by ANDREA SMITH
“You’ve got it.”
I had Preston dressed up in a dark green, velveteen dress, white tights and black patent leather shoes. I had done her hair up in a fancy little braid with a dark green ribbon intertwined.
“There you go, sweetie. You look so pretty for Mommy and Daddy. I bet you’ll be happy to see them, won’t you?”
“Uh huh,” she said, “Mommy, Daddy home,” she squealed, clasping her hands together and smiling.
Tylar had phoned earlier to let us know they were on their way. She had filled me in on what had happened with Trey’s credit cards being cancelled; and coming home to find her clothes had been cut up. How freaking creepy was that? I had decided right then and there to put Amber’s shit in the wind, as we used to say back in Jersey.
I had typed a small note on our computer and printed it out, along with an address label to Mr. Pierce at Pierce, Harmon, Richardson & Sinclair. The label was marked ‘Private & Confidential’ in bold, red letters. The beauty of the DVD was that the camera had been focused at eye level on the two bodies, clinging and feeling all over each other; to the viewer, it would appear as if someone had taken the video with a smart phone, or small digital camera such as a P.I. would use. I was thankful that Tristan had gone to the expense of having the tiny video lenses embedded in wall hangings around the club.
The note was short and to the point:
Douglas,
Your behavior towards my sister is reprehensible. She confided to me that you expect sex from her if she wants to remain a partner. You either end the affair with her or get prepared to have your partners (and your wife) see a copy of this. Amber did not put me up to this. Please do not tell her that I sent you this; otherwise it won’t be pleasant.
- Libby
That should fix her wagon. Pierce would be fairly certain that Amber was behind it, but not being 100% sure, he would be too paranoid to tell her in case her ‘twisted’ sister did send it without her knowledge and decided to carry through on the threat to show the video to others. If nothing else, Pierce would make sure that Amber was neutralized in some fashion. My guess was a pink slip with a nice, hefty severance.
I put the note and DVD into a bubble pack envelope and set it on the dining room table to mail out. I hoped it didn’t backfire. I figured Amber was due some karma.
I had Preston all packed and ready to go. She was in the nursery now, watching Tristan change Reese’s diaper. She loved helping with the baby. I spotted the envelope and decided I had better take it down to the lobby to mail before Trey and Tylar got here, and before I lost my nerve.
Once I had deposited it into the mailbox downstairs, I pushed the button for the elevator to go back up. That is when I heard the commotion from the street. I heard screeching tires, followed by the sound of breaking glass and crumpling metal. A car horn sounded as if someone was thrown up against it.
(Holy shit!)
I went outside onto the sidewalk trying to see what had happened. It was in the next block down. I saw an SUV that had crashed into the building on the corner; smoke was coming out from under the hood. People were running over to it. Probably some drunk driver I thought to myself. Then I noticed another group of people gathering at the cross walk between the corner and the building directly across the street from ours. What was that about?
I stepped out on the sidewalk and heard a loud, wailing scream. Someone was lying face down in the street. I could see a black, suede bomber jacket. People were hollering to call an ambulance. On the other side of the street, yet another group of people were gathering around someone else it looked like. That was where the screaming had been coming from. It had stopped. It was quiet now. In the distance I heard the sounds of sirens getting louder.
I hoped that Trey and Tylar could find a place to park with all of the emergency equipment coming. I turned to go back into the building. I felt funny being a ‘Looky Lou’ when some tragedy occurred like this. Something made me stop and turn back. I went back to the curb, walking north closer to where the man with the black jacket was lying on the pavement. Something was familiar; I looked beyond him over to the sidewalk where I recognized Tylar’s red jacket.
(Oh my God!)
I turned and ran back into the building. I pressed the button for the elevator again and again.
“C’mon, c’mon,” I sobbed, pounding on it now. The door man had seen me run back in; he was now outside on the sidewalk trying to see what all of the commotion was about.
The doors finally opened and I raced inside, pressing the button for our floor, again and again.
