Amongst The Water-Fresh Waters

Chapter 24: Loose Ends! Part 3

                  First Uploaded: March 2014 Dates updated: January or February 2018; November 1, 2019; June 8, 2020, 1:45PM)   

             After a few minutes of searching through drawers, Kylie sits in her dad's maroon leather chair and sighs. It's bad enough she's searching through her dad's office, but she absolutely can't search through anything else.

                   She shakes her head annoyed. Giving up, she leaves the study and heads downstairs hoping to find it downstairs in her dad's filing cabinet. She'd just ask if and tell him that she wants it to get a job at the Crab Shack, which isn't much of a stretch. But he and Brianna won't be home for another hour. So she decides to start shuffling through the file cabinet. She walks through the Kitchen into the living room and onto the den where the family computer and general filing cabinets are. She looks through the cabinets and finds her brother's Birth Certificate and her dads, and also their Social Security Cards. But neither of hers. She closes the last drawer confused. She sits on the floor and puts her face in her hands. Kylie tries to think why he wouldn't have her Birth Certificate or Social Security Card and have Nicholas'. The talk with Evie yesterday and the conversation on Moanie a few days ago are ringing in her ears. The only way he wouldn't have it is if she wasn't his. But that'd mean she wasn't Karon's either. She shakes her head refusing to believe any of that.

                      She gets up, smooths her pink and white Polka Dot skirt, and walks through the kitchen and to the living room. She sits down on the couch and glances at a large dark blue book laying on the coffee table with glue-on letters scattered around it. "Huh. I guess this is Brianna's." She gently takes the book off the table trying not to scatter the letters. She opens it to the first page. It's a picture of Brianna in a hospital bed holding a baby standing next to Kevin and Karon? Kylie squints confused. "What? Why are my dad and mom there when Kaylee was born?" She passes by a blank page and a piece of paper falls out. She bends down and picks it up. She stares at the paper in shock. The top of the paper says Certificate of Birth. She looks at the name. Kylie Gabriela Andrews-Couture. She gasps. "I was born in Australia!"

                 She looks next to her where she lay the scrapbook. She notices a few pictures of Kevin in college and Brianna in college. She finds it weird that her dad is in it when he was in college. But she assumes it's just a scrapbook she's putting together to document their growing up from when they were young. Maybe it's just a type of scrapbook where it starts from the beginning of their relationship. Kylie sets her Birth Certificate to the side and she goes through it and finds pictures of them both together in college. Then she sees a few pictures of her mom Karon and them. Then more of Kevin and Brianna. Then clippings of a birth announcement from 2003. Her birth year.

                         It says Brianna Andrews and Kevin Couture announce the birth of their beautiful baby girls. And it has a picture of her dad and her soon to be step-mom and not one, but TWO babies. She looks closer at the day. "That's my birthday." "I'm so confused. Why was Brianna with dad when I was born and why does it say, two girls? And why were mom and dad there when Kaylee was born?" She continues to flip through and finds a few pictures of Brianna and some other guy and some pictures of Brianna and two girls. Kylie looks closer. "That ones me." She points to a light-haired baby girl with brown eyes. "That one really looks like me." She points to another one that looks just like her except her skin is darker and her hair is curly and almost black. Kylie then remembers her Birth certificate. She holds her breath, not wanting to know what truth she may find on it. She pushes the book off her lap as tears are rolling down her cheek. She ignores her stuffy nose she usually gets when she cries and she picks up her Birth Certificate. She sniffs, takes a deep breath, and looks at it. As she already knew previously, her last name isn't JUST Couture. It's Andrews. Which confirms Evie's suspicions. Everything else about her information seems to be correct other than believing she was born in Florida and her last name. She follows down to the bottom and the father listed is her father Kevin Couture. But her mother, as she's been believing, isn't Karon Couture. Her eyes fill up with tears. For 15 years she hasn't truly known who her birth mother was. And the past several months; Kylie has been closer to her than she ever realized.

                                A throat clears behind Kylie. She doesn't move by the sound. She's too stunned by her recent discovery. Brianna walks over and places a hand on Kylie's shoulder. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. You weren't supposed to find out like this." Kylie looks up at Brianna, eyes full of tears. "Why have you guys been keeping this from me?" She asks, sounding much weaker than she intended, staring into Brianna's identical brown eyes. Brianna shakes her head and sits on the chair next to the couch. She motions toward the book. "I'm sorry you found that. It's not even finished yet." She says trying to diverge the situation. Kylie looks at her future step-mom, or......birth mom. "Why?" Kylie asks crying as she holds up the Birth Certificate, waving it in front of Brianna's face. "Why haven't either of you guys told me?" Kylie whimpers, lowering her hand. Brianna gently reaches and lays her hand on Kylie's knee. Kylie looks at her hand and looks up at her and smiles tightly. Maybe Kylie can finally have a mom who pays attention to her. But she's kept SOOOO MUCH from her though.

                     "This whole time you knew and never contacted me! And dad never told me either!" She yells and pushes Brianna's hand off her knee. Instantly forgetting about possibly having a mother who cares. Brianna twitches, a bit shocked by her reaction, but didn't expect her to yell. Brianna is a tough woman; she has to be out of all the stuff she went through, but that probably hurt the most. Being yelled at by her first daughter. She can't blame her though. She'd be doing this exact thing if she was in her situation. Well, maybe she'd be a little angrier and pissed off.

                        "I'm so sorry Kylie. We didn't know how or when to tell you. It's a very very complicated situation. You have no idea how complicated it really is." Brianna explains to one of her daughters how she kept so much from her. Kylie shrugs. "You can try to explain," Kylie says plainly, wiping her tears away. Brianna chuckles. "It's...it's............." "Complicated," Kylie says annoyed. Brianna nods. "Yes. But it's also not common and it may sound weird and unnatural to you." Kylie's brows furrow, completely confused by Brianna's answer. Brianna sees the confusion on Kylie's face. "Your face will look like that after we explain it to you." Kylie sighs. "It's how Evie is your twin, but you don't share the same father." Brianna explains to Kylie.