THE MYSTERIOUS PROTÉGE

CHAPTER TWO

10 years later.

“Mr. Kane, your 11 O clock is here,” comes my secretary’s voice blaring on the intercom attached to my desk. I look over my schedule on my work laptop to see who exactly it is. Mr. Wright it says. Great, I thought, another entitled and insensitive client I have to deal with. I pressed on the intercom, “Take him to conference room 3, I’ll be right with you.” I instruct my secretary, Sara Mathers.

I didn’t like Mr. Wright very much. He reminded me of my father, at least the little I could remember about him. I own a law firm, Kane Law Firm, it’s one of the most well-known law firms in the city, we have an excellent winning rate and our reputation precedes us. This helps us attract some of the wealthiest and prominent figures in the country. Mr. Wright is one of them, which is why I have to deal with his ‘male dominance’ kind of attitude. I stand up from my comfortable leather seat, adjusting my three-piece black Armani suit, and head to the door.

“Do you have Mr. Wright’s folder ready?” I ask Sara who is situated right in front of my office.

“Yes sir. I also informed Neil about the meeting, he said he’ll be right there with you,” Sara said, handing me the thick file.

“Thank you, Sara.” I say heading to the conference room.

Sara is very competent, I’ve maintained her for almost five years while the company grew. Looking down at the file, this has to be the thickest file in this company, Mr. Wright is here almost every other week wanting to make changes to his will or a certain law suit we have to take care of. Like I said not really my favorite client.

Entering the conference room to find Neil O’Brien, the senior partner, also he is in charge of the Wright account. “Hello Mr. Wright. How can we help you today?” I say getting straight into business. “Straight into business as usual I see. Okay then.” He says with a sigh, “I’d like you to help me file for a divorce against my gold digging and cheater wife,” he says vehemently.

I unintentionally let out an exasperated sigh, “Mr. Wright, you clearly know that both O’Brien and I don’t do divorce cases, for that I’ll have to direct to another lawyer,” I tell him.

He snickers, “Mr. Kane I don’t think you understand. I’m paying your law firm a lot of money to get the best service and I would appreciate if I would be served by the best.”

He was starting to get on my nerves, I lean forward and match his posture, “Listen to me because I’ll say this only once, I didn’t get where I am just to have to receive such arrogance from you or anyone else for that matter. I hire only the best of the best granting the best services. If you don’t like how I run my affairs you’re free to leave and go to another firm.” I said with finality, leaving no room for discussion. I stand up gathering my papers and files, “O’Brien, you will work together with Mark LeClair on Mr. Wright’s divorce. This meeting is adjourned.” I say leaving O’Brien to deal with Wright.

I head to my office, just as I sit down I hear a knock on my door, “Enter.” I say adjusting on my seat.

“Mr. Kane, Casey dropped these papers off they require your signature. Also, a Valeria Fanning left you this message. You also need to go through these files by tomorrow morning they should be at the DA’s office.” Sara explained placing files on my mahogany desk.

“Thank you, Sara,” I say and dismiss her.

It is almost 1 in the afternoon, I should be getting ready for my meeting with my mother, Jasmine Kane. My mother is deaf, she has been ever since I can remember. When I was young it was really hard to communicate with her, I didn’t know sign language nor could I read lips. One can say I didn’t really connect with my mother like most kids did with theirs. My so-called father, Nathan Parker, was always away from home. He hired a caretaker, Lynn Adams, who took care of both my mother and me. She started teaching me sign language which helped me to converse with my deaf mother from time to time.

Nathan who was rarely around and when he was, he was drunk and kept telling me it’s my fault that my mother is deaf. Or how she was more beautiful before she decided to have me. It wasn’t easy dealing with it, when I was ten years I would cry myself to sleep thinking it’s my fault that my mom was deaf, in school I was being bullied other kids telling me how my mother was a freak and I would become a freak too. I tried to defend her as much as my ten-year-old self could which wasn’t much of anything.

