Chapter 11
March 11th
Isabella knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate as soon as she got back to RayBourne the next week. She couldn't stop thinking about Mr Wilson and his secret son.
Isabella couldn't believe that he had a son.
He kept his son a secret for three years now.
Why would he do something like that?
During her lecture on business studies, Isabella was trying to take notes, but she couldn't. The worst part about her course was that it involved some business studies, and these were the most boring subjects that she had. Isabella was trying to concentrate, but her thoughts on Cody were far more interesting than business and numbers.
...
Isabella was glad when her two hour lecture was finally over and she could think about Mr Wilson.
She wanted to talk about it.
She especially wanted to talk about it with her boyfriend, but she didn't feel right about spreading the news even further. Isabella decided that she would talk to Ryan because, obviously, Tasha would have told Adam about this.
Isabella met her boyfriend in the café and she decided that she was going to talk to him about Mr Wilson.
So she told him.
"Wow," said Ryan, "you had a full on weekend, didn't you?"
Isabella nodded.
"Are you going to look for the mother and son?"
Isabella nodded again.
"I can help if you like," Ryan suggested.
Isabella smiled, "thanks," she replied.
"That's okay. So, how are Destiny and Kahli?"
"They are both fine. I wanted to bring Storm home last weekend but I think he's getting sick of the travelling back and forth," said Isabella.
"Yeah," Ryan agreed, "but I took good care of him while you were gone. He and Sheebah have been getting along quite well."
Sheebah was Ryan's feisty skewbald mare who Ryan absolutely loved working with. Although she was a handful, Ryan enjoyed training her and she was making a lot of progress. It was almost like she was turning into a different horse with all her training and it was good to hear that she was getting along with Storm.
"That's great," said Isabella.
"Do you want to come and see them?" asked Ryan, "I put them in the paddock this morning."
Isabella smiled. She would have put Storm in the paddock by herself, but she had an early morning lecture. That was one of the reasons why she loved her boyfriend; he would always be there to help out.
"Yeah, okay, let's go," said Isabella as she stood up with what was left of her lunch and she headed for the paddock.
...
It wasn't long before Isabella and Ryan made it to the paddock and Isabella couldn't help but smile when she saw the two horses in the paddock. They stood together in the middle of the paddock grazing. They would occasionally nip each other in the face playfully and it was so cute. Isabella smiled as she watched the pair of them.
"I think Storm is a good influence for Sheebah," Ryan smiled.
"Why?" asked Isabella.
"Look at how quiet and well-behaved she is."
"Yeah, she is quieter than normal, isn't she?"
Ryan nodded, "and that is good. She is so much easier to work with after she has spent some time with Storm."
"I am glad to see my horse can pass on his wisdom to the younger generation," Isabella joked.
"And to his daughter."
Isabella nodded.
And she smiled.
It was nice talking to her boyfriend and Isabella was glad that he offered to help out with everything.
She believed that she couldn't be any luckier right now.
...
Amy was seated on the end of her bed.
It was the middle of the afternoon and she was still in her pajamas.
Catania was crying her head off and Amy had tried everything to make her stop.
She had even referred to her books that Ian had told her not to and they weren't even helping.
Amy looked at her daughter who was still in her arms.
She was still crying and Amy couldn't stop her.
Amy wanted to scream.
Why wouldn't Catania listen to her?
It wasn't fair.
She was supposed to be the baby's mother and she was having such a hard time looking after her.
Why did Ian make it look so easy?
And it wasn't long before Ian came into Amy's bedroom and he took the baby from his wife's arms. Ian then looked at Catania and burped her. Catania then stopped crying and Amy searched madly through her parenting books.
"How did you know how to do that? The books say nothing," said Amy.
Ian knew exactly how to burp a baby and when she needed to be burped. As soon as he entered Amy's room, he could see his daughter squirming and fidgeting. It was exactly what Cody used to do when he needed to be burped.
"I just wondered whether you had tried burping her," said Ian.
"I can't do it, Ian, I can't be a mother," sighed Amy.
"Honey, you can. You just have to believe in yourself," replied Ian.
"I can't."
"Yes, you can. I will help you. You just have to let me."
Amy just lowered her eyes.
"Come on. You are going to give Catania to your mum and dad and we are going to go on a walk," said Ian.
"Why?" replied Amy.
"You need some fresh air and so do I. Catania needs to spend some time with her grandparents."
"How do you know everything she needs?"
"I don't, I am guessing, just like you," said Ian.
"But your guesses are always right and mine are always wrong," replied Amy.
"Don't blame yourself, honey. It is not easy to look after a baby."
