The September Day was reaching its twilight when Tenny and Hope arrived
at Ingleside. They were met with many hugs, kisses, and tears by their
aunts and uncles. After a few moments of trepidation between the
cousins, the "children were sworn friends and allies. They had always
known each other and always would. The race of Joseph recognized its
own." Young Gilbert and Walter especially took to Tenny, and that
evening, the three cousins formed a bond of friendship that would be
carried from Ingleside to war-torn France and until the last of the
three drew his final breath.
Walter, Hope, and Tenny slowly settled into life living at Ingleside with Gilbert, Anne, Jen, Faith, Walt, and John, and the family began the long journey of catching up and making up for lost time.
One evening, not long after Walter and his children had settled at Ingleside and life began to be normal again, Rilla finally was able to spend that much sought after time alone with Walter. After dinner that evening, Walter sat on the moss covered step to the veranda, lost somewhere else, possibly in another time when his mother approached him.
"Walter, dear, why don't you go out for the evening, take a walk, visit some of your old haunts?"
He modestly declined, "That sounds tempting. However, it is getting late, and the children need to be put to bed soon."
"Let me, Walter. It has been so long since I've tucked a sweet child into its bed. I occasionally will tuck Walt or John in for Faith and Jem, but they are Jem and Faith's sons, and we allow them to do their own parenting for the most part. Hope and Tenny need me, and I didn't know how much I needed them... and you. I will never finish thanking God that you're back with us."
Walter laughed an inward, understanding laugh. "I will let you do that, Mother. You're right. The children do need you. They lost so much when they lost Katie." Changing to a lighter subject, he added, "I've been itching to visit the lighthouse and the House of Dreams. I think I'll give Rilla a visit. Let me tell the children goodbye, and thank you, Mother." He told his children goodbye and started off to the harbor.
When he arrived at the House of Dreams, Rilla was upstairs; putting her own two children to bed, and Kenneth was at the newspaper office, putting the final changes on that week's edition. Owen and Leslie were still there on their holiday. Owen was working on his own latest edition while Leslie worked on the dress she was making for little Anne. The door knocked and Leslie answered before it disturbed the children.
"Walter, it's so good to see you. Please come in."
He stepped into the doorway and looked about the serene household, "I hope that I'm not disturbing anyone, but are Rilla and Ken around?"
"Ken spends Tuesday evenings at the newspaper office, putting it to print. However, Rilla is here putting Gil and Anne to bed. She is as good with those babies as your mother was with you children." Leslie, who had loved his mother and family so dearly since she met them, touched his wrist, "It is so good to have you back."
He thanked her and took a seat on the sofa, and looked around at the way his sister had decorated the House of Dreams. He had to admit that his baby sister certainly gave it that "homey" feeling he had heard his mother gave it. He even found where Gog and Magog had run off.
Rilla came downstairs with the blue evening light radiating her beautiful face. Ten years before, he had left a very pretty baby sister, now she was an elegant woman, fully grown up. It saddened him to think about his "death" causing her to grow up so soon. "Walter, I didn't know you were here," she exclaimed upon seeing him.
"I can leave if it is an inconvenience," he apologized.
"Don't be silly, Walter. Spending time with you will never be an inconvenience. I've been waiting for an opportunity like this. I've missed you so," she inadvertently admitted. She sat beside him and they quickly fell into comfortable conversation, as they had before he left. Leslie took her sewing into the office where Owen was and left the two siblings alone together.
He looked into her hazel eyes and wondered out loud, "I'm sure you were a beautiful bride, Rilla-my-Rilla, weren't you?"
Feeling self-conscious, she replied, "I don't know if I was or wasn't. Ken says that I was. Father proclaimed it to be. I just remember being happy, unashamedly happy, yet wishing more that anything that you could be there. I think that there has been that little ache inside all of us every time a happy event took place."
"I think that I understand what you're saying. Katie and I both wished her parents could have been there when Hope and Tenny were born. Now I keep wishing that I could have brought her here along with me. She would have fit right in here with our folk."
"I would have liked to have known the woman who could steal your heart," said Rilla.
"And she you. I know that upon meeting, the two of you would have hit it off quickly. She said many times that she had always wanted a younger sister. I know that you would have loved to have had a sister that was your especial chum. Di and Nan were the best of friends before birth and nothing will ever break that bond."
"You're right. I was always closer to you, then Jem and Shirley than the twins. It's not that we're not close or that we don't love each other, it's just that I've felt left out of that bond they share. I guess Mother was the closest thing I ever had to a close sister. We are the best of friends these days. Of course I also had Gertrude, but she moved to Charlottetown and Una until..." she quickly avoided that subject. "If you want to know what my wedding was like, I can give you the pictorial history," she said as she pulled a photo album from the inn table.
