by ANDREA SMITH
“Take care,” he called after me heading back into the office.
I decided I wasn’t going to say anything to Trey about what Marcus had told me. I did want to keep a watch on what Amber was up to. Maybe I needed to give Leah a call and see if she wanted to meet for lunch soon.
True to his word Trey got home exceptionally early from the office. Jean had fed Preston and taken her upstairs to play in the nursery. Trey and I ate our dinner in front of the fireplace. It was cozy and romantic.
“Well, Mrs. Sinclair,” he said when we finished, “are you going to fill me in on our vacation plans?”
I told Trey that Tristan had offered us the all-inclusive cruise package since he and Gina couldn’t use it before the end of the year. I asked him if he thought it would be a problem for him to get the time off between now and the end of the year.
He said he and Tonya would check his calendar to see what could be rescheduled or offloaded. We targeted the week after Thanksgiving. I was thrilled we were finally going to have a week together alone.
We discussed our Thanksgiving plans which would take us to Bristol this year. I felt better knowing Gina would be coming with Tristan and Reese. We'd get to see Tess and Nigel’s baby. They'd named their son Royce Nigel Sinclair. It sounded very British to me.
I brought the subject of Amber’s jacket to Trey. I saw his expression darken at the mention of her name.
“Oh yes,” he said in a very irritated tone, “she was right over in my office first thing this morning asking about it. She made sure Tonya heard her mention it being left in my car. I don't understand why she's so conniving where I'm concerned.”
“Maybe she has some sort of fatal attraction.”
“Oh come on Tylar.”
“I’m serious,” I replied, “I think she somehow thinks you’re interested in her.” I could tell Trey was concerned about her prior to what I'd just mentioned.
“What is it?”
He looked over at me trying to lose the concerned expression but he didn’t quite make it.
“It’s nothing,” he replied with a shrug.
“It has to be something. I can read you too, you know?”
“She made an off-handed comment today when she came to get the jacket. It was something to the effect I might find it difficult for my partners to believe she hadn’t been sexually harassed.”
“Oh God; she threatened you?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Well what are you going to do about it?”
“I haven’t decided yet. The bottom line's I should never have kissed her.”
“She kissed you first. I'm a witness to that.”
“Yes, and had I left it at that this wouldn’t be an issue, but I didn’t, so it is. You were also a witness to that.”
He was angry with himself now I could tell. He raked his hands through his hair in frustration.
“She doesn’t have anything that she could take to court though. I mean she hasn’t suffered any damages, right?”
“It wouldn’t have to even go that far,” he replied. “The fact that I'm a senior partner and she's the only female partner on staff provides her with a ‘hostile environment’ argument with the other partners. They may choose to see me as a liability for the firm.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Trey was genuinely concerned about being removed from his firm.
“Wait a minute! They can’t kick you out of the firm, can they? As a senior partner you hold part ownership, right?”
“They can certainly buy my share from me and have me removed by a vote. Listen, I don’t want you to worry about that okay? It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for me anyway.”
I knew better. Practicing law in a prestigious firm was Trey’s dream. I couldn’t imagine him doing anything else.
“Well, let’s not worry about it now,” I said. “I think she'll probably move on to someone else.”
“We can only hope,” he replied, pulling me close.
Trey and I made love that night over and over again. We fell asleep curled around each other. Our sleep was interrupted around 2:30 in the morning when our landline in the bedroom rang.
I was closest to the phone so I jumped up in the dark trying to grab it from my nightstand. My pulse was racing. Calls during the night could only mean bad news.
“Hello?” I said into the phone. My voice had a panicky edge to it. There was nothing on the other end. “Hello?”
Just then I heard a female voice whisper huskily, “Sorry - wrong number.” It was followed by a click.
“Who is it?” Trey asked from beside me.
“Wrong number,” I replied replacing the phone on its charger on my nightstand.
I lay awake for a while contemplating the call. It was no wrong number. It was Amber trying to make trouble. In the morning I checked the call i.d. log on the phone. The call had come in from a ‘Blocked’ number. I'd figured as much.
I decided it was a pretty lame attempt to rattle me. I wondered what she would pull next. Her actions were fairly sophomoric up to this point. I wasn’t overly concerned.
CHAPTER 18
Trey, Preston and I were all packed and ready for our flight to Bristol for the Thanksgiving holidays with the Sinclair extended family. We knew we'd see Landon and Caroline since the Andrews family was part of the extended family. They lived close now anyway.
Susan and I'd chatted on the phone several days previously. She'd insisted I call my father and invite him to Bristol as well. She said she wouldn’t hear of Preston’s other granddaddy not being able to spend the holidays with her.
