Sister Pact: Surrendering to Mr Snow

CHAPTER THREE: THE SEARCH

Three days later

Scarlet’s life had been turned upside, three months ago after finding out that she was an adopted daughter of the Albertson family.

Here she was in Canada, after a long five-hour flight ad three days of searching for her family, Scarlet had hoped that she was at the right address.

It was this time where the entire Albertson clan would have gotten together and gotten ready for the holidays but here, she was miles and miles away looking for where she truly belonged. Scarlet was used to the cold but she had to admit that driving in the snow was as easy as she hoped that it would be.

Her legs were pulling stiff and her arms were shaking after the long drive, she neglected taking a break because all she wanted was to get to the house sooner than later. Scarlet was pleased to see the wooden sign with the sign ‘Hall Green Village’. As she drove through the entrance of the town Scarlet hated it, it reminded her so much of Mountain Hill.

She hated small towns, it was not as busy as the life in New York and small towns and the men in small towns were the reasons why both her sisters had broken the pact they made. Scarlet had to admit that she felt hurt, her sister were happy and here she was, trying to find her real family with the hopes of clinging onto the little bit of happiness that she could find.

For a small town Scarlet was finding it hard to find the little cottage where her aunt and grandmother lived. She stopped at a coffee shop and as soon as she stepped out of her car, she was glad that she had chosen to wear her leather boots.

Every step she took in the snow felt like a battle against some unseen force, holding her back from meeting her family. Upon entering into the coffee shop Scarlet wished that she had not gone there at all, the shop was wonderfully warm but the raised eyebrows she received from the three old women who sat at the back of the coffee shop was not comforting at all.

“Hi” Scarlet greeted them and put up a brave smile, none of them smiled and they simply went back to sucking on their sweets. Scarlet walked up to the counter and there was no one there other than a little bell that she rang.

“Hello” Scarlet almost jumped out as she saw the older and rounder woman with bright pink hair appear from behind the coffee shop, with a bright and big smile on her face.

Scarlet with her hand placed on her chest, feeling her heart beat against her chest like a gong.

The woman’s smile disappeared from her face and it was replaced by a concerned look on her face.

“Oh dear, I hope I did not scare you?” She asked Scarlet, who put up a brave smile and not wanting to offend the happy woman.

“No, no you did not” Scarlet lied to the woman and immediately plastered a fake smile on her face. She was used to faking smiles with people, she had done it all her life and she hoped that she had not lost her touch one bit.

“No, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better dear. Anyways forgive me for my bad manners, my name is Rosanne, I own this coffee shop and bakery” Rosanne smiled at Scarlet.

Scarlet smiled back at Rosanne but she could not for the life of her understand how it was that one woman held so much happiness at the same time, so much that it filled the entire room.

Scarlet held out her hand and with a strong grip, Rosanne greeted her by shaking her hand.

“Hello my name is Scarlet and I must say that you have a lovely shop” Scarlet told Rosanne and the woman’s cheeks began to redden.

“Oh stop it!” the woman said, feeling shy about Scarlet’s compliment but then she stopped to examine Scarlet from head to toe, which made scarlet feel very nervous.

“You’re not from around here” Rosanne asked Scarlet and she simply smiled at her.

“I wonder what gave that away.” Scarlet asked Rosanne sarcastically but it seemed like the poor woman did not catch on to her sarcasm.

“Well people around here wear plastic boots and you my dear are wearing leather boots and they look expensive” Rosanne smiled at Scarlet.

“Well you’re right. I’m not from around here, I’m actually from New york City and I need some help locating some people” Rosanne squinted her eyes a bit, again looking like she was trying to investigate Scarlet again.

“Who are you looking for?” Rosanne asked Scarlet, who leaned in closer to the counter to speak to Rosanne.

“I’m looking for Marilyn and Cinder Carter” Rosanne’s eyes widened and for a moment Scarlet worried that something had happened to both women. Scarlet worried that they might have moved out or  like her late parents they might have died.

“Why are you looking for them?” Rosanne asked her.

Scarlet contemplated not telling Rosanne the truth but she knew that if she did not then she might never find out where her family lived.

“I’m their relative and I need to speak to them about something urgent” Rosanne lifted her eyebrows questionably and then she smiled.

“Well welcome to Hall Green Village, Scarlet. By the way just drive up the road and right before you get to the hill the Wooden house on the right, that’s the Carters house” Scarlet felt like the weight on her shoulders have been lifted, finally after so many years she was going to meet her family and reunite with them.

“Thank you” Scarlet said with tears almost filling inside her eyes. Scarlet smiled at Rosanne, turned on her heel, and exited the coffee shop. The cold hit her hard but Scarlet did not care about that at all, her family was here—her real family after all.

Scarlet drove towards the hill, following Rosanne’s instructions. She felt like turning back and going back to New York and simply pretending that all this was some kind of a joke or even better, a nightmare that she would hopefully wake up from it.

Streams of tears fell from Scarlet’s eyes, her vision suddenly blurring due to the moisture in her eyes. Her hands firmly on the wheel of her car, gripping it tightly as she drove slowly up the hill.

“You never intended to tell me, right?”

