When The Snow Settles
Krispin
Despite the odd reaction from their previous conversation, he was sure this would make her smile. He wouldn’t bring up anything about what had happened... now. But Addison was going to ask around back in town, and until he knew all the facts, he wouldn’t confront her. But ever since he saw the fear that Addison’s words had caused her, he had a gnawing suspicion he knew more than she hoped he did.
“Adrae?” She met his eyes now and stepped forward. He shot her a full on smile, earning a glare from his father. Adrae didn’t seem to notice, and he was pleased. He wouldn’t want to discuss the conversation he and his father had had.
His father called his smile the swoon smile. He had never purposely done anything along the sort to encourage it, but ever since the age of twelve, his smile had caused many girls to swoon. Even Addison was jealous at time, not that he remotely cared what Addison thought. His father accused him of trying to use that against Adrae, to get her to open up through an emotional connection. He, however, was doing nothing of the sort. She just had that effect on him, the one that made him smile for no reason, the one to make him feel pain when she felt it.
When he had shared those feelings with his father, which he learned was a mistake to do so, he got a very long, and loud, lecture. In his father’s eyes, Adrae was a young, damaged woman who needed to come to terms with her life and find happiness with a family. Not her own family, but with their family. His father would never stop him form searching for Adrae’s brother, but he didn’t approve. The way he saw it, was that if they did manage to find him, it would only open more of her wounds and bring on more pain.
His father, along with Addison and his mother... and even Emily, much to his shock and annoyance, all thought that he was falling for Adrae. He laughed when they voiced it aloud, but he couldn’t seem to get their words out of his head, no matter how preposterous it sounded. He assured them he wasn’t, but even now, under his father’s glare, he had to wonder if their words spoke some truth.
“You’ll be amazed,” Addison said, obviously thinking her hesitance was due to not wanting to go, though he had a feeling it was due to fear. What would it take to get her to trust him completely, to not fear him? “Even I was amazed, but that was due more to the fact that Daire showed a sign of intelligence. Who would have guessed?” His father’s angry looked turned amused, and even as he punched Addison in the shoulder, he couldn’t help but smile wider as even Adrae got a small smile on her lips.
Addison’s words seemed to get Adrae’s attention, for she seemed eager enough to follow after that. His father also followed, much to his dismay. He guessed it was more to the factor of keeping an eye on him than curiosity.
They walked back into his room, the one that he allowed Adrae to sleep in, the one that also had papers scattered all over the floor. There were also books, documents and many, many, newspapers. His father didn’t seem happy to see his work scattered like that.
“We’ll put everything back how it was,” he quickly said, trying to dampen the sudden anger he saw in his father’s eyes.
“We?” He ignored Addison and headed to his bed where he had put all of the important information on. He figured it would be safer to do so, he didn’t want to lose it all again in the mess.
On his bed there was a newspaper clipping, a family history book, and a few documents. Once he was seated, and everyone else was, he met Adrae’s eyes. They held curiosity, but also fear. He was accustom to seeing it in her eyes now, that he ignored it for the time being.
“There were no records of either of you being born, not even any relatives. No one with the last name Del has a birth or death record.” He paused, trying very hard to ignore his father’s prying gaze. “However, after figuring that out, a thought occurred to me.”
“Amazing, eh?” He shot a glare at Addison before continuing.
“Del was your common name. Your last name, one your father would have held. So, I wondered, what was your mother’s maiden name?” He picked up the family history book. “In most books, it doesn’t state last names of anyone that comes within the family. This one isn’t an exception. But it did show a woman dropping off the family tree, the one with the last of Breaton. At first it meant nothing. Everyone gets married and thus forward.” He flipped the book open to show the page where a very large X lay. It was on top of a woman’s name, a name that read Roxanne.
Just from a glance at her face told him he was on the right track. Her eyes were wide with shock, and of course, fear. He cleared his throat before continuing.
