Timeline -Jump ahead to the summer holidays between The First Year and The Second Year of Anne of Windy Poplars.

Chapter 11: A Few Moments in Suspense

Soon after the start of summer vacation Gilbert and Anne paid a call to Fred and Diana Wright. Diana greeted Anne and Gilbert at the front door of her modest home and farm. Fred was not there. He, unfortunately, was delayed in Carmody but Diana naturally received them with her apologies. Gilbert looked around the old building, comparing its condition to that of his memories. The paint was white, new and fresh. Poor Fred must have spent hours and hours scraping the old brown, pink, and yellow Victorian pastels off the house. Diana led them through the foyer and to her parlor, where baby Fred napped on a blanket in a low crib. Gilbert marveled how a little love could turn the old place into a fine home.

"You know, last time I stood here in this room, I believe it was for a wake. And it was not in the pretty condition it is now. You're really quite good at turning a lemon into lemonade." Gilbert said to Diana. "My aunt married a Fletcher, you know. This old place was uncle's grandfather's home, and they let it go derelict."

"Well, we're very grateful that Abraham Fletcher's farm was available when Fred was looking for a place for us. It's a bit secluded from Avonlea, I'm not sure I mind so much anymore." Diana said. "Fred can be excellent company and now that Fred Junior is running everywhere, there's never a dull moment."

"Diana, can I help you with the tea?" Anne asked as she showed Diana her basket of goods, "Marilla and Mrs. Lynde loaded me down with plum jam, sweet bread, and freshly baked crackers. And I think you'll also find a housewarming present for you as well."

"Gilbert, you don't mind if we abandon you for a moment?" Diana's chin pointed to her kitchen.

"No, not at all, do you mind if I look around some more? I love exploring old places."

"Not a bit!"

Diana took Anne to her kitchen where she had already laid out a tray for her company tea. Diana unwrapped the fresh crackers and put some plum jam in a cut-glass serving dish for the occasion. Anne picked up the tray to take it to the parlor's sideboard, when Diana stopped her abruptly, holding her fast at her elbow. She was white as a ghost and trembling.

"Anne, I...I can't pretend anymore. I need your help now, will you...help me? Please?"

"Diana, whatever is wrong?" Anne said as she returned the tray to the counter and rubbed Diana's puffed sleeve. Diana's shiny black eyes grew moist with tears.

"I'm pregnant again, and I cannot bear the thought of another miscarriage. I have to have this one."

Anne hugged Diana at the sight of her forlorn expression. Diana was not quite able to hug her back, as one hand held jam and the other hand held a bowl of Marilla's good crackers. "Anything Diana. Just ask."

Diana put aside her items and then brushed the tears away with a cloth napkin. "Heal me, please."

Anne's face dropped in surprise. Surely Diana didn't think it was her.

"Don't give me that look, Anne," Diana said. "I've heard that story more than once from Josie. How baby Robbie started crying after you were called to Gilbert's side. He was suddenly made alive. You have some ability, some special power that allows you to heal, don't you?"

"Diana, I would heal you in a second, but it's not me," Anne said. "I am not the healer." It had been almost a year since Gilbert had told Anne she could tell Diana if she had to, that he would trust her, but the necessity hadn't presented itself until right then.

"Not you? Not you?" Diana argued as new tears formed. "What do you mean it's not you, it has to be you! You healed Minnie May when she was sick, didn't you? You healed Gilbert when he was sick, didn't you? And baby Robbie!"

"Diana, sit with me for just a second. I can see how desperate you are, but you're wrong about me. It is not me." Diana allowed Anne to push her into a chair adjacent to the table, her back was to the corridor.

"Diana, I treated Minnie May for croup. Remember, I needed a bottle of ipecac syrup and Minnie May's recovery was very typical. Lots of phlegm. Lots of coughing. There was nothing supernatural in it. I did not heal Gilbert from typhoid. I couldn't even visit him, I don't even know where you got that idea."

"It was something Helen said when we first met."

"Well, she's wrong. I was not there, as much as I wanted to be, I just wasn't." Anne could now see Gilbert enter the kitchen from her side vision. She held her posture and her focus. She did not let Diana know that he was there too.

