Baby Love Lite (39 page)

“
Yeah. That’s what
happened.”

“
Oh, come on, Gina; there
has to be more.”

“
Ty, it isn’t what you
think. We're not in love or anything. We're both on the rebound.
Remember what I told you about not wanting to be a ‘bridge
bitch?”

“
Yeah, whatever,” I replied,
waving my hand at her dismissively. “How was the sex?”

“
It was fantastic,
girlfriend. I’ve got to tell you that Tristan is extremely thorough
with his tongue, if you know what I mean? Plus, he's hung very well
and knows how to use it to hit all of the right places. You know, I
was born with two G-Spots, right? He can hit them both at the same
time. Now, that's all I'm telling you. It was sex. It was fun. End
of story.”

Whatever, Gina. LOL!

When we got back to the kitchen, Trey and
Tristan had finished up getting everything set out at the dining
room table. Preston was still napping so we could enjoy a quiet
meal. I noticed that Tristan held the chair out for Gina to take
her seat before he sat down. Trey was already seated piling food
onto his plate.

Tristan was very attentive to her during the
meal. I think Trey had finally noticed it as well. I saw him roll
his eyes a couple of times. Once after Tristan asked Gina if she
wanted more turkey referring to her as ‘babe,’ and then again when
Gina got up to clear the table before dessert and he'd jumped up to
help her.

“
What the hell is going on
with those two?” Trey whispered to me as they took our plates out
to the kitchen.

“
I don’t know that there's
anything
going on,
Trey. It seems to me that they simply get along. What’s the
problem?”

“
Wanna bet he’s already
banged her?”

“
Don’t be so crude, Trey,” I
said admonishing him. “I’m getting dessert. Do you want apple pie
or pumpkin?”

“
Pumpkin,” he mumbled
frowning.

I picked the salad plates up and took them to
the kitchen. When I got to the doorway I saw Tristan’s arms wrapped
around Gina. He had her pulled up against him; his hands were all
over her ass. They were kissing passionately. They hadn’t seen me
so I quietly and quickly turned around and went back out to the
dining room.

“
What’s the matter? Where’s
my pie?” Trey asked as I set the salad plates back down on the
table. I lip synced to him that Tristan and Gina were making out in
the kitchen.

“
Jesus Christ, what the hell
did I tell you?”

“
Shush they’ll hear you. I
think it’s cute.”

“
Cute, my ass. It’s not as
though I don’t have her in my life enough just being your best
friend. She’ll probably end up as my sister-in-law,
now.”

I had to giggle at Trey’s discomfort with the
idea. He just needed to learn how to deal with Gina. She appeared
in the doorway to the dining room.

“
Tristan’s loading the
dishwasher. Here, let me take these plates to the kitchen,” she
said picking up the stacked salad plates. I’ll go ahead and bring
dessert out.”

Her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink. Trey and
I gave Gina our dessert orders and she hurried back into the
kitchen. Now was probably as good of time as any to bring up the
subject of Gina staying with us when she had to be out of the condo
next week.

“
Trey, would you have a
problem with Gina staying here with us for a couple of weeks until
she finds an apartment. She hasn’t had time to look for anything
working all those hours at the club. She's to be out by December
1st.”

“
Where the hell will she
stay?”

“
She can stay in Preston’s
room. She’s not bringing her furniture; that’s all going into
storage.”

He waved his hand dismissively at me.

“
Whatever, Tylar, I
certainly can’t say ‘no’ now that I’m fairly certain my brother's
throwing the meat to her. I’m sorry dear, was that too
crude?”

He gave me one of his stoic glares.

“
Thank you for your
understanding and compassion, Trey,” I replied smiling at
him.

Our landline rang and Gina got it from the
kitchen. “Tylar, it’s your dad,” she said bringing the phone to me.
I'd talked to him once since our initial conversation on Monday
evening. He'd hired someone to locate Trinity LaFleur and he'd
located my mother’s death certificate as well as my birth
certificate. He'd mailed certified copies of both of them to me. I
hadn’t received them yet.

