Baby Love Lite (19 page)

I looked up at him and saw a look of relief
cross his face. He nodded in agreement with me. The doctor
prescribed an anti-fungal cream for her and wrote down some
over-the-counter items that would help for bathing and diapering
her until this cleared up. He prescribed a decongestant for her
congested sinuses.

Once we got back to our hotel suite, we
bathed her together. I applied the prescription ointment on the
inflamed skin and it seemed to soothe her immediately. I diapered
her and put her in a clean tee shirt and pajamas and then crawled
under the covers of the bed with her. She was still fussing a bit
but it was her tired, cranky cry. I could feel my breasts let down
and I was never so happy about anything in my life. My milk supply
had responded to her closeness.

I pulled my shirt up, cuddling her against me
as she continued to fuss and pull away. She seemed apprehensive
about nursing; she squirmed away from me as I tried to guide my
nipple to her mouth. I continued coaxing her until finally she
latched on to my breast. This was extremely strange behavior for
her. She watched me with her big blue eyes. Several minutes into it
I think that she finally felt safe and secure again. She let my
nipple drop from her mouth and broke out into a wide, dimpled grin,
gurgling in contentment.

I leaned over, kissing her head and face,
telling her how much Mommy and Daddy loved her. I'd probably never
know what the past several days had been like for her, but God
willing, if it was bad, she'd soon forget. She continued nursing
from me, not taking her eyes off of me. We snuggled down beneath
the bed covers and finally fell asleep.

I was awakened a little bit later when Trey
came to bed still damp from his shower. He pulled me close to him
wrapping his arm around both of us. Preston was sleeping
comfortably against me.

“
Have you talked to your
family yet?” I asked him.

“
I just got off the phone
with Tristan. Dad's doing fine; everyone's ecstatic that we got the
baby back safe and sound. They want us to visit soon."

"Did you ever get the details on how
everything played out today at the bus station?”

“
Yes I did.”

“
Well?”

“
Tylar, can I fill you in
tomorrow? Right now, I'm exhausted and I just want to fall asleep
in our family bed.”

I wasn’t sure if Trey was trying to be
facetious by referring to the ‘family bed’ after he'd given me so
much shit about it previously, but I couldn’t suppress my
smile.

“
Good-night, Trey. I love
you.”

“
Good-night, Tylar. I love
you.”

We'd been home several days. Preston finally
seemed to be back to normal. Her yeast infection had cleared up and
the bruises on her bottom were fading to a greenish-yellow. She was
once again smiling for us and playing contentedly with her
toys.

Trey had gone back to the firm having had to
move several key court dates out. He'd no expectation for me to
return. I'd scheduled an appointment with Karla Hunter for later in
the week. I wanted to make sure that I continued to maintain a
healthy emotional perspective after the horrific incident with
Preston’s abduction and the revelation that Daniel had provided
me.

Gina was on her way over this afternoon for a
visit and I needed to fill her in on the details of what had
transpired in West Virginia. I was dressing Preston at the moment.
She was enjoying her thumb as she squirmed around on the bed. I'd
dressed her in lavender colored corduroy bibs with a pink and blue
polka-dot turtleneck. I was struggling to get her shoes on as she
continued to curl her foot under every time I tried to fit it
on.

“
You're being bad for
Mommy,” I teased, smiling down at her. I grabbed her socked foot
and tickled the bottom of it. She started giggling for me. I
finally managed to get both shoes on her feet and lifted her up
from the bed.

“
Let’s go wait on Aunt Gina,
okay?” I picked up several of her favorite toys and got her settled
in her playpen out in the living room. The doorman buzzed
announcing Gina was on her way up. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of
weeks. Gina came bustling into the apartment with shopping
bags.

“
Gina, what have you done?”
I asked suspiciously.

“
I've shopped for my
god-daughter, that’s all.”

“
Gina, you know you're not
supposed to be buying her stuff. You bring her something every time
you come over. You're spoiling her.”

“
So, what if I am,
girlfriend? She’s my god-daughter to spoil, and by the way, when is
the baptism going to take place?”

“
I know, Gina. Trey and I
need to decide on a church.”

“
You mean a religion don’t
you, girlfriend?”

“
I suppose. What do you
recommend?”

“
Hey, Ty, religion is a very
personal choice. I don’t preach it. I happen to be Catholic so
when, and if I'm ever blessed with a little one, that's my religion
of choice. Now, where's my baby girl?”

Gina lifted Preston out of her playpen
gushing over how big she'd gotten since she last saw her and how
pretty she was. She got a dimpled smile from her as usual. She'd
bought her some wind-up toys that were guaranteed to drive adults
crazy; and a stuffed ghost for Halloween that screeched a loud
“Boo!” when pressed in the middle. Preston squealed with delight
when she learned how to make it screech ‘Boo.’

“
So, Ty,” she said, sitting
down on the couch with Preston on her lap, “Fill me in.”

I relayed to Gina everything that Trey had
conveyed to me. Maggie had shown up at the bus station as
scheduled. She wasn't carrying the baby when she located Daniel.
She was dressed like a guy complete with bib overalls and her hair
tucked up in a ball cap. She had a heavy Carhart jacket on that
pretty much hid her build from the average glance. She had a
backpack strapped on as well.

“
Where the hell was the
baby?” Gina asked.

“
Apparently she'd convinced
a male passenger on the bus she was escaping with her baby from an
abusive relationship. She begged him to hold onto the baby until
she assessed the situation in the terminal. Once she saw Daniel was
there alone, she gave a signal to the guy that everything was okay.
He brought Preston over and the Feds closed in."

“
Oh, my God,” Gina said.
“What the hell was that bitch thinking?”

