Children of Ingleside- Revisited

Author's Forward-As most of you already know, the first COI was accidently deleted from fanfiction and I did not have any of the chapters saved on my computer. This is going to be a similar story but obviously not the same one. There have been some changes in regards to who marries whom and what children there are but I feel that the spirit of the story has remained the same. I have a planned prequel and a planned sequel to this, the prequel being Twilight's End and the sequel being Our Children No Longer. I might also do a small story about Shirley called The Girl in the Library Window. Look for these soon!

Prologue- Anne remembers.

Anne Shirely of yore sat down on her verandah steps and gave herself over to a splendid half-hour of day-dreaming. It was so easy for her to be truly herself there, where she could gaze at the stars and smell the roses in the sweet night air. And

there were simply so many lovely things to think over that particular evening but she especially wanted to dream about one particular thing that would no longer be a dream but a reality in three weeks time-Ingleside was going to have a reunion. It would be splendid to see all of her children again and all of her grandchildren. This would be the first time in eight years that the would all be in one place at one time. The last time that they had been together it had been for a very sad reason but this would be different. They would all come back to her with joyful hearts-the ones that were far and the ones were near.

Her first son, Jem was one that hadn't strayed far, he and Faith had only gone to Lowbridge. Originally Gilbert had meant for Jim to take over his practice when he retired but Gilbert kept delaying his retirement because he could not give up the work that he loved. Anne could still remember Gilbert telling Jem that he would only work one more year but then one turned into two and so on. So, Jem had taken over for Dr. Parker and settled there. He and Faith had given her three wonderful grandchildren who she was blessed to see frequently. First there was Walter, named for his uncle and always called Walt. He was a dashing young fellow of 15 who longed to be a doctor like his father and his grandfather before him. Walt was going to enter Redmond in the fall, making him more of a man than a boy. Then came James who was called Jamie. Jamie looked very much like his Grandfather Meredith but Anne was sure that there weren't any religious inklings in him. He meant to do his father's namesake well and become a sea captain. Finally, there was Cissy, who was about to enter her teenage years. Cecilia was a quiet, well-mannered girl of few words who preferred to do her imagining in silence. She loved her brothers and they her with a strong fierceness. Anne wasn't certain what Cissy meant to do when she was older but Anne knew that whatever she chose, she would do it well for Cissy wasn't prone to doing things half-heartedly. Anne loved these three little grandchildren and was glad for their nearness but her thoughts moved along to one was often far.

Anne felt that her granddaughter, Sara Blythe, was remarkable for many reasons. She was a clever, sweet, charming, and beautiful girl of eleven years but more importantly, Sara was a granddaughter that Anne thought she would never have. Anne was certain that she could never forget the day that Walter strolled back into their lives. Everyone had lived six years without him and to have him back so suddenly and without any warning had been a major shock. But they all slowly recovered and life began to normalize again. Walter married Una, who had to close up her hat shop much to the dismay of Glen and her surrounding areas. They moved to the old Bailey house at the end of Rainbow Valley and Walter wrote books for a living. Things had been very happy for the two for a few years-first they had little Sara and then Joyce came along filling them with even more joy. When Joyce had lived only on year, tragedy struck the little family. A harsh fever swept through Glen St. Mary and both Una and Joyce had it bad. Una survived but was never able to have anymore children while poor little Joyce died. Anne didn't like to reflect on that time because it had been awful for everyone. Shortly afterwards, Walter was offered a professorship at McGill and he took it. The little house was shut up and only opened during the occasional visits. Anne was glad that once again the house would be open this summer and Rainbow Valley would be filled with the sweet voices of children.

