Highland Defiance (The MacLomain Series- Early Years) (2 page)

“The same dream then?”

She pushed up the window by her bedside and gulped in fresh morning air. Resting her arms on the windowsill, she propped her chin on folded hands and responded to her older sister, Irene. “Yes.”

“You really should tell mother about them, dear.”

“Mmm hmm.”

But she wouldn’t.

Irene sat and rested a hand on her shoulder.
“Happy Birthday, Mildred.”

With a sad sigh, she worked at a smile. Why couldn’t he have let her be for one night?
One single night.
But what would it have been like if she’d awoken without having seen him?
Probably worse.

Enough with these depressing thoughts.
The world was fraught with enough drama without her adding to it. No matter how handsome and intense, the man from her dreams was only a figment of her overactive imagination.

Mildred shook off her current mood and cocked a brow at Irene. “How was your date with Timothy last night?”

Irene lay back and rolled her eyes.
“Total flat tire.
I had Phillip in my sights by the end of the night.”

“That bad, eh?”

“Worse. If Timothy told me one more time what a hard boiled guy he was, I was going to plead ill. If he’s all that special, he should do his country a favor and enlist.”

“I told you to pass on that one.”

They smiled as their younger brother Jonathan joined them. Sitting on the other side of Mildred, he shook his head and winked at Irene. “But I think you enjoy the game too much.”

“That she does.” Mildred leaned over and gave her brother a peck on the cheek.
“Truth told, you’re no better.”

His thick, dark brown hair in disarray and expression properly wounded, Jonathan shrugged.
“Can’t change who I am.”

Irene clucked her tongue. “So you admit it.”

Jonathan grinned. “Always have. Always will.” His merry blue eyes danced. “All the ladies are keen on me.”

Mildred grinned. Her brother and sister were both very attractive and had never had any qualms about it. But they were humble too. Half the reason she adored them. Jonathan would be turning eighteen tomorrow. Irene was twenty-two.

“So I’ve made a decision,” Jonathan said softly.

Both sisters went on alert. Their brother never got serious. With his eighteenth birthday looming, Mildred put a hand over her stomach, prepared for the worst.

Irene stood abruptly, her sea green eyes dark. “Don’t you dare say it,
Jonathan.
Don’t you dare, I tell you.”

Jonathan’s eyes met Mildred’s before they went to Irene. “You must understand.”

“I need not understand a thing.” Irene looked at Mildred, dismissing him altogether. “It’s time to get dressed. We’re due at the factory within the hour.”

Mildred blinked away tears before they could form and took Jonathan’s hand. “She just doesn’t want to hear it is all.”

“Well it needs to be said to you both before I tell Mama.”

“Mama should always be told first, not us,” Irene snapped.

Mildred sighed. “Oh, stop it, Irene. We’ve always shared with one another first. You’re just afraid.”

Irene frowned. “Of course I am.
As you should be!”

“He will do as he pleases.” She squeezed his hand even though her heart broke. “It is our job to support him, to love him.”

“Well, Lord knows I love him.” Irene plunked down on the bed and put her hand over theirs, voice direct. “You are going to enlist, aren’t you?”

Jonathan nodded. “I am.”

“Hell.” Irene closed her eyes for several moments then met his. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Yes,” Jonathan
whispered,
emotion in his voice. “I’ve no doubt.”

Irene gritted her teeth and squeezed their hands briefly before standing once more.
“Fine then.”
She took a deep breath, looked around the room aimlessly before she came to some sort of internal conclusion and straightened her shoulders. “You will do what you can for this war from that side, Mildred and I from this side. Come now, Mildred, get dressed, time to go to work.”

Mildred didn’t have a chance to respond before her sister left the attic where they roomed.

“She handled that quite well I think,” Jonathan said.

“But not me.”
Mildred yanked away her hand and stood, hands on her hips. “You’re a fool!”

“So you saved how you really felt until she was gone.” Jonathan came to his feet, standing several inches taller than her. “Why do you always do that? Why do you show her one thing and me another?”

Furious, she spun away and started throwing clothes from her dresser drawers. “Because I can handle it better than she can.”

“Can you?” He dodged a shirt thrown his way.

“Yes.”

“Every single time I do something you don’t like you pull this. I should just call you on it from the beginning.”

“There’s nothing to call me on.” She whipped a pair of socks at him. “I’m right every time and you’re wrong!”

“You’re behaving like a child.”

“I’m behaving like a sister.”

He dodged a wadded up pair of pants. “Mildred, please stop.”

“Now.
Stop. This is insane.” He jumped in front of the dresser before she could grab more weaponry.

