Baby Love Lite (46 page)

I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant but I
decided to take it as a compliment. “Thank you, Miss LaFleur.”

“
Please, call me Trinity.
Your mama and I were once very close. We remain close in the spirit
world. I assisted in your birthing more than twenty years past. You
were born behind a veil. That's always a good sign.”

She turned her attention to my father,
extending her hand in greeting. “Judge Tylar,” she said, “It's nice
to put a face to the voice on the phone. Both of you please sit
down.”

We did as instructed my father taking a seat
in an over-stuffed floral chair; Preston and I sitting on the
matching settee. Trinity took her seat beside us.

“
Trinity,” I said, “Can you
explain what you meant by my being born ‘behind a veil?’ I've no
point of reference on that.”

She smiled, nodding her head at my confusion.
“Technically, you were born with a caul attached to your face. It's
a very rare but mystical occurrence. Don’t be alarmed by the sound
of it please. It's nothing more than part of the amniotic membrane
that breaks away and forms tightly against the head during the
birthing process. It appears like a translucent veil covering the
baby’s face.”

It sounded totally gross to me; Trinity read
my reaction.

“
Trust me, Mon Cher’, it's
indeed something to be proud of because it does offer some mystical
and magical elements. Tell me that you've not had good fortune in
your life?”

I thought about it and it was true. I'd had
the good fortune of loving and being loved by Trey; blessed with a
beautiful baby and finally locating my father, but at what cost to
my mother?

“
I’ve been blessed in many
ways, Trinity, that's true, but never knowing my mother or what
happened to her haunts me now.”

“
Ah yes, Mon Cher, and
that's what brought you to me. Things unfolded the way that they
did for a reason. Don't believe that it's pure coincidence that you
and your father sit before me now. There's a purpose to all of
this. It's the finishing of the story and proper punishment for the
guilty.”

Preston was enamored with her soft, melodic
voice as was I. She watched the dangling earrings and I shifted her
on my lap afraid she might reach over to pull on them as she
sometimes did with mine. Trinity turned her attention to Preston
who had begun squirming in my arms wanting free reign.

“
And who is Ce bel
enfant?”

“
This is my daughter,
Preston.”

“
A very exquisite child,”
she commented.

“
I see you're a very proud
mama and, dare I say, the judge is a very proud
grand-pere?”

“
Je Suis effectivement
cela,” my father responded in perfect French.

I took that as a ‘yes’ being that I couldn’t
speak French.

My father took Preston from me allowing me to
present Trinity with the plastic bag that held the key and the note
that I'd found hidden in the jewelry box.

She accepted it from me and read the brief
note instructing her to give the envelope to Maggie. Her face grew
dark with something that felt like anger.

“
I told Marla not to trust
that sister of hers! I knew in the end, Maggie wouldn't cross
Matthew.”

She shook her head in sorrow. “If she'd only
done what Marla requested of her when she knew she was dying,
perhaps the monster would be behind bars right now.”

“
He is,” my father replied,
bouncing Preston on his knee.

Trinity’s head snapped up in surprise. “Then
evidence has surfaced about his involvement in Marla’s death?”

“
I’m afraid not,” my father
replied. “He’s been arrested on unrelated charges. I think I
explained that Maggie confided to Tylar on her deathbed that she
felt he'd poisoned her the same way that he'd poisoned
Marley.”

“
Yes, I recall that Judge.
But, will those unrelated charges keep him in prison for the rest
of his miserable life?”

“
Perhaps,” he replied, “but
they won’t get him the death penalty.” I looked over at my father’s
somber expression. He wanted an eye for an eye. He wanted to avenge
my mother’s murder. I felt the same way.

Trinity rose and went to a tall wooden
cabinet in the corner of the parlor. She opened the door and
searched the top shelf finally pulling out a small envelope. She
handed it to me. It was sealed; ‘Maggie’ was written on the front.
It was my mother’s handwriting. I recognized it from the pages
she'd written and torn from the notebook. I opened the sealed
envelope and took the folded piece of paper from it. There was a
curly lock of hair taped to the paper. It looked like baby hair.
The note was short and direct.

