Baby Love (Baby Series)

by ANDREA SMITH

  He was a federal judge appointed by the president to the 5th Circuit Court back in 1991, the same year that I was born.

  I wasn't sure of the significance of that, but in conjunction with the similarity of our names, it had given me pause for a moment. Preston James Tylar. Tylar Jamie Preston. Weird.

  "Are you okay Tylar?"

  Leah was watching me from her desk, a look of concern on her face.

  "Oh, yeah - sorry Leah, " I said smiling over at her. "It's nothing. I just got a little caught up with one of the judge's names. It's kind of similar to mine - well to my name before I married Trey that is, well sort of anyway."

  Thankfully my Blackberry beeped indicating I had a text message so that I didn't have to explain anything further to Leah. It was Trey.

  How is your day going? I haven't had the pleasure of even seeing you in passing! Tell Leah you need a break - meet me in Conference Room 3E

  I flushed and smiled. He could be so wicked…

  "Leah, "I said, "I have to run to the restroom and then over to Central Filing for a few minutes. Is that okay?

  "Sure," she said, "Take your time."

  I gathered up a few file folders to make it look like I was about firm business and headed through the maze over to the other side of the building to the east conference room. It was located in a rarely used area of the building. It was a small conference room generally only used when there was an over-booking issue with all of the others which was practically never.

  I got to the doorway without being seen and slipped into the conference room. It was dark. Shit - he was probably just kidding. How stupid did I look? I turned to go back out into the deserted hallway when I felt his hands on me, pulling me back against him. His warm breath was on my neck as he whispered.

  "Where do you think you are going?"

  He moved in front of me quietly closing the door to the conference room and locking it. He flicked on the track lighting. He took the file folders I had brought as a prop and tossed them over onto the conference room table. He turned back to me pulling me against him as he lowered his head and his lips found mine. We kissed as if we hadn't seen each other in weeks instead of just a few hours.

  His hands slid up under my skirt and his fingers moved my panties aside as they expertly plied the folds of my sex. I knew that I was wet already. Trey figured it out just then as well.

  "What's this?" he asked inserting a finger inside of me, gently probing. "Is my baby wet for me already?"

  "Is that bad?"I asked, my tongue playfully tracing his lips.

  I could feel his hardness against me. Before I knew what was happening, Trey had lifted me up and set me on top of the conference room table, spreading my legs apart so that he was braced inside of them.

  "Trey," I whispered, "What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

  I started to wriggle out of his grasp but his arms were strong around me.

  "I'm going to fuck you Mrs. Sinclair. Right here, right now. I'm going to make you come as well. Do you have an issue with that?"

  "Well actually, Mr. Sinclair, there is one little problem with that. Do you think that I wear my diaphragm 24-7?"

  "Not a problem at all baby."

  He reached into the pocket of his suit trousers and pulled out a foil-wrapped condom. I was surprised but not shocked. I found his lips again with mine, tasting him and feeling his fingers bringing me to rapid pleasure. This was so naughty but so damn hot!

  I heard the zipper of his fly go down. He backed away from me momentarily, tearing the condom packet open and rolling the condom down the length of his very erect shaft.

  He was ready and so was I. He scooted me to the edge of the table, placing each of my legs around his hips. He had pulled my skirt up around my waist. His hand guided his hard erection into my womanhood gently. He teased me a bit going in and out very slowly but not fully. I wanted the full length of him inside me.

  My hands clutched his butt pulling him in deeper. Finally he buried himself fully into me. I moaned softly with the pleasure it gave me.

  "Mmmm, that feels so good Trey," I said rotating my hips in a circular rhythm.

  "Do you like this baby?" he asked rocking slowly back and forth inside of me.

  "Ummm . . . yes," I said feeling the head of his penis massaging my sweet spot again and again.

  I was quickening and Trey knew it. He wanted to prolong our pleasure. He stopped his gentle thrusting and I whined in protest.

  "Easy, baby," he crooned softly to me. "We aren't in any hurry here are we?"

  "Please Trey?"

