Diana Wright stood at the opposite end of the lawn. Her face was glowing in a soft reddish hue by the luminescence of the fire. She waved to me and smiled brightly. When she saw Gilbert and I together her eyes widened.
"Anne! Anne!" she cried as she ran toward us. "Anne you blessed girl. You didn't tell me that you and Gilbert were courting." She spoke as if Gilbert were still at home in bed, rather than standing beside me. My heart fluttered at the thought of telling my best friend what my delighted disposition was caused by.
"Diana, my dearest and best friend," I replied. "Gil and I aren't courting." A look of confusion with a hint of disappointment crossed her face. My smile widened as I held up my left hand. "Di, we're engaged!"
"Oh Anne! You had me frightened for a moment." Diana embraced me and took a hold of my left hand, carefully inspecting the perfect ring on my finger. "Gilbert Blythe, how ever did you pay for such an exquisite ring?"
"Well, let's just say I've been saving up for… quite a while," Gil looked at me; his eyes somehow seemed to be more radiant than ever, and his deep stare sent a chill through my entire being. How wonderful it felt to be on his arm. We'd both waited for that moment for so long (whether or not all of that time it was admitted), and we were finally enjoying it. Diana, in her newly found over-the-top persona, announced the news to everyone in attendance. For a few moments people were coming up and congratulating us. I was awed at how many people seemed to have known all along. I leaned over to Gil during a free second.
"Have I really been that oblivious to this all, Gil darling?" I asked, sounding more surprised than I had intended to sound.
"Well," he began, not knowing what exactly to say. "To be honest Anne, yes you have." He smiled and although I felt awkward and somewhat embarrassed at that moment, the warmth in his smile made it not matter as much.
Unfortunately for me Gilbert left just a few moments later. I felt selfish in wanting him to stay, especially since I knew how long a complete recovery would take, nevertheless I still hated seeing him go. After he left I felt even more selfish when I saw Katherine approaching me; she didn't look overly thrilled to be at the bonfire that night.
"Oh Katherine!" I exclaimed as she got closer. "I am so sorry. I completely forgot. Are you ready to meet those two young men that were asking about you?"
"Well Anne, I don't know," she replied without even a trace of a smile on her face. "I wouldn't know what to say to them." Thankfully it seemed as though she was not mad about me leaving her alone for a few moments.
"Oh don't worry. I'll be right there with you," I answered, sensing a smile return to her face. I glanced around and noticed the boys. Well really, although I knew them as boys years ago in school they were no longer boys; summers of hard labor had turned them into strapping young men. Billy Gray, (who now went by Will) and Andrew Stacey, who was the nephew of our dear old school teacher Miss. Stacey, were classmates of mine when I was in school. Both had recently decided to live in Avonlea to take over their father's farms. Will and Andrew both were getting along in years in terms of their 'prime' and were looking to settle down, marry and start a family.
Katherine was never fond of teaching. She had told me many times how she didn't plan on going back to Kingsport in the fall. The question still remained however of what she would do. I for one had no idea. Will Gray was the first of the boys to introduce himself to Katherine. The two were talking easily from the very beginning, and, seeing that Katherine was not having a problem with conversation, I went off to find Diana. I found her sitting alone in an oversized lawn chair and beckoned to her from where I was standing. When she reached me we linked arms and began walking toward the woods that sat on the edge of the Benhowl's property.
"Can you believe it Diana?" I asked, unaware of how dreamy and distant I sounded. "I'm engaged!"
"I know Anne. I never would have expected you to get married. I thought for sure that you would never come out and admit that you had feelings for Gilbert."
"Oh Diana, why didn't you ever tell me you thought I had feelings for him?" I asked, completely clueless as to why I had been in the dark for years.
"Anne Shirley, do you know how many times I did tell you?" she looked almost exasperated. "You would never hear anything of the sort!"
"Diana, do you think that if I had been more receptive and actually admitted to liking Gilbert in the beginning that we would be getting married?" I asked, still somewhat daydreaming.
"I don't know what you mean, Anne," she replied, much to my chagrin, as she so often did.
"I mean that maybe the love that Gilbert and I share is stronger now than it ever would have been if I had professed my feelings for him when we were only children. Perhaps to really love him, I had to go through everything I went through, denying his proposal and going off to teach in Kingsport. All of that helped me to better understand myself, and made me love him more than I could have when he first proposed."
"I don't know Anne," she said with an expression on her face that she only got when she thought my imagination was overreacting. I pulled myself back from my reverie when I heard the tone of her voice. It was one of those 'there she goes again' tones.
"Oh, maybe I should go check in on Katherine," I suggested, for a way to get out of trying to further explain my reasoning.
"Yes, that's a good idea. We should be leaving soon. I don't like to leave the baby home without me for very long." Diana had turned into a fine mother in such a short amount of time. We walked back and I found Katherine so that we could leave. A few old friends stopped me to congratulate me and Katherine ran ahead to help Diana get the carriage ready. On my way to the barn I ran into Josie Pye.
"Oh hello Josie," I said politely, not wanting to ruin the evening.
"Oh Anne, how nice of you to show up. I've been meaning to speak with you." Her tone was already borderline rude, but I allowed her to continue; hoping whatever she would say might have some mannerly end to it. "I heard that the Kingsport school was not able to find a replacement for you and were forced to keep you on staff but that you declined their offer when Gil Blythe proposed. Really Anne, I never thought you for one to pick a man over a dignified job, but I guess I wouldn't expect much less from you. You've always been keen on Gil Blythe, even in our old school days."
"My, Josie, I've see you're tongue has grown by yards since I left. You certainly are in a rather foul temperament tonight. I wonder if it is because you heard that I accepted Gilbert's proposal, or that you now know that you can never have him."
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"I didn't want to be so tactless, Diana, really I didn't, but I let my temper take control. You know how she gets Diana, and I just could not contain myself. Now I've spoiled the entire evening." I recounted my confrontation with Josie to Diana and Katherine on the ride home.
"Don't worry Anne; she's always been jealous of you and Gil. Do you remember when Gil said that being smart was better than being pretty?" I nodded, remembering the fateful day. "Well Josie is just upset because now, you have both the brains and the looks. Besides, you didn't ruin the evening, you should be happy. Do you know why?"
"No…" I said disheartened.
"Because my dearest Anne, you ended up with Gilbert, not her."
