by ANDREA SMITH
I told Gina I'd see her the following day when I drove into Atlanta to see Trey. She told me to drop Preston off and she'd keep her.
I got Preston settled into her own bed for the night. Jean stopped me in the hallway for an update. I'd talked to her on the phone almost every day since this had all happened. She was like a ‘mom’ to me.
When I went into our suite I saw that Jean had put everything back in order. All of the ripped-up clothing had been removed. There were stacks of new jeans, sweaters and tops folded on my bed.
I wasn’t sure if Jean or Gina was responsible; I was just grateful that someone had done this act of kindness for me. I didn’t sleep well at all. I didn’t like being in our bed without Trey. I wept softly into my pillow.
CHAPTER 28
It was Christmas Eve. I almost wished it would snow though that's fairly uncommon for Atlanta.
I was standing in Trey’s hospital room looking out of the window at the cold, chilly rain pelting against the glass. It wasn’t nearly cold enough for snow. It was just plain dreary. It didn’t seem like Christmas.
Trey’s parents had left the day before for California to visit Nigel and Tess until after the New Year; Preston was over at Tristan and Gina’s anxiously awaiting Santa Claus. I was here with Trey who'd still not come out of his damn coma. I was getting pissed. Why the hell wasn’t he fighting this? Enough was enough I thought to myself.
I'd gone off on a couple of the physical therapists earlier in the day. I'd overheard one of them whisper to the other that Trey needed to be moved to a nursing home due to his ‘prolonged’ vegetative state in order to free up this bed for a patient that had more chance of recovering.
I'd ordered both of them none too quietly to get the fuck out of Trey’s room. I told them they didn’t know ‘shit from shinola’ and then threatened to report them to Dr. Grayson. They'd skittered out of there looking at me as if I was some crazed lunatic bitch as I chased after them.
Later, I'd told Gina I was spending the night at the hospital. Trey wasn't going to be alone on Christmas. She and I'd even argued. She said my priority should be Preston on Christmas. I'd told her to mind her own fucking business; I'd be the one to set my own priorities. Tristan had finally told us both to shut up because the babies were getting upset.
I'd bought a small artificial Christmas tree to set on the table next to Trey’s bed. Susan had brought some of the ornaments from Bristol for our tree at home but I hadn’t put one up this year. We were never there. Preston was at Gina’s most of the time; I was here with Trey.
I grabbed the remote for the television in his room and put a music video station on. They were playing Christmas music videos. Maybe it'd lift my spirits a bit while I decorated the sad little Christmas tree next to his bed.
I looked over at him while I decorated. His bruising was gone; his lacerations had healed nicely. He was thinner, but he still looked gorgeous. His vitals were always good. What was the problem? It'd been almost a month now.
His firm had sent over a lovely Christmas arrangement and fruit basket. I moved them now to the window ledge so that I could center the tree properly.
I dug into the box of decorations that Susan had brought. I pulled out the little Christmas angel Trey had made in the second grade; the one that'd been made out of a tampon. I recalled when I'd first seen it our Christmas together in Bristol and I'd teased him about it.
I sat down on his bed and put the angel on his tree; tears rolled down my face as I looked at it now. I stretched out on my side next to Trey facing him. The song by U2 called "It's Christmas. Baby Please Come Home" came on the screen. I looked up, watching Bono sing the sad words of the song that now had a special meaning to me.
“Wake up, Trey. Please wake up for me. I can’t do this much longer, baby. I just can’t . . .”
My sobs came rushing out; I didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he could hear me anyway. . .
I can hear Tylar crying but I can’t see her, damn it! I can feel her next to me. I can always tell when she’s near me even if she doesn’t say anything. I can sense her nearness; her moods. I sense her sadness right now and it crushes me.
Does she think I don’t want to see her? I love her with my whole being whatever that happens to be these days.
Marla's back now with Marley; we've had several lengthy chats about things. She lets me hold Marley sometimes, but most of the time she does her fading routine when I ask for the baby.
She has my number I think. She knows I want to take the baby with me. We’ve talked about the fact that I need to cross back over. Marla says it isn't my time yet. I ask her over and over again to explain why the hell it was Marley’s time. She says she isn't the one with the answers; The One with the Answers has told her I need to cross back. Marley's staying put.
Apparently my mother-in-law doesn’t know how stubborn I can be. Marla's speaking to me now in her soft, melodic voice. She's telling me to trust her; she's telling me it's time to go. Wait! I want to kiss Marley one more time. They fade. I chase after the fading vision . . . I can’t reach them. Damn!
I sat up quickly in Trey’s bed. Had I just imagined that he'd moved in his sleep?
I'd stopped my crying when I felt him move next to me. I brushed the wetness from my cheeks with the back of my hand. My nose was running. I pulled a tissue out and blew my nose. I watched Trey. There it was again! His arm had moved; his face had twitched. His brow was furrowed as if he was frowning or pissed about something. Who could've made him mad?
