"I sure wish that Hope would hurry up and come home 'cause I'm awfully hungry," Walt complained as he propped his head on his left arm.
"Patience is a virtue, Walt. She'll be here before you starve entirely to death," Grandfather teased.
"I'm hungry too," Tenny stated. He looked to Anne and asked, "Grandmother, can't we at least say Grace now and get it over with? We say Grace all the time when Uncle Jem and Grandfather are away on a call. Uncle Jem's gone right now. Why can't we do as we always do?"
Grandmother looked at Tenny rather reproachfully and told him, "No Tenny, we may not just get it over with, and regarding Uncle Jem and Grandfather, that's different. We shall wait for your sister. Anyway, your father has gone out to find her. They will both be here shortly."
"I do wonder where she is." Faith said as she sat at the table after having put Charity in her bassinet. She felt more maternal with Tenny and Hope than with her other nieces and nephews, having been a motherless child herself, and with them living in the same house.
"Did you see her when you came up from Rainbow Valley?" Grandmother asked.
"I hadn't seen her since she told us that she didn't feel like being our damsel in distress," Tenny added, joining Walt in propping his head on his arm.
"Maybe she's looking for fairies. If she finds any, I hope she will take me to see them. I love fairy chasing with Hope," Little John said.
Faith laughed, "Even fairies must eat dinner, John." Then she realized how Walt and Tenny were situated. "Walter! Tenny! Remove your elbows from the table. That is bad manners," she scolded.
"Yes ma'am., the two cousins responded.
Just then, Hope burst into Ingleside. "Grandfather, Grandmother, Aunt Faith! Daddy told me to come get you. There's a lady outside who has fainted!"
The adults all jumped up to assist Walter, leaving the boys sitting at the table lamenting another delay in dinner. When they reached the veranda, they met Walter, carrying the woman up the step. Anne, whose ankle was hurting her from the injury she sustained long ago when Josie Pye dared her to walk the Barry ridge-pole, lagged behind her husband and daughter-in-law. She couldn't make out whom Walter was carrying, but was suddenly worried about Faith when she saw her clinging onto the doorway for dear life.
Whoever had fainted, probably just someone who was coming for Gilbert or Jem's assistance, was not as important to her as Faith, whose color had suddenly faded away. "Faith, are you alright? Whoever it is, Gilbert and Walter can take care of her. Let me get you inside."
Faith shook her head no, fighting off Anne's attempts to help her inside. "I can't. It's her," she said, staring straight at the limp woman in Walter's arms.
"Who is it?" Anne asked.
She looked to the woman, really taking into account her appearance and knew before Faith answered, tears in her eyes and something catching in her throat, "It's Una."
She awoke in a dark room, where only a small amount of moonlight revealed Faith sitting in the corner beside the bed, watching every movement that she made. Her head ached and she wasn't sure where she was. Wherever she was, she was very thankful to make out her sister sitting beside her.
She tried to sit up, but her head ached even more so when she tried. "Faith, is that you? Where am I? What has happened?"
Faith clasped her sister's hand. "You're at Ingleside Una. You blacked out right outside the garden and hit your head on a rock. Father Gilbert says that you have a concussion and will have a nasty headache for a day or two."
Yes, she remembered now, however one fact had her confused. "I saw Walter, Faith. How did I see Walter? Did I somehow see him after I blacked out?"
Faith realizes that of course, Una didn't know. They had all grown accustomed to having Walter back in their lives, but Una had no way of knowing the truth. "That explains why you passed out. It must have been such a shock. It was to us too. Sister dear, I have a lot to tell you," she said as she started filling Una in on the happenings of the Blythe/ Meredith clan of the past several years, especially including the return of Walter and his children.
When Faith finished the tale, she got up to leave the room. "Where are you going, Faith. It is so nice to have you near me," Una asked.
Faith stopped at the doorway. She could hold a grudge against her sister. Heaven knows that she had been hurt very badly by Una's sudden disappearance. Yet, something just allowed her to be thankful that her lost sibling was back, she hoped for good. "I must call Avonlea and tell them the good news," she answered with a smile.
"Why Avonlea and not the manse?" Una asked yet again confused.
"Carl is lecturing in Carmody over the benefits of funding scientific research, and Father and Rosemary went to see him and visit with Jerry and Nan too. We get to see so little of Carl now that he is doing research at McGill. I would have liked to have gone too, but Charity has had a little fever, and I cannot imagine leaving her right now. I'll be back shortly."
"Oh," Una answered. Carl was at McGill? Who was Charity? These truths alone were difficult for her to grasp. The news of Walter was unbelievable. She couldn't believe it, yet she had seen him with her own two eyes. She wouldn't believe it until she saw him again, heard his voice, felt his presence. Then another thought occurred to her. It was too late. She had made another promise, and he loved another whether she was living or dead. Faith had been sure to mention that. Her head began to ache increasingly worse, but not as much as her heart.