Chapter I
Julia Una Blythe, excited just like a little girl, jumped on the train from Toronto to her hometwon, Glen St. Mary. She was eventually coming back home.
It was the most wonderful day for a journey; the sun was shining, letting go of its warmth towards the earth, making it feel almost like summer but still remaining in the stillness of spring.
Julia eventually finished her course for a qualified nurse and a midwife which she had been doing for almost a year and a half. She worked so very hard and finished it earlier than anyone else. She was so excited about coming back and seeing her whole big and loud family, that she couldn't just look out of the window for the whole journey, watching fields and trees which always fascinated her but not when she had other more important things to think about.
Instead, she took her family photo-album out of her suitcase and started looking at the pictures inside it. She giggled when she saw the first picture. There they were, Dr James Blythe kissing his newly-wed wife, Faith, in front of their house which was commonly known as the House on the Hill.
Julia remembered well the old pictures of her parents and thought that they still looked as if they were twenty and indeed they even remained twenty on their insides as well.
The next picture represented her and her siblings just a year before, in 1938, with Mother and Father looking at their brood with contended, full of pride eyes.
There were her older brothers, Walt and Merry. Oh, Walt had such a handsome face! There was no girl in Glen St. Mary who could resist his golden-brown curly hair, his square jaw and hazel eyes full of poetry and music. And, oh, yes, there was Merry who was simply… merry and constantly jolly. He always looked funny with a smirk crossing his face and red curls falling on his forehead while tap dancing.
Then it was Julia herself, dancing with Walt. Julia sighed when she saw herself. She never considered herself pretty and certainly not beautiful. But she really was. She was the prettiest of her family just after her cousin and dearest friend, Rose Meredith. Julia was a perfect mix of Jem and Faith Blythe. Her long wavy dark-red hair, golden-brown eyes with a perfect Anne Shirley's nose and full red lips, made every boy turn his head whenever they saw Julia on the street or in the shop.
But that wasn't the only beauty she possesed. For it wasn't her looks that most entirely represented her; it was her soul and her gentle heart which were so different from anyone belonging to her family. Gentle, yet strong and independent, sometimes quite too independent, as her Mother would say, was her heart, and her soul was just as wild as the wind, with a scent of loyalty and hopefulness.
"Oh, darling Cee!" Julia said to herself and chuckled. There was a little nine-year-old Cecilia Elizabeth Blythe, shy and polite little sister of Julia's. She was a real darling and always reminded Faith of her sister Una when she was her age. Cee, wasn't as pretty as her sister was in her age, but her long auburn hair, deep dimples in her cheeks and incredible kindness in her hazel-eyes made everyone's hearts melt whenever she smiled or laughed.
The next picture gave Julia a huge dose of delight and warmth for her heart. For it was the picture with her whole family together, two years earlier at her own fifteenth birthday party.
There was, of course, Grandmother Blythe, always smiling and never aging, with her head lying on her husband's proud shoulder and holding Julia's hand.
Aunt Rilla with Uncle Ken and their grown up children with the oldest Gil, who was the very image of his father, who just finished his dance course at the Toronto College; the unpredictable sixteen-year-old Leslie whose face was covered in frecles which made her Grandmother apologise to her every single time she looked at her granddaughter's face; the youngest Owen, always reading something and watching everyone else from the distance, with his red curls covering his grey-eyes; and eventually there was Blythe.
Blythe… Grandmother Blythe could never resist anything he ever wanted becase he looked and behaved exactly like Uncle Walter once did, with his black curly hair and fair grey eyes filled up with millions of new ideas for his new poems.
Could this rumour be true? Julia questioned Was he really in love with me? No… It's just some silly mistake and a family gossip that simply doesn't count.
But yes, Blythe was deeply and helplessly in love with Julia ever since she left a soft kiss on his cheek, on that very day from the picture she was holding in her hands. On that day, Blythe left the body of a boy and stepped into a body of a man, for he knew what he wanted the most in this world. And he promised himself that he will do everything to have Julia Una Blythe always by his side, making her happy until the end of days.
Julia shook her head and looked at other members of her family. Una and Shirley Blythe's three girls; Cilia, Shirley's spirit in one person; young and beautiful like a moon at its eclipse, Luna Rosemary who was the very image of her mother; and eventually Cee's little pal called Nancy.
There was Aunt Nan with her husband Jerry Meredith and their children: best friend of Walt and Merry; Jake, always playing his favourite violin, being an incredible copy of his Father, and Julia's very own Anna Rosemary called by everyone 'Rose' for she really was just like a blossoming rose at the beginning of June with inherited beauty from her Mother.
There were dear Aunt Di and Uncle Carl Meredith and their brood: Cordelia and Tom, the sweetest of their family, six year old twins.
Eventually, dear Grandmother and Grandfather Meredith, holding each other's hands and looking in each others eyes with love and affection which always gave Julia thrills and some small but still meaningful hopes for her own future.
Julia smiled at the photograph because it was one of her favourites. She loved her family to bits and it was almost impossible for her to imagine how her Grandmother Blythe survived the orphanage being without any family of her own!
Sometimes her cousins called Julia 'Bathsheba' or simply 'Sheba'. She always adored that name ever since she read "Far From the Madding Crowd". Anyone who knew Julia and read the book, knew that Bathsheba and Julia were one soul in two different bodies from two different worlds of reality and literature.
For the next couple of hours, Julia looked through the whole album and seemed as if she was lost in her own old world, the world of the past. She suddenly awoke from her daydream when the conductor shouted: "The next station: Glen St. Mary!"
As soon as Julia stepped out of the train, she heard the voices she knew, the voices she was longing to hear for a very long time.
"Julia! My darling girl!" Faith cried when Julia ran straight into her Mother's opened arms.
