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 Two

Dreams Thought Forgotten

June, 1943

Eden hurried out of the car after West as he slammed the door shut angrily and marched up the steps to the Willard's front porch. He had been silent the rest of the drive to the house, and Eddie was starting to get worried. The note made no sense to her, but apparently West knew exactly what their mother was implicating, and it wasn't something that made him jump for joy. She gathered up the hem of her red and white checked dress and ran after her brother as he abandoned trying to get in the front door and walked around the back of the house.

"West!" she called, trying to catch up with him, still confused about what exactly was going on.

West stopped so abruptly that Eddie ran into his back. When he turned around, she was surprised to see anger in his green eyes. West had always been the guy who kept his calm, never one to start a fight or hold grudges. Always the one to break up a fight, never the one to start it to begin with. He'd been a safe guy, someone that everyone trusted and could depend on. It was one of the things that made him so likable by nearly everyone.

"What's going on?" she asked, catching her breath quickly.

"I told her!" West spewed angrily, running a hand through his hair, "I told her that I was going to take the year off with Pete and then go back to school!" he continued on to mumble softly but Eddie couldn't make anything out of it. She watched as he banged his fist against the side of the house and leaned his head against it. Shocked, she realized as he twisted around and slid down the siding to the ground, that West was crying.

Eddie had never seen her brother like this before. When he had broken his arm falling out of a tree when he was six, he hadn't shed a tear, simply said that the ground was harder than he thought. Their dad died, West was there to comfort Eden and their mother, but she never once saw him shed a tear. It was the same with their grandpa, West was the strong one of the two. He was always the one to make everything seem better than it was. He never broke down, it wasn't part of who he was. Or at least part of the Weston that everyone saw, including her.

Unsure of what to do with the crying brother in front of her, Eddie approached him uncertainly and knelt down beside him. "What's going on?" she asked again, for what seemed like the millionth time.

West gave a jump from his spot on the ground, just realizing that his younger sister was there to witness his break down. He quickly whipped his eyes and attempted to gather himself. He snuffled his nose loudly, making a small smile come to Eden's face. She sat herself down beside him and took his hand in hers comfortingly, waiting for him to speak.

"I had it all planned out," Weston said eventually. His voice was laden with emotion as he looked out to the field directly in front of the teens. "I was going to go with Pete this summer. See the sights while I still had time, get all my high school jitters out before I went to find a job."

He paused, gathering another breath. Eden squeezed his hand reassuringly and waited for him to continue on with his explanation. "I want to become a lawyer," he stated firmly.

Eden frowned, once again confused. She had known that Weston had had a dream from when he was younger that he wanted to become a lawyer. To defend those who couldn't defend themselves, was what he always had used to say. But that was back when they were both in middle school, she thought that he had given up on that dream and moved onto something else. She knew that their family would never have been able to pay for Law School, and Eden had just assumed that West had accepted that and decided on another career. But apparently not.

"Then be a lawyer," Eden said, despite knowing that he most likely never would, but hoped to help her brother overcome whatever was bothering him. "There's nothing stopping you."

A laugh escaped Weston as he listened to what she said. "Of course there is, Eddie. She would never allow me to do anything other than what she wanted."

"Ma?" Eden asked, gathering that the only 'She' that would be able to stop her brother would be the one that raised him. Any other woman, including his girlfriend Lorianne, and herself couldn't stop him once his ind was set to something.

West nodded, "She's hell bent on me enlisting, just like Dad."

Comprehension dawned on Eden as she realized what their mother was referring to when she 'forms'. Meg had always pressed upon West that it was his 'duty' to his family that he enlist into the Army and without the family name. Every male in their family had served at one time or another, on both sides. When he was younger, the idea of becoming a soldier and helping to defend their country had been a thrill for Weston, and he couldn't wait to be eighteen and be able to enlist. Then he took history in fifth grade and learned that being a soldier wasn't all about the glory. Ever since that point, West had been trying to convince their mother that the Army wasn't the right place for him. But despite all his protests, she still expected him to leave everything behind, all his plans, his friends, his girlfriend, to withhold the family tradition.

"She's insane," Eddie said softly. She felt West nod his head slightly. "I'd kill to have Ma allow me to enlist," she said after a few moments silence. Mentally, she braced for what she knew was coming.

5

4

3

2

1..

"What?!"

Lift off..

West gave his sister a stunned look, unsure if he had heard her right or not. "You can't be serious? You want to enlist?" His eyes looked like they were ready to bulge right out of their sockets. "In the Army?"

"No, I wanna be a banana in the circus!" Eden said sarcastically before she gave him a look, like she was talking to a three year old, instead of her older brother. "Yes, West. I've only been telling you this for..the past fourteen years or so."

It annoyed her slightly that Weston was just now seeming to realize how serious she had been all those years. She knew that her mother had never believed in her, but somehow Eden had always hoped that if anyone would, it would be her older brother. Apparently from the insane look that West was throwing her way, she had been very wrong. Was it really that hard for her family to understand that she wanted to serve her country, just like her father and grandpa? Honestly, she couldn't understand why Weston didn't believe her.

