Earlier this year, Jessa Duggar posted about a small home improvement project.

Following that Instagram video, she shared … nothing whatsoever. Jessa remained totally absent for months.

Only in the last week, in September, has she returned to social media.

Jessa is showing sweet photos of her kids. But what happened?

In May, Jessa showed off a device — one that would slowly and automatically close one of the house’s doors — that she and her husband had installed.

(There are hinges that serve the same function in a less intrusive manner, but maybe those wouldn’t have worked. Not really our business)

Anyway, it took until the past week for Jessa to return to Instagram. For much of May, and all of June, July, and August, Jessa has been a ghost. Figuratively. We suspect that she does not believe in literal ghosts.

Interestingly, Jessa’s new photos show some adorable snapshots of her kids. But none of her.

She also offered no explanation for the extended absence. It’s not like, say, Josh had a new scandal.

Jessa did comment that “It’s been a good summer” with a series of white heart emojis. (Also, notice that Jill commented in a friendly way … which is interesting, for reasons that we’ll get into momentarily)

There is a prevailing fan theory behind Jessa’s extended absence.

That theory is the belief that Jessa is pregnant with Baby #5. And that she’s holding off on unveiling this news.

Even the comments under these very Instagram posts include fans congratulating her on the pregnancy. (Just a note: don’t do that until someone announces it themselves, okay?)

Meanwhile, there’s another theory floating around. And it’s making more and more sense.

What if Jessa has been avoiding social media because of all of the well-deserved negative publicity that the despicable Duggar family has received?

Between the Shiny Happy People documentary and Jill’s upcoming memoir, Counting The Cost, more and more people are coming to understand this sinister cult.

Which, in turn, could mean that Jill’s friendly, complimentary comment was also a bit of an “I see you.”

Did Jessa return to social media to preempt Jill’s memoir somehow? Perhaps to capitalize off of increased attention by placing adds to a wider audience?

If Jessa does any sort of promotion in the next couple of weeks, we’ll have our answer. In another sense, we’ll have a different piece of news if she tells us anything related to Baby #5.

Jessa Duggar Returns to Instagram After Mysterious Hiatus, Is Hiding Something was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.