Why should she stop? Her brother was about to offer himself up to be killed because that’s all that would happen to him. He wasn’t nearly mature enough to handle what the war would throw at him. She’d never been so furious in her life.

“Step aside,” she growled.

He peered down his nose at her. “I will not.”

“You will.”

“No.”

Fury made blood rush through her veins.
“Move!”

“What’s all the commotion up here?”

They turned toward the top of the attic stairs and said at the same time, “Nothing, Mama.”

“Nothing is always something.” Their mother appeared, shaking her head. “Some things never change.”

It took everything she had not to tell her mother everything right there and then. But she didn’t. She would never give away her brother’s secrets before he meant to tell them. But she’d sure as heck let him know how she felt. Crestfallen didn’t begin to describe her current emotions.

Jonathan put on his brightest smile and crossed the room. “I was simply telling her what I thought about her latest beau.”

Mama’s brows lowered. “Now who is this?”

Jonathan linked arms with her and led her back down the stairs. “Oh, you know the fella, comes up to her nose if an inch.”

Mama said, “Really? That seems a bit off, does it not?”

“Oh yes.”

Jonathan’s voice faded as they traveled downstairs. While she dearly loved her mother, the woman was a bit pliable, especially when it came to her son. Probably because their Da was away so long…still.

Mildred plunked down on her bed, frustrated. Not because of Mama’s easy-to-sway attitude but because Jonathan wasn’t using his head. Yes, the war was fresh but men were already dying. She chewed her nail and glared across the room. There had to be a way to stop him.

Unlikely lass.
When a man is set to go to war he will.

With a sharp intake of breath, she stood and spun. “Who’s there?”

Nobody responded. But she’d heard a voice clear as day.
His
voice, the one with the Scottish accent, the man from her dream.
Mildred stormed around the room and looked behind everything she could find. She was about to lift Irene’s mattress but stopped.
I’m going insane!
Jonathan’s news got to her and now she was letting the man from her imagination give her advice.

Hmph!
Not going to happen. Grumbling, she pulled on some pants. As she buttoned up her blouse, she threw her blankets over her bed with a spare foot. Socks and shoes on, she cinched her hair in a blue bandana and flew downstairs. 

Irene’s arm reached out at the bottom floor.
“Stop.”

Before she could say a word her sister continued. “I know you’re more upset than me, Mildred. And I know every time you get upset with Jonathan you take it out on the car. I’m driving.”

“I do not. Anyways, I need a—”

Jonathan came around the corner and shoved a muffin into her hand. “Here’s breakfast. Let’s go.”

Even though she tried to beat them to the car, she lost. They piled into their thirty-six Chevy and were off, Irene driving. She really would’ve liked to drive. It let her blow off steam. Sitting in the backseat, she ignored the muffin.

“How can you think I’m hungry?” She spat at anyone willing to listen.

“Eat,” Irene said. “Jonathan’s irritated me enough. Don’t you add to
it.
”

Jonathan winked over his shoulder from the front seat, took a bite of muffin and said around a mouthful, “See, I’m eating.”

Mildred tore off a piece and shoved it in her mouth, eyes narrowed.

The car bounced down the dirt road and Jonathan chuckled.

But she didn’t miss the way his eyes skirted between his sisters or the way his expression grew serious when he thought he was off the hook. Jonathan was about to join a terrible war, one that had been festering for far too long. Adolf Hitler was a tyrant and soon her baby brother was about to take up with the ranks of his enemy.

Blink away the tears, Mildred. Stay strong.
But it was so darn hard. Their lives were quickly spiraling in a direction that would split apart the family. It had been the four of them for so long. Now she knew Irene was considering entering nursing and the war. Jonathan would be leaving too. It would just be her and Mama. If Da returned, that’d be something but it’d been so long since his last message.

“Oh, stop brooding back there.” Jonathan nodded outside of the car. “Your fan club is waiting for you.”

As usual, she’d got lost in thought. They’d just arrived at the steel mill in Manchester. Her ‘fan club’ consisted of two men, both dear friends. She, Jim and David had been childhood friends and remained close.

The minute she stepped out of the car, they were shaking their heads.

“Upset with Jonathan again?” Jim asked.

“Irene’s got her going this time,” Jonathan provided as he hopped out.

Or maybe it’s me.

Mildred stopped short. It was the man from her dreams again! Spinning, she searched. Nobody was there but her friends.

“You’re nothing but a ghost,” she whispered.

“What’s that?” Jim asked.

With a sharp shake of her head, she responded, “Nothing.
Just talking to myself.”

Irene shot her a sharp look and started to walk toward the factory with her brother. Doing her best to paste a bright smile on her face, she locked arms with Jim and David and they started toward the factory.