Tristan Trilogy- Story 3

CHAPTER 12

Brian and Leighanne had decided to have a cook out on Saturday night. This was a spontaneous event, having only been decided the day before. The group hadn't gotten together socially since the infamous 'tubesteak' dinner at Kevin and Tristan's and although they would be together the next night at Jive's soiree, this was to be strictly casual and fun. Brian and Howie had ended their promotional duties on Thursday leaving Nick to finish up. They would all see him at the party on Sunday.

As Tristan and Kevin were preparing to leave for Brian's, Kevin found himself in the middle of previously uncharted waters. It had started with a simple and innocent question.

"Have you decided what you're going to wear tomorrow night, Tris?"

Tristan had been thinking about this and had decided to wear the little black dress that Kevin had made such a fuss over in February. It was sexy and elegant - perfect for this type of event. She was exited about the prospect of a fancy evening out and wanted to look good. Although she was not vain, she knew that the time would be coming when she would have to forego those types of clothes for awhile. She hadn't realized that the time had already come. Most of the clothes she wore from day to day were casual and loose fitting. They were still comfortable. She was just coming up on her third month and hadn't had to buy any maternity clothes yet. The only apparel that she had noticed any real difference in were her bras and even then, she had convinced herself that maybe she was imagining things. Tristan's comfortable state of denial was about to be destroyed by a well-intentioned Kevin.

Tristan was standing in front of the mirror, brushing her hair when Kevin asked his question. She was wearing a short, print sundress with spaghetti straps and a laced up bodice. She looked fresh, young and beautiful.

"I thought I'd wear the black dress that you bought for me - the one you like so much."

Tristan smiled as she fastened a clip in her hair. She heard Kevin chuckle and turned to see what was funny. He was slipping his belt through the loops on his shorts when he made his two-word comment.

"Yeah, right…" he smirked.

Tristan didn't understand. From what she'd been told, the dress would be perfect for this event. Maybe she'd misunderstood.

"What's wrong with it? Do I need to wear something more formal?"

"No, baby…" Kevin replied matter-of-factly. "I think you might need to wear something more roomy…" He fastened his belt buckle, unaware that his remark had hit a very big nerve.

Tristan's eyes narrowed and she glared at Kevin with a force that compelled him to glance in her direction.

"What?" He knew from the way she was looking at him that he must have fucked something up in the last few minutes, but he honestly didn't know what.

Tristan had crossed her arms and was tapping her foot. She moved her eyes away from him and made an effort to speak calmly.

"So…you think I've gotten fat…"

Uh-oh… Back up, back up…..

"Baby…" Kevin said as he stepped over to her. He put his hand on her belly and smiled tenderly. "You're supposed to get fat…"

Tristan jerked herself away, more hurt than angry. Buried insecurities resurfaced and she suddenly felt like a cow.

"I'm not supposed to get fat, Kevin! Bigger, maybe, but not fat! I haven't gained that much weight!"

She spun around and appraised herself in the mirror. She pressed her chin down against her neck, checking for the signs of a double chin. Then she turned and tried to evaluate her backside. Kevin, judging that he may have committed the unpardonable sin, tried to make amends.

"I think you look good, darlin'. I really do. You look…healthy! You don't have to wear that skimpy dress…"

"I want to wear that dress, Kevin!" Tristan growled. "You're the one who picked it out for me! I am going to wear it! Let's just see how fat…oh, I mean healthy… I am!"

Tristan marched into the closet and slammed the door behind her, bound and determined that she was going to wear her slinky, black dress to the party. After a few seconds, the door cracked and Tristan's sundress came flying past Kevin and onto the bed. A minute after that, Tristan started speaking through the closed door.

"Well, Kevin… your 'fat' wife managed to get the zipper up without too much of a problem. Let's just see what kind of porker you're married to…"

"Tris… Jesus…" Kevin groaned in protest.

