Baby Love(43)

I had packed her diapers, clean clothes, favorite toys, blankets. I had brought some fresh bottled breast milk just in case my supply couldn't accommodate her robust appetite.

Trey and I waited nervously in our hotel room until the agents phoned him and told him it was time to go. He asked me once again to stay at the hotel and wait until everything had concluded but there was no way.

We left together getting into the vehicle with the local police to head towards the bus terminal. We parked about a block from it. The police were in mobile contact with other law enforcement as well as the feds.

Forty-five minutes later the officers we were with received communication that everything had gone as planned. Maggie was in federal custody; Preston was in the custody of local authorities who were in transit to our stake-out position.

I screamed in delight, throwing my arms around Trey and crying in joy. I made a solemn prayer of thanks to God for bringing my baby safely back to us. Tears streamed down Trey's face.

Within minutes my baby girl was back with her daddy and me. The FBI agents followed us back to our hotel to discuss the particulars. I was totally involved with my baby as I held her close to me from the minute she was in my arms until we arrived at our hotel.

Maggie had dressed her as a boy. She had blue jean bib overalls on with a plaid flannel shirt underneath. She had a miniature black Harley-Davidson Motorcycle jacket on that was clearly too big for her. Her hair was tucked up under a black knit toboggan; she had on a pair of black cowboy boots. Everything looked as if it had been purchased at a yard sale.

"What did she do to you, baby girl? Did she try to make you look like a boy? My Preston is no boy. She's our beautiful baby girl." I cooed to her.

I took her hat off and was shocked that her hair looked filthy and matted. Preston looked at me with her piercing blue eyes. She had snot running from her nose.

She buried her face against me whimpering softly.

I wasn't going to get a smile out of her at the moment that was a certainty. I could only imagine what she had been through these past several days. I shuddered thinking about it. I would make her feel safe and secure again.

"How about we take a nice bath, Preston?"

She was in desperate need of a bath. I took her into the bathroom of our hotel suite and started a bath for her.

I laid her down on the bed removing the boy clothes and boots from her. Her diaper was sopping wet and in dire need of changing. She looked thinner.

I lowered her slowly into the warm water of her bath, desperate to wash Maggie's stench from her. Preston had loved her baths at home but she fussed and cried loudly as the water touched her private areas. I froze in fear.

I screamed for Trey who was still in the other room. He was at my side in moments, concern crossing his face.

"Trey something is wrong with her. She became extremely distressed when I put her in the water."

Even now Preston was squirming to the point I couldn't let go of her to see what the problem might be.

"Here let me take her," Trey offered, grabbing a towel from the rack.

He leaned down as I raised her from the water kicking and crying; he wrapped the towel around her and lifted her from me taking her into the bedroom. I followed him with another fresh towel that I placed on the bed.

Trey told me to turn the overhead light on in the bedroom. There had only been a bedside lamp on which had kept the room fairly dim. He laid the baby down and gently unwrapped the towel from her.

Her perineum area was beet red. She had a rash going but it was not like the prickly heat one that she had gotten over the summer. This was a reddened area with larger welts.

He turned her over so that she was now on her belly. We both gasped in horror as we saw the black and blue bruises on her bottom. Tears sprang to my eyes.

"Did you bring any of her clothes Tylar?"

"Yes of course Trey."

"Let's get her dressed and take her to the nearest ER. She needs to be thoroughly examined by a pediatrician."

I nodded, tears flooding my eyes. It was like the dream I had had where I pummeled her bottom only when I looked in the mirror, I had seen the face of Maggie. Perhaps my dreams had been a premonition after all.

Trey returned to the living room to fill the detectives in on what we had discovered. One of them gave Trey directions to the nearest hospital and said he would meet us there. I carefully dressed Preston in her own clothing, putting her jacket and hat on to keep her warm in the cool October evening.

The pediatrician that examined Preston was extremely gentle with her. He talked to her as if she could understand everything he was saying though I think he did it for Trey and my benefit so we would know what he was checking for and how he needed to check for various injuries.

Blessedly she had no other bruises on her body with the exception of her bottom. He checked her arms and legs, hands and feet and there were no injuries or fractures. He checked her neck glands, ears and eyes. Her lungs were clear. Pictures were taken for evidence of her bruised behind.

The doctor diagnosed her as having a cold; contusions on the gluteus maximus and a yeast infection in her perineum area.

(Yeast infection!)

"How would she have gotten a yeast infection?" I asked.

"Both boy and girl babies can and do get yeast infections. There are several causes but the most likely one in this case is that the baby was not thoroughly cleaned up after a bowel movement or perhaps bathed in a tub that had fecal matter in it. If your daughter has extremely sensitive skin it could have been something as minor as being given a bubble bath or having perfumed soaps used on her."