“
You know, Gina, I’m not
really sure. I truly think that losing that baby somehow triggered
more craziness out of her. I don’t think it was about money. For
some reason, she wanted to punish me and at the same time, she
wanted to make up for losing the baby that she was having with
Daniel.”

“
What happens
now?”

“
Well, she's fighting
extradition from West Virginia back to Georgia so her arraignment
is delayed until that process is worked out in the courts. Trey
says she's looking at some major time in prison. Additional charges
will be filed against her for felony child abuse, endangerment and
several other misdemeanors.”

“
Tell me the truth Ty, how
does all of this really make you feel?”

“
I guess I feel like I may
never know the truth about my mother or father. She has those
answers, but being the selfish sociopath that she is, will continue
to hold the truth from me. That’s what really sucks.”

“
Did anything happen to
Daniel?”

“
No, well except he got the
reward money that the family had put up. I thought he may have been
involved, but as it turns out, Daniel was just another one of her
victims too. I guess that $200,000 will put him through college and
hopefully he can put his past with her behind him.”

Gina and I spent the rest of the afternoon
catching up. Her divorce proceedings were dragging a bit on account
of the Sanctuary and their condo. Gina wanted to keep the business
and give up her share of the condo. The problem was that it
wouldn't be an even split. Gina would have to buy out a portion of
Ian’s interest in the club if she wanted to keep it in her name
only.

After she left, I'd fed Preston and then put
her down for a nap. Susan called and we chatted on the phone for
nearly an hour. She was planning a 40th birthday party for Tristan
the following weekend. She wanted Trey, Preston and I to make the
trip up. I told her it sounded like a plan and promised to call her
later after Trey got home.

I had dinner in the oven and was changing
Preston’s diaper on the living room couch when Trey came through
the door. “How are my girls?” he asked, coming up behind me and
nuzzling the back of my neck.

“
We’ve had a great day
together,” I replied smiling at my baby as I snapped her overalls
back up. Preston was watching Trey and started squirming holding
her arms up so that he would pick her up. He leaned down, scooping
her up in his arms, kissing her cheeks. He'd been teaching her how
to ‘patty-cake’ and she loved it.

At dinner, I mentioned Tristan’s party to
Trey.

“
Let’s do it,” he said. “We
can fly out Friday afternoon and come back on Monday. We’ll make a
long weekend out of it.”

I phoned Susan later and told her we would be
there. She said that Nigel and Tess were coming; and that Landon
and Caroline would be there as well.

Holy shit - this might be a deal breaker
with Trey.

I got off the phone deciding it was best to
let him know now before we made our plane reservations. He was
reclining on the living room couch with his iPad perched upright
checking his emails. Preston was entertaining herself nearby in her
playpen.

“
I just talked to your mom
and told her we planned on being there next Friday. She’s really
happy,” I said.

“
Great baby, come sit down
next to me,” he smiled, patting the couch beside him.

“
Well, there's one other
thing,” I started.

He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for me to
finish.

“
Nigel and Tess are coming;
so are Landon and Caroline,” I finished.

“
Are you shitting me?” he
said sitting upright, dropping his iPad. “What's Mom
thinking?”

“
It'll probably be alright,
honey,” I soothed him.

“
Are you really okay with
still going?” he asked.

“
Hey, I am if you are. I’m
sure we'll be entertained,” I laughed.

He gave me his signature smile, pulling me
over onto his lap. He tilted my chin upward and his lips found
mine, kissing them softly and sensually. I laced my arms around his
neck and returned his kiss, pressing myself closer to him; fisting
my hands in his thick hair. His hands gently rubbed my back and we
continued kissing and loving one another. Our kiss was interrupted
by a screeching succession of “Boo’s!”

Trey pulled away, startled by the loud ghost
sounds coming from the corner. “What the hell?” he asked.

I started giggling watching Preston as she
continued to press the spot on the stuffed ghost making it go
“Boo!”

“
Oh, that’s a toy that Gina
brought over today for the baby,” I replied.

“
That figures,” Trey
replied, rolling his eyes. He went over to the playpen and tried to
get Preston interested in something else. She was having none of
it. She held on to her plush ghost and took it to bed with her that
night. Trey and I could hear the sound of ‘Boo’ every so often
coming from the nursery. We could hear her giggles, too. We
wouldn’t be getting that toy away from her anytime soon.

Karla was scribbling her notes as usual
during my session with her. So far, I'd done all the talking;
relaying all that had happened from the time Maggie had taken
Preston to the present. I took a drink of water when I paused
giving her time to catch up.

“
Tylar, I need to ask you
how you and Trey interacted during the period when Preston was
gone.”

“
Well, I mean we were both
emotionally drained, but we were there for each other. He was angry
when I took off for Indiana on my own, but other than that we were
strong for each other.”

“
Good,” she replied. “Since
the baby has been home, how are things between you and
Trey?”

Why was she asking so many questions about
Trey and me?

“
They’ve been fine. We're
very happy.”

“
What about your return to
work?”

“
That isn’t going to
happen.”

“
Why not?” she
pressed.

“
Because there's no one to
watch the baby; and Trey realizes that it wasn't a good idea. I
mean come on, look what that caused.”

“
So, you believe that you
going back to work directly caused Preston to be
abducted?”

“
I’m saying that it
certainly gave my wacko mother, aunt - whatever the hell she is to
me, the opportunity to snatch my baby, yes.”

“
Who is watching Preston
right now?”

“
My best friend,
Gina.”

“
Have you considered
searching for a babysitter in the future in case you choose to do
something outside of the home?”

“
Karla, I’m not sure why
you're posing these questions to me. I know that Maggie is locked
up and that she can’t get access to the baby or me any longer.
We're safe.”