They looked over all the photos, and Walter was given a glimpse into the life that he had missed. "You were a beautiful bride," he admitted. He continued to look at the pictures. "It was a beautiful wedding, though these photos steal the color of the day."
Rilla sighed, "I think that it could have been raining and the grayest, dirtiest day ever, and to me it would have been the most beautiful day." Then she admitted, "Though I am very glad that the weather was nice."
Walter laughed a relieved laugh. Rilla was still Rilla. Age and motherhood could never put a damper on such a personality. He glanced again at the photos and really looked at the bridesmaids. That is when he saw those eyes; the eyes that had haunted him for ten years, even when he knew not to whom they belonged. Even through the black and white of the photo, he could still feel those "somewhat wistful and sorrowful dark-blue eyes" staring into his soul, looking even more sorrowful than he remembered. "Rilla-my-Rilla, whatever has become of Una?"
Her smiling face suddenly became expressionless. "Why don't we take a walk along the shore?" she suggested.
He could hardly answer yey or nay before she had bade her in-laws goodbye and pulled him out the door.
Not a word was spoken between the two as they walked from the House of Dreams to the shore. The light September breeze met them and greeted with a sea-air kiss on the cheek. Walter breathed in the air and sighed, "I remember telling you once how I couldn't remember the sea being so blue or the roads so red. I feel exactly the same this evening. It is good to be home."
"It is even better to have you here." Rilla admitted. "Tell me, Walter, do you still write poems that make the hardest hearts swoon?"
"Thank you, dear sister, and no. I haven't written any poetry since that night I last wrote you. I wasn't aware that I had that gift. It has been so long I wouldn't know where to begin."
"Walter, what are you going to do with your life now?" She asked.
He bent down and picked up a stone to throw into the sea. "I don't know Rilla. I don't really have to do anything. The children and I are well taken care of financially. As for purpose and occupation, I don't know. I was Walter, once, of Ingleside. I've also been Katie's Johnnie of Dovedale, and that was more than enough. For now, I would like to just be Walter of Ingleside once again, and maybe that will guide me the rest of the way." He stopped to throw the stone. "Though tell me, why would you not tell me of Una? Why were you in such a hurry to get me out of doors, and why have I hardly even heard any mention of Una? Where is she? What has become of the Tea Rose?"
Rilla sat upon the grassy hill and patted it, suggesting for Walter to sit beside her. He did so, and she began her tale. "Una... Well, Una is somewhere, we don't really know where, working in the mission field, now. When the war was over, she went to Redmond to study Household Science. I don't think that she knew what to do with her life after everything. I almost went with her before Ken came for me. Anyway, she went to Kingsport along with Jem, Jerry, Carl, and Shirley. Shirley didn't know what he was studying for, but he tried to find his own purpose there. He and Una are both so quiet and timid, that they often found themselves together, and relied on each other for companionship. I guess that Shirley thought there was more to that relationship than Una did. He proposed, but she couldn't accept his offer because she didn't care for him in that way, and she did care for him enough not to string him along. He wouldn't accept her "no" thinking of how Mother first refused Dad. She couldn't get him to see she meant it. So, one day, she just up and left. She left a note stating that she left to work in missions. We hear from her about twice a year, though our letters almost always seem to be returned to us without her seeing them. There is always so mch upheaval going on in India and the Middle East. It hurts everyone so much that they don't mention her much. Faith and Mr. Meredith were especially hurt by her leaving, and Shirley took a while to get over his heartbreak. Though thankfully, he did when he met Rebecca."
Walter stared out into the blue ocean, highlighted pink by the setting sun. Never in his life could he imagine Una living somewhere other than the Glen, yet she was. Hopefully, she was well and her life fulfilling.
Rilla stared into the sea as well, thinking thoughts she had shared only with Ken.. Walter continued to look to the sea, but admitted, "Her eyes haunt me."
"What?" she asked.
"Her eyes; they haunt me. That have for years, I just didn't know whose eyes they were until I saw her picture again. They come in my dreams and sometimes even when I am awake. Katie knew they visited me before we fell in love. She often wondered who eyes they were because I must have left them heartbroken. They persisted in haunting me even after I was madly in love with Katie, I didn't mention them to her though. My heart was hers and I never wanted her to feel threatened by the eyes of an owner whom I couldn't even recall.
Rilla felt the need to ask a question she had often wondered. "Walter, did you ever love Una?"
He shook his head. "No. Not in the passionate way that you love Ken, Jem loves Faith, Father and Mother love each other, and I loved Katie. I grew to respect her a great deal in the war. Like Anne Elliot, she is or at least was, "tenderness itself." I may have been on my way to falling in love with her, but the Almighty had other plans. Now, I can't imagine ever loving anyone as I still do love my Katie."
