For the next two days, Sean pouted. He came home late and said little. By the third day, Marita began to worry. She had tried again to talk to him but he continued to insist that nothing was wrong. He said he was busy at the warehouse and was tried when he came home.

Sean refused to tell Marita the truth. He was too proud to admit that he felt neglected. He wanted her to know how it felt to be ignored by the one you loved. And he was still angry with her for helping Vivian instead of being available to satisfy him when he had come home for lunch the other day. He was also angry with her because all of her love, all of her attention, all of her affection was on another man.

On the third day, Marita determined that she would not let Sean rest until he told her what was bothering him. She decided to prepare a nice hot bath for him when he came home. She would also prepare his favorite supper and they would eat by candlelight. She would then take him up to bed and give him a rubdown and they would talk about what ever was troubling him.

When Sean came home that evening, he was late again but that did not deter Marita. She had kept supper warm and when she heard his horse coming up to the house, she went to the washroom and got his bath ready.

Sean had brooded all the way home. That morning he had woken up with an ache in his groan that could not be soothed because Marita was in the rocking chair feeding the baby. He left without eating breakfast and headed into town. His stomach was growling so he went to the town restaurant. His breakfast was terrible because the regular cooking was sick and the person filling in obviously did not know how to cook. And besides, after being married to Marita and being spoiled by her cooking, most other cooking paled in comparison. So Sean went to work hungry. Hungry for Marita's cooking and hungry for Marita's body.

When Sean walked into the warehouse, his mood was bad and it would get worse. Many of his workers were out with the flu and they were already behind in filling tobacco orders. Auntie volunteered some of her workers to help with the backlog but they had to be trained and that took time. Sean began snapping at the few workers he had.

When Auntie got him alone, she questioned him about his uncharacteristically bad mood.

"What's stuck in yo craw?"

"Nothing" he said in a very sour tone.

"Something in there"

Sean was not about to admit to his feelings of neglect by Marita. Nor was he willing to admit that he wanted to dispose of Sean-Michael, Vivian and everybody else who was coming between him and Marita's pliable body being at his mercy. How could he tell Auntie that he was jealous and felt Marita did not love him anymore?

"I said nothing!" he insisted.

Auntie could see that bull-headed stubbornness Marita had told her about and decided not to pursue it.

"Well, since you gone hang on the that lie, you can stew in whatever mess you in but I suggest you be a little kinder to your workers" she said then left him alone in his office.

Sean knew Auntie was right. Though he did not return to his normal cheerful self, he did not snap at anyone else for the rest of the day.

When Sean walked into the house, there was a faint smell of candles but his mood was so rotten that he hardly paid it any attention. He was starving because he had not eaten anything all day and headed straight for the kitchen. Marita was coming down the stairs and saw him go into the kitchen and rushed after him.

"Hey" she smiled as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey" he said without much enthusiasm.

Marita heard his tone but was determined to get to the bottom of his three day mood.

"Why don't come with me and bathe first. The water's ready."

"I'm hungry and tired Marita" he said, not paying attention to what she said. "All I want to do is eat and go to bed" he said as he began going through the pots.

Marita was a little put out by his attitude but she persisted.

"You'll feel better if you bathe first. Then we can eat."

"Didn't I say all I wanted to do was eat and go to bed?!" he snapped as he began to fill his plate.

And that was the end of Marita's persistence. Marita looked at him and killed him with her eyes as she tried to hold her tongue. She determined she would be the better person and not raise her voice.

"Well, I just thought a nice hot bath would relax you" she said in a calm voice.

"Marita, will you leave me alone so I can eat in peace" he said as he dropped his plate on the table and sat down.

Marita's feelings were instantly hurt. The ungrateful brut! She had made sure Sean-Michael would be sleeping when he came home. She had cooked one of his favorite suppers. She had prepared him a nice hot bath. She had planned a nice romantic evening for just the two of them and here he was ruining it!

