Hello everyone, happy new year, I wish you all the happiness of the world :) Good reading !
Correcting by Lilies of Avonlea, thank you very much for your help :D
Annefan : No, but Anne does not want to confess that she loves him ^^ Thank you very much :)
Chapter 4
"Do not go away from me"
Gilbert went downstairs. Marilla was up, but Rachel was sleeping in the guest room. Marilla was looking at Anne's book. The last she had read. Just before her illness. A tear ran down her cheek. Anne. Her daughter. Her little girl. She remember her arrival on Green Gables. Matthew, who loved the young girl like his real daughter from the minute he saw her. And herself, who couldn't mask her love for long.
Gilbert was a little uncomfortable witnessing Marilla's pain. Not knowing what to do, he cleared his throat. Marilla jumped off her chair, a little embarrassed, but she quickly recovered.
"It's about Anne." Said Gil.
"What happened?" Asked Marilla.
"She needs more treatment, I have to contact the specialist, in Carmody." He answered quickly.
"What?"
Marilla collapsed on a chair, stricken by Gilbert's revelations. The young doctor approached Marilla, and took a chair next to her.
"Marilla, I know it's very difficult, but I can't hide the truth. I'm sorry." He added, hiding his tears.
The woman looked at Gilbert. She was not alone in her pain.
"It's raining, you have to take a hotter mantle." She shoved the clothes in the wardrobe. Shaking an old coat, she added "You can take this one .. It was Matthew's coat"
"Marilla, I can't ..." Began Gil, looking with respect at the cloth
"Why not? If you don't take this one, I promise you, you're not making it one meter outside without it. Take it, Gilbert, please"
The young doctor, slowly, took the coat proffered by Marilla. He opened the door. The scene he could see was frightening. The rain, the storm, lightening mingled in the night with scary noises. Gil stealed himself before running to the cart and starting at full speed. Marilla stayed at the door a few minutes after his departure. She was a little worried for him, for many reasons, but for some reason, she was sure he going to come back safe and sound.
She closed the door and went back to sit on the chair, in the kitchen. She wasn't going to see Anne. Firstly because Gilbert had forbidden it, and secondly because she knew she was too distraught to do anything. She heard Rachel, in the room next to the kitchen, snoring loudly. The storm continued to rage outside.
The rain dripped on Gilbert as he rode. He couldn't see anymore than a few meters in front of him. The light in his lantern teetered dangerously, and he know that if he made a wrong move, it would fall off and break. Suddenly, he saw the lights of Carmody. Minutes later, he was just in front of doctor's house. He pounded at the door. It opened by the doctor himself, confused.
"Doctor Blythe? What are you doing here, at this late hour and in all this rain?" He inquired.
"I need your help, it's for a patient. Scarlet Fever. She's in serious condition, I can't save her on my own" Said Gilbert
The other doctor, Dr. Lewis, took his kit and followed him immediately. Gilbert brought up the horses and Dr. Lewis put on his cap. The journey seemed very long for Gil. When they arrived in front of Marilla's house, the woman exited. The both doctors jumped out of the horse drawn buggy and ran in Green Gables. Marilla had prepared coffee, but Gil, didn't take time to drink any and went upstairs. Doctor Lewis, after he had thanked Marilla for the coffee, followed Gilbert and went to Anne.
When the both doctors entered into her bedroom, she didn't move. Lewis took her temperature, her pulse and continued in this tests. When he finally looked up, he was not optimistic.
"Her condition is very serious, I don't know if we can save her."
Lewis return on downstairs to tell Marilla. Gil, stayed alone with Anne, and took her hands sighing.
"Do not go Anne. Stay with me, I can't let you go now!"
And the young doctor, forgetting all the world, looked at Anne and began to cry. He was vulnerable and despairing. Dr. Lewis had more experience and knew when a patient had little chance of making it, but how could Anne not have a chance when she was so vivid and full of life in his memories?
Marilla, a little worried for Gilbert, went up the stairs. She opened Anne's bedroom door, and, staying on the corridor, she could see Gilbert crying. She could measure his despair, and his love for Anne. Why couldn't her daughter see that Gilbert loved her? Why did she refused to see the truth? Why did she refuse happiness, love? Eventually, Marilla arrived at the conclusion that Anne's disease was for that, so Anne could finally know how much Gilbert loved her.
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