Preston smiled up at me holding her arms up for me to take her.
'Num-num' time," Gina said, disposing of the dirty diaper. "Can't help her out there."
I took Preston to our room and climbed on top of our bed. I raised my shirt up giving her access as she snuggled up against me. I picked up the remote and turned the flat screen on finding a music station.
Trey came into our room about twenty minutes later. His cheeks were rosy pink from being out in the cold. He looked so handsome.
"Hey baby," he said coming over to sit on the bed.
Preston disengaged herself from me hearing his voice. She crawled over to him saying 'da-da.' He picked her up and kissed her cheeks. He then leaned over giving me a kiss on the lips. Ever since I had rescinded my objection to Trey's decision to help Nigel and Tess, we had been closer than ever.
I had totally stopped using my diaphragm unbeknownst to Trey. I had known that he would have no objection to that but I feared he would see it as me trying to compete to get pregnant before Tess. Maybe that was close to the truth. I had read in a magazine once that having sex too often could lower a man's sperm count. I had been wearing Trey's ass out in bed. That had not gone unnoticed by him however.
"Baby," he had said late one night after I had awoken him for another round, "Why the 'fuckathon 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 fucking 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 fucking 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 fucking 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.
Gina and Tristan were cleaning up the kitchen and Trey was in the living room when I went back out after putting Preston to bed.
Trey was on the couch with his I-Pad. I went over and sat next to him. I fully intended to schedule a fuckfest with him later. He smiled as I cuddled up to him on the couch.
"Is Preston asleep?" he asked.
"Yep she's all tucked in for the night. I think I'm going to get a shower and get ready for bed since I have that early flight in the morning."
"Okay baby," he said, "I won't be far behind you."
"Good," I said to him, kissing his ear softly, then lightly tracing it with my tongue.
"Don't keep me waiting too long, okay?"
Just then Gina barreled out of the kitchen, through the living room and down the hallway. I heard the door to their room slam.
(Damn! She better not wake the baby!)
Tristan came out of the kitchen wearing a sheepish look as Trey and I both watched him hoping to find out what the hell was going on.
"Is everything okay, bro?" Trey asked him.
"Yeah. Gina's just been a bit put out because of my lack of attention to her lately if you know what I mean."
I knew what he meant but it was clear that Trey didn't have a clue. Tristan could read the fact that Trey was clueless.
"After tomorrow it won't be an issue," Tristan said with a shrug. "Everything will be back to normal between us."
"What in the hell are you talking about Tristan?" Trey blurted out.
(Uh oh.)
Tristan acted halfway embarrassed to explain it to Trey while I was sitting there.
"You know. We have that appointment tomorrow and once that is over with Gina and I can resume our . . . sexual relations."
"Wait a minute. Do you mean that you have been abstaining from sex for this?"
Trey was mortified I could tell; I acted mortified as well, looking at Tristan as if I needed him to clue me in too.
"Not exactly total abstinence but yeah, I've had to cut back on the frequency to keep my swimmers in top notch shape."
"Your swimmers?"
"Oh for Chrissake Trey, didn't you ever take Biology? Frequent sex - ejaculation if you want me to be technical about it lowers the sperm count."
"Really?" I asked feigning surprise.
(I had a feeling I was not going to get lucky tonight.)
I looked over at Trey and saw immediately that he was not fooled. I couldn't tell if he was pissed or not.
"Well listen; I've got to get my shower. See you when I get back Tristan."
"Good night Tylar," he called after me, "Have a safe trip."
CHAPTER 55
I had showered and gotten into my pajamas. I crawled beneath the covers of our bed fairly certain that Trey if not angry was at the very least not pleased with me. The sooner this day was behind me the better.
I fell asleep quickly not anxious to find out whether Trey was pissed or merely not pleased. I had a big day tomorrow; so did Trey for that matter.
Trey made sure that when he came to bed later I was made aware of it. He switched the over head bedroom light on first of all; then spent an inordinate amount of time digging around in his closet for clean sweats. He showered with the bathroom door open; and made sure that he let the toilet lid slam down before flushing the toilet.
Once he climbed into bed he pulled me over against his warm, still damp body.
"Are you awake, Tylar?" he whispered loudly.
"Of course not Trey," I said.
"I just wanted to let you know that I can drive you to the airfield tomorrow for your flight."
"Okay thanks honey," I replied rolling over to face him.
"Are you mad at me?" I asked him watching his face which seemed impassive.
"Mad is not the word," he said. "I guess I'm just wondering why you pretended to be alright with this when clearly you're not."
"I am okay with it Trey, I swear that I am. I guess I was just trying to give Tristan a little bit of an edge on account of his age and all."
"Yeah right," he said, kissing my face gently.
"You know that I love you and only you Tylar."