Oh my lovely reviewers! You guys are amazing! A big thanks to ~A Dark Soul In Need Of Light~, bluebear48, Lily Swan, TwilightXforever, shqiponjekrasnigi, Alice'sSecretTwin, Edward'sGirlForEternity, madi, airamcullen and HeadstrongNozomi!

Lily Swan, Edward'sGirlForEternity and TwilightXforever - Ask and you shall receive. A little controversy between Lillian, Edward and Tom.

~A Dark Soul In Need Of Light~ - Edward's parents will be making a reappearance in Chapter 4, so I hope that will make you happy.

Also a lot of you commented on how Lillian overreacted over the army thing. That was my intention I wanted to demonstrate how she still had some growing up to do.

Also there are links to the pictures of Lillian/Meghan in my profile as per the request of shqiponjekrasnigi. The first picture is more Lillian and second is more Meghan though they are both pictures of the same person. This was the nearest I could find. If I find any better pictures I will post them and let you know.

Okay so enough babbling and on with the story!

Chicago, 1918

Lillian's POV

I sat on a nearby park waiting for Edward to arrive. He had a half day at work today and he had agreed to spend his free afternoon with me. I didn't have a watch with me but I was pretty sure that Edward was running late.

I didn't mind waiting for him. It was rare for Edward to be late for anything, so I knew he must have a good excuse. Plus, it was a nice day to be out. I felt extremely lucky that unlike the rest of my family, I was free to experience the glorious sunlight. I could feel it warming my skin.

Yet despite the good feeling the sunshine evoked within me, it also made me feel melachanoly. It reminded me that this could not last forever. Despite how much I hated it, I was slowly leaving childhood behind me. Even my own body was beginning to betray me, as it began to develop similiar curves to that of my sister.

Six months. Six months until I was sixteen. Six months until my freedom would be somewhat curbed. Six months and then I would have to go to work or do what my sister had done. My sister no longer lived with us. Techincally, she was no longer a Granger. In the eyes of the law she was now Mariah Theresa Hampton. My sister had gotten married. I missed her more than I thought I would.

I wasn't too sure what to think of marriage. To be honest there was no one I could see myself married to. Marriage would also restrict my friendship with Edward. I knew that no husband would approve of my friendship with him. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I didn't want to lose Edward. Though how long would it be until he married some local girl? True, Edward was only seventeen but I saw how the local girls coveted him. He was polite, kind, a true gentleman. He also happed to be devastatingly handsome. It was easy to see why they wanted him.

I heard someone approach me. Heavy footsteps fell and I could hear the grass simultaneously crunch. A smile instinctively crossed my face and I turned in the direction the sound was coming from. Except the person approaching me wasn't Edward. It was Tom.

Confusion. That was all I felt when I registered Tom's approach. Nervousness soon kicked in after that. Tom's prescence never signaled the arrival of anything good. Tom hadn't spoken me since the incident when I had snatched my hat back from me. Though he hadn't spoken to me, he had watched me whenever I happened to walk past him. He watched me with interest. Apparently he had now decided to talk to me.

Tom now stood in front of me and I realised how much he had changed. It was no longer a boy who stood in front of me, but a man. Then again, Tom must be eighteen by now. Tom was a lot taller now. I imagined that he would now even tower above Edward.

"May I sit here?" Tom asked. It seemed his appearance wasn't the only thing that had changed. He seemed to be a lot more polite now. However, in my eyes, even though Tom was a man now, Edward was still the gentleman.

I merely nodded in answer to his question. I kept my gaze focused straight in front of me, watching the ripples that ran across the pond. Things were silent for a while and I almost forget that Tom was sitting next to me. Neither of us seemed to want to break the silence. Though the only reason I didn't want to break it, was because I had nothing to say to Tom.

After a while, I began to realise that Tom's gaze was now focused on my face. I wished that I had my hat with me. My hat would at least shield me from his gaze. I shifted nervously. I had never had a man stare at me for that length of time. Where was Edward?

I shifted again in my seat before eventually making the decision to turn and face Tom's gaze.

"Finally, she looks at me" Tom said to me. What seemed to be a genuine smile crossed his face. I felt so confused. Tom had used to bully me and now he was actively seeking my company? Unfortunately for me, when I'm confused I don't tend to think things through.

