Glen St Mary, Canada
December 2016
The seasons they go round and round
"Jem… Jem, tell me… what on earth is Monday wearing?" I ask, befuddled, as I watch the dog skidding past me towards the living room. He's wearing a sort of coat or cloak in all possible colours of the rainbow – and then some. It looks almost psychedelic.
"He's in his uniform as the official mascot of The Happy Couples Tour," Jem informs me cheerfully as he passes me on his way from upstairs, where he put his daughter down for a nap, to the living room that everyone else is gathered in.
I stay behind, staring after both brother and dog, feeling none the wiser.
Shaking my head in confusion, I turn and spy Joy standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. "Joy-Joy, pray tell –" I begin.
My sister cuts me off with a long-suffering sigh. "The Happy Couples Tour?" she asks knowingly.
"Yes. Yes, please." I nod. "I mean, what on earth…?"
Once more, Joy doesn't let me finish. "I'm guessing it won't surprise you to learn that it was my daughter who cooked up this particular scheme."
I hadn't considered possible originators yet, but now that she mentions it, Izzie was always going to be at the top of that particular list.
"I take it she has moved on from comic books then?" I ask weakly.
Joy moves her head from side to side, half nodding and half shaking it. "Not entirely, no. She's still working on that, but she also discovered her entrepreneurial streak a while ago and I'm afraid I'm partly to blame for that. So, come to think of it, are you."
"Me?" My voice skips in indignation. "How is this my fault?"
Instead of replying right away, Joy waves me over to follow her into the kitchen. Once inside, I'm deposited on a chair in a corner and have a cup of tea pressed in my hands by Grandmother Marilla, who is busily bustling around the room, seemingly stirring three pots at once. Joy easily finds her own place in the routine, picking up a knife and murdering some vegetables on the big wooden cutting board.
"Can I – ?" I begin, but before I can finish, both turn their heads sharply to look at me with a whole lot of distrust that I don't feel is completely warranted.
"You stay right there, darling," Grandmother Marilla quickly assures me. "We've got it."
"We do," Joy hurries to back her up.
I roll my eyes and sit back in my chair to sip my tea, watching the two of them over the rim of my cup. After a few moments of being ignored, I dare pipe up, "Didn't you want to explain to me how the Happy Couples Tour thingy is my fault?"
"That's easy," Joy declares without looking up for her work. "You invented the original Happy Couples Tour in the first place."
Knitting my brows together, I look at her in confusion. "I did?"
"Sure," Joy replies calmly while her knife proceeds to murder a carrot. "You started out with Mum and Dad – and, I suppose, Jem and Faith by a fashion – before moving on to Una and her George, then Di and Nia, and lastly Walter and Katya. Lots of happy couples, see?"
"I… I'm not sure I do see?" It comes out as more of a question.
"You toured the country by way of visiting happy couples," Joy elaborates. "I might or might not have mentioned something to that effect in spring and Izzie might or might not have overheard me."
"So it's more your fault than mine!" I argue.
Joy purses her lips and stabs a Brussels sprout with the pointy end of her knife. Grandmother Marilla tuts at her over a pot bubbling with something delicious. "Behave, girls!"
Meeting my eye, Joy pulls a frightful grimace of the kind that would delight Izzie if she ever were to see it. Grandmother Marilla shouldn't physically be able to see it, having her back to us, yet still clucks her tongue disapprovingly. "Do act your age, please, Joyce."
In response, Joy rolls her eyes, but only a very little bit and very quickly. I hide a smirk in my tea cup.
"Anyway," Joy continues and points her knife at me, "Izzie overheard me and decided in that very night that she would become rich by offering Happy Couples Tours to the paying public."
"How – ?" I begin.
Joy cuts me off by waving her knife in the air. "Don't ask, please. Just… don't. I tried my best to talk her out of it, but she's very enamoured with her idea. Then, I made the mistake of mentioning it to Jem and…" She trails off.
I groan and shake my head at her. "Joy! You know how crazy Jem can be!"
"Don't speak of your brother like that, Rilla," Grandmother Marilla chides me and waves her cooking spoon in my direction.