She mentioned her niece Brenda Brooks from Birmingham, Alabama was coming up to spend a couple of weeks with them before and after Thanksgiving. She said poor Brenda had been widowed nearly a year ago. Brenda was her sister’s only daughter and her sister and brother-in-law were traveling for the holiday season. She hadn’t wanted Brenda to be alone.
“So, Mom,” I asked tentatively, “are you going to tell me about Royce?”
“Oh,” she gushed, “he's such a beautiful baby boy. I can’t decide who's prettier, Reese or Royce, so I'm going to settle for them being equally beautiful.”
She'd successfully managed to side-step the obvious issue at hand. I'd recalled Susan telling me once that a mother never forgets what each of her babies look like when they're born. She'd also admitted when Trey had been born he'd reminded her of Tristan. I was hoping she might provide some insight having seen Royce right after his birth as to whom he favored between her two sons.
“Well who does he favor?” I pressed.
“Honey,” she'd sighed into the phone, “I know what you’re asking but it's just difficult to tell because he has Tess’s brown hair which is nearly as dark as the boys’ hair. The baby has blue eyes which is typical of all babies at this point. I just can’t tell. Wasn’t that the whole point of this?”
“I suppose so,” I replied disappointed.
“How have you been, Tylar?” she asked.
“I'm doing better. Trey and I are doing better,” I admitted.
“I'm so very happy to hear that. Now you call your father and invite him. Promise?”
“I promise,” I replied laughing.
I was surprised when my father graciously accepted the invitation to fly to Bristol for Thanksgiving. I was glad he was doing so. He was scheduled to arrive late afternoon on Wednesday. He'd booked a room at the Marriott despite the fact Susan had said there was plenty of room for him at their estate.
There was a limo waiting to take us to Bristol once our flight had landed at Tri-Cities Regional Airport. The weather in Bristol was a bit chillier than what we'd left in Atlanta. Preston had been a great traveler so far. She'd used the potty on the airplane, to my surprise. I'd always been a bit terrified of airplane toilets myself.
Once we were settled in the limo, she curled up and fell asleep in Trey’s lap. She had her thumb in her mouth. She did that a lot when she slept; no
t so much during her waking hours unless she was upset by something. She hadn’t done that lately. She sensed that the previous stress and tension between Trey and I'd dissipated.
I'd met with Karla the prior week for my counseling session. The next appointment was scheduled for the Monday after we returned from our cruise. It would be both Trey and me at that appointment.
“Are you okay, Tylar?” Trey asked studying me while he stroked Preston’s hair gently.
“Yes,” I smiled at him, “I’m just looking forward to next week when we leave for our cruise.”
“I am too, baby. Tonya spent the better part of the week rearranging my schedule where possible; getting other attorneys in the firm to handle some of the depositions and court appearances where schedules couldn’t be changed.”
“It'll be so good for you and me to have this time for each other with no interruptions or distractions,” I replied smiling.
“I can hardly wait to get you alone in our cabin on that cruise ship, Mrs. Sinclair.” He gave me one of his devilish grins.
“Trey, you know there are a lot of activities on that ship. We can do what you have in mind in our own room at home,” I said laughing, shaking my head.
When the limo pulled up in front of the manor, Susan and Clive were immediately out the door waiting for us on the front porch. Susan squealed with delight as Trey handed Preston over to her. The baby was just awakening from her nap but recognized her grandma immediately.
“She's grown leaps and bounds since Grandma last saw her,” Susan wailed, holding her out so she could have a full view.
“Mom it’s only been several weeks,” Trey responded, giving her a hug and then moving over to give Clive a pat on the back.
“Mamaw,” Preston said, presenting Susan with her dimpled smile.
Clive came over and hugged me as Susan was chatting away with Preston, telling her about her new cousin, Royce. She handed the baby over to Clive so she could greet me. She put her arms around me hugging me tightly.
“I’m so glad you're here, my darling Tylar,” she said.
“I am too, Mom.”
We got settled into our suite. I noticed Preston’s bed was back in our suite. I tiptoed down the hallway to the other wing and peered inside Clive and Susan’s suite. Another baby crib was located there. The suite next to ours had yet another crib. Evidently, that was the suite where Tristan, Gina and Reese would be staying.
Apparently Susan wanted Royce in with them. I tried not to feel jealous about it; after all, both Reese and Preston were just a little bit more than an hour’s flight away. Royce was clear across the country.
Trey was hauling our luggage into our suite when I came back in.
“Where were you?” he asked.
“Just looking around,” I replied. “What time are Tristan and Gina getting in?”
“They’re driving - it'll be later this evening. Nigel and Tess are already here I guess. They took Royce over to spend the day with Tess’s family. Royce is their first grandchild since Landon and Caroline haven’t blessed them just yet.”
