Be My Baby (26 page)

"What?"

"Everything was in Matthew's name; the house
where Ms. Deeny lived, the bank accounts were all under the LLC.
The estate lawyer will be in touch with you."

"I don't understand - Karen Deeny was his
mother. Doesn't that take precedence over a half-niece as next of
kin?"

"Actually because the courts awarded custody
of Matthew to your grandfather, and your grandmother legally
adopted him as her son, the mother-son relationship between Ms.
Deeny and Matthew was legally severed. I'm sure she didn’t count on
that which is why we are having this conversation."

I waited for several moments as my father
chose his words carefully. Did he think I was in some sort of
danger?

"Tylar, there is no doubt in my mind that
Karen Deeny is a sociopath and potentially dangerous. While I don't
believe that she ever intended to cause physical harm to anyone the
situation has now changed. She is desperate and quite frankly, she
may be looking for some sort of vindication. I'm just asking you to
be vigilant until such time as we know whether she poses any threat
to you or Preston."

"If you meant to frighten me Dad, you have
just succeeded; first with Maggie; then with Matthew and now Ms.
Deeny? I just want out of this tangled nightmare. I don't want any
of Matthew's estate; I will simply refuse it."

"It's not that simple; refusing it wouldn't
make Ms. Deeny the beneficiary."

"Well then I'll just gift it to her or
something. How much money are we talking about, Dad?"

"The probate inventory lists it as more than
$1.5 million."

(Holy shit!)

"It's nothing you have to decide right now,"
he continued, "Probate doesn't move quickly but I wanted to make
you aware of it at any rate.

"I'll discuss it with Trey, Dad. Please
don't worry though?"

"I'm a father," he said with a shrug, "It's
what we do, I am learning."

When my father and I rejoined the family in
the great room, Landon and Caroline had arrived. All of the
grandbabies were in the room and seemed content being the center of
attention. My father went and sat next to Brenda who was holding
Preston again.

Trey had seen me enter the room and brought
me a glass of white wine.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, studying my
face.

"I hope so," I said. "We can talk about it
later."

Gina came over to us then, having imbibed a
few alcoholic beverages herself it seemed.

"Girlfriend - where the hell have you been
keeping yourself?" she asked giggling.

"Where's Tristan?" I asked, eyeing her
suspiciously.

"He's with Reece, Royce, Tess and Nigel,"
she replied, waving the glass of whatever alcoholic beverage it
contained over her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I asked watching her
closely.

"What? Oh - hell yes, I'm just fucking fine
and dandy," she replied almost slurring.

"Oh Christ," Trey mumbled as he took his
leave from both of us.

"Gina - what the hell is wrong with
you?"

The words had no longer left my lips when
Caroline sauntered over, a full glass of Merlot in her hands,
displaying the ever familiar drunken stagger. It was getting
old.

"Gina! Tylar!" she gushed, swaying. "Happy
Thanksgiving it is for all."

"You too, Caroline," I said. Gina merely
grunted.

"Well actually, Tylar - I guess it isn't so
much for you considering you lost a child."

I went numb. I couldn't believe that
Caroline, even in one of her drunken stupors, could be that
insensitive. I wanted to lash back at her with something nasty and
hurtful but I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and I stood
silently by letting the hurt sink in deeper.

Gina started to say something on my behalf
but I shook my head at her. I was not going to be the cause of
another family scene. Caroline had turned her attention to Gina
now.

"But for you Gina, well I guess you have had
a double blessing," Caroline slurred. I could feel Trey at my side
now, ever vigilant where Caroline and I were concerned.

"What do you mean?" Gina asked, her tone was
pure 'no nonsense'.

"Well," she giggled, "You have been blessed
with Reece and now his half-brother Royce. They could pass for
identical twins. I guess we know who has the fastest little
swimmers now, don't we Trey?" Caroline gave Trey a wink.

"You obnoxious bitch!"

