CHAPTER 45
The ride back to Baton Rouge was a very quiet one. Preston was sleeping soundly in her car seat. I was lost in thought about all we had learned from Trinity today. I suspected my father was as well.
Shortly after the botched attempt by my mother and Maggie to leave New Orleans and return to Mississippi, Trinity had moved to Vidalia. She had preferred the quiet life of a small town to the crowded, noisy life in New Orleans. Around the same time, Matthew had moved to Baton Rouge with my mother, Maggie and me. This had allowed my mother to stay in touch with Trinity. My mother had done just that.
Trinity said it hadn't been more than a month since they had moved to Baton Rouge when my mother had shown up at her apartment in Vidalia. She had taken a bus from Baton Rouge. Trinity had been concerned because my mother had not brought me with her. She had questioned my mother about it.
My mother had told her that she had been really sick; that she had to stop breast-feeding me because it had been making me sick. I had started vomiting after nursing. She had put me on formula and left me with Maggie while she came to Trinity for help.
Trinity said that my mother had looked deathly ill. She had put some various herbs and roots together in a mixture instructing my mother to mix it with boiled water and drink the concoction several times a day. She said it would flush her system of whatever virus or infection she had going. My mother had given Trinity the envelope asking her to keep it in case Maggie ever came to her. She wouldn't tell Trinity anything further.
It was barely a week later that my mother had again shown up at Trinity's. This time she had me with her.
Trinity said she looked worse than before. She was having trouble breathing and complained of hallucinations.
She asked Trinity if we could stay with her. She had told Trinity that she suspected someone was trying to kill her. Trinity said that my mother's behavior had been very erratic. She had rambled incoherently at times; but handed Trinity a locked metal box and made her promise that if anything happened to her she would place the box inside her casket hidden underneath the blanket where no one would see it. Trinity promised her she would.
My mother had also given Trinity the caul that she had preserved. She asked her to make sure that it was placed in the casket as well. She said that my mother had said she wanted something of me with her for eternity.
Trinity told my mother she was taking her to a doctor she knew in nearby town the following morning. My mother had told her it was too late. She just wanted to go to sleep.
During the middle of the night Matthew had come to Vidalia and was beating on the door of Trinity's apartment. He claimed that my mother had been using drugs and that he was there to take her back to Baton Rouge for treatment. Trinity had told him that she felt my mother was ill and needed to go to a hospital first for a full assessment. She told Matthew she had planned to take my mother to her doctor that morning. Matthew had told her to keep out of it; it was family business and she was not family.
He had then pushed past Trinity. He went to the bedroom where my mother and I were sleeping. My mother was dead. I was still cradled within her cold arms.
Trinity had made it a point to travel to Mississippi prior to my mother's burial. She arrived at the funeral parlor early that morning asking to see my mother. There was no visitation or funeral scheduled; only a graveside service. She had quizzed the mortician at great length about the embalming.
She explained she was my mother's best friend and insisted they open the casket for her to view my mother.
When they finally opened the casket she said that they had done a magnificent job with her. The mortician had commented to Trinity that he had cried while preparing her for entombment. He said that something was not right. He told her maybe someday someone would want answers. He assured her that my mother's body was well preserved. He then left her alone to say goodbye to her dearest friend.
Trinity had then carried out her promise to my mother. She placed the caul on her pillow and the metal box down underneath the satin coverlet at her feet.
My mother had been entombed in the family crypt at a cemetery in Braxton, Mississippi.
The silence of our ride back to Baton Rouge was broken when my father spoke for the first time since we had gotten into the limo.
"I can order an exhumation Tylar. It is what needs to be done. You do realize that don't you?"
"Will it be done for the purpose of opening the metal box?" I asked.
"Not entirely," he answered.
I looked over at him as he continued.
"The metal box might very well contain evidence that will help convict Matthew but we also need forensic evidence. That type of evidence can only be gathered by having a forensic autopsy conducted."
"Can they do that after all of this time?" I asked, astonished somewhat at the thought of it.
"Yes. Modern embalming methods and advances in forensic technology can help prove the exact cause of her death even after all of this time. I want your approval though. You are her next of kin."
"You have it Dad," I replied, though I knew that in his judicial capacity he could have ordered it without my consent.
By the time we reached my father's estate Trey had arrived. I saw coming down the stairway as we came into the entrance hall. I flew into his arms. Dad carried a sleepy Preston up from the limo. I took her from him and headed upstairs to our suite. Trey stayed downstairs talking with my father presumably about what we had learned on our trip to Vidalia.
I changed Preston's diaper and stretched out on the bed with her so that she could nurse comfortably. Trey joined me in the suite several minutes later. He sat down on the bed next to us.
"You've had quite a day it seems," he remarked.
I nodded not trusting myself to speak for fear I would burst into tears at any moment.
"You know sweetie, it is okay to feel emotional about this. You learned some very disturbing things today. That is why I am here with you now. You don't have to go through this alone."
"I know Trey," I sobbed. "I just don't want to think about what my mother endured because of me."
"She loved you sweetie. Would you have done any less for Preston?"
I looked down at my baby who had fallen asleep cuddled against me. Trey lifted her from me and carried her into the adjoining nursery. He placed her in the crib.
He rejoined me on the bed, pulling me into his lap. He rested his chin on the top of my head; his strong arms were wrapped tightly around me
"Tell me what you're feeling baby?"