Gilbert froze as he realized their conversation was about healing powers.

"If I could have healed Gilbert from it, of course, I would have, but again, I am not the healer."

"What about baby Robbie?" Diana asked. "Josie was sure that the baby was born dead."

"And you know, I thought so too, but Gil rubbed him down and then he started to cry. He did need my help because his hands were starting to shake and asked me to steady them for him."

Diana started to weep. "Oh, I must be crazy. Of course, I am; to believe you have supernatural powers. I am just so afraid that I'll lose this baby too." She caressed her lower abdomen. "I'm trying to find a way that it won't happen again. The referrals Gilbert gave me, they're so far away Anne. Johns Hopkins University? Where is Maryland? Even the closest in Halifax seems too far." Diana was turning purple with her continued sobs. When she bowed her head down Anne took the chance to look up at Gilbert to ask him with her eyes What shall I do?

Gilbert nodded, Go ahead. Tell her.

"Diana, I've told you I am not the healer, but you're not completely wrong. There is a healer."

"What do you mean Anne Shirley? Who is it?" Diana implored.

Anne smiled back at a head that was completely bent over with despair. Anne rubbed her back and she calmed, hearing Anne softly say, "Oh, Diana, don't you know? All you have to do is look up."

Diana lifted her head off her arms and stared back at Gilbert as he sat down next to a nonplussed Diana. There was a bashfulness in Gilbert that made him almost unrecognizable. Diana's spine became rigid and she sobered up feeling rather dumb and embarrassed. But of course! Josie's conjecture had to be completely true. She had no imagination to tell this sort of lie.

Gilbert put his hand over Diana's, saying clearly and without too much emotion in a frank if unplanned reveal. "Robbie wasn't dead, but he was very close to dying. I could see that, so, I healed Robbie. I hadn't used my powers since I was twelve until that day. I needed Anne's help to channel them that first time. That's why I called for her. I wasn't even sure if it was going to work. It did though, luckily, for your nephew's sake."

Diana tried to pull her hand out of Gilbert's at this point, but he prevented her.

"I'm actually reading you right now. If something's wrong, I usually can tell quickly, but nothing's jumping out at me, so I need to prod you a little bit. Just relax, it's just me. Plain ol' Gilbert."

Diana felt his thumb rub reassuringly over the back of her hand. Unsure if holding his hand was proper, she looked to Anne confused. Anne grinned approval as she answered Diana's question with her wide, gray eyes. Using his other hand, he sandwiched Diana's, reading her carefully. He tried to hide his intrigue, realizing that what he was seeing was the changes a mother's body makes for an active womb. It wasn't a sickness: It wasn't an injury. But it was fascinating. There was no note of alarm, just the presence of a little girl, that made the corners of his mouth start to curl up. The extent of his own powers had surprised him. Towards the end of his own life, he always remembered this reading as one of the happiest he had ever done.

Anne spoke as Gilbert stayed focus on his task, "That day in Charlottetown, we were amazed at you, Diana! You knew exactly what to say to Josie. We thought maybe you found out somehow, but we weren't sure how it could be. We were happy to know we had such an ally in you."

"The look on your face told me I had to try something. It was a stab in the dark." Diana said, a whole lot calmer. She tried to pull her hand away again, "Gil, your hands are getting so hot."

"Very well," and he let her hand go. "I can't see anything wrong," Gilbert assured.

"So there's nothing wrong with my baby?"

"The baby seems fine, but I really don't know for sure. My powers can't go beyond a certain point."

"You can't tell?"

Gilbert shook his head. "Not this way. With your history of miscarriages, you really do need an obstetrician."

"They're too far away, Gilbert. I am sure you knew that when you gave those referrals to me." Diana stood and returned to the tray of food sitting on her counter, still trembling. "You know how isolated we are." She drew in a couple of deep breaths and steadied herself.

"Gil, can we ask Eugene to come here?" Anne suggested. She looked towards Diana as she attempted to lift the tea tray with some rather unsteady arms. "Diana, let me, you've had quite the shock and seem understandably nervous." Anne picked up the tray and headed to the parlor's sideboard, once again.

