Summary: Eden Farley wanted to prove to the world that she could be like every other man that walked the earth. But no one had ever given her the chance. Until her brother gets killed and no one's left to take his place in family tradition. Except for her. The only problem is convincing her mother that she's not the little girl her mother always wanted her to be.

Dedication: For David, a United States Airmen, off to serve his country in South Korea. You will always be my hero.

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Chapter One

Graduation

1943

"I am now very proud and honored to present to you the graduating class of 1943!"

Cheers went up through the crowd of parents and family members as the newly found graduates threw their caps into the air. Eden stood clapping, a small smile appearing across her face as she watched her older brother, Weston catch his cap a goofy grin stuck to his face. In only a year that would be her standing with the rest of her senior class, listening to Principle Marks give the same exact speech to the crowd. Though, unlike the rest of her friends, Eddie wasn't looking forward to graduating from high school. The underlying fact that she wouldn't be going on to college once she graduated was most likely the reason for her resentment towards her last and final year of school. She pushed those thoughts aside as Weston made his way over to where she and her mother stood.

Weston was the run of the mill high school football player in a small Oregon town. Messy brown hair that hung down in front of his bright green eyes. He was taller than Eden by nearly a foot, and weighed about twice as much as she did. Though he was a football player, he was not a stuck up jock that had a head filled with air, much to Eden's thankfulness. He did, however, have the Over-Protective Old Brother Syndrome, O-Pobs, as Eden like to call it. She couldn't go anywhere, do anything, or be friends with anyone without West's approval. It drove her insane at times, but it was part of why she loved him so much. He wouldn't be Weston without O-Pobs.

She let out a squeal as West picked her up and spun her around, grinning. He pulled her into a tight hug when he set her down with both her feet on the ground once again. "It's finally over!" he said with a sigh, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "No more tests, football games, pep rallies! No more drama!" He faked a faint, falling into Eddie, who struggled to hold his weight.

"Don't sound so sad," the sarcasm was clear from Eddie, but she grinned non the less.

Their mother gave a disgruntled humph from behind them, and the two straightened up. Meg shot her two children looks that clearly told them to behave. "Need I remind you both that we are in public?"

Eddie gave a sigh and looked towards the stage where a group of the graduates had gathered for pictures. Ever since their grandfather had died three years ago, their mother had become a different person. One that Eddie did not get along with, at all. West elbowed her in the ribs before walking over to their mother.

"Sorry, Ma," Weston said, giving her a hug, which she returned stiffly. Meg Farley wasn't one for PDA's, esspecially with so many people around. She cleared her throat and moved away from her son, who silently patted himself on the back for getting at leas a hug out of her.

"Do not forget that we have the party with the Willard's this afternoon," she said after a slightly awkward silence. "I promised to help Martha set up, so I shall see both of you at four," Eddie didn't miss the emphasis on the 'both'. She turned back to see her mother giving her a hard look. "Try not to be late." Eden had a knack for showing up as late as she could without being overly rude to the parties her mother expected her to attend. Most nights she would leave early as well, right after doing the rounds and stopping by to see her mother, just to prove that she'd been there. Then she would bail and meet up with some of her friends till around the time her mother would be home. Normally the two would arrive home about the same time.

"Wouldn't think of it," Eddie answered with a too sweet smile.

Her mother ignored her and pulled an envelope out of her worn, red hand bag. She handed it towards Weston with a shaking hand, who took it with a bewildered look. He looked over at Eden, who gave him a surprised shrug. Their mother had said nothing to her about the envelope, she was in the dark as much as her older brother.

"I am very proud of you, Weston," their mother said softly. "Please know that."

Her blue eyes held tears in them, and at the moment Eden realized how old her mother was. All those years of raising two kids on her own, and working two jobs, and trying to care for her aging father had taken a toll on her. As much as Eddie didn't like her mother at times, she knew that she owed her mother for all that she had given her. That was one of the things still keeping her from dropping out of school. Though she'd never admit it to anyone, Eden strove for her mother's approval. Sadly, most of the time, her mother was too busy with other things to notice what Eden did, and how hard she tried to impress her.

West nodded his head, stunned. Neither children had seen their mother act this way since before their father died, back in 1931 from cancer. Ever since then she had cut herself off from both her children as she tried to make ends meet with the small salaries she was paid. Eden and West both had learned to deal with it, leaning on each other for support when they needed it.

"Of course, Ma," West said with a nod, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes.

Meg gave a cough and the moment was broken. She pulled the shawl that was around her shoulders tighter, "I'll see you both at four," she said before walking past both her children and headed towards the parking lot. West and Eden watched her go with matching confused looks plastered across their faces.

"Who was that," Eden asked when their mother was lost within the crowd, "and what the hell did she do with our mom?"

West gave a chuckle and put his arm across Eden's shoulder and steered her towards the parking lot, where his car waited for them. "No idea, kid," he said, shaking his head. The two walked in silence as they maneuvered their way through the crowd of proud parents and excited graduates. It took them almost fifteen minutes to cross the football field and reach the parking lot through all the confusion.

"Hey, Farley!" a voice called out from behind the sibling pair. Both turned around to see Pete Molt, West's best friend running towards them.

Once he reached them he bent down to rest his elbows on his knees, panting loudly. Eden gave a laugh as he held up a hand as he gathered his breath. Pete might have played football his entire life, but somehow the boy couldn't run to save his life, which was why most of his football career was spent on the bench, cheering on the rest of the team. Not that he minded being more part of the crowd than the team. Pete had and always would be a joker at heart, one who was always able to make you laugh, whether you wanted to or not.

"You alright there, Petey?" Eden asked with another laugh. He straightened up and gave her a mock glare.

"Just dandy, Ed," he answered before turning to her brother.

