Chapter Sixteen
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Pulling the farmhouse door to, Isaac then jogged to catch her up. ‘What are you thinking?’
Tilly shrugged as she took his hand. ‘I don’t know, to be honest. It was lovely to hear what they had to say about him. I feel as though I’ve never been closer to knowing him. Which is great, obviously, but...’
‘But?’
‘I still want to find out more. I want to know his real name, know if he, I, have family around here.’ Lifting their hands together, she wiped her hair from her face.
She’d never dared to think she might find her dad’s family.
She’d always assumed he’d come to Penworth Bay to visit, to work on the farm during a gap year or something, but Mo and Liz had suggested he may have been a local lad, not that they’d been sure but they had mentioned the house at the top of the hill.
‘I might have family around here. I might have family I didn’t know about. ’
‘You might.’ Isaac nodded. ‘With any luck, we’ll be able to make contact with someone from his family.’
‘Yes.’ Tilly halted just before the gate out of the farmyard.
Did she want that? She’d spent her whole life - well, all she could remember of it at least - with it just being her and her aunt.
What if she did have family here? ‘I never even dreamed about meeting any family. Of course, as a child, I’d let myself daydream and pretend my parents had left me with my aunt to pursue dream careers abroad or something and one day they’d come back for me, but that was just me being a kid, you know?
To actually think I might really have living relatives. ..’ She let her voice trail off.
‘Wouldn’t that be a good thing?’ Isaac opened the gate, letting her through before following and closing it behind them.
Tilly shoved her hands in her pockets and began walking, her head down, her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. ‘Maybe. I mean, yes. But that’s not why I came here, and to suddenly have the real possibility of meeting family members... They’d be strangers to me. I’d be a stranger to them.’
‘Do you think they knew about you, about your mum’s pregnancy?’
‘No.’ Tilly shook her head. ‘My mum didn’t know herself until after the accident.’
‘It’ll be a lovely surprise for them then.’
‘Would it?’ Tilly shook her head. She wasn’t sure. If they did track down his parents, his siblings, maybe, and she just turned up out of the blue on their doorstep, wouldn’t it just open old wounds for them? Wouldn’t it be cruel?
‘We can find out all the information we can, and then you can make a decision.’ Isaac fell in step beside her.
‘Yes, good idea.’ Tilly let out a deep sigh and turned to face him. ‘Thank you for coming with me. I don’t think I could have done it alone.’
‘No problem.’ Isaac smiled as he cupped her cheek in his hand. ‘What’s the next step of the plan?’
Tilly laughed. ‘I don’t have one. I was rather hoping you’d tell me.’
‘Ah.’ Isaac chuckled. ‘I’m not sure, but I do know a man who might be able to point us in the right direction.’
‘Oh, yes? Who?’
‘My dad. He was adopted at birth and managed to trace his birth parents.’
‘Yikes. I don’t think he’ll be pleased to see me.’ Tilly grimaced as a flush of embarrassment spread across her skin at the memory of her trespassing.
Looking down, he chuckled. ‘He will be. I explained it all to him, why you wanted to take a look at the cottage, about the photo.’
‘You did?’ Tilly widened her eyes. ‘What did he say?’
Isaac shrugged. ‘He understood.’
Tilting her head, Tilly raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’
‘Haha, yes, he did. I had to do a bit of explaining, but once he was convinced I was telling the truth and that you weren’t secretly trying to measure up for renovations on the cottage or something, he was fine.’ Isaac shrugged. ‘Besides, he wants to meet you.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I told him what I thought of you.’ His lips twitched at the corners as he suppressed a smile. He held his hands out towards her.
Lacing her fingers with his, she grinned. ‘And what might that be?’
‘That I liked you.’ Isaac met her gaze. ‘That I really like you and that I’m excited to see where this could lead.’
Tilly took a sharp breath in. Now that was an answer she was happy to hear. They might not have known each other long, but neither of them could deny there was something between them. ‘And he’s not mad at me for running over your foot?’
Pulling a hand away, Isaac chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I may have left that little titbit out.’
‘That’s probably a good thing.’ She grinned. ‘Okay, let’s go and see your dad.’