Chapter 24
October 7th
Tasha was glad that she, along with Adam and his friends, finished classes quite early today. She was going to take the guys up on their offer to come and see Cody. Tasha was glad that Cody would be staying over because his mother was going out with her boyfriend and his parents.
When Tasha was finished her classes for the day, she waited out the front of her campus for the guys. This would also be a good chance for Amy to meet her friends. Tasha hoped that Amy would like her friends because they were such good friends to her.
When Adam and his friends arrived, they walked to the train station and they waited for the train to come. Tasha was still excited for her friends to meet Cody because she knew that they would like him. Even Tasha liked him because he was one of the cutest little boys she had ever seen.
It wasn't long before the train arrived at Sandy Beach and Adam headed for his car. Tasha walked back to her place with Ethan, Zac and Nathan. Tasha was wishing that Adam was able to take more passengers in his car, but it wasn't like walking to her house from the train station was hard. She would have walk just this once.
...
When Tasha and her friends made it to Tasha's house, Tasha smiled when Adam got out of his car to meet them. She assumed that he would have gone inside, but clearly he wasn't. Maybe he was scared or he knew he would feel awkward. Tasha wished that Amy and Adam would get along like they used to. They used to get along quite well and Tasha hated it how they no longer got on so well.
When Tasha and her friends got inside, they all smiled when they saw Cody playing in the lounge room with his toys.
Tasha looked around.
Cody was here.
Mr Wilson wasn't here.
Nobody else was here and Tasha wondered where they were.
She hoped that Amy wasn't trying to avoid her husband and his son. There wasn't even a crying baby and it wasn't that this was odd; Tasha was just used to seeing her sister on the couch looking after and playing with Catania.
"Where is everyone?" asked Tasha as she looked at Mr Wilson who had just made his presence known.
"They have gone shopping," replied Mr Wilson.
Now Ethan, Zac and Nathan would have to wait a little longer before they could meet Amy, but Tasha was sure they wouldn't have minded.
"Are these your friends?" Mr Wilson asked.
"They are," replied Tasha, "and I wanted them to come and meet Cody."
"That's fine. But, Tasha, can I have a word?" said Mr Wilson, motion his head for Tasha to follow him outside.
Tasha nodded and then she told her friends that they could say hello to Cody. She told Adam to go first because Cody knew him and he would trust him most out of the guys.
Tasha then saw Mr Wilson looking down at his legs. She looked down to see that Cody was grasping at his father's pants.
"I won't be long, buddy," he said, "go and play with Tasha's friends," he said.
Tasha couldn't help noticing the tone in Mr Wilson's voice.
What was the problem with playing with her friends?
They weren't going to hurt Cody and Tasha knew that everyone would look after him.
Then, Tasha and Mr Wilson went outside, Tasha still wondering what this was about.
...
"You like spreading around my business, don't you?" said Mr Wilson as soon as he and Tasha were outside. He quickly shut the door behind him.
Tasha crouched down and patted Max who was lying on his bed, "Cody is still a secret? I think it would be a little hard to keep your son a secret now that he is staying with us," replied Tasha, getting very sick of Mr Wilson telling her off all the time.
"He is, but why did you have to tell your friends?"
"Oh, I don't know," Tasha snapped, getting frustrated, "maybe because they are my friends and friends talk about things."
"And Cody just happened to come up in conversation, did he?" replied Mr Wilson, still not happy.
Well, of course he did. Tasha was forced to share her room when he was staying and that wasn't very fun. So of course, she was going to tell the others why she was tired or why she wasn't concentrating in class.
"Yes, he did," said Tasha, "what is your problem? So I told a few of my friends that you have a son. What is the big deal?"
"The big deal is that you had no right to tell them that I have a son."
"Uh, yeah, I kind of do," Tasha snapped.
"Why's that?" Mr Wilson crossed his arms over his chest.
"I live here, too, so I have every right to tell people about the people living with me."
Mr Wilson just glared at Tasha.
"And," Tasha continued, "I have to share my room with him and I have every right to complain about my lack of sleep when I can't concentrate in class and then I get a bad mark."