Maggie,

Please take this lock of Tylar’s hair to
Preston in Baton Rouge. Tell him he has a daughter and she needs
his protection.

The hair will provide the DNA proof she's
his child. He'll protect you as well for doing this good deed.
Trinity will know what the key opens.

Love,

Marla

The business card my father had given to my
mother before he left was enclosed in the envelope. I handed it
over to my father to read. Tears sprang to my eyes as I sat back
down and tried to compose myself. My father looked up, first at me,
and then at Trinity.

“
I don’t understand why
Marley would've trusted Maggie with a task such as this,” he said,
handing the note to Trinity to read.

She shook her head; her eyes were full of
sadness. “I’m so sorry, Judge. Marla was still trying to look out
for Maggie in some way it would seem. She knew that Maggie needed
to be kept safe from Matthew; she knew that you were one person who
could do that.”

Trinity wiped an errant tear from her cheek.
“She never shared with me the contents of that envelope there or
the contents of the metal box. She said it was family business; it
wasn’t safe for me to know too much. Marla loved me like a sister
but she was a very private person. Why, I never knew you were her
baby’s father until I received your phone call. She did ask me if
the key ever found its way to me if I'd do what I could to
assist.”

I was confused; my father appeared to be as
well. “Assist in what way?” I asked.

“
In getting the metal box
opened,” she replied.

“
Let’s do it then,” my
father replied standing up holding Preston.

“
Can you get the metal box
for us?”

“
I’m afraid not, Judge
Tylar,” Trinity replied softly.

“
Why not?” My dad and I both
asked in unison.

“
It’s hidden inside the
casket with Marla.”

C
HAPTER 45

The ride back to Baton Rouge was a quiet one.
Preston was sleeping soundly in her car seat. I was lost in thought
about all we'd learned from Trinity today. I suspected my father
was as well.

Shortly after the botched attempt by my
mother and Maggie to leave New Orleans and return to Mississippi,
Trinity had moved to Vidalia. She'd preferred the quiet life of a
small town to the crowded, noisy life in New Orleans. Around the
same time, Matthew had moved to Baton Rouge with my mother, Maggie
and me. This had allowed my mother to stay in touch with Trinity
and she'd done just that.

Trinity said it hadn’t been more than a month
since they'd moved to Baton Rouge when my mother had shown up at
her apartment in Vidalia. She'd taken a bus from Baton Rouge.
Trinity had been concerned because my mother hadn't brought me with
her. She'd questioned my mother about it. My mother had told her
that she'd been really sick; that she had to stop breast-feeding me
because it'd been making me sick. I'd started vomiting after
nursing. She'd put me on formula and left me with Maggie while she
went to Trinity for help.

Trinity said that my mother had looked
deathly ill. She'd put some various herbs and roots together in a
mixture instructing my mother to drink the concoction several times
a day. She said it would flush her system of whatever virus or
infection she had going. My mother had given Trinity the envelope
asking her to keep it in case Maggie ever came to her. She wouldn’t
tell Trinity anything further.

It was barely a week later that my mother had
again shown up at Trinity’s. This time she had me with her. Trinity
said she looked worse than before. She was having trouble breathing
and complained of hallucinations. She asked Trinity if we could
stay with her. She'd told Trinity that she suspected someone was
trying to kill her.

Trinity said that my mother’s behavior had
been very erratic. She'd rambled incoherently at times; but handed
Trinity a locked metal box and made her promise that if anything
happened to her, she'd place the box inside her casket hidden
underneath the blanket where no one would see it. Trinity promised
her she would.

