THE HONOURABLE MAN

Episode 57

Soon after Bryce and Courtney head to the bathroom to give baby Kiandra a night time bath, Kiana leaves Sam to watch over Bryan and she quietly dashes upstairs. Standing outside Courtney's bedroom she glances over her shoulder to make sure the coast is clear. When she is convinced no one will show up, she mutely opens the door and finds her sister's phone placed on charger next to the lamp.

She plucks it off the charger and plops down on the bed. "I hope this is going to work," she prays.

The front camera of the phone, screens her face and a brief moment later a message appears on the screen, 'face not recognized' then the words 'no match flash' on the phone. Kiana sighs with discouragement. On her way to return the phone where she found it, she takes a glimpse of herself in the mirror and a thought strikes her.

Courtney always has her hair let loose and because Kiana is a busy mom she prefers to keep her hair tied into a bun so the baby won't pull it and to make sure her long hair doesn't get in the way whilst she is busy with her house chores.

She lets loose her hair and it tumbles down her shoulders. She faces Courtney's phone once again and in less than five seconds it flashes the words "match found" and it unlocks.

She breathes a sigh of relief as she plumps down onto the bed. For a second. she hesitates to go through her sister's phone, feeling guilty to be invading her privacy but she needs to know the truth and her sister is never going to tell her anything. She convinces herself that it's the right thing to do and it's not like she is going through her messages or pictures, she just wants to get Gareth's contacts.

She clicks on the contacts icon and types the word "Gareth" on the search bar and there is no match found. She tries the words hubby, love, babe, honey but still no match. She then scrolls down the contact list one by one hoping to come across a name that may mean something.

She comes across a contact saved as "MIL" and she copies it to her phone hoping it stands for Mother In Law, meaning Gareth's mother. Once she is done she quickly puts back the phone on charger and bolts out of the room.

Courtney impatiently waits for the baby's bath to be over so she can get back to doing anything else that doesn't involve the word baby.

Bryce grins at her as he thanks her for helping bath her niece. She flashes him a fake smile and she couldn't get away from him fast enough. Kiandra falls asleep soon after bathing and her father tucks her in.

Minutes later, Kiana and her husband are finally alone in their room, "So...did we win?" He impatiently asks.

"Yes we did....what did I tell you huh? You and I make the baddest team," she flashes him a  wide victory smile.

"That's great...I hope whatever we find will be enough to send Courtney packing,"

"I hope so too...but she really has been on her best behavior lately. Ever since I gave her a warning," she responds.

"If she really has changed she wouldn't have pretended to be sick just to have an excuse to skip your family lunch instead she would have told you the truth of what's going on with her...I don't want someone like her around my children," he sternly utters.

Kiana is a bit fazed by his statement, her eyes widen and her expression reveals her sadness and uncertainty.

"Don't you think you are over reacting a little? We don't know what Courtney is hiding and why? Let's just cut back on the judgments until we know the truth," she pouts.

Bryce observes his wife's pained expression and realizes he must have hurt her feelings. He had forgotten that although Courtney is a handful person she is still her sister and she will always care about her.

He pulls her into his arms, his hands wrapped around her tiny waist. "I'm sorry sweetheart....I shouldn't have been that harsh...I guess I still haven't forgiven her for the mean and inconsiderate things she said to Sam. You know...he is still hurting over her words," he apologizes.

Hearing his apologetic words makes her feel much better, she sighs and rests her head against his hard chest. After a long moment they pull apart and hop into bed.

"I couldn't find Gareth's number," she informs.

"What! But I...I thought you said we won?" He gapes at her.

"That's because I found his mother's number instead...I think," she bites her lower lip with uncertainty.

"What do you mean...you think?"

"It was written MIL and I'm guessing that stands for mother in law,"

"Why would she not have Gareth's number but have his mother's number instead?"

"You are asking the wrong person...I don't know! But my guess is she forgot to delete it and she probably has Gareth's number saved as douchebag or jackass... who knows?" She rolls her eyes.

"So what are you going to say to his mother...if that is his mother?"

"Obviously I can't tell her I'm the sister of her daughter in law and I would like to have her son's phone number. She will ask me why I can't get it from my sister." She mutters with her eyes staring down. Later she peers up at her husband with a struck expression on her face.

"Oh no... not that look again, what do you want me to do now?" He shuts his eyelids for a few seconds.

"Honey...I need you to call Gareth's mom," she smiles brightly.

"And say what?" He defiantly mumbles.

"You can say you have a job offer for him or you are an old friend of his and you lost his contacts somehow and you need to get in touch with him," she lifts up both her eyebrows.

Bryce mulls over her words for a short moment.

"Okay that could work but,"

"But what?"

"How will I explain where I got her number from?"

"Oh...that," she exhales.

"Yeah...that," he repeats after her.

"What if she won't ask?" She says.

"What if she does? We can't take that chance, I need to be ready to give her a good convincing answer," he says.

