Be My Baby Lite

by ANDREA SMITH

  I nodded, watching as he was still deep in thought.

  “I’m actually surprised that the D.A.’s office hasn’t subpoenaed you as a witness.”

  “Why? What testimony could I provide?”

  “Well you were a witness to Maggie’s deathbed confession naming Matthew as her killer as well as your mother’s.”

  “Isn’t that considered hearsay or something?”

  “Not if you recorded it, which you did. Did Maggie make any protest to your recording her last wishes?”

  “I’m not sure that she was even aware of it.”

  “But you didn’t hide it from her did you?”

  “No, clearly she could see that I had my phone on holding it up to video record her instructions. It was in plain sight.”

  “Good,” he said. “You provided that video-recorded conversation to them already, right?”

  “Yeah, I believe my father did when he made the request for the exhumation.”

  When we arrived home I was surprised to see that my father’s car was there. He didn’t generally arrive home this early when he had court. He immediately came into the entry hall as Trey was helping me off with my jacket.

  “I’m glad you’re both here,” he said, “I’ve got quite a bit of news to share.”

  CHAPTER 13

  My father shared his news with us first as we sat in the living room. I was curled up next to Trey; there was a fire crackling in the fireplace.

  My father had received a report from the private investigator he'd hired after Matthew’s arraignment. He'd been curious when Matthew had blurted out ‘Mama’ in the courtroom looking directly at Karen Deeny as she fled the room. Ms. Deeny had resigned suddenly from her position as the head of staff at my father’s estate just prior to Matthew’s arrest for murder.

  “Tylar,” he said hesitantly, “the investigator was successful in clearing up some of the confusion relative to Matthew Renaud’s background. Apparently the story amongst your mother and your aunt was that your maternal grandmother had given birth to Matthew at a young age out of wedlock correct?”

  “Yes, Dad; that's what Maggie told Trey and I when she was in the hospital. Then when she met Carson Renaud a couple of years later, he adopted Matthew and raised him as his own. He was only a half-brother to my mother and Maggie.”

  “Well the part about Matthew being their half-brother is true. However, Matthew isn't your grandmother’s son; he's your grandfather’s son born out of wedlock.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said frowning.

  “Matthew’s mother is Karen Deeny, not your grandmother.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, it’s true. I suppose the purpose of the fabrication was to somehow protect Matthew from the truth though I suspect it failed to do that at least after your grandparents were killed.”

  “Dad, I'm not following any of this. I need details please.”

  “It seems Ms. Deeny had a brief affair with your grandfather. In the hopes of snagging herself a husband, she purposely got pregnant. By this time, your grandfather had already met and fallen in love with your grandmother. He was honest about having a son that he supported financially. Your grandmother insisted that he do more than that. She insisted the child carry his name and that he establish a parent-child relationship with the boy. Your grandfather did just that. When the boy was around four years of age, they noticed during one of his weekend visits some evidence of abuse. They immediately alerted the county family service agency and an investigation was initiated.”

  My father came over and sat down in the chair opposite of us. He clasped his hands together as if he was reluctant to divulge the rest of this story.

  “The investigation uncovered the fact that the boy’s mother had been sexually abusing him. After a thorough medical examination was conducted, the findings indicated that this had been going on for a long period of time; it had escalated to a larger degree as Matthew got older. The court immediately removed the boy from her home. Ms. Deeny claimed she'd no knowledge of who could've been abusing the boy. Eventually, permanent custody was granted to your grandfather; your grandmother legally adopted him as her son. A "no further contact order" was issued to Ms. Deeny."

  “Oh my God,” I breathed, trying to comprehend what type of monster she'd been and likely still was, “but what about the subsequent children she had? She mentioned having grandchildren, remember?”

  “All lies,” my father replied. “She had no further children which is a blessing to society, I suppose.”

  “No wonder Matthew's so screwed up,” I commented.

  “That's no excuse for murder,” my father said rather harshly.

  My head snapped up to look at him. He'd never spoken harshly to me before. I could tell Trey was taken aback as well.

  “Dad, I’m sorry,” I said, “I wasn’t excusing Matthew for his crimes at all. I know that he killed my mother - and Maggie.”

  “I’m sorry, darling,” he said. “I certainly didn’t mean to snap at you like that. This all has me reeling.”

  “I can certainly understand that,” I replied. “Is there more?”

  “Yes, there is. After your grandparents were killed in that automobile crash, Karen Deeny conveniently came back into Matthew’s life. By this time she was in the employ of my wife Olivia’s family. By all appearances Karen took up where she'd left off with Matthew. She tutored him in the ways of making women do what he wanted them to do as was the case with Maggie, and as would've been the case with Marley had she not gotten pregnant with you right off the bat.”

