Will and Meg had discussed returning to Green Gables for Christmas, but in the end, he decided he really couldn't make it work along with doing the Christmas services at church. So, on a snowy afternoon a few days before Christmas, a tall, brown-haired, brown-skinned man with a keen expression stepped out of a beat-up pickup truck and looked in amazement at the hideous pink house disfiguring the winter landscape.

"Papa!"

Meg flew out the front door and launched herself into Shirley's arms. "We weren't expecting you for another couple days! Oh, I haven't done any housecleaning--the guest room isn't half ready--and the house isn't even fully decorated yet--"

"Meg!" Shirley took her by the shoulders and shook her playfully. "Do you think I care about any of that? Child, I'm so glad to see you I don't care if I have to sleep in a barn."

"We won't shut the door to the inn on you quite yet, Papa," Meg said with a saucy smile. She hugged him again. "I'm glad you're here early. It'll be more fun to finish the decorating with you here."

Shirley draped his arm around his little girl's shoulders and walked up the steps to the house. "I got too lonely for my children, so I just decided to surprise you a few days early. This house is--interesting, Meg."

"Oh Papa, isn't it too dreadful? It's ugly inside and out, and nothing we do can make it any more attractive. Will keeps reminding me it's just temporary, and as long as I don't think too much about Green Gables or Tanglewood I can endure it."

"Can't you paint it, at least?"

Meg shook her head. "We're only renting it, so we can't make any major changes."

"Hm," Shirley said, looking at the tiny kitchen and dark living room.

"But the house doesn't matter, Papa, not as long as we love each other and everyone who steps through the door. That's what Grandmother wrote to me when I told her about the PA, and I try to remind myself of that every day."

"PA?"

"Oh--that's short for Pink Abomination. That's what Will and Natalie and I call this place."

"And who's Natalie?"

Meg stopped short and laughed. "Oh Papa, I forget that you don't know absolutely everything. Some things are so hard to write. Sit down, and I'll make us some tea and fill you in on all the details of our life since we moved here to Grey Harbour." She stopped and hugged him again. "It is good to have you here, Papa."


Will echoed the same sentiment when he returned from his ice fishing expedition later that afternoon to find his father-in-law comfortably ensconced in the kitchen while his wife made supper with a brighter face than he'd ever seen her wear while trying to work in that horrible room.

"Somehow things just feel more like home now, sir--I mean, Dad," Will said, pumping Shirley's hand with his.

"I have to confess that things back in Avonlea haven't felt much like home without you kids, either," Shirley said.

"Oh Papa, tell Will what you told me about Polly and Elliot, and all the other family news nobody's bothered to write to me since I left."

Shirley hid a grimace. For a man who hated to speak as much as he did, repeating information he's already shared once was akin to torture--but he'd do worse for his daughter.

"Elliot came home a few weeks ago. He and Polly and Davie are spending a bit of time right now in Glen St. Mary, with Mary Douglas, but Elliot says he doesn't want to settle in the Glen. He doesn't want to live in Avonlea, either."

"Where does he want to settle, then?" Will asked, settling into the chair across the table from Shirley and stretching his legs out.

"He doesn't seem to have decided yet, but Polly told us that he thinks it would be best for all of them if they started fresh somewhere, in a place where they didn't have any family."

"I think that's a good plan," Meg declared, turning from the stove, her cheeks flushed with heat. "They need a chance to get to know each other, without family's well-meaning interference."

"Or not so well-meaning," Shirley said wryly, thinking of Mary Vance Douglas. "I always did think Elliot was a sensible lad; now I'm sure of it."

"And oh, Papa, tell Will about Johnny."

Shirley smiled. "It seems our Johnny's found himself a fiancee."

Will's jaw dropped. He'd only met the black sheep of the Blythe-Meredith-Ford clan once, but he'd heard enough about him from Meg to feel like he knew him well. "Johnny?"

"She's a Welsh lass, a nurse he met when he was recovering from his injuries," Shirley said.

"Papa says they're planning to get married sometime next year, and then they're talking about moving back to Avonlea, to help Papa with Green Gables until Matt comes home, when they'll either buy their own farm in Avonlea, or move somewhere close by!" Meg's eyes were sparkling with delight.

"Well, well," Will said. "Good for Johnny."

"Nan in torn between being pleased that Johnny's finally going to return home, and nervousness about this Welsh girl he's marrying," Shirley said, his tone showing his opinion of such foolishness.

"Papa says her name is Angharad. Isn't that a lovely name?"

"Almost as lovely as Margaret," Will conceded, causing his wife to stop her work and kiss him, which in turn caused Shirley to beam slightly fatuously at the two of them.

Family news took up the rest of the evening: Peter and Jocelyn and Evie were doing well, and Jane and Lewis were starting to make plans to move out to England in the spring, where they would join Bran and start their new life. Uncle Patrick's heart was improving, though the doctors still warned against ever doing any more farm work.

Dee was the belle of Ottawa; Lily and Freddie's wedding plans were progressing nicely; Walter and Gil had both come home; and Grandfather Irving had sent a Christmas package along for Will and Meg.

"Grandmamma hasn't forgiven us yet?" Meg asked.

Shirley's mouth twisted in disgust. "That woman holds a grudge longer than anyone I've ever known, including my mother and my sister Nan."

"Grandmother Thornton won't speak to me, either," Will said. "Personally, I think if they're only going to disapprove, I'd just soon they be silent."

Shirley had to laugh. "Well said."

When they finally exhausted family news, the talk turned to Will and Meg's experiences at Grey Harbour. Shirley marvelled, listening to them, at how they had changed and grown just in the few short months since they married and left Avonlea. The lessons they had learned took most people years to absorb, and some never learned them at all. He was prouder than he could possibly express of these, his daughter and his son-by-marriage.

