Baby Love Lite (43 page)

Trey didn’t follow me out into the hall.

“
What now?” I
asked.

“
Well, I really don’t want
her in here seeing our sexual shenanigans either,” he replied
sheepishly.

“
That’s a not a problem,
sweetie; there aren’t going to be any ‘haps’ in our room tonight.
Let’s go get her.”

Trey and I rolled Preston’s crib into our
room not disturbing her sleep whatsoever. I climbed into the bed
exhausted; Trey was right behind. We snuggled together and fell
asleep in each other’s arms within minutes. Sometime during the
night, both Trey and I were awakened by strange high-pitched
sounds. I got up quietly and approached Preston’s crib. She was
sleeping soundly her thumb in her mouth.

“
Is she okay?” Trey
whispered from our bed.

“
Sound asleep,” I answered
making my way back to bed.

Just then we heard the high-pitched wailing
again.

“
It sounds like a cat in
heat outside the building,” Trey whispered.

“
How in the hell can that
sound drift all the way up to this floor?” I asked. Our answer came
shortly after when we heard the headboard on the bed in the nursery
banging against the wall in a steady rhythm. The “cat” screeches
continued. We then heard loud male groaning; the banging had
increased in rhythm and loudness.

“
Jesus Christ,” Trey mumbled
loudly, “Déjà vu all fucking over again.” We both rolled our
pillows up placing them around our heads to cover our
ears.

Trey and I both awakened to the sound of
Preston babbling, “num-num, num-num.”

“
I think that means you,
honey,” Trey said rolling over and nudging me. I was extremely
groggy from our restless night due to the goings-on down the hall.
Preston had managed to sleep right through it. Trey had said it was
because she was used to those sounds. I'd elbowed him in the ribs
on that one.

“
I don't sound like
that
,” I'd snapped at
him.

“
And you better never,
either,” he'd replied laughing, “or I'll put a pillow over your
head.”

Trey nudged me again. “Look at her Tylar,
isn’t she cute?”

I rose up and saw Preston standing up in her
crib. She was bouncing up and down grinning from ear to ear. Her
eye teeth were all the way through now. Her sleep tousled hair was
standing up in places making it look like she had a couple of
horns.

“
I think little ‘Vampira’
vould like to suck your teat,” Trey said trying to sound like Bella
Lugosi’s Dracula.

“
Shut up, Trey,” I laughed
scooting out of bed. “I hope that's not your latest nickname for
her. She'll be in therapy with Karla before you know
it.”

I picked her up and smoothed her hair down
before climbing back into bed with her. She nestled down against me
finding my nipple and I fell back asleep. Trey must've gotten up
and dressed while I slept. I woke up again when he lifted Preston
from me.

“
Hey, Tristan and Gina are
up. Do you want me to give Preston her bath and get her
dressed?”

“
Thank you, baby. I love
you.”

“
Right back at you, Mrs.
Sinclair.”

I got up and dressed in jeans and a sweater.
I put my make-up on and brushed my hair up into a ponytail. I
didn’t feel like flat-ironing it this morning. When I got out to
the living room I could smell all kinds of breakfast aromas. Both
Gina and Tristan were in the kitchen talking and laughing as they
cooked.

“
Good morning, Ty,” Gina
greeted me cheerily as she brought a platter of warm biscuits and
cooked sausage patties out and placed it on the dining room table.
“Are you hungry for one of my special Sunday
breakfasts?”

I wasn’t aware that Gina had ‘special Sunday
breakfasts,’ but I was famished at any rate.

“
It looks and smells great,
Gina.”

“
Take a seat then; Tristan
is finishing up the omelets.”

Trey came out just then with the baby all
bathed and dressed and got her settled into her playpen.

“
Look at this,” I said
nodding toward the dining room. “Tristan and Gina have been
busy.”

Trey and I took our seats at the dining room
table which had been set with glasses of orange juice and ice
water. Tristan appeared then with a platter of omelets, Gina
followed behind with the coffee carafe filling everyone’s coffee
cups. We all dug in, ravenous from doing without dinner the night
before.

“
So,” I said finally
breaking the silence, “is everything okay with you two
now?”

I felt Trey’s foot bump mine underneath the
table.

So? I want to know.

Gina and Tristan looked at each other warmly
and smiled. “Tristan came up with a great compromise on the name of
the club and I love it,” she said beaming.

“
So, are you going to share
that with us?” I asked.

“
Well, it’s a combination of
what he wanted and what I wanted. He wanted it to be called
‘Tristan’s’ because it sounds more refined and more conducive to
appealing to the restaurant crowd we want to have Monday through
Thursday. I of course, wanted to call it ‘The Shady Lady’ for more
of a party crowd appeal which we like for weekends. So, we agreed
to name it ‘Tristan’s Shady Lady Saloon and Restaurant.’ What do
you think?”

They were both looking at Trey and I for our
reaction.

“
Truthfully, I really like
it,” I said. “It does have dual appeal.”

“
It works for me,” Trey
replied, buttering a biscuit.

“
Good, we’re glad you
approve,” Tristan said, taking Gina’s hand into his and squeezing
it.

Oh yeah, they're in love or very close to
it!

“
So, Tristan, how long will
you be staying in town, this time?” Trey asked, taking a sip of his
coffee.

“
I’ll be here until the
weekend. I’ve got to meet with the health inspector; interview some
chef’s and meet with a contractor about putting in the wine
cellar.”

“
Do you think perhaps that
you could help me rearrange some stuff here at the
apartment?”

Okay, what's all of this about?

“
Sure, no problem. What do
you need done?”

“
Well, first off, we need to
move that bed in Preston’s room that you two are using away from
the wall.”

“
Trey,” I said giving him a
dirty look.