"Hardly to please you" I stated. Tom laughed in reply to my words. I blushed inwardly at my words. What had posessed me to say that?

"Well at least you are no longer ignoring me" Tom said. I'm sure the confusion must have been evident on my face. I was not use to men talking to me like this. The fact that this man was Tom only served to increase my confusion. I focused my gaze down to hands, which laid folded in my lap.

"You're very shy aren't you?" questioned Tom when he realised that he wouldn't be receiving a vocal response from me any time soon. At his question, I looked back up at him. I was struck by the intensity of his green gaze. The wind suddenly picked up and a couple of strands of hair from my bun fell loose. Before I even recognised what he was about to do, his hand had reached up to tuck the loose strands back behind my ear. I tensed at his touch. Even Edward didn't presume to touch me like that! People would start to talk!

"Relax, Lillian. I'm not going to hurt you" Tom said to me. I wasn't surprised to find myself unable to believe his words. This was Tom. Tom who used to taunt me. I said nothing in return to his words.

"I glad that you left your hat at home today" Tom said to me after a moment's silence. He didn't seem to realise that we were having a pretty much one-sided conversation. Either that or he didn't care. However, his last words intrigued me and invoked a response from me.

"Why do you say that?" I said trying to keep the curiousity from my voice and yet failing miserable. Tom chuckled as though he had won something, by causing such an animated response from me.

"Because your hat shields your pretty face" he replied. I couldn't help it. I could already feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, even before the blush itself appeared on my cheeks. It was the first compliment I had ever received from a man and that fact was enough to make my heart flutter.

"Tom... I... Tom... " I stumbled over my words, confused that Tom of all people could cause me such feelings.

"Tom, what are you doing?" a harsh broke in. I looked up, grateful for a reason to look away from Tom. Edward stood there. His hair was a mess and his work clothes looked slightly disarranged. I knew he must have rushed from work. In fact it all looked like a typical Edward. Except for the look on his face. I had never seen that look before. He was frowning and his lips formed a grim line. His hands were clenched at his side and he looked murderous. Yet behind the anger in his eyes, he also looked wounded.

Why would he look like that?

Then I realised. How could I have been so stupid? Edward obviously thought that Tom was back to his old habits of bullying me.

"Everything's fine, Edward. Tom and I were just talking. He isn't bothering me. Honestly" I said to Edward hoping to ease the tense atmosphere. There was no need to fight. However, Edward didn't react to my words like I thought he would. He recoiled as though I had slapped him. Why would my words upset him so much? Confusion swelled within me again, yet I also knew that I needed to get Edward away from Tom. And soon. I stood up and turned to face Tom.

"If you would forgive me Tom, I did have plans with Edward this afternoon. Goodbye, it was nice speaking to you" I said to him. I heard Edward scoff at my words. I fought the urge to glare at him. Couldn't he see I was only trying to be polite?

I linked my arm with Edward's as I often did. Usually, Edward would pull away telling me that he didn't want people to get the wrong idea and consequently have my reputation torn to shreds. However, this time he didn't. In fact he seemed to grip my arm even tighter and pulled me away from Tom at such a fast pace that I had to run to keep up with him.

We started to walk around the pond. Edward still had a grim look on his face and he would often look behind us, as though to check on what Tom was doing. Edward made no motion to talk to me and I made none to talk to him. I wasn't too sure how to deal with Edward when he was like this. I had never experienced it before.

I took to studying everything we walked past. Every single bird in the sky, every single blade of grass. Anything but study the expression on Edward's face. Why was he behaving like this? Had I done something wrong?

"Edward, what is it?" I finally asked. The silence was angonising to me.

"It's nothing. Absolutely nothing" he replied. It sounded to me as those he was trying to convince himself rather than me. I let the silence settle again, before the tension once again got to much for me. I didn't like feeling this way with Edward. We usually got on so well, that the tension seemed unnatural.

I pulled my arm from Edward's, whirling around to face Edward. I placed my hands on Edward's chest to stop him from moving forwards anymore.

"But it's not nothing! Otherwise you wouldn't be acting this way" I exclaimed. Edward gave an irritable sigh and looked down at my hands which were still rested on his chest. It made me feel uncomfortable that my hands were still placed where they were, but I refused to move them. I had a feeling that it was only the physical contact that was making Edward listen to me.

