Before he could say another word she got up and this time when she pulled her hand he let it slide from his grasp. Then he watched as she walked slowly back to the office.
That evening Max prepared a light dinner for two, grilled salmon with wild rice and asparagus. He had no idea how long Silken planned to stay or even if she would accept his offer of dinner. He would just have to be prepared for anything.
A couple of minutes before the seven o’clock hour his doorbell rang and he went to get it. Silken was there, standing at the entrance like last time, but this time she was alone. And this time she looked quiet and subdued and vulnerable.
He gave her a smile. “Come on in,” he said and opened the door wider so she could step past him.
He took her coat then led her down the hallway to the den, the same place where they’d so recently had their tiff. He hated his living room – too huge, formal and cold. He almost smiled to himself, wondering if for her the den brought back memories. It certainly did for him.
She chose to sit in the single-seater La-Z-Boy.
He remained standing by the door. “Would you like us to talk now?” he asked, “or would you like to share dinner with me? I did a little cooking this evening, if you don’t mind trying it out.”
That made her smile. “You? Cook? You actually know how to turn on the stove?”
“Hey, are you challenging me?” he growled, giving her a hearty glare. “We can do a cook-off anytime, anywhere. Just say when.”
“All right, all right, no need to get competitive.” She put up her hands as if in self-defense but she was laughing. It was good to see a real smile back on her face. “You can cook, I believe it.” She slid out of the chair and onto her feet. “And I’d love to share your dinner.” Then she gave him a wry smile. “To tell the truth, I didn’t feel much like eating today but now I’m starving.”
The twinkle was back in her eyes and it made Max wonder if she’d gotten over her trouble of that morning. But he wouldn’t ask. They’d get to that soon enough.
But dinner with Silken was an unusually quiet affair. After taking her first bite and praising him for his culinary skills she didn’t say much. She responded to his question, his attempts at light conversation, but that was it. She didn’t put forward anything of her own. After the way she’d loosened up earlier he’d hoped she’d be back to normal but maybe he was expecting too much too soon. He would just have to be patient and let her work things out in her own time.
“I’d like to talk now.”
Max looked up from his plate, surprised. Those were the first unsolicited words she’d spoken since they’d sat down to eat. “Sure,” he said and got up. “Let me just drop the plates in the dishwasher.”
When he got back from the kitchen she hadn’t moved. He sat down in the chair across from her, alert and ready to listen.
She tilted her head. “Can we do this in the den? I feel more comfortable there.”
“Sure,” he said again and got up to help her out of her chair. As far as he was concerned she could have anything she wanted just as long as it would get her to talk. This time Silken did not position herself in the single-seater chair. Instead, she dropped down in the couch then rested her hands demurely in her lap.
He looked at her askance. Was this Suave in his house? Had the sisters conspired to play a trick on him? Where was the Silken he knew?
But no. Silken was the woman he’d held in his arms, she was the one he’d kissed. He would know those eyes, those lips anywhere. But then, why was she acting so defeated?
“You’re going to think this is stupid,” she said and gave a nervous laugh, “that I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but…I can’t help it. This means a lot to me.” She sighed. “And Suave.”
He almost said, ‘yes, what is it’ but he held his tongue even though the suspense was killing him.
“I…” she began then stopped. “We’re trying to find our mother.”
Now that caught him by surprise. This was a lot more serious than he’d thought. This sounded like a matter for the police. “Your mother went missing? When?”
She shook her head. “No, not ‘went missing’. She’s been missing since the day we were born.”
Max stared back at her, confused. What the hell could she mean by that? And then it struck him. Of course. He deserved a kick for being so slow. “You and Suave were given up for adoption? At birth?”
She smiled but it was a sad smile. “Not quite. For some reason we never quite made it into an adoptive home. I don’t know why. Probably because there were two of us, probably because we fell through the cracks,” she shrugged. “We lived in foster homes until we reached eighteen and then we got the hell out of the system.”
Max almost shook his head in sympathy but he caught himself in time. He knew Silken and she was not the type to welcome sympathy. Instead, he grunted. “That must have been rough.”
She shrugged. “It was, but we survived. Came out pretty good, all things considered.” Then she fell silent again and her face took on a faraway look.
“But now,” he ventured, “you want to find your roots. Find your mother and figure out where you came from.”
Her eyes refocused and when she turned to him it was almost with a look of gratitude. “You got it,” she said. “I have to find out who I am, where I came from. It’s like,” she waved her hands as if trying to find the words, “I’m not really Silken until I know where…this…all started.”
“Have you tried working with an agency?”
She nodded. “We tried that but it ended up being a total waste of money. Suave and I, just working with the internet, we were able to gather a lot more information than they did.”
He leaned forward. “So you have a lead.”
She grimaced. “Had. But it took us nowhere.” She shook her head. “We were so excited, thinking that this was it. We could hardly sleep after we made contact with the doctor who delivered us. And then we flew all the way to Wisconsin to see him and he dashed our hopes against the pavement. He knows who our mother is but he won’t tell.”