Maybe Baby (46 page)

She came around to the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against it with her arms folded, watching me. “Okay, spill. What's the Hot Nazi done this time?” As usual, Gina’s timing left something to be desired. Trey turned the corner to the kitchen just as the words left her mouth. He threw her a nasty look.

“Gina,” he nodded, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“Trey,” she replied, her tone borderline accusatory. Gina had balls, I gave her that. “Would you mind stirring Tylar’s soup so that I can see what the fuck she's so upset about?” she snapped. Before Trey had a chance to reply, Gina took me by the hand and pulled me down the massive hallway into the master suite. She went into the bathroom, returning with a damp washcloth.

“Here,” she held it out, “your mascara's running.” I took it and wiped my cheeks. “So? What happened? Did the Nazi fire you on your first day?”

I provided Gina with the ‘Reader’s Digest’ version of the day’s events.

“So essentially what you're telling me is that Trey got his nose out of joint because some visiting lawyer brushed against your ass and he felt like kicking his? Ty, that's what boyfriends, husbands, lovers do—get it?”

“I know,” I said, stifling a mini-sob, “but he also sort of thought I liked the attention.”

“Well, did you?”

“No, but—”

“But what?”

“I liked that it bothered Trey, I guess.”

“I see,” Gina replied, smiling.

“It’s not funny, Gina. Now Trey and I are in a fight sort of. He had to tell the other senior partners. Eventually the whole office will find out that I’m pregnant. I’m sure I'll be regarded as some gold digger that wanted to trap the handsome, rich attorney, using the oldest trick in the book.”

“Maybe they will think that Trey took advantage of an innocent virgin and now won’t take responsibility,” she mused.

“How can you say that?” I jumped to Trey’s defense.

“Well, for starters, I don’t see a ring on your finger.”

“Trey wants to be married. He said so over Thanksgiving.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me that part Tylar? So what’s the problem?”

“Because it was more along the lines of ‘We love each other, we’re having a baby, I think we should be married,’ type of thing.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “So you didn’t like the proposal? That’s the only reason?”

“I don’t want to be pregnant when I get married. I set that bar a long time ago.”

“Okay,” she said, sighing, “let me ask you these questions and you need to be totally honest with me.”

I nodded.

“Do you see yourself spending your life with Trey?”

“I want to.”

“Suppose Trey would have proposed to you
prior
to his knowing you were pregnant, would you have accepted?”

I didn’t have to think long or hard before answering. “I'd have insisted on an engagement of a year or so before getting married.”

“Then there you have it,” Gina replied, beaming, “you get engaged, then everyone will know you're with each other out of love. It's perfectly respectable to marry after the baby is born. This isn’t 1957, after all.”

“I like it,” I said, “there’s only one problem.”

“Which is?”

“Trey hasn’t officially proposed since I put the kibosh on it a couple weeks ago. I’m not going to suggest it, that’s for sure.”

“You know,” she said looking at me seriously, “I’m not a huge fan of the Hot Nazi but I have to say that he's done his part so far. Maybe you need to do yours. You can always propose to him; show him how it’s done.”

She squeezed me in a hug just as there was a tap on the bedroom door. Trey walked in, looking a tad sheepish. I think Gina intimidated him.

“Gina, Ian’s in the living room. He was worried when you were gone so long.”

“Shit. I forgot all about Ian. We gotta get to the club. Call me,” she ordered, pointing her finger at me, disappearing out into the hallway. “Later Trey,” she called over her shoulder.

Trey sat down on the bed next to me, putting his arm around me. “Your soup's ready,” he said softly. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

I couldn’t eat and I knew it. There was a huge lump in my throat that needed to be resolved. I turned to Trey, taking his hand in mine, looking into his sapphire blue eyes. “Trey, I love you and only you. When I see my future, I know that I want you in it every day. I know that we aren’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t perfect for each other.” I raised his hand to my lips and kissed it.

“Tylar,” he breathed, pulling me to him, burying his face into my neck. “I love you and only you. I wouldn’t want a future without you in it. I want you to be my wife.”

“Then why don’t you ask me?”

He pulled back, staring at me in sheer confusion. “I
have
asked you.”