Edward's gaze drifted once again. I could tell that he was trying to discreetly look behind him without me realising that was his intention. I tilted my head and leant slightly to the right, in order to look behind Edward. The park bench was now empty.

"He's gone, Edward" I said, knowing that I didn't have to expand on who 'he' was.

"Have I done something wrong, Edward?" I asked, the worry clearly evident in my voice. Edward's dark gaze met mine.

"He's too old for you" Edward said. A confused expression crept over my face. That didn't answer my question. What was Edward referring to by that comment?

"Edward?" I questioned, knowing that I didn't need to ask the full question. Edward knew me well enough to know exactly what I was asking, without me having to say the exact words. A small smile crept across Edward's face finally. It was as though he found my confusion endearing.

"He likes you, Lillian" Edward finally said. The small smile that had formed, disappeared as he said these words. Despite Edward's answer, I still felt confused. Surely Edward was wrong? There was no way Tom liked me. But I was hard-pressed to remember the last time that Edward had been wrong.

"You've been working too much, Edward" I said flippantly. I removed my hands from Edward's chest and started to walk forward. I didn't get very far, when Edward's hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards him.

"I'm serious, Lillian. I have heard of and seen things that Tom has done, that you are far too innocent to understand" Edward said to me, a serious look upon his face.

I wanted to ask exactly what he meant by that, but realised that I probably wouldn't get an answer. Or if I did the truth would be severely censored.

"Edward, I know that Tom was being nice to me today, but I don't expect him to continue like that. It just probably threw him that I didn't have my hat in order for him to steal it" I said to him, trying to reassure him. To let him know that I wasn't as fragile as he thought. The way Edward treated me sometimes, it made me feel as though he saw me as some sort of feather caught in the wind.

I started to walk away once again. This time Edward made no motion to stop me.

"It's not your hat I'm worried about" I heard him mumble under his breath, before he began to walk after me. I spun around once again and linked my arm with his.

"Let's forget about Tom, Edward. This wasn't exactly how I expected our afternoon together to go like" I said to him. I was looking up at Edward's face, not bothering to look where I was going. I knew Edward wouldn't let any harm come to me. Edward immediately looked contrite at my words and looked down at me momentarily before returning his gaze to what was in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Lillian. I'm not being very good company today, am I?" Edward said to me. I could also hear the apology in the tone of his voice.

"Today isn't over yet" I cheerfully reminded him.

"You are quite right, Lillian" Edward replied, smiling at me. Edward than turned his head to look behind him. I sighed.

"Edward, I already told you that he's gone. You don't have to worry" I said to him. Edward just smiled at me. It was a gentle smile, but one that told me that he had every right to worry about me. I realised that this discussion was getting us nowhere. It was very rare that I had Edward to myself on a weekday and so I didn't want the subject of Tom to be hanging over us, like the proverbial black cloud.

We started to walk forward together again.

"Are you still missing your sister?" Edward asked. It was an obvious change of subject, but I was grateful for it.

"Yes. I don't know why she had to move out once she had gotten married. I miss her so much, I wish she hadn't left" I said to Edward. It was only Edward, that dared talk to about Mariah about. The rest of my family were happy for her. I was too, but I felt that Edward, even though he was an only child, was the only one who truly understood how I felt.

"Things can't always stay the same, Lillian. No matter how much you wish that was the case" Edward pointed out to me. It could have been my imagination, but it felt as though his words had a double meaning, but I didn't know what Edward could possibly be referring to.

"But why?" I asked, fully aware that I sounded like a petulant child.

"Because it's the way life is. People grow and change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse" Edward explained to me kindly.

"Yes, but in my experience, change often means people leaving" I said.

"That's not always the case" Edward replied.

"It isn't?" I asked, the disbelief plainly evident in my voice. Edward came to a stop and faced me.

"How about we make a promise?" he said.

"What kind of promise?" I asked, the curiosity stirring within me.

"If I promise to never leave you. You have to promise to never leave me" Edward stated as he stared at me intently. I smiled at him broadly.

"You don't have to even ask Edward. Of course it's a promise!"

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