Gilbert turned his head and looked at Diana, "Diana, have you talked to Fred about seeing a specialist at all?"

"No, once I saw where they were, I knew that making an appointment was out of the question. I could never go. So why mention it?"

"Please talk to him about it. Tell him how important it is to you, and I recommend he be there during the exam. For your comfort but also for his own reassurance, but whatever you do, do not tell him about me. He just can't handle it."

"I know Gilbert. I deeply regret telling him about Helen," Diana said. "I'm very sorry about that. He's a good man, he loves me, but he's not exactly broad-minded."

Gilbert ushered Diana back into the parlor. He steered Diana to her soft chair, with the log cabin quilt adorned over it. They had a silent argument about who should be serving whom, but Gilbert won and she reclined, taking his advice with her tea. She would speak to Fred and Gilbert would telegraph Eugene.

Gilbert and Davy left Green Gables together with fishing poles in hand and a bucket of night-crawlers at the wee hours of dawn. There were a couple of things that Gilbert needed to discuss with Davy, the least important, in his head, was the recent growth spurt Davy was going through. Marilla suggested that he have a "man to man" talk with Davy. Gilbert sort of blanched a bit, recalling an unfortunate incident when he was the schoolmaster at White Sands and having to explain things to another thirteen-year-old. Marilla saw Gilbert's hesitation and then suggested she could do it herself, to which, Gilbert found himself pitying Davy. He agreed that this is what an older brother was for, in the absence of a father.

Gilbert borrowed Mr. Harrison's dory, so, if the conversation went poorly, Davy couldn't take off and run, unlike his former student. Davy loaded the dory with their things and Gilbert waded into the Lake of Shining Waters, his trouser legs rolled up, exposing his hairy shins; his shoes, and socks in his hands. Placing them next to his seat, he pushed the small boat out a bit from the shoreline and got in.

Davy wanted to row. Gilbert baited their hooks and soon they were two men staring out over the quiet waters waiting for the fish to bite. He barely noticed how the summer breezes pushed the dory gently over the stagnant green waters, Gilbert was contemplating the next summer which had to go as planned.

Uncle David indicated that he would like Gilbert to take over his practice after medical school. That meant a few things. Gilbert needed money for a down payment. The practice wasn't free, after all. That likely meant Gilbert would be taking a summer job out west on the railroad. It would be steady work and secure income. It also meant he couldn't come home and help his father with his land. He was hoping Davy could help him out of this pinch. He needed to ask Davy for a pretty big favor.

An hour passed without a word shared but four fish caught. Davy had quite the knack.

Gilbert shrugged as he pulled his hook out of the pond. He tried to find a livelier worm from the bucket. Now replaced, the water gave up a small "plop" as the line was recast. Maybe if he started with Marilla's topic first, and then if Davy was too uncomfortable, Gilbert would sidebar into his objective.

"Miss Cuthbert asked me to talk to you about, getting older," Gilbert said, "But you're a smart fellow. I don't want to embarrass you. Do you have any questions?"

"Oh," Davy said, rolling his eyes but not surprised. "If this is about birds and bees, then no. I don't understand why everyone wants to talk to me about that anyway. Mr. Barry talked to me five months ago, he pulled me away and sat me down and talked and talked forever. I think he might be confused actually. And Milty's father tried to talk to me about that too, and then two months ago, Mr. Harrison did the same thing, only, well, Mr. Harrison has dogs you know." He scowled at his memory.

"Don't tell me," Gilbert shuddered at his conclusion.

"I knew how puppies were made anyway. I do live on a farm. Trust me, I get it."

"Davy, I'm sorry. You certainly don't need me if you have so many volunteer mentors."

"Well, I do have a question, but it's not about me. It's about Dora." Davy piped up. "I'm not sure I understand what exactly happens to the girls? Do they go into heat, like cats?"

Gilbert stifled a laugh. "No, women are different." One year of medical training and few shared insights from Anne were condensed down and quickly concluded when Davy expressed the predominant opinion of all males past, present, and future, "Oh, that's just gross."