In a flash, I saw Gina toss her drink into
Caroline's face, drenching her. Caroline stumbled backward a few
steps and then gained her balance and tossed her glass of merlot at
Gina.

(Holy shit!)

Trey pulled me aside just as Gina launched
herself at Caroline.

I heard Caroline's screech as she hit the
floor; her empty wine glass was still in her hand. The sound of
Caroline hitting the floor and the glass shattering next to her was
enough to bring Tristan to the forefront. By this time Gina was on
top of her, slapping her face with the open palm of her hand.
Caroline's head rolled back and forth with each slap.

"Gina, for Chrissake!"

Tristan lifted Gina off of Caroline with one
arm, placing her out of reach. Landon was there now, pulling
Caroline up from the floor. Caroline was whining and sputtering
incoherently.

"I'm sick and tired of that bitch spewing
hatefulness at everyone, Tristan. Someone needs to kick her
ass!"

Gina was straining against Tristan's strong
hold on her.

"Calm down, Gina. Let me get you upstairs
and cleaned up."

Tristan led Gina who was covered with red
merlot wine out of the room towards the stairs. She was still going
off about Caroline to him. He was trying to soothe her anger with
his soft, reasonable voice.

Landon had Caroline by the arm, asking
Thatcher to fetch their coats so that they could depart. I breathed
a sigh of relief that they were leaving. I turned my attention to
Trey.

"I am not attending any further family
functions where Caroline is invited. Do you want to tell your
mother or shall I?"

"I'll handle it," he said, pulling me
against him as we made our way over to where my father and Brenda
were playing with Preston. We spent the rest of what remained an
uneventful evening in their company. My father was leaving the
following morning for Baton Rouge. I told him that I would see him
at Christmas. He hugged me tightly and said he would be in touch
after Trey and I returned from our cruise. He made me promise that
I would try my best to relax and put everything else out of my mind
during our trip. Despite the fact that I was still trying to digest
the latest information he had shared with me, I promised him that I
would.

CHAPTER 20

Trey and I left on our cruise the Monday
after Thanksgiving. We had arranged a schedule for Preston who
would be spending some time with Gina and Reese. Jean was going to
take a few days off to visit her daughter.

Gina had insisted on taking me shopping for
'cruise wear' which I discovered consisted of buying five different
bikinis; an assortment of cover-ups, silk nighties, provocative
cocktail dresses with several different pairs of 'fuck me' heels
and sandals. I had to beg her to let me buy some shorts and capri
pants with regular cotton tees.

"For Chrissake Ty - Trey sees you in that
shit all of the time. This is supposed to be a sexy and romantic
excursion for you two."

"I know Gina, but I want to be comfortable
too, you know? I mean we aren't going to be in the stateroom
humping like rabbits the whole time."

"I should think not," she replied, rolling
her eyes, "When you go ashore you need to shop, of course."

I had shared with Gina a portion of the
information my dad had given me on Thanksgiving.

"Say no more Ty; I know the drill. I will
keep a vigilant eye on her at all times. Tristan will as well. No
need for worry, got it?"

"Thanks Gina," I said giving her a smile,
"And for the record, I personally loved it when you whipped
Caroline's skinny ass."

We had both dissolved into a fit of giggles
over that one. Tristan hadn't been mad at Gina at all. She told me
that he told her it was about time someone had put the skinny bitch
in her place. He said he was glad that she had been the one to do
it.

Trey and I had taken a flight from Atlanta
to New Orleans which was the port of departure for our cruise ship.
Our stateroom was lovely. We had a bedroom, sitting room and a
balcony that looked out over the common area where one of the
swimming pools was located. Our bathroom was elegant with a heart
shaped Jacuzzi tub. I had filled Trey in on the way home from
Bristol about the news my father had given me. Like my dad, he
insisted I put all fear and worries aside; there was likely nothing
to worry about anyway he had insisted.

Our ship had departed on time and we would
be on the water for two days until we hit the port of Montego Bay,
Jamaica. We would have one day and one night there before the ship
departed for Grand Cayman.

