by ANDREA SMITH
“Are you alright?” my father whispered to me.
I nodded, just as Matthew’s eyes found me, and stopped looking anywhere else. His gaze rested on me and I saw a flicker of recognition pass over his face. I squirmed in my seat uncomfortable with him staring at me. His lawyer nudged him and he reluctantly turned back around lowering his head as if it was too heavy to hold up any longer.
The bailiff read all of the additional charges the grand jury had returned against Matthew. The judge was watching Matthew the whole time; studying his body language, I guessed. When the bailiff finished the judge spoke.
“How does the defendant plead to all charges herein set forth?”
Matthew’s attorney rose from his seat. “Ted Presley for the defense, Your Honor, I'd like to enter a not guilty plea on behalf of my client to all charges.”
“Very well, Mr. Presley; the court will set the preliminary hearing for an expedited date since your client is being held without bail,” the judge responded.
“Your Honor, if it pleases the court, the defense would ask to waive the pre-trial investigation and dispose of the preliminary hearing now, as my client is in dire need of psychiatric treatment which will further deteriorate by further delay.”
“Mr. Presley, I’m not a big fan of waiving any portion of the due process in particular when there's a potential death penalty involved. The appellate courts are overwhelmed as it is. Counsel, please approach the bench.”
I watched as the D.A. and Matthew’s attorney went up to talk quietly to the judge.
“What's going on?” I whispered to my dad.
“The judge is going to force the due process to avoid costly appeals later. He's trying to ascertain why the defense would waive the pre-trial investigation prior to the preliminary hearing. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to make sure that the evidence supports the charges brought against the defendant as recommended by the grand jury,” he whispered back to me.
Matthew was looking around the courtroom again. His eyes went past me this time focusing to the back of the courtroom. He turned back around burying his head into his cuffed hands. The lawyers were still talking quietly to the judge. The courtroom had become very quiet.
Suddenly the quiet of the courtroom was interpreted by a man’s voice singing. I realized that the singing was coming from Matthew. He was singing that old lullaby very slowly and loudly.
"Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s going to buy you a mockingbird; and if that mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s going to buy you a diamond ring. . .”
The defense lawyer hurried over to Matthew’s side prompting him to be quiet. He paid no attention to his attorney and continued to sing the lyrics even louder.
“If that diamond ring turns brass, Mama’s going to buy you a looking glass. . . If that looking glass gets broke, Mama’s going to buy--”
The judge rapped his gavel and shouted for the deputies to remove Matthew from the court room immediately. Matthew stopped singing as the deputies literally raised him up from his chair. He struggled against them; he whipped his head around as they were carrying him toward the door. His eyes found what they had been searching for.
“Mama,” he yelled, “Mama, am I still the sweetest baby in town?”
I turned quickly to see who the hell he was talking to; his mother had been my grandmother. She was dead. I looked through the crowd as the short, dark-haired woman watched them take Matthew out. Tears were streaming down the face of Karen Deeny. She fled the courtroom.
I heard my father beside me. “What the hell?”
I was in shock. What the hell was going on? My father took me by the arm and led me out of the court house.
“I don’t understand what that was all about,” I said to him once we were outside.
“I'm in the dark as well,” he replied, clearly as perplexed as me.
“What happens now, Dad?”
“Obviously, I need to get some answers for both of us. As far as the preliminary hearing I would suspect it'll be scheduled after the psych evaluation the judge will likely order for Matthew.”
“Do you think he was faking it?” I asked.
“Yes, but my opinion doesn’t matter. It's the opinion of the psychologists and psychiatrists that will carry the weight in court. The prosecution will have one assigned to him as will the defense; that in and of itself, will be a complicated mess.”
I knew my father was upset by what transpired in court. I also suspected he wondered now just how much his dead wife had been involved in the tangled web of lies and deceit. I questioned my own ancestors as to why Matthew had been passed off as my grandmother’s illegitimate child adopted by my grandfather after they married. If anyone could find the truth I knew my father would no matter what it revealed.