  I was sickened by all that he was telling me. I shivered at the thought of the type of monster that Matthew had become. Trey pulled me closer looking down at me.

  “Are you alright Baby?” he asked taking my hand.

  I nodded. “I want to hear all of it,” I said.

  “When Marley became pregnant with you Matthew beat a fast path to his mother to bring her the good news. By this time of course, Olivia and I were married and Ms. Deeny was in our employ. The whole set-up with my bachelor party had been choreographed in advance. That was why Matthew had planted hidden cameras in my room. He was going to use the photos to blackmail me so that Olivia would never find out what I'd done prior to our marriage. Marley’s pregnancy provided a better opportunity for extortion.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Karen Deeny had decided more money was to be gained by taking the picture along with the news of the impending birth of my child to Olivia. She instructed Matthew to do so. Karen knew that Olivia was barren; she also knew the scandal alone could destroy any chance of my appointment to a federal judgeship. You see, Olivia’s family was extremely wealthy in their own right. What was important to Olivia was power and prestige. My judgeship would offer that. Karen convinced Olivia to set up a pay arrangement on behalf of the child. Matthew set up the LLC under the direction of Karen to handle the money trail. Olivia did require receipt of periodic photos and reports as to the progress of the child - of you,” he said.

  “So Olivia never knew that Karen Deeny was behind all of that?”

  “It appears not,” he said. “It would devastate me should I discover that she played co-conspirator with Ms. Deeny. It's difficult enough for me to try and understand why at some point she didn’t divulge the truth to me; maybe it was because she'd let so much time go by without speaking up. She was under the impression that Maggie was your mother. She knew nothing of Marley’s death.”

  “How did you find this out, Dad?”

  “My investigator went through court records. Shortly after your mother passed away, Maggie was awarded custody as natural next-of-kin. Maggie petitioned the court for the name change stating that it was necessary in order to avoid her older, mentally ill brother from tracking her and the baby down. She then purchased a modified birth certificate for you so that when she and Matthew visited Olivia it all looked to be on the up and up. There's no law against changing one’s name as long as it
isn't done for the purpose of defrauding the government or escaping prosecution.”

  My father was still explaining the rest of what his private detective discovered when Margo appeared in the doorway.

  “Judge Tylar,” she said interrupting the conversation, “there's a process server at the door.”

  “Excuse me,” my father said starting to get up.

  “No, Judge,” she said, “he's here to serve your daughter.”

  Trey accompanied me out into the entry hall where the process server asked me to verify my identity. He then handed me an envelope telling me that I'd been served and left. I handed it to Trey. He promptly opened it.

  “You're being subpoenaed as a witness for the prosecution,” he said reading through the documents. "It's next week. They certainly took their time on this. Tylar now that you've been subpoenaed you can’t observe the proceedings any further,” Trey remarked.

  “No problem with that,” I replied. “I don’t want to be anywhere near that creep Matthew.”

  I shivered thinking about him and what he'd said. We'd not had an opportunity to fill my father in on what had happened in court today. I didn’t relish the thought of seeing the sick bastard again, but if it would help put him in prison for the rest of his life or worse, it was worth it.

  We filled Dad in on the rest over dinner. My father wasn't overly keen on the idea of DNA verification but Trey finally convinced him that the Defense was likely using a strategy that might force the issue at some point anyway.

  “I just don’t want Tylar to think that I ever doubted that she was mine.”

  “How could I possibly think that, Dad? Who else but a blood relative would've put up with me these past couple of weeks?”

  He smiled at me warmly. “I’ll make the arrangements for tomorrow morning with Dr. Whitlach’s office,” he said.

  Since I had to return to Baton Rouge the following week to testify, Trey and I decided that we'd leave for home the following afternoon. Trey wanted to rearrange his schedule so that he could return when I was scheduled to testify. He indicated the prosecutor would likely want to conduct an interview with me prior to the court date and suggested I call their office in the morning to let them know how I could be reached.

  Trey and my father were in a lengthy conversation on legal topics; jurisdictions, venues and discussing ‘double jeopardy’ when I reached over and touched Trey’s arm to get his attention.

  “I don’t mean to interrupt but I’m going to leave you both to your legal discussions. I’d like to find Preston and spend some time with her.”

  “Go right ahead darling,” my father said smiling at me. “She’s been so entertaining today. Her vocabulary seems to grow daily.”

  “Sure thing, sweetie,” Trey said, “I’ll join you and Preston in a bit.”

  “Okay,” I said smiling as I headed upstairs.

  Edie had Preston in her nursery changing her out of her big girl panties and getting a pull-up out for night time.

  Apparently there'd been a little accident. Preston brightened up the minute she saw me reaching her arms out and clasping and unclasping her hands.

