Baby Love(136)

"Baby," he had said late one night after I had awoken him for another round, "Why the 'f*ckathon every night?"

"Are you complaining Trey?"

"I'm not complaining. I'm just curious."

"Can't I be horny for my husband without him being suspicious of my motives?" I had asked feigning injury.

"I'm sorry baby," he had said, pulling me on top of him.

"I love that you love me like that."

Tristan on the other hand had evidently been privy to the same information as I had found in that magazine. He had taken a hiatus from f*cking Gina on a daily basis. She had complained to me about it.

"Is Trey acting like that with you?" she had asked.

"Well he has commented about having sex too often," I had replied.

(That was totally not a lie . . .)

"You see there, Ty? This has probably become a f*cking competition between Trey and Tristan to see whose sperm can get to that egg first!"

"Gina - you know how guys are," I had said changing the subject.

"Tylar - did you hear me," Trey was asking, bringing me back to the present.

"I'm sorry honey," I replied, "I guess I was day dreaming. What did you say?"

"I said that I wish I could go with you to Baton Rouge tomorrow but Tristan reminded me on the way home that he and I have - that appointment."

(Oh yes - THAT appointment. The one at the fertility clinic in Atlanta that was handling their end of it.)

"Of course Trey. I totally forgot about that. It's okay. I'm going down and back in one day. I'm just waiting for Dad to call back with the details."

"You know I would be with you baby if it wasn't for that."

"I know Trey. It's fine."

He was watching me now. Trying to figure out whether I was sincere or not. Preston had been crawling around on the bedroom floor. She had found something on the rug and evidently had put it into her mouth. We both heard her choke and gag at the same time.

Trey was over to her in a split second. He snatched her up into his arms. I started freaking out as I saw that she couldn't catch her breath. I started screaming for Trey to get whatever it was out of her mouth. How stupid was that? It had obviously gone down her throat if she was choking on it. I couldn't think straight. My baby was turning blue.

Trey remained calm. He settled Preston on his lap tilting her forward. He placed his closed fist with his thumb closest to her stomach against her bellybutton and drew it in against her firmly; he placed the heel of his other hand behind her and gave her five quick strikes to the middle of her back.

She coughed; whatever she had swallowed popped out of her mouth. She started coughing and rasping. Her breathing started back coming in fast, gulping breaths. She finally had the strength to cry. I grabbed her from Trey, holding her close to my chest and talking to her. Tears were flowing down my cheeks.

Gina and Tristan had come into our room hearing the commotion.

"What the hell happened?" Gina asked with alarm.

Trey's calmness had now been replaced by the fear that had sunk in that we had almost lost our daughter. He raked his hands threw his hair; his eyes teared up.

Preston was calmed. I walked over to Gina and Tristan.

"Preston found something on the floor and put it into her mouth. She choked on it. Trey saved her life," I sputtered.

"Oh Thank God!" Gina said.

"Why don't we take Preston out and get her something in her sippy cup?" Tristan suggested.

"Thanks Tristan," I said, handing the baby over to him.

They left with her and I went to see about Trey.

"Are you okay honey?" I asked, dropping down in front of him where he still sat on the bed.

He had clasped his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes. He looked down at me finally with his eyes still watering. He pulled me up and onto his lap where he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"I was so f*cking scared Tylar," he said.

"I know Trey. I was scared too. You kept it together though; you saved her. I freaked out. How did you know what to do?"

He shook his head back and forth getting a hint of a smile.

"That's just it baby," he said, "I have no clue as to how I knew what to do. It was if something else just took over my mind and I knew what I needed to do."

"Like maybe her guardian angel?" I asked.

"Yeah, exactly," he replied, "And I bet her name is Marley."

Trey and I searched the floor and found the object of Preston's incident. It was a penny that must have fallen from one of our pockets at some point in time. The year of minting was 1990.

My father called later in the afternoon with my flight details. He had arranged for a charter to from a private airfield in Atlanta at 6:30 a.m. the following morning. He would be at the Baton Rouge airport to pick me up. He had booked my return flight on the charter for that afternoon. I filled him in on the scare that we had earlier in the day with Preston. I included the part where we had felt some sort of divine intervention.

"I have no doubt that Marley looks after you all," he replied. "She was an angel in life and remains an angel in heaven."

Preston had been the center of everyone's attention after her ordeal that day. I bathed her after she had eaten her dinner and got her ready for bed. I rocked her while she nursed that evening. I thanked God for her being okay. I tucked her into her crib giving her kisses on her cheeks and forehead.