“Not really. You've said things like ‘I think we should be married’ or ‘I want you to have my last name’ and now, ‘I want you to be my wife.’ Ask the big question, counselor.”

“Tylar Jamie Preston, will you please marry me?”

I lunged back into his arms, hugging his neck tightly. “Yes I will, Trey!” Happy tears ran down my cheeks.

“Come on,” Trey said, lifting me up, “let’s go eat something okay?”

We sat at the breakfast bar, eating warmed-up Chunky soup and a salad that Trey had fixed. “What’s in the bag over there?” Trey asked, nodding toward the living room.

“Gina brought me some of her clothes. I want to expand my wardrobe.”

Trey frowned. “You know that I can afford to buy you clothes. No wonder Gina thinks I’m some kind of Nazi,” he mumbled. “Saturday we're going shopping for a ring,” he announced. “While we're at it, we will shop for clothes as well. I want the future Mrs. Sinclair to continue making the fashion statements she made today. By the way, are we going to set a date for our wedding?”

“Certainly,” I replied, smiling warmly at my fiancé. “It’s still going to be after the baby's born and I’ve lost my baby weight,” I informed him. “Weddings take time to plan.”

“I figured as much,” he conceded. “Just promise me that it’ll take place before our second child’s born?”

“I promise.”

Trey offered to clean up the kitchen so that I could shower before bed. I was cozy in bed by the time Trey came in. He put Monday Night Football on in our room. Trey propped some pillows behind him and sat up in bed to watch the game. I snuggled alongside him, resting my head on his flat belly. He draped one arm over my back, gently rubbing it.

"There's still one elephant in the room that we haven't discussed," I reminded Trey, tracing my finger on his muscular bare chest. "That phone message from Tess that came in this morning?"

He frowned. “I’d completely forgotten about that with my obsession over you.”

“So, will you call her back?”

“I didn’t plan to,” he shrugged. “Why, do you want me to?”

“Why’d she call in the first place?”

“I don’t know, perhaps to congratulate me on my impending fatherhood?”

I doubted that but I didn’t say so. “I’d prefer that you not call her back,” I said.

“Then I won’t. Get some sleep now, Tylar.”

I laid my head back down on his chest and drifted off.

Chapter 47

The next few weeks passed quickly. As promised, Trey went ring shopping and Gina and I went clothes shopping. It was important to me that Trey chose my ring, and I told him that I'd love anything he selected. He insisted I take his credit card to buy clothes. Gina said that was “a guy thing and not to look a gift horse in the fucking mouth.” She said Ian generally tried to hide their credit cards from her.

Trey wanted to present my engagement ring to me on Christmas Eve when we would be with his family in Bristol. He said he wanted to share the joy with his parents. I was anxious that our engagement might appear to upstage his brothers’ visit. Trey told me not to be ridiculous.

We were driving to Bristol on the 23
^rd
of December and his brothers were to arrive the following day. Susan had planned a grand Christmas Eve dinner. I called Denise to let her and Ray know that Trey and I'd be there for a week. Denise was excited with the news. She knew that I was expecting; Susan was telling everyone she ran into. I thought it might bother Trey, but he was fine with it.

“You must think I’m as crotchety as my father,” he said, laughing. “Tylar, you and I are expecting a child and I'm happy about it."

On the afternoon before we were set to leave for Bristol, I finally met Mrs. Harris. She came to clean three days a week, always while I was at work. Trey and I had arrived home early because the firm closed early for the holiday. Mrs. Harris was just finishing up in the kitchen and Trey introduced us. We chatted and I found her to be an absolute treasure.

“So you and Mr. Sinclair are going away for the holidays?” she asked, politely.

“Yes, Mrs. Harris,” I replied. “We’ll be in Bristol until after the first. So there's no need for you to come in that week.”

“Well, now that’s nice. You call me Jean though, you hear?’

“Yes Jean, as long as you call me Tylar.”

“Tylar it is,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“I’ve got to tell you, Tylar, ever since you came here my work has been cut in half. Now that says something don’t it when I’m cleaning for two people instead of one and my workload’s cut in half?”

I laughed. “Well then it’s worth all of the nagging I've had to do to get Trey to pick up after himself. Your work may increase some in the future, though.”