The closet door opened and Tristan stood, looking somewhat triumphant. Kevin's eyes widened and he swallowed. This was not going to be good. Tristan's body was changing, but only in two areas. The tight dress only accentuated those natural shifts and the fact that she was slender and small boned added to the problem. Tristan was anything but 'fat'. In fact, despite the couple of pounds she had gained, she was still a little underweight.

If the truth be known, Kevin liked these changes in Tristan. Not only were they a reminder that he would soon have the children he wanted so badly but on a very primitive level, they reinforced and stroked his male ego. Ugh. See my woman big with child. I put child in her belly. Me MAN. Me STRONG - make babies. Me VIRILE. She was a living, breathing testament to his masculinity. Kevin thought Tristan looked beautiful, but he had used the 'f' word and that one little word had the power to destroy self-confidence and esteem almost more than any other, particularly if applied to a highly sensitive, hormone driven, pregnant female.

Tristan marched over to the mirror and stood, gazing at her reflection. Her previously self-satisfied expression soon turned to blankness. The tight, little dress stretched across her abdomen and the fabric seemed to wrap itself around the slight rise on her tummy. The bodice of the dress, however, was more shocking. The dress had been designed to accentuate cleavage but Tristan's already ample breasts had swollen in the last few weeks and now the dress seemed to push her cleavage almost to her neck. He breasts resembled milky colored balloons. Kevin waited for her to speak. She didn't. Her chin trembled as she blinked in surprise and then she turned and marched herself into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Fuck… After a minute, the door opened and Tristan came out wearing a bathrobe. She blew past Kevin to the bedroom door.

"Where are you going, baby?" Kevin called after her.

"I'm thirsty…" she answered tonelessly.

"Don't you think you'd better get dressed, darlin'? We have to get to Brian's. I'm bringing the beer…"

"You go on, then." She answered. "I'll be along in a few minutes."

"I'll wait for…."

"Please!" Tristan interrupted. "I said that I’ll be along! Brian lives less than a mile away and I think I can manage to get there!"

With that, she stomped down the stairs, leaving Kevin standing alone in their bedroom. He stood for a moment before going into the bathroom to turn off the light. As he turned to leave, he spotted the dress. Tristan had thrown it into the trashcan by the sink.

Kevin sighed as he bent down and picked up the piece of black silk that Tristan had thrown away. He had been warned that she might be emotional and sensitive for several weeks until her body chemistry leveled off. Her self-deprecating frame of mind would pass, but it would pass more slowly because this episode wasn’t self-induced. It was Kevin-induced. He had given a politically incorrect name to her physical changes. Kevin didn’t want to leave without her but he didn’t want her to think that he thought she was helpless, either. He left for Brian’s alone after eliciting a promise from her that she would follow shortly.

*****************

Howie, his date, Brian, Leighanne, AJ, Amanda and Mason were sitting around a large table under a spreading live oak when Kevin came walking across the patio carrying a mid-sized cooler full of beer. He had left two more cases under the protection of Jack who was inside making phone calls when Kevin arrived.

"Damn!" AJ griped. "Finally, Kev! I told Brian not to trust you with the beer. I don't know if I would trust you with after-dinner coffee! Buy yourself a Timex, man…"

"Shut-up, J. It's here and you haven't died waiting."

Kevin opened the cooler and started passing bottles around the table. His expression was definitely on the sour side.

"Where's Precious?" Mason piped up, craning his neck towards the back of the house. "We picked out the most adorable little dress after her appointment yesterday! I want to see how it looks with those sandals she bought.. Shoot, I'm going in there to get her…"

Kevin took a long swallow of beer, not speaking until Mason rose from his seat to go find Tristan. "Don't bother yourself, Mason. She's not here."

"What do you mean?" Amanda pushed. "Where is she? Is she sick or something? Isn't she coming?" Kevin looked around the table as seven pairs of eyes looked at him waiting for a response. He squirmed in his seat and cleared his throat.

"Uh-oh…" Leighanne murmured, catching Kevin's body language. "Y'all had a fight…"

"No, we didn't!" Kevin growled, looking around the table. He could tell from the faces and the silence that no one believed him. "At least, I don't think we did." Kevin looked past the faces and a frown crept across his face. Then he shook his head. "Hell, I don't know what we had…"

Mason's eyes narrowed as he glared across the table at Kevin.