I stretched out across the bed pulling a pillow to me.
“I can certainly see that this Thanksgiving is going to be all about Royce,” I commented resting my face on the pillow.
“Come on Tylar. You know Mom and Dad are crazy about all of their grandchildren. Preston's still their only grand-daughter, and the first to boot. If anything, it'll be Reese and Royce that have to compete for attention.”
“Doubtful,” I replied, shrugging.
Trey sat down next to me on the bed. He was studying me carefully.
“Are you seriously thinking my parents would play favorites?”
“I guess not,” I sighed. “I don’t know why I’m so out of sorts about this. I’d say it was sibling rivalry except I don’t have any siblings so there's no point of reference.”
“Sweetie,” he said stretching out next to me, “I think it's exactly one of those things you mentioned when we discussed our loss. It's a family gathering for the holidays. A family member's missing.”
I looked over at Trey. He was right, of course. I was feeling the loss right now. He pulled me close to him. He stroked my hair gently.
“We’ll get through it, Tylar. It won’t always hurt this much.”
“I know.”
Trey’s cell chimed in his pocket. “It’s your dad,” he said answering it.
Dad was at his hotel and wondered what plans Trey and I had for this evening. We invited him to eat with us at Morelli’s.
Tristan and Gina arrived by four o’clock that afternoon. They were going to join us at Morelli’s. Gina was dying to meet my father.
Nigel and Tess wouldn’t be back until later in the evening. Clive had driven to the airport to pick up Susan’s niece Brenda. Susan had insisted she'd watch Preston and Reese while we joined my father for dinner.
Gina came to our suite as I was getting dressed for dinner. Trey and Tristan were downstairs.
“So Ty, have you seen Royce yet?”
“No. Nigel, Tess and the baby have been over at her parent’s house all day. I tried to get Susan to open up when I talked to her on the phone last week as to what her thoughts were on the subject.”
“And?”
“And she says she doesn’t have a clue. She said she absolutely cannot tell if he's Tristan’s or Trey’s and that was the whole point of this anyway.”
“Yeah, Tristan's already warned me to let it go. It's just weird, you know?”
“Uhh … yeah,” I said. “But hey, let’s not let it ruin the holiday okay? I’ve already kind of got the blues.”
“I know, girlfriend,” Gina said. “I kind of thought you would.”
“Hey listen,” she said, lowering her voice as if someone might be eavesdropping, “I did kind of find out a juicy tidbit from Tristan.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah - it seems that this cousin of Tristan and Trey’s - what the hell's her name?”
“Brenda?”
“Yeah, Brenda - it seems that Susan's doing a little matchmaking. She's just a few years younger than your dad and is a widow. From what Tristan said, she's quite an attractive widow.”
“What?”
“Yep. I think Susan's trying to hook your dad up. Kinda cute, isn’t it?”
“Adorable,” I answered, chuckling.
My father met us at Morelli’s. It wasn’t far from his hotel. Gina was immediately taken with him. She didn’t waste any time sharing her opinion when we excused ourselves to visit the ‘Ladies’ room.
“Girlfriend - you didn’t tell me your dad was hot!”
“Gina, for crying out loud - I don’t look at him that way!”
“Just sayin,” she replied, putting lipstick on and blotting it with a tissue. “He’s got that whole ‘George Clooney’ thing going on; and he's funny, too. I mean, I guess I thought he'd be some stodgy old judge-type. He clearly isn't what I expected.”
“I don’t think you're what he expected either, Gina,” I remarked with a laugh. "And trust me, he has his moments."
Gina had pummeled him with questions all through dinner; asking if he'd ever sent someone to the gas chamber or the electric chair; or if anyone he sent to prison had made threats to get even with him.
My father had handled her questions good-naturedly. He was amused with her tenacity. After dinner, on our way out, my father pulled me aside telling Trey he needed a few moments with me.
“How have things been between you and Trey since you reconciled?” he asked me. “I don’t want to pry Tylar; I just need to know that you're okay.”
“Yes, Dad, we're doing fine. I had a bit of a meltdown finally when the reality hit about losing Marley. I don’t know why I'd kept myself in denial. Then Trey blamed himself for allowing me to remain in denial. We're working it out along with other issues.”
“I'm glad to hear that,” he replied, putting his arm around me and squeezing me. “I know it takes work from both p
arties to make a marriage succeed. I know you and Trey have enough love to make that happen. I do have something to share with you.”
“What is it, Dad?”
This sounded like a prelude to more bad news; I'd had my fill of that for the year. I looked up at my father and saw a hint of a smile pass over his face.
“I had a visit from Danny Duvall last week. It appeared he'd been roughed up a bit.”
Good!