Baby Love Lite (57 page)

“
What the hell happened?” I
asked her, wiping my eyes.

“
Oh shit, Ty. It was awful.
I got a call from Ian late this afternoon. Apparently, someone at
the club called him and told him that Tristan had told several of
the workers that I was expecting and how thrilled he was by it. He
gave them my tentative due date and, of course, one of them
obviously still loyal to Ian decided to phone him and tell him the
good news.”

Holy shit!

“
So, Ian makes a mad dash to
the club and decides to share with Tristan the details of our last
interlude including date and time. I told you that it was just
several days apart from when Tristan and I first made
love.”

I was horrified at the chain of events that
had occurred this evening as a result.

“
So, anyway Tristan, being
the sweetie that he is, gave me the benefit of the doubt. You know
- he figures Ian's still jealous and just trying to make trouble
for us since that last scene at the club a few weeks back, so he
blew it off."

I nodded waiting for Gina to continue.

“
Then Ian presents Tristan
with a piece of mail that he'd picked up from the condo that night
he came by to collect his mail from me. It was postmarked the day
before I'd received it at the condo. It hadn't been opened and had
Ian’s name on it with our condo address. He told Tristan to open
it. He said he'd no clue about the contents of what was inside but
guaranteed Tristan it would answer the question as to whether
Tristan could be 100% positive the baby I carried was his or not.
You'll never guess what was inside that envelope.”

“
What?” I asked practically
screeching.

“
It was a letter from the
Fulton County Urologists Group where Ian had gone a couple of weeks
prior to get his sperm tested for fertility.”

“
A couple of week
prior
?”

“
Oh yeah,” Gina said, “The
bastard wouldn’t do it for me when I nagged him to. Seems Shelly
wanted to know for sure whether he was sterile or not, so she
insisted he get tested and the son of a bitch did!”

“
So, what were the
results?”

“
The results were that Ian
has a normal sperm count.”

“
Oh my God,” I
replied.

“
Yep,” she said. “Naturally,
Tristan's all freaked out at me thinking that I purposely withheld
this information about Ian hoping to trap him.”

“
Damn it, Gina,” I hissed,
“I told you that you should've told Tristan from the
get!”

“
Please Ty, no
lectures.”

“
So, what happened at the
end of your argument?” I asked. “By that time, Trey and I were in
the middle of our own because he accused me of covering for
you.”

“
No shit?”

“
Yeah, Gina, no
shit.”

“
Well, Tristan told me I've
lied to him by omission and he can’t be with someone he can’t trust
no matter how much he loves her. Then he left.”

Gina started crying again.

“
Don’t cry, Gina. Let’s get
Trey in here and explain everything to him. I know he'll understand
once he hears your side of it.”

“
Trey’s not here,” she
sobbed.

“
What?”

“
No…after he heard Tristan’s
side of the story the Hot Nazi ducked into the laundry room and got
some street clothes on. They both left. I don’t know where they
went or if I'll ever see my Tristan again,” she sobbed.

I was reeling in disbelief. After the
wonderful and magical evening Trey and I'd spent together how could
he possibly have just walked out like that without telling me? I
was devastated and disappointed. I could understand if he wanted to
console his brother; but why not let me know he was going out? Why
had he put me into the middle of this?

Gina was still sobbing which I knew wasn't
good for her condition. I needed to make her my first priority.

“
Gina, I'm going to make you
some herbal tea and then we're going to get you into bed to rest,
okay?”

“
Okay,” she whimpered, still
sobbing.

She was so vulnerable, which wasn't Gina. I
knew now she was truly in love with Tristan and a mess over all of
this.

I made her some herbal tea which seemed to
relax her. I helped her change into her jammies and tucked her into
bed convincing her Trey and Tristan would talk and everything would
be put into perspective. I bet her that Tristan would be back in
her bed by the time she awoke the next morning. I think I succeeded
in putting her mind at ease.

I crawled back into my bed. The bed where
just a couple of hours earlier Trey and I'd made love like we never
had before; where we'd declared our love and commitment to each
other over and over again. I buried my face into Trey’s pillow
smelling his scent and feeling my own tears as they burned a path
down my cheeks.

North Bay Hospital, July 31st.

I was pacing back and forth in front of
Gina’s hospital bed. I had my Cell phone up to my ear talking to
Gina’s Aunt Becky. Gina’s mother was supposed to be here, but since
Gina was two weeks early, her mother had to make last minute
arrangements at her job in New Jersey in order to get away.

“
She's still at four
centimeters, Becky,” I said. “When's her mom planning on getting in
here?”

Just then Gina screamed out in pain.

“
I gotta go, Becky. She's
having another contraction.”

I hurried over to Gina’s side and began
coaching her just like she'd coached me over a year ago.

“
That’s it Gina,” I said
soothingly, “He-he-he, again, he-he-he, that’s right. You're doing
great.”

“
Fuck this shit, Ty! I need
some meds!”

“
Gina, you've had all of the
meds they can give you at the moment. You'll get your epidural once
you reach five centimeters which hopefully will be really, really
soon.”