When I reached 18, our father left us for another younger woman just as I was about to join university. He left with everything and left us with nothing just the house that was under my mother’s name. I changed my name from Basil Parker to Kane, despite my mother disagreeing. I wanted to distance myself from my father as much as I could. My mother sold the house, we moved into a smaller apartment and we had to let Lynn go, we could no longer afford to pay her. She did promise to come to take care of my mum, which my mother disagreed strongly to saying she’s deaf not an invalid and she could take care of herself. The money from the house my mother paid for my tuition fees in campus where I went to study law.

While I was in school I researched about my mother’s condition. I discovered she had otosclerosis, a disorder that causes hearing loss due to the ear’s inability to amplify sound. The scary part was it was inheritable, so the chances of me getting it was high. I decided to learn how to read lips, it may come in handy. It was a very hard first 10 years being away from my mum, but she wrote me letters encouraging me to work hard and that she’s fine where she is at the moment. She did everything for me to have a good education and achieve my dreams and I’ll made sure to make it up to her.

After law school, I got employed at John and Jill Law Firm and I slowly raised money to start my own firm. It wasn’t going to be easy but my mum was getting older and I wanted her to have a comfortable life in her mature years. After a long time of struggling and a loan from Lace Bank, I started Kane Law Firm. I built my mum her own little cottage just at the outskirts of the city, hired guards for her which she claimed she didn’t need in the first place but I knew the kind of people I represented, in case they decided to retaliate when they’re unhappy I didn’t want my mum to be the one to pay for their unhappiness.

“Sara cancel my appointments for the rest of the day. I’ll be out of reach until tomorrow. You can also leave early if you’re done with your work for the day.” I say to her as I head to the elevator.

I head to the parking downstairs, enter my black BMW, and head out. I love the days I have to relax and have camomile tea with my mother, looking out at the endless ocean, listening to the waves crushing on the rocks, watching the sun set or as she likes to say a little civility before the chaos. She didn’t have chaos in her life but I definitely did.

As I drove through the stretch of road, away from all the noise of the city, listening to the whistling of the wind, I roll down my wind to feel the breeze on my face and just relax. I see the black gates at a distance to show I’m now home.

The guards open the gates for me and I head to the cottage, I see my mum sitting outside waiting for me, as I pull up on to the gravel driveway, I can feel the smile on her face. I go and hug her so tightly, she’s my peace.

“You looked so stressed.” She tells me in sign language, “you work too hard, never giving yourself time to relax.”

“I’m fine mother. Don’t worry about me. How are you doing? I have really missed you,” I tell her.

“I’m better now that I’ve seen you my dear,” she says with a warm smile, “I look forward to spending time with you.”

“Me too mother. Shall we?” I say directing her to the patio that faces the ocean.

“We will but you have to get comfortable. You know where to get changed. Meet me at the patio,” she says shooing me to go get changed.

That’s part of the “rules”. No formal clothing when I’m spending time with her. I go to my room and find a pair of sweat pants, a wool sweater, a pair of socks and sandals. I smile, she is really the best mother one could ever ask for. After I switched my suit for the comfortable clothes I head to the patio, she is already a seat with the china cutlery laid out on the table. I serve the camomile tea, put in cream in hers and no cream for mine.

I look into the ocean letting all my worries go and calm washes over my body. I look to my side and find my mother looking at me. She puts her teacup down and asks me, “Are you still worried about going deaf like me?”

I sigh put my teacup down, “Let’s not talk about that now mom, please?” I plead.

“Just because you don’t talk about it doesn’t mean you’re not thinking about it,” she says.

“Everything will happen at its time. Let’s enjoy this beautiful sunset at the moment.” I say concluding the discussion.

Honestly, ever since I found out about the disorder and that’s it’s inheritable, I was afraid. Each day that I wake up I wonder if maybe today is the day that I lose my hearing. I went to a specialist he told me that it was to early for him to give a prognosis. I play it cool but deep down I’m really afraid. I tried to achieve most of my dreams early so that I don’t have to worry about a lot of things when the time comes. But for now, I’ll enjoy this moment with mother and we’ll continue living one day at a time.