"Leave you alone" Marita said as she walked over to the stove. "So you can eat in peace?" she said in an amazingly calm voice.

"You heard me" he said as he started eating.

"Well, I will certainly leave you alone" she said as she walked over to his chair. "So you can eat in peace!" she said.

Sean felt the mush on his head. He could not believe she did it. But she did. He watched her through angry eyes as she walked out of the kitchen. He sat there with a pot of mashed potatoes on his head. It was all her fault. She was the reason he was so grouchy. She was the reason he was not talking to her. She was the reason he had been sulking and pouting for the last 3 days. It was her fault because she had not given him the love and attention he needed. Didn't she know that!!!

Sean reached up and removed his newly designed hat. He got as much of the potatoes out of his hair as he could and dropped them in the pot. Sean was so disgusted with everything that he simply wiped his hands on his pants and continued eating.

Meanwhile, Marita stomped upstairs to the bedroom. With each step, she got angrier. All she tried to do was get him to relax and tell her what was bothering him. He always told her everything so why was this different?

"That's the LAST time I do something special for that man!" MM
"That's a lie" MH

When Marita got to the room, she looked in on Sean-Michael, who was still sleeping soundly. She then began to undress as she stewed over Sean's rudeness to her. When she had on her nightgown, she put her hair up and grabbed her romance novel off the nightstand and got in bed. If she could experience a romantic evening, she would read about one.

When Sean finished eating he cleaned up the mess Marita made then made his way to the washroom. Marita had made his bath. Something she had not done before. She had lit candles and incenses and the aroma was still lingering. Sean began feeling like a heel for snapping at Marita and was on his way to admitting to her that he had just acted like a donkey's hindquarters. He quickly undressed and bathed then went to apologize to Marita. When he got to the bedroom door and turned the knob, he found it was locked.

"Marita" he called out. "Open the door."

Marita did not answer and Sean thought she had fallen asleep.

"Marita" he called out and started knocking on the door. "Marita" he called a little louder, still thinking she was asleep.

"Will you be quite before you wake up the baby!" Marita called back.

"Open the door Marita" Sean said.

"Ooooh no. You wanted to be left alone so you could have peace."

"Open the door Marita" he said again in a more menacing voice, his temper beginning to rise.

"You wanted to be left alone, so you will be. Goodnight Sean."

"Marita! OPEN THIS DOOR!" he said through clenched teeth.

Sean was met with dead silence.

"OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!! OR ELSE!!" he raised his voice a notch higher.

What did he say that for? Sean knew the second the words came out of his mouth that the door would stay locked and he would not be getting inside the bedroom tonight. Marita did not take kindly to ultimatums.

"I asked you to keep your voice down before you wake up the baby!" Marita said, not even dignifying his absurd comment with a response.

"MARITA! OPEN THIS DOOR!" he said again, trying in vain to intimidate her.

Again he was met with silence. He turned away in disgust and anger and went back downstairs. He would have to sleep on the couch because the other bedrooms were not yet furnished. On his way to the great room, he walked past the dining room and saw what Marita had done.

Two weeks ago he surprised her with the dining set she had wanted. Marita had set the table with her fine china and candles. This would have been the first time they would have eaten on the new dining set. Sean started feeling more like a mule a.k.a. jackass.

"See what she did. Planning this night for you and you go and make her mad. Did you notice that was one of your favorite suppers? You did notice the baby was asleep? That meant it would have been you and her ALONE" SH

SM could hardly say a word.

Sean knew he was in the doghouse and wondered how long it would take for Marita to let him back in the bedroom. He walked on to the great room and plopped down on the couch. He settled in for a long, lonely, cold night.

Back in the bedroom, Marita continued reading until Sean-Michael woke for his feeding. After she fed and burped him, they played for awhile and then he dosed off to sleep. Marita put him in his crib then climbed in bed and tried to go to sleep. She began to wonder why Sean was acting so prudish the last couple of days. What was wrong with him?!