"What did you do to her?" He asked accusingly.

"Christ!" Kevin shouted defensively as he slammed his bottle down on the table. "Why do you assume I did something?" Again Kevin was met with a loud silence. "Look, she promised she'd be coming right over. All I did was ask her what she was going to wear to the party tomorrow night! She's just…sensitive right now…"

Kevin squirmed again while everyone else sat as if they were waiting for elaboration. Kevin had said all he was going to say. Then AJ started chuckling. He had already connected the dots between Kevin's brief comments and defensiveness. Pair that with the fact that Tristan had chosen not to come with him and she was three months pregnant. AJ was ready to make an arrest based on the evidence set before him.

"Awww, man…. Please tell me you didn't say anything about her getting fat…"

Kevin could almost hear a collective gasp.

"No…" Leighanne said shaking her head. "Kevin would never say something like that… Would you Kevin?"

Kevin could feel his face getting warm and decided that changing the subject would be a good idea.

"So.." he smiled, "…are we set for Stockholm? Max is going to be there, right?"

"Did you call Tristan the 'f' word?" Brian asked.

"Jesus Christ!" Kevin shouted and threw his empty bottle into the pool. They all turned to watch it splash and then their faces returned to Kevin. They weren't about to let go. "She said that she wanted to wear this little black dress and I said that it might not fit anymore and she got irritated and put it on anyway and it was too small and she got upset. That's all! She'll get over it! She is pregnant, for God's sake!"

"Did you, at any time during the course of this event, use the word 'fat'?" AJ asked, leaning onto the table and locking eyes with the accused.

"I'm not on trial here, AJ! You sound like you're on Perry Mason or something!"

"Answer the question, please, Mr. Richardson…" AJ insisted.

Kevin sighed, defeated. "I may gave used that word." he mumbled.

"Guilty, man…." AJ laughed. "Case closed."

Mason caught a glimmer of movement at the patio door.

"She's here…" he whispered. "Act natural…"

Tristan was greeted with a flurry of 'hello's', 'how 'ya doings' and 'looking goods'. It did not go unnoticed by anyone there that Tristan was not wearing the sundress that Mason had told them about. She had on an ankle length cotton skirt and a long sleeved tee shirt. In Florida. In July. Kevin slid over on the bench he was occupying in order to make room for his wife but she bypassed him, remarking that 'she didn't want to crowd him' and, instead, took an empty seat between Brian and Amanda. The atmosphere had definitely cooled.

"I didn't hear a car." Howie asked Tristan, trying to lighten the tension. "Did you park down the street?"

"No…" Tristan answered calmly. "Brian's house isn't that far and I needed the exercise, so…" Tristan cut her eyes towards Kevin. "….I just waddled on over…"

Amanda decided to make an effort to guide this conversation down an uplifting path. She would have to wade through some landmines first, though.

"So, Tris… getting excited about the party tomorrow night? I hear that some BMG people will be there, too. You'll probably get to see some old friends."

Tristan made no comment. Leighanne picked up the cue.

"It should be an interesting evening. I don't know what I'm going to wear. What are you going to wear, Amanda?" Leighanne asked innocently.

Tristan and Kevin both shifted in their respective seats.

"Gee, I'm not sure… What about you, Tris?"

Tristan took a sip from her can and leaned back in her chair.

"I'm not going."

Kevin stiffened and glared across the table. Obviously, Tristan wasn't about to let this go anytime soon and he was getting just a little tired of playing the bad guy. This was a private matter and Kevin didn't appreciate or enjoy the audience participation that her remarks were invoking. Although Tristan had been conversing with Howie, Amanda and Leighanne, everyone at the table knew who she was really talking to. Kevin's eyes were telling her to stop and she recognized his demand. He knew she caught it by the spark in her eyes when she glanced at him. She was deliberately choosing to defy him this time. There was nothing innocent about it.