Anne wiped her eyes as her thoughts moved on to Diana. Diana had found a life-mate in her namesake's son-Fred. This had surprised everyone because they all thought that Diana and Jack would have made a match of it but it was Diana and Fred who belonged together. Fred bought Green Gables and it was there that the two began to make a happy home. Diana loved living in Avonlea at first but then things began to get rather confusing because not only where there two Mrs. Fred Wrights but there were also two Mrs. Diana Wrights. The townsfolk had an awful time picking out names for the two couples, going through many selections until they found ones that fit. It was eventually decided to call them Mr. and Mrs. Green Gables Fred Wright and Mr. and Mrs. Lone Willow Fred Wright but because of the longness they were often called "Green Fred" and "Lone Fred" much to the dismay of Mrs. Green Fred. But when Fred the elder died there was talk of changing them to Mrs. Fred and Mrs. Dead Fred respectively but it never caught on. Diana and Fred had given Anne eight grandchildren- all girls. Diana, because of the name confusion, gave all of her daughters a name that was singularly theirs. Her first daughter, Evelyn, was who already 16, had been Anne's first grandchild. Then came the twins-Florence and Veronica who were 15 and while similar in looks were very different in personality. They were followed closely by Emogene who was 14 and positively sweet. Dorothy was 12 and was very close to her younger sister Sena who was 11. Kathryn and Maragert were the youngest of Diana's flock, being 9 and 5. Diana was proud of all her girls and was wont to say that with a farm it helped in having so many children. Fred was also proud of his girls but had to wonder why God had never given him any sons. Anne couldn't wait to see them all and thought it was wonderful that they had had such a large family.

Anne moved down the list to her own little namesake, Nan. Nan had married Jerry which surprised no one and they had taken up residence in the Lowbridge Presbyterian manse which made them close neighbors to Jem and Faith. Nan and Jerry had had five splendid boys, the first two like twins and the last three triplets. Gerald was the oldest at 14 and bore a remarkable resemblance to his Uncle Jem. Then came Jonathon who looked like his mother but was very much like his father in spirit. The triplets had been a surprise to everyone and at 12 were wont to be a handful but when all was said and done, they were gentleman. Matt, Mike and Dan were identical and loved playing tricks on anyone that they could fool. Unfortunately for then, but fortunately for the town, there were ways of telling them apart and there were people who could tell them apart. Gilbert was an excellent grandfather and could instantly tell which boy was which. Anne was glad to have these five close by to her for they certainly made for interesting times.

Anne's thoughts went onto Shirley and his three children. After the war, Shirley had taken a mathematics professorship at McGill where he then met and married a foreign

language professor by the name of Elisabeth Grey. Elisabeth was such a sweet happy thing who only got sweeter and happier with the birth of her children. Their oldest was a strapping young lad by the name of Grey who was 12. Then came the girls Jeanne and Suanne. Although there was a three year age gap between them for Jeanne was 11 and Suanne was 8, they were as close as any sisters could be. Anne missed these grandchildren sorely but was glad that they at least had their Uncle Water, Aunt Una and cousin Sara close by.

Finally, Anne's thoughts rested on her last daughter and last child- Rilla. Rilla, of course, had married Ken and although Rilla had often professed in hating children, Anne was sure that Jims had changed her mind. Yet, Rilla had only had two. Gilbert was 15 and intended on becoming a business man like his father. Anne was 13 and wasn't at present interested in dreaming about growing older; she was quite content to soak up her childhood. Rilla and Ken had settled down in Toronto which made these two the grandchildren that she saw the least. But that didn't mean that she loved these any less, rather it made their time together all the more precious.

Anne's thoughts about how she would soon have all her twenty-two grandchildren close to her again were jarred by the clanging of the old grandfather clock in the hall. Her splendid half-hour of daydreaming had turned into an hour and half. Gilbert didn't like for her to stay out in the cold night air and she knew that if she didn't go on in soon he would come out looking for her. So Anne picked up her thoughts and entered into her empty house once more with the knowledge that it would soon be full again.

A/N-Well, review and let me know what you think about the changes that I have made. I hope that there wasn't anything too shocking in there. Next I am going to post all of the family trees, I didn't want to post them first because it sort of ruins the surprise.