By the time I raced through the door of our apartment I was hysterical. Tristan looked up as he was cradling Reese in his arms; Preston was right beside him babbling. She stopped and looked up at me with her big blue eyes, Trey’s eyes. I lost it.
CHAPTER 23
It was Christmas Eve; Reese’s first Christmas, Preston’s second one. Our apartment was decorated with a tree and twinkling lights on the mantle with freshly cut evergreen branches. It was raining out. That was the only thing I missed about New Jersey: the many white Christmases we had there.
Tylar had spent the night last night. Our apartment was closer to the hospital. She stayed here on those nights that she didn’t stay with Trey at the hospital. She had showered changed and was getting ready to head out the door.
Tristan was changing Reese’s diaper; I was in the kitchen mixing up colored icing. I had baked three dozen Christmas cookies. Preston was pumped about helping me decorate them. She was kneeling on one of the kitchen chairs, eating an unfrosted cookie when Tylar poked her head in to tell us good-bye.
“You be a good girl for Aunt Gina and Uncle Tristan, okay Preston? You know Santa is coming tonight and you want to make sure that he knows you’ve been a good girl.”
“Uh huh, Mommy,” she said, nodding her head up and down.
“Tylar, can I talk to you for a second in the living room?”
“Sure Gina,” she said, “You stay here and finish your cookie, Preston.”
“Kay, Mommy.”
Tylar followed me out of the kitchen. I went over to stand by the Christmas tree to make sure that Preston didn’t hear me.
“Ty,” I whispered, “Why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s the first Christmas that Preston really understands and is excited about. Don’t you want to be here to see it?”
“Well of course I do, Gina. That’s not really the point, though.”
“Well what is the point then, Ty?”
“I need to be with Trey. Preston has you, and Tristan and Reese. I’ve wrapped all of her gifts from Santa. All you need to do is put them out under the tree.”
“It’s not about that, Ty. It’s about you being here with your daughter. Trey isn’t going to know whether you’re there or not; Preston will know that you’re not here though.”
“That was a low blow, Gina. First of all, you don’t know what Trey knows and what he doesn’t. Secondly, my first priority is to my husband. I believe it is something about ‘in sickness and in health? Oh, that’s right; you aren’t real familiar with that part of it, are you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My voice was getting louder.
“What do you think it means, Gina?”
“I think, Ty, that you need to get your priorities straight.”
“Hey Gina, I do have my priorities straight; I don’t fucking need you to tell me what my priorities are anyway. I will make my priorities all by myself, thank you very much. It is really none of your fucking business, anyway.”
“I will damn well make it my business since Tristan and I--”
She was interrupted when Tristan came out, carrying Reese. Preston was standing in the doorway to the kitchen; our raised voices had brought her out.
“Gina, Tylar. That’s enough out of both of you. You’re upsetting the babies with this crap.”
Tylar turned from me, stopping to pick Preston up to give her a kiss. She then slammed out of th
e apartment. I watched as Preston’s little face scrunched up and tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran to the door after her mommy. I immediately went over and picked her up. She buried her face into my hair sobbing. I looked over at Tristan who graced me with one of his ‘Now see what you’ve done looks.’
I got Preston settled down and we decorated cookies for the next hour. She seemed to get into a better mood. Afterwards, we made sure we set a couple of the cookies on a plate and put it out on the coffee table for Santa. I placed a glass of milk next to it. I took her into the bathroom and gave her a bath; then dressed her in her pajamas.
She ran out to the living room to give Uncle Tristan a goodnight kiss. I tucked her into the bed in Reese’s room and told her to get to sleep quickly so that Santa would come. We said a prayer for her daddy like we always did.
When I got back to the living room, Tristan was giving Reese his bottle before bed. I was still a bit irate with Tristan. He always seemed to take Tylar’s side. I knew how ridiculous that sounded; she was my best friend. Why should there even be ‘sides’? I just felt at this point in time, Tylar needed to address the needs of Preston before Trey. Preston was cognizant of what was going on around her; Trey wasn’t.