Rilla understood and asked no more questions. She simply held his hand for the longest time, sitting there with him, watching the sun lie down beyond the horizon.
So, how do you like it? Is this THE END or Intermission? I know the answer, but let me know how you feel. .
Walter, Hope, and Tenny slowly settled into life living at Ingleside with Gilbert, Anne, Jen, Faith, Walt, and John, and the family began the long journey of catching up and making up for lost time.
One evening, not long after Walter and his children had settled at Ingleside and life began to be normal again, Rilla finally was able to spend that much sought after time alone with Walter. After dinner that evening, Walter sat on the moss covered step to the veranda, lost somewhere else, possibly in another time when his mother approached him.
"Walter, dear, why don't you go out for the evening, take a walk, visit some of your old haunts?"
He modestly declined, "That sounds tempting. However, it is getting late, and the children need to be put to bed soon."
"Let me, Walter. It has been so long since I've tucked a sweet child into its bed. I occasionally will tuck Walt or John in for Faith and Jem, but they are Jem and Faith's sons, and we allow them to do their own parenting for the most part. Hope and Tenny need me, and I didn't know how much I needed them... and you. I will never finish thanking God that you're back with us."
Walter laughed an inward, understanding laugh. "I will let you do that, Mother. You're right. The children do need you. They lost so much when they lost Katie." Changing to a lighter subject, he added, "I've been itching to visit the lighthouse and the House of Dreams. I think I'll give Rilla a visit. Let me tell the children goodbye, and thank you, Mother." He told his children goodbye and started off to the harbor.
When he arrived at the House of Dreams, Rilla was upstairs; putting her own two children to bed, and Kenneth was at the newspaper office, putting the final changes on that week's edition. Owen and Leslie were still there on their holiday. Owen was working on his own latest edition while Leslie worked on the dress she was making for little Anne. The door knocked and Leslie answered before it disturbed the children.
"Walter, it's so good to see you. Please come in."
He stepped into the doorway and looked about the serene household, "I hope that I'm not disturbing anyone, but are Rilla and Ken around?"
"Ken spends Tuesday evenings at the newspaper office, putting it to print. However, Rilla is here putting Gil and Anne to bed. She is as good with those babies as your mother was with you children." Leslie, who had loved his mother and family so dearly since she met them, touched his wrist, "It is so good to have you back."
He thanked her and took a seat on the sofa, and looked around at the way his sister had decorated the House of Dreams. He had to admit that his baby sister certainly gave it that "homey" feeling he had heard his mother gave it. He even found where Gog and Magog had run off.
Rilla came downstairs with the blue evening light radiating her beautiful face. Ten years before, he had left a very pretty baby sister, now she was an elegant woman, fully grown up. It saddened him to think about his "death" causing her to grow up so soon. "Walter, I didn't know you were here," she exclaimed upon seeing him.
"I can leave if it is an inconvenience," he apologized.
"Don't be silly, Walter. Spending time with you will never be an inconvenience. I've been waiting for an opportunity like this. I've missed you so," she inadvertently admitted. She sat beside him and they quickly fell into comfortable conversation, as they had before he left. Leslie took her sewing into the office where Owen was and left the two siblings alone together.
He looked into her hazel eyes and wondered out loud, "I'm sure you were a beautiful bride, Rilla-my-Rilla, weren't you?"
Feeling self-conscious, she replied, "I don't know if I was or wasn't. Ken says that I was. Father proclaimed it to be. I just remember being happy, unashamedly happy, yet wishing more that anything that you could be there. I think that there has been that little ache inside all of us every time a happy event took place."
"I think that I understand what you're saying. Katie and I both wished her parents could have been there when Hope and Tenny were born. Now I keep wishing that I could have brought her here along with me. She would have fit right in here with our folk."
"I would have liked to have known the woman who could steal your heart," said Rilla.
"And she you. I know that upon meeting, the two of you would have hit it off quickly. She said many times that she had always wanted a younger sister. I know that you would have loved to have had a sister that was your especial chum. Di and Nan were the best of friends before birth and nothing will ever break that bond."
"You're right. I was always closer to you, then Jem and Shirley than the twins. It's not that we're not close or that we don't love each other, it's just that I've felt left out of that bond they share. I guess Mother was the closest thing I ever had to a close sister. We are the best of friends these days. Of course I also had Gertrude, but she moved to Charlottetown and Una until..." she quickly avoided that subject. "If you want to know what my wedding was like, I can give you the pictorial history," she said as she pulled a photo album from the inn table.
They looked over all the photos, and Walter was given a glimpse into the life that he had missed. "You were a beautiful bride," he admitted. He continued to look at the pictures. "It was a beautiful wedding, though these photos steal the color of the day."