Mr Wilson just glared at Tasha again.
Tasha was so angry right now. It seemed that everything she did with Mr Wilson was wrong and the way he was treating her was so unfair. She hated it how Mr Wilson was still determined to keep Cody a secret even though there was no point. It was stupid and Tasha hated Mr Wilson's anger.
"But you went and told them without my permission," Mr Wilson continued.
Tasha was having enough right now, "fine," she said, "I won't tell my friends anything, and next time Catania smiles at me, I will ask you if I can have your permission to tell Adam."
Tasha now felt the tears come to her eyes.
Mr Wilson was now strangely silent.
"Oh," Tasha said, now feeling a lot of tears, "and I almost forgot. Her first word. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
Mr Wilson edged forward to Tasha and went to place his hands on Tasha's shoulders, "Tasha, I didn't mean it that way."
Tasha backed away, "no, I don't care," she cried, "I am seriously sick of the way you are treating me and I have had it. I am going to be talking to Amy about this and maybe she can make you see sense."
Then Tasha stood up after giving Max a hug and then she sped off to her room. As she passed the lounge room, she lowered her eyes because she did not want the guys to see her crying.
Tasha made it to her room and she fell onto her bed. She then buried her head in her pillow and she cried. She would not be able to put up with Mr Wilson's anger and rudeness anymore and she couldn't wait for Amy to get home so she could talk to her about this.
Tasha wasn't able to cry in peace for long when she felt someone's hand on her back. Tasha rolled over and she saw Adam looking at her with concern.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," replied Tasha as she sat up and wiped her teary eyes dry.
"Then, why are you crying?"
"I am not crying. You know what it is like you when yawn and all the tears come to your eyes?"
"Not that many," said Adam, feeling Tasha's pillow after he reached behind her, "to make your pillow this wet. What's going on?"
Tasha turned to face Adam, "Ian completely snapped at me before."
"Why?"
"Because I told the guys about Cody and, once again, it was something I wasn't allowed to do."
"Are you serious? That is not fair."
"I know, it's not, and I am going to talk to Amy about it," said Tasha, "when she gets home."
"Good," replied Adam.
"And when I am done, can I come to your place? I don't want to be here tonight."
"Yeah, you can come. I'll wait for you," said Adam before he looked at the time, "what time I Amy getting home?"
Tasha also looked at the time, "she shouldn't be too much longer. Can you wait in the lounge room and when she gets in, tell her to come to my room? I know you two don't exactly get along, but can you do it?"
"I will," replied Adam, "but you do want to come out and say goodbye to the guys?"
"Can you bring them up here?" asked Tasha.
"Okay," replied Adam as he kissed Tasha on the head.
Adam soon brought the guys up and Tasha said her goodbyes, glad that they were understand and supportive. Then Adam walked the guys to the door and Tasha wondered how much longer her sister was going to be.
...
"Tash? Are you alright? What's happened?" asked Amy as she planted herself next to her sister and gave her a hug.
"Your husband," replied Tasha, a harsh tone in her voice.
"What?"
"I told my friends about Cody, I am sure you saw them, and I asked them if they wanted to come and see him," Tasha explained, still crying, "then Ian snapped at me for bringing them. He was so harsh and he yelled at me for no reason. It is like he is trying to keep Cody a secret, but that is a bit hard when Cody is here in person."
"Why would he get so mad at you?"
Tasha hadn't told Amy that she and Isabella were the ones who found Annabelle and Cody, and now it was obviously time to tell her.
"Isabella and I were the ones who found Cody," said Tasha.
"What?" asked Amy.
"We overheard Ian and his foster parents talking about his son and we learnt that his son's name is Cody. Then Isabella and I got interested so we started looking. I went into your room and started looking for clues. I found a box in your wardrobe and Adam and I had a look. We found a box with pictures of a girl and a baby and then we started looking. Isabella's boyfriend helped us find Annabelle and we talked to her. Then Annabelle decided that she wanted Ian to see Cody again and that's how Cody ended up back in his life."
"You moved the box?" asked Amy, "Ian was asking me about it before I went to the retreat."
Tasha nodded.
"You found Cody and his mother?"
