Authors: Kassanna
Silacious exhaled. She’d bet Chase’s non-existent college fund Jethro was who Ms. Sadie wanted picked up and she should have realized she was being set up.
When she met Jethro, the only family he had was his daddy Jedidiah and Ms. Sadie. Jed died during Jethro’s senior year of high school and other than Ms. Sadie and Jethro, she and Dante were the only attendees at his father’s funeral.
Silacious hung her head. She’d been so wrapped up in getting Chase settled with the old woman, she didn’t stop to think. She patted her hair, trying to push loose wisps back into the messy ponytail at the top of her head.
Jethro hadn’t noticed her. She could back away and tell Ms. Sadie she’d waited at the luggage pickup and no one showed up. That shouldn’t surprise her, since Jethro hadn’t bothered to return home in so long.
Silacious focused on the elderly man still speaking to her. “Really, I’m all right. I was thinking.” Slowly she eased away from the old guy.
All she had to do was get through the sliding glass doors and then run like hell to her car. She had enough problems with Dante, child services, and reclaiming her life.
The doors swooshed and warm air clashed with recycled cool air.
Jethro glanced her way. His brows came together as he cocked his head to the side. She froze, caught in his stare like a deer in headlights. Her chest constricted, making her gasp for breath. He narrowed his eyes, spun on his heel and marched her way.
She broke his gaze and looked around, hoping to find some sort of diversion. The elderly gentleman who’d spoke to her earlier had drifted off. Briefly she entertained the idea of jumping on one of the conveyor belts and disappearing behind the heavy plastic drapes. Silacious closed her eyes and exhaled. She was a grown woman who had no reason to run.
Jethro left
her
, not the other way around.
Calloused fingertips brushed her skin and she opened her eyes. Jethro peered down at her through soft eyes. He caressed her cheek. “I thought it was you. It’s been a while.”
She swallowed, reveling in the feel of his touch before balling up a fist and throwing a punch. Her knuckles grazed his jaw as he reared back. “You gave up the right to touch me when you left.”
A slow smile spread over his face. “You still hit like a girl.” He chuckled as he combed his fingers through his hair.
“Go to hell. I am a
woman
,” she snapped.
“Still confrontational, I see.” He swung his duffle bag up and slid an arm through the straps. “Is it a coincidence that you’re here?”
“Of course not. Your grandma sent me,” Silacious grumbled, adding under her breath, “I am so going to kill that woman.”
“I missed that last bit.” Jethro inched closer, crowding her.
She shuffled back, through the exit. “Come on,
Jethro
, time waits for no man.”
“You certainly didn’t.” His words were just loud enough for her to hear.
An ache formed at the joints of her jaw where she ground her teeth. She ignored him and spun around to trot across the lane. Horns blared when she crossed in front of a cab.
She stopped on the median and looked over her shoulder. “One thing has changed. You’ve become a bigger asshole. Are you coming or do you plan to walk to Houma?”
She didn’t wait for him to answer, and stomped to the two-story parking garage.
Chapter Two
Andy leaned on the doorjamb with his fingers wrapped around a mug of hot coffee. Spirals of steam curled up into the air. This was what he missed—the chicory flavor of good, strong brew like only his Memaw could make. He needed the eye-opening caffeine after his run-in with Silacious.
She almost drove over his foot as she backed her car up when he dropped his bag in the trunk. Then she put the vehicle in drive as he was opening the passenger door. He had to jog and jump in the seat before the automobile picked up speed.
It was a tense ride to his grandmother’s house. There was so much he wanted to say but couldn’t find a way to start a conversation. Instead, he stole glances at her profile.
Silacious was still a beautiful woman. Home, she’d stopped long enough for him to exit the car. He didn’t get a chance to claim his overnight bag from her trunk before she revved the engine and sent the tires spinning, spraying the tiny pebbles that made up the driveway. Memaw hadn’t been home to witness his unceremonious drop-off or he would have never heard the end of it. He suspected that his ex-girlfriend held a special place in the old woman’s heart.
His Memaw’s ancient ramshackle house was dark, but the spare key was where she always kept it and when he held the screen door open to unlock the front door he’d found the note.
Welcome home, I left your dinner on a plate in the oven. See you later.
Andy made himself at home, and had the gumbo his Memaw left before finding one of his old T-shirts in his untouched room to sleep in. Coming back to Houma was like walking through a time portal. Seemed like nothing changed but him.
He glanced down. His bag was sitting on the step. Andy ambled down the stairs and hefted up the duffle. He twisted around looking for Silacious.
Huh.
The sun was just rising; when had she stopped by to return his luggage? He took a long sip of his lukewarm coffee and stared into the mist rising off the lake in front of the house.
Silacious still had a temper, but all those years ago he wasn’t the one who cheated. At least Dante had been man enough to tell him what was going on.
Andy retreated up the steps. Fate was a bitch; back then he thought he’d spend the rest of his life with Silacious.