  “Mommie,” she whined. She had tears in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” I asked coming closer to her.

  “She's upset for soiling her pants I think,” Edie said. “It’s probably my fault, Tylar.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She was playing downstairs in the kitchen where I was cleaning up and she came over to me saying ‘doodee.’ I wasn’t sure what she meant then I saw that she was kind of squeezing her legs together. I figured it out. I didn’t know that your father had Margo purchase another potty chair for the downstairs bathroom. So when Preston said she had to ‘doodee’ I walked her up stairs. She kept pulling against me and pointing back downstairs. By the time we got to the upstairs landing, she'd soiled her panties and was very upset. I have a feeling this little girl is going to be a perfectionist.”

  Just like Trey.

  “Come on Preston,” I said reaching for her. I picked her up into my arms and carried her into my room. I got a pair of pajamas from her room and started changing her out of her clothes and into nightwear.

  “Listen sweetie,” I said to her, “everybody has accidents at times. You're doing very well with your big girl panties. It’s okay that sometimes you have an accident; no one is perfect.”

  I looked down at her where she was looking up at me with her big blue eyes still watering. I doubted if she comprehended a word I said; but I wanted her to know that people mess up and it’s a human thing. She finally smiled up at me her eyes brightening.

  “How about we read a couple of stories before bedtime?”

  “Choo Choo,” she said clapping her little hands together happily, “Choo Choo.” I knew that meant she wanted me to read from her Thomas the Tank Engine book.

  I changed into a nightgown and grabbed one of her Thomas books from her room. We brushed our teeth in the bathroom and then snuggled down under the covers together. I read half of the book to her before she dozed off. I wasn’t far behind her. I pulled the covers up and pulled her warm body against me. We dozed off together nestled closely. I wasn’t sure how much longer it was before Trey came to bed. He lifted Preston up to take her back to her crib.

  “Sweetie, please let her stay in here with us, I’ve missed her today.”

  He leaned over kissing me gently. “Not tonight, Tylar. She needs to be in her room. I was hoping that you and I could make up for some lost time. I’m in the mood.”

  I felt my butterflies surge as only Trey could make them. The truth was I was just as hungry for him as he was for me. Trey returned momentarily and climbed under the covers pulling me close to his warm body. I snuggled against him enjoying the warmth of him.

  “I’m glad we’re going home tomorrow.”

  “I am too. It’s so empty without you and Preston there.”

  I raised my face to his and found his lips with my own. He kissed me sensually and passionately. His fingers reached and pulled the straps of my nightgown up and over my head. His hands kneaded my breasts tenderly; his mouth lowered down upon then gently suckling them bringing me pleasure.

  His hands reached downward and I shimmied out of my panties as his fingers expertly plied my sex. He'd shed his boxers and my hands reached downward and found his erect shaft.

  I gently stroked his shaft bringing it to full erection. I scooted down under the covers taking his manhood into my mouth and swirling my tongue around and around it; my lips gently suckled the end of his shaft. Trey drew in a sharp breath moaning softly.

  “Ohh baby,” he sighed, “I want you on top of me.”

  I was ready and willing to accommodate Trey. I raised myself up, my legs straddling him as he helped to guide his erection into my well-lubricated sex. I lowered myself down onto his shaft feeling the familiar fullness that I loved so much. I rocked back and forth on him as his hips raised and swiveled to meet my rhythm. His hands cupped my bottom as he raised me up and down onto his shaft.

  “Mmm,” I moaned as I grinded against him in pure pleasure.

  “That’s my girl,” he cooed as he continued to thrust his pelvis up and down as I rode him back and forth.

  We were both quickening; Trey hands were massaging my breasts as I rode him harder and harder.

  “Oh God, baby, that’s it,” he moaned. “Keep it going baby.”

  I increased my rhythm going up and down on his shaft. I could feel myself contracting around him as I whined in pleasure. All of a sudden my concentration was broken by a soft baby voice calling out from beside our bed.

  “Horsey? Mama pay horsey?”

  Oh my God! Trey and I heard Preston’s voice at the same time.

  I quickly lifted myself off of Trey and collapsed on the other side of him away from my daughter. I was mortified! I threw my hands over my face and hid from sight.

  How'd Preston gotten out of her crib? Though our room was dark s
he'd clearly witnessed our lovemaking! She thought Trey and I were playing ‘horsey’. Trey quickly covered himself and turned to her.

  “How'd you get out of your bed, sweetie?” Trey asked as if he fully expected her to answer him. I felt him reaching under the sheets feeling around for his boxers. He finally found them and shrugged them on beneath the covers.

  “Mama pay horsey?” she asked innocently.