"Do you want to change the subject?"

"Yes,"

"Are you interested in taking over the farm at Green Gables?"

Davy peered up to Gilbert. "Maybe, when I'm older."

"It would mean a lot to me if you could start thinking about it now." Gilbert's voice was encouraging. "Or are you thinking you might be a college man instead?"

Davy snorted.

"Well, Dad needs help running his place and I can't be there anymore, this summer is my last farming. I know I'd be asking a lot from you. Would you cover for me next summer with Dad? If you seriously think you'd like to be the master of Green Gables someday, Dad is the best farmer to learn from, and he'd teach you everything he knows."

Gilbert watched Davy's eyebrows twitch considering. "Yeah, I could do that. Next summer you say?"

Gilbert nodded, and then added, "Don't tell anyone yet, not even Anne. I need to tell her a special way. It will be our secret."

"You know I can keep a secret," Davy responded in a manner reminding Gilbert of Marilla.

That brought up yet another question. "Davy, how come..?" Gilbert was unsure on how to start. "We've never talked about what you've learned about me. I'm sort of hurt that you've never asked me about my powers. Just so you know."

He glared up at Gilbert. "I was trying very hard to forget about all that."

"But it's who I am. Well, it's who I am now, anyway."

"What do you mean, now?"

"I lost my powers when I was about your age. I healed my father and then 'poof', no powers. Then thirteen years later, 'poof' they're back. I attribute Anne to restoring them; although, I have yet to figure out how."

"Your father was sick?"

"He was dying of tuberculosis, err, consumption. Like Ruby Gillis did."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Davy answered. "How come I never heard about it then?"

"We weren't in Avonlea at the time, so folks really don't know. Dad was in a special hospital called a sanatorium in Alberta. He was so close to death when I healed him."

"You didn't try before?"

"I did, it never worked until right up to the end."

Davy pulled his line, finding an undersized fish. He quietly unhooked the creature and threw it back. The rising sunshine caught his rumpled hair, a moment in time etched with child-like innocence.

"Maybe you couldn't do it until your father was no longer your father."

Gilbert lifted his eyebrow considering. "What do you mean?"

"I sat next to Momma when she died," Davy said. "Her spirit filled the room. Dora and I could feel how happy she was. She was no longer sick. The body on the bed was just a body, it wasn't her anymore. She was elsewhere."

A chill went down his spine as he processed Davy's words. Was it possible that his father had died and he, restored his body like a resurrection? Gilbert shook his head in disagreement. No! He was not the Christ. Marcus, before he had transferred schools, spoke of a patient that claimed a near-death experience. The patient said he had died, but, once the patient's body was sutured, his soul was able to go back. A body could be fixed and then a soul returned. Was it that simple? So simple, a child could see the answer when no one else could?

"Anne, you're doing it again," Gilbert nudged her awake from over the bundling board. Anne pushed his hand away and inadvertently slapped the sixteen-inch high barrier dividing the mattress in two.

"Ouch!"

"Shh, it's three in the morning. What were you dreaming about, because it made no sense to me."

Anne lifted a corner of the curtain to let moonshine into the room and propped herself up. Gilbert also moved to sit up to make the talking easier.

"I don't remember," Anne whispered. "What did I say this time?"

"You said you were sorry for lying to me."

"Oh," Anne said. "I remember now, honestly Gilbert, it's nothing but a crazy dream."

"You said that last time we bundled, clearly something bothers you. Just tell me so you can have peace."

Anne sighed into the darkness, whispering. "It's just about my own dumb insecurities. Gilbert, sometimes I think I'm not the right girl for you." She couldn't look at him so she stared straight ahead into the shadows which curtained them from the rest of the room.

"How can you think that Anne?" Gilbert answered, hurt.

"It's easy actually," Anne's voice flickered with nerves. "I have serious doubts about my ability to give you a child. My lovely Diana, who's the healthiest woman I know, struggles so with being pregnant, what hope is there for me? So, I'm sorry Gilbert. I do think at times, you've bet on the wrong horse."