The salt air felt fresh and soothing to my
face. I had put on one of the skimpy bikinis that Gina had insisted
was made for me. I was stretched out on a sun lounge on the deck
below our stateroom. I had downloaded some books onto my I-Pad and
was reading a very delicious chick-lit novel at the moment.

Trey was supposed to be changing and joining
me on the empty sun chair next to me but that had been more than
thirty minutes ago. Where the hell was he?

There were only three other couples on the
deck around this pool. We had booked our suite on one of the
semi-private decks. There were a total of 10 suites that shared
this particular common area which consisted of the pool, hot-tub
Jacuzzi, and sauna room. There was a Tiki bar between our common
area and the adjoining one that was shared. There were tables with
beach umbrellas placed under the winding wrought-iron circular
staircases that led up to the private balcony for each suite.

I perched my sunglasses on top of my head
leaning over to grab the bottle of sunscreen on the table next to
me. I poured a few drops onto my fingers and massaged it over my
nose and forehead. I saw Trey as he approached now; he was wearing
a definite scowl on his face. What the hell could have pissed him
off in the last half hour?

"Hey baby," I greeted him, "I've missed
you."

He took his place on the lounge next to me,
tugging his shirt up over his head. I admired his gorgeous pects
and firm, flat belly.

"Sorry honey," he said, putting his Ray bans
on and settling back against the chair. "I was trying to sign onto
to my laptop and experienced some technical difficulties."

"Trey - I thought we agreed this was not to
be a 'working' vacation?"

"I wasn't really going to be working," he
explained, "I just wanted to pull up some files to review on a case
coming up that I'm working on with Pierce."

"Hmm. Sounds like work to me."

I rolled over onto my stomach and reached
back untying the string on my top so I would avoid having tan lines
on my back. One of the cocktail dresses I brought was backless.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get a bit of a tan."

"I can
see
that," he replied, irritated,
"How do you intend to get your top fastened back before you roll
over?"

"I'll manage."

"You will likely manage to give everyone
else out here a show," he admonished. "This is not a private
deck."

"Trey - if you are going to be snippy with
me why don't you go back inside and do some work?"

"I am not being snippy, Tylar, I would just
prefer that the other men out here not get a glimpse of my wife's
naked breasts."

I raised my sunglasses up to peer over at
him. He definitely had a pout thing going on. I decided it was more
than simply his concern about my bikini top not getting fastened up
properly before I rolled back over.

"What is it, Trey?"

He looked over at me from behind his
sunglasses which shielded my ability to see his eyes and properly
assess his mood.

"Someone changed the password on my
computer. I can't get into any of my files, or even into my
email."

"What?" I immediately sat up to look at him
and my top stayed put on the lounge.

"Jesus Christ, Tylar," he hissed, jumping up
and grabbing his tee shirt and tossing it to me. "Cover yourself
up. I knew this would happen."

I pulled the tee shirt on over my head
glancing around to see a couple of the guys across the pool
gawking.

"Are you happy?"

"Oh whatever," I replied, turning my
attention back to my husband. "Why would someone change your
password?"

"Probably to fuck with me."

"Amber?"

"That would be my guess though I could never
prove it since everyone at the firm knew of my generic passwords.
It's my own damn fault."

"Trey please, honey? Let's not let it ruin
our vacation."

"I'm sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have even
brought it up. Here, let me help you fasten your top back on and
let's get into the pool."

Trey and I swam for awhile in the crystal
clear pool. We sat back on our lounges and sipped margaritas in the
sun. It was a gloriously beautiful afternoon. We rubbed sunscreen
on each other. I read some of the more steamy parts of my novel to
him. He seemed genuinely interested in the book which surprised me
until I noticed his erection.

"Really, Trey?"

"Christ Tylar," he said with a laugh, "I'm a
man aren't I? That book leaves little to the imagination. What do
you expect?"