The Pikes of Avonlea (an AU Continuation after 'SDTMH')
Disclaimer:
I recognize 'Road to Avonlea' and its characters are the properties of Sullivan Entertainment and I recognize that 'Anne of Green Gables' and its successive series (and characters) are the properties of the heirs of Lucy Maud Montgomery and I'm not seeking to profit off this fanfic.
A/N- 1. This is my interpretation of how life for Avonlea may have turned out after 'So Dear to My Heart' and has absolutely nothing to do with 'Happy Christmas, Miss King' or 'Anne 3' for the dual reasons (in no particular order) of my having written the prototype of this story prior to the above-named movies' production and because I personally disliked virtually all that was depicted in the above named movies so you may want to read something else if you want something that follows on the plots of the above movies.
2. Due to the fact that the years/seasons mentioned in 'RTA' often seemed as clear as mud, I've made my own timeline for what's happened in 'RTA' and in this story. I hope the reader can respect this and will thank the reader in advance for not saying 'this character says this date, this sign said that date, that website said such-and-such dates'. I know all that but all the above proved so contradictory that I had to remake the dates for the story.
3. Constructive reviews and criticism is welcome but flames won't be tolerated!
ENJOY
July, 1913.
48-year-old Alec King was driving his farm wagon to the White Sands early in the morning with Janet in the front seat.
"Alec, are you sure we can't let them stay the rest of the week? It's only been three days," 48-year-old Janet sighed.
"I wish we could put it off forever but things are happening too fast," Alec groaned.
" I just remember how we barely even got one night to ourselves before our families. .." Janet recalled with a sigh.
"We're not interfering like your father and Hetty did. It's just that too much has happened for us not to need their help," Alec sighed.
" I know but they've already been through so. . ." Janet shuddered while Alec nodded while pulling the team's reins and pulling the hand brake before he was to get out of the wagon to hitch it, then help Janet down.
"Alec, Janet, I heard," 48-year-old Simon Tremayne exclaimed as he ran out of the White Sands porch.
"Then you know why. …" Alec started to say as he helped Janet off the last step of the wagon.
"But it's their honeymoon. Can't you Kings and the rest of Avonlea handle. ..?"Simon asked while Alec and Janet grimly shook their heads as the Kings started walking towards him.
" I hate to have to knock on the door and cut things short,"Simon gasped.
"You won't. I'll do it! I'm her. .their father!" Alec proclaimed as the three started up the White Sands Main Stairwell towards the direction of the Honeymoon Suite.
" Since none of us want to do this but it can't be avoided. Perhaps all three of us should knock," Janet suggested as they reached the Suite.
Fifteen minutes later Alec, Janet, Felicity and Gus walked out onto the White Sands Front Veranda with all of them dressed and Gus wearing a thick pair of eyeglasses while carrying a large trunk.
" You two certainly look refreshed! Gus, you almost look back to your old self!" Alec half-laughed.
"An' I can see a lot more clearly than I could at the Wedding, Mr. Kin. I mean, Father," Gus gulped.
"Don't apologize. Our new status will be something that takes time to get used to, "Alec laughed.
"I just can't think all of ya Kings enough fer insistin' I call you by what Felicity uses," Gus exclaimed as Alec helped tie down the trunk in the back.
"Well, you're officially part of our family, Dear!" Janet exclaimed while clutching Gus's hand.
"Mother, Father, you still haven't told us why you've cut short our. .." Felicity sighed.
"Now, if Gus can take this with grace then I think you could show some courtesy towards your parents," Janet snapped.
"Janet, there's no need to bite Felicity's head off," Alec sighed as he helped Janet onto the wagon's passenger seat while Gus hopped up into the wagon chassis then pulled Felicity up to join him.
"Sorry, it's just very upsetting what's happened and I wish there was a good way to tell you that. .. " Janet sighed.
"The Deans ran into the night a' screamin'!" Gus gulped.
"Gus, I'm sure that was just a nightmare though how you could have had one while you weren't sleeping. .." Felicity gulped then blushed.
" Felicity, Gus somehow saw what happened late night," Alec gasped and groaned while he took the handbrake off the farm wagon and started guiding the horse team forward.
"Impossible, he was with me here at the White Sands the. .Oh, Gus, I should have listened to you. If anything's happened to the Dean children, I'll never forgive myself," Felicity started to cry.