Eden sensed a long talk in the making before he even opened his mouth and reached up to steal West's keys from his shirt pocket. He barely noticed as the Petey brought up the topic of the party that Bridget Carter was throwing for all the graduates. With a shake of her head, Eden knew that she had lost to the two boys and started off to the parking lot on her own.

She weaved her way through the crowd and spent nearly five minutes just trying to find her brother's dark green 1939 Ford Sedan. Finally, she managed to side step being run over by cars trying to make their way out of the lot and reached her brother's car. She unlocked the passenger door and climbed inside and the noise of the crowd was cut off as she slammed the door shut.

Eden gave a sigh and rested her head against the head rest of her seat and looked out the dirty windows to watch all the happy families go off together. She tried to remember the last time that her family had been like that. Happy, together, care-free, and loving. It was before her dad had died, almost thirteen years before. They had all gone down the beach for the day, before her dad had gotten sick, and before her mother had gotten so cold. She and West had made a sand castle, but the waves had come up and destroyed it in only a wave. They had gone calling to their father, who then helped them rebuild the castle farther up the beach, away from the claws of the ocean.

It had been such a normal day for her family back then. They used to always take trips every weekend, it was the only time that both her parents could get away from work. But then Eden's dad had gotten sick, not even a week after that trip to the beach, and there weren't anymore weekend trips. In fact, that had been the last time Eddie had been to the beach, except for a school trip back in her freshman year. The beach brought back too many memories, ones she didn't want to remember.

Her thoughts were broken as West opened the door and climbed into the drivers seat.

"Party tonight," he announced, seeming to forget that Eden had been there with he and Petey only a few minutes before, "Wanna come along with me and Petey?" he gave her a side-long glance and waited for her answer.

West had been trying for the past two years to get his younger sister to be part of the social scene. Not that he wanted her to be corrupted and become one of those girls who went through high school on her back. But he still wanted her to be able to fend for herself once he went off to college. The only way he could think to keep her 'safe' while he wasn't there to watch her was to get her into the right group. However, Eden had managed to go to only a select few parties during her high school years, most of which were thrown by her friend, Mary Hiddle. Still, West felt that it was his brotherly duty to at least try and prepare his sister for a year on her own.

Eddie gave a shrug in response to her brother, "Depends on when I can get away from Ma and her friends."

Unfortunately for Eden, her older brother was not the only one worried about her well being during the future years. Though, his actions were easier for Eden to accept then that of her mother's. Eden could understand that West was worried about her being on her own during her last year of school, though she knew that she would be fine. But her mother was more worried about what Eden planned on doing after school. Of course, Eden's hopes of enlisting into the service like her dad and grandfather were out of the question, and not just by her mother's standards. That left Eden with no sense of direction in which she wanted to go after school ended. Her mother took that as a chance to take matters into her own hands. So, with the help of her closet friends, Meg had put together a list. A list, that to Eden's total dismay, that included every available bachelor that her mother approved of.

Yes, that was her mother's great plan for Eden's future: get her through the rest of high school and marry her off to a respected, pre-approved, man. Preferably a doctor or lawyer. Ever since that great plan had come together, Eden had been introduced to at least a dozen men that her mother deemed appropriate. That night would be no different, a party filled with making the rounds with her mother to all her friends, and then off to meet a possible future husband candidate.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, West gave his sister a sympathetic look. "Ma's just trying to look out for you," he said, trying to defend his mother's actions, though he didn't agree with them in the least.

A disbelieving look came over Eddie's face, "Uh huh. Next year is going to be hell without you to referee," she said, turning back to the dirty window and watched as the parking lot was lost behind them and West turned onto the main road.

West gave a bark of a laugh, "What'd you want me to do? Fail high school so I could stay home to watch the two of you bicker day in and day out?"

"You could've done that?" Eddie asked, almost seriously. West shot her a look and she dropped the subject. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Eden spoke again, "What was in the envelope?" she asked, referring to the one that their mother had given to him earlier.

He gave a shrug and reached into his jacket pocket and fished it out. West handed it to her, keeping one hand steadily on the steering wheel. "You can open it."

Eden hesitated, she didn't want to open it if it was something that she wasn't meant to see. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'd just tell you about it anyways," he answered, shooting her a grin.

He looked back towards the road as Eden tore the top of the envelope off. The envelope itself was plain cream colored, the size of a legal standard envelope. It was heavy in the corner, like something small had made its way to one end. Eden tipped the envelope upside down and a small piece of paper and a small medal fell into her open hand. She turned the medal over and found that it was the Medal of Honor that her father had been awarded during the World War.

"It's Dad's," she said softly, handing it over to a quiet Weston.

Their father had never gone into the details of how he had earned the medal, but he almost never spoke of the times he spent over seas at war at all. It had always been an off limits subject in their family, a rule that Eden's grandpa loved to break. He used to stay up late into the night telling Eden stories of his days in the Army. Her mother had never approved, which made Eden want to learn about the war even more. When he had died, Harold had left his journals, including those from during his service days, and Eden had read through all twelve of them dozens of times. Her mother read the bible at night, and Eden read the journals. Though she had never known much about her grandfather other than his days in the service, reading his journals had made her feel closer to him.

West took the medal silently, rubbing over the surface of it curiously. He looked over at the letter sitting in Eden's lap, "What's it say?"

Eden ignored him as she read through the letter silently to herself.

Dearest Son,

Your Father would have wanted you to have this. Please know how very proud you have made me, and your Father had he still be here. I hope you sincerely think of what we talked about. I love you, and will accept any path in which you choose to follow. I have the forms ready for when you decide to do the right thing.

Mother

Eden looked at the note confused. What forms? She looked up to see Weston looking at her expectantly. Quickly she read the note to him and waited for his reaction. She didn't have to wait long.