My mother had also given Trinity the caul
that she'd preserved. She asked her to make sure that it was placed
in the casket as well. She said that my mother had said she wanted
something of me with her for eternity. Trinity told my mother she
was taking her to a doctor she knew in nearby town the following
morning. My mother had told her it was too late. She just wanted to
go to sleep.

During the middle of the night, Matthew had
come to Vidalia and was beating on the door of Trinity’s apartment.
He claimed that my mother had been using drugs and that he was
there to take her back to Baton Rouge for treatment. Trinity had
told him that she felt my mother was ill and needed to go to a
hospital first for a full assessment. She told Matthew she'd
planned to take my mother to her doctor that morning. Matthew had
told her to keep out of it; it was family business and she wasn't
family.

He'd then pushed past Trinity. He went to the
bedroom where my mother and I were sleeping. My mother was dead. I
was still cradled within her cold arms.

Trinity had made it a point to travel to
Mississippi prior to my mother’s burial. She'd arrived at the
funeral parlor early that morning asking to see my mother. There
was no visitation or funeral scheduled; only a graveside service.
She'd quizzed the mortician at great length about the embalming.
She explained she was my mother’s best friend and insisted they
open the casket for her to view my mother.

When they'd finally opened the casket, she
said they'd done a magnificent job with her. The mortician had
commented to Trinity that he'd cried while preparing her for
entombment. He said something wasn't right.

He told her maybe someday someone would want
answers. He assured her my mother’s body was well preserved. He
then left her alone to say goodbye to her dearest friend.

Trinity then carried out her promise to my
mother. She'd placed the caul on her pillow and the metal box down
underneath the satin coverlet at her feet. My mother had been
entombed in the family crypt at a cemetery in Braxton,
Mississippi.

The silence of our ride back to Baton Rouge
was broken when my father spoke for the first time since we'd
gotten into the limo.

“
I can order an exhumation,
Tylar. It's what needs to be done you know?"

“
Will it be done for the
purpose of opening the metal box?” I asked.

“
Not entirely,” he
answered.

I looked over at him as he continued.

“
The metal box might very
well contain evidence that'll help convict Matthew, but we also
need forensic evidence. That type of evidence can only be gathered
by having a forensic autopsy conducted.”

“
Can they do that after all
of this time?” I asked, astonished somewhat at the thought of
it.

“
Yes. Modern embalming
methods and advances in forensic technology can help prove the
exact cause of her death, even after all of this time. I want your
approval, though. You're her next of kin.”

“
You have it, Dad,” I
replied, though I knew that in his judicial capacity he could've
ordered it without my consent.

By the time we reached my father’s estate,
Trey had arrived. I saw him coming down the stairway as we came
into the entrance hall. I flew into his arms. Dad carried a sleepy
Preston up from the limo. I took her from him and headed upstairs
to our suite. Trey stayed downstairs talking with my father
presumably about what we'd learned on our trip to Vidalia.

I changed Preston’s diaper and stretched out
on the bed with her so that she could nurse comfortably. Trey
joined me in the suite several minutes later. He sat down on the
bed next to us.

“
You’ve had quite a day,” he
remarked.

I nodded not trusting myself to speak for
fear I'd burst into tears at any moment.

“
You know, sweetie, it's
okay to feel emotional about this. You learned some very disturbing
things today. That's why I'm here with you now. You don’t have to
go through this alone.”

“
I know, Trey,” I sobbed. “I
just don’t want to think about what my mother endured because of
me.”

“
She loved you, sweetie.
Would you've done any less for Preston?”

I looked down at my baby who'd fallen asleep
cuddled against me. Trey lifted her from me and carried her into
the adjoining nursery. He placed her in the crib and rejoined me on
the bed, pulling me into his lap. He rested his chin on the top of
my head; his strong arms were wrapped tightly around me

“
Tell me what you’re
feeling, baby?”

“
I feel so many things, I
guess. I feel sadness for the loss of my mother; I feel anger that
Maggie didn’t do the one simple thing that my mother had asked her
to do.”