Her grandfather had always understood Eddie's wish to enlist, and even supported her. Though, however comforting it was to have her grandpa behind her, it had never swayed her mother into allowing her to so much as look into enlisting. Not that any branch of the military would even think of allowing her to do anything other than become a nurse, which wasn't what Eddie wanted to do. She wanted to be in the thick of things, in the action. The front lines, despite the danger, which just added to the thrill.

"I never thought you were serious," Weston admitted after a few moments silence, "Ma always said it was just a phase you'd grow out of."

Eden shook her head in disagreement, "Wasn't just a phase, or at least I'm still in it if it actually was a phase," she said thoughtfully. She leaned against West's chest and he draped his arm across her shoulder and gave her a one armed hug. "So what now?"

West gave a deep sigh and leaned his head back against the wall before staring down at Eddie's honey colored eyes, "I always did think camo was pretty cool."

--

Eden had barely made it out of West's car at the Willard's house for the second time that day before her mother appeared out of no where and grabbed her arm tightly.

West and Eden had managed to leave the Willard's after his break down without being noticed, and both opted to go back home to change for the party. West had gone straight to his room and shut the door behind him, leaving Eden standing in the small living room. She'd shook her head before going into her own room and changing into clean clothes. She had decided on a simple, light blue, sun dress that went down to her knees. It had small white daisies stitched on to it, and it was one of the few dressed Eden had that she actually liked to wear. About an hour later she had heard West come out of his room and call for her. Soon the two were out the door and on the road again for the Willard's.

"Ouch," Eden yelped as her mother dragged her into the house without a word, "Okay, mom. Arm, attached to the rest of my body." She gave a loud sigh as her mother choose to ignore her and walked faster to keep up with Meg. The two women ended up in the bathroom, where Mrs. Willard waited, a comb in hand. Eddie's eyes widen at the sight of it and she instantly made to go back out the door but her mother beat her to it and locked the door.

"Sit down, Eden," she commanded sternly. Eden suppressed a groan and sat herself down on the stool set up in front of the mirror and waited in dismay.

Soon enough Eden's chocolate colored hair was pulled back into a bun, with her bangs falling gracefully around her face. What would've taken Eden five minutes to do on her own before school had taken two grown women nearly an hour to accomplish. Not a minute after her hair had been finished, Meg had whisked her daughter out to the back yard, where the majority of the party was.

As she looked around, Eden noticed a lot of younger looking men, all in suits and ties. Most looked like doctors and lawyers in the making. Eden tried to not groan out loud as she realized how many introductions would be made that night. She followed her mother out of the safety of the house and into the war zone that she knew nothing about.

Nearly three hours later, Eden had lost count of the number of possible husbands she had met. With a pitiful noise, one not worthy of being called a groan, she fell into the lawn chair beside West, who shot her a sympathetic look.

"Find prince charming, yet?" he asked before ducking to avoid being hit by Eden's failing arm. Pete gave a laugh as he watched the siblings.

"You might as well just pick one," he said, a matter of fact tone to his voice.

Eden flashed him a grin and batted her lashes at him flirtatiously. "Are you offering, Pete?" she asked, trying to sound hopeful. At the moment, even Pete was looking a good choice against any of the dull men that her mother had invited to the party.

"You wish darling," he retorted, taking a sip of coke before walking off towards a group of football players that were calling his name.

"Well," Eden said with a saddened voice, "That's it for me. Not even Petey will marry me. I guess I'm destined to be alone my entire life and buy a bunch of cats," she looked over to West to see an amused look playing across his face.

"Don't forget to call one Buttons," he said, patting her on the head. He stood up and made to walk away.

"What?" Eden called after him in mock anger, "No more sympathy for your poor single sister?"

West turned around and started to walk backwards, "Sorry, sis. Party calls. Only got a couple more days of freedom, gotta take when I can," he arms were wide spread and he flashed her a grin before jogging to catch up with Petey and his other friends. Apparently his invitation from earlier had been forgotten as Eden watched him climb into Pete's car and they sped off down the road.

"Excuse me?" a deep voice asked from behind her, causing Eden to turn around and come face to face with a young man in a suit. "Are you Eden?"

"Yes," she answered, almost knowing exactly was coming next. The man looked relieved to find he had gotten the right girl and grin came to his face.

"Your mother sent me over," mentally, Eden was begging for the man to stop speaking. She knew the words that came out of his mouth by heart, "Apparently we're made for each other."

Eden nearly poured her soda over the poor guy's head as he continued to talk, not seeming to care that Eden had stopped listening. It was the same with every other man that her mother had sent her way that night. And sadly, none of them were smart enough to realize that they all had the same pick lines, life stories, and plans for the future. It made for a very dull night for Eden when she was forced to come to parties. She compared it to like listening to a broken record for six hours straight. That always made for a very fun night.