I continued to watch him. Nothing more happened. Maybe I had only imagined it. I finished decorating the tree and then plugged it in so the miniature twinkle lights illuminated. The crying jag had helped a little bit. My tension was relieved. I was done with my ‘pity party’ for the time being.
I found the remote and switched channels. I'd enough of the Christmas music for now. One of the satellite channels was running a 1980’s movie marathon all day Christmas Eve. I located it as the next movie was getting ready to start. It was ‘Dirty Dancing’. I loved that movie! Who wouldn’t love anything with Patrick Swayze in it?
I curled up next to Trey, laying my head on his chest as the opening credits started with the familiar soundtrack; the muted black and white, slow motion footage of the various dancers came across the screen with the classic ‘60’s tune by the Ronettes..
Oh My God! I remembered when Trey had told me about that song the night I almost died! I listened as the lyrics spilled out plain as day. ‘The night we met I knew I needed you so; and if I had the chance I’d never let you go. ‘
God - how strange was this that the song Trey had told me about a few weeks back, was now playing in full Dolby surround sound in his hospital room? It was . . .
Holy shit!
I felt fingers in my hair. I was afraid to look. I was afraid it was my mind playing tricks on me in some fashion. I'd acted out several times today; perhaps those PT’s had turned me in to the hospital security officials after I'd ran after them and threatened them like that. I felt it again.
I rose up turning to face Trey.
Oh My God - his beautiful blue eyes were watching me; his newly healed wrist was raised so that his fingers could comb through my hair.
“Trey? Do you know me?”
“What the hell, Tylar, of course I know you.”
CHAPTER 29
It was New Year’s Eve night and I was helping Trey get settled on the sofa in our family room.
He'd been released from the hospital this afternoon with a stern warning from his doctors that he was not to do anything but ‘veg’ out for the next week until he saw them again.
I handed him the remote so he could surf all of the sports channels while I made snacks and appetizers for our own private New Year’s Eve party.
Everyone had been here and gone. Tristan and Gina had a New Year’s Eve extravaganza going on at the club with a special dinner, dancing and New Year’s champagne toast. The band playing was a fairly popular 80�
��s girl band that had reconvened for the third time. We were keeping Reese; Jean had stayed over to help since I was focusing on Trey’s needs.
I'd been very strict with him all afternoon to ensure that he did exactly as his discharge papers ordered. He'd started calling me ‘Nurse Nazi.’
Once he was settled comfortably on the couch watching Sports Center, I started a fire in the fireplace and started back to the kitchen to finish our snacks.
“Hey babe, is Preston still up?”
“It’s only eight o’clock, Trey. I’m sure she is, why?”
“I don’t know. She seems kind of distant with me. I thought maybe you could bring her down here to play?”
“Sure,” I said cheerfully. “I’ll go get her.”
The truth was I wasn't sure at all that Preston would be satisfied playing in the family room. She'd been extremely reluctant to allow Trey to hold her or be near him. I wasn’t sure if it was just a familiarity thing that needed to be re-established or what. I hoped she wouldn’t act fussy about it.
Jean had just gotten Preston into her pajamas when I got upstairs to the nursery. I picked Reese up from Preston’s crib. He was going to sleep there for the night. We'd just bought Preston a twin bed for her room and used one of those portable rails on the side that wasn’t against the wall.
She was all excited about sleeping in her ‘big girl’ bed. I figured if Reese was downstairs with us, Preston might not object so much about being around Trey. It would break his heart if she acted out.
“Preston,” I said, “let’s get your play quilt and some toys for you and Reese and go downstairs where Daddy is and play, okay?”
“Kay, Mommie,” she said happily, scrambling over to her toy box to grab an armful of her toys.
I looked at Jean who held up her fingers crossed. She'd picked up on it as well.
We went back down. Reese was sucking happily on his pacifier. I put him into Preston’s baby swing that we had set up upon his arrival. He was happy to swing and observe everything that she did. They almost seemed like brother and sister.
Preston and I spread her play quilt out on the floor near the couch. She sat down with some of her puzzles.
“Hey, baby girl,” Trey said to her. “Can you show Daddy how you can put that puzzle together?”
She looked at Trey for a moment and then broke out into a wide, dimpled grin. “Kay Daddy,” she said.
My heart fluttered with happiness. I went back to the kitchen to finish up and listened to them both chatting to each other. It was as if nothing had changed. I was grateful.
I put our snacks out and brought a beer in for Trey.
“This is your limit for tonight,” I said handing it to him.
“Yes, ‘Nurse Nazi,” he quipped, smiling at me.