"They're safe- for the moment but . .." Janet gulped.
"Mother,Father, tell me what's happened?!" Felicity frantically asked.
"The PEI Orphanage Board showed up late last night with orders to shut down the Foundling Home. They came with Constable Jeffries with an official Order," Janet said in tears.
"Cecily tried to stop them but they shuttered the Foundling Home and took away all the other orphans," Alec shuddered while Gus and Felicity clutched each other tightly.
"But the Deans escaped, right?" Gus asked.
"Yes, they've been in Avonlea longer than the others so they were able to hide out," Janet explained.
"Hide out where? " Felicity asked.
"Bet I know. Pa Crane's Lighthouse!" Gus said with a wry smile.
"Gus, what on earth would. ..!"Felicity scoffed while Alec and Janet nodded.
"How could you have known? You haven't known them as long as I have," Felicity sputtered.
"Cos they're orphans like me an' it's the last place an Orphanage Board would think to look," Gus shrugged.
"It's true! They Board and Abner Jeffries wasted no time before searching King Farm, Rose Cottage and even the school but they all overlooked the Lighthouse!" Alec laughed.
"Cecily and Aunt Hetty are with them now until we get back," Janet explained.
"Abner Jeffries, for the last time, our town adopted the Deans and the other Foundlings. You have no right to come any closer to these children!" 53-year-old Hetty King exclaimed while she brandished a large telescope in right hand and stood in front of the Lighthouse.
"I'm sorry, Miss King, but I'm sworn to uphold my duty as Constable of Avonlea to enforce the law," 56-year-old Abner Jeffries replied while he drew his pistol.
"You wouldn't dare shoot Miss King!" piped up 8-year-old Duffy Dean.
"Not as long as she lets these gentlemen from the Orphanage Board. .." Abner started.
"Gentlemen?!" Hetty sputtered.
"Father, Mother! We can't let anything happen to Aunt Hetty or the Deans!" Felicity gasped as they came around the last bend in the Shore Road and saw the scene.
"We won't, Princess! Hold on tight, everyone!" Alec proclaimed as he whipped the team into a full gallop and raced the wagon at breakneck speed forcing Constable Jeffries and the PEI Orphanage Board's own Mr. Middleton (a balding mustached man who could have been anywhere from 25 to 50 in age) to jump back while the wagon came between them and Hetty.
Hetty and the Deans calmly remained standing.
"We Kings will NOT be moved!" Hetty proclaimed.
"What's goin' on here? These scamps have a
home!" Gus proclaimed-once the wagon stopped and he was able to be
close enough to see what was going on while he pushed his glasses a
little closer on the bridge of his nose.
"Are
you Mr. Gus Pike?" Mr. Middleton asked.
"That I am an' this is my bride Felicity- an' yer standing on our land uninvited!" Gus insisted.
" I wish I could say it was good to meet you but I'm afraid we have no choice but to take these orphans to the. ." Mr. Middleton proclaimed.
"No, we're never going back to Hilldale Orphanage! They beat us worse than carpets there!" 12-year-old Belle-Marie Dean proclaimed.
"As I was saying, Mr. Pike. We must take them to the Charlottetown Orphanage regardless of allegations," Mr. Middleton sniffed.
"First off, you ain't takin' them nowhere- anywhere. Secondly, you could at least have the courtesy of addressin' the girl whose fate yer ready to set," Gus angrily exclaimed.
"You can't do this! I promised them that they'd always have a home where no one could take them away," Felicity gasped as she and Gus got out of the wagon and started to clutch the four children.
"Mrs. Pike, that will teach you to make promises you had no right making," sniffed Mr. Middleton.
"Right?! What about Christian charity? Decency?" Hetty gasped.
"I'm sorry, Mr.,Mrs. King, Miss Hetty and Miss Cecily King, Mr and Mrs. Pike, but upon careful review of the Foundling Home Charter, your town had no legal claim to these orphans. A town cannot become a child's guardian. Completely preposterous," scoffed Mr. Middleton.
"Preposter. ..?" 11-year-old Callie Dean gasped.
"But Stuart's friend Owen Billingsley drew up the papers and. ." Janet tried to explain.
