Chapter 17- A Motherly Love

The Authority Office

Stephanie was pre-occupiedly typing an annual finance report on her laptop, when the sound of the phone ringing distracted her focus and she frowned slightly. She had reminded her secretary, Kaitlyn to block any calls today except from particular clients because she had to finish the financial summary for the following board meeting but she pressed the answer button anyway.

"Kaitlyn, I told you not to take any calls for me, "She reprimanded her secretary. "Who's on the line? "

"I'm sorry, ma'am, " Kaitlyn answered nervously, "It's Mr. Kane's school teacher, Mr. Colter. He wants to speak to you about your son. Mr. Kane wasn't attending school today."

Stephanie groaned. Kane again. Perfect time to ruin a morning of business. But then again, this is not the first time Kane had been doing his antics and certainly not the last time. She had lost count of how many times she had received phone calls regarding Kane screwing this and ruining that in the middle of her working.

"What's my husband was up to, Kaitlyn? " Stephanie asked calmly, struggling to hold back her temper.

"Uh, he was in conference room with a client. Shall I get Beth to call him, ma'am? " Kaitlyn offered.

"No,Kaitlyn, thanks." Stephanie said. " Tell Mr. Colter I'm a little busy and I will call him back ASAP. " She ordered solemnly.

"Yes, ma'am. Anything else? " Kaitlyn asked.

"Nothing for now, thank you, Kaitlyn."

She stood up from her chair and let out a deep breath , headed towards the office window and leaned against the glass surface as she threw her sights outside of the building, suddenly losing her focus on the report she was supposed to finish by today. She debated whether to call the school teacher or to call Kane himself, but eventually she decided it wouldn't make any difference.

Kane, Kane, Kane.

The child had done nothing but had been messing with his parents head ever since he had learned how to walk . Stephanie didn't know what the hell was wrong with her eldest son, who had been driving her and Hunter up to the wall since he was a toddler. When she had gave birth to him sixteen years ago, she and Hunter were not exactly prepared for parenthood, but they had been very excited and thrilled to welcome their first kid, until Kane grew up to become a real handful to handle.

All Kane's babysitters quit their job after one week taking care of him because he was not an easy child to look after and always found a way to cause a huge mess and trouble in the house. He grew up healthy and normal like the other kids , but there was something about him that strangely did not fitting in with the the family. When he was a toddler he almost gave Hunter heart attack when Kane had took a can of paint into his father's study library and spilled all the liquid all over the book shelves and the desk. On Christmas morning at his grandfather's residence, everybody freaked out to find Kane had woke up earlier only to destroy the pine tree and literally cutting all the green ornaments, littering them on the floor. He had tore up all the presents and scattered all the stuff around. It was the last time Stephanie and Hunter were allowed by her father to bring Kane into his house.

Once, Kane begged to have a dog, so Hunter figured out maybe a pet would help Kane become less troublesome, so he bought a puppy for his son. The next week he had to give the puppy away because Kane had creatively pasted colorful stickers all over the puppy's fur, and Hunter was forced to take the puppy to a vet clinic to have the stickers removed.

There were just few of stuff Kane did in his childhood and it got worse when Randy was born and Kane went to school. Luckily Randy was a good boy when he was a small child and did not cause much trouble, but still Stephanie and Hunter struggled with their business career and a toddler to look after and Kane's teacher kept calling them to inform how Kane was driving them crazy in school, bullying other kids, causing mess in classes and irritating the teachers out with his antics.

When she had Seth a few years later and Kane was thirteen, his grandfather asked Stephanie to send him to boarding school to ease the burden she was carrying, but it did not last long. After a month in the boarding school, the principle sent Kane home after he set up a prank to his dorm mates in midnight and almost cost a student's life due to asthma attack because of Kane's crazy shenanigan.

His wild behavior reduced slightly when Hunter transferred Kane to the public school, where he befriended Mark,the local undertaker's son, and Kane started to distance himself from the family, rarely spending time at home except when Stephanie grounded him, but he'd still attempted to pave his way out of the punishment by breaking his mother's rules. He'd disappear after school hours and only would return late at night, but both Hunter and Stephanie had became too tired to look into his matters anymore, since Seth and Randy required their attention too. When Kane passed his driving test and Hunter bought him his favorite car, they had stopped bugging him and decided to just overpass to whatever he was up to. Except when Kane sometimes still got himself into trouble and Hunter had to bail him, but other than that, both of them completely gave up on him since then.

Somehow Kane wasn't really all that bad either, he was actually doing just well in school and he barely passed good grades, and all the teachers informed Stephanie that Kane was really a talented student, except for the fact his attitude sometimes was really hard to handle. He had a nasty temper, which Stephanie only guess, runs in the McMahon family. Sometimes if Kane was grounded, he played with his younger brothers and helped them with school assignments, or sometimes helping their housekeeper cooking in the kitchen. That was a small part Stephanie loved about him despite his shenanigan, but other than that, she felt like wishing she had not giving birth to Kane.

Where had it all went wrong with you Kane? Didn't she try hard enough to be a good mother to him? Why among of all her sons it was only Kane who seemed to be the missing piece of the McMahon generation? Even Stephanie's father despised Kane, saying he must had been the wrong gene of the family. Randy and Seth did not turn out to be like Kane, yet, but part of Stephanie feared that it would happen someday. She dreaded the day Randy and Seth would gradually following Kane's rebellious ways, and that was why she was impatient to send Kane away to the military school. She hoped that Steve , Hunter's long time friend, would teach Kane a thing or two about discipline and respect and, plus could avoid his brothers from looking up on him as their role models. She was worried when Randy lately started to show rebelling signs, but he was still in control, as he and Seth had always been at loggerheads, but Randy always apologize to his father and listened to his advice and lecture, much to Stephanie's relief. It seemed like Randy was close to Hunter while Seth was more to Stephanie but Kane was entirely on his own.

Stephanie felt her eyes were clouded by small tears as she reminiscing the memories and how last night she and Kane were fighting again. This morning, they had not spoke to each other, and Kane informed his father that he would drive his brothers to school and pick them up later. She wondered where had Kane gone after dropping off the boys , but she decided not to call him. She was getting tired of the argument, it felt like Kane was getting further and further from her distance and she could not reach out to him anymore. If they had been husband and wife, she surely had filed for divorce, but it was her son, her own flesh and blood and the that was the saddest part about it. She was losing him, she felt he was already gone before he even go to college.

She was once again were disturbed with the sound of the door was knocked, and Stephanie hurriedly wiped her teary eyes, straightening her hair and pulled out a serious face expression in business like manner. "Come in! " She called out as she returned to her desk.

Beth, her husband's secretary popped in. "Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but your husband wants to see you right away. He want you to meet our potential client Mr and Mrs. Carter. They are still in conference room, "She politely said.

"Thank you , Beth. I'll be right away, " Stephanie nodded and immediately made her way towards the door, decided to proceed with business as usual and made a mental note to dismiss Mr. Colter's phone call from her mind.