“
Hi, Dad,” I said smiling.
It didn’t feel weird anymore calling him that.

“
Hi, daughter,” he laughed
pleasantly into the phone. “I wanted to call and wish you a Happy
Thanksgiving and give you an update. You probably haven’t received
the certificates that I mailed to you yet. I wanted to let you know
that I'd like to have your birth certificate amended.”

“
Look, Dad, if you're going
to suggest my birth name be changed to carry your last name I
really don’t think I want to be ‘Tylar Tylar,” I said.

“
No,” he laughed, “that's
not what I meant. On your birth certificate where the father’s name
is listed it's blank. I'd like to have my name entered in that
space.”

“
That’s fine with me, but I
mean, is it really necessary? You know I’m yours and I know you’re
mine so isn’t that what really matters?”

“
I want it on record,” he
said. “I want your children and your children’s children to know
their heritage.”

“
That’s fine, Dad, I guess I
didn’t think about it that way.”

“
There’s something else,
Tylar. When you see your mother’s death certificate I don’t want
you to be alarmed by what was entered as the cause of her
death.”

“
What does it say?” I asked
carefully.

“
Suicide by overdose,” he
answered. “I don’t believe that's accurate.”

“
Overdose of
what?”

“
Barbiturates. The thing is
there's no way a cause of death could be ruled as an overdose of
any type of drug without a post mortem being conducted. There were
some very sloppy or very shady records kept with respect to her
death. She apparently succumbed in Vidalia, Louisiana.”

“
Vidalia? That’s where
Trinity LaFleur's supposed to be living. She was the mid-wife that
delivered me according to Maggie.”

“
Yes, and I think the P.I. I
hired has located her. She may have the answers we need. I’m going
to file a request to open an investigation into your mother’s
death. I have the authority to do so. There will be a formal
inquisition held at some point in time. I'll keep you
informed.”

“
Thanks, Dad,” I replied,
stunned at the news he'd given me; thankful he wasn't going to let
it go until we had the answers.

Trey was watching me after I got off the
phone with him. “Is everything okay, sweetie?” he asked.

“
My father's opening a
formal investigation into my mother’s death. Her death certificate
listed the cause as a barbiturate overdose and suicide.”

“
That doesn’t make any
sense,” he replied.

“
My father agrees with you,”
I said. “He said there was no way that they could confirm chemicals
in her system without doing an autopsy - at least checking her
blood toxicology, I would think. Trey, what if Matthew did poison
her and Maggie, too? How hard will that be to prove?”

“
Well, sweetie, up to this
point, it's just hearsay. Even if it's established that either or
both of them died from poisoning, it in no way incriminates him
without witnesses, or motives; they need much more circumstantial
and forensic evidence, I’m afraid.”

I heard Preston crying in her room. Trey
started to get up but I told him I'd get her. I needed the
distraction from my dark thoughts.

I went in and she was standing up holding
onto the rail on her crib. Her room was dark. The nightlight we'd
plugged in must've had the bulb burn out. It got dark so early
now.

“
Hey, precious girl,” I said
to her, “Are you ready for some pureed turkey and sweet potatoes?”
She smiled showing off her latest teeth. She was getting her two
eye teeth before her top middle ones. She had a bit of a baby
vampire look going. She reached for me as I neared her
crib.

I cleaned her up, diapered her and then
dressed her in a yellow turtleneck and a little brown corduroy
jumper that had a colorful turkey emblem on the front. I put some
white tights on her and a pair of brown oxford shoes. I brushed her
hair up into two little pigtails.

“
My baby looks adorable,” I
said to her smiling. She rewarded me with a dimpled grin. I carried
her out to the dining room and settled her into her high chair.
Gina and Tristan were fussing all over her and entertained her
while I got her food warmed up. Trey got her bib and tied it on
her.

