So, I know you all have further questions on Josh, it isn't in this chapter but it is in another chapter I have planned, where those questions will be answered so just wait for me. Honestly, there's nothing like creating a backstory for your own character and the way I see it is that yes, they do appear out of no where because their fictional, but a character is not just existing they should have purpose if they are going to play a part in the main characters lives and in order for them to fulfil whatever purpose, they have to have motivation and for them to have motivation they have a life as well as the main characters. I love Josh, as much as I loved Andy in my 'becoming jane' story, and subsequently all of Anne's siblings in that series! Josh does have his own story within the story and I promise you its coming I just need to write this one first.
And I apologise for the delay. Here in the UK we have a three pronged plug the bottom two actually carry the electric and the top on is a safety feature to plug in. The safety prong snapped on my laptop charger meaning I couldn't charge it until I got a replacement and my laptop is one of those tablet which turns into a laptop things so I needed a specific one... it all took a while! Which meant I couldn't even write (well I could if I used my smart phone but using something that small for something this big is a nightmare!
Three years later.
"Anne!" she heard him call as she showered "Do you know where my profile folder is?" he asked her.
"Try in our room, top of the bookshelf." She called then waiting for a few seconds, her modesty hardly a problem anymore she stood back in the bathtub the shower still pattering beside her as she as she heard him move in their bedroom. She smiled at the bathroom door opened and he appeared at the door.
"Lifesaver." He smiled at his naked wife, he looked her up and down before giving out a low whistle "Damn girl!" he exclaimed "Do you have to make it quite so difficult to leave?"
"Oh you like what you see?" she flirted with him her eye fluttering. "You could always join me." She enticed him.
He stood next to the bath and reached up for her lips, them meeting part way as they kissed. "I wish I could." He said honestly "but then I would be late for my shift and then the knock on effecting that I could be..."
"Late for your meeting." Anne nodded. "I know," she shrugged.
"Plus shouldn't you be getting out of there, you'll be late for school." He asked her.
"Yes." She sighed heavily before she turned the water off. She turned and saw Gilbert standing with a smirk on his face and a towel in his hands for her to step into.
She stepped out of the tub their lips meeting again before she whispered "Thank you."
"Have a good day at school." He said to her.
"You too." She smiled before she reached for her phone "I miss you."
"I miss you too beautiful." He whispered to her. "This is insane, I think I saw more of you when you were in Avonlea and I was in medical school."
"...and the two years previous." Anne said quietly.
"Alright we need to fix this." He said shaking his head taking his phone out. "I'm taking you out tonight."
"I can't, staff meeting." Anne told him.
"Oh um, not tomorrow, I'm on my 18 hour shift." He said with a heavy sigh. "Which really takes out the next day." He said. "Um Saturday?" he asked.
"No we're going up to Avonlea remember?" she asked him "We promised your mother."
"And you know what happens when we break those promises." He chuckled.
"That chocolate devil cake sticks better in your memory then any other punishment I've seen." Anne returned
"My mother, ladies and gentlemen the mistress of physiological warfare." He joked.
"And your stomach." Anne added.
"What about next week?" Gilbert asked.
"No," Anne shook her head. "We're all on high alert at school, the board is coming in for an inspection, so the school and the teachers all need to be on high alert."
"Oh damn, plus I'm on lates all of next week." He muttered.
"Oh." She said confused "I thought you said you could come to my work Christmas Party. Miss Stacy is looking forward to see you."
"You know I could never disappoint Miss Stacy. I already swapped my shift it means working for 18 hours straight but I can sleep in the car if you come and get me straight from the hospital. I'll change in the car."
"Deal." Anne nodded. "So um, maybe it is a date?" she fluttered with a smile.
He told a deep sigh and smiled at her "I love how low maintance you are."
"I love you." She smiled before she kissed him again. "now go!"
"Hello Mrs Blythe." Anne was surprised by the voice for a moment before she looked up towards the back of her classroom. "Well Paul Irving!" she exclaimed, standing from her desk and walking up the aisle to meet him. "What on earth are you doing back in your old haunt?" she asked him.
He smiled as they embraced for a moment and he pulled back. The lad who was once eleven years old and being taken to football games by Anne and Gilbert now stood tall and handsome at almost 23. "I could ask the same of you." He teased.
"I'm a teacher." She chuckled.
"I'm here to meet dad." He nodded.
"Ah yes, my direct boss." She smiled.
"Dad doesn't think of you like that." Paul objected.
"No, he sees me as his student still," she commented and cut Paul off before he objected "I'm not complaining I see it in his eyes, but luckily your father always showed me every respect so there is little difference in the way he treats me to anyone else."
"No Anne, its much more then that." Paul informed her "he still harps on about how wonderful you are as a teacher this time," Paul told her "I think he respects you most of all, but he's always hesitant to show favourites in his department, head of arts shouldn't have favourites." He smiled. "How Gilbert?" he asked her.
"Working hard as he always does." Anne reflected, but when Paul nodded something in his demure changed which told Anne this wasn't quite the social visit. "but, then, is there something more to this Paul?" she asked him.
He took a heavy sigh. "I need an opinion which isn't dad's..." he trailed. "Or mom's." He shrugged "their too close."
"Oh?" she asked.
He nodded taking a stepback and resting his weight in the desk behind him. "Angela tried to make contact." He said quietly.
Anne looked at him in shock for a moment before taking a likewise refuse on the desk behind her. "Your mother?" she asked.
"If you mean the women who gave birth to me yes." He said. "She wants to meet me." He said.
