Maybe Baby Lite (68 page)

Caroline finally sauntered
over to me and glanced at the ring, my hand still in Susan’s.
“Nice,” she commented, “a much bigger diamond than the one you gave
Tess.”

My head jerked up in
shock. Caroline’s taut countenance remained expressionless. I felt
Trey’s muscles tense at my side. Nigel ignored her comment, which
was probably the result of years of conditioning. He'd learned to
tune her out.

Tristan finally broke the
silence, “A much bigger diamond for a much greater love I think,
dear Caroline,” he commented, not taking his sharp green eyes off
of me.

I flushed nervously,
glancing up at Caroline who was downing her glass of wine,
impassive to his comment.

“
Nigel it appears we’ll be
uncles soon,” Tristan said, smiling at his older
brother.

“
Yes! How about that?
Congratulations to you both!” Nigel replied warmly.

“
Do you know whether it’s
a boy or a girl yet?” Caroline asked.

“
We decided to be
surprised,” Trey replied.

“
I think we’re all pretty
much
surprised
now,” Caroline commented, refilling her wine glass. “Don’t
they teach safe sex in fourth grade these days?” she said, catching
my eye.

“
Caroline,” Susan said,
her voice carrying a distinct warning, “please remember yourself
while you’re with us. This family is ecstatic about the arrival of
our first grandchild.”

Trey’s arm around me was
so tightly muscled that it made my shoulder ache. I looked up at
him and could tell he was seething. I placed my hand on his chest
and he lowered his gaze to me. I shook my head ‘no’ in an effort to
avoid further comments that would only escalate the
situation.

“
Have you picked out any
names?” Tristan asked, sipping his brandy.

Susan piped up, “Tylar are
you still going with ‘Jack’ and ‘Danielle’?”

Uh oh.

Tristan immediately made
the connection, a broad smile lighting across his handsome
features, revealing his dimple. Trey squirmed beside me
uncomfortably. Tristan was enjoying Trey’s discomfort.

“
We’re still kicking
various names around for now,” I lied.

“
Where are your people
from Tylar?” Caroline semi-slurred.

“
I’m from around
Louisville, Kentucky. I attended Virginia Intermont College here in
Bristol. Trey and I met this past summer when I worked for Sinclair
Stables,” I replied.

There—wanna make something
of it?

“
Another V.I.C. coed under
your belt so to speak, Trey,” she replied, not disguising the
smarminess in her voice.

Tristan interjected.
“Trey, how about you, Tylar, and I take a walk to the stables? I
understand you’ve been handling a lot of the buying and breeding
here. Father said you had a stellar season.”

I was relieved to have a
reason, any reason to get away from Caroline. “Trey,” I agreed,
“let’s get our jackets. I think a walk would be nice.” He nodded,
obviously still pissed about Caroline’s last comment.

Out in the barn, Trey
showed Tristan some of the warm bloods he'd purchased this summer.
I checked on Derringer, deciding to brush him in his stall. He
nuzzled my coat pockets, curious for carrots. The brothers came
over to Derringer’s stall.

“
Trey tells me you do
quite well with dressage, Tylar,” Tristan commented. “I’d enjoy
seeing your competition videos from this past season.”

“
I’m sure Dad has them in
the house somewhere,” Trey replied, pulling me close to him. He
looked proud of me and I liked that feeling.

“
Did Trey tell you I also
did pretty well quarter racing for Sinclair Stables?” I asked,
giving Trey a devilish smile.

“
No, he didn’t mention
that, which horse did you race?”

“
Jezebel, she’s stabled
over at the Belle,” I replied. “Yep, took a first place purse in a
feature race. I likely would’ve taken the bonus purse that night
until Jezebel was scratched.”

Tristan glanced at me and
saw that I was looking at Trey. He looked back and forth between
the two of us trying to figure out what he was missing. Trey
finally caved and blurted out his side of the story.

