CHAPTER 23
It was Christmas Eve; Reese’s first Christmas, Preston’s second one. Our apartment was decorated with a tree and twinkling lights on the mantle with freshly cut evergreen branches. It was raining out. That was the only thing I missed about New Jersey: the many white Christmases we had there.
Tylar had spent the night last night. Our apartment was closer to the hospital. She stayed here on those nights that she didn’t stay with Trey at the hospital. She had showered changed and was getting ready to head out the door.
Tristan was changing Reese’s diaper; I was in the kitchen mixing up colored icing. I had baked three dozen Christmas cookies. Preston was pumped about helping me decorate them. She was kneeling on one of the kitchen chairs, eating an unfrosted cookie when Tylar poked her head in to tell us good-bye.
“You be a good girl for Aunt Gina and Uncle Tristan, okay Preston? You know Santa is coming tonight and you want to make sure that he knows you’ve been a good girl.”
“Uh huh, Mommy,” she said, nodding her head up and down.
“Tylar, can I talk to you for a second in the living room?”
“Sure Gina,” she said, “You stay here and finish your cookie, Preston.”
“Kay, Mommy.”
Tylar followed me out of the kitchen. I went over to stand by the Christmas tree to make sure that Preston didn’t hear me.
“Ty,” I whispered, “Why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s the first Christmas that Preston really understands and is excited about. Don’t you want to be here to see it?”
“Well of course I do, Gina. That’s not really the point, though.”
“Well what is the point then, Ty?”
“I need to be with Trey. Preston has you, and Tristan and Reese. I’ve wrapped all of her gifts from Santa. All you need to do is put them out under the tree.”
“It’s not about that, Ty. It’s about you being here with your daughter. Trey isn’t going to know whether you’re there or not; Preston will know that you’re not here though.”
“That was a low blow, Gina. First of all, you don’t know what Trey knows and what he doesn’t. Secondly, my first priority is to my husband. I believe it is something about ‘in sickness and in health? Oh, that’s right; you aren’t real familiar with that part of it, are you.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My voice was getting louder.
“What do you think it means, Gina?”
“I think, Ty, that you need to get your priorities straight.”
“Hey Gina, I do have my priorities straight; I don’t fucking need you to tell me what my priorities are anyway. I will make my priorities all by myself, thank you very much. It is really none of your fucking business, anyway.”
“I will damn well make it my business since Tristan and I--”
She was interrupted when Tristan came out, carrying Reese. Preston was standing in the doorway to the kitchen; our raised voices had brought her out.
“Gina, Tylar. That’s enough out of both of you. You’re upsetting the babies with this crap.”
Tylar turned from me, stopping to pick Preston up to give her a kiss. She then slammed out of the apartment. I watched as Preston’s little face scrunched up and tears rolled down her cheeks. She ran to the door after her mommy. I immediately went over and picked her up. She buried her face into my hair sobbing. I looked over at Tristan who graced me with one of his ‘Now see what you’ve done looks.’
I got Preston settled down and we decorated cookies for the next hour. She seemed to get into a better mood. Afterwards, we made sure we set a couple of the cookies on a plate and put it out on the coffee table for Santa. I placed a glass of milk next to it. I took her into the bathroom and gave her a bath; then dressed her in her pajamas.
She ran out to the living room to give Uncle Tristan a goodnight kiss. I tucked her into the bed in Reese’s room and told her to get to sleep quickly so that Santa would come. We said a prayer for her daddy like we always did.
When I got back to the living room, Tristan was giving Reese his bottle before bed. I was still a bit irate with Tristan. He always seemed to take Tylar’s side. I knew how ridiculous that sounded; she was my best friend. Why should there even be ‘sides’? I just felt at this point in time, Tylar needed to address the needs of Preston before Trey. Preston was cognizant of what was going on around her; Trey wasn’t.
I went into the kitchen and cleaned up all of the dishes and baking utensils from the cookies. When I came out, Tristan had a fire going in the fireplace; Reese was down for the night.
“Come here,” he said, patting the couch next to where he sat.
I went over and sat down next to him. He pulled me over to him.
“I understand where you are coming from Gina, believe me, I do. But you have to understand where I am coming from; Trey is my brother. Tylar is his wife. The fact that she has been at his side since this happened is, well to be honest, it’s what I would want you to do if I was the one lying there. Does that sound selfish?”
I looked up at him and I realized that he was suffering, too.
“No Tristan, that is not selfish and that is exactly where I would be. I’m not sure if I would be there day and night, though, I mean you wouldn’t want me to neglect Reese, right?”
“Of course not, Gina. But say it was me there; and say that Trey and Tylar were there for Reese, would that make a difference?”
“Yes, I guess it would,” I admitted. “But it is only one night, Tristan. It’s Christmas Eve and Preston is all excited about Santa Claus and I just thought Tylar would want to be there for her.”
“Babe - Preston is going to go crazy about Santa Claus bringing her gifts no matter what. We are her family; we are here with her. This could be Trey’s last Christmas. I think Tylar is dealing with that possibility as well.”
“What do you mean, Tristan? Trey is recovering, right?”
“Babe, if he doesn’t wake up there could be irreparable damages. Not only that, but the more he is inactive, the more chance there are for things like pneumonia to set in.”
I totally felt like a piece of shit.
“Tristan honey, I am so sorry. I guess I didn’t think of it that way. I feel like a shit.”
“You’re not a shit, baby. You’ve had a lot on your hands with all of this. You’ve been a mother to both Reese and Preston these past weeks, along with being the best damn wife to me. I have never been more in love with you, Gina.”
“Oh Tristan,” I sighed, lying against him. He held me and stroked me gently. I loved him so much.
“How much time do we have before Santa gets here?”
He glanced at his watch. “Quite a while,” he said.
“Let’s make good use of it then.”