“Your father and I didn’t want you to feel different to both your sisters and you are not different”

She remembered the conversation between her and her parents; it all played in her mind torturing her. Scarlet was so much consumed in her thoughts, that she stopped her car as soon as she heard a bump, her heart stopped.

“Oh no!” She yelled out in fear, realizing that she had just knocked over someone. Scarlet’s hands still on the steering wheel, her eyes widened in shock. She did not know whom she knocked over but all she knew was that she could not move.

Scarlet heard some noise from outside her car and just like that, a man got up from the ground. Scarlet could not make out whom he was, because his back was turned to her and the huge fur jacket.

Without thinking, Scarlet exited her car in order for her to help the man but as soon as she stepped out of her car, she realized that she was way in over her head. The man was taller than he had looked than when she was in the car.

He turned and Scarlet felt like fainting onto the cold bed of snow. The man that she had thought would look like the abominable snowman was actually handsome. His eyes were blue and hazel in the center, his lips soft pink, long dark eye lashes as well as pink cheeks, probably due to the cold.

“I am so sorry, I swear I was—”

“Can’t you see where you are driving” the man yelled at her, scaring Scarlet that such a handsome man could be this mean. Before Scarlet could answer him, he walked away from her leaving Scarlet shocked at the man’s reaction.

 Scarlet turned around, she watched at the man walked down the road, in an opposite direction to where she was going, and he was limping. Scarlet wanted to so bad to walk up to him and help him but the man looked so mad that he would probably not want her to help him.

Scarlet got back into her car but the entire time that she could not stop to think that she could turn back and offer her help again.  Before she started her engine, Scarlet looked at the man one more time in her review mirror and he seemed to be walking quite fine.

Scarlet started her engine and there she was on her way to both her aunt and her grandmother’s home. After nearly five minutes, Scarlet had seen the house that Rosanne had described to her, she stopped in front of the house, and she killed her engine.

Never had Scarlet felt like this in her life, she was truly on edge and her emotions were all over the place. She could feel a connection to this place or was it just her mind playing tricks on her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, she got out of her car, her purse in her hand, and she walked up to the property. The house was not as the house that she had grown up in, it was a beautiful wooden home, with a chimney.

Outside the house was a very small garden, with little flowers peeking out of the bed of snow that covered it. The garden was fenced by a beautiful wooden gate, which Scarlet found beautiful.

Scarlet unlocked the gate and shut her eyes as the wooden gate, hoping that she would keep out the noise but she smiled and walked to the door.

Scarlet got to the door and for the past two minuets’ that she stood there; she struggled with ringing the bell. Her emotions were flying all over the place not knowing whether her family would accept her after all these years.

Just as she was about to ring the bell  someone unlocked the door, revealing a dark skinned middle aged woman with brown eyes just like Scarlet’s.

“Who are you?” the woman asked her, a tear fell from Scarlet’s eyes. This was her aunt; obviously, she looked a bit older than the picture that her parents had given her. Scarlet tried to open her mouth but she shut it again, she was lost for words once again.

How could she speak to an aunt that was her own blood but she had never met before? Her entire life scarlet believed in a life that was perfect but it was actually a lie.

Her aunt no longer looked friendly; she was now beginning to get irritated with Scarlet’s silence.

“Are you going to stand here and look at me or are you going to speak your mind?” her aunt asked her.  She was not what Scarlet had expected, perhaps Scarlet expected someone nicer but her aunt looked like she had patience for no one that wasted her time.

“Hi, I’m Scarlet”

“Sure you are, what is it that you want? Hurry up I’ve got to go and see if my numbers are correct”

“I’m Scarlet—”

“I know your name is Scarlet, I think we already established that”

“Marilyn, who is that at the door?” Someone yelled from inside the house, Scarlett guessed that it was her grandmother who was yelling like that.

“It’s some woman at the door, I think she’s lost!” Marilyn shouted back the female voice coming from the inside of the house.  Her aunt looked back at Scarlet, clearly irritated that scarlet was still standing there speechless.

“I’m so sorry; let me start this from the beginning. My name is Scarlet Albertson, the daughter of Mike and Brenda Carter” Scarlet did it, she managed to get the little information that she had gotten from her parents as well as the detective that’s he had hired.

Her aunt’s jaw dropped, her eyes widened and she dropped the scarf that she held in her hand earlier. Her aunt’s eyes began filing up with tears as she reached up and placed her hand on the side of Scarlet’s face.

“Welcome home my dear” her aunt told her and it was at that moment and time that Scarlet felt a wave of tears running down her face. This was the kind of family that Scarlet had always hoped for and here she was getting exactly that.

The love from her biological family was flowing from their home and meeting Scarlet at the door, where she had been standing for the past ten minutes.

“I’m so sorry for coming here unannounced; it’s just that I had—”

“No! Don’t you dare apologize for coming here my dear, I just can’t believe that you are here, it’s been a long twenty four years now” her aunt said which made Scarlet more emotional than she was initially.

“I can’t believe that my parents had not told me about this earlier aunt”

“Welcome home, my lovely niece, come on in” her aunt welcomed her into the house and Scarlet followed her aunt into the house