Baby Love Lite (55 page)

When I located the Ladies restroom, I noticed
one of the stalls was already occupied. I took the empty one next
to it. As I sat down to pee, I noticed the feet and ankles of
whoever occupied the next stall. There was something very familiar
about those . . . ankles. Then it came to me. Those were the same
thick ankles that I recalled Ms. Deeny as having. I tried to hurry
my stream, but it did no good. The thick-ankled occupant in the
next stall had finished up, flushed and left the restroom without
washing her hands.

Eewwww!

I finished up, making sure that I washed my
hands properly. That had been so weird. I was sure that there were
other people with thick ankles like that in the greater Baton Rouge
area.

When I returned to the courtroom I saw my
father talking to a man sitting at one of the front tables that was
in a suit. I took a seat and my father returned several moments
later.

“
I just talked to the D.A.,”
he said to me. “Apparently, Matthew's been uncooperative with his
attorney. He won’t talk to him.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Oh, I’ve seen it done
before many times. The accused is trying to appear as if he or
she's not competent to stand trial for reasons of mental
illness.”

“
Do you think his attorney
is coaching him to do that?”

“
Not unless he's asking to
be disbarred,” he replied. “Anyway the attorney retained for him is
from a respectable firm. I'd doubt very much if he'd contrive such
behavior as a defense.”

This should be interesting, I thought as the
courtroom started filling up. It was nearly 10:00 a.m. Trey and
Tristan’s appointment was in another half hour. I pushed that from
my mind.

The bailiff came out and called the court to
order. Everyone stood up as the Honorable Judge Lance Pelletier
took the bench. He instructed everyone to be seated.

The first case called was Matthew Renaud’s. A
door on the left side of the court room opened and two deputies
escorted a hand-cuffed and shackled man into the room. He was in
typical prison garb.

I studied him carefully. I recognized him as
the same man that had been at our home in Radcliff, Kentucky, all
those years ago. It was the man from my first memory when I was on
my swing set; the one that had yelled at Maggie referring to me as
the ‘golden goose’ or some such name.

He was taken to the table where his defense
attorney had risen, holding the chair next to him out so that
Matthew could be seated. Matthew’s head turned looking around the
courtroom. For some reason I hunkered down in my seat not wanting
him to recognize me. I realized I was being paranoid. I'd been
five-years-old the last time he saw me.

“
Are you alright?” my father
whispered to me.

I nodded, just as Matthew’s eyes found me,
and stopped looking anywhere else. His gaze rested on me and I saw
a flicker of recognition pass over his face. I squirmed in my seat
uncomfortable with him staring at me. His lawyer nudged him and he
reluctantly turned back around lowering his head as if it was too
heavy to hold up any longer.

The bailiff read all of the additional
charges the grand jury had returned against Matthew. The judge was
watching Matthew the whole time; studying his body language, I
guessed. When the bailiff finished the judge spoke.

“
How does the defendant
plead to all charges herein set forth?”

Matthew’s attorney rose from his seat. “Ted
Presley for the defense, Your Honor, I'd like to enter a not guilty
plea on behalf of my client to all charges.”

“
Very well, Mr. Presley; the
court will set the preliminary hearing for an expedited date since
your client is being held without bail,” the judge
responded.

“
Your Honor, if it pleases
the court, the defense would ask to waive the pre-trial
investigation and dispose of the preliminary hearing now, as my
client is in dire need of psychiatric treatment which will further
deteriorate by further delay.”

“
Mr. Presley, I’m not a big
fan of waiving any portion of the due process in particular when
there's a potential death penalty involved. The appellate courts
are overwhelmed as it is. Counsel, please approach the
bench.”

I watched as the D.A. and Matthew’s attorney
went up to talk quietly to the judge.

“
What's going on?” I
whispered to my dad.

“
The judge is going to force
the due process to avoid costly appeals later. He's trying to
ascertain why the defense would waive the pre-trial investigation
prior to the preliminary hearing. The purpose of the preliminary
hearing is to make sure that the evidence supports the charges
brought against the defendant as recommended by the grand jury,” he
whispered back to me.

Matthew was looking around the courtroom
again. His eyes went past me this time focusing to the back of the
courtroom. He turned back around burying his head into his cuffed
hands. The lawyers were still talking quietly to the judge. The
courtroom had become very quiet.

Suddenly the quiet of the courtroom was
interpreted by a man’s voice singing. I realized that the singing
was coming from Matthew. He was singing that old lullaby very
slowly and loudly.

"Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s
going to buy you a mockingbird; and if that mockingbird don’t sing,
Mama’s going to buy you a diamond ring. . .”

The defense lawyer hurried over to Matthew’s
side prompting him to be quiet. He paid no attention to his
attorney and continued to sing the lyrics even louder.

“
If that diamond ring turns
brass, Mama’s going to buy you a looking glass. . . If that looking
glass gets broke, Mama’s going to buy--”

The judge rapped his gavel and shouted for
the deputies to remove Matthew from the court room immediately.
Matthew stopped singing as the deputies literally raised him up
from his chair. He struggled against them; he whipped his head
around as they were carrying him toward the door. His eyes found
what they had been searching for.

“
Mama,” he yelled, “Mama, am
I still the sweetest baby in town?”

I turned quickly to see who the hell he was
talking to; his mother had been my grandmother. She was dead. I
looked through the crowd as the short, dark-haired woman watched
them take Matthew out. Tears were streaming down the face of Karen
Deeny. She fled the courtroom.

I heard my father beside me. “What the
hell?”

I was in shock. What the hell was going on?
My father took me by the arm and led me out of the court house.

“
I don’t understand what
that was all about,” I said to him once we were outside.

“
I'm in the dark as well,”
he replied, clearly as perplexed as me.

“
What happens now,
Dad?”