Gina blushed and Tristan got a hint of a grin
on his face.

“
Not a problem, bro,” he
replied. “Anything else?”

“
Yeah, I’ll need your help
rearranging my office so that it can accommodate Preston’s crib and
changing table and get those things moved in there.”

Tristan looked over at me grinning; it was my
turn to blush.

Gina and I cleared the table and cleaned up
the kitchen while Trey and Tristan were rearranging the
furniture.

“
Were we really that loud
last night, Ty?”

“
Uh, well
yeah
,” I answered. “Gina,
can I ask you something kind of personal?”

“
Sure. We have no
secrets.”

“
What's with the cat screech
noises?”

“
The what?” she asked,
clearly not understanding the question.

“
You realize that when
you're near orgasm you kind of screech like a cat, don’t
you?”

“
That wasn’t me,” she said
laughing out loud.

Oh dear God - I hope she's not going to tell
me that it was Tristan!

“
Tristan and I thought it
was
you!
”

“
What?”

She was laughing hysterically now. “Yeah,”
she said trying to catch her breath. “We’ll cop to the bed banging
against the wall; Tristan gets a bit vocal, but I swear we heard
that cat wailing and thought it was you being pleasured by the Hot
Nazi.”

“
Oh, my God,” I laughed,
feeling my face blush.

Tristan had sat across from me at breakfast
thinking that I'd done all of that wailing during the night.

“
I guess it must've been a
cat in heat somewhere in the building then.”

“
You make sure Tristan knows
that it wasn't me,” I said to her.

“
I will as long as you let
Trey think that
it was
me,” she snickered.

“
Gina, why do you like to
get under his skin like that?” I chided.

“
Because I
can
girlfriend.”

My dad called Sunday evening to update me on
the progress he'd made.

“
Tylar, I'm pleased to
inform you that a federal warrant was served on Matthew Renaud
yesterday. He's been taken into federal custody on conspiracy
kidnapping charges; harboring a fugitive and obstructing justice
for starters. This will keep him locked up while we dig up further
proof of his criminal activities.”

“
So then, evidence was found
that he was involved with Maggie in kidnapping Preston?”

“
Yes. There was direct
evidence found in his home. Some infant clothing that was taken
into evidence as well as information gleaned from his computer and
phone records.”

“
What I don’t understand is
why was he involved if there was no intention of asking for a
ransom?”

“
He may have had every
intention of doing just that. Something may have gone wrong with
their plans. Hopefully, more light will be shed once the federal
agents have thoroughly interrogated him.”

“
You know, Dad, we’ve never
discussed your late wife’s involvement in all of this. Are we going
to?”

“
Tylar, I'm still trying to
sort all of that out here in looking through her papers and bank
records. So far there's nothing. She hid her tracks pretty
well.”

“
But, are you shocked to
think that she'd have participated in hiding the fact that I
existed from you?”

“
No, quite frankly that does
not shock me. She very much wanted us to be married. She was
devastated that she couldn’t have children. She likely felt
threatened knowing that I'd sired a child out of wedlock. What
would shock me, quite frankly, is to discover she'd played any part
in your mother’s death.”

We talked for a few minutes longer. He told
me that he would have a limo for me when my flight arrived Tuesday
in Baton Rouge. He'd taken several days off from the bench in order
to spend time with Preston and me.

That night after my shower,
I re-read my mother’s notes again. I somehow felt closer to her
when I read them. I got my iPhone and replayed Maggie’s last
conversation with me the morning she died. She said that my mother
had instructed her to give the jewelry
boxes
to Trinity LaFleur; that it was
the only way that she'd be safe. Maggie had said she'd wanted to
keep the jewelry for herself. None of that made much sense. How
would giving some mid-wife the jewelry keep Maggie safe? But she
hadn’t told Maggie to give her the jewelry - she had said the
jewelry
boxes.

I scrambled up from the bed and went to my
closet. I pulled the other blue velvet jewelry box from the
dresser. It was square and smaller. I didn’t know why I hadn’t
thought of this before now. If the larger one had a false bottom
perhaps this one did as well.

I pulled out the pillow that had the earrings
on them and examined the bottom of the box. There was the same
small satin ribbon hoop at the back corner of the bottom. I pulled
the ribbon upward and the false bottom lifted up. There was a small
plastic bag in there. I pulled it out and there was a key inside of
it. There was a post-it note inside the baggie with my mother’s
writing on it. It read:

Trinity - Please give Maggie the
envelope.

I put the plastic bag back into the box and
put the false bottom over it. I put both of the blue velvet jewelry
boxes into my carry-on bag. These items were going to Baton Rouge
with me. I was determined to get to the bottom of what all of this
meant come hell or high bayou water!

CHAPTER 42

Monday evening I got Preston bathed and to
bed early so I could finish getting her packed up. I hadn’t started
packing for me yet I got her clothes out of her dresser and took
them into our master suite. I had our big suitcase out of the
closet opened on the bed.

Trey was lounging across the bed watching the
Monday night pre-game show. He was watching me as I folded
Preston’s clothing and placed it in the suitcase. I went to my
closet pulling out jeans, sweaters, and a couple of blouses along
with a pair of dress pants. I packed by black Chanel suit just in
case there was cause to dress up. I went back in to get some heels
and boots to take; then my nightclothes and lingerie.

“
Jesus Christ, Tylar, you're
coming back to me, aren’t you?”

I smiled as I folded my undies and packed
them in the suitcase. I then scooted up to Trey where he was
reclined back on the bed, his arm underneath his head. He pulled me
down to him his lips capturing mine in a long, languid kiss his
free arm wrapped around behind me keeping me locked in his
embrace.

I smiled against his lips. “I have to finish
packing.”