"I know...you are right...this is exhausting, let's just sleep on it. We will figure something out tomorrow," she says as she gets herself into her sleeping position, ready to drift away to a peaceful sleep.

***

Life gets back to normal as the long holiday ends, the kids go back to school and Kiana and Bryce get back to their demanding jobs. This leaves Courtney to celebrate having the entire house all to herself until evening when everyone gets back home. Since Courtney is around Sam dreads going home after knocking off at school in the afternoon therefore he heads to Kiana's nursery school and volunteers to help out with anything.

After being used to spending weeks at home together as a family, going out, sleeping more and having fun, everyone is afflicted by feelings of intense dread, anguish and wistfulness at the thought of leaving all of that behind to spend hours apart and away from home.

The first day back to the real world is usually the toughest. Bryce has a sinking feeling when it comes to tackling the backlog of work he left behind and not forgetting the mounting emails that he has to respond to and important meetings scheduled for his return.

He starts the day with a meeting with all his wonderful employees whom he values and treats with a huge amount of respect. They are the most professional, reliable and results oriented team, he couldn't ask for better employees.

A couple of hours later, he calls his wife to ask how her first day of work is going and if she is coping well with the baby. She informs him its anguish as she misses cuddling up with him on the couch.

Sam also has a hard time staying focused at school during classes but he is thrilled to be around his friends again and swapping their thrilling adventurous stories.

The family gets together back at home in the evening at nearly dinner time. They are stunned when Courtney informs them she has already cooked dinner and she will be warming up the dishes in the microwave in a bit. "I'm really hungry and in need of a proper eat able meal," Bryce frantically states, clearly dreading a repeat of Courtney's disastrous cooking.

"You and me both sweetheart," she worriedly grits her teeth.

To their surprise, Courtney serves them mouth watering food, they stare amazed at the braised beef cheek with mashed potatoes, fresh pasta with wild mushrooms. Kiana and Bryce share a look before peering at Courtney in stunned silence.

"What...why are you looking at me like that?" She blinks.

"Uh...I guess...I'm...I mean we are just surprised, I sure hope this tastes as good as it looks," she grins as she cuts the steak and throws it into her mouth. Courtney watches with delight as her sister shuts her eyes relishing the delicious taste.

"This tastes great...do you have some more?" Bryce asks as he greedily gulps down his food.

Courtney laughs in an amused manner, "No...I'm afraid there isn't any left but don't forget there is dessert, I'm sure it will help fill you up," she simpers.

"You outdid yourself sis, this is delicious...thank you so much for cooking for us," Kiana praises.

"It was my pleasure," she responds.

Sam feels he also has to say something nice since everyone else has complimented Courtney's dish, he doesn't want to seem jealous or hateful. He clears his throat and averts his eyes from Courtney.

"The food is delicious...aunt Courtney, thank you" he manages to say even though he felt like the words were being choked out of him.

"why, thank you Sam," Courtney casts him a quick wry smile.

Following dinner she surprises them once again by volunteering to take care of the dirty dishes.

"Weren't you the one who said you are not a machine therefore you cannot cook and also do dishes?" Kiana asks.

Courtney takes a moment to respond, "Well...I was thinking since you spent the rest of the day working you should get some rest. You don't have to worry my kindness is only for today," she states.

"Fine but Sam will help you out,"

"No!" She curtly blurts.

When she sees that her response has left her sister astounded, she explains, "I'm sure Sam is also tired...I will manage on my own,"

"Suit yourself," Kiana says before striding away.

"Aunt Kiana...doesn't it seem like aunt Courtney is hiding something?" Sam whispers.

"Sam! What makes you think that?"

"I just find it strange that she would want to do the dishes, she hates that," he suspiciously frowns.

"Don't read too much into everything Sam... people can surprise you," Kiana responds.

Later in the day when everyone has headed upstairs to their bedrooms. Sam sneaks in to the kitchen and looks around for anything suspicious. While wandering around he accidentally knocks downs the kitchen bin and its contents spill to the floor. He sighs wearily as he searches for a dust pan to scoop up the mess and put it bag in the bin.

While at it he comes across a crumbled takeaway bag written "Sarito takeaways" his eyes widen when it crosses his mind that Courtney ordered takeaways and pretended to have been the one who cooked.

"So this is what she was hiding...I should have known better that she isn't capable of cooking a decent meal," he smirks.

He can't figure out why she would lie about such an insignificant matter and he conceives the discovery is not worth his foster parents time therefore he doesn't plan on telling them about it.

"I spoke to Gareth's mother and she is such a sweet friendly lady. I can't believe she gave me her son's contact details without asking any questions," he informs his wife while curled up in bed.

She is astonished by the surprising news, "You didn't tell me you were going to call her today," she gazes at him quizzically.

"That's because I didn't know I had to tell you," he wrinkles his eye brows.

"What did you say to her?" she curiously peers at him.