“
Obviously, I need to get
some answers for both of us. As far as the preliminary hearing I
would suspect it'll be scheduled after the psych evaluation the
judge will likely order for Matthew.”

“
Do you think he was faking
it?” I asked.

“
Yes, but my opinion doesn’t
matter. It's the opinion of the psychologists and psychiatrists
that will carry the weight in court. The prosecution will have one
assigned to him as will the defense; that in and of itself, will be
a complicated mess.”

I knew my father was upset by what transpired
in court. I also suspected he wondered now just how much his dead
wife had been involved in the tangled web of lies and deceit. I
questioned my own ancestors as to why Matthew had been passed off
as my grandmother’s illegitimate child adopted by my grandfather
after they married. If anyone could find the truth I knew my father
would no matter what it revealed.

We had lunch together and then he drove me to
the private airport to catch my charter back to Atlanta. He pulled
me to him giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“
I'll talk to you very
soon,” he promised. “Please give Preston a kiss from her
grandpa?”

“
I will, Dad. I love
you.”

“
I love you too, Tylar. Take
care.”

Trey was waiting for me when I reached the
terminal in Atlanta. I was never so happy to see his face in my
life. What a bizarre day. I flew into his arms.

“
I’ve been trying to call
you,” he said.

“
Is anything the matter?” I
asked fearfully.

“
No, sweetie, I was just
wondering how things went.”

“
I’m sorry, Trey, I had my
phone on vibrate while I was in court and I forgot to turn it back
on to sound.”

I filled Trey in on everything that had
happened in court with Matthew. He was as shocked as I'd been when
I told him about Matthew calling Karen Deeny his mother.

“
I bet your father was
reeling,” he commented opening the car door for me.

“
That’s an understatement,”
I replied.

“
I think he's questioning
his wife’s involvement in all of this.”

Trey got into the driver’s seat and turned to
me. “I’m glad you’re home, baby.”

I looked at his sweet face and leaned over to
kiss him. “How was your day? Did everything come out okay?”

He gave me his dimpled grin. “You're a
spoiled brat, aren’t you?” he asked laughing. “Everything went as
planned,” he said as we pulled out onto the highway.

We talked about our impending move as we
headed back to the apartment. I was so looking forward to moving to
the country and into our own home. Trey pulled his car into his
space in the parking garage and shut the engine off. He turned to
me.

“
Why didn’t you tell me
Gina's pregnant?” he asked looking at me carefully.

Holy shit.

“
Trey, I’m sorry, but Gina
made me promise. She's my best friend. I had to respect her wishes
on this.”

“
I’m your husband, Tylar. I
didn’t think we had secrets.”

“
We don’t have secrets that
affect each other. This wasn’t about you or me. This was about Gina
and Tristan. It wasn’t my place to tell you if Gina didn’t want
anyone else to know. How did you find out?”

“
Tristan told me, of course.
He's very proud of the fact.”

“
He should be,” I replied.
“Look, Trey, I know you don’t care for Gina, but she's like a
sister to me, okay?”

“
I get that, baby,” he said,
taking my hand and kissing the back of it. “To be honest, I’m kind
of happy Preston will have a cousin close by.”

“
Yeah? So am I,” I
said.

When we got inside the apartment Gina was
playing with Preston in the living room. As soon as Preston saw me
she came crawling over to me saying ‘num-num’.

“
She’s been ‘num-numming’ me
all day,” Gina laughed. “How did it go?”

“
I’ll let Trey fill you in
on the drama,” I said, scooping Preston up to take her into our
room. “Preston and I need our ‘girl time’ at the
moment.”

I picked her up and gave her a kiss on each
cheek. “That's from your grandpa,” I said.

We got comfortable on the bed and drifted off
to sleep. Trey came into the room and pulled the quilt up around
us. He climbed in next to me, wrapping an arm around me as he
switched ESPN on the flat screen. He nuzzled the back of my neck
with his warm lips. I got goose bumps and shivered.

“
Are you cold, baby?” he
asked softly, pulling me closer to him.

“
I'm just fine,” I sighed.
“I’m happy to be home with my family. Where’s Tristan?”

“
He went to the club today
after our appointment. Since Gina was here taking care of Preston,
he's working until close at the restaurant. I've never seen Tristan
so happy or in love. Who would've thought he and Gina would be a
couple?”

“
Oh, I don’t know,” I
replied, “I kind of thought they might make a perfect couple. I
think he totally gets her.”

“
He's talking marriage
though; apparently she wants to wait. That sounds kind of
familiar.”

Deep down, I wondered if the real reason Gina
was reluctant to marry Tristan right now was because of the slim
chance of Ian being the father of her baby. I hoped she'd change
her mind and tell Tristan. I knew he'd understand once she
explained. He loved her.

I fell back asleep inside of Trey’s arms with
Preston cuddled between us. When I awoke, it was after 7:00 p.m.
Preston and Trey were both gone. I got up and went to the bathroom
turning the shower on to warm up the water. I got clean underwear
and my long silk nightgown out of my closet. I showered and got
dressed in my nightgown, pulling my robe on over it. I blew my hair
dry and applied some make-up. I wanted to have a romantic evening
with my husband.

When I went out to the living room, I could
hear Trey in the kitchen with Preston. I peeked around the corner
and saw that had been feeding her some pureed carrots. She kept
putting her fingers in the dish and then sucking the carrots off of
her fingers.

“
Preston, come on sweetie.
Please use the spoon for Daddy."

It was so cute. Trey was trying to teach her
how to use her spoon. He held it to her and she clutched it in her
little hand. “That’s right baby, now dip it into your bowl like
Daddy showed you and get some of these yummy carrots on the spoon,
okay?”

“
Da-da-da-da,” she yammered,
not really understanding what she was supposed to do.