We had lunch together and then he drove me to the private airport to catch my charter back to Atlanta. He pulled me to him giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“I'll talk to you very soon,” he promised. “Please give Preston a kiss from her grandpa?”
“I will, Dad. I love you.”
“I love you too, Tylar. Take care.”
Trey was waiting for me when I reached the terminal in Atlanta. I was never so happy to see his face in my life. What a bizarre day. I flew into his arms.
“I’ve been trying to call you,” he said.
“Is anything the matter?” I asked fearfully.
“No, sweetie, I was just wondering how things went.”
“I’m sorry, Trey, I had my phone on vibrate while I was in court and I forgot to turn it back on to sound.”
I filled Trey in on everything that had happened in court with Matthew. He was as shocked as I'd been when I told him about Matthew calling Karen Deeny his mother.
“I bet your father was reeling,” he commented opening the car door for me.
“That’s an understatement,” I replied.
“I think he's questioning his wife’s involvement in all of this.”
Trey got into the driver’s seat and turned to me. “I’m glad you’re home, baby.”
I looked at his sweet face and leaned over to kiss him. “How was your day? Did everything come out okay?”
He gave me his dimpled grin. “You're a spoiled brat, aren’t you?” he asked laughing. “Everything went as planned,” he said as we pulled out onto the highway.
We talked about our impending move as we headed back to the apartment. I was so looking forward to moving to the country and into our own home. Trey pulled his car into his space in the parking garage and shut the engine off. He turned to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me Gina's pregnant?” he asked looking at me carefully.
Holy shit.
“Trey, I’m sorry, but Gina made me promise. She's my best friend. I had to respect her wishes on this.”
“I’m your husband, Tylar. I didn’t think we had secrets.”
“We don’t have secrets that affect each other. This wasn’t about you or me. This was about Gina and Tristan. It wasn’t my place to tell you if Gina didn’t want anyone else to know. How did you find out?”
“Tristan told me, of course. He's very proud of the fact.”
“He should be,” I replied. “Look, Trey, I know you don’t care for Gina, but she's like a sister to me, okay?”
“I get that, baby,” he said, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. “To be honest, I’m kind of happy Preston will have a cousin close by.”
“Yeah? So am I,” I said.
When we got inside the apartment Gina was playing with Preston in the living room. As soon as Preston saw me she came crawling over to me saying ‘num-num’.
“She’s been ‘num-numming’ me all day,” Gina laughed. “How did it go?”
“I’ll let Trey fill you in on the drama,” I said, scooping Preston up to take her into our room. “Preston and I need our ‘girl time’ at the moment.”
I picked her up and gave her a kiss on each cheek. “Tha
t's from your grandpa,” I said.
We got comfortable on the bed and drifted off to sleep. Trey came into the room and pulled the quilt up around us. He climbed in next to me, wrapping an arm around me as he switched ESPN on the flat screen. He nuzzled the back of my neck with his warm lips. I got goose bumps and shivered.
“Are you cold, baby?” he asked softly, pulling me closer to him.
“I'm just fine,” I sighed. “I’m happy to be home with my family. Where’s Tristan?”
“He went to the club today after our appointment. Since Gina was here taking care of Preston, he's working until close at the restaurant. I've never seen Tristan so happy or in love. Who would've thought he and Gina would be a couple?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I replied, “I kind of thought they might make a perfect couple. I think he totally gets her.”
“He's talking marriage though; apparently she wants to wait. That sounds kind of familiar.”
Deep down, I wondered if the real reason Gina was reluctant to marry Tristan right now was because of the slim chance of Ian being the father of her baby. I hoped she'd change her mind and tell Tristan. I knew he'd understand once she explained. He loved her.