It was so good to have my Trey home. He'd shared some of the weird dreams he'd experienced while comatose with me over the past week. They were quite entertaining.
He claimed my mother was a ‘stubborn wench’.
He supposedly had unlocked many of the secrets of the universe while eavesdropping on several renowned scientists, physiologists, and philosophers. They all seemed to be of varying generations.
He'd rambled on something to the effect that Socrates was a misunderstood war vet turned hippy that willingly allowed himself to be martyred for the good of Athens, Greece. Then there was his inside scoop that Galileo had gotten a bum rap from some Catholic pope; that in fact he'd not been guilty of heresy.
I'd listened intently to Trey, nodding my head up and down in agreement all the while wondering what type of meds the hospital had been giving him.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Reese grunting from his swing. Preston’s head snapped up from the puzzle she and Trey were putting together.
“Doodee, Mommie, she said pointing to Reese.
“I know, sweetie,” I said. “Will you run up and get a clean diaper and wipes from Jean?”
“Kay, Mommie,” she said getting up and running for the stairs.
Trey chuckled from the sofa.
“She's getting to be such a big girl,” he said shaking his head. “I wish you could've seen Marley, baby. She's so beautiful.”
That was one of the more disturbing stories Trey had revealed after coming out of his coma. He claimed that my mother was taking care of Marley and wouldn’t part with her. He said he'd hung around in hopes of being able to bring Marley back with him. Head traumas were weird, that's for sure.
“How would you feel about another baby, Trey?”
“Baby, you know how I feel. I’m ready just as soon as my doctor clears me for take-off.”
I laughed as I picked Reese up and held him closely. I kissed his tiny little fingers.
“You don’t have to do a thing, Trey,” I said smiling. “Apparently, you already took care of it on our cruise."
I saw his face light up with the realization that I was already pregnant.
“But,” he said, “I thought the depo---whatever. . .”
“Yeah - about that,” I said, “it seems you need to go back periodically and get another shot.”
“When?” he asked, excitedly.
“Sometime around your birthday in August," I replied.
Preston returned to the room with a clean, disposable diaper and the dispenser of baby wipes. I laid Reese down on her quilt. She wanted to help. I was nearly finished cleaning him up. I asked Preston to hand me his clean diaper. She gave it to me and giggled, pointing at his plumbing.
“Dinky,” she said, laughing.
Holy shit - not this again.
“Yes, Preston,” I said very matter-of-factly, “boys have dinkies. That’s just the difference between you and Reese.”
I looked over at Trey giving him a nod. I didn’t want to belabor it. I knew how weird he'd been about that previously. Perhaps he'd forgotten.
“Me have who-ha,” she said just as matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“Who-ha,” she repeated, pointing to her crotch.
Before I could say anything, Trey burst out laughing. I looked over at him, stunned. I expected him to ask me where the hell she'd learned that ‘trash talk.’ He didn’t. He found it extremely comical.
Gina strikes again...
“Come here to Daddy,” Trey said to her.
She immediately flew into his arms as he hugged and kissed her all over her. She was giggling with happiness.
Once I got both of the babies down for the night, I cuddled with Trey on the sofa. We so much to talk about.
I filled him in on everything concerning Matthew and Karen. The ‘loose ends’ that my father had tied up after Trey’s accident involved a suicide letter that Karen Deeny had mailed to him from Atlanta the day she tried to mow me down.
She'd relayed how by the time he received the letter I'd be dead. She admitted to having a key to our home; of stalking us and cutting up my clothes. She admitted nothing further. We would never know for certain who'd changed Trey’s computer passwords and cancelled his credit cards though we were fairly certain it was Amber.
Tonya, Trey’s P.A. had visited Trey in the hospital once he was out of his coma. She informed him that Amber had been let go due to behavior not fitting of a partner. She'd apparently moved on to Mr. Pierce and had attempted to blackmail him with purported evidence she threatened to show his wife. He'd called her bluff. She'd finally agreed to resign so a termination wouldn't be on her record and was given a severance.
“Trey,” I said, leaning against him, “I think we finally have all of the whack-jobs out of our lives.”
“I sure hope so, baby,” he replied, kissing my neck.
“Hey,” I said glancing up at the clock, “it’s one minute until midnight. I think I’m going to call Dad and get his ass out of bed to wish him a Happy New Year!”
“Go for it,” Trey said smiling.
I grabbed my cell off of the coffee table and hit his name on my ‘contacts’ list.
�
�He’s probably been in bed since 9:30,” I joked to Trey.
His phone rang several times and then someone picked up. It was a woman’s voice. “Hello?”
Holy shit! Did I call the wrong number this late?
“Ahh, hello? I was calling Judge Tylar?”
“Well hi there, Tylar. This is Brenda. How are you doing?”
Oh. My. God.
“Brenda? Oh, I’m doing just fine, and you?”