"Oh, come on, Tris! You can't be serious!" Leighanne scoffed. "Holly will be there, Nick's coming home…"

"We can check out Britney's boob job…" Amanda cut in. Leighanne scowled and threw Amanda a 'look'. "Whoops! Sorry. I meant to say breast augmentation." she laughed. "Why do you say you're not going?"

"I have nothing to wear…"

"Shit!" AJ piped up. "I'd like to have a dime for every time I’ve heard that! You're probably just like Amanda, Tris - got six closets full of clothes. But I'm sure if you're nice, Kevin will buy you a new dress… jeez!"

Kevin made a mental note to slap AJ. For someone who was so fuckin' smart five minutes ago, he's sure screwing up now. He watched Tristan's mouth slide into a tight smile.

"Thank you for your suggestion, AJ.." Tristan said coolly, "… But I can buy my own dresses…" Kevin was quickly moving from impatient to pissed off. "The fact is that I've just realized that my party dresses are too small for me now."

"Then go buy a God damn dress…" Kevin snarled across the table.

"Too late…" Tristan snarled back. "Omar the Tent Maker isn't open on Saturdays…" That was the proverbial straw that broke Kevin's back. There was no doubt that he'd had enough. He shot up from the bench, stretched his arm across the table and pointed his finger at his wife.

"You! Come here. We need to have a little talk…."

"I don't think so…"

"Oh, I think so and I don't think you want me to say what I have to say here! Get up, baby!"

"NO!"

Kevin walked around the table until he was standing behind Tristan's chair. He leaned over, grabbed the arms and lifted the chair, Tristan and all, off of the ground and started walking towards the pool.

"What are you doing?" Tristan screamed. "Put me down!"

Mason looked on as Kevin moved away carrying Tristan in the chair, frightened and speechless. "Isn't somebody going to do something?"

They all shook their heads and stared, gripped in the unfolding drama. Kevin had taken Tristan to the edge of the pool in an effort to speak to her privately, but they were both angry and their voices carried back to the table and its occupants. Kevin had put the chair down and Tristan had practically leaped out of it. Kevin grabbed her by the arm and got down in her face.

"If you wanted to bust my balls, Tris, why didn't you do it a home? God dammit! Enough of this shit! You're going to that party with me tomorrow night if you have to wear a fuckin' nightgown! Do you understand me?"

"NO!" Tristan shouted back as she tried to free her arm.

"You know what I think. Tris? I think somebody needs to cool off!"

Kevin moved her to the edge of the pool as his words sunk in and with one gentle shove, Tristan fell backwards into the deep end of Brian's pool, screaming Kevin's name as she hit the water.

"Oh, my God!" Amanda whispered as Mason began to make a charge for the pool.

"Hold up, Mason!" AJ ordered. Mason froze and looked back to AJ, questioning his wisdom on this call. "Kev'll take care of it…" Kevin kicked off his sandals and dove in right behind her. Within seconds he had brought Tristan up out of the water and was moving her to the far side of the pool. The oglers could hear her cough and sputter, but there were no screams and no attempt on her part to free herself from Kevin's tight hold. They continued to watch intently as Kevin continued to hold her against the side of the pool as he spoke. They couldn't hear him now but from his expression, they could tell he was speaking in gentle tones. Tris nodded and Kevin smiled. Then he appeared to listen as Tristan spoke and his face grew serious. Her shoulders began to shake. She was crying. Kevin wrapped his arms around her and Tristan buried her face into his shoulder as he held her against him. Then he began talking again as he rubbed her back. She finally pulled away from him, nodded again and began to climb the ladder out of the pool. Kevin followed her out and picked up a towel that had been thrown onto a nearby chaise. Kevin wiped her face, seeming to pay special attention to her eyes and the placed the towel around her shoulders. They walked away together, Tristan's arm wrapped around Kevin's waist and his arm around her shoulders, towards the side gate. Kevin raised his free arm and waved good-bye, never bothering to turn. They were gone.

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