I fell back asleep inside of Trey’s arms with Preston cuddled between us. When I awoke, it was after 7:00 p.m. Preston and Trey were both gone. I got up and went to the bathroom turning the shower on to warm up the water. I got clean underwear and my long silk nightgown out of my closet. I showered and got dressed in my nightgown, pulling my robe on over it. I blew my hair dry and applied some make-up. I wanted to have a romantic evening with my husband.
When I went out to the living room, I could hear Trey in the kitchen with Preston. I peeked around the corner and saw that had been feeding her some pureed carrots. She kept putting her fingers in the dish and then sucking the carrots off of her fingers.
“Preston, come on sweetie. Please use the spoon for Daddy."
It was so cute. Trey was trying to teach her how to use her spoon. He held it to her and she clutched it in her little hand. “That’s right baby, now dip it into your bowl like Daddy showed you and get some of these yummy carrots on the spoon, okay?”
“Da-da-da-da,” she yammered, not really understanding what she was supposed to do.
“Yes, sweetie, use your spoon for Daddy.” Preston dropped her spoon into the bowl of pureed carrots
“Look, Preston,” Trey crooned to her encouragingly. “Hold the spoon in your hand like Daddy’s good girl." He again put the spoon into her tiny hand. "Now bring the spoon up to your mouth sweetie.”
Trey was imitating to her what to do with the spoon with his hand as if he had a spoon in it. She was watching him in awe with her big blue eyes. “See like this, Preston.”
She raised her spoon from the bowl and had managed to get some of the pureed carrots on it. She held it up trying to get Trey to eat it.
“No, honey,” he said patiently, “put spoon in Preston’s mouth.”
She squirmed in her chair and dropped the spoon onto her tray where it bounced and hit Trey’s shirt splattering the carrots.
Uh oh.
“That’s okay, sweetie,” he said to her, leaning down and picking up the spoon.
By this time Preston had spied me watching from around the corner of the kitchen. She started getting excited and squirming to get out of her high chair.
She knocked the little bowl of carrots off of the high chair as Trey was bent down cleaning up the floor. It hit his shoulder and splattered all over him and the floor.
Oops! Holy shit!
I backed out of the room quickly making my way through the living room and back to the hall.
“Shit,” I heard Trey say.
Preston starting fussing and whining; talking gibberish to Trey in a loud, unhappy tone. I came into the kitchen as if caught by surprise. “What happened in here?” I asked innocently.
“Oh, just a little training session that went wrong,” Trey laughed. “I need to change my shirt, Tylar. Can you take over?”
“Sure, sweetie,” I replied smiling. I wiped up the mess on the floor and then got a clean wash cloth and cleaned up Preston’s face and fingers. I took her into the living room and got her settled in her play suite with some toys. I headed back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up. I noticed something was in the oven. Trey came back in with a clean tee shirt on.
“Hey baby,” he said pulling me to him and kissing me passionately. “I wanted to surprise you and have the baby fed and in bed. I’ve got our dinner in the oven.”
“Well, I can see that, Trey. I can’t tell what it is though.”
“Actually, Gina made it before she left to go to the club. She told me how long to let it cook. It's some kind of a casserole that has chicken, broccoli and white cream sauce with various cheeses in it was all she told me. I made our salads though, and they're in the fridge.”
“Oh, Trey. That's so romantic of you.”
“I wanted our night to be special. We move day after tomorrow so this will probably be our last meal here alone before we move.”
“Yeah, speaking of which - why did Gina go down to the club?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think she missed Tristan. Ian called her this afternoon while you were sleeping. They argued on the phone and she told him to go to hell. I heard that much of it. She put the casserole in the oven and told me when to take it out. She said she wanted to go and talk to Tristan. I figured she missed him. Anyway, we have this evening to ourselves.”
Holy shit - what's up with Ian and her arguing? This can’t be good.
“How about if I go ahead and bathe Preston?” I said to him. “I’ll get her ready for bed and then we can have our dinner.”
“Okay, babe, I’ll get the table set and pour some wine for us.”