"I feel so many things I guess. I feel sadness for the loss of my mother; I feel anger that Maggie didn't do the one simple thing that my mother had asked her to do."
"Anything else?"
Trey knew me so well.
"Okay yes, there is something else. I feel sort of angry with my father. Why in the hell didn't he check on her after he walked out? If he loved her why didn't he see that she was protected? My God, he knew the type of man Matthew was at that point."
"Aren't you a bit angry with your mother?" he asked quietly.
"Why would I be mad at her? She was the victim in all of this. I have no right to be angry with her."
The tears started rolling down my cheeks as I continued to deny any anger towards my mother.
"Tylar you have a right to feel however you feel. Feelings are not right or wrong - they are what they are."
He was rocking me gently back and forth in his arms. I knew that he understood me totally and how I rolled. I couldn't deny those feelings to him any more than I could deny them to myself.
"Okay yes then. I do feel angry with her. Why didn't she go to my father? She would be alive today if she had done that. I just don't get it. She died and left me with Maggie. It was wrong."
Trey lifted me up and turned me around to face him. He gently brushed my tears away with his thumbs. He leaned over and kissed my cheeks and my nose. I looked up at him and realized that whatever pain and suffering I had endured along the way to finding him had been worth it. How could I be mad at anyone for that?
He tilted my chin upward and kissed me warmly on my lips. I laced my arms around his neck and kissed him back loving the taste and feel of him.
We nestled under the covers of the bed tossing our clothes to the floor. Trey made love to me slowly and sweetly in my father's house.
I awoke from my nap feeling Trey's arm wrapped around me and feeling someone's eyes on me.
It was Ms. Deeny. She was standing at the foot of the bed watching us. I had no clue as to how long she had been there. She gave a slight smirk as she saw me looking at her.
"The judge sent me up to see if you and Mr. Sinclair will be joining him for dinner. It's in ten minutes," she said turning to leave.
"Oh I took the liberty of caring for your baby while you and Mr. Sinclair . . . slept."
She was out the door. I threw the covers back rousting Trey. He had napped through the one-way conversation that had just taken place.
"That gnarled up old bitch," I hissed.
"Who?"
"Ms. Deeny, my dad's head of staff. She was just in here watching us."
Trey was up and out of bed now putting his clothes back on. I headed into the bathroom to freshen up.
"What the hell? Are you talking about that short lady with the long nose?"
"Yes and apparently that long nose serves her nosiness well. She totally gives me the creeps. I hate the thought that she took Preston out of the nursery."
"What?"
"Yeah that's what she said. Let's hurry up and get downstairs for dinner. I don't like the idea of her being near the baby."
"Tylar your dad wouldn't let anything happen to Preston. My God he is totally infatuated with her."
When we got downstairs Preston was playing happily on a blanket on the floor with a multitude of toys strewn about. My father was on his phone with someone. She crawled over to Trey as soon as she saw him.
"Da-da," she said tugging at his pant leg.
"Yes sweetie," he laughed, scooping her up and kissing her cheek.
"Da-da has missed you."
She snuggled up in his arms resting her head against his broad shoulder. How perfect they looked together. I looked at my father as he continued talking in hushed tones to someone on the phone. He was a handsome man as well. I wondered what it would have been like growing up here with him.
He ended his phone call and stood up walking towards us.
"Dinner is being served now. Tylar I hope you don't mind but I fed Preston some of the pureed food you brought along. She is very fond of the green beans I discovered."
Uh oh. I hope he didn’t give her the whole jar!
"Yes dad, that's fine. What did you give her with the green beans?"
"Well I had some of that pureed chicken but she clamped her mouth shut when I offered that to her. She wanted nothing but those green beans. She finished off the whole jar," he replied chuckling.
Trey and I exchanged glances. My father looked from one of us to the other.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.
"Your honor, I think you will be assigned diaper dirty for this evening."
We both snickered leaving Dad perplexed.
Trey put Preston in her high chair and she was given a graham cracker and some sliced banana. She was getting pretty good with finger foods.
Trey held my chair out for me as if he did this all of the time. He noted my look of surprise and gave me a dimpled grin.
My father told us during dinner that he had been in touch with the state officials in Mississippi as well as some judges he knew in that particular circuit court. He was expecting things to move quickly.
Towards the end of the meal Ms. Deeny appeared in the formal dining room informing my father that an important call had come in from Judge Westfield out of Jackson, Mississippi.
My father excused himself immediately to take the call. Ms. Deeny lingered in the dining room. She asked Trey if he needed anything else.
Midget bitch!
She took one of the cloth napkins and started wiping Preston's face that was now smeared with mushed banana and soggy graham cracker crumbs.
Preston didn't like her touch. She turned her head away and started fussing.
"I can clean her up later Ms. Deeny," I said.
"No worries," she replied continuing to wipe at Preston's face. She clearly ignored the fact that it was pissing my baby off royally.
"There now," she said stepping back. "That is so much better isn't it little Preston?"
Preston clutched another banana slice and pressed it up to her mouth ignoring the woman.
My father came back into the room and thankfully Ms. Deeny took leave carrying some of the dirty dishes to the kitchen.
"The order of exhumation has been signed by Judge Westfield. It is scheduled for 1:00 pm tomorrow afternoon," he announced.
From the kitchen we heard the sound of shattering
china as it hit the floor.