I reached toward her carefully.
She looked toward the kitchen before looking back at me.
“Please,” she whispered. “Not out here.”
Before I could answer, the back door opened.
My mother appeared.
She looked nothing like someone who had been struggling financially.
Her hair was freshly styled.
She wore gold bracelets, a cream blouse, and designer sunglasses pushed onto the top of her head.
Kendra came behind her carrying a new phone.
Mom stopped when she saw me.
For half a second, her expression wasn’t happiness.
It was panic.
Then she recovered.
“Caleb!”
She rushed toward me with her arms open.
“My baby is home!”
I didn’t hug her.
I was still looking at Naomi.
“What happened to my wife?”
Mom’s smile tightened.
“Oh, honey. It’s been a difficult few months.”
Kendra folded her arms.
“You wouldn’t believe what she’s put us through.”
Naomi lowered her eyes.
Mom sighed dramatically.
“She started doing strange things after you left. Crash diets. Internet remedies. Some ridiculous homemade treatment that destroyed her hair.”
I turned toward Naomi.
“Take the scarf off.”
Her fingers trembled.
“Caleb…”
“Please.”
Slowly, she untied it.
Her head was almost completely bare.
Not naturally bald.
Shaved.
There were faint scratches near her ears and a small patch of uneven stubble at the back.
My stomach dropped.
Kendra rolled her eyes.
“See? She did that herself.”
Mom touched my arm.
“We tried to help.”
Naomi pulled the scarf back over her head.
As she did, her sleeve slid upward.
I saw bruising near the inside of her forearm.
Not random bruises.
Needle marks.
Medical tape residue.
And beneath the neckline of her shirt, I caught sight of the edge of a surgical dressing.
I looked at Mom.
Then Kendra.
Neither asked Naomi whether she needed to sit down.
Neither offered her water.
Neither behaved like a woman standing ten feet away from us looked frighteningly ill.
That told me more than their words did.
I had spent years learning not to react before understanding the battlefield.
So I did something they clearly didn’t expect.
I smiled.
“I guess I picked one hell of a time to come home.”
Mom relaxed slightly.
Then I added, “Especially because I have some good news.”
Kendra’s eyes immediately sharpened.
“What kind of news?”
I shrugged.
“There was a dispute over some deployment compensation and retention pay. Finance finally approved it.”