"Miss Beth has invited us all to come over after church on Christmas Eve," Meg said. "If you'd rather stay home, we can, but I know she'd like to meet you."

"And I her," Shirley said. "Certainly we can go."

The three talked long into the night, staggering up the stairs to their respective bedrooms well after midnight. As Shirley shut the door behind him and looked around the dark, depressing room, he was amazed anew at how the children had managed to rise above their unpleasant circumstances and not only find joy, but bring joy to others.

They were a noble inheritance.


The next few days flew by--Will took Shirley out ice-fishing with some of the men one day, and Shirley was pleased to see how his son-in-law had earned a place with these hard-bitten men, not by his prodigious skills, but simply by his unfailing good humour and hard work ethic. Meg showed her father around the village, introducing him to several of the families with whom she visited on a regular basis, condoling and counselling them, and generally bringing cheer simply with her bright smile and kind words.

Shirley found, to his surprise, that he liked and appreciated these simple fisher-folk of Grey Harbour. In the Glen, the village children had been raised with rather a scorn of the "vulgar" fishing families. Now he was learning that perhaps that prejudice had kept him from seeing their many good traits--the way that they worked, their impressive knowledge of the sea, and how fully they lived their lives, both for good and for ill.

He had, if he was perfectly honest, been slightly disappointed when he found out Will was taking a position in a "rude" fishing village. He didn't care at all for the idea of his precious girl exposed to their "vulgarities." He had only kept himself from objecting by reminding himself that it wasn't permanent, and that Will would protect Meg almost as well as Shirley himself could do.

It seemed, though, that his children had discovered the beauty that lay beneath the surface of these fishing families, and Shirley was more than a little ashamed of the blind prejudice he'd borne his entire life, without even realising it.

On Christmas Eve, Shirley and Will set up the tree. It was a little, scrubby thing, and they'd had to search far afield to even find that, but as it was their first Christmas tree, Meg and Will thought it perfect. Meg baked Christmas cookies all day while "her" men were out tree-hunting, and then all three spent the afternoon hanging ornaments while listening to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra on their new turntable phonograph (Shirley's Christmas present to them--he couldn't resist giving it early).

Meg had made most of the ornaments by hand, with gold and silver paper, wire, and bits of bright fabric. Here and there were certain special ornaments: Meg's angel ornament that looked left, matching Matt's that looked right; Will's copper cross which formerly belonged to his mother; the star that had always topped Green Gables' tree, now formally bequeathed to Meg and Will by Shirley. As a final touch, Shirley hung the snowflake ornament Meg remembered seeing on their tree ever since she was born. Shirley never spoke about it, but sensitive Meg always knew intuitively that it was somehow a memento of Cecily, her beloved Mama.

When they were finished, the scrubby tree was transformed into a thing of beauty, and had itself transformed the PA into a cosy little home. Shirley put one arm around Meg's shoulders and one around Will's.

"You children are amazing, you know that? You've turned this place into a home."

Meg smiled, then sniffed.

"Dinner!" She dashed out to the kitchen.

Will checked his pocket-watch. "Gosh, I've got to finish preparing my sermon for this evening." He vanished too, leaving Shirley smiling whimsically at a delicate silver snowflake twinkling on the tree.


They ate an early dinner before heading out to church for the Christmas Eve service. Meg apologised in advance to Shirley for leaving him to sit alone, but, she explained, because it was a special service with more music than usual, she was going to be at the piano the entire time.

As soon as they entered the building, however, Shirley was stopped by a tall, brown-eyes woman with stern features belied by a warm smile.

"Mr. Blythe?" Her voice was clear and decisive, and Shirley instantly knew he liked her.

"Indeed. And you, I would venture to guess, are the famous Miss Beth."

She raised an eyebrow. "Infamous, perhaps," she said dryly. "Mr. Blythe, as the children are fully occupied with running the service, would you care to sit with Natie and me?"

Shirley surprised himself by giving a slight bow--somehow, this woman brought out all his courtly instincts, instincts he'd thought long-ago abandoned in the war. "It would be my honour."

She laughed. "I can see why Meg married Will--you and your son-in-law are very similar."

"How so?"

"Both too charming for your own good!"

Shirley laughed and escorted her to the front of the church, where a dark-haired young woman awaited them. He recognised her from Meg's description as Natalie Pichot, both beautiful and troubled. Miss Beth performed the introductions, and then Shirley was free to sit back and observe everyone and everything.

He'd wondered, at first, why Meg had chosen to wear a simple pine-green skirt and cream sweater to a special service; in Avonlea, everyone wore his or her Christmas finest on Christmas Eve. Now, looking at the other women filing in, all dressed in plain, dark clothing, he understood. Will, too, looked only a tad more dressed up than the majority of the men, in his everyday suit without a tie.

More than his children's sensitivity, Shirley was delighted to see, once again, the rapport they had developed with the people of Grey Harbour. Meg smiled and waved at various people from her seat at the old piano, and Will had to rush to get to the pulpit in time, he was so busy talking to some of the men.

Miss Beth smiled at the obvious pride on Shirley's face. "They belong here, now, those two. You have every right to be proud. They've done amazingly well."

Shirley shook his head. "I only wish I could take credit."

Nothing more was said just then, as the service began. Tears pricked at the backs of Shirley's eyes when he heard his daughter's voice rising above all the rest in song. It had been far too long since that beloved voice had rung in the rafters at Green Gables. As proud as he was of her and Will, and all they had accomplished in their married life thus far, he knew he would never quite get over missing his little girl.