Meg found that her concerns about Michiko (or Michi, as Matt soon had them all calling her) vanished the moment the new sisters hugged, nevermore to return. She was understandably shy, but eager to please everyone, who in turn were more than ready to be pleased with her. It didn't hurt that she very obviously adored Matt.
"He was so brave," she told Meg one afternoon as the girls were walking along the shore. Natalie had taken one look at the new Mrs. Blythe and declared her the perfect subject for her portrait. Michi wasn't sure, but Matt coaxed her into it, telling Natalie he'd buy it after the gallery showing. So long as Matt would be the owner, Michi decided, it was all right.
So the four girls were spending much of their time along the shore, trying to find the perfect location for the portrait.
"He rescued me, not just from the guards, but from shaming my family. By marrying me, he showed that he thought of me as worthy …" she trailed off, seeing the look of horror on Meg's face. A flash of pain crossed her own. "But of course! You must feel your brother disgraced your family's honour by marrying one such as me."
"No, never!" Meg said hastily. "Michi dear, I am so happy that Matt married you. It's just … our cultures are so very different. I can't imagine living under the burden that you did, of always having to maintain honour as you did. It just made me sad, that's all, thinking of how it must have been for you."
Michi remained politely uncomprehending, but knowing that her husband's family loved and accepted her was enough; she didn't have to understand their ways.
"He's been so kind, too," she said, returning to Matt. "He taught me English, told me all about Canada, and is teaching me how to become a farmer's wife." She laughed. "I am even going to make bread and someday milk a cow!"
Meg laughed, too.
"He's asked me to teach him my language, even, because he says he wants me to always hold to my culture. Despite our nations' enmity, he says there is much to be proud of in my Japanese heritage, and he does not want me to lose that."
The look of wonder of Michi's face as she quoted her new husband brought a lump to Meg's throat. She had always known that Matt was remarkably; she was delighted that he had married someone who shared her opinion, perhaps even thought more highly of him than she herself did. Which was, she conceded, thinking of Will's high regard for her, as it ought to be.
"Everyone has been kind. Your honoured father has made me most welcome, even calling me 'daughter,' and your aunt and uncle and cousins … Matt says we will meet the rest of the family eventually, but he doesn't want to overwhelm me at first."
Meg took Michi's hand in hers and squeezed it. "We would have loved you for no other reason than that Matt did, Michi, but now that we've met you, we love you for you."
She wanted to ask how the rest of Avonlea was reacting to having an "enemy" in their midst, but didn't want to make Michi uncomfortable. She knew she could ask Matt, later, and hear his view on the matter.
"Here!" Natalie called, running back toward them over the firm sand. "I've found the perfect spot. Come see!" She grabbed Michi's free hand and tugged her forward. Meg let them go, waiting for Leigh to catch up.
She smiled at the young girl. "I hope we aren't boring you, Leigh. I wish there was more chance for you to spend time with children your own age. Unfortunately, most of them are working with their parents right now. They'll have more free time in the autumn and winter, when school is back in session and the fishing season is over."
In truth, by the time most of the village children were Leigh's age, they were done with school and working full-time with their parents. Legally, they were supposed to stay in school until they were sixteen, but what could one do when faced with a choice between feeding one's family or getting an education?
Meg didn't want to discourage Leigh, though, and she knew that there were a few families that at least kept their daughters in school longer ("They might as well be in school as wasting time around the house," one fisherman ungraciously put it).
"Oh, I'm not bored," Leigh said quickly. "I'm used to being alone."
Meg paused, looking down at Leigh's smooth head quizzically. "Even at boarding school?"
Leigh shrugged, her eyes on the ground.
"Well, that relieves my mind in one way, at least," Meg said after a moment.
Leigh looked up. Meg smiled.
"Here I've been thinking we took you away from all your friends when we brought you to live with us here."
Leigh shook her head. "Oh, no. No, you didn't take me away from anything."
Meg wondered at that, but Natalie came darting back just then, insisting they come see how perfect Michi looked against the rocks, with the waves tossing spray up around her feet, and any non-artistic conversation became an impossibility after that.
Later that week, Meg and Matt had a chance to talk alone together, in the kitchen of the PA while the rest were all at North Wind. Natalie's birthday was the next day, and Meg was baking a cake for her.
"So what do you think of her?" Matt asked at once.
"Well, it's plain to see you're smitten," Meg teased.
Matt grinned in acknowledgment. "When we first married, I mostly just pitied her," he said calmly. "But the longer we spent together, the more I found myself falling in love. And now … well, I'm just head-over-heels, I guess."
Meg burst out laughing. "You! You spend our entire life calmly observing everyone else and staying distant from it all, and when you finally decide to involve yourself in something, you certainly do it with a vengeance!"
