some silly harmless fun during House of Dreams. Experimenting is useful. Let me know what you think, a heads up would be more than appreciated :-)
"It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?"
― L.M. Montgomery
A quartet of singing birds were chirping around the cosy house in the lovely village of Four Winds that morning. It startled Anne as she blinked her eyes open awake, wiggling her toes and shuffling around as her senses became more and more alert. Her eyes were blurry but she could always make out her bedroom. Gilbert's as well. It was very personal now, homey and somehow a sanctuary for them both. They had only been married for less than a month and yet, it had felt like always. Reflecting on the families settling down here years before, Anne pondered if they were as happy as she was in this present moment in time. If they woke up with elation and excitement for the day to come. Nature responded to her in the sweetest way, greeting her every morning with beauty, and she wondered if they could somehow tell her House of Dreams was inhabited by newlyweds—the walls carried secrets in the stones, and stories whispering underneath the floorboards. Smiling, she moved her body and pressed her icicle toes to tap Gil's legs lightly, the warmth of his skin thawing out her own like melting butter as she could smell the faint muskiness of him; a combination of a Doctor's cleanliness and purely of the man she had married. The boy who saved her in the middle of a lake as a careless girl. The heartbroken aspiring medical student who proposed to her only to be rejected. Oh, should she never forget Gil's face?! Anne apologised in her own mind back then. Now they were together, and no longer needed pride and all of those barriers to blot out getting too close to hold them back from their feelings and fears. Anne leaned in to kiss the fluffy ends of his curly hair, snuggling her frame into him as his head immediately turned around, a long yawn interrupting him before saying with his eyes still half closed, "I can't imagine the day I open my eyes and see you and feel nothing but calm. You still make my heart race, Anne-girl."
She giggled, fluffing her pillow and leaned in closer. "Well then, if not, that marriage ceremony was an awfully bad mistake. Think of all the leftover wedding cake!"
"Cake over the mistake of being stuck together like classmates left alone in a school project, dreading for it to end?"
She rolled her eyes inwardly, hardly privately enough as her husband's hands reached around her waist, tickling her stomach as she laughed and squealed in surprise, trying to shove him off with no success.
It stopped for a few seconds, an awaiting smile of retaliation on her face, she tossed herself around to find him with a confused worried expression. Her smile melted away into a straight, confused look of her own. "Giving in, Gil? Rather out of character for you, is it not?"
He answered quietly. "I'll say." He just kept staring at her, his eyes darting over her and the hairs on the back of Anne's neck stood up. She had always been insecure, she had no time for stares however Gilbert was the exception when he did it so with love. In evidence of his true devotion and admiration for her. She had never known the look in his eyes toward her like this before.
Finally his voice came in a quiet whisper, "Anne, what have you done?"
Done? Had she taken it too far this time? What had she said? The small conversation and light joking came back to her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The night before, she had made them a lovely dinner and then headed for an earlier night, but not for a full night worth of rest.
"Done?"
He nodded simultaneously reaching forward to go for her hair. His fingers tangling through her luscious heavy stream of red. She always braided her hair before going to sleep but preferred to keep it down in their marriage bed for Gilbert to latch onto it in the middle of the night. He loved her hair.
He shook his head, half astonished and half disappointed before rolling out of bed, leaving the room as he shut the door behind him.
Anne pulled back the sheets, hopping out of bed barefoot as she followed after him only to find him in the washing room. She ran back to her room, shrugging on her nightgown as she grabbed her hairbrush. Sometimes Gilbert had weary nights at work, lost in a case of a patient and disliked talking so much. Or if something reminded him too much of it he would shut down. He tried his best to focus on Anne more so at the house. Anne managed to get it out of him one way or another on most occasions and he would relent as they were best friends first and foremost, solving problems together as kindred spirits ought to. Her thoughts scrambled to a halt when she started combing through her tangled locks. This wasn't the red she was expecting. With every swift motion to detangle, an ordinary black as coal hair was presented to her. She rubbed her eyes to see if she was imagining it all before the penny dropped. Rushing over to the mirror she then saw what Gilbert had been so shocked about!
Raven black! Her childhood dream! Too late! Her face looked paler, the freckles suddenly didn't suit her at all, her eyes out of place and not bringing anything out of her appearance as she stared at the colour of her hair. She had grown out of her hatred for it. Knowing it brought some more uniqueness to herself. An unforgettable memory of Gilbert—their first quarrel before they'd even been properly introduced.
Unrecognizable to herself as Gil entered the room again, shaking his head before chuckling. "At least it worked this time, Anne-girl. If Marilla could see you now."