“But if you look here, the ones who got married have their last names crossed off. Their new ones aren’t added, but they are clearly shown as being a part of their family, but no longer holding the name. Through the X, you can see that Roxanne also her last name crossed off.” He pointed to a few more woman names, all whom had their last name crossed off. “So, I flipped around some more until I found another X.” He flipped a few pages before landing on another page with another name crossed X’d off. This one held the name Lillian. He didn’t expect this name to hold any value to her.. “It was by chance that I landed on Roxanne’s first, and extraordinary luck. So, after finding the next X, I figure, that if a crossed out last name meant a new marriage, would an X mean death? I looked for a death record for Roxanne, but found none. I also found no birth record, just like I found none for you.
“I looked up Lillian next, and I found both. A birth and death record. I looked up more names that had X’s on them, and they all held birth and death records. So after coming to the conclusion that the X’s stood for death, I put together a time line.
“These books come from families. They make their own, and once it reaches around the size of this one, they hand it off to their family doctor. Said doctor keeps all records of their family history, even when he is forced to retire. And since these books are kept personally, there was no way for whoever managed to destroy your birth and death records, to figure it out.
“This book in particular was given to my father six years ago, two years after what had happened to you. This gave the owner plenty of time to cross out the name. Now, the birth and death certificates were given for him to hold when he was forced to retire, which was three years ago. This also gave whoever destroyed the birth and death certificates plenty of time. And since not all families create family trees, the thought probably never crossed their mind.
“Now, you may wonder, why give the records to my father? As Addison had clearly stated that they are kept locked up, with only the Galae having access. But the thing is, every so often, they have to clean them out. So many records come, they run out of room. This was done three years ago also, the time my father was forced to retire. Since he no longer had to work, they figured they’d allow him the burden of keeping track of them. This also gave them an excuse to clean out all of the old, with no one searching for anything... or so I assume.
“Now, after figuring that out, and figuring out your mom’s maiden name was Breaton,” one look at her face told him he was still on the right track, “I began to look at old newspapers. My father has a nasty habit of collecting them.” A glare was what he got in return for that comment. “I found nothing interesting at first, until I began to look at the news section for other areas. When a crime has been committed fairly close to here, it is posted in our newspapers, warning everyone to be on alert.
“This piece was written a month ago.” He put down the book and grabbed the clipping. “Hotel experiences burglary. Half of all the money stored and earned, and a few personal artifacts, were taken late Saturday night. Two residents left that night, both whom are equally as liable as the other. No assumptions of a partnership has accumulated, however, one of the two men are surely at fault. If anyone has heard either of the names that will follow, please report so to your local Galae. Who knows when they will strike next? The names of the two suspects are Rolf Lander and Krispin Breaton.” He let out a breath and looked at Adrae, to see her staring at the clipping, her lips slightly parted, as if to say something, but her eyes showing shock and surprise. He was also sure she saw some happiness.
“Now, when seeing that last name, I did a check. There were also no death or birth records of any Krispin Breaton. I also checked to see if there were any other Breaton’s in that area, and I found two. Marina and Owen Breaton. If I assume correctly, Krispen must have went to them for help, but once being rejected, stole from the hotel. Now, this is all a guess, keep that in mind. My guess is that you have some relatives alive, an aunt or uncle, or maybe grandparents or cousins, I don’t know. I also think that you aren’t very close with them, for if you were, you would have went to them when this all happened. I also think that Krispin is your brother, taking on your mother’s maiden name, knowing that if anyone ever looked for a Breaton indirectly, there would be a record. So, I also think, that the reason he was so close to here, gathering money, is because he was searching for you. But, I also assume that after that being recorded in the newspaper, he would have had to change both his first and last name again. But, if what I said is correct, your brother, as long as he hasn’t been caught, is near.” He looked up now, smiling even wider than before.
“Like I said,” Addison spoke, turning to his father, “amazing he figured all of that out, isn’t it?” He ignored him and stared at Adrae. Her chest was heaving up and down, her eyes now glistening with tears. Was that good or bad?