Marita then began to think irrationally. Did seeing her naked from the waist up the other night somehow turn his desire away from her? Was he no longer attracted to her because her breasts were oversized? What would he think when he saw the baby marks on her stomach?

Marita got out of bed and stripped naked and stood before the mirror. As she examined herself, she saw that her breasts hung a little, her stomach was not flat like it was before the baby, her hips were a little wider. Then Marita got mad. Her body would not be like this if she had not had HIS baby. He gets her pregnant then does not like some of the side effects of having a baby.

Marita put her nightgown back on and angrily got back into bed. All she went through to give him a son and this is how he repays her. Her hurt feelings and her own abstinence was affecting her thinking. She let her thoughts run wild and she began to cry at the thought that maybe Sean did not want her anymore. She finally drifted off to sleep not realizing that Sean was downstairs yearning for every part of her.

***************

With the morning light came rational thinking.

"You know he's in love with YOU. Not your body" MH
"But I'm still mad" MM

Marita said her prayers, forgetting to ask forgiveness for letting the sun go down on her wrath, then read her bible until Sean-Michael woke up. After she fed him, she laid him in the center of the bed and washed up and dressed for the day. She and Sean-Michael came downstairs and went to the kitchen.

Sean was still sleeping but woke when he smelled breakfast cooking. He went to dress then went into the kitchen. Marita was at the stove and Sean-Michael was in his basket making his baby noises.

"Hey there" he said as he picked up the baby. "How did you sleep?" he asked a grinning Sean-Michael. "I'm glad you slept good. I sure didn't" he said.

Sean knew Marita was still mad at him for last night so he was talking to her through Sean-Michael.

"That couch was hard and cold and I don't EVER want to have to sleep on it again" he said.

Marita remained silent as she brought breakfast to the table and Sean could see that his around the way apology was not working.

"I'm sorry about last night Marita" he said sincerely.

Marita continued setting the table and did not respond to him because her feelings were still hurt and she was not ready to let him off the hook for his bad behavior.

Before Sean could plead his case to her, there was a knock at the door and he went to answer it.

"Morning" Auntie said when Sean opened the door.

"Morning" Sean smiled.

"How's Auntie's baby?" she asked as she reached for Sean-Michael.

"He's fine" Sean said.

"How's Papa?"

"Better" Sean grinned, knowing Auntie was referring to his bad mood on yesterday.

"Good" she said as she walked toward the kitchen with Sean following.

"Morning Mo"

"Morning Auntie" Marita smiled brightly at her. "You're just in time for some breakfast."

Auntie sat down and had breakfast with them. Conversation was pleasant between Sean and Auntie and Marita and Auntie. Whenever Sean tried to talk to Marita she would ignore him. When Sean left for the warehouse, Auntie questioned Marita about her ignoring Sean.

"What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing"

"You sound just like him. Yesterday he was as sour as a tart but said nothing was wrong. Somethin' wrong."

"I don't know what's wrong with him. He's been acting moody for the last 3 days. And last night" Marita started venting. "I put the baby to bed, made him a nice hot bath and we were going to have a nice evening alone but HE comes home in a bad mood and ruins the whole thing!"

"You been givin him what he need?" Auntie asked.

Marita did not understand what Aunt Eleanor was talking about.

"Giving him what he needs?"

"Relations, child" Auntie said.

"Well, it has been awhile" Marita said and for the first time since Sean-Michael was born she realized that they had not made love almost 4 months.

"What did y'all do when he came home the other day for lunch?"

Marita thought then remember that 3 days ago Sean did come home unexpectingly.

"Nothing. Vivian was here and we were cooking."

"And you didn't send her home?"

"No. Why should I? She needed my help."

"Baby, let me tell you somethin' bout men. They big babies themselves. You don't have one baby on your hands. You got two. And yo big baby needed you the other day and it looks like you all but ignored him. That's probably what's stuck in his craw.

