Baby Love (Baby #2)(125)

"Oh I don't know sweetie. I think she was just a weird bird. Maybe she thought she would get into your father's good graces somehow and when you came into the picture she decided to move on to some other wealthy widower."

"Ewww, Trey. That is gross!"

"What's gross?"

"To think that my dad would ever, you know, do her? She's practically old enough to be his mother!



CHAPTER 50



The next morning I was surprised to see that Gina was still at the apartment. Tristan and she usually left before 10 a.m. to go to the club and tally the previous night's receipts; place their food and liquor orders and review schedules.

She was coming out of the kitchen with a glass of ginger ale looking tired and pale.

"What's wrong with you? You look like shit."

"Thank you Tylar. I appreciate your assessment."

"I'm sorry," I chuckled. "Hangover?"

"I wish," she said heading toward her room.

I followed her into the bedroom as she crawled up onto the bed and unceremoniously flopped back onto her pillow.

"I've been puking all morning."

(Holy shit! I didn't want what she had right before New Year's.)

Gina noticed that I had backed away from her wishing to keep my distance.

"No worries. I'm not contagious," she said.

"How do you know?"

"Cause this little thing told me," she said, reaching over to the nightstand and picking up an EPT stick.

I came closer looking at it and seeing the dark blue + sign in the results window. I quickly looked up at her in shock.

"Oh my God Gina! Please tell me that you’re happy about this!"

"I might be," she answered.

"What exactly do you mean by 'might be'?"

"I mean I definitely will be provided the baby is Tristan's."

"What?!"

"Don't go all 'east coast' on my Ty. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation."

"I'd like to hear it," I hissed.

I was angry with her.

"Okay," she said sitting up on the bed.

She pulled her legs up wrapping her arms around them.

"First of all if you are truly my BFF then you need to lose the accusatory attitude Tylar. Have I ever, ever done that with you? Well, except for the brief thirty seconds you had me believing that you had cheated on Trey, but that was it."

"I'm sorry Gina," I conceded, "Please tell me what happened."

"Remember that day that Tristan and I were to meet at my accountant's office and he was late because he had found out about Libby?"

"Yes."

"Well that was the day I was late in getting over here to stay with Preston while you went with Trey to Baton Rouge."

I nodded.

"You questioned me as to why I was late and I kind of blew it off with an excuse that I had to pack for my stay over here. It was the truth except for one thing. When I got back to my condo Ian was there. He still had his key and he was inside. He looked like hell. Just like Tristan did at our meeting."

She took a sip of her ginger ale before continuing.

"He told me that he needed to pick up his mail. He hadn’t put his address change in and really there was no reason for him to do so since he was getting the condo in the divorce. He followed me into the kitchen where I had his mail. The next thing I knew, he was right behind me. When I turned around in the kitchen he was there. We looked at each other for a few seconds. We were so close that I could smell his aftershave."

Gina started tearing up which was so unusual for her. She was definitely in hormone hell. I handed her a tissue from the nightstand.

"Go ahead Gina. It's alright. Tell me."

"I looked up into his eyes and they were warm and loving. They were like the Ian that I knew before he cheated. He looked at me and said, 'Damn.' He dropped his mail and picked me up into his arms. He carried me to the bedroom and made love to me. I knew it was the last time. I wanted closure on it. I know that sounds sick since he was the cheater, Ty, but legally he was still my husband. I'm sorry but I liked the idea that he was cheating on the skank with his wife for Chrissake. After it was over he told me that it hadn't changed anything; he still wanted to be with Shelly. I said 'no worries; I thanked him for the f*ck. That was that."

I took a few moments to digest what she had just told me.

"Gina," I said leaning forward, choosing my words carefully.

"Did you not use a condom?"

"Well f*cking pardon me Ty that I wasn't prepared. After all, Ian and I had been trying to get pregnant so I hadn't exactly stocked up on condoms. Besides that, I figured he was shooting blanks. He very well might be."

"I know that Gina but come on. He was f*cking someone you named 'the skank'. Certainly you must have been worried about sexually transmitted diseases if nothing else."

"Don't go there with me Tylar. Were you worried about STD's when Trey f*cked you in the horse barn with no protection?"

"That is different," I hissed.

"How is that different Ty? At that point you were certain he had f*cked Charlotte!"

I looked away from her. Of course she was right.