Baby Come Back(42)
“I will damn well make it my business since Tristan and I--”
She was interrupted when Tristan came out, carrying Reese. Preston was standing in the doorway to the kitchen; our raised voices had brought her out.
“Gina, Tylar. That’s enough out of both of you. You’re upsetting the babies with this crap.”
Tylar turned from me, stopping to pick Preston up to give her a kiss. She then slammed out of the apartment. I watched as Preston’s little face scrunched up and tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran to the door after her mommy. I immediately went over and picked her up. She buried her face into my hair sobbing. I looked over at Tristan who graced me with one of his ‘Now see what you’ve done looks.’
I got Preston settled down and we decorated cookies for the next hour. She seemed to get into a better mood. Afterwards, we made sure we set a couple of the cookies on a plate and put it out on the coffee table for Santa. I placed a glass of milk next to it. I took her into the bathroom and gave her a bath; then dressed her in her pajamas.
She ran out to the living room to give Uncle Tristan a goodnight kiss. I tucked her into the bed in Reese’s room and told her to get to sleep quickly so that Santa would come. We said a prayer for her daddy like we always did.
When I got back to the living room, Tristan was giving Reese his bottle before bed. I was still a bit irate with Tristan. He always seemed to take Tylar’s side. I knew how ridiculous that sounded; she was my best friend. Why should there even be ‘sides’? I just felt at this point in time, Tylar needed to address the needs of Preston before Trey. Preston was cognizant of what was going on around her; Trey wasn’t.
I went into the kitchen and cleaned up all of the dishes and baking utensils from the cookies. When I came out, Tristan had a fire going in the fireplace; Reese was down for the night.
“Come here,” he said, patting the couch next to where he sat.
I went over and sat down next to him. He pulled me over to him.
“I understand where you are coming from Gina, believe me, I do. But you have to understand where I am coming from; Trey is my brother. Tylar is his wife. The fact that she has been at his side since this happened is, well to be honest, it’s what I would want you to do if I was the one lying there. Does that sound selfish?”
I looked up at him and I realized that he was suffering, too.
“No Tristan, that is not selfish and that is exactly where I would be. I’m not sure if I would be there day and night, though, I mean you wouldn’t want me to neglect Reese, right?”
“Of course not, Gina. But say it was me there; and say that Trey and Tylar were there for Reese, would that make a difference?”
“Yes, I guess it would,” I admitted. “But it is only one night, Tristan. It’s Christmas Eve and Preston is all excited about Santa Claus and I just thought Tylar would want to be there for her.”
“Babe - Preston is going to go crazy about Santa Claus bringing her gifts no matter what. We are her family; we are here with her. This could be Trey’s last Christmas. I think Tylar is dealing with that possibility as well.”
“What do you mean, Tristan? Trey is recovering, right?”
“Babe, if he doesn’t wake up there could be irreparable damages. Not only that, but the more he is inactive, the more chance there are for things like pneumonia to set in.”
I totally felt like a piece of shit.
“Tristan honey, I am so sorry. I guess I didn’t think of it that way. I feel like a shit.”
“You’re not a shit, baby. You’ve had a lot on your hands with all of this. You’ve been a mother to both Reese and Preston these past weeks, along with being the best damn wife to me. I have never been more in love with you, Gina.”
“Oh Tristan,” I sighed, lying against him. He held me and stroked me gently. I loved him so much.
“How much time do we have before Santa gets here?”
He glanced at his watch. “Quite a while,” he said.
“Let’s make good use of it then.”
CHAPTER 24
It was New Year’s Eve! What a year it had been. There had been joy and sadness; laughter and tears; birth and death; arguments and great make-up sex. Trey was recovering and a giant weight had been lifted from us as a result. Tylar and I were good again - best friends never stay angry at each other for very long.
Nigel and Tess had been blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Royce Nigel Sinclair who just happened to be the spitting image of Reese. It had bothered me at first; it didn’t any longer. Tristan and I had come a very long way in our relationship. If I hadn’t known before, I was sure of it now: He was my lobster and I was his.
Reese was spending the night at Trey and Tylar’s since Tristan’s Shady Lady was having a blow-out extravaganza on New Year’s Eve. Tristan looked resplendent in his black tuxedo. My man was f*cking hot! I had dressed in a form-fitting, black spandex dress that was strapless. Tiny silver sparkles were clustered as stars throughout the dress. I had put some surprise undergarments on for Tristan’s benefit. I had on a black satin garter belt with black nylons attached; black crotch-less undies in Tristan’s favorite flavor. I put on a pair of sexy, black heels, hoping that I wouldn’t regret wearing them before the night was over.
The dining room was serving a prime rib buffet. The band booked for the night was a group from Philadelphia called ‘Billy and the Badass Blondes’. They did both ‘70’s and ‘80’s rock and pop. Ian had tried to book them before with no luck. He had claimed their agent was a dick-head; Tristan had no such problem with getting them booked. They definitely had a following. Our club was packed.