One String Attached

65.

.James.

I sat on the bed with my phone in hand after getting off the phone to Michelle and I sat there waiting.
It was already nine o'clock and the kids were tucked up in bed while Autumn lay in the cot in front of me, her eyes wide open while she clung onto her bunny. I had bottle fed her a couple minutes prior to the children falling asleep but I knew Autumn wouldn't be able to sleep without her mother's presence there to reassure her.

It took a long while to finally put the children to sleep since they had become so wary over things happening during the night. First Bryson snatching Aaliyah then having him try to break in last night and then with Autumn crying every so often . . . it was all quite a lot for them to handle and that was understandable.

I sat there, looking down at my daughter while she gazed up at me. Riley might not agree but Auty definitely had her mother's eye colour. Somehow the two of them looked unbelievably alike, just like Aaliyah did. It was Asher who looked the most like me.

Just as Autumn starts to blink, signalling she was drifting off to sleep, I listen to the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs and that could have only meant Ri was home.

I hold my breath in, looking up at the same time as the pace of her footsteps slows down and only a couple of seconds later, I watch as the doorknob gets pushed down from the opposing side before it opens, revealing her.
She looked just the same as she had done when she left, and when her eyes meet mine, she sighs, looking down, but I noticed a single piece of paper she held in her left hand.

"How's she been? Everything okay with her?" she asks, walking around the bed in order to have access to the drawers.
She opens it up and slides the papers she held inside of it before sitting herself down on the bed to take off her shoes and begin to get changed into nightwear.

"Why wouldn't things be okay?" I question without thinking, the thoughts in my brain slacking. "I'm her dad. I know how to look after her."

It wasn't that I was saying it with the intention of coming across as rude, but I could tell when she was lying to me about something and right now was one of those times. I thought we'd crossed this bridge a long time ago but clearly there's still that gap of trust in our marriage - one we seriously need to work on.

"I know, James. I was just making sure," she tells me slowly, furrowing her brows and looking at me but I couldn't take it. 

I can't have her keeping secrets from me anymore. I can't keep going like this when she and the children are already at risk. The last thing I want is for Bryson to hurt either one of them but how am I supposed to protect them if she's not even telling me the truth about her whereabouts?

"No," I mumble under my breath, turning my head around to look at her as she sat on the opposite end of the bed. She raises an eyebrow at me then and tilts her head to the side but I don't drop it there. "I'm not taking it anymore, Riley. You weren't out with Michelle and I think you and I both know it."

"I don't see what this has got to do with Autumn-"
"This has everything to do with Autumn. And it's to do with the kids. And us as a family. And our marriage. I can't have you continuously lying to me."

"Oh, that's real funny, James, coming from you," she fires back at me, making me narrow my eyes at her. "Tell me. Since when did you become the total truth teller? Hm?"

"Ri, this isn't about that right now and you know it," I say to her but she snarls at me, scoffing and shaking her head.

"Then what is it about? If this isn't about us telling each other the truth about our whereabouts then what is it, James? You don't get to play the victim when you were the culprit too. Plus where I was tonight is nothing compared to where you found yourself all those months ago when I was pregnant-"
"Yeah, with Autumn," I cut her off. "And that's what this has got to do with her."