The characters are created by LM Montgomery, and are her property... the original characters & storyline are unique to this story are copyright 2021, by Nell Lime.
Author's Note:
Astrakelly - Yes… the penny has dropped… but has it landed yet?
TLWtlw - Thanks! I'm working on staying ahead so that I can maintain the constant posting schedule. Its currently over 54k, and I'm only on Chapter 32/33 (I'm editing and keep changing those chapters, the outline is for 60) as I edit the plot outline. The goal is once I finish at least 3/4 of the story I may increase how many chapters per week I post, but it'll likely remain the 5 per week so I can continue editing.
YodaChick - See the chapter below. You know that only started up in the plot as a device to keep the Blythes from cornering Anne quickly about the rumors… but then it ran away with the plot because it was so funny Davy's insights…
Anneomine- Yes! You'll see more of Aunt Mary Maria of course, and Davy's thoughts are the highlight to write. And yes, you know the rumors will just get worse.
Faith-Hope-and-Glory - Rumors fueled with Anne riding on Gilbert's lap… oh yes. As to their "encounter" exactly what happened, what didn't happen, well you'll just have to wait. But if you go back and read that chapter (Ch 11), you'll notice some key details. But look below… we do get Mrs. Blythes' response there, and also Gilbert's next addition to the rumor's.
— Gilbert —
Monday, June 21st, 10:00pm
Apple Bough, Avonlea, PEI
I'm home. I think that's the thoughts that come to mind. Home with my Anne-girl. Mother leads her out of the room, and Dad with Davy are left with me. Where'd he come from? The two help me prepare for bed. I'm so tired. And hurt all over. They clean and wash me and I'm treated like a babe, Dad even having to put a diaper on me. Davy soon leaves.
And then it's Mother and Dad in the room. "John..."
"Abby... we'll just have the thank Providence. I don't know how Anne came to be there to bring Gilbert home, but Davy said..."
"She had his ring on." Mother spoke interrupting, her voice shaking. "You remember the one he bought with his first paycheck from teaching at White Sands. He'd shown us then… Such an unusual ring I'd never forget. I don't think they met today. John, all her things were soiled with sickness, and some of his things were mixed in her bag. And I heard she was coming home today, attending a wedding last week of a chum I heard from Mrs. Lynde yesterday all about it after church... John, Anne had... She had some scratches and bruises on her breast, and a bite mark. I..."
"I don't think they ran into each other today." Dad shook his head. I wanted to tell them about my beautiful Anne-girl. But I couldn't. I didn't have the energy to speak. Instead I just listened. Dad continued. "Gilbert had marks on him too. Davy noticed and well, the placement. Abby. You saw her wearing his ring? And Davy said there's gossip that Gilbert told Harmon Andrew's eldest girl, Prissy. That the two of them eloped. At least there's that. You know how you'll dig your nails in at times when we're joined?"
Joined?
"Well, he's got those marks."
"They've..."
"And I've got to explain to Davy what it meant." He groaned. What did it mean?
"Mrs. Sloane had stopped by from the sewing circle. Sarah and I had missed it so I could keep her company with her foot sprained. Mrs. Sloane had hinted about some rumor about our son's behavior. When Davy gets back and Anne's more rested we'll send her home. I don't want her hurting Gilbert again, and I can't see our boy… He wouldn't have outside of wedlock."
Wedlock, the image of Anne with a crown of flowers in a flowing white dress meeting me in the woods, with May flowers in her hand came to mind.
"John, I don't think she's a good influence on Gilbert… I mean what Mrs. Sloane hinted that they're saying…"
"It's just exaggerated rumors you know how those get. We'll let her stay tonight." Dad says. "And decide more in the morning. No doubt she'll be over each day to help us tend him, if not wanting to stay here, and we can use the help. At least he finally got the girl he's always dreamed of, she's wearing his ring, and we'll just be patient to hear the whole of it from them later."
I slipped though into dream land, before I heard Mother's response. I dreamed I was back at Queens dreaming of the Anne who refused to be my friend. Only in this dream she'd been my friend. And I'd studied with her and took her to dances, and walked with her.
From then I slip into the next dream. We're in my rooms preparing for a dance, perhaps the first one for the medical school. She's made the place a home, and it's sweetness itself. I could bask in it, but Im most proud to escort my wife who whispers about how it may be the last dance she fits into that dress until after Little Diana comes.
I came back from the dream to the smell of something. I couldn't place it. Then there was Dr. Spenser examining me. I blinked at him and he spoke. "And you think it's Typhoid Gilbert?"
"Yes sir." I croaked. "Water."
Mother rushed to me to deliver it.
"Quite right." He said. "Now, cleaning him I don't want anyone whose got those tasks to handle food or water for anyone but him or themselves until a month has passed after he's fully recovered. Same goes for him. You said Anne Shirley brought him home?"
"My wife, Anne Blythe." I croaked, and then I didn't remember more. Instead I slipped back into the dreams. I'm on my bed, the one in the rooms I rent from the Carols. Only Anne is lying beside me again. She wears my ring and holds my hand, and smiles at me. Then tells me of how homely we'll make our rooms. How it'll spark the imagination.
She speaks of curtains and makes me rise so she can spread the quilt she'd brought from Green Gables for our bed made by Mrs. Lynde. She talks about the pattern but I don't follow. Instead I smile at the joy of our future.
I follow her into the main room. Already it's starting to feel like home. Little Anne's drawing is framed on the wall. There's also a photo of me and Anne. A few flowers in a glass on the table by the window and my desk neat and orderly. I smell something lovely in the tiny kitchen and she pulls it out. Some treat that she bats my fingers from. I love my life.
But then she changes. It's not my Anne. Not anymore. It's the Anne I saw the past two years. She adjusts her clothes and now dressed fashionably and primly she pins on her hat and sweeps out the door. I chase after her only to hear Mrs. Carol talk about the Gardiner Wedding. How she'd seen Mr. Gardiner on the main street, taking his fiancé a beautiful red head shopping with the biggest diamond on her finger.
I return to the rooms. But they're as I left them. No trace of my Anne. So I sob and cling to all I have left. One photo nearly worn with handling and a ring sewed into the lining of my billfold. The billfold I won't ever get rid of, and the ring that will never be given.
—*—*—*—*—
Author's Note: Oh… Yes the rumors are well stoked, fueled, with a load of firewood next to them such that you've no worries about them getting extinguished any time soon. So enjoy the bonfire, and imagine just how Gilbert & Anne will react when they finally realize the rumors.