Anne could hear him swallow and knew the exact pitch he would use in response. "Anne, if something was wrong with your health, don't you think it would cry out to me, such that I could never ignore it?" Anne then felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, I know that, Gil."

"Do you want to know for certain? I can hold your hand and examine you, look deeper."

"No, Gilbert. Your powers should be spent other ways."

"My offer stands, but, I'm guessing there are things in your past causing these doubts. Maybe you should tell me, as you seem pestered by them."

Gilbert's breath stopped short from a full exhale as Anne slowly turned her fragile, silhouetted face to him. The shadow slowly pulled away showing her gray eyes and pink lips. The August moonshine made her soft and vulnerable in a way that he had never before seen. "Last year I told you I was a young girl when I had my first cycle. I was not Gil. In fact, I was so late in blooming I was contemplating a visit to Dr. Spencer." Anne hedged. "So I do have my doubts on my ability to keep up my end of bringing life into the world. I've been fighting an uphill battle for years. Should I stop there?"

Gilbert scratched his head, it was an uncomfortable topic for her to discuss. If she only knew the conversations he had at medical school, she wouldn't pause to tell him, but he didn't press her this time. "If you're willing to talk about it, I'm willing to listen. How old were you?"

"Seventeen."

"Oh, I can't believe that."

"Well, it's true. I was teaching school when it happened, luckily I noticed in time. The sad part was, I had no one to talk to about it, and no one to celebrate with either."

"You could have told me."

Anne laughed. "I don't think so, besides, you were in White Sands."

"Well, maybe I can understand why you wouldn't have mentioned it to me, but what about Diana or Ruby or Jane?"

"No. That wasn't possible. Gilbert, I had lied to them years before. I was sick and tired of playing catch-up and made up a story about becoming a woman back when the other girls were experiencing this very significant event for real. I never dreamed I would have to wait and wait for my own turn. I waited so long there were moments I wondered if it would ever happen."

"Did you ever see Dr. Spencer? Or Dr. Blair?"

Anne shook her head. "No"

"Why not?"

"I already knew the reason. Gilbert, I've always been thin but when I came to Green Gables I was positively scrawny. I was a skeleton with a layer of skin stretched over me. It literally took me six years to catch-up physically. My body is a wreck from being hungry for so long, I worry it doesn't work right. That's my nightmare. When you asked me to imagine our children, I haven't stopped. I want to do that for you so much, but I don't think I can."

Gilbert frowned. "Anne, of course, I want children, but you've forgotten, I made you imagine them as a device to help you understand what it meant to be a Blythe. I wasn't trying to tell you that procreation was the end goal. The number one thing I want is to just be with you." He massaged the back of her neck. "I can't imagine my life without you in it. I love you. I can't say it enough."

Anne scooted as close as she could to the board so she could almost lean on him. "It's just when I'm asleep, all those worries are unbound. They stomp through my head and come out as nightmares."

Gilbert continued to reassure Anne with his touch. "Well, I don't want you to have nightmares about it. You're healthy Anne. I would know the second that you weren't, I'm sure of it."

"And what would you do if I were in trouble and you weren't there?"

"Now that's my nightmare." His voice would low and husky, overridden with real worry. "If you were hurt and I couldn't help you, I'm not sure exactly what I would do."

A wayward, orange butterfly zipped before the path of a two-horse vehicle. Its flight had caught the eye of the red-headed, petite driver of the buckboard. Anne Shirley commanded the bay and the sorrel with more confidence and vibrato than strength. Next to her was a dark-haired woman, wearing a sharp blue dress, with puffs of lace at her throat and short sleeves and matching hat. The road was pitching up and down with the landscape. When the driver let her eyes drift, following the butterfly's projection, she could see the contrasting colors of late summer, the lush greens of the fields, the red dirt roads like arteries, and the blue sky. If she squinted her eyes she could also see the coast along the north, beyond the orchards of cherries, pears, and apples that grew in the good soil of the rolling hills.

Anne Shirley looked to her friend Helen as they continued along the path to Bright River. The summer sun was not too hot, but Helen remained retreated under a hat, while Anne allowed her straw hat to slide off and hang on its strings. Since Helen had lost her powers, she had taken to wearing hats again. There were no more random visions, no more minds to read, and therefore, no more migraines to suffer. It was a blessing, she supposed.

