"Gilbert!" exclaimed Marilla, coming around the corner and wiping her hands on her apron. "What a lovely surprise. You are very welcome to join us. Please, do come sit down," she said, taking his coat and guiding him to a seat at the the kitchen table.
Anne quickly hung up her coat and began buzzing around the kitchen. She was in such a frenzy she hardly noticed the centre piece that Marilla had handmade earlier that morning with pine cones from the yard and bits of ribbon left over from the sewing. Marilla's subtle attempts to surprise delight Anne were always met with much appreciation, but there was nothing from Anne today on that subject for she was too distracted.
"Anne tells us you're at the University of Toronto," said Marilla, sitting at the table with Gilbert.
"Yes, that's correct," he returned.
"And how are you enjoying it?"
"Well, it's a lot of work, more than I imagined, but I'm really loving it. The distance is hard of course but …" he trailed off, realizing where he was headed with this line of thinking. Anne froze.
"Of course," empathized Marilla. "I imagine leaving home must be very difficult, especially when you're so far away from your family."
"Yes, exactly," said Gilbert, relieved not to have accidentally let the cat out of the bag. At that moment, Matthew came in the backdoor.
"Hello Anne, Gilbert," he said smiling.
"Gilbert will be joining us for lunch," said Marilla.
"Very good," mumbled Matthew. He quickly washed his hands and joined Marilla and Gilbert at the table.
With her back turned to the group, Anne took a long, deep breath to summon her courage and then whirled around and took her seat between Matthew on the end and Gilbert to her right. Gilbert and Marilla chatted idly about the weather in Toronto, but Anne couldn't hear a word of it for the loud ringing in her ears.
"Please, help yourselves," said Marilla, and everyone dug into lunch, everyone except Anne. It was a simple spread of bread, cheese, and jam preserves - some of Anne's favourite delights - but she couldn't bring herself to eat. She was too nervous. After a few minutes, Marilla had had enough.
"Anne, you haven't touched your lunch. Eat!" she said pointedly. Anne sat motionless, staring at her food.
"Is everything alright, Anne?" asked Matthew, concerned.
"I love Gilbert," Anne blurted out awkwardly. A long pause followed.
"Um … yes … we, we already knew that," said Mathew, gently.
"Right, of course. I suppose, well, what I meant to say was ... You remember the day you found my mother's book about flowers, well, you see, that same day I ran into … um, it doesn't matter who I ran into … but the point is, I came into some information … important information about …
Gilbert reached for Anne's hand and took it in his own, stopping her in her tracks.
"Mr. & Miss Cuthbert, I love Anne. We're in love."
"We're in love," repeated Anne, dreamily. "We haven't said that out loud yet, not to each other anyway. We're in love." She grinned at him, and he back at her.
Matthew and Marilla looked at one another. It was one of those bitter sweet moments that every parent feels to their very core and remembers forever. A rare combination of joy and despair coursed through their veins but it was, of course, joy for the win.
"Oh Anne, Gilbert, we're very happy for you," said Marilla with seriousness and sincerity, the glimmer of a tear in her eye.
"So very happy," added Matthew, equally sincere.
A round of hugs and handshakes were given, and the group ate merrily and drank tea for the remainder of the afternoon. Today, the farm could wait. Today, they were otherwise engaged in building a family.
"Gilbert, your parents would be very happy to hear this news, I know they would," commented Marilla at one point during the conversation.
"Thank you, Miss Cuthbert, I believe they would."
Gilbert always remembered that afternoon as one of the happiest of his life. It wasn't like it had been with Winni's parents. When he was with them, he always felt on edge and unsure, desperate to appear mature and respectable and even more desperate to silence the voices in his head still unconvinced of his true feelings for Winni. Here, at Green Gables, everything was so very easy. These were not just his future in-laws but lifelong friends and neighbours. People he'd celebrated with in good times, and counted on in the bad. They were like family. And he couldn't have been more certain of his love for Anne. He almost laughed at how long it'd taken him to sort it all out, when it was so perfectly obvious to him now that she was the one all along. It was Gilbert who pinched himself that day.
As afternoon turned to evening, Gilbert and Anne departed Green Gables for the Blythe farm where Mrs. Lecroix was preparing a Caribbean feast to mark Gilbert's return. Things were quiet around Green Gables after they left. Not sorrowful so much as pensive. Matthew and Marilla both decided to turn in early, a simple "good night" exchanged between them.
That night was a long and difficult one for Marilla. She wept silently into her pillow, grieving the life and love she'd wanted so desperately to share with John Blythe, Gilbert's father. Family obligation and pride had prevented her from following her heart, and she'd regretted it every day of her life since. She was so relieved to see Anne's path had taken a different course than her own, but it brought the pain of her own tragical romance bubbling to the surface again. Hugging her stomach, she rolled back and forth as if trapped in a bad dream.
"Mar, come with me! You must! There is a big beautiful world out there just waiting for us!"
"I can't, John. You know that."
"I don't, Mar. I know that your mother has been through a lot but it's not your responsibility to fix what's broken. You can't make her whole again, and trying to is tearing you apart."
"That's not fair, John. What about Matthew, and Green Gables. I can't sacrifice them on a whim."
"A whim? I thought I meant more than that to you, Marilla. What about the life we planned together?"
"A schoolyard romance. We're still children, John. I'm only 17. What can I really know about love anyway?"
"I know what's in my heart, Mar, and so do you. This is more than a schoolyard romance. I'm not a child and I'm not playing. Please, come with me. I've waited for you for two years and nothing about your situation has changed. Now is the time to take life by the reigns. Come with me, I beg of you."
"No."
"No?"
"No. You'll be back, and by then mother's … situation will be under control and Matthew will be older and …"
"No. I'm not coming back, Mar. You will carry the weight of this family on your shoulders until the day you die. I can't sit on the sidelines and watch you throw your life away."
"That's not true. You take that back, John Blythe."
"I won't. It's the truth. I'm so sorry Marilla."
"Go then. See if I care."
"Marilla, please."
"Go."