“
I know I’ve been a pain in
the ass today to you, Ty,” she said. “It’s just we weren’t
expecting little junior this soon, you know?”

"I know Gina. It's all good. Don't
worry."

Yeah, I know. Could I please have some more
ice chips? They really seem to help.”

“
Of course, Gina,” I
replied, grabbing the cup. “I'll be right back with your ice
chips.”

I left her room and went out to the hallway
heading down to where the ice machine was located. I decided to
phone Jean to check up on Preston. She answered the phone
quickly.

“
Hi Jean, it’s me. How's my
baby girl doing?”

“
Well, she's perfect, as
always. Do you want to talk to her?”

“
Yes, please. Put her on the
phone.”

“
Mama,” I heard Preston’s
sweet voice over the phone.

“
Hi Preston,” I said. “Aunt
Gina's getting ready to have her baby. Isn’t that
exciting?”

“
Baabyy!” she squealed
laughing.

“
Are you being good for
Jean?” I asked her. She said something I wasn't able to make out
but she finished with a giggle so it must all be good I thought.
Preston was delighted with feeling my blossoming tummy that held
her baby brother or sister. She was constantly laying her head
across my belly trying to hear the baby as she called
it.

“
Mommy loves you, now please
give the phone to Jean,” I instructed.

“
Bye, Mama.”

“
Bye, sweet
girl.”

Jean got back on the phone. “Don’t worry
about anything here, Tylar,” Jean assured me. “We're doing just
fine. You stay with Gina and help her through this. I’ve got
everything under control here. Just take care of yourself
okay?”

“
I will. Thanks,
Jean.”

I got Gina’s ice chips and hurried back to
her room. She was likely to bitch at me for taking so long to get
back. When I got there her nurse was examining her under the sheet
tent. She pushed back from Gina’s bent legs, peeling off her Latex
gloves and announced that she was at five centimeters.

“
Oh thank God! Give me my
fucking epidural now!"

The nurse scurried away to do Gina’s bidding.
She wasn't what one would consider a model patient. But then, I
never figured she would've been.

“
Did you bring my ice
chips?” she demanded.

“
Yes Gina, they're right
here,” I replied setting them on the tray table next to her
hospital bed. She immediately grabbed a handful and started
shoveling them into her mouth.

“
Oh, that's better,” she
breathed.

“
Really?” I asked. “Those
ice chips never did much for me.”

“
It’s like they make my
teeth hurt so much that I forget about the fucking pain between my
legs,” she gasped crunching on the ice.

That had to be a "Ginaism." That's what I'd
started calling her particular quotes and sayings she seemed to
always be coming up with. I got a damp washcloth and wiped her
forehead with it.

“
Ty,” she said, “I just want
to thank you for being here with me. Who else would come to my
rescue like you have?”

“
Really Gina? I know of one
person that would.”

“
Who?”

“
You,” I laughed. “You've
always been there for me, girlfriend,” I said imitating her New
Jersey accent. “Hey, I called your Aunt Becky while I was out
getting your ice chips. She said your mom's trying like crazy to
rearrange her work schedule to fly down. She wasn’t expecting an
early arrival. No one was apparently,” I laughed.

“
That’s me,” she conceded.
“Never a dull moment, I guess.”

“
That's what makes you
special, Gina,” I said to her, taking her hand. “Listen to me. I
want to tell you something that you told me a while back. "You're
my best friend and you're like my sister. I'm here for you, always.
Got it?”

“
I got it, girlfriend,” she
said smiling.

The nurse came in just then bringing the long
needle that would administer Gina’s epidural. I was about as
relieved as Gina was that she was finally getting it.

My one ear had gone slightly deaf with the
screaming and cussing. The nurse gave her the shot and Gina relaxed
back against her pillows. I watched as she laid back and totally
relaxed. Hopefully she'd be able to doze off until it was time to
push which shouldn’t be all that far off. It seemed as if we'd been
going at this for hours.

I felt the baby kick inside of me. It felt
like he or she was doing somersaults inside my belly. This baby was
quite a bit more active than Preston had been in the womb. My due
date was October 2nd. Tess’s due date was November 2nd. I didn’t
know the sex of this baby. I wanted to be surprised just as I'd
been with Preston. I rubbed my rounded belly with the palm of my
hand. This pregnancy had been so much different than my pregnancy
with Preston. I'd suffered bouts of morning sickness for months.
The thought of sex had repulsed me. My only hope was that I
delivered a boy. Somehow that would make it all worth it. I needed
to get back to my plan for the future. The plan that had dissipated
once I'd become pregnant with Preston.

Just then Gina woke from her momentary doze.
Something was wrong. I saw the look of alarm in her eyes. I
immediately went closer to her bed. The epidural should've kicked
in; she should've been feeling no pain. She writhed in agony.

It was then I looked down and saw the blood
stain spreading across her bottom sheet. Her body started
convulsing. I pressed the buzzer for the nurse. I heard the screams
then; they were coming from me, not Gina.

“
Somebody get down here,
freaking stat!”