  He started rolling his hips against me once again and his gentle thrusting in and out of me. My hips gyrated as I leaned back against the table, moving my legs up to his shoulders. I knew he liked it.

  "God Tylar," he rasped, his momentum now picking up as he buried himself into me deeply.

  His in and out thrusting was becoming stronger and stronger. I matched him thrust for thrust feeling the swell of my climax ready to peak. Trey was moaning now. He stopped suddenly and I felt his penis throb inside of me as it pumped his climax. It was the tiny push I needed to give way to mine. My uterus contracted in response, squeezing him over and over again as I came with him. We both moaned softly with the sweet pleasure of our orgasms.

  When I got back to my work area the wall clock read 3:45 p.m. I had only been gone for thirty minutes hopefully Leah would not think that strange. She was on a call with someone so I finished up the data inputs in Mr. Harmon's schedule then sorted the incoming mail, date-stamping it in and distributing it.

  I wondered how Susan was doing with her three o'clock interview with Sheila Bradley. Susan had referred to her as 'Nurse Bradley." She probably liked the idea of a registered nurse being Preston's babysitter. It really wasn't a bad idea at that. Susan could fill Trey and I in on all of the details at dinner. It was no small task interviewing for babysitters, especially with the criteria that Trey and I had outlined with her.

  At five o'clock Leah and I cleaned off our desktops and filed any remaining file folders away. She took off telling me she would see me in the morning. Her surgery was scheduled for Wednesday morning so tomorrow would be our last day together until she came back after surgery. I called Trey's phone and Tonya answered.

  "He's on a phone call Tylar," she said. Her voice sounded strange, somehow distracted.

  "I'll take a note into him that you called down here. Why don't you sit tight until he comes by to get you okay?"

  "Okay," I said, puzzled by her demeanor and her choice of words.

  Why wouldn't she have just said she would have him call me as soon as he was off the phone? I picked up my Blackberry to call the apartment. I hadn't thought about the fact that Susan had been busy with interviews and caring for Preston all day. I wanted to see if she wanted Trey and I to pick up something for dinner. Maybe she would feel like going out to eat. That might be nice on our part to take her out for a nice dinner.

  The landline in our apartment rang and rang; finally the automated voicemail picked up. That was strange. Maybe she was changing the baby's diaper or something. The interview had to be over by this time.

  Just then Trey appeared in the office area. His face was ashen and his expression was if it was etched in stone. It reminded me a little bit of that dream that I had where Trey looked like a statue. This wasn't a dream however.

  "Trey? What is it?" I asked, a feeling of fear and panic slowly seeping in.

  "Tylar, we have to get to the hospital now," he stated firmly.

  "What? Why? What happened? Oh my God," I was starting to shriek.

  "Did something happen to Preston?"

  "No - it's Mom."

  CHAPTER 10

  I didn't recall the drive to the hospital. I wasn't even sure which hospital Susan had been taken to for treatment. Trey had not said much at all only that he had received a called from the police indicating that his mother had been taken there by paramedics; her condition was underdetermined at this po
int. There would be detectives there to interview us once we arrived he had said.

  "Where is Preston?" I asked Trey.

  "I'm sure she was either left with a neighbor or is at the hospital with Mom," he responded calmly.

  "Someone at the hospital is likely looking after her until we get there."

  "What kind of accident or injury happened to your mom?"

  I'm not sure but let's please hope and pray for the best okay?"

  "Okay," I answered as Trey pulled into the Emergency Room parking lot at St. Matthews Hospital.

  As we entered the lobby to the ER, several police officers immediately approached, and led us to a private waiting room off of the ER which I could only guess was used for privacy when the news was bad. I felt my throat start to close up as Trey pulled me along side of him into the room. One of the officers shut the door and instructed us to take our seats.

  "Your mother will be fine," he assured us right off the bat.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and felt Trey relax beside me. Our relaxation was to be short-lived.

  "Mr. & Mrs. Sinclair, when the paramedics brought your mother in a little while ago, she was unconscious due to a concussion; she started coming around just a few minutes ago and has been disoriented and extremely anxious. She is insisting that whoever bashed her over the head, took your baby daughter. Do you have a baby daughter that would have been in the apartment with your mother when the fire alarm sounded?"