I put on what I hope is an apologetic expression, but what I'm really interested in is to hear more of Joy's tale. I'd never admit it, but it's quite amusing, as Izzie's antics usually are.
"Jem, being Jem, jumped at the chance to encourage Izzie," Joy states, not surprisingly. "They conspired to make up a real tour itinerary and there's even a business plan, which I suspect Dan or Jake to have had a hand in. Neither Izzie nor Jem have that good a grasp on numbers, after all. Izzie thrived when she got to sketch the merchandise though."
"Merchandise?" I echo, no longer able to hide my laugh. "Don't tell me they want to sell that psychedelic costume they put Monday in to actual people?"
"Apparently, that one is just for the official mascot, a role that Monday fills proudly, as I've been assured," Joy explains, her voice sounding both weary and dubious. "I should warn you though. They have an entire line of cat merchandise that reminds me suspiciously of George."
I toast her with my teacup. "That's alright. George has long been of the opinion that every household should have an idol of him to worship, seeing as he himself can't be in every household in person at the same time. Unlike God, George is not opposed to graven images, you must know."
As expected, Joy laughs at this declaration while Grandmother Marilla, also as expected, tuts disapprovingly. "You shouldn't speak of the Lord in this way, Rilla."
"Sorry, grandmother," I apologise and though I smile while doing so, I actually mean it. I might not know my Luke from my Matthew and am decidedly vague about the significance of Fencing the Table, despite Una and Anglican George's best effort to explain it, but I know that Grandmother Marilla's faith is strong and I don't want to be disrespectful of that.
She seems to sense that, because she not only bestows a smile on me, but also offers me a lavender cookie. To be honest, lavender cookies are not my favourites (not enough chocolate, as Izzie says), but I still accept it gratefully and munch on it a little more loudly than necessary, stealing glances at Joy as I do. She, after having made sure that Grandmother Marilla's back is turned, sticks out her tongue at me.
"Now, now, Joyce. Be nice to your sister," Grandmother Marilla orders without turning around and this time, I have to resist the urge to stick out my tongue at my sister. She wrinkles her nose in distaste, making me grin widely.
"The two of you are resolved to put a strain on my nerves today, aren't you?" Grandmother Marilla asks with a sigh. "Be a darling, Rilla, and find somewhere else to be, so that Joy and I can get the food ready on time."
"Sure, no problem." Drinking the last of my tea, I get to my feet and make a beeline for the door, leaving my sister and my grandmother to their work.
Once out in the hall, I pause for a moment and listen. As it's always the case on Christmas Day, the house is full of people and their voice mingle together to create a buzzing sound that is both busy and yet also utterly comforting. These are my people, after all, and I'd lie if I claimed not to understand the joy Mum feels every time she has all of us gathered together.
Taking a moment to place the different voices, I finally decide to head towards the dining room that I think I saw my other two sisters disappear into after we returned from church earlier. The door is closed, so I knock and wait for someone – Nan – to call for me to enter before doing so.
"Am I disturbing anything?" I ask, hovering by the doorway.
Di shakes her head and waves me inside. "Come in and close the door."
I do so, before walking over to where they're sitting close together on two of the dining chairs. Instead of pulling up a chair of my own, I hoist myself up on the table, letting my legs dangle in the air.
"Where's Nia?" I wonder, looking at Di. Jerry has his own family here (sans Una and Anglican George, that is, who preside over their own Christmas services in Thompson, and sans Carl who volunteered to take over the Christmas emergency shift at his shelter in Vancouver), so it's no wonder that he doesn't stick close to Nan all the time, but Nia hasn't been around the family very often yet and I know her to generally seek out Di's company still.
"She's talking to Katya," Di replies, leaning back in her chair and stretching her arms over her head. "We see her and Walter fairly often and they get along well."
"Hard not to," I agree.
Nan, meanwhile, raises both eyebrows to almost touch her hairline. "We see them fairly often," she mimics Di. "Like at their wedding, for example?"
Di rolls her eyes at her twin. "It was an impromptu thing and they asked Nia and me to be witnesses. If you're salty at not having been invited, take it Walter. I was just a guest!"
