Baby Come Back(41)
I put the note and DVD into a bubble pack envelope and set it on the dining room table to mail out. I hoped it didn’t backfire. I figured Amber was due some karma.
I had Preston all packed and ready to go. She was in the nursery now, watching Tristan change Reese’s diaper. She loved helping with the baby. I spotted the envelope and decided I had better take it down to the lobby to mail before Trey and Tylar got here, and before I lost my nerve.
Once I had deposited it into the mailbox downstairs, I pushed the button for the elevator to go back up. That is when I heard the commotion from the street. I heard screeching tires, followed by the sound of breaking glass and crumpling metal. A car horn sounded as if someone was thrown up against it.
(Holy shit!)
I went outside onto the sidewalk trying to see what had happened. It was in the next block down. I saw an SUV that had crashed into the building on the corner; smoke was coming out from under the hood. People were running over to it. Probably some drunk driver I thought to myself. Then I noticed another group of people gathering at the cross walk between the corner and the building directly across the street from ours. What was that about?
I stepped out on the sidewalk and heard a loud, wailing scream. Someone was lying face down in the street. I could see a black, suede bomber jacket. People were hollering to call an ambulance. On the other side of the street, yet another group of people were gathering around someone else it looked like. That was where the screaming had been coming from. It had stopped. It was quiet now. In the distance I heard the sounds of sirens getting louder.
I hoped that Trey and Tylar could find a place to park with all of the emergency equipment coming. I turned to go back into the building. I felt funny being a ‘Looky Lou’ when some tragedy occurred like this. Something made me stop and turn back. I went back to the curb, walking north closer to where the man with the black jacket was lying on the pavement. Something was familiar; I looked beyond him over to the sidewalk where I recognized Tylar’s red jacket.
(Oh my God!)
I turned and ran back into the building. I pressed the button for the elevator again and again.
“C’mon, c’mon,” I sobbed, pounding on it now. The door man had seen me run back in; he was now outside on the sidewalk trying to see what all of the commotion was about.
The doors finally opened and I raced inside, pressing the button for our floor, again and again.
By the time I raced through the door of our apartment I was hysterical. Tristan looked up as he was cradling Reese in his arms; Preston was right beside him babbling. She stopped and looked up at me with her big blue eyes, Trey’s eyes. I lost it.
CHAPTER 23
It was Christmas Eve; Reese’s first Christmas, Preston’s second one. Our apartment was decorated with a tree and twinkling lights on the mantle with freshly cut evergreen branches. It was raining out. That was the only thing I missed about New Jersey: the many white Christmases we had there.
Tylar had spent the night last night. Our apartment was closer to the hospital. She stayed here on those nights that she didn’t stay with Trey at the hospital. She had showered changed and was getting ready to head out the door.
Tristan was changing Reese’s diaper; I was in the kitchen mixing up colored icing. I had baked three dozen Christmas cookies. Preston was pumped about helping me decorate them. She was kneeling on one of the kitchen chairs, eating an unfrosted cookie when Tylar poked her head in to tell us good-bye.
“You be a good girl for Aunt Gina and Uncle Tristan, okay Preston? You know Santa is coming tonight and you want to make sure that he knows you’ve been a good girl.”
“Uh huh, Mommy,” she said, nodding her head up and down.
“Tylar, can I talk to you for a second in the living room?”
“Sure Gina,” she said, “You stay here and finish your cookie, Preston.”
“Kay, Mommy.”
Tylar followed me out of the kitchen. I went over to stand by the Christmas tree to make sure that Preston didn’t hear me.
“Ty,” I whispered, “Why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s the first Christmas that Preston really understands and is excited about. Don’t you want to be here to see it?”
“Well of course I do, Gina. That’s not really the point, though.”
“Well what is the point then, Ty?”
“I need to be with Trey. Preston has you, and Tristan and Reese. I’ve wrapped all of her gifts from Santa. All you need to do is put them out under the tree.”
“It’s not about that, Ty. It’s about you being here with your daughter. Trey isn’t going to know whether you’re there or not; Preston will know that you’re not here though.”
“That was a low blow, Gina. First of all, you don’t know what Trey knows and what he doesn’t. Secondly, my first priority is to my husband. I believe it is something about ‘in sickness and in health? Oh, that’s right; you aren’t real familiar with that part of it, are you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My voice was getting louder.
“What do you think it means, Gina?”
“I think, Ty, that you need to get your priorities straight.”
“Hey Gina, I do have my priorities straight; I don’t f*cking need you to tell me what my priorities are anyway. I will make my priorities all by myself, thank you very much. It is really none of your f*cking business, anyway.”