  "Fire alarm?" Trey asked.

  "It was just a false alarm; don't worry your building is fine. If in fact your daughter is missing, it could have been an attempt to divert attention away from the alleged perpetrator."

  I hadn't heard anything after Trey had questioned the police about the fire alarm. Oh my god, she did it! She fucking did it. I had known that somehow and some way my mother would come back to hurt me. It was what I had feared and dreamt about; it was the reason for the paranoia inside of me that the pills Dr. Addison had prescribed had magically tucked away from my subconscious.

  Mom had my baby I was as sure of that as I was of my love for Trey and Preston. The bitch was mine! That was the last conscious promise I made to myself before I was blessed with darkness as my body took over and I careened into oblivion.

  I was awakened abruptly by a nurse waving smelling salts underneath my nose. Trey was right there, he had lifted me back onto my chair. The nurse had a gurney there but I refused. I knew that I would be fine. I had to be fine because I was going to find my baby and kill that bitch.

  "I'm fine, I'm fine," I said, pushing the nurse's hand away with the disgusting smelling salts.

  "Sweetie," Trey pleaded, "I think you are in shock right now as we all are, let them help you, baby."

  His eyes were teared up, pleading with me. He was destroyed; I could see that. The problem was that he didn't know what I knew and I knew that my fucking slut of a mother was behind this and she wouldn't be hurting Preston; I was sure of that. Preston was worth something to her, I just had to figure out what and why.

  "Trey," I pleaded, "Let's see how your mom is doing right now. We have to see what she recalls about what happened. I refuse to believe that some random faction took Preston. I know who is behind this."

  "You do?" he asked, totally in shock. Who?"

  "My mother," I announced very matter-of-factly.

  "I know that it was her. We just have to find her."

  The look that passed between my husband and the police was unmistakably one of disbelief. Okay - they thought I was nuts, paranoid - had a 'mommy' issue, whatever. I knew the truth.

  The detective wanted to question Trey alone - probably to see what he knew about his 'Mommy-In-Law Dearest.' Trey could only fill in him on what he knew for certain: that included Charlie's connection and conspiracy with her; as well as the fact that Trey's P.I. had discovered some time back that my mom had been living with Daniel somewhere in Indiana.

  I could count on Trey; he had been with me during a lot of the fallout that could only be attributed to mom and the minions that she directed such as Charlie.

  Trey guided me back out to the waiting room, instructing me to sit there until the detective had finished questioning him. He made me promise that I would sit still.

  (Whatever... he needed to chill. I had a plan.)

  Trey returned to the small room where the detective was most likely questioning him on both of our mental stability and why we might want out baby daughter dead. I had seen enough movies on LMN and TruTV to know how it flowed. I hoped that Trey wouldn't take offense. It was standard procedure to suspect a family member after an "alleged" abduction.

  My hopes were dashed when I heard my husband's voice getting louder and louder. He dropped several "F" bombs before he exited the room indicating that any future questioning would be conducted with his own counsel present.

  Weird - he would seek other counsel to defend us against what? I knew damn well who the perp was; I was certain I would be able to unravel her whereabouts given the resources I knew that Trey could afford to provide.

  Trey held his hand out for me to take it as he pulled me from the chair and we headed out toward the mail lobby. He asked someone at the "help" desk about his mother. We were directed to ER 5, where Susan was currently getting treatment for whatever injuries she had sustained during her "accident."

  As we entered ER5 behind the curtain, Susan was laying upon a gurney. She had a bandage over one eye and another around the forehead. Oh God, what had my mother done to her?

  Trey immediately was by her side, leaning over, kissing her cheek. Her eyes sprang open and they were full of guilt, pain and fear.

  "Oh Trey," she wept, "Tylar, can you ever forgive me?"

  She was wailing, tears flowing down her cheeks. She was near hysteria. A young doctor was beside her, giving her an injection of some sort.

  He turned to Trey.