"You could have told me, at least," Nan mutters sullenly.
"As I said, it was spontaneous," Di defends herself. "Or at least it was inasmuch as I had no idea that I was to attend a wedding when I came to Ottawa."
Said wedding, it must be explained, was that of Walter and Katya and it took place less than a week ago. Di and Nia were the only two guests to attend, with the rest of the family having been in for quite the surprise when Walter and Katya arrived at Ingleside a married couple. It was a decidedly good surprise though. No-one could possibly deny that Katya is perfect for our dear brother.
"Spontaneous or not, we're happy that the wedding took place, aren't we?" I remark out loud.
"Very happy," agrees Di.
Nan nods, if a little reluctantly. "We would have liked to have been there to see it happen, but despite that, we are happy for them."
"And for us," I add thoughtfully.
Di inclines her head quizzically. "Why is that?"
"Oh." I smile. "It's something that Shirley said yesterday. He mentioned that we ought to be grateful to Katya for marrying Walter because otherwise, she might have broken up with him at some point and a brooding, heartbroken Walter is more than the world could bear. Or so says our little brother, anyway."
"But the poetry would have been beautiful," Nan points out with a laugh. "It could have been his great breakthrough!"
"I think Walter prefers being happily married to being a sad but famous poet," Di replies loyally, as always disinclined to let the teasing of Walter go too far, even without him actually being present.
"I'm sure of that," I quickly assure her.
"So am I," Nan adds, nodding and giving her twin's arm an affectionate squeeze.
Di, thus mollified, allows a half-smile to break through. It doesn't last long though, instead being replaced by a searching look as her gaze lands on me. "That leaves just Shirley and you as the unmarried siblings," she states slyly.
I roll my eyes at her. "Impressive powers of deduction there, Di," I reply sarcastically.
"She's right though!" That's Nan, coming to her twin's aid. "When you and Ken got back together, we were sure you'd be married by the end of the year."
"I sure hope you didn't bet any money on it," I deadpan.
Nan waves my remark aside impatiently. "No-one bet any money on you."
"I think Jem did," Di pipes up. "He lost though."
"Serves him right," I decide.
Di just shrugs, evidently less inclined to defend Jem than she is with Walter.
"Returning to the subject at hand," Nan continues pointedly, silencing both of us with a look, "I must say it was quite the surprise to wake up to the news of a royal engagement, only to find out that it was about Ken's brother!"
"If it had been Ken and me, you would only have gotten mad because we told the press before we told you," I point out drily.
Nan frowns at me. "I would have been annoyed, and rightly so. But that's not what I'm talking about."
"No, I didn't think it was," I agree.
Her frown deepens. "Come on, Rilla! Don't be that way!"
The childish part of me would like to ask 'what way?', but I can almost hear Grandmother Marilla's voice in my head, telling me to act my age, so I refrain from following my petulant tendencies. Instead, I smile calmly at Nan and reply, "What do you want to know?"
She seems surprised by my measured reaction, exchanging a slightly confused look with Di. Then, as if on cue, they both turn to me and eye me a little warily, as if not quite trusting the fact that I'm truly willing to answer their questions.
It's Di who speaks first. "Are you engaged?"
The bluntness of her question makes me laugh. "Not beating around the bush, eh?"
"When do I ever?" Di shoots back with a grin. "Now, answer the question. Are you engaged?"
"I'm… well, let's say I'm a little bit engaged," I answer after a moment of deliberation.
Nan sighs exasperatedly. "You can't be a little bit engaged, Rilla, no more than you can be a little bit pregnant!
"I can assure you that I'm not at all pregnant, not even a little bit. I do, however, absolutely consider myself a little bit engaged," I reply stubbornly.
"Explain?" demands Di and cocks an eyebrow.
Humming in thought, I ponder the question for a moment. "We agreed that we would get engaged when the time is right. That's good enough for me."
"It is?" asks Di, her second eyebrow rising to join the first.
I stick out my tongue at her. "Hard as that is to imagine for you, yes, it is."