“
Tylar went against my
instructions. She was recovering from a concussion so I didn’t want
her handling the horses. So what does she do? She enters herself as
the jockey for Jezebel in the Kick-Off Season Stakes!”

“
So the doctor hadn’t
released you to ride, is that it?” Tristan asked me.

“
No,
Trey
hadn’t released me to ride,” I
clarified.

Tristan was laughing now,
looking at both of us, “And Trey had the horse scratched from the
race?”

“
Yes, we were already at
the starting gate. I was humiliated!”

“
Tylar,” he said, looking
at Trey affectionately, “I love my little brother, don’t get me
wrong, but he can be as stubborn and controlling as the day is
long. This I know. I could tell you some stories,” he laughed, eyes
sparkling with amusement.

“
Hey, I’ve got plenty of
stories I could tell on you,” Trey replied with a grin, jabbing his
finger at Tristan.

“
I already know the one
about Kate and ‘bumping uglies,’” I commented.

“
What?” Trey asked his
eyes wide with surprise.

“
Your mom and I had a nice
chat while we made cookies,” I giggled.

“
Oh God. I do remember
that,” Tristan replied. “Trey, I should’ve kicked your ass right
then and there.”

“
I don’t think it would’ve
been a fair fight, Tristan,” Trey laughed. “I was what, like maybe
eight at the time?”

“
Seriously though Trey,”
Tristan said, “Are you going to the party at the Andrews’ tomorrow
night?”

What party?

“
Sure,” Trey answered,
“why not?”

“
If you think Caroline was
a pill tonight, how do you think she’ll be when she has her
sidekick Tess beside her?”

Trey glanced over at me,
realizing that I was just hearing about this for the first time.
“Tylar, Dad said something about this to me today when we were out
cutting the tree. I meant to tell you. We’re all invited over to
the Andrews’ house tomorrow evening. Every year they have a
Christmas evening cocktail party for friends and
family.”

Oh that’s just flippin’
great!

“
Trey, you seriously want
to take me around Tess and
Landon?
”

“
What about Landon?”
Tristan asked.

Trey told Tristan about
Landon’s tactless comments during Thanksgiving, not mentioning the
part that he'd shared with me about the baby not being Trey’s. It
continued to bother me that Trey had never told his family the
truth.

“
I just don’t feel that
I'd be comfortable around them,” I commented.

“
Tylar, it’s important to
my parents and to me that we don’t shun the Andrews. I promise not
to leave your side, okay?”

“
I’ll have your back too,
sis,” Tristan joked.

I nodded, still
uncomfortable with the idea. I so wished that Gina was here. I
excused myself from Trey and Tristan and retreated to the opposite
end of the barn to dial Gina. We only talked briefly as Ian’s
family was there. She bitched about her mother-in-law; I complained
about my soon-to-be sister-in-law. I told Gina about my ring. She
asked me to take a picture of it and send it from my phone. I told
her that I would, wished her a good holiday, and hung up so I could
shoot a picture of my gorgeous ring. Moments after texting it to
her, I received a response.

“
Jesus Christ girl, what a
rock! That’s got to be 5 carats! The Hot Nazi has great taste. Tell
him Ian and I said ‘Merry Christmas.’ Love ya!”

By the time that Tristan,
Trey, and I returned to the house, Nigel and Caroline had retired
for the night. Tristan left us and went to visit with his parents
in the family room.

“
Trey,” I said, “can I
give you your Christmas presents up in our room?”

“
Why?” he asked,
puzzled.

“
I just don’t want any
rude comments from Caroline. She really makes me uncomfortable. I
wanted to get you so much more than I did and she will probably
make me feel bad in comparison to this exquisite ring that you gave
me.”

“
Whoa,” he interrupted me,
“first of all, that ring isn’t your Christmas present, okay? That’s
for our engagement. I have something else for you for
Christmas.”

“
Okay, now you’ve just
made me feel worse.”