"Oh, Helen! Just behold the exquisite palette of colors before us. I think Prince Edward Island is the most beautiful place on earth," Anne said, trying to get Helen Blythe to smile.

"Yes, it's pretty, that's true."

Helen wasn't even trying. Instead, she continued to look behind her, she was always looking back now.

Gilbert had tried to tell Anne that Helen wasn't adjusting well to being ordinary, to which Anne dismissed saying, "Helen could never be so, with or without the Blythe magic." Gilbert was worried for Helen since the emotional shock that caused her powers to fail, but he wasn't telling Anne quite everything. His urgency did not match the rather thin story.

Privately, Anne thought perhaps losing her powers might be a good thing for her. The demands of others around her no longer choked her own thoughts, for so much of what she did was done from outside dictation. Now she could hear herself think and she could spend her energies on helping herself, as opposed to being enslaved to other worries.

"Helen, just over that hill is the school where Gilbert taught," Anne pointed out. "He was quite liked there."

"White Sands?"

"Yes, that's right!"

"Hmmm"

The sorrel neighed and slapped his tail in the bay's direction. Anne shook her head as Helen withdrew again.

"Helen, one of the things I love about you is that you always answer honestly. If I were to ask you something I've wondered about for the last few months, will you do me the honor of answering me so?"

"If I answer, it will be truthful," Helen carefully replied.

"Well, when Gilbert told me about the legacy, he didn't have his powers. He said he didn't care that he had lost them, but watching you since Christmas, well, I have to think he may have been lying to me."

Anne urged the horses forward to gain momentum for the next big hill.

"He told you that?" Helen said surprised. "No, Bertie was devastated, Anne. I was fourteen years old and I would go and talk to him every night about it. He missed his powers, I had to keep reminding him he chose to sacrifice them for his father, a sacrifice of love."

"And you know for sure that's how he lost his powers?" Anne asked. "It wouldn't have been because his father died, and he lost them. Like you lost your powers when Lynn passed away?" Anne grimaced as she heard herself say something so illogical. If Gilbert lost his powers because his father died, how could he have healed him?

Helen gave Anne a strange look. "I felt a burst of energy before the final collapse. Still, it doesn't make sense."

"Unless time does curl on itself, and there were a few moments in suspense for it to happen." Anne pondered.

"No," Helen answered pragmatically. "I don't think it's that complicated. Bertie lost his powers because he tried to do something he shouldn't. He pushed too hard past a block and it cost him dearly. Maybe, I did lose my powers because of grief, like Bertie regained his because of love. But, I doubt there is just one way in a world of magic for these things to happen. It's a place which has no rules."

"Why did Gilbert lie to me about not caring that he had lost his abilities?"

"I encouraged him to keep telling himself it didn't matter, and eventually, he believed it to be true. I think we've all done that trick on ourselves."

Anne did not respond immediately. The poor team received a lashing when she urged the reins.

"Is that an underhanded comment on Charlie?"

"I was thinking of something else, but I suppose it's true for him too. I tell myself that I care for him. And I do want to love him, I do, but, my heart just doesn't quite follow. Of course, I like him and he's been such a help with the shoppe. I'm excited to have a few employees now. I have time off, which is heaven! And soon I will move to Carmody for a bigger place with my own apartment. That would not have happened without his business plan."

"He's awfully involved with your business," Anne commented. "Honestly Helen, I find him so arrogant at times, I'm very worried for you. If he were to suddenly try and be…."

Helen stared back at Anne with a furrow in between her eyebrows, defending him. "A what?"

"A Sloane I suppose."

"And what does that mean, exactly?" Helen truly didn't understand what the problem was with the Sloanes. Was it more a statement on his protruded eyes that no one could help, least of all Charlie.

Anne was vexed because Helen had a point. Even Mrs. Lynde and Marilla were keen to say that the Sloanes were an honest, upright family if one could avoid their Sloane-ish ways. "What makes you resist him? I suppose your answer is mine."

