I write this scene out of admiration and respect for the tremendous L.M. Montgomery whose works are owned by her heirs. I intend no copyright infringement and receive no financial compensation for writing this piece.
I just really love The Blue Castle and think everyone should read the book - and then go buy a copy for a friend.
Threshold
He hadn't planned on kissing her.
In fact, he had specifically planned not to, particularly after she told him she wasn't looking for romance. She would describe his acceptance of her proposal as an act of pity. Barney wasn't sure if he agreed with that exactly but he knew it was certainly more about feeling she deserved to have her last wishes granted than it was about being in love with her.
Over the past few months he'd been surprised to find he'd come to like Valancy a great deal. When she'd first come out to Abel's he was shocked. She was a Stirling after all and that narrow little family had a trumped up sense of self importance that was quite funny to anyone who'd not been born and raised in Deerwood – possibly to some people who were.
But she was nothing like them. She'd shown Cissy kindness and compassion that came from genuine care and that had touched him. She'd held her own against Abel unlike any previous housekeeper he'd seen come through and that had impressed him. She'd carried out her work with dedication and a joy that had intrigued him. And, when given the chance, she'd shown a wry sense of humour that sparkled like stars on the rippling waves of Lake Mistawis.
There was no doubt in his mind that she deserved to be loved for all she was – even if she had far too high an opinion of John Foster – but he also had no doubt that he could not give her that. He'd felt the stab of cupid's arrow before, and that piercing pain-punctuated intensity of emotion was nothing like the gentle affection he felt for Valancy.
More's the pity really. So he'd planned to give her what she'd asked for: no more, no less. Since he did not love her, it would feel deceptive to take advantage of her feelings for him. She'd done right by Cissy. She deserved the same.
He was thinking of all of this when Valancy broke into his reverie with her desire to be treated normally. Clearly he'd been overthinking this whole thing. He began to relax and remembered that it was Valancy he had married. She wasn't afraid to talk and she wasn't afraid to keep silent and he thoroughly appreciated that about her.
She was a friend.
He told her about his island and the house, his cats and the birds that visited regularly. While he spoke with confidence, in the back of his mind he started to recognize that he was getting nervous about showing her to her new home.
His island was his sanctuary and his hermitage. He never expected anyone else to appreciate it and he enjoyed living there in part because he knew no one else would. But he also loved his home and was proud of it, perhaps because of it's oddness, and he feared that Valancy, who was used to town living, would be unable to hide her disappointment or disgust at the rustic humility of it.
They pulled around the corner and he brought his car to a wheezing halt. Nervously, he led her down to the landing and gestured across the way.
"There it is," he declared, as confidently as he could manage and he braced himself for her reaction.
He wasn't sure what he expected but it wasn't the enraptured ecstatic gasp and her remark that this was the Blue Castle of her dreams. His heart soared as he watched her stare unabashedly and lovingly at his home, their home; and he felt something shift inside him. For the first time in many years, he had put himself in a position of vulnerability, and for the first time in many more years, it hadn't resulted in pain and humiliation. He was suddenly very glad that of all the people he could have taken this chance with, it had been Valancy who had convinced him to do it.
He paddled her over to the island in silence, drinking in her every reaction. He'd had no idea that the shack that would have horrified any of his classmates at McGill could be the dream home of anyone other than him. But more than that, he was amazed at the way her face shone in excitement, and when she glanced at him over her shoulder, his breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat. He thought he'd married a rebellious Victorian girl out to horrify her snobbish family, but here, clad in green, with the forest and evening mists around them, she'd been changed into the dryad that was surely her true form. And he had married her without a piece of silver in sight.
He forced himself to exhale and inhale steadily as he brought the canoe alongside his dock. He hoisted himself out of the boat and then reached down and pulled Valancy up into his arms. He set her on the rock next to him as the moon came out from behind a cloud and bathed her face in its light. He froze in place with his arms around her slender body and her glowing face inches from his.
That's when he kissed her.
He managed to murmur "Welcome home" before his lips claimed hers, seemingly of their own accord. They stood there in each others' arms as the mist rose around them and the stars were mirrored in water and sky.
He felt her trembling and slowly managed to pull himself away. The moon drifted behind a cloud again and Valancy seemed returned to her human form in the growing darkness.
No, this would not be as simple as he'd thought.
Gently he led her inside.