  "This will calm her," he explained. "She has had a major shock with what she has been through today. She will be out in just a few minutes."

  A few minutes were all she had so I needed to work fast. I approached her gurney, taking her hand into mine.

  "Susan," I said gently, "We want you to calm down and relax. You need to take care of your health for the moment, okay? No one is angry with you, do you understand?"

  She nodded pathetically, totally grief-stricken about what had happened. I needed to get some questions answered before she drifted off.

  "Okay," I said, steadfast in my mission. "Can you please tell me what happened to Preston?"

  "Nurse Bradley took her," she choked out between tears. "During the interview, Preston started fussing to eat. I asked Nurse Bradley if she would hold her while I went to the kitchen and warmed up a bottle of your breast milk. She was more than happy to do so," she said.

  "I heard the baby stop fussing while I was out in the kitchen. I went ahead and finished heating up her bottle."

  Susan was sobbing now, totally absorbed in her tears and guilt. I could see that.

  "What happened?" I prodded as Trey stood by in a zombie-like trance.

  "Well, when I came out with Preston's bottle, I saw that Nurse Bradley was sitting on the couch with her. She had her blouse unbuttoned and she was . . ."

  Susan stopped to sob louder now, clearly disoriented by what she had observed. I needed her to finish.

  "What Susan?" I pressed, my voice louder and more demanding than I had intended.

  "She was nursing the baby," she wailed. "Preston was latched onto her breast, nursing from her!"

  "What the fuck?" I said loudly.

  Susan starting wailing louder; Trey had turned into a statue again.

  "Susan…Susan," I said firmly. "What happened then?"

  I could tell that she was starting to feel the effects of whatever drug she had been given.

  "I asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. She said she had lost a baby but kept pumping her breasts. She said she had been donating her breast milk to the F
ulton County Milk Bank. I told her she needed to leave and I went to take Preston from her. She kicked me with her foot and I landed on the floor. She laid Preston on the couch, grabbed the poker from the fireplace and bashed me on the head with it. The next thing that I remember is being here."

  She continued sobbing; my heart went out to her. Trey leaned down, kissing her and stroking her hair. He told her that everything would be okay.

  I had one more question that I desperately needed to ask Susan before she sank into oblivion.

  "Susan," I said loudly. "I thought Nurse Bradley had retired from the hospital. How could it be that she was still of child-bearing age?"

  Susan looked me dead in the eye when she answered.

  "Tylar, there was no way that lady was any older than forty years old I swear. I don't know what age it is that nurses can retire, but grey wig and all, I could tell she wasn't more than late thirties or very early forties."

  "Wig?" I asked.

  It was too late. Susan had drifted off to sleep. I had no further description from her other than she knew that the faux Nurse Bradley had been wearing a grey wig and that she in no way looked liked she was old enough to have been retired after twenty years spent as a nurse.

  I did recall that the resume at our apartment for this Sheila Bradley had said her nursing years had been spent at North Bay hospital where I had delivered Preston. We needed to get there.

  Trey was still in shock. He was on the phone with one of his partners letting them know the situation. They assured Trey they would pull all strings possible with the authorities to get an Amber Alert issued. The problem was we had nothing to go on. Susan was not even up to talking to a sketch artist at the moment. We had no clue what the perp was driving, though I strongly suspected it was a newer model, white SUV. The same vehicle that had struck Jean.

  The attending physician that had been treating Susan came in to let us know that they were admitting her overnight for observation of her head injury. Trey wanted to stay with her but he didn't want me to be alone at home. He was right. Seeing Preston's stuff and anything that had been a part of the struggle with Susan against my mother would be disturbing. I stayed with Susan while Trey made a couple more phone calls. He called Clive to let him know what had happened. Gina had returned to Atlanta the previous day. He called her to see if she would come and get me for the night. He let me know that she was on her way to pick me up and that I was to stay there until I heard from Trey in the morning. He had talked to Tristan and Nigel as well; Tristan was getting the first available flight to Atlanta. Trey needed his family's support right now. I was glad that he had a family that was supportive.