Posting so at least you know I'm still alive? :p
Their walk together, brief as it was, was the loveliest time either of them could imagine. Finally being secure in their future together was exhilarating. Marriage was no longer an ephemeral, 'someday' dream, but was soon to be: a promised future, on the horizon and very much allowed. Later, in the years after this glorious walk, they'd hardly remember even half of the things they talked about- it would be a hazy, dreamlike fog. They knew Matthew and Marilla weren't far off, but they had privacy to talk together as a couple. They walked with their arms entwined, sometimes letting go and walking hand in hand, instead, their fingers laced. Anne was very aware of the ring, heavy on her finger as she walked, and Gilbert, holding her hand, was overjoyed to feel it there.
"It's too late to have a summer wedding," Anne mentioned, disappointed. But then, "You know, a wedding after summer might be nice- to sort of reclaim the fall." She smiled. "Fall would be a happy time, if it was about us getting married. But then...no, that won't work. None of our friends could come. Too many people are away, at Redmond, and teaching...oh, Gilbert, I have a wonderful idea. Let's get married at Christmas!"
"Christmas?" Gilbert asked with a smile. It was certainly unusual, but he'd have expected nothing less from her.
"Everyone will be home at Christmas!" Anne explained. "Diana, and Ruby and Jane, and everybody." But she trailed off, second guessing her idea. "Although I did so want a wedding outdoors…"
"It's the wrong time of year for that, love. Do you want to wait until spring?" Gilbert asked.
"No, we've waited long enough," Anne said decidedly.
But her face clouded over. "Unless...maybe we should wait till spring. Would you rather wait? Because maybe by then, enough time will have gone by that maybe I'll be able to- to do- I could manage to try..."
Gilbert stopped, taking her hands in his own. "We don't need to wait on that to get married."
"But…won't it be worse for you? Living together, and still not…"
Gilbert squeezed her hand, feeling the ring on her finger. He said slowly, "That's too much pressure, Anne, you'd be sick all winter dreading the springtime. Instead of being excited about the wedding, you'd just keep worrying about what you think you're expected to do afterward."
Anne bit her lip. That was exactly what would happen, she knew.
Gilbert stroked her cheek. "That won't work, darling. And there's no reason to delay marriage until you think you can try it." Seeing her doubt, he smiled, telling her, "We'll have fun even just living together- think how nice it'll be not to have to say goodbye."
And then she felt better, because it would be.
As they came back to the picnic at the pond, Marilla smiled. They look just right together, she thought to herself. And so happy.
Anne and Gilbert saw Walter in the distance. He had been sitting with Matthew and Marilla on the picnic blanket, but jumped up and bounced up and down the minute he saw his mama and Gil-ber returning.
Gilbert scooped him up and tickled him, making him laugh.
"You was gone too long," Walter said in an accusing sort of way.
"Well, we have a lot to talk about now," Anne told him, smiling. "Did you eat, Walter?"
"Uh-huh. Sammich," Walter told him. "Sammich and strawberries and cake."
"Sandwich, Walter, not sammich," Anne corrected gently.
"Sands at the beach," Walter told her. "There's no sand in my sammich." This made perfect sense to him and he sat down to finish his sammich.
Anne rolled her eyes good naturedly and sat down with her son. Gilbert settled himself by Anne's side and cut a slice of cake for her.
When the sandwiches and fruit and cake were gone, they sat a while at the pond, relaxing and talking about the future:
"You'll have to move when it's time for Gilbert to go to medical school," Marilla pointed out.
"I still have three more years doing coursework for Redmond," Gilbert said, squeezing Anne's hand. "It won't be for a long while."
"And that'll be just three years, too," Anne said. "When he's finished, we'll be able to come back home."
Matthew cautioned, "It'll depend on where he finds work, Anne." Matthew hoped it would be near Avonlea so he would not miss her chatter.
"If it's not in Avonlea, it'll have to be somewhere nearby," Gilbert said- he had no intention of taking away Walter's grandparents- "Anyway it likely will be here. Dr. Carter mentioned to me that he isn't far from retirement. We've been talking a lot lately- about his experiences and my schooling- and he said it sounded like my graduation from medical school would be just the opportunity he needed to hand the practice over."
"That's mighty convenient, isn't it?" Matthew said, with a pointed look at Marilla.
"It sounds suitable," Marilla said calmly. "So you'll be able to live nearby after all." But when Anne grinned at her she couldn't help smiling back.
"Where will we live during medical school, though?" Anne asked, suddenly wondering and turning to Gilbert.
"We'll rent a house. More likely it'll be a flat, though- we'll be in the city, after all."
Anne looked at Walter. "He's never lived in a city. Well, except when he was first born. But we left when he was a month old and he never went anywhere. He doesn't know what a city is like."
"Yes, he does," Gilbert said. "You brought him to visit me in Kingsport."
"I meant what it's like to live in a city," Anne clarified. "But it's just three years, and it'll be an adventure. An exhilarating adventure."
"What exhilarating adventure?" Walter asked, suddenly part of the conversation.
You can say 'exhilarating adventure', but you refuse to use the proper word for sandwich, Anne thought.
"Going away," Anne explained. "We're going to live in the city when Gilbert goes to medical school. That way we don't have to be apart any longer."
"Grandma and Grandpa come too," Walter said happily.
"No, we'll stay here," Marilla told him. "But as soon as Gilbert's all done, you can come back to us."
"Then we all be together," Walter said, climbing onto Marilla's lap.
"Yes," Marilla told him, gathering him up. "We'll all be together."
When they were ready to finish their picnic, they packed everything up and carried the basket and blanket back to Gilbert's house.
"Gilbert, you should come over," Marilla insisted.
"No," Walter said loudly.
Everyone looked down at him, startled. Walter not wanting Gilbert to be him every minute was unfathomable.
"Why not, Walter?" Anne asked with a little laugh. "Don't you want to spend more time with him?"
"Gil-ber need to stay here with us," Walter explained.
"Stay here with us? But we're going home," Anne said, taking his hand to pull him along.
"We live here now," Walter demanded, pointing at Gilbert's house.
They all looked at each other.
"You said if Mama wants to keep the ring, then we live here," he explained sensibly.
"Oh. Walter-"
"She keeped it. Let's go!"
"Walter," Gilbert said laughing, "I didn't mean right away. Later, later on- there has to be a wedding first."
"And you said Mama can have your bed, too."
Embarrassed, Gilbert said quickly to Matthew and Marilla, "I never said that."
There was an awkward laugh.
"Come on, Walter," Anne said. "Gilbert will come over to our house for now. And after Christmas, his house can be our house, too."
"Well, all right then," Walter accepted.
