Page 15 of Silk & Bones Reunion

“That’s between me and your mother, T,” Sam interrupted him, “It has nothing to do with you or your sister.”

TBone nodded. “That’s what Mom said too.”

“Oh, yeah?” Sam raised his brow. “What else did your mom say?”

TBone pondered this question for a moment then told him, “She said something about you losing your faith. She said I didn’t do anything wrong and neither did Shaw and neither did she. Heck, she even said you didn’t do anything wrong either, only that you lost your faith, but then she said that she hoped you would find it pretty soon, so you could come back to us. We sure miss you.”

Sam just sat there and went over his son’s words. Out of all the things Melora could have told T about what was going on, she told him Sam had lost his faith. What kind of answer was that?

“I’m hoping I can help you find it, Pops," TBone went on. “But I don’t even know what faith is?” TBone shuffled his feet and looked up at his dad. “Do you think you can find it on your own, Daddy? Soon? Me and Shaw and Mama sure would like it if you came home where you belong. Mama’s not doing good without you.”

“Why do you say that?” Sam glared at TBone.

“Because I wake up sometimes at night and I can hear her crying.” TBone glared back at him. “I hate it when Mama cries. I wake up in the morning and Mama looks so tired. Did you know there’s a light out in the kitchen and Mama can’t reach it, so it's still out and she can’t see real good when it gets dark outside? Then there’s Shaw. You got her so screwed up she lays in her bed and cries herself to sleep. You aren’t there to sing that silly song anymore just before she goes to bed. I tried to sing it to her, but she don’t want me to sing to her. She wants you. So find your faith Daddy, and find it soon, ok?” TBone shook his head. “We need you home.”

Sam just sat there for a couple of minutes, before he finally told his son, “I’ll try kid, I really will try.”

T nodded. “Now can you drive me to school before Mama gets a phone call and comes in here breathing fire?” He shrugged. “She might not understand this man-to-man talk we had to have.”

Sam tried to squelch it but he failed as he leaned his head back and laughed. Then his phone began to ring. When he looked down at the caller ID he looked up at TBone and said, “Too late kiddo, it's your mom.”

“Yikes! I’m in so much trouble.” TBone shook his head.

Sam smiled as he answered his phone, “Hello.”

“Sam, something happened to T. He never got to school this morning.” Melora’s voice was loud as pain and shock could be heard in her tone.

“Babe, he came here. He’s okay,” Sam assured her. “He said we needed a man-to-man parley and he came here to talk to me. He’s fine.” Sam smoothed the way for her. “In fact, I’m just about to take him to school. We’re done parleying.”

Melora sighed hard. “Oh my God, I should have known he would go to you.” She sobbed. “Thank God, he’s okay. I was so worried when the school called and said he never got there.”

“I’ll get him to school and when he gets home, he’ll tell you.” Sam’s voice sounded soft and caring.

“Ok, I can't wait to hear what he has to say. Bye.” Melora cut the call short.

Sam stood to his feet and looked at TBone. “Come on son, let’s get you to school. But when you get home T, you talk to your mama, ok? She’s pretty rattled this morning. And don’t do this again. When you get on the bus, you better get your little hiney all the way to school.”

“Oh, I did do that, Daddy.” TBone nodded. “But I walked away from the drop-off spot at the school and came here.” He shook his head. “I just hope Mama isn’t too mad when I get home. She made chocolate chip pancakes this morning.”

Sam smiled. “Well, we all love them chocolate chip pancakes. And I get it, if your mama is really mad, she won’t make them again anytime soon. I hope that doesn’t happen cause I love them too.” He gave TBone a wink and motioned to the door. “Let’s go, little man.”

Chapter Eight

When Sam got back to the shop, Iceman asked him, “Did you get him to school okay?”

Sam nodded then joined Iceman over at his station. He stroked his beard for a moment then asked, “Does your wife keep secrets?”

Iceman paused, then looked at him. “What do you mean?”

Sam growled under his breath, then he finally admitted, “Melora has been keeping secrets from me and I don’t like it. I also can’t get her to tell me what I want to know. She’s up late at night sometimes and she’s talking to someone but she won’t tell me who.” Shaking his head he said, “Last night I stopped over there and she had a beer waiting for me when I got there. Then she began telling me about her childhood. She told me about her mother getting hit by a car on her way to work, and how she entered the foster system. Some of her stories were just plain fucking wrong. I never knew that people who took in orphaned kids could be so bad.”

Iceman studied him as he spoke, Bones never shared anything...Usually.

Sam growled louder as he went on in disgust, “To them, the kids they took in were nothing more than a paycheck and they didn’t look out for them the way they should have. In fact, Silk had no one to look out for her... No one.”

Iceman turned and grabbed a rag to wipe his hands. Then he nodded at Sam. “Yeah, most people only care about the money. Look at what happened to Peaches and Cassie. That woman was gonna sell them to the highest fucking bidder. Peaches still has nightmares about that old bitch who nearly beat the hell out of Cassie on a daily basis. As to your question, Sam, yeah my wife has her own secrets. She went through some serious shit as a child and there are still some things she can’t talk about. Things she won’t talk about, but everyone has their own secrets, Bones. Even you with your checkered past have secrets, I’m sure.”

Sam thought about this and he knew he had his own. Hell, he’d done shit in his past that he hadn’t ever owned up to, nor did anyone here ever knew about. No, he wasn’t eager to share those things with anyone. “And you’re fine with that?” He raised a brow at Iceman.

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