Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum

Knowing when to speak and when to keep quiet is a good thing.

It would not be until Monday evening, that I first realised DF might not be returning. He had, after all, suggested that he'd be looking for a vehicle, and although I found it highly insulting that he didn't call, it was not as though he hadn't done this in the past (prior to our separation). His departure on Friday was, however, unannounced ~ he'd not even intimated that he was leaving the home. No good-bye, no "see you later". Nothing.

I tried calling the cell phone, expecting for him to answer while working at her place on Monday late afternoon. The call was directed into voice mail, but I chose not to leave a message. I hardly slept one moment that night, partially due to a horrible nagging feeling I had, and partially due to being naturally concerned that some sort of accident might have occurred. As I'd done on countless nights before, but perhaps with a different reason for concern, I lay awake listening for the hum of a car motor in the driveway.

By Tuesday evening, annoyed that I'd heard nothing and inclined to believe that had something untoward become of him I'd have heard from the police or a hospital by this time, I decided to contact KMC. She laughed when she heard my voice on the other end of the line. "I'm just calling to ask if I may speak with DF", I said. I'd rung her on her cell phone, although I did have a home number but refused to use it since I was concerned her young daughter might answer and I didn't wish to involve her anymore than she already had been. KMC had "used" her daughter often in the past by passing the phone to her so that she could mimic my voice or giggle at me at the end of any of KMC's conversations with me. I was appalled at the completely disrespectful manner in which the daughter was utilised by her mother and can thankfully say that I had never uttered a word to her but simply had waited, silently, until she hung up the phone.

It must have given KMC intense satisfaction to hear that I hadn't heard from DF for days. She remarked that she would tell him I had called when she next saw him. The conversation was reminiscent of others that were deliberately untrue that I'd had in prior weeks. One specifically with DF the weekend he said he was out of town buying a new vehicle, that is, the weekend after he'd already purchased a new Jeep with the proceeds from the sale of my truck. What he was unaware of is that I'd received a call on Friday afternoon from my insurance agent with questions about the adding a new vehicle that had been purchased the week prior to the household insurance policy. The ruse, designed to gain opportunity to spend a few days with KMC and have a ready excuse for not being at home. Anyway, in this call to KMC she found it hilarious that I had no idea what was going on.
Things like this had prompted me to go back through some records myself, and what I uncovered completed the puzzle. With clarity of what had really been going on and sickened by her attempt to continue the deception, a deep, throbbing pain ran down my arm into my palms, but I fought back the tears to end the call with a polite, "Thank you, good bye".