*
They were the only ones left in the locker room after football practice.
Nothing unusual for them to be the last two there—Dante was a mirror hog and he liked to take his time to make sure his appearance was just so. His friend was dating cheerleaders from three different schools.
It was hard enough for Andy to try and satisfy Silacious; no way could he juggle more than one girlfriend. That night he had special plans with her. He opened his locker and pulled out the small ring box he’d hidden deep on the back shelf. He planned to propose to her. There wasn’t much to the ring. The diamond wasn’t more than a chip, but he used every dollar he earned to buy it. He’d been giddy with excitement. Not even his Memaw knew what he intended.
His girlfriend, Silacious, grew up down the dirt road from the shack he shared with his dad. They would catch frogs together for her mama to make frog legs for supper. Ms. Jean’s cooking could make a pot sing. Her skills were legendary in their town.
They were so close you didn’t see one person without the other. His Memaw called him and Silacious two peas in a pod. He didn’t notice their color difference until an old biddy in town pointed it out to them. That was also when he realized his best friend was not a boy. She’d developed before his eyes and he didn’t notice.
All kinds of emotions manifested themselves, making his belly churn. After he noticed how she changed, ideas formed in his mind and not all of them were wholesome. Still, he was respectful. It was only natural he would feel something for the girl that had been by his side since second grade.
Dante Smith started hanging out with them in eleventh grade. He was a foster kid and transferred to the high school when he moved in with his new family. Andy hadn’t really noticed him until some teens from a rival school had Silacious cornered behind the concession stand at the stadium. Dante fought with the three guys and got suspended from school for his actions. The fact that the new kid had protected his girlfriend was all Andy needed to know. He made it clear that Dante was a friend of his and from that point, they hung together.
After the practice when Dante came to him frowning, he hadn’t thought much about it. The coach had rode them hard about following game plans. He’d threatened to bench Dante at the upcoming game if he didn’t get his act together. It was probably a blow to his buddy’s ego since there were rumors that university football scouts were going to attend the game.
What Dante told him that day not only confused him, but it pissed him off. The guy he considered a best friend was in love with Silacious. When had Dante and Silacious had a chance to form a relationship? He reacted without thinking and he punched Dante in the gut, sending the guy to his knees.
Dante coughed and gazed up at him from his kneeling position, a devious smile spread over his face. For a brief moment, Andy could swear he saw hate in his friend’s eyes. Dante blinked, and the malice was gone. Instead, the young man rose and peered into his eyes. “I love her and she loves me. We were just waiting for the right time to tell you. Seems now is as good a time as any.”
He’d stood rooted in place, trying to catch his breath from the verbal blow. He wouldn’t take Dante’s word. No, he would find his girl and get the truth from her, no matter how painful.
It had taken him a while to find her. After checking the places they usually met, he tracked her down at home.
Silacious stood on her porch and his ex-friend was holding her. She had her hands on his chest, palms flat on his T-shirt while he gripped her hips, keeping her close to him.
It was all Andy needed to see. The pain of their betrayal burned through his veins. He swore right then that if that was what she wanted, he would back off. Her happiness was more important than his feelings.
His school lost that game and Dante never did get scouted. He dropped out of school to avoid running into the new couple, and spent weeks trying to figure out where everything had gone wrong. Soul-searching didn’t do him a damn bit of good. In his mind, she was his—and if he didn’t put some distance between them, he was sure things would get ugly and he would most likely end up in jail.
He signed up for his GED and when he was notified he’d passed, he’d joined the Marines. The hardest decision he ever made in his life was to walk away from Silacious.
Before he left, Silacious came by his house several times. He ignored her calls and the continuous knocking on his Memaw’s doors. More than once, his grandmother called him a jackass for not facing the girl. Seeing her would weaken his resolve, and he decided it was better if he never dealt with his feelings. An ache ate at his soul like a sickness and he welcomed the hollow numbness.
The day he left for boot camp, he tossed the ring in the bayou.
He never said goodbye.
*
Yesterday was the first time he’d stepped foot in Houma since he left. Andy dropped the bag at the foot of a patio chair and took a seat. Sunlight was burning away the fog and movement drew his attention from his thoughts. He leaned forward to get a better look.
Across the lane, standing on the banks of the marsh, a young boy poked at reeds rising along the edge. He couldn’t have been more than nine or ten.
What the hell was that kid doing?
Andy set the mug down on the floor and rose to trot down the porch steps.
The boy lifted his head and stared at Andy, who was taken aback. The child had Silacious’ deep chocolate-colored eyes, but that was as far as the resemblance went. Andy blinked several times and wiped a palm down his face. With big dirty blond curls, an angular jaw, and a lean, lanky frame, staring at the child was like looking at an old picture of himself.
He shook his head. Memaw hadn’t mentioned Silacious and Dante having a child, although she’d never failed to mention the rumors about their marriage in all her letters. Andy moved into the yard, slowly closing in on the boy.
