Be My Baby (4 page)

I saw Preston frowning trying to figure this
all out.

"Where Mommie baabby?" she asked, now
pointing to my stomach.

(What do I tell her?)

Trey was at my side in a moment.

"Hey Preston," he said, scooping her up into
his strong arms. "Let's go get some crackers from Jean."

"Cacker?" She had already moved on to
something else. I was sure that the subject would come up
again.

After everyone had finally left I breathed a
sigh of relief. The tightness in my chest was somewhat relieved. I
was finally spared their constant perusal. I had felt like I had
spent the day under a microscope. My father had kissed me good-bye.
He was flying back to Baton Rouge this evening. He said he would
call me later in the week.

I took my heels off and headed up the stairs
to our suite. Susan and Clive were heading back to Bristol in a
couple of weeks. I had overheard Susan saying something to Trey
about having Preston spend some time with them in the fall for a
couple of weeks. She mentioned that perhaps he and I could use some
alone time. He had told her that he would discuss it with me and
let her know. He said he thought I probably would not want to be
apart from Preston for awhile.

I actually thought it would be nice for
Preston to spend some time with her grandparents. It wasn't that
often that she got to see them. Once she started school, it would
be even more difficult to plan visits there.

I went to the bathroom and started the
shower. I wasn't supposed to take baths for several weeks; showers
only. I got clean pajamas and underwear ready for afterwards.
Freshly showered and dressed, I climbed into our bed. I fell asleep
right away. I was glad that this day was behind me forever.

I woke up when Trey came to bed. I could
tell it was much later because I had gotten just enough sleep to
take the edge off. He pulled me over close to him, wrapping an arm
around me. He fell asleep quickly. I lay there now wide awake
unable to fall back to sleep. I smelled a hint of whiskey on his
breath. Jack Daniels.

CHAPTER 4

The weeks seemed to fly by in the fall.
Before I knew it, it was September. I was on my way back to the
house from the horse barn. I had driven in to town to do some
clothes shopping for Preston before she returned home. I hadn't had
much luck there; I figured I would probably have to hit a mall in
Atlanta.

I stopped for a manicure while I was there.
I hadn't done that in so long. As I left the shop I was trying my
best not to scratch my freshly painted nails at least for the rest
of the day. I was shaking my purse in order to force my keys to
surface without my having to dig down for them. It worked! The
problem was when I tilted my purse and shook it I had the
misfortune of doing so as I stood on the slotted grill covering a
storm drain. My keys fell nicely between the slats into the
sewer.

(Sweet. Just my fucking luck!)

Marcus had spotted me as he was leaving the
feed store and had given me a lift back to the house. He offered to
take me back to my car once I retrieved my other key at home but I
realized it was on Trey's keychain so I would have to wait for him
to get home.

It had been a busy week. The two scheduled
breedings that we had conducted had gone well. It was an extremely
lucrative fee we had collected. I needed to thank my dad for the
gift horse - literally. The house was a bit lonely with Preston
spending a couple of weeks with Clive and Susan. I had hoped that
Trey would have lightened his schedule at the office so that we
could spend some alone time together but he said the caseload was
killer right now. He had a major Title VII class action suit ready
for trial; apparently Amber was second chair on it. That didn't
make me particularly happy. I refused to allow her threat turn me
into an insecure, jealous whiney-ass wife. That wasn't how I
rolled.

Gina had been right when she said the world
was full of skanks just waiting to close in on another woman's man.
The September breeze felt good as my hair blew free. I loved the
fall. It was my favorite season. The sun was shining but the air
had a cool, crispness to it that left a promise of low humidity
coming for at least the next few months.

I twirled around letting the sun hit my face
and the wind take my hair. It felt delicious. I was back into my
skinny jeans much sooner than I had expected to be. Everything
seemed almost normal. I had refused to grieve the way that Trey had
wanted me to; the way that my father had; the way that Gina,
Tristan and Susan had. The tiptoeing around me as if I was a china
doll that would break into a million pieces had grated on my
nerves.

The hardest part of all of it was trying to
explain to Preston as to where 'Mommy's baby' had gone. Trey had
told her that her baby sister was in heaven with her grandma.
Preston had no conception of that at fifteen months of age. He
explained to her that 'Baby Marley' was an angel now up in heaven
with 'Grandma Marley.'

I thought back to the small graveside
service of a few weeks back. I recalled that tiny little casket
that had held my stillborn child; the child that I had never seen.
Why hadn't I noticed that I hadn't felt her kick since that morning
that Gina was in labor? Maybe it was my fault. Maybe if I had paid
more attention to the lack of movement something could have been
done. The doctor had said there was no way I could have known.

Infections such as the one I had were rare;
there were other complications. It was a fluke. One in a
million.

My father had been out of sorts with the
situation. He had tried to console me but consolation wasn't what I
needed. I had never known this child. Marley Renaud Sinclair. It
was on the granite tombstone that Trey had picked out. It read 'the
beloved daughter' of Tylar and Trey Sinclair. Rest in peace our
little angel.'

I hadn’t talked to Gina since the memorial
service. I knew that Gina couldn’t fathom my impassiveness. I
didn't see things that way. She hadn't been born yet. There wasn't
the same connection that I had with Preston. It was what it
was.

As I neared the circular drive in front of
our house I could see Trey's Mercedes and another car parked behind
it. Shit! It was Amber's sporty little BMW parked right behind
Trey's car. What the hell was she doing here?

It seemed like they were
spending a lot of time on this most recent case. Trey was very
impassioned by it. He said this case was a
'prima facie'
case against a major
global company that had a long history of conspiracy and
collusion.

