Lovely Hues | Fillie AU

Chapter Thirteen

It took Finn the rest of the week to wrap his mind around the fact that Millie wasn't married to Charlie. That she wasn't married to anyone. That she had been married—twice—and that both husbands met tragic ends.

It was when he passed Charlie on the street one afternoon that he saw how stupid he had been to beleive the tall broad shouldered man had been married to Millie because they looked so much alike that they really could've been twins. How did he ever think that they were anything but related?

The look on Millie's face when Finn had asked where her husband was—where Charlie was—had been so thoroughly amused that he had wondered if he had something in his teeth or if there was something on his face that he couldn't feel. He had been so amped up from the prospect of having to fight James, of needing to defend Millie, that her telling him that she wasn't married sounded like someone telling him that a man had walked on the moon. It seemed preposterous and impossible and the every moment he'd spent with her thus far had replayed in his mind and it all started making more sense.

The day he arrived and saw the Brown family in the yard, he was so instantly captivated by Millie that he almost crashed. He thought it was clear that she was married and was confused why his heart would pull him to that sort of situation. Turned out that his heart was somehow all-knowing.

Who woulda thought?

And the day they had that run-in on the sidewalk. The way he felt when her hand grazed his. It was electric. And their conversation left him wanting more. And he had felt so guilty. Now that he knew that there was no need for that guilt, he was down-right exhilarated. Had been all week.

Yet, a part of his conscience still pounded from inside his skull, telling him that he needed to focus. He still needed to get to DC. Still needed to lobby for officially desegregating the military. Still needed to leave this little town and everyone in it. His conscience told him that he had no time for dalliances with random women.

But Millie wasn't random.

She was so far from random that random would need a boat, or a plane just to catch a glimpse of her.

And Finn would board that boat or plane in a heartbeat.

That's why, after having a few days to mull it over, he decided that he'd give this a shot. He'd ease up on Gaten and tell him to take his time with the bike. Maybe even tell the company sending the part that they can take their time too. He wanted the repair to take a little more time. He wanted to see if there was any interest in him from Millie Brown and he'd start his efforts to find that out on Saturday. He just hoped that she hadn't told Charlie about his assumptions of their relationship.

How embarrassing would that be?

But, to Finn's absolute horror, he got the opposite answer Saturday morning at about eleven forty-five, when he walked up to the Brown family's navy blue door, freshly showered and clean shaven with a small bouquet of fresh farm flowers in hand.

"Oi!" Charlie yelled with a severe crinkle in his brow as he swung open the door, "What kind of back-woods town do you reckon this is?! Me marrying my sister. . .insulting!"

Finn was taken aback, "I-I ju—what I mean is—I didn—"

Millie came up beside her brother, shaking her head and smiling and Charlie's expression cracked, his face dropping into laughter, "I'm only joking with ya." he told him and Finn felt like he couldn't breathe. His chest was tight and joints were stiff. Charlie grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him into the house.

"You bring those flowers for me?" Charlie asked, continuing his pursuit of comedy, "How did you know I love miniaturized sunflowers?"

Finn looked at the bouquet in his hands. It had—as Charlie said—a few mini sunflowers, but also warm, peach colored roses, and Montauk daisies.