Timeless

Chapter 9

August 1943

Birthdays had always been something of importance in the Egan household. It didn't matter that money was tight some years. Their mother had always stressed to them the importance of someone feeling special on their birthday. In the years that money had been particularly tight, they had decided that a special meal would be had in place of any presents that would be given.

Unless someone was in dire need of something (like new socks or shoes), things were kept simple. And then things had gotten a bit harder with the war effort on. And in the midst of rationing and lack of money and means, birthdays for Kathryn Egan had slipped into the background of her mind.

Turning 23 was no small thing—at this point in her life, she'd now be considered eligible for old maid or spinster status back home. Luckily, on the base, that was the least of everyone's problems. It didn't matter how old or young you were if you were on the base—it just mattered that you wanted to help with the war effort.

That being said, Kathryn Egan had nearly entirely forgotten that her birthday was approaching. That morning that she got up, she didn't find things any different than they normally were—she still felt rather the same and didn't show any signs of premature aging to signify that she was an old maid now.

None of the other nurses knew about her birthday and Kathryn fully intended to keep things that way. The more she could keep her head down, the more she could just do her work quietly, the simpler and easier her life would be. She had already garnered more than enough attention after publicly disgracing a few of the members of the British Royal Air Force.

And that reputation was not going away anytime soon.

Then again, Kathryn rather preferred men to be more terrified of approaching her than bold enough to proposition her. It was a rather fine line and one that she was just fine being solidly on the other side of.

She had no sooner made it to the mess hall and sat down to eat her breakfast that the hall had gone suspiciously quiet. In hindsight, she should've known that Bucky was bound to be up to something on her birthday. If her mother thought that birthdays were important, Bucky considered it to be better than the 4th of July.

"KATHRYN EGAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

Kathryn immediately felt all eyes land on her and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and to die right then and there. Her cheeks burned just as red as her lipstick and the singing that Bucky was loudly doing did little to help her feel better as others joined in.

"Oh this is—this is hell. I'm in hell now," Kathryn just hid her face in her hands, wishing more than anything that her brother would go away.

He did no such thing. Johnny Egan just continued to sing the birthday song loudly and proudly until it was done and he was smiling in her face. "Happy birthday, sis!" With that, he leaned forward, gave her a kiss on the forehead, and then continued to stroll on his merry way.

"I'm going to kill him." Kathryn was mortified at the display of events, but the other nurses just seemed amused by the turn of events.

"You didn't tell us it was your birthday!" Laura exclaimed.

"It's not a big deal—"

"Your brother seems to think otherwise," Poppy deadpanned, gesturing over to the door her brother had walked through.

Annika just gave her a look of sympathy. "It was kind of sweet."

"So how old?" Becky questioned, nudging Kathryn with her foot as the rest of the room resumed their normal conversations.