When Gilbert saw that Avonlea needed a new teacher, he knew his time so far away, in Kingsport, had come to an end. He worked out his plan of teaching school while doing courses by correspondence, and hoped the school board would hire him.
It hadn't been hard to get the job.
There had only been a handful of applicants, and while they were equally suited to the position, the school board liked the idea of having one of their own townsfolk do it, especially liking that their chosen applicant would not even need to relocate for the job. Gilbert was also an easy choice because they had firsthand knowledge of his work ethic and integrity. They warned him, though, that a first teaching position was always hard, especially when it involved having students who used to be your younger schoolmates.
The next part of the plan, once the contract was signed, was to bring it to Matthew and Marilla...he'd have to "propose" to them first, before he could get to Anne.
But they had said yes to his proposal. They saw how he was figuring everything out for Anne- setting up a good situation for her- and most importantly, that he wouldn't be dragging her away to Kingsport where she'd be all alone.
At long last they'd agreed now could be the time.
The last part of the plan was to talk to Anne herself. That part, he thought with a smile, was the easiest part.
He decided to have a picnic for her and set to work making food for it, but when he realized he could only make simple food, he changed his mind and went into town looking for something nicer.
He came home with a cake. He didn't mind making sandwiches and cutting up fruit for a fruit salad now, and bringing crackers and cheese, because he had the cake to go with it, and the cake helped to dress up the picnic.
He packed everything into baskets- except the cake, which he found a pan for. He covered the pan with the top of a biscuit warmer. He remembered when Anne brought her cake to the fair and, looking at his contraption, realized this wasn't at all how a cake was meant to be packed. He was a bit amused, thinking of how little he knew about managing a home, and was glad Anne knew better; she'd bring some much-needed civilization into his house.
He hoped they'd all come.
"You ought to dress up," Marilla said, looking at the clock.
"Why?" Anne asked, catching Walter up in a hug.
"Well…" Marilla didn't want to spoil anything. She put on an exasperated face. "Anne, you forgot about the church event today, didn't you? My goodness, I told you about it a week ago. Do I have to stick notes on your forehead for you to remember?"
Anne made a face. "What's the even-"
"Go on up and get changed. Right now, or we'll be late! Take Walter with you, he ought to look nice, too."
"But what about the picnic?" Anne asked, already moving toward the stairs.
"We'll still have time for the picnic. Now scoot."
Marilla was glad she had made Anne dress up.
Anne looked so grown up and stylish in her royal blue dress that it made Marilla's heart catch in her throat to see her- ordinarily she still viewed her Anne as that same scrawny child who had arrived at her door four years ago- her large eyes and mouth took up her whole face but for the freckles, and those gangly arms and legs! But when Anne put on this dress, Marilla's image disappeared and all she could see was a lovely young woman, no longer a little girl. How beautiful she's grown up to be, she thought.
But all she said was, "You look suitable, now let's go now."
Marilla took Walter's hand and helped him up into the buggy. Anne had dressed him in his little blue and white sailor suit, something Marilla had sewn for him after Anne saw it in a magazine as a popular style for boys.
No one said one word on the way, until Anne asked, "What is the church event, anyway?"
"It's a quilting bee," Marilla said at the same moment Matthew said, "It's a bake sale."
"It's a quilting bee followed by a bake sale," Marilla said calmly.
"All that? We won't have time for a picnic," Anne said despairingly. "I'm surprised you're going, Matthew. What are you going to do during the quilting bee part?"
Fortunately Anne did not stop talking long enough for him to answer that question, and continued, "But it can't possibly be over before lunch. Can't you drop me off at Gilbert's before you go?"
"Well- yes, we'll swing round Gilbert's," Matthew answered.
They hoped Anne wouldn't ask any more questions. But she didn't have a chance to, because Walter began to talk and distracted them all for the rest of the ride.
"Gilbert, you look so nice," Anne said with a smile, reaching out for his hand once they arrived at his house.
He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, something he felt he was allowed to do in front of the Cuthberts now that they were as good as engaged.
"Why are you so dressed up?" Anne asked.
Gilbert looked down at his suit.
"You must be going to the church event after the picnic, too," Marilla said.
"Oh- yes," he said quickly. "Yes, I am."
He let them in. "I've got everything packed up," he said. "So we can go on out."
Marilla smiled inwardly, hearing nervousness in his voice. "I'll help get all these things out," she said. "Oh, Gilbert, how lovely- did you make that cake yourself?"
"Uh- not quite," Gilbert said with a smile, ruffling his hair. "But I did put it in the pan."
They laughed.
Gilbert put the food baskets down on the soft blue blanket, laying out plates, cups, napkins, and silverwear, and then unwrapping the sandwiches and salads. He was practically dropping things and Marilla finally reached out and, putting her hand on his, made him pause. He looked up at her and took a steadying breath.
"Well, that's everything, then," he said after a moment, letting a breath out.