"That's one of the most absurd attempts at legal documents we've ever seen, Mrs. King-an entire town claiming guardianship over orphans instead of them being Provincial wards, no cap on the maximum number of orphans to inhabit one building- and one Miss Felicity King being the proprietress in spite of having no training or previous experience in long term care of children. After we were anonymously tipped off, the PEI Judiciary Court had no choice but to dissolve your town's contract," Mr. Middleton scoffed.
"Dissolve?!" Hetty, Alec, Janet, Felicity, Cecily and Gus said altogether.
"You should be thanking us! Otherwise, your town would be making balloon payments to Mr. Billingsley and Mr.. ." Mr. Middleton explained.
"Balloon payments?! But Mr. McRae loaned us the monies to refurbish the building through a NO Interest Loan!" Hetty sputtered.
"Of course he did but the balloon payments were put into the contract with such complex legalese that only an experienced lawyer or businessman would understand the technicalities. Since the late Miss Lloyd had been in woeful debt for decades and owed a great tax burden to the Province, the Province had no choice but to confiscate her former property," Mr. Middleton proclaimed.
"But it belongs to Avonlea. Her will and all the hard work our town did in renovating," Janet gasped.
"She had far too many debts for the will to be valid. I imagine her counsel Billingsley thought he'd pull a fast one and plunder the locals," Mr. Middleton half-laughed.
"And to think Stuart trusted him," Janet gasped- which earned her glares from all the others present.
"These kids have been through too much to be yanked away like furniture fer creditors! We ain't standin' fer it!" Gus exclaimed as he stood in front of the others.
"What can you do. You're not an orphanage. You're not a relative!" Mr. Middleton scoffed.
"Sorry, Gus, I'm afraid he's right," Abner gulped.
"No, but I am a married man an' my bride's been their Ma fer over a year!" Gus exclaimed.
"What are you saying, Gus?" Felicity asked.
"Instead of us an' the Deans bein dependent on crumbs from Orphanage Board, I think it's time we made them Pikes!" Gus exclaimed.
"A very noble gesture, My Boy, but are you sure you want to want to put so much on your plate so soon?" Hetty asked.
"Yeah, Aunt Hetty! Just like you Kings have taken' me in like a son, I'm helping Felicity take in these four as our our kids,"Gus proclaimed.
"Can they do that, Mr. Middleton?" Janet asked.
"Does Mr. Pike have the means to support them? Those are mighty thick glasses you're wearing!" Mr. Middleton scoffed.
"Cap'n Crane deeded this land an' Lighthouse over to me and now it's my bride's so it can be our family's!" Gus proclaimed while he knelt down, stretched his arms and hugged the four Dean children.
"Very well. I'll award temporary guardianship over them to Mr. &Mrs. Gus Pike for the next 30 days and after that the Orphanage Board will decide whether you two have the means to permanently adopt them. Come with me, Mr. Jeffries," Mr. Middleton gulped.
"Gus, that was wonderful!" Cecily beamed while hugging both him and Felicity.
"I didn't think I could but I love you even more," Felicity exclaimed.
" Mother, Father, are you ready fer four grandkids at once?" Gus laughed.
"Of course we are, Son! It won't be easy but we'll find room for all of you at King Farm," Alec proclaimed while Janet, Hetty and Cecily all nodded in agreement.
"Not so fast, Father. I told Mr. Middleton this was our home an' that's where we're going to be," Gus insisted.
"But, he's gone and Mother and Father have agreed to make room for us,"Felicity gulped.
"Dumplin', ya know I appreciate the offer but we Pikes havta stand on our own two feet an' ya did say that you'd always be with me," Gus proclaimed while he kissed Felicity on the lips.
"Darling, I could live anywhere as long as it's with you. You know that but it's somewhat cramped for six people," Felicity said with trepidation.
"We'll make room here an' in the Boathouse! Maybe even connect them an' I'll find a way to see to it none of ya ever starve or fear bein' homeless again!" Gus insisted as he held her hand.
"You mean it?" Duffy asked.
"Absolutely!" Gus proclaimed.
"Wait til you see what we found under the floorboards!" Edgar laughed- as Duffy jumped into Gus's arms while the other Deans hugged him (and while Felicity and the Kings weren't sure what was going to happen next but someone took heart in Gus's resolve being back in full force).