Rilla sighed, "I think that it could have been raining and the grayest, dirtiest day ever, and to me it would have been the most beautiful day." Then she admitted, "Though I am very glad that the weather was nice."
Walter laughed a relieved laugh. Rilla was still Rilla. Age and motherhood could never put a damper on such a personality. He glanced again at the photos and really looked at the bridesmaids. That is when he saw those eyes; the eyes that had haunted him for ten years, even when he knew not to whom they belonged. Even through the black and white of the photo, he could still feel those "somewhat wistful and sorrowful dark-blue eyes" staring into his soul, looking even more sorrowful than he remembered. "Rilla-my-Rilla, whatever has become of Una?"
Her smiling face suddenly became expressionless. "Why don't we take a walk along the shore?" she suggested.
He could hardly answer yey or nay before she had bade her in-laws goodbye and pulled him out the door.
Not a word was spoken between the two as they walked from the House of Dreams to the shore. The light September breeze met them and greeted with a sea-air kiss on the cheek. Walter breathed in the air and sighed, "I remember telling you once how I couldn't remember the sea being so blue or the roads so red. I feel exactly the same this evening. It is good to be home."
"It is even better to have you here." Rilla admitted. "Tell me, Walter, do you still write poems that make the hardest hearts swoon?"
"Thank you, dear sister, and no. I haven't written any poetry since that night I last wrote you. I wasn't aware that I had that gift. It has been so long I wouldn't know where to begin."
"Walter, what are you going to do with your life now?" She asked.
He bent down and picked up a stone to throw into the sea. "I don't know Rilla. I don't really have to do anything. The children and I are well taken care of financially. As for purpose and occupation, I don't know. I was Walter, once, of Ingleside. I've also been Katie's Johnnie of Dovedale, and that was more than enough. For now, I would like to just be Walter of Ingleside once again, and maybe that will guide me the rest of the way." He stopped to throw the stone. "Though tell me, why would you not tell me of Una? Why were you in such a hurry to get me out of doors, and why have I hardly even heard any mention of Una? Where is she? What has become of the Tea Rose?"
Rilla sat upon the grassy hill and patted it, suggesting for Walter to sit beside her. He did so, and she began her tale. "Una... Well, Una is somewhere, we don't really know where, working in the mission field, now. When the war was over, she went to Redmond to study Household Science. I don't think that she knew what to do with her life after everything. I almost went with her before Ken came for me. Anyway, she went to Kingsport along with Jem, Jerry, Carl, and Shirley. Shirley didn't know what he was studying for, but he tried to find his own purpose there. He and Una are both so quiet and timid, that they often found themselves together, and relied on each other for companionship. I guess that Shirley thought there was more to that relationship than Una did. He proposed, but she couldn't accept his offer because she didn't care for him in that way, and she did care for him enough not to string him along. He wouldn't accept her "no" thinking of how Mother first refused Dad. She couldn't get him to see she meant it. So, one day, she just up and left. She left a note stating that she left to work in missions. We hear from her about twice a year, though our letters almost always seem to be returned to us without her seeing them. There is always so mch upheaval going on in India and the Middle East. It hurts everyone so much that they don't mention her much. Faith and Mr. Meredith were especially hurt by her leaving, and Shirley took a while to get over his heartbreak. Though thankfully, he did when he met Rebecca."
Walter stared out into the blue ocean, highlighted pink by the setting sun. Never in his life could he imagine Una living somewhere other than the Glen, yet she was. Hopefully, she was well and her life fulfilling.
Rilla stared into the sea as well, thinking thoughts she had shared only with Ken.. Walter continued to look to the sea, but admitted, "Her eyes haunt me."
"What?" she asked.
"Her eyes; they haunt me. That have for years, I just didn't know whose eyes they were until I saw her picture again. They come in my dreams and sometimes even when I am awake. Katie knew they visited me before we fell in love. She often wondered who eyes they were because I must have left them heartbroken. They persisted in haunting me even after I was madly in love with Katie, I didn't mention them to her though. My heart was hers and I never wanted her to feel threatened by the eyes of an owner whom I couldn't even recall.
Rilla felt the need to ask a question she had often wondered. "Walter, did you ever love Una?"
He shook his head. "No. Not in the passionate way that you love Ken, Jem loves Faith, Father and Mother love each other, and I loved Katie. I grew to respect her a great deal in the war. Like Anne Elliot, she is or at least was, "tenderness itself." I may have been on my way to falling in love with her, but the Almighty had other plans. Now, I can't imagine ever loving anyone as I still do love my Katie."
Rilla understood and asked no more questions. She simply held his hand for the longest time, sitting there with him, watching the sun lie down beyond the horizon.
So, how do you like it? Is this THE END or Intermission? I know the answer, but let me know how you feel. .