December 20, 1941; Saturday
“Eamon!” I set my suitcase down in time for my older brother to pick me up in his arms.
“I got your telegram. Why did you take the later train?” he asked after setting me back on my feet.
“I needed to finish an essay for English class.”
Eamon glanced down at me with a critical look on his face. I gave him a glare of my own. “Would I ever tell an untruth to thee, dear brother?”
His expression softened. “No, you wouldn’t.”
I grinned at him as I retrieved my suitcase. Eamon offered me his arm and led me out of the train station to snow-covered Finchley. “How have you been, brother mine?”
“Pretty good. Work in the factory has allowed me to keep up with the payments on the house, though it’s not very clean.”
“I can imagine. Even with dozens of servants at Cair Paravel, Amesh and Bremton managed to dirty up their rooms something awful – especially while I was on campaign.”
My brother chuckled to himself. “Sounds about right.”
I laughed with him. “Worry not, I shall clean up the house after lunch. Anything else interesting happen at the factory?”
My brother frowned, his brow furrowed in thought. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Oh?” I said, my eyebrows perking up in disbelief. “None of the women working there have made any advances toward you?”
Eamon’s eyes dropped to the ground, and the blood rushed to his face. “Well…”
I reached up farther on my brother’s arm to snuggle closer, and I smiled mischievously. “How many?”
He tilted his head to the side and back again with a grimace. “Most in my section,” he said quietly.
“And how many is that?”
Eamon shrugged. “Twenty.”
My eyes widened. “Twenty women? Have you taken any of them out?”
“Of course not. Why should I?”
“Well, if you were interested in a lady, and she in you, why not take her out on a date?”
“Because I have you to take care of.”
“Oh, Eamon,” I said exasperatedly. “I am seventy-three years old and quite capable of taking care of myself.”
“Wow, what a way to make me feel loved,” said Eamon with an annoyed tone.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Brother mine, I do not mean to offend you. I appear to people as a thirteen-year-old, and culture dictates that you take care of me. However, because appearances can be deceiving, that does not require you to spend all your free time with my person. If there were a pretty girl that your heart desires to court, then do so. I do not wish you to give up your personal life on my account.”
We stopped and separated in front of the porch steps when I finished my little speech. As Eamon looked at me, I could see love, admiration, and sadness in his green eyes. I cared not to see sadness in my loved one’s eyes, and I cared doubly not for the tears that welled in the eyes along with it. Reaching up, I cradled my brother’s cheek with my right hand. Tears sprang into my own eyes.
“Eamon, what is it?”
“I forgot how mature you are,” he replied thickly.
“Eamon Richard, don’t,” I said as I narrowed my eyes. “I may be very mature, but I can be as immature as I want – that’s the benefit of having this second childhood.”
To emphasize my point, I tickled my brother in the ribs and made a quick dash for the door after snatching the house key. My maneuver caught Eamon off-guard, but he was on my tail as soon as I opened the door. I put my suitcase down and turned around in time to hear my brother growl before he tackled me. Letting out a playful screech, I braced myself to hit the floor. Eamon proceeded to poke me in the waist and ribs. I attempted to retaliate, but he pinned my arms above my head. To keep him from easily winning the wrestling match, I rolled out from underneath my brother, causing him to fall. I flopped on top of him and poked him in the ribs. To counter my move, Eamon rolled on his back, pinning me between him and the floor.
“Do you give up, Queen Sister?” Eamon asked, breathless.
“Never!” I shouted from beneath him.
To keep him from crushing me, I put my hands on his waist and squeezed. Eamon shot straight up, giving me the chance to get on my feet. I got into a stance to defend myself from the tickling brother and to attack if necessary. He stood in front of me, panting a bit as I did.
Attempting to level me with a glare, my brother asked, “Why’d you do that?”
I relaxed and looked pathetically innocent. “Do what? Pull the whole tickle attack or the last maneuver?”
Eamon continued to scowl at me. I only smiled. “The first.”
My grin widened. I turned to retrieve my suitcase and headed towards my room. “You needed it!”
The sound of the front door clicking shut reached my ears. I placed my suitcase on the bed and retrieved my wedding band.
“I needed it?” he asked, confused.
“Yes,” I said, turning to face him. “With all that has happened this past year – Mother and Father dying, your injury, and my return to school – and then my ‘I-can-take-care-of-myself’ speech on top of that, you needed something to relieve some of the pressure.”
A small, appreciative sort of smirk appeared on my brother’s face. “It was a nice diversion.”
I smiled warmly. “And do not worry, brother dearest, I shall let you indulge in taking care of me.”
Happiness wormed its way into Eamon’s smirk. He offered me an arm, and I snuggled up to him. “Good. Because I would’ve insisted on it.”
“Ha ha! How about we get some lunch?”
“Sounds good to me.”