“My brother’s name is Chris.” She finally said. All of his happiness and hope faded. He had done all of that for nothing, gotten all of her hope for nothing! Damn it, he should have been more sure before telling her. Now she would have to deal with more pain, more suffering. He had been so sure too, which was what hurt more. “But I always called him Krispin.”
“Adrae?” She met his eyes now and stepped forward. He shot her a full on smile, earning a glare from his father. Adrae didn’t seem to notice, and he was pleased. He wouldn’t want to discuss the conversation he and his father had had.
His father called his smile the swoon smile. He had never purposely done anything along the sort to encourage it, but ever since the age of twelve, his smile had caused many girls to swoon. Even Addison was jealous at time, not that he remotely cared what Addison thought. His father accused him of trying to use that against Adrae, to get her to open up through an emotional connection. He, however, was doing nothing of the sort. She just had that effect on him, the one that made him smile for no reason, the one to make him feel pain when she felt it.
When he had shared those feelings with his father, which he learned was a mistake to do so, he got a very long, and loud, lecture. In his father’s eyes, Adrae was a young, damaged woman who needed to come to terms with her life and find happiness with a family. Not her own family, but with their family. His father would never stop him form searching for Adrae’s brother, but he didn’t approve. The way he saw it, was that if they did manage to find him, it would only open more of her wounds and bring on more pain.
His father, along with Addison and his mother... and even Emily, much to his shock and annoyance, all thought that he was falling for Adrae. He laughed when they voiced it aloud, but he couldn’t seem to get their words out of his head, no matter how preposterous it sounded. He assured them he wasn’t, but even now, under his father’s glare, he had to wonder if their words spoke some truth.
“You’ll be amazed,” Addison said, obviously thinking her hesitance was due to not wanting to go, though he had a feeling it was due to fear. What would it take to get her to trust him completely, to not fear him? “Even I was amazed, but that was due more to the fact that Daire showed a sign of intelligence. Who would have guessed?” His father’s angry looked turned amused, and even as he punched Addison in the shoulder, he couldn’t help but smile wider as even Adrae got a small smile on her lips.
Addison’s words seemed to get Adrae’s attention, for she seemed eager enough to follow after that. His father also followed, much to his dismay. He guessed it was more to the factor of keeping an eye on him than curiosity.
They walked back into his room, the one that he allowed Adrae to sleep in, the one that also had papers scattered all over the floor. There were also books, documents and many, many, newspapers. His father didn’t seem happy to see his work scattered like that.
“We’ll put everything back how it was,” he quickly said, trying to dampen the sudden anger he saw in his father’s eyes.
“We?” He ignored Addison and headed to his bed where he had put all of the important information on. He figured it would be safer to do so, he didn’t want to lose it all again in the mess.
On his bed there was a newspaper clipping, a family history book, and a few documents. Once he was seated, and everyone else was, he met Adrae’s eyes. They held curiosity, but also fear. He was accustom to seeing it in her eyes now, that he ignored it for the time being.
“There were no records of either of you being born, not even any relatives. No one with the last name Del has a birth or death record.” He paused, trying very hard to ignore his father’s prying gaze. “However, after figuring that out, a thought occurred to me.”
“Amazing, eh?” He shot a glare at Addison before continuing.
“Del was your common name. Your last name, one your father would have held. So, I wondered, what was your mother’s maiden name?” He picked up the family history book. “In most books, it doesn’t state last names of anyone that comes within the family. This one isn’t an exception. But it did show a woman dropping off the family tree, the one with the last of Breaton. At first it meant nothing. Everyone gets married and thus forward.” He flipped the book open to show the page where a very large X lay. It was on top of a woman’s name, a name that read Roxanne.
Just from a glance at her face told him he was on the right track. Her eyes were wide with shock, and of course, fear. He cleared his throat before continuing.