"How do you know?" Amy cried, "we are both first time parents, and you still seem to get everything right."
Ian didn't know what to say. It felt like he was just about to tell his wife about Cody and he didn't want to tell her. For one thing, he wanted to forget about his lost son and, another thing, he didn't want to make Amy feel any worse. In the mood she was in, she would have yelled at him and called him a liar.
"Ian?" asked Am.
Ian came back to reality, "I don't know," he said, "these are just ideas. Now, let's go on a walk."
With that, Ian held out his free hand and helped Amy up. Then Amy went to have a shower and get dressed and while she was doing that, Ian went to give the baby to her grandparents. As he was walking out of Amy's room, he bumped into Tasha.
"What are you doing?" asked Tasha. She sounded angry and Ian wondered what was bothering her.
"I am going to ask your mum and dad if they can take Catania for a while. Amy and I are going to go for a walk," replied Ian.
"Why didn't you tell Amy?" asked Tasha.
Ian was confused.
Tell Amy what?
He didn't know what to tell her.
"Tell her what?" asked Ian.
"Don't act like you don't know," said Tasha, "I know about Cody."
Ian was not expecting to hear that. Now he didn't know what to do, "stay here," he said.
He needed to sort this out.
...
"How do you know about Cody?" asked Mr Wilson after he returned to Tasha and led her to her room.
"I heard you talking with Mr and Mrs Doyle," replied Tasha.
"You were eavesdropping? What have Amy and your parents told you about eavesdropping?"
Mr Wilson groaned. He now knew why Tasha didn't want to go home when he asked.
"I am not seventeen anymore," said Tasha.
"Sometimes you act as though you are," replied Mr Wilson.
Tasha just glared at Mr Wilson.
That was low.
"Who else knows?" asked Mr Wilson.
"Just me, Isabella and Adam," replied Tasha.
"It is a habit of yours to spread other peoples' business around?"
Tasha sighed. She wasn't going to answer that because she knew that she would get angry and she knew that she would make Mr Wilson's anger worse.
"Tell me about Cody," said Tasha.
"You know all you need to know," replied Mr Wilson.
"But he is your son. Do you know where he is?"
Mr Wilson shook his head.
"Don't you want to find him?"
Mr Wilson shook his head again.
"Why?"
"I have told you, Tasha, you know everything you need you need to know. Now, can you leave it at that?"
"I can't. he is my nephew. I want to meet him," said Tasha.
"He is not your nephew," Mr Wilson snapped, "now, leave it alone."
"Then Isabella is Cody's aunty and she wants to meet him."
"Both of you are not going to meet him and I don't want to find him. Now, drop it."
"Why are you getting so angry about this?"
"Because you are sticking your nose where it isn't wanted. If I say I don't want to find Cody, I mean it."
"But..." Tasha started.
"No buts, Tasha. Leave it," replied Mr Wilson.
With that, Mr Wilson went into his room to see if Amy was ready. It seemed that she was and it wasn't long before she was off with Mr Wilson on their walk. Tasha decided that now was as good a time as any to see if Mr Wilson had anything that could help her find Cody. She went into Amy's room and scanned it. There had to be something in there that could help.
Tasha then bent down and looked under Amy's bed.
It was completely clean.
Then she looked in the draws of Mr Wilson's bedside table.
There was nothing in their either.
Then Tasha walked into Amy's wardrobe and looked in Mr Wilson's side.
She assumed that the side with all of the man's clothing was Mr Wilson's side.
She couldn't picture Mr Wilson in one of Amy's dresses.
Tasha moved Mr Wilson's clothes out of the way and started searching the floor.
There was nothing there and Tasha couldn't believe how neat and tidy Mr Wilson kept everything.
Then Tasha stood up.
She looked at the shelves on the top of the wardrobe and there seemed to be some boxes.
Tasha wanted to look in them.
But she wasn't tall enough to look so she went into her room and got her desk chair.
When Tasha got back to her room, she was surprised when she saw Adam coming.
She didn't even hear a knock at the door.
Maybe she was too caught up in her own thoughts about Mr Wilson and Cody that she couldn't hear anything else.
"Adam," she said, "what are you doing here?"
"Do I have a reason to visit you?" replied Adam before he eyed Tasha's desk chair that she was wheeling out of her room, "what's that for?"
"I am looking for something."
Adam crossed his arms, "looking for what?"
"I want to find Cody."
"So?"
"I need to see if Mr Wilson has anything that will give me a clue to where he is," said Tasha.
"No, you don't. It isn't your place to step in," replied Adam.
