Fatebound

Chapter Eighteen: Records

A few days later, Brea had decided to listen to Miranda's previous idea and head to the library to see if they could pull up any historical records that might help point her towards her fathers whereabouts.

Brea didn't think that she would be able to bear it if she found out that after all this he was dead. Especially considering that would mean that there would be next to no one left in this world she was close too. Not that she was close to her father yet, but the more she looked for him the more she began to feel certain that she would at the very least like to try to be.

He was after all her father, and Brea had only ever heard one side of the story, not to mention the fact that the story she did hear had holes in it that had yet to be mended. Brea had no clue what had actually happened between her parents to cause them to never see each other again, but she was determined to find out.

Besides, she hadn't even met him yet, so Brea felt that she should really give him the benefit of the doubt at least until she knew exactly what had gone on in their past.

When Brea had once again studied her mothers journal, hoping that she might find more clues than she had before, she had been able to just barely make out the last letter of her fathers first name which ended with a H.

Although that wasn't much to go on, it was something and Brea just had to hope that it might lead her to where she needed to go.

When she got to the library she smiled and politely greeted the librarian who was sitting at the front desk. When she had asked her if they had any ways to look into historical records of births, deaths and marriages in the town of Skye, she had lead her to the correct section and provided her with numerous old looking books.

"If this way looks a little daunting, you can always use the website on one of our computers, that helps you find family members." Brea's ears pricked up at that. As much as she loved old books, and she really did love old books, reading through them all sounding like quite the task.

So she made sure to thank the librarian as she made her way to a free computer and opened up the website.

The site asked Brea for her first and last name, along with some details of her known families names. She inputted the data carefully and waited with baited breath as the little blue circle sped around. Once the search had loaded, what Brea found was not a surprise in the least.

As she scrolled through the details that had popped up her heart grew heavy.

The site had only listed family members and ancestors she already knew about from her mothers side of the family, it did not seam to have any information about her father.

Brea sighed. It wasn't the sites fault of course, she would have had to have information about her father of some kind such as his name, in order to do a proper search. But it was just so hard when she had next to nothing to go on.

Brea resigned herself to a long afternoon of studying the books the librarian had pointed out to her before, but when there hadn't been enough information in those either, she decided to call it a day and head back to her bnb.

Brea was feeling low, to say the least, for the next couple of days. She hadn't seen Miranda for that same amount of time and any replied to the texts she sent where fairly short ones. It wasn't that she was upset with her or anything, she just wasn't feeling up to much knowing that she couldn't do what she'd come to Skye to do, that she would have to leave eventually, not to mention the fact that despite falling very fast for the artist she had met there, she would soon have to say goodbye to her as well.

Brea was starting to think that it might just be better for the both of them if they where to cut things off before they got to far into something that simply couldn't last.

On the third day of her depression, Brea decided to get out and do something to at least try to get her out of the feelings of helplessness she was experiencing.

So she put on a dress, leggings, boots and one of her favourite oversized red knit sweaters so she could feel comforted for the day ahead.

Not forgetting her bag, Brea made her way out of the bed and breakfast and into the chilly Scotland air.

The first thing she decided upon doing was stopping by the bookshop cafe to grab a cup of tea and try to work on some writing. When she stopped by she met Emily and Joe there who seamed engrossed in a conversation, Emily looking at Joe with wonder in her eyes, making Brea wonder just how long she had been in love with her, and if she would ever get around to telling her as such.

When they noticed her walk up to them they greeted her and asked how she was. She wasn't sure exactly what to say to that, if she said she was well she'd be lying, but than again if she said she wasn't would that be too forward of her since they had only been friends for a little over a fought-night?

But when Brea struggled to answer, having gotten stuck on "I-I'm..." Emily immediately pulled her in for a hug.

"Girl, what is going on, You ok?" She asked as she once again put the 'closed' sign on the door of the cafe and hurried Brea to one of the seats, with Joe following along behind her.

Brea was surprised by the show of care and though she tried to hold herself back, she couldn't help but to start crying. After all she hadn't had a friend show her such kindness and concern for quite some time and with everything that had been happening in her life she had found herself overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion with no one to talk to about it all.

"Goodness I'm so sorry I'm such a mess." She began, but Emily simply waved her off, with Joe smiling at her encouragingly.

"It's ok Brea, we're friends aren't we? So we're here to listen." Joe commented as the two of them waited patiently for Brea to tell her story.

"That's so kind of you, thank you." She replied before taking a deep breath and continuing.

"Well, It... it's just that I have a lot going on at the moment. You see I originally cane to Skye to try to find my father, who I've actually never met, after my mother passed away but I haven't been able to find him so far and I'm worried that he too might no longer be here. On top of all of this I was only meant to come here for a short stay to get some questions answered and try to find my way again after mum died, I certainly didn't expect to meet someone who might just be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. And now I don't know what to do because surely eventually I'll have to go back home..."

Emily nodded in understanding as Joe patted Brea's shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort.

"Well... do you really want to go back home Brea?" Emily asked with just a hint of a knowing smile on her face.

Brea played with her sweater-pawed hands as she sighed.

"I....I don't know." She eventually managed and her newfound friends nodded their understanding.

"Well," Emily began to reply, as she seamed to be the more talkative one of the two,

"If you want to know what I think about the situation... I think that you deserve to give yourself a break. You've obviously been through a whole darn lot in a short period of time so maybe just stick it out here in Skye for a bit longer and see where things go. You don't have to know what to do about everything right away, but I'm sure you'll know exactly how to move forward when the exact right moment comes."

Brea nodded as she sniffled and wiped at her eyes.

"Your right, your defineitley right. I suppose I can be a little too hard on myself sometimes. Besides part of the reason mum gave me her inheritance was to find my own adventure. Maybe this is it?"

Joe chimed in at that.

"Well, I say that you'll never know for sure until you try it!" Brea laughed at that and grinned.

"Agreed." She replied.

"Now, speaking of adventures... you simply must tell us everything about this mysterious woman you've fallen head over heals for."

Emily suddenly changed the subject, her voice taking on a rather serious tone as Brea began to feel her face heat up all the way to the tips of her ears.

"Well..." she began.

"Her name is Miranda."