Silacious lived a few blocks away. It was a coincidence, it had to be. Maybe the kid was some of her kin.
His grandmother appeared in the doorway and bumped her cane on the wooden steps, creating a loud, hollow sound. “Something caught your interest, Jethro?”
Andy hesitated, his foot raised mid-step. He lowered his leg and glanced over his shoulder at the older woman. “A gator gonna get ’em, the way he pokin’ at the cattails.” His Cajun accent colored his tone. In a matter of hours, he’d slipped into using the local dialect and the longer he spent home, the thicker it would get. Another reason to find out what was wrong with his grandmother, fix the issue, and get the hell out of Houma.
“That’s Sil’s boy, Chase. Leave him be. Him know what he doin’. Chase Cajun, born and raised on the bayou, like his daddy.” Memaw looked toward Chase through narrowed eyes. “He lookin’ more like his daddy every day.”
“What’s he doing here?”
Andy focused on the kid. There was no way in hell Chase favored Dante. What did it matter, anyway? Wistfulness for what might have been choked him as he opened his mouth and hastily shut it to get control of his emotions before speaking again. Chase and Silacious weren’t his issues.
His grandmother had put him off last night, avoiding telling him why she summoned him. He’d been home for a few hours when she arrived with an oil-soaked brown bag full of fried gator tail and boiled crawfish. Many of her friends accompanied her to celebrate his return. Cajuns could find any reason to party. Andy hadn’t gotten to bed until the wee hours of the morning.
Now it was time to get down to business. “Memaw, why am I here?”
“Sil dropped Chase off earlier this morning before work.” She shuffled down the steps and stopped next to him. “You have unfinished business, boy. Ain’t no LaRue ever ran from a problem.” She struck his calf hard with her cane. “You been running for a long time. It’s time to take care of your family."
He didn’t flinch from the blow, even though spikes of pain radiated through his leg from the spot. “You’re the only relations I got and I send you an allowance every month.” Andy snorted. “You need a better excuse for why I'm here?”
“You pigheaded like your papa.” Memaw shook her head. “Take a look at Chase over there. Look real hard. That chile took on a man five times his size to help his mama. Sounds like a familiar trait. Well, that, and those pretty girly curls you Andersen boys git,” she mumbled. “I told Silacious to cut that baby’s hair, but she stubborn like Jean. Says his hair is too pretty. What a boy need with pretty hair?” She sighed and hobbled away, stopping on the stoop.
Sadie leaned heavily on her cane and half turned to meet his stare. “Sometimes your friends don’t always want what’s best for you,
sometimes
they only your friend to get what you got. And like a fool, you stepped to the side and let him have it. Dante was trouble and I told you so, now you need to fix your mistake.” His grandmother’s white curls danced around her face as she spoke. Her tone was deadly quiet. “I love you, boy, but I bet LaRues are spinning in they graves because you stupid. I blame your daddy’s side of the family. Them Andersens never was much for thinking.” She sighed. “But my daughter—your mama, God bless the dead—loved Jedidiah something fierce. That kind of love don’t happen often, but we LaRues have always been lucky. It’s time to claim what’s yours.” Sadie leaned forward. “You remember how to kill a snake, Jethro? Cut off its head.”
Andy hung his head. His grandmother was talking in circles. Sometimes the woman could be so obstinate it could make a saint choke. “Stop with the riddles already. Dante and Silacious wanted to be together, and I stepped back to let that happen. Her happiness was more important than my misery.”
His Memaw was making him open old wounds he would rather leave the scab on. He still wasn’t ready to deal with the pain of her betrayal yet.
“Get off the cross, boy. Wit Jesus already up there, I imagine it’s getting crowded.” Sadie waved her cane in circular motions. “You too stubborn to realize the obvious. It pains me to admit this, but you a dumbass.”
“Memaw…” Andy growled a warning. He was tired of the conversation.
“You got more sense than this. Stop whining and take your woman back.” She shook her head. “Boy, when you live as long as I have, you learn to appreciate the little things. The biggest lesson I have realized is everybody dies, but not everyone lives. Claim the life you were denied and start living, son. You been a walking dead man long enough and I’m tired of taking care of your family.” She hobbled up the steps.
Andy glanced over his shoulder to gaze at Silacious’ son, but the boy was gone.
****
A half-folded sheet of paper was lodged beneath the wiper against the windshield.
Curious, Silacious scanned the area before trotting down the short flight of stairs to the car. Her day started early since she did laundry for the hotel she worked at so the maids would have fresh sheets to change in the rooms. The benefit of working before the sun came up was that she could be home in the afternoon for her son. For the time being, Ms. Sadie was babysitting Chase while she went to work. When school resumed, she would have to make other arrangements. A couple part-time jobs, there was no reason why she couldn’t make things work in her favor.