I went out to get Preston. I bathed her and put her into her pajamas. I put her to bed with some of her toys. She was fairly good about entertaining herself before falling asleep.
As promised, Trey had set the table and poured us each a glass of wine. He had a fire going in the fireplace and we sat out in the living room enjoying our alone time. I leaned in to him as the fire crackled warmly.
He took my wine glass from me and set it on the coffee table along with his. He pulled me over to him, unfastening the belt on my robe and pulling my robe down my shoulders. He noticed my sexy silk nightgown with the plunging neckline that I'd worn. His beautiful sapphire eyes locked with mine and I saw the warmth and passion in them.
“I want you now, Tylar. I want you right here and now. Is your diaphragm in?”
I shook my head ‘no’. “I haven’t been wearing it lately,” I confessed looking up at him to see his expression.
He smiled warmly. “I’m glad, baby,” he breathed drawing him to me and kissing me hungrily. He shed his clothing right then and there. He pulled the straps down on my silk nightgown kissing my shoulders as my breasts sprang free.
He pushed me back onto the couch; his fingers captured a breast, massaging it gently. He lowered his head and his lips found my nipple; he suckled it gently his tongue swirling around my nipple.
“Mmmm,” he said, “You taste so good, baby.”
He went to my other breast doing the same. My sex was dripping wet. I was feeling saucy by this time.
“I have other nectar for you to enjoy, Trey,” I purred.
He was between my legs, placing one on each of his shoulders as he lowered his face to my sex. His lips and tongue made love to me there.
“You taste so sweet, baby,” he breathed against me. His tongue continued to swirl around my clitoris. His fingers explored inside of me, pressing gently against my swelled sweet spot. My breathing was coming faster and I moaned in anticipation of having him inside of me.
“What baby? Tell me what you want?”
“I want you to make love to me, Trey. I want you to give me another baby.”
“Your wish is my command, Tylar.”
He rose up off of
the couch and pulled me with him. He positioned himself onto a sitting position on the couch and placed me on his lap, straddling him. I stroked his erection with my hand. He raised me up and positioned me over his manhood.
“Are you wet enough, baby?” he asked.
“Umm hum,” I answered.
He straightened his legs out so he was actually in a half-sitting, half-reclined position with his legs spread out in front of him. He gently lowered me down upon his erection. I heard him catch his breath as he fully penetrated me. I squeezed my legs together tightening him inside of me.
“Careful baby,” he cautioned, “I don’t want to come too quickly. I want us both to enjoy this.”
I relaxed my legs a bit.
“That’s my girl,” he said softly, clasping the back of my head with his hand and lowering it to his face. His tongue thoroughly probed my mouth; our tongues playfully danced and explored each other. I felt butterflies each and every place he touched me. His hands massaged my breasts tenderly. His hips gently started a slow and rhythmic thrusting. I could feel myself squeezing him gently.
His hands lifted my ass up and down as I swiveled my hips in a circular motion feeling the head of his shaft hitting my special place.
“Ahh God, baby, what are you doing to me?”
“I'm loving you Trey,” I answered him. “I'm loving you with every inch of my body.”
We both quickened at the same time; his thrusting increased in rhythm, my core contracted tighter in response. We felt our orgasms mounting toward sweet release. Trey stopped his thrusting. I felt his throbbing as I contracted, squeezing his manhood tighter.”
“Oh, God,” he rasped as he emptied his love inside of me.
I whimpered in pleasure as my orgasm pulsated around his. I felt my liquid release join his. I collapsed on top of him my breathing fast and shallow. I so loved him in every way possible that a woman can love a man. He wrapped his arms around me protectively; his breathing was ragged and shallow. We were both spent.
“I love you so much, Tylar.”
“I love you, Trey with all of my heart.”
We ate our dinner over candlelight at our dining room table. We were affectionate all through the evening. As I climbed into bed that night thoroughly exhausted and satiated I knew that life on earth didn’t get much better than this.