CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Diana drove round to Green Gables in the Wright buggy the next afternoon. Anne was alone, sitting peacefully on the back verandah. Her hair was pulled back in a braid; she wore her blue and white dress that so many agreed suited her. Diana smiled. 'Are you coming, Anne?' she called out. Anne looked up, and hurried toward the buggy.

'Oh, I'm so looking forward to today,' she said happily, as Diana began to veer the buggy from the Green Gables yard. 'Adam has gone to look for suits with Rachel.'

Diana looked at Anne. 'So how is Rachel taking the news? I'm sure she's absolutely devastated.' She spoke the last few words in pure sarcasm.

Anne laughed. 'She's thrilled. I think she's happier about it than either I am or even Adam.' She paused. 'Adam seems so happy.'

Diana hugged her friend quickly. 'Of course he is, Anne,' she smiled. 'He adores you. But…' She didn't finish her sentence. She felt it cruel to bring up the subject when Anne was so happy with everything.

They halted the buggy as they drew closer to Lawson's Mercantile. It seemed so long since Anne had visited…Alice Lawson, the spritely shopkeeper, was such a dear, though dreadfully talkative. Still, Anne could hardly blame her, after all. Now she was visiting to arrange material for her wedding dress. Anne was simply beside herself with excitement. Shopping for a wedding dress! The very words thrilled her to the core.

Alice Lawson was indeed thrilled at the news. 'Why, Anne Shirley – you're getting married!' She clapped her hands together. 'Oh, congratulations! And congratulate Gilbert, too – he must be so proud.'

Anne's face fell. 'But – Alice,' she said. 'I'm not marrying Gilbert. I'm marrying Adam!'

Alice Lawson frowned. 'Adam? Adam who?'

Anne leaned in. 'Adam Lynde. Rachel's grandson?'

Alice shook her head. 'No, can't say I've ever heard of him.' Evidently, fumed Anne, the gossips in Avonlea didn't reach as far as Lawson's Mercantile. How else could Alice not know that Gilbert had been missing for so long?

When Anne was out of earshot, Diana whispered to Alice, 'Gilbert has been missing from Avonlea for almost three months. Nobody knows where he has gone.'

Alice paled and a hand flew to her mouth. 'Oh dear!' she cried. 'Me and my big mouth. Oh, for land's sake. I won't say another word about Gilbert, you can trust me with that.'

Diana continued. 'She's here to buy a dress. For the wedding. Can you help us?'

'So, Anne,' Alice said, loudly so that Anne could hear her all the way from across the quaint store. 'What kind of dress would you like? Will you be buying a dress or just the material?'

Anne whirled around from the window. 'Well…' she said. 'It really does depend on what I find.'

Alice swept across the floor, basked with an invisible glow of excitement. 'Well, now, I do have one wedding dress in stock – it's just arrived from Charlottetown.' She pulled a dress from the mannequin, perched in the window. 'And I think it would be just your size, or thereabouts! Oh, this is almost too perfect. Would you like to try it on?'

Anne glanced at the dress. 'Oh, it's so beautiful!' she gasped. 'Oh, I must have that dress!' She stroked the elegant folds of the creamy white dress, its dazzling sequins sewn delicately along the bodice. 'Diana, don't you think so?'

Diana linked her arm with Anne's and grinned. 'I think it is exquisitely beautiful. Speak of puffed sleeves!' She indicated toward the puffed sleeves, a stunning feature of the dress. 'Ideal for the likes of a lily maid.'

Anne hugged Alice Lawson, who looked slightly bewildered, and could not seem to speak, which was a state of being she was not well acquainted with. 'I'll have to buy it,' Anne said.

'Won't you even try it on?'

'I don't have to, Alice!' Anne whirled around, eyes shining brightly, clutching the gown to her body. 'It's perfect! I love it. It will fit, I know it will. And if it doesn't...I'll make it fit, just you wait and see.'

Alice grinned. 'It's supposed to be twenty dollars, but I think that it ought to be five. After all, you must have a wedding present from me. Will that do, Anne Shirley?'

Anne hugged her even harder. 'Oh, thankyou! You must come to the wedding, Alice, and don't you dare consider otherwise!'

Alice Lawson looked into Anne's shining eyes and smiled broadly. There was an air of pure exhiliration and excitement in the shop that day. 'I wouldn't dare miss something so wonderful.'

* * *

'Oh, Marilla, what do you think?'

Anne clattered through the back door of Green Gables, her dress folded carefully and wrapped in a parcel of brown paper, which she clutched protectively underneath her arm.

'What do you I think of what?' Marilla looked up from the cross-stitch she was completing. 'Anne Shirley, what are you talking about?'

'My dress, my dress!' Anne cried, pulling it from its folds and holding it up against her body for display. 'Oh, Marilla, isn't it beautiful? And it's mine, my very own wedding gown.'

Marilla looked at with careful scrutiny through her glasses, resting on the bridge of her nose. 'It's nice, yes,' she said. 'A little too excessive, perhaps. Puffed sleeves. Good lord, you never did quench that obsession.' She chuckled. 'My word, Anne,' she said, 'you remind me now of the thirteen year old Anne, the one who was dancing about the house after Matthew bought you your first puff-sleeved dress.'

'Oh, I remember,' Anne reminisced, seating herself in the chair opposite Marilla. 'My first ball, the Christmas ball. And I almost couldn't go, but Matthew finally convinced you that I ought to. And then I asked Gil to dance...' Her voice trailed off, and she felt that she might cry from nostalgia. At that moment, she just wished Gilbert was there. Trustworthy, amiable, witty, caring Gilbert. The one she could run to with whatever problem she had, and talk about old times with. 'Well. I'd best go and put this dress upstairs.' She disappeared, tears prickling at her eyes. Suddenly, her wedding dress felt heavy in her arms. She just wanted her friend back. Her good, dear, wonderful friend Gilbert Blythe.

Marilla greeted Diana, meanwhile, downstairs. 'Hello, Diana.'

'What was all that about?' Diana asked Marilla.

Marilla sighed deeply, and flashed a glance to the ceiling, where Anne's room was positioned. 'I think,' Marilla said, 'that this is what they call the moment of truth. I can see troubles ahead.'

Diana nodded. 'I might have to strangle Gilbert if he ever comes back.'

'Oh, you do that,' Marilla chuckled, 'and do it again, for me. That boy is going to get a talking to and a half.'

'At any rate,' Diana said, 'I think Anne is beginning to see the situation for what it is. A flighty, romantic infatuation with a handsome man. And it's not the first time it's happened.'

'I certainly hope so,' Marilla said. 'That she is seeing it for what it is. Because,' she finished, 'if she doesn't, then certain people are going to be very hurt.'

'Who will be hurt?' Rachel asked suddenly, as she appeared through the back door, with Adam following closely behind.

Marilla and Diana eyed one another, and their expression spoke a thousand words.

'Nothing, Rachel,' they replied, in perfect unison.