“But if you look here, the ones who got married have their last names crossed off. Their new ones aren’t added, but they are clearly shown as being a part of their family, but no longer holding the name. Through the X, you can see that Roxanne also her last name crossed off.” He pointed to a few more woman names, all whom had their last name crossed off. “So, I flipped around some more until I found another X.” He flipped a few pages before landing on another page with another name crossed X’d off. This one held the name Lillian. He didn’t expect this name to hold any value to her.. “It was by chance that I landed on Roxanne’s first, and extraordinary luck. So, after finding the next X, I figure, that if a crossed out last name meant a new marriage, would an X mean death? I looked for a death record for Roxanne, but found none. I also found no birth record, just like I found none for you.
“I looked up Lillian next, and I found both. A birth and death record. I looked up more names that had X’s on them, and they all held birth and death records. So after coming to the conclusion that the X’s stood for death, I put together a time line.
“These books come from families. They make their own, and once it reaches around the size of this one, they hand it off to their family doctor. Said doctor keeps all records of their family history, even when he is forced to retire. And since these books are kept personally, there was no way for whoever managed to destroy your birth and death records, to figure it out.
“This book in particular was given to my father six years ago, two years after what had happened to you. This gave the owner plenty of time to cross out the name. Now, the birth and death certificates were given for him to hold when he was forced to retire, which was three years ago. This also gave whoever destroyed the birth and death certificates plenty of time. And since not all families create family trees, the thought probably never crossed their mind.
“Now, you may wonder, why give the records to my father? As Addison had clearly stated that they are kept locked up, with only the Galae having access. But the thing is, every so often, they have to clean them out. So many records come, they run out of room. This was done three years ago also, the time my father was forced to retire. Since he no longer had to work, they figured they’d allow him the burden of keeping track of them. This also gave them an excuse to clean out all of the old, with no one searching for anything... or so I assume.
“Now, after figuring that out, and figuring out your mom’s maiden name was Breaton,” one look at her face told him he was still on the right track, “I began to look at old newspapers. My father has a nasty habit of collecting them.” A glare was what he got in return for that comment. “I found nothing interesting at first, until I began to look at the news section for other areas. When a crime has been committed fairly close to here, it is posted in our newspapers, warning everyone to be on alert.
“This piece was written a month ago.” He put down the book and grabbed the clipping. “Hotel experiences burglary. Half of all the money stored and earned, and a few personal artifacts, were taken late Saturday night. Two residents left that night, both whom are equally as liable as the other. No assumptions of a partnership has accumulated, however, one of the two men are surely at fault. If anyone has heard either of the names that will follow, please report so to your local Galae. Who knows when they will strike next? The names of the two suspects are Rolf Lander and Krispin Breaton.” He let out a breath and looked at Adrae, to see her staring at the clipping, her lips slightly parted, as if to say something, but her eyes showing shock and surprise. He was also sure she saw some happiness.
“Now, when seeing that last name, I did a check. There were also no death or birth records of any Krispin Breaton. I also checked to see if there were any other Breaton’s in that area, and I found two. Marina and Owen Breaton. If I assume correctly, Krispen must have went to them for help, but once being rejected, stole from the hotel. Now, this is all a guess, keep that in mind. My guess is that you have some relatives alive, an aunt or uncle, or maybe grandparents or cousins, I don’t know. I also think that you aren’t very close with them, for if you were, you would have went to them when this all happened. I also think that Krispin is your brother, taking on your mother’s maiden name, knowing that if anyone ever looked for a Breaton indirectly, there would be a record. So, I also think, that the reason he was so close to here, gathering money, is because he was searching for you. But, I also assume that after that being recorded in the newspaper, he would have had to change both his first and last name again. But, if what I said is correct, your brother, as long as he hasn’t been caught, is near.” He looked up now, smiling even wider than before.
“Like I said,” Addison spoke, turning to his father, “amazing he figured all of that out, isn’t it?” He ignored him and stared at Adrae. Her chest was heaving up and down, her eyes now glistening with tears. Was that good or bad?
“My brother’s name is Chris.” She finally said. All of his happiness and hope faded. He had done all of that for nothing, gotten all of her hope for nothing! Damn it, he should have been more sure before telling her. Now she would have to deal with more pain, more suffering. He had been so sure too, which was what hurt more. “But I always called him Krispin.”