They stood in silence for a moment.
"Oh!" Anne exclaimed. "I see." She added with a swallow.
"See Mom and Dad both think I should." He told her, and upon Anne's silent response he leap up and paced a little, "I don't know how they could even think it never mind say it." He muttered resentfully.
"You can't?" Anne asked genuinely confused.
"You know I know she abandoned me, she didn't want me!" he exclaimed shaking his head "What, now she wants it so I have to jump and say how high?" Anne took a deep breath before he continued. "Mom is my mom, more then a mother then she ever could be, was it Angela who came to my football games? Was it Angela who came to my high school graduation, or who supported me in my writing or who drove me to my high school dance or who healed a sixteen year olds broken heart because his girlfriend dumped him? And a thousand other things every day? No it was my mom who did that."
"And it speaks volumes of how you feel towards Lavender that you can't even bring yourself to call her by her first name, you still call her mom, even after entering adulthood." Anne told him logically.
"So why are they trying to encourage me?!" Paul asked her.
"Objectively..." Anne said looking at him "Even though it is that she is your birth mother, that alone is enough for a few minutes of your attention." Anne said "they probably think by meeting her you'll learn something of yourself and are so encouraging you to try." Anne told him. "They might think if they discouraged it that it might be selfish of them."
Paul looked up confused "so they encourage me regardless of their own feelings on the subject?" he asked her.
"Parents do it, so that their child can have healthy relationships, when both sides are focused on the wellbeing on a child all else goes out the window." She said calmly.
Paul sighed. "I'm turning 23 very very soon. Why 23 years later?"
"I don't know her motivations." Anne said softly.
Paul sat at the desk he was sitting on. "Anne." He said softly his elbows resting on the desk his hands on his forehead his head slightly bowed. "I needed a mother, dad was awesome don't get me wrong, I love him I know all he did for me and he was my parent but until mom came back into our lives I didn't have one, one parent can't make up for another no matter how well they do, I mean dad deserves all the credit all the praise and mom when she came back into our lives..." he trailed "I have a mom and a dad, so what is she?!" he exclaimed.
Anne sat down at the desk in front of him and turned her body to look at him. "It might be your chance to find out." She said quietly to him. "I know its not the same circumstances, but I know I would love to have met my parents. It wasn't their choice which separated us, but maybe its the chance to learn something of ones self which pushes that urge." She said.
Paul sighed and looked up at her "so you think I should meet her too?" he asked.
Anne sighed "It doesn't matter what I think, or your dad or your mom." She told him. "it matters what you think, and your parents are only encouraging you because they want you to make your own decisions and not depend on their emotions on the situation." She sighed and looked at him "though if you did go, you might get some questions answered." She told him.
That night Gilbert burst through the door with the biggest smile on his face Anne had seen in long time.
"Anne!" he exclaimed meeting her as she stood up by the sofa, in one swoop he lifted her spinning her round the room. "Their going to recommend me Anne." He smiled at her. She looked at him quizzically before he continued "I thought having just three years of residency under my belt would go against me, but it turns out they like new blood someone not too set in their ways and they like me Anne, they like how I work they like that I'm flexible, I didn't think I would stand a chance but I'm recommended Anne, this could be the start of everything!" he exclaimed.
"Gilbert?" she looked at him confused.
"The fellowship Anne, a place has come up and they want me to apply, I mean they can't guarantee the place but they want to coach me on it, and it wouldn't be until September Anne, but if they coach me now when its time to apply I'll be in good standing!"
Anne laughed in relief "The fellowship!" she exclaimed "I thought they said there wasn't a placement for at least another five years."
"I suppose where there is a need." He shrugged. "What do you think?" he asked her.
"What do you mean what do I think that's an amazing opportunity!" she exclaimed. "Is it still what you want?" she asked him.
He nodded enthusiastically before he looked down into her eyes. "For Joy." He whispered swaying them back and forward.
Anne smiled looking down as he held swiped his hand across her stomach looking down at it for a moment, he looked up into her eyes and she nodded "For Joy."
He took a deep sigh "it'll mean more work." He told her.
"Like we're not used to that." She smiled.
"No, but..." he shrugged, "I don't want you feeling neglected." He told her. "I love you, you're my wife, I didn't marry you to ignore you."
She smiled looking up into his eyes "You don't ignore me." She admitted "We're busy yes, but ignore is not the right word." She added "and its not neglect." She told him "I'm a useful sort of wife aren't I? I don't sit at home all day crying hey ho for my husband."
He chuckled at her remark "I wish you would more often." He teased her.
Anne chuckled "now you know you wouldn't like that, you've never been into weak women."
He smiled giving her shameless eyes "No I can't say I have ever been into that sort of girl." He said with a flirt in his tone.
"Behave!" she exclaimed.
"Never!" he teased her, before he swept her up in his arms "In said spirit..." he teased "I seem to remember a certain Josie Pye once coming up with the ultimate chat up line, which if you had said it, let me tell you would have got a completely different reaction."
"Oh?!" Anne exclaimed confused.
"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" he managed to chuckle out after her reaction as he carried her through the corridor to their bedroom.
"Oh!" Anne said in some relief "Oui, s'il te plait mon mari." She flirted back.
Gilbert's breath caught again "Ah! La dame sait le francais!"
Anne's eyebrows wiggled "Oui monsieur Blythe, il me tarde de vous faire l'amour"
"Vos desirs sont des ordres." He whispered lowly to her as he lowered them onto the bed.