"I'm not sure, it's just a gut instinct," Helen said. "And then there's the fact I'm not very fond of men as a rule."

"Of course, there's always that," Anne answered. "He knows about your powers."

"Yes, and the lack of them."

"And what did he say?"

"Oh, he said, 'easy come easy go'. He did belittle it." Helen sighed, "I was not pleased."

Anne turned her head and delivered a smirk that said, See what I mean? "I suppose you've told him everything then, about Gilbert too?"

"No, I have not. He's not very interested, though I've given him a candle, he refuses to light a match. If things progress, I may have to make a point. I haven't decided. It will affect Gilbert too."

Anne gripped the leather reins harder. Her head hurt just thinking about it. Charlie always had to have his way. Would Helen be able to stand up to him? She wasn't made of spitfire and ginger, but she wasn't the type to be docile either.

"I'd feel a lot better about you and Charlie if you could show him some more backbone!" Anne said. "I know you well enough to understand you're going to be the person you are, regardless of what Charlie Sloane says, but you do yourself no favors by buying into his speeches that he knows more than you. You like being pushed around."

"Is that what you think? That I just let things happen to me?" Helen leaned forward to challenge Anne.

Anne's gray eyes challenged hers. "Yes, I suppose it is what I think! I'm sorry Helen, I don't mean to hurt you, but I much rather see you decide to be with Charlie Sloane than he decides it for you."

"Anne, I want him to know me, I want him to understand who I am, what it means to be a Blythe. I don't care about being swept off my feet or anything, but I do want the friendship so. There is something really nice about being friends with a man."

"Then explain to him!" Anne said before she could think. Did she really mean that? Even Gilbert continued to have reservations about Charlie getting too close to knowing about his powers. Anne shut her eyes in quiet prayer. Gilbert please forgive me. "If you want to know my opinion, you should tell him everything. It's only then you'll rediscover yourself"

Anne adjusted her own hat as she went up the depot steps at Bright River. Helen was behind her a few paces, having secured the team at a post and feeding the bay a carrot.

Almost alone on the platform stood a mid-sized man, about ten years Anne's senior. Anne slowed down to allow Helen to catch-up, just as the man in question started to clumsily fumble over his own feet.

"What do you suppose he's wearing?" Anne asked Helen as the figure recovered balance.

"It's a seersucker suit and they're very popular in hot climates," Helen said. "Never worked with the fabric myself, but a former slave I employed once back home knew the fabric well enough."

By this time the gentleman saw the women approaching and relief washed over his angular face as he recognized Anne.

"Hello Miss Shirley," Eugene Felder bowed to Anne and kissed her hand. "I am rather surprised to see you here instead of Gilbert. Are fetching responsibilities beneath him now, for the winner of the Excellence Award? I would have flowers for you had I known."

"Oh, are you still raging about that?" Anne asked with a bright smile. "Helen, come here." Anne grabbed her hand bringing her around for introductions. Before Anne could say anything, Eugene was tipping his hat.

"We've met before, but I'm not sure of your name," Eugene said with a little reservation, eyeing Helen curiously with his pale blue eyes.

"I don't think we have met." Helen stood smugly. She tilted her face ever so slightly.

"Oh, you're a Blythe, aren't you?" Eugene recognized the prominent Blythe chin. "I see a bit of resemblance between you and Gil! I've gotten quite good at making such connections."

"Yes, you're right! Gilbert and I are cousins," Helen smiled as Eugene also bent to kiss her hand. "I'm Helen Blythe."

"Ah, another reason to envy my roommate, for he has the best looking friends and relatives, and then he's still young! I'm Eugene Felder of 'here and there' and so very pleased to meet you, Miss Blythe!"

Helen keenly felt a broad smile spread across her chin. She only noticed this of herself because those muscles had not been used for a long time. Eugene was nothing to look at, with bald patches growing under his hat and his round spectacles, but his manners were completely warm and inviting, and then there was his comical, bumbling way. Overall he seemed very easy to talk to. Eugene grabbed his satchel and followed the ladies to the buggy that waited.

to be continued