She found it hard to find her voice while Gilbert sat on the bed, opening his arms up for her but she could only stare at her reflection. Anne had always believed in her daydreams but some had faded with the passage of time, getting older and wiser, and yet there was a small chance she had wished hard enough, even through the fervour of her first night together with Gil that she had wished something away of hers.
"Gil I did not dye this! Not like last time! I don't know how to tell you this without sounding like a mad woman but I didn't do this." What more could she say to make him understand? Perplexed as he was, he continued to run his fingers through it. It was still as soft, but not as soft as the red, it felt dried up between his fingers, and the sun beaming through their bedroom didn't light it up at all—it stayed the same colour but most of all there were no hints of strawberry and auburn to be seen.
"Anne, I was certain you stopped this nonsense about your hair long ago. Good Grief, if I could only take away that day at school. What if I had named it after something pretty like roses or better yet, a ladybug? Would your grudges have sustained?" He sneered at her in his usual cocky demeanour.
"Hmmm, carrots is scarring enough. Thank you, Mr. Blythe, unless you continue to tease me because then a trip down memory lane will indeed suffice."
"You know I love you, Mrs. Blythe but this has gone too far..."
"Gil, I promise I didn't touch my hair! Do you think I woke up overnight and did it in secrecy?"
"You are always up to something, Anne-girl. My doubts are there." Anne was furious as Gilbert stood up, looking down at his wedding ring as he twisted it, lost in thought.
Near to tears, she wondered who would do such a thing to her. How had this happened? Her guardian angels whom she had imagined to be her parents hadn't done so well at looking after her. She pulled and pulled at her hair, unimpressed as she grew more and more angry before the ring was placed on the bedside.
"I didn't marry the girl with raven black hair, Anne. Some pathetic copy of Diana Barry or the other Avonlea girls. My red-headed girl now wouldn't do this even if she did loathe her hair. It breaks my heart to know what people have said to you stupidly in the past has made you want to change. Knowing I share the blame, I can't stay and hurt you anymore." He whisked around as Anne's tears fell. She hadn't cried so much since she found out her boy was on his deathbed.
Hand on the door, he turned the key as he shot her a look of understanding. "I will be back when my Anne is back." His footsteps carried him further away leaving a petrified, tearful Anne Shirley behind. She gasped as her hands wrapped tighter around her locks, her mind attempting to rack what had just happened! Then to the quickest possible solution to turn her hair back red! Had her insecurity made Gilbert stop loving her? Why couldn't she find her voice? Had she been reduced to sitting back and letting things just happen to her? Her heart skipped a beat or two through her panic, not sure what to do first.
The last thing she remembered was running after him. She couldn't believe he'd just abandon her in their new home when they spent much time exploring it, who to turn to? Everyone would think she had gone crazy!
"Anne! Anne!" Gil's voice grew louder as someone shook her. Snapping out of her thoughts she realized she was in bed like earlier this morning as if it was a prophecy. Gilbert was looking down on her, caressing her hand as he anxiously studied her. Did she have to go through this ordeal again?
"Gil don't you dare leave me! I honestly didn't touch my hair!" His eyebrows furrowed before laughing softly.
"You just woke up, so of course you didn't touch your hair."
Gathering a bunch of hair, her red hair! It gleamed and was soft like she had remembered seeing it before falling asleep.
"Your dream was awfully interesting, I had to watch you for a while and you kept saying my name."
How had she been so foolish? Dreams were always the answer to strange and unexplained situations. She burst out laughing as she threw her arms around him. "Oh Gil, you won't believe it! Tell me something first..."
Kissing her forehead, he listened patiently as she began. "If my hair changed, if I decided to dye it again as I did when I was a child, would you stop loving me?"
He didn't know what he loved more about her in that second. Her childlike face, sleepiness or vulnerability.
"Anne, I didn't marry you three weeks ago for your hair. It is one of the many things I love about you, and why you are you but to stop loving a girl I worked hard to prove my worth to? Someone I moved mountains for?"
Anne seldom felt small around him but shook her head timidly. "That is all I need ever know..." A slow smile formed on her lips after they touched his, "for now!" she added in a determined tone. There would never be a day in her life from here on out that she would grow tired of enquiring her husband on trivial matters.
Gilbert stroked her cheek before letting his fingers spread out her red locks as they fanned out around her pillow. Catching on, he prepared to serve her back tenfold. "Although if I did just want your hair, instead of teasing you I would've just cut it off you by now!" She grabbed his pillow, smacking it at him as they laughed together. It had been a lively start to the the day, and wasn't going to finish there at any rate.