"Now Mo" Auntie continued. "I know you love that baby of yours and you'd do anything for him. And I know how you love helping people, especially your family but you still a wife and behind the Almighty, that's first on yo list. That boy probably feelin' left out. You seein' to everybody's needs but his."

"But he would tell me if that's how he feels."

"Baby, I know you love that boy and know him better than anybody else but he's still a man. And men got this thing called pride that makes them act crazy sometimes. He probably too proud to tell you he's jealous of that baby. He probably shame to admit it to hisself. And that's probably why he been acting crazy."

"You really think so?" Marita asked. She started thinking back to the times when all her attention was on Sean-Michael and how little attention she had been paying Sean.

"Yeah, I think so. You say he been moody these last 3 days. How did that make you feel?"

Marita realized that she had felt shut out by him and understood how he must be feeling. In that moment she regretted her unintentional neglect of him. He was such a wonderful friend. A wonderful husband. A wonderful father. He was just wonderful. Then Marita thought about how amazing Sean was during the pregnancy. She could not have asked for any better. She realized she never did say 'thank you' to him for his extraordinary love during those difficult times.

"Baby, always remember you was Sean's wife before you was Sean-Michael's mama. I know you always gone take care of your child but don't forget you still got to take care of your husband."

Marita smiled at Aunt Eleanor. She seemed to always have the answers. And the more she thought about Sean and his feelings the more she realized that the woman in her was aching for her man.

"What would I do without you?" Marita said as she hugged Auntie's neck. "Auntie?" Marita said with a little apprehension in her voice.

"Hum?" Auntie said as they pulled back from each other.

Marita knew Sean loved her. Loved her more than anything but she was still a little self-conscious about how her body had changed after the baby.

"My body's changed some. You think Sean will want me as much when he sees me?"

Auntie could see the uncertainty in Marita's eyes as she asked her question.

"He better or I'll get my shotgun after him" Auntie teased. "Don't you worry none about that. That boy loves YOU" she said as she took Marita's face between her hands. "And if I know him half as good as I think I do, when he looks at you all he sees is beauty."

Marita kissed her Aunt and gave her another hug. Sean-Michael apparently sensed affection in the room and began whining. Auntie let go of her niece and picked up her nephew, who stopped his fussing once he got in her arms.

"I see you gone be like your Papa" Auntie said to Sean-Michael. "Making a fuss cause you ain't gettin' attention."

Marita laughed because she thought Aunt Eleanor might be right about her baby. Her little one and her big one.

****************

It was just after six when a hand from the farm came into the warehouse looking for Sean.

"Mr. Logan, you need to get home right away."

"What's the problem?" Sean asked.

"I don't know. The Mrs. just sent me to get you. She said she needs you to come home now."

"Alright" Sean said then rushed to get his hat.

Sean shouted to George Glover, his warehouse supervisor, to close up everything as he hurried out the door. He then mounted Ahab and headed toward home. His mind began to race with thoughts of fear the something was wrong. Was Sean-Michael alright? What if something happened to him?

As Sean raced Ahab home, his mind raced to thoughts of calamity. He prayed to GOD that everything was alright. That his son was fine. But why would Marita tell him he need to come home now? Something had to be wrong. Sean's heart pounded in his ears as he fought the overwhelming feeling of gloom. Feelings of guilt began to assault him. He had acted foolishly the last three days because he thought Sean-Michael had taken his place with Marita. He wanted Sean-Michael to disappear, for awhile at least, so he could have Marita all to himself. He finally admitted he was jealous of the baby and now something terrible had happened to him. When Sean got to the house, he jumped off Ahab before the horse came to a complete stop. He ran up the steps to the porch.

"Marita" he called out as he rushed into the house. "Marita!" he called again.

"I'm up here" she said from the top of the stairs.

"Is the baby alright? Is everything OK? What's wrong?" he asked frantically.

"No everything isn't OK. We have a problem."

"What's the matter?!" he said as he started up the stairs then stopped on the second step.

"My lover seems to have disappeared and I'm looking for him."

To Be Continued.......................