"It is. Even though Ian is saying he doesn't want to find Cody, I can tell he really wants to. I can tell he wants to see his son again."
"And if I had a secret son, would you do the same thing?"
Tasha nodded.
"Sure you would," Adam said sarcastically.
"Look, you can either go or help me. But I am still going to look."
"Fine, I'll help."
Then, when that was done, Tasha and Adam went back to Amy's room and Tasha wheeled her desk chair into the wardrobe. She then stepped onto the chair and Adam placed his hands on Tasha's hips to keep her steady.
"So, what are you looking for?" asked Adam.
"I don't know. Anything," replied Tasha as she begun moving things out of the way.
Then then set her eyes on a box.
There had to be something in it so she slid the box closer to her and pulled it down.
Adam removed one hand from her hip and helped Tasha bring the box to the floor.
Then he helped Tasha get down from the chair.
Tasha then sat on the chair and opened the box and then she started digging through it. There was much in it; just a few books and some photos. Tasha then started looking at the photos. There were a few pictures that were not very interesting, but it wasn't long before Tasha same across some good ones. There was a picture of a brown haired girl in a school uniform.
Actually, there were a few pictures of this girl.
"He doesn't have a secret daughter as well, does he?" asked Adam, taking the picture from Tasha's hands.
"I thought you were not interested," Tasha teased.
"Okay, maybe just a bit."
"Well, I don't think he has a secret daughter. This girl looks to be old to be his daughter."
"How old do you think she is?"
"Maybe she is eighteen. In year twelve."
Tasha then returned her attention to the box and she started looking at the other photos. Tasha then saw a picture of a young baby.
It had to be Cody.
Then Tasha saw a picture of the brown haired girl with the baby.
"The mother," said Tasha, "she's the mother of his child. We found her."
Tasha couldn't believe it.
She had done it.
She had found what she needed to find.
"Have we?" asked Adam, "she could be his sister or someone."
"He doesn't have a sister. He is an orphan, remember? His only sister is Isabella, and this is definitely not Isabella."
Adam just nodded.
He realised his mistake.
Then Tasha kept looking. She found a book and it seemed to be something from a school. Tasha looked through the book. It was a college magazine from Langheights Secondary School. Tasha flipped through the book and it wasn't long before she came across a picture page of the students. Tasha scanned the pictures to see if she could find this girl and before long, Tasha came across a picture that looked familiar.
"Annabelle Davidson," said Tasha before she looked at Adam, asking him for the picture of the girl.
Tasha looked at the picture of Annabelle in the book and then she looked at the other picture.
"Adam, it's the same girl, isn't it?" she asked.
Adam looked closer at the two pictures, "it could be," he replied.
"Could be?"
"Well, how do we know for certain? There could be so many Annabelle's in the world."
"Yeah, but there will only be a few Annabelle Davidson's, won't there?"
"I suppose."
"This is who we are looking for," said Tasha, "do you know what we should do next?"
"I think I will regret saying this, but we have to find out where she lives," replied Adam.
"I need to talk to Isabella."
With that, Tasha took a photo of everything that she needed with her phone and then she put everything that she had found away. Then she and Adam took the desk chair back to her room. She then opened her laptop and facetimed Isabella, hoping that her best friend would answer.
"Hi, Tasha," said Isabella when she finally answered the call.
"Hey, I found something," replied Tasha.
"What?"
"Annabelle Davidson. I think she is the mother of Cody."
"Okay."
"Now what?"
Isabella turned her head to see that Ryan was with her. She called him to come over and he greeted Tasha and Adam.
"I think I know an Annabelle Davidson. She is a waitress and she works at a local café," said Ryan.
Well.
This guy was going to come in handy.
Tasha liked him already.
"Great," said Tasha before she pulled out her phone from her pocket and put it up close to the laptop to show the photos, "it is not very clear, but does this look like her?"
Ryan leaned forward and looked at the picture, "yeah, that's her. She looks a little older now, but I am pretty sure that is her."
Tasha and Isabella smiled at each other, "we will come up on the weekend. We will talk to her."
"Okay," replied Isabella, "we will see you on the weekend, then. Do you mind if Ryan comes? He has offered to help."
"That's okay. He can come because Adam will be coming as well."
Adam looked at his girlfriend.
Okay, so she didn't tell him he would be coming before this.
"See you on the weekend," said Isabella.
"Okay, bye," replied Tasha.
Tasha was excited, but she was also now angry again. Mr Wilson shouldn't have kept this a secret, especially from his family. Now Tasha couldn't wait for the weekend so she could meet this Annabelle. Tasha hoped that it would work because she wanted Mr Wilson to be reunited with his son again.