Miss Cordelia asked if anyone was being murdered in the hollow.

Anne said, "Well, the Ford kids are running wild with mine in the hollow right now. Hopefully everyone gets tuckered out and we can do an early bedtime tonight."

Fat chance of that happening, Anne thought. It was June. The Fords had just arrived to the island the day before. Leslie wasted no time sending Kenneth and Persis over to Ingleside. And without checking with Anne first!

Also, Leslie and Owen had not yet stopped in themselves to say hello.

It had been several months since Owen's last visit at Ingleside. Since then, Anne had devoured his series Around the Island with Captain Jim in the Montgomery Journal. She left the magazine out for Gilbert to read. However, she didn't mention the articles, or Owen, to Gilbert.

Miss Cordelia said, "So, I'm sorry about the mix-up."

Anne said, "Yeah. Well. The doctor is just glad that your Cousin Sarah is still alive. And so am I. Glad, I mean. Also, I'm still alive. I meant that I'm glad that Cousin Sarah is still alive too."

Miss Cordelia had called Ingleside that morning to tell them that her cousin Sarah Chase had passed away in the hospital. Cousin Sarah was Gilbert's patient. Gilbert ought to hear the news of Cousin Sarah's passing directly from her, Miss Cordelia. The hospital had clarified to Gilbert that it was a DIFFERENT Sarah Chase, and not the Sarah Chase who was Gilbert's patient, who had died. The Cousin Sarah who was Gilbert's patient still lived.

Gilbert showed up on the verandah, finally home.

Miss Cordelia said, "Well, I must be off now, dearie. Good talking to you."

Anne said to Gilbert, "Cordelia came by to apologize for today's mix-up. Then, she chickened out and left when she saw you."

Susan brought lemonade out to Gilbert. Just as Gilbert finally sat down with his lemonade, Owen and Leslie Ford arrived.

"Well, hello there Mrs. Ford . . . Mr. Ford."

What a handsome couple, Anne thought.

Leslie's eyes were still as blue, and her hair still as golden, as they were the first time that Anne had seen Leslie in passing on Anne's wedding day. Gilbert played it off that day that he hadn't noticed Leslie. Brilliant man! Oh, how it irked her back then to hear the other men – Marshall Elliott, Captain Jim, even Owen – talk on about Leslie's looks.

And Owen. Broad-shouldered. The dreamy, dark grey eyes of a writer.

Once at Redmond, Roy Gardner had sent Anne a box of violets with a sonnet on her birthday. Anne told the girls at Patty's Place that Roy Gardner wrote a sonnet to her eyebrows. Much later – after Anne completely rewrote Roy's garbage essays – Anne realized that Roy copied her "birthday sonnet" from a magazine.

But Owen was a real writer. Owen probably wrote sonnets to Leslie on her birthday. Scripted on cream-colored cards that he slipped under Leslie's pillow for her to find right before they made love.

Owen's hair was just as brown as it had been the first day that Anne had walked him over to meet Leslie. His mouth still as kissable - looking . . .

"Anne-girl!"

"Oh! Yes, Gilbert?"

"The Fords just asked if the kids have been screaming like that all afternoon."

"Yes. Yes, they have been."

If Leslie minded her kids today, she would've known this.

Gilbert said, "They were howling something terrible when I drove in. The entire Glen must think that war broke out here."

Anne said, "They'll only be little for a while. Mr. Ford, how's Toronto. Any literary drama?"

Owen had literary drama to share.

A writer named Sara Stanley had been accused of plagiarizing Jane Austin.

Owen said, "And THEN critics looked at her stories and realized . . . that in ALL of them, the male fell in love with the female protagonist while the female considered the male to be her enemy. The female received multiple marriage proposals. ALL of Ms. Stanley's stories involve second chances. She ripped all of her plots off Austin!"

Gilbert said, "It's a little dramatic to say that she ripped all of her ideas from Austin based on THAT. Lots of writers borrow from other writers."

Owen said, "Some people call it borrowing. Some call that plagiarism."

Gilbert said, "Perhaps. I've seen plagiarism, and this isn't really plagiarism."

Owen said, "So you're an expert on plagiarism, eh?"

Gilbert said, "Oh, I've had my fair experience with academic dishonesty. I have a good sense for weeding out the scoundrels, Ford."

Anne said, "Well, now. There's room for both opinions. So, Mr. Ford, last fall you told me about another female writer – an Emily Starr? Didn't she crack a bottle on some critic? Did anymore come of that?"

Owen said, "Well, speaking of Ms. Starr. She wrote a coming-of-age memoir about growing up in New Moon. Her Murray family is now accusing her of fabricating – or at least embellishing – THAT story."

"Oh, dear," Anne said. "Poor Miss Starr."

Leslie said, "When did you talk to the Blythes last fall?"

Anne said, "Mr. Ford stopped by when he came to the island to write his Captain Jim articles."

Leslie said, "Owen told me that you guys weren't home when he came to the island. Perhaps I misunderstood?"

Anne said, "Oh, the doctor was out on all call when Mr. Ford stopped by. But I was home."

Something about Owen's face told Anne to Stop Talking.

Gilbert said, "So when will we get to read your new articles about the island, Ford?"

Owen Ford said, "Oh, you already can. The Journal printed them all this spring. In the March and April editions."

Anne said, "Oh, Gilbert, I set them out for you to read. Mr. Ford, they are all quite good. I loved what you wrote about watching the sun rise above the lighthouse. Quite romantic- "

"Yes, Owen is quite good with the romantic writing," Leslie said.

The cacophony that rang in the hollow now ran up to the Ingleside veranda. The Blythe and the Ford children had returned.

Gilbert said, "Well, you guys were noisy. It sounded like a pride of lions attacking a pack of elephants."

Kenneth said, "We were the Duke of Wellington's soldiers, fighting Napoleon!"

Leslie said to Kenneth, "Just look at you! You're covered in mud!"

Anne saw Owen wink at his son. Leslie could be moody. No doubt it vexed Owen. No wonder he seemed so excited to come to the island alone last fall.

Anne knew that she was the reason that Owen and Leslie were now a couple with two fantastic kids. Well, she and Gilbert. Gilbert was the one who had suggested that surgery be performed on the man that everyone thought was Leslie's first husband Dick Moore. Without that surgery, nobody would have known that the man in question was Dick's cousin, George Moore. Nobody would know that Dick Moore died years earlier and Leslie was a widow, free to remarry. But Leslie and Owen would not be married now were it not for her matchmaking skills.

"You're awfully quiet, Anne," Gilbert said.

"Miss Cordelia said something earlier today that gave me an idea for matchmaking."

Gilbert said, "That's my Anne. Always matchmaking."

Owen said, "Oh, I can think of at least one successful match that she made," smiling at Leslie and reaching for her hand.

Leslie stood up.

"Time to go, Owen."