Matt laughed too. "It must run in the family. Look at Pop! He never even thought about a girl, just laughed at his brothers and friends for all of their romances, until he met Mama, and then boom. He's still in love with her, even though she's been gone for more than twenty years."
Meg shook her head. "Oh, these Blythe men."
"But you haven't answered my question. What do you think of her?"
"I think she's marvellous."
"Truly? You're not just saying that because she's my wife?"
"Truly, Matt. She—she's like a little bird, darting here and there, nervous and shy, and yet full of merriment and song once she's at ease."
"And you don't blame me for marrying one of 'the enemy'?" Matt's grim face as he said those last two words showed that some people, at least, had made their opinions known.
Meg rolled her eyes. "Matt, I almost became a pacifist when Hawk and I were dating. I am the last person to judge an individual based on which side he or she was on during the war. Besides, Michi is as much a victim of the war as anyone. She never would have ended up in that brothel if it hadn't been for—"
"What we did to Japan," Matt finished soberly. "I tell you, Meg, sometimes I feel this war destroyed humanity, regardless of who won it. The cruelties, the atrocities that were committed, by both sides, and justified as necessary … well, it's almost enough to turn me pacifist, too."
"How has everyone back home reacted to her?" Meg asked, curious to see how his clearer vision differed from Michi's humble gratitude.
"Pop loves her, of course, and Auntie Di and Uncle Patrick and all their lot have been swell about it all. Joss took her right under her wing, and Evie adores her. Johnny and Angharad, too, like her. She and Angharad both feel a little awkward, the foreign newcomer, so I think they're glad to have each other. Most of the Avonlea folks whisper behind their hands whenever they see us coming."
Meg felt a flash of anger at that. "Those old cats," she said.
Matt laughed. "I love it when you get angry, sis. It happens so rarely, but when it comes—look out!" He stuck his hands in his pockets casually. "I knew it would be hard, but you know the Avonlea gossips—they'd act just the same if I'd married a Yankee, or even a Canadian not from the Island. In time, they'll come to accept Michi."
"They'd better," Meg said viciously, stirring her cake batter so vigorously it slopped over the sides of the bowl and she had to wipe down the table.
Natalie's birthday was a day full of fun for all of them. She hadn't expected anyone to make note of the day, and so was delightfully surprised when they took her down to the shore for a picnic luncheon. Even Miss Beth went, though Natalie fussed that she shouldn't walk so far.
"I am not in my grave yet, Natie," Miss Beth said with some aspersion. "Nor am I an invalid. I am old, that's all, but I think I can still manage a birthday party out of doors."
Still, both Meg and Natalie watched her cautiously throughout the day, as they had noticed her coughing more over the winter, and moving more slowly through the spring.
Natalie was pleased enough with the picnic, and even more surprised at the presents the others piled in her lap after they had finished the last crumb of Meg's cake.
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's your birthday, silly," Meg said, tossing a flower from the decorations at her. "You always get presents on your birthday."
"I never have," Natalie said in a low voice, shaking her hair to partially cover her face.
There was a brief pause, broken by Matt's whistle. "We should have gotten you far more than we did, then, to make up for all those past years. Don't hold it against us?"
Natalie laughed, tossed her head back proudly, and faced them all with blazing joy plain upon her face. "I won't!"
She cooed in delight over the poetry book from Will's library, the canvas and watercolours from Matt and Michi, the knitted sweater and cap from Miss Beth, and the crimson and blue woven wall hanging the Carters had sent as their contribution.
"They wanted to be here as well," Meg explained, "but they had already made plans to visit their grandson in Montreal."
Finally, Meg placed a small wrapped gift in Natalie's lap.
"But you and Will already gave me something!" she exclaimed.
"The poetry was from Will and Leigh," Meg corrected. "This is from me."
Natalie unwrapped it to see a small silver frame holding a picture of her and Meg standing in the Windy Poplars' garden. Mr. Carter had snapped them there one day when Meg had accompanied Natalie for her lesson. The two had their arms around each other and were laughing into the camera.
It was quite the contrast from when Meg and Will had first come to Grey Harbour, and Natalie had snubbed Meg at every turn. Not only were the two friends now, Natalie's entire outlook on life had changed. She had hope now, a future; she no longer had to hide her true nature behind a scandalous mask to protect her sister. The laughing girl in the photograph didn't look anything like the woman Natalie used to see in the mirror every morning.
She leaned over and kissed Meg's cheek. "Thank you, darling." She smiled brilliantly and looked around to include them all. "Thank every one of you!"
"And God bless us, every one," Will muttered sotto voce, and dodged Meg's playful swat.
God had blessed them, Meg decided, gazing around their small circle. Natalie and Miss Beth, Matt and Michiko, even poor shy Leigh … most especially, he had blessed her and Will.
And if the suspicions she was starting to have were correct, they would be blessed with something—someone—else by this time next year.