Tasha nodded again.
"Tash! Why would you do that? You looked through his private stuff."
"Please, Amy, I don't want you yelling at me as well."
Amy took a breath, "I am not going to yell at you," she said, "I am just surprised that you actually went and found them."
"You're mad?" asked Tasha.
"A little, but that doesn't matter. You wanted what was best for Cody, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Okay. You can stay here, and I will talk to Ian for you."
"I am not going to stay here," said Tasha, "I am going to go to Adam's place."
"Why?" asked Amy.
"Because I can't be here when Ian is in a mood like this. You understand, don't you?"
"Yeah, I understand. Make sure you are back in the morning so I can talk to you."
"I will. Thanks, Amy."
"That's okay."
Amy stood up and she went to talk to her husband while Tasha started packing her things. She was glad that Amy seemed to be on her side and she was going to make things better with Mr Wilson. Tasha knew that she wouldn't have been able to put up with his moods for much longer.
...
The next morning, after Tasha had had breakfast at Adam's house, she walked back to her own house. After spending the night with Adam, she found that she felt a lot better and that was good. Now she just hoped that Mr Wilson would feel better and feel the need to apologise to her for his rudeness.
Tasha then made her way inside when she got back to her house. Amy was quickly there to greet her little sister and, by the look of things, her talk with her husband went well. Tasha just wanted to hear Amy tell her how good it was because then she would feel better. Amy then motioned her head for Tasha to join her on the couch in the lounge room. Tasha sat down quickly, eager to hear what Amy had to say.
"I spoke to Ian," said Amy.
"What did he say?" replied Tasha.
"He knows that he shouldn't have spoken to you the way he did and he is very sorry."
"Why did he speak to me like that?"
"He said that he had had a hard day marking and he wasn't expecting to have to look after Cody. He also said that he had a bad headache and he wasn't in the mood for visitors."
Tasha thought that that was a pretty pathetic excuse.
But she didn't say anything.
"But he had no right to take it out on me."
"I know, and I told him that," said Amy, "Tash, he is truly sorry."
"I am," said a voice after he joined Tasha and Amy on the couch.
"I can't believe you spoke to me like that," said Tasha, fighting the tears that were coming. She also moved over so Mr Wilson would have room on the couch.
"I know, and I am very sorry. Amy explained to you why I was so grumpy?"
Tasha nodded.
"I am so sorry. You had every right to talk to your friends about Cody and you were right; friends do talk to each other. I am not mad at you anymore and I shouldn't have been mad at you last night."
"Are you being serious?" asked Tasha, "because you have been getting angry with me a lot. I thought we were getting somewhere."
"I thought we were, too, and I would like to get back to that."
Tasha smiled, satisfied that this was indeed a sincere apology, "I would like that as well."
With that, Mr Wilson returned the smile and opened his arms for Tasha to hug him. Tasha was hesitant, but she hugged him all the same. This was the best apology Mr Wilson had ever given her and Tasha was going to make the most of it.
"So," said Tasha, releasing herself from Mr Wilson's hug, "what do you guys think of my friends?"
"They are nice," replied Amy, "how did you meet them?"
"Adam introduced us," replied Tasha.
"Nice. Well, they have my approval."
"Thanks, not that I was asking for it," Tasha smiled before she looked at Mr Wilson, "and what did you think of them?"
"Nice, but one of them does look a little older," replied Mr Wilson.
"That was Nathan and is only twenty-two."
"Oh."
"So, he is not old."
"Okay, he's not old," said Mr Wilson as he got up, "I should get Cody home."
Amy and Tasha nodded.
Mr Wilson then looked at Tasha, "do you want to come with me? We can talk."
Amy looked at Tasha and nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. She was clearly telling Tasha that she should go and it would be a good idea. Tasha decided that it would give her a good chance to talk with Mr Wilson so Tasha couldn't have agreed more right now.
"Okay, I'll come," said Tasha, "I'll just got and get my things."
Tasha was beaming right now. That was the best apology she had gotten from Mr Wilson and maybe this meant that he wouldn't get angry with her any more. Tasha loved this and maybe things would be better from now on.