The two of us walked to the kitchen and made simple sandwiches for lunch. We sat in silence at the table, enjoying each other’s presence. A few minutes before Eamon prepared to head back to the factory, I remembered the town’s annual Christmas Eve party.
“Eamon,” I started as I washed our dishes. “Is Finchley still holding their Christmas Eve party?”
“Yep. There was concern about holding it, but it was decided that the party should be held to divert everybody’s attention from the war.”
There was weariness in his voice, making me think that the work at the factory was a little more than he could handle at the moment. I looked over my shoulder at him. He was leaning heavily against the back of the chair and looked worn out. I considered whether or not to ask my brother if we were going to the party and to tell him that Susan had invited us to her house for Christmas dinner. Eamon easily lost his temper when he was overtired.
Turning back to the sink, I decided to take the risk and ask the former. “Are we going?”
He took a breath and answered, “Of course, what would make you think that we wouldn’t?”
I smiled a small smile. “Oh, nothing.”
Eamon snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he mumbled to himself. “Well, I gotta get back to work, sis.”
I circled back around and wiped my hands on the dish towel that was hanging from the stove handle. Together, we walked to the front of the house, and my brother opened the door to leave, though not without getting a hug and a kiss from me.
“What time do you finish?” I questioned so I could prepare dinner in time for his return. I crossed my arms, trying to ward off the chill of the December cold as it cascaded in the house.
“I get done about eighteen hundred and get home around nineteen hundred,” he answered in military time. I used it plenty in Narnia, so it was easy to understand. Eamon finished at six at night and returned home at seven.
“Seven hours – I should have the house cleaned and supper ready by then,” I said, smiling.
“You can work that fast?”
I nodded.
“That’s amazing.”
“Why, thank you. Now you probably should go if you do not want to get in trouble with your boss.”
“Alright, little sis. I’ll see you later.” Eamon gave me a kiss on the brow and shut the door behind him.
I turned to face the mess of a house. I went to the living room to turn on the radio. Christmas music fill my home, and I started to sing along as I began to dust.
“Hark the her-old an-gels sing!
Glory to the new-born King! …”
-x-x-x-x-x-
Eamon entered the door at seven p.m. sharp. “Must be the result from his time in the service,” I said to myself. I took my apron off my clean dress and waited in the hall for Eamon to acknowledge me. When he looked up, I could tell he was exhausted, though he smiled widely despite his lack of energy.
I grinned back. “Welcome home, Eamon. Supper is on the table, ready and waiting for you.”
My brother took a deep breath. “Smells wonderful, Belle,” he commented tiredly.
I curtsied as low as I could in my skirt. “Thank you, good sir. I only hope it tastes as good as it smells.”
Eamon gave a weary sideways smile. “Let me wash up, and I’ll join you in the kitchen.”
“Alright.”
Turning on my heel, I re-entered the kitchen and took my place at the farther end of the table. Five minutes later, Eamon joined me for our meal. He still had a tired look about him, but he was trying to hide it with false energy, so I allowed him to think that I was fooled by his façade.
“The food looks wonderful, sis.”
It was a simple meal of fried, unbreaded chicken with steamed peas, plain rice, and water – nothing elaborate. I dearly wanted to make something with more flavor, but there’s only so many things you can do with severely limited food items. “Thank you, milord. Please, help yourself.”
Throughout the course of the meal, Eamon told me about what he did in the factory. Turns out that he helped put the planes together and was always moving – he seldom got a break. His story about what went on in the factory – different sections making wheels, fuselage parts, glass, guns, bomb racks, and much more – reminded me remotely of the Dwarf smithies that I had visited on occasion. Each group of Dwarves had their own special job, and they were busy as bees.
When he finished telling me about it, I asked him about Susan’s invitation to Christmas dinner. At my mention of it, it looked like a weight had been lifted from Eamon’s shoulders. “That’s very kind of her. You can tell her that we’ll come.”
I beamed at my brother and rose from my chair to hug him. He grunted as I came in contact with him. “Thank you, Eamon.”
“No problem, sis. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll be going to bed,” my tired brother said, rising from his chair.
“You are excused. I shall put the food in the ice box and finish washing up.”
Eamon looked at me from the kitchen doorway. “You’re amazing, Belle. How could I get on without you?”
I looked at him with gentleness filling my expression. “You couldn’t. That’s why I am here.”
He smiled and nodded tiredly before heading to his room.
“Jesus, please keep my brother safe. He needs all the help he can get,” I prayed as I cleared the table. After cleaning up the kitchen, I went to my room and changed into my pajamas before reading my Bible passages and praying the Rosary for the night. When I finished, I looked down at my rings on my hands and the medallion around my neck. In the medallion and the Lion ring, I saw people of Heaven protecting and helping me through the days, and in the gold and silver wedding band, I saw my family, including our Wolf guards. For a second, I felt the presence of everyone that cared for me; it was a delightful feeling to fall asleep to.
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