Once more, my sisters share a long glance, this time a very knowing one. It irks me, but I try not to let it show.
"Doesn't it… you know, bug you that this Amanda will get to be an official family member before you do?" Nan wants to know and cocks her head to the side.
"It doesn't require a wedding ring to be a part of a family, not even that family," I point out. "Amy will get the wedding and the title next year, but that doesn't mean I'm an outsider. If anything, it's me showing her the ropes and not the other way round."
"And that doesn't annoy you, not even a little bit?" Di asks incredulously.
I smile wryly. "Does it annoy me that I can help Amy navigate this new life of hers? No, not even a bit. If there's anything to annoy me at all, it's that I know Ken won't officially propose until Teddy is married because that would be stealing the spotlight and that's just not something he does to his brother, at least not knowingly."
Because if I'm being honest, I have to admit that before Teddy sprung his news upon us, I was kind of speculating that Ken would pop the question soon. His birthday was a possibility, as was New Year's Eve or maybe Valentine's Day. We've come very far since summer, both of us keeping our vow to communicate better and to respect the other's needs, with me also continuing to figure out my place in the royal environment. The truth is, we've used our second chance well and if I wasn't ready to accept him in June, I certainly feel ready now.
Alas, Teddy beat us to it and there's no use railing against that. He just got there first and that's that.
"When is the brother's wedding?" asks Nan. "Spring?"
I nod. "In May."
"So…" Di wiggles her eyebrows. "Should we prepare for a June engagement?"
Once more, I roll my eyes at her in reply. "Maybe. But tell Jem not to bet on it."
That makes both of them laugh, just as I intended. It also gives me an opportunity to change the subject, turning the spotlight right back on the two of them. "What about you? After marriage come children, right? Any grandbabies for Mum in the making?" I want to know.
Nan raises both hands, palms facing outwards. "I've only been married for a few months and anyway, I won't get my PhD until summer or maybe autumn. It would be supremely bad timing to have a baby before I'm finished with that."
Trust Nan to be organised enough to time a pregnancy according to her career plan. (And trust an eventual baby of Nan's to actually stick to that plan and arrive just when my sister deems it a good moment. You just know that's exactly how it'll happen!)
"I understand that," I inform Nan generously, before turning to Di. "What about you and Nia? Any plans?"
"Actually…" she shares a quick glance with Nan and I realise that this was what they talked about before I entered. "Actually, we're looking into options."
I look at her in a way that I hope is both interested and encouraging without seeming pushy. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Di shrugs. "It's early days and we haven't decided anything yet, but we're considering both donors and adoption. I think we might try a donor first, but… as I said, we're still weighing our options."
"Either way, I hope it works out beautifully for you," I tell her honestly, leaning forward from where I'm perched on the table to briefly lay a hand on her shoulder. Nan nods vigorously to back me up, before giving Di a quick hug.
We don't get to explore the subject further, because just then there's a knock on the door. When Nan calls out for whoever is out there to enter, Shirley sticks his head inside. (Despite being a successful entrepreneur in his own right now, in this family, he will always be the go-to messenger, it seems.)
"Grandmother sent me to get you. It's time to pay homage to our King," he announces with a sly grin. I glare at him because it seems to be the expected thing to do, but it doesn't faze him and to be honest, I didn't think it would.
Most of the family has already gathered in the living room when the twins and I enter. We're just missing Joy, presumably because someone needs to oversee the pots and pans in the kitchen and because Grandmother Marilla, who is already sitting in the first row next to Grandpa John, would never miss the King's Speech. Nan and Di move to sit with their respective spouses, while I spy an empty spot at the back near Bruce and Jake, who greet me with the vague smiles of teenage boys. The moment I'm seated, Monday trots over to lie on my feet, while up front, Dad's fiddling succeeds in making the TV spring to life.
As usual, the actual King's Speech is preceded by a report about the royal's annual walk to church. They're all of them looking cheerful and relaxed as they form a loose circle around Owen and Leslie in their midst. He has a snazzy walking cane that I joked makes me look like a dandy and is also leaning on Leslie's arm more heavily than usual, but he's nodding and smiling at the spectators gathered by the side of the road. This is the first time he's out in public on a semi-official outing and considering everything he's been through, it feels like a little miracle in itself.