“
Can I feed her, Ty?” Gina
asked. “I’m finished with dessert, so why don’t you eat yours while
I feed her?”

“
Be my guest.”

I ate my apple pie watching Gina feed her
with Tristan right there with her. The baby loved the attention she
was getting from Aunt Gina and Uncle Tristan.

Trey had finished loading the dishwasher at
capacity and started it. We still had at least another half load of
dirty dishes to load once the first one was finished. He came back
into the dining room, rolling his eyes for the third time this
evening having seen Tristan with his hand on Gina’s shoulder as she
fed Preston. They stayed till around 10:00 p.m. playing with
Preston until she started get fussy.

“
This baby girl is ready for
bed,” Trey said scooping her up and heading towards the
nursery.

“
So,” Gina said quietly once
Trey had exited the room. “Did you mention anything to Trey about
me crashing here starting next weekend?”

“
I did and he’s fine with
it,” I replied smiling.

“
No shit? That’s
great.”

“
Well, listen, we better
shove off now. The Hot Nazi has made it pretty clear he wants some
alone time with you.”

Tristan chuckled as he helped Gina on with
her coat. I got the distinct impression that it was Gina who wanted
some alone time with Tristan.

“
What time does your flight
leave in the morning, Tristan?”

“
Around 9:00 a.m.,” he said.
“Gina has the papers for you to sign and your check at the
office.”

“
That’s fine,” I said.
“We're going to do our Black Friday shopping tomorrow so I can get
it then. When are you planning to come back to start the
modifications to the club?”

“
I have to get the staff
started at the winery, so it'll be in about two weeks.”

“
You’re welcome to stay here
when you get back,” I offered.

Gina shot me a dirty look.

What the hell is that about?

“
Thanks, Tylar,” he said,
giving me a brotherly hug.

“
Thanksgiving was great,”
Gina said hugging me as well.

“
I'll see you tomorrow
morning around nine or so after I drop Tristan at the airport. Be
ready to shop, girlfriend.”

“
Always, Gina,” I said,
closing the door behind them.

I went in showered, got in my jammies and
crawled into bed. I was exhausted. Holidays seemed to do that to
me. Trey came in a few minutes later holding Preston who was in her
pj’s as well. “Someone is asking for ‘num-num,” he said. I held my
arms out taking her from him and nestling her down beside me.

“
I’m going to grab a shower,
babe. I’m beat.”

“
Okay, sweetie,” I replied,
lowering my nightgown and positioning Preston on her side next to
me. She clamped down hard on my nipple her teeth making it painful.
“Ouch,” I said, “That hurt.”

Trey looked over at me as he was taking his
boots off.

“
She’s starting to bite me
with those sharp baby teeth,” I laughed.

“
Baby,” he said, "why don’t
you consider weaning her entirely off the breast? It would make
things easier if we wanted to go away for a few days here and
there.”

“
I will when she turns a
year old, Trey. I want to continue until then at least a couple of
times a day.”

When Trey came to bed after his shower, he
found both Preston and I asleep. He removed her from my arms to
take her to her own bed. When he returned he climbed into bed
naked, except for his boxers. He immediately curled up next to me
drawing me close to his warm body. I had put my diaphragm in after
my shower.

Trey was placing soft kisses on my face, neck
and shoulders. I pulled him down on top of me kissing his lips and
allowing his tongue to explore my mouth.

“
Is your diaphragm in,
baby?”

“
It is,” I replied,
massaging his manhood that was quickly hardening between us. “I’ve
waited for this all day, Mr. Sinclair,” I said.

The truth was that ever since Gina had told
me how hot it was with Tristan and I saw her giddiness and
Tristan’s attentiveness to her, I'd wanted some of that for myself.
Was it possible that Trey and I'd fallen into a ‘married rut’? We
made love and fucked all of the time. I yearned for that ‘just new’
feeling though; the feeling that I'd had with him after we first
met; and then again after we'd made love for the first time; the
feeling that there were still mysteries about each other to be
solved.