I went into the kitchen and cleaned up all of the dishes and baking utensils from the cookies. When I came out, Tristan had a fire going in the fireplace; Reese was down for the night.
“Come here,” he said, patting the couch next to where he sat.
I went over and sat down next to him. He pulled me over to him.
“I understand where you are coming from Gina, believe me, I do. But you have to understand where I am coming from; Trey is my brother. Tylar is his wife. The fact that she has been at his side since this happened is, well to be honest, it’s what I would want you to do if I was the one lying there. Does that sound selfish?”
I looked up at him and I realized that he was suffering, too.
“No Tristan, that is not selfish and that is exactly where I would be. I’m not sure if I would be there day and night, though, I mean you wouldn’t want me to neglect Reese, right?”
“Of course not, Gina. But say it was me there; and say that Trey and Tylar were there for Reese, would that make a difference?”
“Yes, I guess it would,” I admitted. “But it is only one night, Tristan. It’s Christmas Eve and Preston is all excited about Santa Claus and I just thought Tylar would want to be there for her.”
“Babe - Preston is going to go crazy about Santa Claus bringing her gifts no matter what. We are her family; we are here with her. This could be Trey’s last Christmas. I think Tylar is dealing with that possibility as well.”
“What do you mean, Tristan? Trey is recovering, right?”
“Babe, if he doesn’t wake up there could be irreparable damages. Not only that, but the more he is inactive, the more chance there are for things like pneumonia to set in.”
I totally felt like a piece of shit.
“Tristan honey, I am so sorry. I guess I didn’t think of it that way. I feel like a shit.”
“You’re not a shit, baby. You’ve had a lot on your hands with all of this. You’ve been a mother to both Reese and Preston these past weeks, along with being the best damn wife to me. I have never been more in love with you, Gina.”
“Oh Tristan,” I sighed, lying against him. He held me and stroked me gently. I loved him so much.
“How much time do we have before Santa gets here?”
He glanced at his watch. “Quite a while,” he said.
“Let’s make good use of it then.”
CHAPTER 24
It was New Year’s Eve! What a year it had been. There had been joy and sadness; laughter and tears; birth and death; arguments and great make-up sex. Trey was recovering and a giant weight had been lifted from us as a result. Tylar and I were good again - best friends never stay angry at each other for very long.
Nigel and Tess had been blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Royce Nigel Sinclair who just happened to be the spitting image of Reese. It had bothered me at first; it didn’t any longer. Tristan and I had come a very long way in our relationship. If I hadn’t known before, I was sure of it now: He was my lobster and I was his.
Reese was spending the night at Trey and Tylar’s since Tristan’s Shady Lady was having a blow-out extravaganza on New Year’s Eve. Tristan looked resplendent in his black tuxedo. My man was fucking hot! I had dressed in a form-fitting, black spandex dress that was strapless. Tiny silver sparkles were clustered as stars throughout the dress. I had put some surprise undergarments on for Tristan’s benefit. I had on a black satin garter belt with black nylons attached; black crotch-less undies in Tristan’s favorite flavor. I put on a pair of sexy, black heels, hoping that I wouldn’t regret wearing them before the night was over.
The dining room was serving a prime rib buffet. The band booked for the night was a group from Philadelphia called ‘Billy and the Badass Blondes’. They did both ‘70’s and ‘80’s rock and pop. Ian had tried to book them before with no luck. He had claimed their agent was a dick-head; Tristan had no such problem with getting them booked. They definitely had a following. Our club was packed.
Tristan and I weren’t working tonight other than ‘over-seeing’ the various areas. It allowed us to mingle with many of the regulars, as well as to keep an eye out to make sure that things were running smoothly on both levels.
We made our rounds, taking our time to talk to the customers and members of the band that were getting ready to take stage. We went up to the mezzanine at Tristan’s insistence. He said he wanted to make sure that Eddie and Jo Anna were set up with all of the help they needed. Once the band started, the mezzanine usually got slammed with the over forty patrons.