“Oh?”

I blushed. “Trey and I are expecting a baby in early May.”

“Well congratulations, honey. That's great news! You two are simply a beautiful couple. I won’t mind cleaning up after a baby one little bit.”

She reached for her scarf and prepared to leave. I handed her pay envelope to her, which included a Christmas bonus.

“Merry Christmas, Jean.”

“Merry Christmas to you and Trey, honey, and have a good trip. I'll see you after the new year.” I closed the door behind her, smiling at her sweetness.

I skipped down the hallway to Trey’s study. He was on his phone again. I could tell he was talking to one of the partners. I guessed it was Pierce. He and Trey were working on a major class action product liability case that looked like it was going to trial in January. I paused in the doorway of Trey’s study trying to see how much longer he was going to be. He gave me a shrug; this call could take a while.

I knew my ring was somewhere in the apartment. Although I'd looked around a bit before, Trey always seemed to be nearby. The time was right for some unobstructed snooping. I went into Trey’s closet. He hadn’t packed his clothes for the trip, which made my task more difficult. I checked the insides of his shoes and boots, nothing there. I rummaged through his neatly folded boxers and socks. No luck. Then I decided to check under the mattress. I positioned myself at the end of the bed, raising the heavy king-sized mattress up and sweeping my arm across each section as I moved across the width of the bed. My fingertips grazed something.

It was a plastic DVD case, very generic looking, with no writing on the case or on the disk. I placed the disk into the DVD player and pushed play. There was some initial fuzziness and then the video came onto the screen. It wasn’t particularly crisp, but the audio was unmistakable. I heard my voice.

“Trey, you need to get out from under Derringer, damn it!”

Oh wow. This was the video that Charlie took of Trey and me that night. I skipped ahead to where I slapped Trey across his cheek. He didn’t flinch. I watched as I raised my hand back to deliver yet another slap and he caught my wrist without taking his eyes off of me.

Now that was kind of hot . . .

Then it was at the part where Trey pulled me out into the stable area, closer to where Charlie must have been hiding; the video was crisper now.

Oh God, there I am completely naked standing in front of Trey. Charlie zoomed in on us with his camera.

I patted my baby bump and remembered how good we were that night. The part that I hated would be coming up soon. I stopped the video, not particularly inclined to re-live that portion.

Glancing over toward the door I saw Trey leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed and he regarded me impassively.

“Off the phone honey?” I asked him sweetly.

“What are you doing?”

“Watching some porn,” I answered, smiling.

He quickly entered the room, coming over to me. “How did you find that?” he asked.

“I was snooping,” I confessed.

“For what?”

“My ring.”

He sat down on the bed next to me, crossing his leg, resting his ankle on his thigh. “First of all, I wouldn’t hide your ring–if you're even getting one–here in the bedroom. Secondly, why would you want to spoil a surprise like that?”

“I don’t know. I was bored.”

He raked his hand through his tousled hair.

“Why did you hide the DVD under the mattress?”

He looked sheepish and a tad uncomfortable, “I wanted to make sure that it didn’t get mixed in with any of my other DVDs by accident.”

“That's so much bullshit and you know it,” I laughed. “Who else lives here that could accidently come upon it?”

I actually think I saw a blush cross his handsome face. “Just never mind,” he replied, sternly. “No more snooping, understood?”

Chapter 48

Trey and I set out early for the drive to Bristol. I brought my collection of Christmas music to play on the trip to nudge my Trey into the Christmas spirit. I bought each of us red stocking Santa hats with little bells on the end. I made the rule that we had to wear them until we reached his parents’ house. That got a major eye roll out of Trey, but he complied.

Within minutes after leaving Atlanta, I'd fallen back to sleep. When I awoke, it was light out and Trey was pulling into the parking lot of a Jerry’s J-Boy Restaurant. I loved Jerry’s and he knew it.

“Well, so much for us singing Christmas carols the whole trip, Ms. Sleepyhead,” he teased, flicking the bell on my Santa cap. Trey started to remove his hat.

“No, no,” I said, staying his arm, “we agreed to wear these hats the whole trip and that includes stops along the way.”