It didn’t make sense to her for Taylor to not share the news of Silky’s release, especially if he didn’t think it was going to happen. Siara convinced herself that he hadn’t said anything because he felt like he hadn’t really done anything. After all, if Silky hadn’t remembered he’d gotten his sperm frozen, there was a great chance that he would probably still be locked up.
All day today, she’d been receiving a call from a blocked number. It didn’t do her any good to put her phone on do not disturb because they called back to back until it rang. It got so annoying that she answered before her six-week checkup just to see what they had to say. A low voice that she didn’t recognize whispered, “It wasn’t him,” before hanging up. After that, they didn’t call again.
Their words had been on her mind for the rest of the day. Even though her doctor cleared her to have sex, she’d already made up in her mind that she was going to tell Silky she wasn’t ready. Instead, she planned to cater to him for the night and see if that would either help ease the tension and her paranoia or make him comfortable enough to confess something… anything… to make this make sense.
Her parents were keeping Silia for the night so they could have some privacy, but Siara was regretting that, too. She kept telling herself not to turn her husband into a monster in her mind, but she didn’t know what else to do.
As she lit the last candle, the front door opened and closed. Siara plastered on a smile, then headed in its direction.
“Hey, baby,” she greeted, taking his Gucci briefcase off his shoulder.
“Good evening, beautiful. Where’s my mini beauty?”
“She’s with my parents for the evening. I wanted us to spend some alone time together.”
Even though she didn’t want it to, the pure joy that covered his face as he smiled made her smile.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Good.”
Siara took his hand and led him upstairs to their room. While his bath water ran, she undressed him. His eyes never left her, and there was a time when that would have a puddle forming at the seat of her pussy. Now, she found herself avoiding his darkened eyes more often.
“I needed this,” Silky confessed. “It seems like things have been a little off between us. I figured it was because we both are adjusting to the baby, so I’m happy you did this.”
Siara smiled as she ran her hands down his chest. He lowered himself and kissed her forehead. On the tips of her toes, she placed a kiss to the side of his mouth. They met in the middle, pressing their lips together – twice.
“Get in before your water gets cold,” Siara ordered, fanning herself.
Having sex would only cloud her judgement more, so she needed as little physical contact with him as possible.
While she waited for him to get out of the tub, Siara put the last touches on their dinner together. She cooked all of his favorites – pot roast, white rice, and steamed broccoli – even adding his favorite lemon cake for dessert.
As they ate, they reminisced, and Siara hoped remembering the good times would ease her mind. It didn’t. Though Silky was able to recall everything she mentioned, it took him a bit of time for some of them. Something was definitely off, and she couldn’t help but wonder if something had happened to him while he was in jail. If he’d… maybe… gotten into a fight and was having issues with his memory. He hadn’t allowed her to scratch his scalp like he used to. Was he hiding a scar?
It would explain a lot, it would even account for the random bit of time he’d stopped calling and writing her while he was away. But it didn’t make total sense. If something had happened to Silky while he was in prison, why didn’t he tell her? Did he think it would make her love or respect him less?
Suddenly, her fear turned into guilt. Here she was thinking the worst about her husband when there could have seriously been something wrong with him.
When they were done with dinner, he wanted to go to bed. It was still early, but Siara didn’t protest. Silia was a handful and she would enjoy being able to sleep throughout the night without any interruptions. Silky didn’t even mention her six-week checkup and having sex. And while Siara appreciated it, she found it odd, too. He was perfectly content with holding her all night. But the feel of his breath on her neck didn’t soothe her like it used to.
A tear slid down her cheek as she inhaled a shaky breath. Wrapping her arm around his, Siara prayed that God would fix whatever was slowly breaking between them.
Almost a week had passed, and it didn’t take long for panic to fill Siara. Not only was the house empty when she woke up, but Silky wasn’t answering his phone. She checked his location, and he’d turned it off.
He never turned his location off on his phone.
As she searched the city for them, Siara wondered where they could possibly be. His parents hadn’t heard from Silky, and neither had hers. He wasn’t at the school. She only had one of his friends’ number, and he hadn’t heard from Silky either. Every worst-case scenario was floating around Siara’s brain as she headed back home. So much so that she had to pull over onto the side of the road to cry.
When she was done, she inhaled a deep breath and got herself together. It was February… where could he have taken their eight-week-old daughter on a chilly morning in February? Just as the thought entered her mind, her phone began to ring. The sight of Silky’s picture made her heart drop.
“Where the hell are you?” she roared, putting her car in drive.
“On the way home. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? You took my baby without telling me and didn’t answer your phone when I called!”
Silky chuckled. “I didn’t know I needed your permission to leave the house with our baby, Siara. She’s fine. We’re about five minutes away from the house.”
Siara growled as she disconnected the call. The last thing she wanted to do was go off on him while she drove. It hardly ever snowed in Memphis, but when it did, people went crazy. She drove as quickly yet carefully as she possibly could. Siara hadn’t even closed the car door behind her good before she was rushing to the front door.
Thankfully, it was already open.
“Silia,” she called, as if she was big enough to come to her on her own.
They were in the kitchen. Relief washed over Siara as soon as she set eyes on her. She jogged over to them, pulling Silia out of his arms.
“Don’t ever do that again,” she seethed, allowing Silia’s head to rest on her chest.
“Do what exactly?” Silky checked, opening the refrigerator and pulling out some ingredients to make breakfast.
“Take her without letting me know.”
His chuckle made it clear that he was trying to remain calm, and when he slammed the refrigerator door, that was confirmed.
“I don’t know what the fuck has been going on with you lately, but you need to get your shit together, Siara.” His eyes cut at her briefly as he set the eggs and bacon on top of the counter. “I was trying to do your ass a favor. Did you forget she had a doctor’s appointment this morning? You had a rough night last night, and you didn’t even wake up when your alarm went off. I was trying to do you a solid by taking her to the doctor myself.” Leaning against the counter, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I need your permission to do that?”