“
Tylar,” he said, pulling
me to him, “you being with me, loving me, and carrying our child is
the best thing that anyone could ever give me. Don’t you understand
that?”

“
I guess,” I
relented.

“
No, there’s no guessing,
Tylar. You’re my life. I’ve never felt so connected with anyone
before. I love to think of the future that we’ll build together and
the children we’ll have. You’re the one that I’ll always love the
most. You’re the one who has my devotion. Got it?”

I nodded, tearing up
again. Trey could be so warm and passionate at times. He could not
only take my breath away with his touch, but also with his words.
We gathered our gifts out from under the tree and took them
upstairs to our suite. We sat cross-legged on the bed, tearing into
our presents. Trey had bought me a Baby’s First Year photo album
and an Atlas® dome watch in rose gold from Tiffany &
Co.

Trey gushed over
everything that I'd bought for him: the two CDs, the tie that
matched his eyes perfectly, the silver cuff links, and the new
Burberry wallet.

He reached under the bed
and retrieved a single box, handing it to me. I opened it and
pulled a manila envelope out. Inside the envelope there were
multiple legal-looking documents. The first was a deed to 10 acres
of land located in DeKalb County, Georgia. Accompanying it were
stunning photos of the property. Some of the acreage was partially
wooded, and it featured a running stream to a natural
pond.

“
It’s beautiful,” I
breathed, “What is all this? I don’t understand.”

“
I deeded this land to
you, Tylar. This is where we’ll build the house of your dreams.
This is where we’ll bring Derringer and any of the other horses you
may want to stable. We’ll have to build the stable first, of
course.”

“
Oh Trey,” I exclaimed,
launching myself into his lap, “this is too much don’t you
think?”

“
It’s exactly what we
discussed. It's how we want to raise our children, remember? I
figure we better get started building our home if it’ll be ready by
the time this baby’s walking, don’t you agree?”

“
This is incredible! I'm
so in love with you,” I exclaimed.

Together we looked at the
rest of the papers in the envelope. There was a packet of house
plans for country homes. Trey said to pick out a style that would
make me feel at home. I couldn’t wait to get started.

Standing up, Trey turned
on some holiday choral music, lowering the volume because of the
other guests staying down the hall. Then he ran a bubble bath for
us. I gratefully pulled off my stockings and selected some silky
pajamas from his massive closet. Trey had lit the candles and
placed them around the sunken, steaming bathtub. We discarded our
clothing and stepped into the suds.

Afterward, we toweled each
other off, his cock once again springing to attention as I patted
him dry. I noticed my belly was growing rounder; I was a little
more than four months pregnant; halfway there, I thought as I
climbed into bed. Trey slipped into his drawstring pajama bottoms
that hung low on his hips. He climbed into bed next to me, pulling
me to him.

“
Do you want to watch
anything, Tylar?”

“
No. I’m about 30 seconds
away from sleep. Put on anything you like, it won’t disturb me,” I
replied, yawning. Trey switched the station to a Christmas movie
with Jimmy Stewart, muting the sound.

“
How can you watch the
movie without sound?”

“
I’ve seen it a hundred
times,” he answered, “it’s a classic.” Trey was on his side next to
me, tracing his fingers on my silk top, playing with the buttons. I
felt the first one give way, then the next, and then the last one.
His hand slid inside, cupping my breasts, kneading them gently. I
had a feeling that sleep was no longer 30 seconds away. I turned to
him, watching him watch me.

He raised himself up,
hovering over me, lowering his lips to mine in a long, leisurely
kiss. I laced my arms around his neck, pulling his face closer,
answering his kiss with a passion of my own. I felt something deep
within me stir, making me hungry for him once again. His hands
expertly slid my silk top off and then moved down to my belly,
pulling at the waistband of the bottoms and sliding them down my
legs. His thumb hooked into the tops of my panties, pulling them
down and off.