the
shot.

Once they were safely inside, the
security guard asked for the receptionist to get a nurse to see
about Elise. She was ushered into a triage suite where the nurse
applied gauze to her cut and put pressure on it to stop the
bleeding. Her forehead was pounding, and she felt the area swelling
up from the cut. When Elise looked up at her mother, she was pale
and tears were streaming down her face.

“Momma, I’m ok. I promise.” Her words
of reassurance didn’t change her mother’s face at all.

“Elise, is that what your life is going
to be like?” Martie’s statement resonated to Elise’s core. Is that
what it’s like to be with a Watts? Is this something that she will
just have to deal with? Can she deal with it?

“Trey and I have been in Virginia all
week and nothing like that has happened. It probably wouldn’t have
happened under normal circumstances, but since that pop princess is
here having her baby, the vultures were out in masses.”

“Promise me you will get some security
when you come here in the future, Elise. Please promise me.”
Martie’s request sent chills down Elise’s spine. Her mother was in
fear that she would be hurt.

“If it comes to that, I’ll get
security, Momma. Please don’t worry.”

Martie wiped her swollen eyes with a
tissue. “Too late.”

~

Trey and Paul were in the middle of an
interview with a local news reporter when Maggie knocked on his
door then let herself in.