Lovely Hues | Fillie AU

Chapter Two

"There is something seriously screwy about that guy's bike." Charlie said to his little sister after waving to the man who rode by on an extremely loud and gurgly sounding war-used motorcycle. The military green color and star on its chassis gave that much away but Millie was just happy that it didn't send her big brother spiraling like so many reminders of the war seemed to do.

"I'd have to agree." Millie said with a sympathetic chuckle, craning her neck to watch after the man as he turned down the next street. She didn't know why she was trying to hold her gaze on him for as long as she could but she didn't give it much more thought seeing as she was trying to get her unruly, twin toddlers into the house when all they wanted to do was to stay out in the warm, autumn sunshine.

She had smiled at the guy on the motorcycle though, and he nodded to her with an almost cocky grin on his face. Just almost because she couldn't quite call it fully cocky while his bike was making such a ruckus. He was clearly embarrassed by the spectacle he was making of himself but his sure confidence was still there.

Millie didn't often see when new people came into town because she was typically holed up in her drawing room, watching as her two-year olds played with blocks, or painting on her hand-stretched canvases. If she was outside, she was normally tending to her fruit and vegetable garden in the back and wouldn't have a view of the street, but since her brother came to live with her, he'd been trying to make the front yard more beautiful. He wanted to give it the curb appeal that the house behind demanded. It was a big and elegant house, probably the nicest house in town, but she hadn't kept up the front garden much after the death of her first husband. 

Louis had been the one to start the garden when they first moved in and after his death, Millie couldn't bring herself to continue his work. Even after she met Noah, she still didn't have it in her to resurrect Louis's flowers and shrubbery. It hurt her heart to even think about seeing the beautiful glowing yellow of his daffodils, the rounded tops of his tulips, and the unmatched purple hues of his irises without Louis's gentle hands pruning and aiding the delicate flowers in their skyward pursuits.

He had been so good at that.

It was only because she knew it would make her brother happy that she allowed him to bring her late husband's garden back to life. After the war ended and all the soldiers returned to their families, Charlie had been so depressed that he didn't leave their family home in central London for anything. He jumped at every little sound and woke up screaming most nights, so his parents sent him to America to live with his newly windowed little sister, where reminders of the battles and bombing weren't on every street corner and where they both might find catharsis in each other's company.

Millie had been planning her trip back to London—finally—when her parents called to inform her that instead of returning to her home, they wanted her to stay in Wisconsin and that her brother was on a boat as they spoke, making his long trek to her in East Plains. The reasoning seemed muddled to her though. Why stay in a place that only reminded her of her losses? Why stay in a place where she had no more chances to grow? All she wanted was to be home again. To see her family. Her friends. And try to find some sense of normal for her and her children. But her parents had plans of their own and since she was dependent on them to get her home, there was nothing for her to say.

And she was excited to see her brother after all those years, but felt like she'd been rejected by her parents, yet again. Not that they were actually rejecting her or her children, but a grieving heart wasn't always the most logical and she only felt rejection and isolation from her family. Almost two years later now, she was finally starting to get her light back. And her brother was largely to thank for that. And by extension, she supposed, her parents as well.