A Tale of Two Western Lovers

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A hard knock sounded at the rickety door which made me jump and drop my spoon, my mother tossed me an angry glare but Nora just laughed and made her way to the door.

"Mrs Nora Lockner?" The post man read the name off the letter before looking up to see Nora nod excitedly. Before he could hand it to her she grabbed it from his hand and flew over to the table and grabbed her knife to open it cleanly.

"Nora! Calm down! It might not be from him!" I laughed while reaching for a new spoon as mine lay on the floor being licked by Georgia the sheep dog.

"Oh Lottie but it is!" She exclaimed and tor the letter from the envelope and threw it at me in excitement.

"Girls. Do not throw" my mother glanced up from her newspaper for a split second to give us a silly telling off.

Suddenly Teddy burst through the back door in a flurry of happiness and smiles. "Lottie! Lottie! You'll never guess what happened!" He bounced towards me with the widest grin on his face. "Charlotte! Listen to me!" He shouted at me, but my mother just continued reading her newspaper, she always had a soft spot for Teddy. He was the youngest, dumbest, strangest and most annoying; sadly I wasn't allowed to call him all these things but as his closest sibling in age I should be allowed to give him the advice. Right?

"Yes Teddy. How can I help you?" I clasped my hands in front of me and smiled at my brother sarcastically but his mind doesn't notice sarcasm so he carries on anyway.

"I talked to Eloise! She talked to me! Lottie! She talked to me!" He dropped into a chair opposite me then sighed before leaning back and staring into space.

I looked over to where Nora was reading her letter with her hand covering her mouth and her eyes watered. "Nora? Is everything alright?" I put my spoon down and clasped her hand across the table.

She moved her hand away quickly before throwing back her chair and running out the room, we all heard her loud sobs as she ran. "Oh Nora dear! Do come back!" I called after her but there was no reply, only her distant sobs.

I helped Katherine tidy the table then walked out onto the porch to talk to Nora.

"Nori?" I whispered as she sat on the bench with red puffy eyes and the letter crumpled in her right fist.

"It's over. It's all over. The war is over" she wiped her face and stood up, she handed me the letter then turned to face the land we owned, 250 acres still wasn't enough space to get away from my family.

I read the letter carefully until I got to the last line.

Soldier Thomas Lockner : killed in battle on Friday 17th of January

I looked over to where Nora was but I felt my eyes fill with tears. I couldn't let her see my cry over my brother. Her husband. My brother was dead. Her husband was gone.

"I'm a widow now. A war widow." She turned to face me, my heart sank as I looked into her eyes which were full of pain and heartbreak. "Every person in the town will say "he did it for his country" and I'll have to smile and say nice things but I don't think I can! Oh Lottie I don't think i can talk about it ever again"

I placed the dreadful letter on the table then went to give my sister-in-law a tight hug as she cried into my shoulder.

"It will get better Nora. With time" I whispered but she continued to sob but all the while my mother made no appearance.

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Later that day I was sat on the porch with a book, I was taking my mind off the fate my oldest brother had met. Every-time the thought came into my mind I pushed it away with thoughts of Nora and how she will fair with Tommy gone.

"Lottie?" I turned to see Bertie, his brown hair was messy and his eyes looked red. He must've heard.

"Hey Bertie" I smiled as best I could but it didn't lighten the mood at all. Bertie was probably my favourite brother (though I should not say). We were the most similar, if he wasn't twenty-two and I wasn't fifteen then we would most likely be twins. Brown hair and brown eyes was our common gene, Tommy and Teddy both had our mothers golden hair and grey eyes.

"The worst has happened" he sat down next to me and looked at his hands clasped in his lap. "I could've saved him. If I wasn't such a coward" Bertie had to leave the war due to the influenza but was supposed to return next month. The war was over now and Bertie was safe.

"What if you couldn't. What if we lost both of you" I took a deep breath and took his hand, it was freezing.

"I could've done something, anything" he looked conflicted and I didn't blame him for that, he lost a brother that day as well.

"We can't turn back time, Bertie" I loved all my brothers but I knew Tommy was gone and there was no way to bring him back so I accepted it. I'm not saying I wasn't sad, of course I missed him dearly but I knew not to dwell on the past.

"I know, sister. I just wish I could've helped" he sat back on the bench and looked at the river that flowed through the land my family owned. "Everything I look at makes me think of our childhood that we all spent together." Bertie smiled a little but caught himself quickly. "Remember playing in the river, when Teddy was a baby I would dip him in and out the river and Tommy would throw us in one by one." He laughed slightly but didn't stop himself this time. "He was always stronger then me"

"That's not true, Bertie. You were just better with babies then Tommy was" I smirked at the memory, the time I spent with my brothers, the time I wished I could relive. I wished I could go back and do it all again, cherish the time we once had.

"Your right, baby Teddy hated Tommy" he answered, we laughed then sat in silence for a minute or two, reminiscing.

Bertie squeezed my hand then went back inside, most likely to change for dinner. I checked the time by looking up at the sun then realised it must be five o'clock, maybe a little later. Mother would call for dinner soon, I closed my book and took one last look at the river I once spent my summers playing in. Then I retreated to the cold dark shell of a building I called 'home'.

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Katherine had laid me out a simple black dress made of satin with a single chiffon on top that came to just below my knee, she knew if I was given fancy shoes I just wouldn't wear them so she left me plain black heeled cross fronted shoes that made me sneer slightly but I wore them anyway. I plaited a small strand of my muted hair and threaded a thin black ribbon through it. Mourning clothes for my dear brother.

I took one glance in the old mirror that was hung on the back of my door, the paint on the frame was chipped but it worked.

"For you Tommy" I whispered then made my way slowly down the creaky stairs to meet Nora in the hallway. She wore a plain black dress that hung loosely on her slim figure, there was no embellishment on the gown only darkness.

"Charlotte" she addressed me half-heartedly, her mind was elsewhere and I didn't question it.

Dinner was silent, no mention of the events we'd experienced over the past few hours. My mother and father stole glances at each other but neither showed any kind of sadness towards the loss of their first born.

"Nora-" I started but she walked briskly past me and to the room her and Tommy shared for the first two years of what we thought was going to be a long lasting marriage.

"Leave her be Charlotte" the raspy voice belonging to my mother cut through the silence like a knife and sent a shiver up my spine, my mother was not a woman you wanted on your bad side.

"Don't be sour Mother, you don't like lemons" I muttered then walked into my fathers office where he had is head in his hands.

"Father?" I spoke trying not to startle him.

"Charlotte dear, close the door" he looked worn out and concerned.

"What's happened?" I asked, I was worried by my fathers look of fear. My father was never scared.

"Sit down. We have a problem"

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ALOHA
Hello there! New story and this one has been rattling around in my head for a while now and I thought it was about time I wrote it out! Hope you enjoy xxx