The TV commentators doing a voice-over to accompany the film footage spend the required amount of time marvelling about Owen and his recovery, but then proceed to jump forward to the subject that truly interests them.
"Missing from the royal group was Prince Theodore's fiancée, Miss Amanda Summerfield," the male voice comments.
"It has been reported that Miss Summerfield was invited to stay at Balmoral but preferred to spend a final Christmas with her family in the US," explains the female voice.
I keep my gaze on the TV, but even so, I notice several heads swivelling around to look at me.
"Is that true? Did they invite her?" asks Nia curiously.
"They did," I confirm, briefly letting my eyes flicker towards her before focusing back on the TV.
On the screen, they're now showing material of Amy and what I presume is her family on the steps of a church. She turns around and waves at the spectators and photographers, a bright smile on her face but also a certain nervousness in her eyes. This interest is still new enough to her to be both scary and exciting. It hasn't jaded her yet.
"Also with her family was Rilla Blythe, long-time girlfriend of Prince Kenneth," narrates the male voice as the image on the TV switches to show our morning walk to church. Little TV me is smiling as brightly as Amy (smiling so much it hurt my face, to be honest), but without acknowledging the cameras, because even if she isn't jaded yet, I totally am.
"There's lots of speculation about whether 2017 will be the year when Rilla finally gets a ring on her finger as well," reports the female voice. "As a woman myself, I can tell you that it must sting that Amy will have her wedding within a year of meeting her prince while Rilla is still waiting six years later."
"Witch," mutters Katya audibly and I have a feeling that wasn't quite what she really meant to say.
Still, I'm also aware of the glances most of the others sneak me (except for John and Rosemary who are much too polite) and I know they're wondering the same thing the TV presenter did. The other day, I already had a lengthy talk with Mum about the very same subject and as with Nan and Di, I'm not utterly sure I fully managed to convince her that I'm not about to turn into a little green goblin with envy.
"Okay, look," I speak up. "If you must know, I was invited to stay at Balmoral as well this year, like Amy was. However, just like she wanted to spend Christmas with her family, I turned the invitation down to spend it with you lot. Don't make me regret it, alright?"
"We wouldn't dream of it," Dad promises with a wink and a twinkle and I find myself smiling at him gratefully.
I'm not sure his declaration would have been enough to settle the matter once and for all, but thankfully, Izzie comes to my rescue, if inadvertently. She's sitting right on front of the TV with her head tilted backwards and has kept her eyes fixed firmly on the screen throughout.
"Look, there are photos of you, Aunt Rilla!" she now announces loudly and points at the TV, drawing everyone's attention away from me.
And indeed, there are pictures of me. To be exact, they're framed photos and they stand on a side table next to Owen, who's about to start this year's Christmas speech. Pride of place takes a large family photo that was taken on Ken's birthday. It shows Owen sitting on a sofa, flanked by his wife and daughter, with his sons standing behind him and Amy and me by their sides. There's also an informal photo of Owen and Leslie that I think was probably taken in Scotland this summer and a copy of Teddy and Amy's official engagement picture. Persis's photo shows her in her moment of greatest triumph, her horse Tommy by her side and her silver medal around her neck, while Ken is depicted during one of the big WW1 commemorative events in France this year as he stepped into his father's shoes to address the hundreds of dignitaries and veterans gathered there.
So far, so predictable.
What draws my attention – and likely not just mine – is the framed photo that was put up between Ken's and Persis's. It is one of Owen and me, taken mere days ago, and while I knew it existed, I had no idea he had any plans to use it so publicly.
"That's a stupid brooch, Aunt Rilla," Izzie informs me and wrinkles her nose.
"We don't say that something is stupid, sweetheart," Dan chides her gently her while shooting me an apologetic glance.
"I don't think that's a brooch anyway. It looks more like… is that an order?" asks Walter, his eyebrows rising to meet his hairline.