"Oh, Mum! I've missed you just as much as one can miss the moon if the moon could disappear!" Julia exclaimed when a sweet flowerish smell of her Mother's hair reached her nose.
"Oh, it's so good to have you back, sweet-pie!" Father said and kissed his daughter three times on each cheek.
As soon as Julia saw her brothers standing beside her Father, she gasped and reached for her suitcase, opening it with hungry movements.
"Happy birthday, you old brothers o'mine!" she said in a sweet tone and gave Walt and Merry a package each.
Walter got the biggest poetry book that Julia could possibly find in the Toronto Library and Merry got new shining tap shoes.
"You really are a dear, Bathsheba!" Walt said when he hugged his sister tightly, holding a big poetry book in his hands.
"I will try them on as soon as we will get home. Thanks, Jules." Merry said looking at his brand new shoes and kissed Julia's forehead.
"Where's Cee?" Julia questioned looking around for her small sister.
"She's already at Ingleside, playing with Nancy in 'Pirates' or so they both call it. She wanted to come and greet you and had a dilemma for half a day." Father laughed and put his arm around Julia's shoulders. She chuckled trying to imagine Cee's little face with furrowed eyebrows and a huge difficulty in deciding on such an important issue such as this one.
The Blythes came into their car, chattering as always, each of them hungry for talking with their Julia, whose lips could never be closed.
"But that's not the way home!" she said when she finally had the chance to look out of the window and not trying to concentrate on the topic whether there is a difference between Toronto girls and Glen St. Mary girls.
"Didn't we tell you? We're going straight for our birthday party at Ingleside." said Merry and smiled when he felt how Julia's hand squeezed his own.
"Is it really happening? Will I see everyone today? Really?" Julia said as if to herself, looking out of the window and watching the horizon closely.
"You certainly will." Mother said with a smile crossing her face.
"It seems nearly impossible to think that the day that I was waiting for for ever so long will actually happen today. It is quite sad in a way for I know that all the waiting period can be even more exciting than the event itself." Julia said and Walt grinned at Merry and Mother exchanged her looks with her husband. How greatly Julia was missed!
And then as suddenly as it could, the sweet and enchanting Ingleside appeared on the horizon watched closely by Julia, oh, how she missed it! No matter how much she loved learning new things, she would never love it more than her dear family.
Everyone was already waiting there, all of her grandparents, every aunt, every uncle and all of her cousins.
The first one to race into Julia's opened arms was her sister Cee whose cheeks were burning from emotions connected with both arriving of Julia and the birthday party coming shortly afterwards.
"How much you've grown, little Cee!" Julia exclaimed and kissed her sister's rosy cheek tenderly.
"I think that you have grown too!" Cee replied joyfully.
"No, dear, this remarkable thing is called heels." Julia whispered to Cee's ear who gasped quietly and giggled.
There was no end to hugging, kissing and squeezing one another for another twenty minutes or so. All of the young generation of Blythes, Fords and Merediths reached Julia just as if they haven't seen her for at least ten years. All cousins simply jumped on Julia, to the very horror of the older generation who watched the "performance" closely.
"I think Julia is enjoying herself." Aunt Rilla said between the giggles when she was watching how everyone tried to give Julia a kiss at the same time. Faith looked at her sister-in-law and then at her daughter and giggled herself feeling like a girl once again.
"But where is Blythe?" Julia asked suddenly the group of young people around her.
"Well… He said that he is making you a surprise." Rose said excitedly when she put her hand into Julia's own.
"But it's not my birthday!" she laughed.
"Oh, but he really is over the moon to see you!" added Cilia with a grin.
"Look there, our Bathsheba." Gil Ford whispered into Julia's ear, a smile crossing his lips.
There he was, Blythe Ford coming straight from the Rainbow Valley with Julia's horse, River, decorated in all kinds of ribbons and other colourful decorations ever invented. Julia laughed when she saw her cousin strolling down, chuckling himself. She didn't wait till he would reach Ingleside, she got through the crowds and ran straight to her Blythe and her horse River.
"You incredibly wonderful man!" she shouted when she jumped on his neck, almost causing Blythe to loose his balance.
"I knew you'd be pleased to ride on River as soon as you get home." Blythe said joyfully and then as if he just remembered who was standing in front of him, he took his Bathsheba in his strong arms and twirled her around in the air "How glad I am to see you!".
"And I to see you! You look… more mature…" she examined him from head to toe and realized how much his face changed and that it looked so much more like the face of an adult with those outstanding edges and pointy chin "-what has happened to your always messy curls!" Julia said and patted Blythe's straight hair.
"Well… For the party's sake…" Blythe said and blushed heavily under her gaze.
"Oh, please, Blythe! I won't allow your phenomenal curls to stay straight all afternoon!" she replied and started messing up Blythe's hair. Blythe didn't mind at all. He was laughing and his eyes were shining in a way that only deeply in love man's eyes can gleam. It seemed that only Julia didn't see this special look just because she didn't allow herself to see it.
She was waiting for a certain someone to come to the party and she set up her mind on looking out for that man's eyes gleaming in the same way as Blythe's eyes did this very moment.
"Won't you take a ride?" Blythe asked her.
"Of course I will and…" she took out her hand when she hopped on River's back "You will join me." she winked at him knowingly and Blythe couldn't resist.
Blythe followed Julia's actions and they both galloped to the dancing crowd of people just outside the Ingleside.
Julia's mind was near to explosion. It always was, whenever she was riding her horse, "galloping until the sky will turn black", as she used to say. Her hair flying in the air, her cheeks turning rosy red and her eyes simply burning with passion. In that very moment she was as agitated as the sunrise is at the beginning of a new day.