Tristan had had a portion of it walled off from the balcony so that customers that preferred to be able to hear themselves speak could. Tristan had been acting a bit peculiar this evening; constantly looking around and making sure that I was close by his side. I had finally had enough of his strangeness.
“Tristan, for Chrissake, you’re walking around here like you’re expecting a hit man. What the hell is going on?”
I caught his sheepish smile just as someone came up behind me, putting their hands over my eyes and saying, “Guess who?”
“Pete?” I sputtered, wrenching his hands from my forehead and turning to face my big brother who was wall-to-wall grins.
“Oh My God,’ I said, launching myself into his arms, hugging him tightly. “What the hell are you doing in Atlanta?”
“Surprising my little sister, obviously,” he said with a grin, giving me a brotherly kiss on the cheek.
“It’s a great surprise,” I shrieked, grabbing his hand. “I want you to meet, Tristan -”
“We’ve met,” Pete said with a laugh, “Earlier today when I came in to the club. He knew about the surprise since this afternoon.”
“No wonder you were acting so weird,” I said to Tristan.
“How long are you staying?”
“We actually came with the band,” he said, “Tommy Hall, their lead guitarist is a neighbor of ours. When I heard where his New Year’s Eve gig was, I decided a visit to my sister was in order. Amie and I flew down this afternoon. We’re spending two nights.”
“Where’s Amie?” I asked looking around the crowded mezzanine.
“She’ll be here in a sec. I’ve got another surprise for you,” he said smiling. “Someone else tagged along; Amie should be back in just a minute with them. Their flight just got in about an hour ago.”
“Mom and Dad?” I asked, hopefully.
“Not quite,” he chuckled. I looked up at Tristan; he shrugged. Apparently, this was going to be a surprise for him as well.
Pete was craning his neck now, looking out over the people mingling on the mezzanine.
“Ah, here they come,” he said, grinning, raising his arm up to wave them over to where we stood.
I followed his gaze into the crowd and sud
denly I felt as if my heart had dropped to my knees. I recognized Amie weaving her way through the throng of people; another woman was with her; following closely behind them was Nick Camerucci. His dark, brooding eyes locked with mine. I saw his mouth twitch into a half smile.
I immediately turned to Pete.
“Are you fucking crazy? Why in the hell would you invite Nick Camerucci to be anywhere within a hundred miles of me?”
I saw Pete’s mouth drop open; Tristan’s eye darkened as he stepped closer to me. There was nothing to do at the moment but to stand my ground. I wouldn’t let Nick Camerucci have power over me again. Besides, he was on my turf, now.
“We’ll talk later, Pete,” I said, turning to greet Amie. I hugged her, genuinely glad to see my sister-in-law. She turned then to introduce me to the dark-haired, slender woman beside her.
“Gina, this is Teresa Camerucci, Nick’s wife,” she said. “Teresa, this is Gina Hatton, my sister-in-law.”
“Actually, I go by Valenti again,” I said, holding my hand out to shake Teresa’s. She accepted my hand, squeezing it lightly. She gave me a shy smile. She appeared almost fragile. It made me wonder if she had always been that way or just since she had known Nick.
“It’s good to meet you, Gina. Nick is always talking about the good old days in Hoboken. Your name comes up often.”
(What fucking good old days? He must still be getting high.)
Nick came over to me, putting his hands on my shoulders and kissing me on my cheek. I could feel Tristan stiffen beside me.
“Gina,” he said, smoothly, “You are even more beautiful than I remember. I missed you at Mother’s funeral.”
“Nick, of course you have my condolences,” I replied, turning away from him quickly to introduce Tristan.
Tristan managed to be cordial to Amie and Teresa; he was struggling to maintain civility with Nick. It was apparent to me, though I wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed. I saw the slight twitch in Tristan’s cheek that did not appear often; only when he was livid.