Apparently this particular case involved
infractions against older, female employees. It was another MDML
situation. He had won the previous case he had worked on under
MDML. That had produced another nice chunk of change for us.

I was in no mood to deal with Amber. I hoped
that Trey hadn't invited her to dinner or anything. I looked at the
watch Trey had bought for me for Christmas. It was only 3:30 in the
afternoon. I was surprised he was home already unless they were
working here. They had done that occasionally while I had been
recuperating from the stillbirth delivery much to my chagrin.

Something seemed different this time. My car
obviously wasn't parked in the drive. Jean was visiting her
daughter since Preston was gone. Something, perhaps instinct told
me to assess the situation before going inside. I retracted my
steps and went around to the back of the house. I peeped through
the window of the kitchen. It was clear, no one was in site. I went
around to the other side in the back where the family room was
located. As I crept closer to the window I could hear conversation.
It was Trey's voice.

"What will you have Amber? We have wine, or
I could make you a mixed drink?"

"Wine would be fine Trey, thanks."

"You've got it counselor but only one. We
have quite a bit of work tonight going through these depositions
and I need you at 100%."

"I'm always at 100% Trey. Haven't you
figured that out yet?"

I peeped up over the window sill. Trey had
his back to me thankfully as he was at the bar getting their
drinks. Trey was in his business clothes; Amber was in a red Chanel
suit that was short and tight. Her hair and make-up were
impeccable; her nail color matched the color of her suit perfectly.
She had on 4" heels that accentuated her muscular legs.

Trey handed her a glass of wine; he had a
bottle of beer.

They were now turned facing each other. The
window I was at was not in their line of vision.

"Cheers, counselor," she said, tapping her
glass of wine against his bottle of beer.

"Cheers," he replied smiling.

They each took a drink and I noticed that
Amber did not take her eyes off of him. Trey set his bottle of beer
down on the coffee table and started organizing the files stacked
on the table. She continued to sip her wine watching him.

"Do you want to use my laptop instead of
yours since it's already out?" he asked.

"Sure thing. I'm a better keyboard jockey
than you anyway," she replied with a smile.

"I won't argue that counselor," Trey said as
he scooted over to allow room for her to sit next to him on the
sofa.

"You'll need to log in under my password.
It's ---"

"I know what it is, Trey," she replied
rolling her eyes, "You might as well not even have one."

"Hey, I've got too many other important
things to remember besides all these damn passwords," he
mumbled.

She looked over at him, smiling.

"It's awfully quiet in here today," she
commented as her long fingers pressed the keys on his laptop to log
in.

"Where is that little angel, Preston?"

"Oh, she's spending time with my parents in
Bristol."

"That's nice," she remarked. "Did Tylar go
with her?"

"No, Tylar has been pretty busy with the
horses. Her car's not out front so she may have had to go into town
for something. She's been doing the shopping since Jean is visiting
her daughter in Atlanta for a few days."

"There," she said sweetly, "I'm all logged
in and have the depo files accessed. Which one do you want me to
pull up?"

"Let's start with Smith," he replied,
digging through one of the file folders stacked on the coffee
table.

"Which one?" she laughed.

"Oh, that's right. We have about ten of
them. How about Ohio Smith?"

"You've got it, babe," she said, typing
away. "There we go."

"Read me back the testimony on page five
relative to the questioning about the integrity concerns
submitted."

It looked as if Amber was scanning down the
screen searching for it.

"I can't find it," she replied, biting her
lower lip. "Do I have the right file opened?"

Trey scooted closer looking at the screen
and then back at his notes. I watched as Amber leaned over toward
him, her low cut blouse underneath her opened jacket gave Trey a
full few of her pushed-up breasts.

I continued to watch my husband with his
gorgeous female law partner that had clearly made her intentions
known to me on an earlier occasion.

I felt like a voyeur; it was wrong to spy on
my husband when he had clearly given me no indication that he
wasn't to be trusted. I started to turn away to go around and make
my entrance when a sudden movement caught my eye.

It was Amber. She had suddenly turned her
face to Trey's; she leaned into him and found his lips with her
own. I stood there like a frozen statue. I watched as Trey pulled
back from her and stood up. He was clearly taken aback. He raked
one hand through his thick, burnished hair, shoving his other hand
into the pocket of his trousers. He paced back to where she was now
standing by the couch.

"Amber," he said, almost apologetically,
"This can't happen."

"Why Trey?" she asked her voice soft and
melodious. "We both want it and you know that."

"I don't know anything of the sort. I'm
married. You know that. Have I done anything to lead you to believe
that I wanted anything more from you aside from a professional
friendship?"

"Trey - I am so sorry. I totally misread
your vibes. I'm usually pretty good at picking up on someone's
vibes. I feel like a total idiot."

She stood up from the couch and quickly
grabbed her briefcase. Tears started flowing from her perfectly
made up chocolate brown eyes. Her brows were furrowed into a frown
as if she was angry with herself.

"Amber - wait. You don't have to leave. We
can forget this happened and continue working on the case."

She collapsed onto the couch, her hands
covering her face as she began to weep softly.

"Don't you see?" she asked, "I have made a
total fool out of myself in front of someone that I so admire and
respect. I can't face you again, Trey. I am such an idiot."

Her sobs got louder as she hung her head in
apparent shame.

Trey was in front of her in a second; he
took her hands and lifted her up from the couch.

"Listen," he said softly, "You aren't an
idiot and I am totally flattered. You are a beautiful and talented
lawyer, Amber. I've enjoyed working on this case with you. I don't
for a minute want you to feel ashamed, okay? If the situation were
different -"

She looked up at him with her tear stained
eyes and sniffled. She nodded innocently still watching him with
those big brown eyes. My stomach lurched; I knew that she wasn't
finished with him yet.