He suddenly felt his pockets and then his suit jacket. "Uh- I forgot something- sorry- I'll be right back."
"What is it?" Anne asked, standing up. "I'll help you." She wouldn't mind the extra moments alone with Gilbert, since Matthew and Marilla would be sharing the picnic with them.
"No!" he said quickly. "No, I'll just be a second. Stay here. Go ahead and eat."
"I wanna go too," Walter started running to follow after him.
"Walter, sit down," Anne told him.
"No, Walter could come with me," Gilbert said letting out a nervous breath. The little boy tagging along would be a welcome distraction. He'd have some company to settle his rattled nerves.
Walter ran to catch up.
Gilbert rushed into the house, frantic. "Walter, I forgot the ring."
Walter did not know what that was about, but watched Gilbert rush to his father's room and search through his father's bedside table and then his dresser.
When he still didn't find it, he went through the wardrobe.
He stopped, breathing hard. "How did I forget this? I went into town to buy a cake, for goodness sake, the ring is the most important part!"
He was panicking.
He remembered that he had given the ring to Anne nearly four years before, to borrow because she'd been so embarrassed about being pregnant without a ring on her finger. But he'd gotten it back- what did he do with it?
He started looking through the desk out in the parlor, then checked the sofa cushions, not knowing what else to do.
"The ring, Walter, the ring…" Gilbert said absently, as he searched.
"I don't hear nothing," Walter said. "I don't hear the ring."
"No," Gilbert said with a bit of a laugh. "It isn't a ring you hear, like a bell. It's a ring like you wear on your finger."
Walter looked down at his own little fingers.
"Don't you remember Mama wearing it when you came home on the train-" Gilbert stopped, shaking his head at himself. Did he really expect Walter to remember Anne wearing his borrowed ring at the New Brunswick hospital where he had been born?
"Never mind," he told him, not looking at the boy but continuing to search. "I'll look, you just stay right here with me while I look."
"I wanna look, too," Walter demanded.
"Well, all right, go ahead and look."
"What does it look like?" was Walter's sensible question.
"It looks like...like a ring," Gilbert said. He moved a quilt off a trunk and looked under it.
Then he looked back at Walter. "You don't know what a ring looks like, do you? Matthew and Marilla don't wear them and neither does your mama. At least she doesn't yet…"
He took Walter upstairs with him to continue the search.
As he moved his desk out of the way- he saw it.
The gold band was between the cracks in the floorboards, the lamp light made it glitter. It was surrounded by a scattering of Sunday School pins.
"How did you get there?" Gilbert asked the ring under his breath.
He realized what had likely happened- he had put the ring into the little box he kept all his Sunday School pins in; cleary, at some point, it had spilled and he must never have noticed. It struck him as odd that he hadn't cared enough about the pins to notice they'd been lost, until he remembered that the pins no longer mattered to him. He recalled when they were handed out- how upset Anne had been that she hadn't gotten one. But how could she have tried; she'd had to drop out of Sunday School because Billy was there. Somehow, his pins hadn't seemed important anymore once Anne couldn't get one.
No matter, he had the ring. He scooped his ten Sunday School pins up from the floor and dumped them into a drawer.
"What's those," Walter said, liking the way the pins looked and wanting to play with them.
"They're from Sunday School. You'll get them too- if you try," Gilbert said absently. "All right, we have the ring!" He breathed a sigh of relief.
He held it down so Walter could see what it was they had been looking for.
"It's tiny," Walter said with dismay, looking down at the ring in Walter's palm. "Give Mama this instead-" he grabbed the nearby bedpost. "This a big present!"
"She can't wear that on her finger."
He slipped the ring into his jacket pocket, being sure it was all the way down into the pocket and wouldn't fall out.
"Come on," he said, tussling Walter's hair. "Now we can go back."
"I tell Mama you found her present," Walter said happily, bouncing down the stairs and to the front door.
"No," Gilbert said quickly, grabbing his hand to prevent him from running away. He slowed down, and whispered, "The ring is a surprise present. Don't tell Mama yet. Keep it a surprise."
"Okay," Walter said agreeably. "But I like the bed better, that makes a better present 'cuz it's big."
Gilbert laughed as he opened the front door. While Anne would ideally have the bed, it would look a little shocking to offer a bed to her as an engagement gift. No, the ring would suffice. "It's little, I know, but it means something big."
"What's it mean?" Walter asked absently, waving at Marilla, Matthew, and Anne in the distance.
Gilbert got down low to tell him. "It means we get to stay together all the time."
"No school?" Walter asked, as if afraid to hope.
"No, I'm not going back there," Gilbert said. "I can do school at home. And if Mama wants to keep my ring, guess what else happens?"
"What?"
"You and Mama can come live here at my house with me."
Then he said quickly, "And we would still go see Grandma and Grandpa all the time. You'll have everybody."
"I like you here," Walter said happily. "No school." He did not understand the moving back and forth, his main focus was that Gilbert wasn't going anywhere.