I shrug, feeling a little uncomfortable. He guessed correctly, of course. The photo does indeed show Owen pinning an order to my shoulder. To be specific, it's a white enamel Maltese cross hanging from a red-and-blue bow.
"It's a Royal Victorian Order," I explain a little reluctantly. "It's awarded for personal service to the sovereign, or so I've been told."
Faith whistles softly. "Does that mean you're now a… what do they call it? A lady?"
"A dame," Jake supplies casually. (Trust him to know random trivia on something as obscure as dynastic orders.)
"I'm not, actually," I clarify, shaking my head. "Owen says he wanted to make me one, but the highest he could go was Commander because apparently, the Canadian government is weird about titles."
"And rightly so," pipes up Grandma Bertha, ever the republican.
"Still, it's nothing to snub at!" declares Mum, looking at me with an expression that is both proud and a little… weird.
I smile a half-smile at Mum, before finding myself distracted by Di who, upon leaning over Jake sitting between us, shoots me a searching look and remarks, "You weren't lying. That looks like being part of the family alright."
The title of this chapter is taken from the song 'Circle Game' (written by Joni Mitchell, released by her in 1970).
To DogMonday:
Rilla has certainly come a long way from feeling like she had to protect the youth centre from Ken to wanting to actively have a part in it and share this important aspect of her life with him. Like you said, he's sharing his royal life with her and she's giving back by introducing him to the youth centre and especially the children there. For them, it's of course super exciting to meet a real life prince, but I've found that with kids, the novelty of that wears off more quickly than with adults, so with time, he'll simply be Ken to them - and he wouldn't want it any other way. He certainly relishes his visits to the centre, both for the normalcy the children provide and because he knows it's important to Rilla. Meeting Sam is probably way down on the list of things Ken wants to do though. Thankfully, it's not too likely at the moment because Sam is conveniently busy with his career and shoul it ever happen, I do imagine he and Rilla prepared for that as well.
I'm glad you approve of the process of Lottie's adoption. It's a long and serious commitment and it shouldn't be rushed, so I wanted them to discuss it openly and make the decision together, without any pressure or need to hurry. Rilla does have it all planned, but ultimately, the choice is as much Ken's as it's hers and I feel that's important. Now, as for Rilla mentioning that George is hers and Lottie will be Ken's, that's less a way to actually assign ownership and more her way to take the animal's preferences into account. George likes Ken well enough, but he will always prefer Rilla. He's primarily her cat because he choses it that way (or maybe she's his human). When Rilla says that Lottie will be Ken's, she's mostly saying that she wants Ken to have a close bond with an animal the way she has a close bond with George. That does't mean that in they will make a difference in the practical care of the animals though. If Rilla is home, she will walk Lottie and if Ken is home, he will feed George. They make no distinction there.
Being the creator of her, I can assure you that Teddy's description of Amy is fairly on the mark ;). She's nice and sweet and kind, though also a bit too naive and a bit too spoiled, which won't always serve her well. On the whole, she's a good person, which counts for a lot. However, she really only got a cameo in the previous chapter, so it's perfectly understandable that readers haven't formed much of an opinion about her yet. In fact, I'm fairly sure even Rilla doesn't have an opinion that goes further than a vague "well, she seems nice". It's all still too fresh and early for anything more.
As for why Teddy's and Amy's engagement inevitably pushes back that of Rilla and Ken, that's mainly a question of trying not to steal their thunder. Ken's wedding will always be bigger and more important than Teddy's, so if Ken were to announce his engagement in, say, January, all the focus would immediately be drawn to him and Teddy's wedding would be considered a mere dress rehersal for Ken's. Both Rilla and Ken care too much about Teddy to do that, so it's a sort of unspoken understanding that before anything becomes official between them, Teddy's wedding has to be over and done with. However, the timeline doesn't quite stretch so far as that, because Amy and Teddy's wedding is scheduled for early May. It would certainly be prudent and practical for Amy to graduate first, but those two have not exactly shown themselves to be prudent and practical when it comes to their wedding, so when they set the date, I'm not sure they even really considered Amy's studies. Thus, it's save to say that the next four months will be very stressful for her, but the wedding date is set for early May now, for better or for worse.
