Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting this story! Such a warm welcome indeed. I hope that you are all keeping safe and healthy in these strange, uncertain times.
Just a short note regarding this chapter: I used a few direct quotations from "Rilla of Ingleside" and these are marked with a star (*) so you know that they belong to the great and wonderful L.M. Montgomery only. I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter! - Bathsheba Blythe
Chapter II
"Miss Joyce Blythe, you have never been acquainted with the popular fashion for ladies, have you, dear?" Mary Vance held her chin high while eyeing Joy from head to toe with a scrutinising glance.
It is true that Joyce Blythe never cared about what is or is not fashionable, and indeed she did not care for what people thought of her at all. Thus on the night of the dance, she wore her plain navy blue dress, which she always wore wherever she knew her trousers would cause more than a look of utter shock. Her slippers were also a corresponding navy blue and they were far from new. However, Ken's necklace glistened around her neck and her hair was tied back beautifully by her mother and sprinkled with golden peonies just like Rilla's own hair ("That makes me look so much older now that my twenty-three-year-old sister wears the same hair as me!"). Some unruly locks of red hair made their way out, of course, but that actually made Joy feel more comfortable in her own skin considering that she actually had to wear a corset that night as well ("I am quite sure that Satan himself invented those for no man or God could have!"). Nevertheless, Joyce was turning heads of all the boys and men attending the dance, and that Mary Vance unconsciously ignored to acknowledge.
Joy smiled at her bitterly "You're absolutely right, Mary." she said "I've never been fond of such trivial things such as fashion… or gossip."
Mary Vance opened her mouth but her hand was quickly caught by a certain Miller Douglas and off they went between the dancing pairs, quickly disappearing in view. Joy laughed outloud and sipped on her drink as she observed the scene before her.
There were so many people, people she knew from years before who grew up and changed, people whom she had never met before and all looked interesting to her never-pessimistic eyes, and of course there were her loved ones. Rilla, a beauty of fifteen years of age, was changing a dance partner from a dance partner and looked breathtaking. Joy noticed Rilla's intrigued eyes often glancing in the direction of Ken and she chuckled at the very idea which she regarded as silly, however, she understood her little sister's infatuation. Ken, dark and handsome as ever, was himself surrounded by eligible young ladies and hardly had the time or the ability to answer all of their questions. It made Joy laugh for a moment or two before her glance wandered further. She saw Shirley dancing with some unknown to her but nonetheless a pretty girl, his cheeks crimson from excitement, Di dancing with Walter merrily…
"Joy-girl!" The music now changed from a slow waltz to a heart-quickening song that clearly had its origins in either Scotland or Ireland. Joyce turned her head and suddenly Jem was in front of her, his hand stretched out before her "Let's make those sturdy people look at us with horror." he winked at her and she gasped with such excitement that made Faith, who was standing beside her sweetheart, laugh wholeheartedly.
"Like in the old times, Jemmy?" Joy asked him readily as she put her hand in his. Her eyes longed for that smile that Jem displayed and she laughed so merrily that it made other people around her return the favour.
Jem spinned Joy right in the centre of the crowds and both started to move all their limbs together, one moment waltzing, the other dancing in tango, all the while laughing as their eyes danced as well. Already, everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at the Blythe siblings, some in horror indeed and others clapping and encouraging them to go on with their entertainment. All of a sudden, Joy stopped and took off her slippers, laughing her head off upon seeing the horrified look on Rilla's face, and threw them straight onto Walter's outstretched hands who also couldn't help but join in their merriment. Jem proceeded to prompt his sister and start going round in circles now that her slippers were off and they continued in such a fashion for the remained of the song as people whispered amongst each other and others clapped their hands in bliss. Eventually, the song came to an end and the Blythe siblings bowed as the crowd cheered them on.
Joy embraced Jem as both had their cheeks crimson from their never-ending energy and their fiery hair was an absolute chaos. "That was fantastic!" Joy shouted in his ear as another quick rhythm commenced and others started to dance one again "I felt like a ten-year-old!"
Jem laughed "Me too!" he replied and kissed her cheek and said quickly "Let's do it again sometime, eh?" before heading back out with Faith who was already waiting for him with the drinks for the two of them.
Suddenly, without much thought or a moment to breathe, Joy's arm was pulled from the crowds to the outside, where the moon shone bright and true on both herself and flushed Ken. "Wait… Give me a second." she managed to whisper out and touched her cheeks as if to check for any sign of a fever.
"Oh… Drink this, please." he gave her his cup with punch in it which she hurriedly drank to the very bottom in one go. She smiled then, feeling that she is regaining her strength.
"Thank you, Ken, my saviour." she replied upon putting the cup down on the ground. Her smile quickly vanished as she acknowledged a certain look that was in Ken's eyes and a dent in the corner of his lip which she knew too well to mistake for anything else that was on his mind. "No." she said sternly, shaking her head "Ken, I can't."
He looked taken aback at first and he blushed even further "Whatever do you mean, Joy?" he asked, his voice a bit higher.
She put her hands on her waist and looked at him seriously "This is not the time to joke around, Ken." she said "I know you too well not to see what's in your eyes and what you write to me in your letters in between the lines. But, Ken... I tried." she took two steps closer to him and her voice shook a little "I tried so very much to love you like that but I can't. And…" her face suddenly changed as if a lightbulb just turned on in her head and she pushed the tears away "Actually, Ken, I don't think you actually love me in this way and you just think that you do."
He took her hands in his, shaking his head nervously "What are you talking about, Joy? You're perfect for me." he whispered weakly.
She took away her hands angrily, looking into his eyes with a piercing glance "What?" she cried "Me? Perfect? For an accomplished, well-off man like you?" she laughed sarcastically, biting her lip "Look at me! My hair is a mess and I'm not even sorry it got so disordered after the dance with Jem. And did you see that dance? I made an absolute fool out of myself and yet I didn't care. And…" she pulled her dress up a little, revealing her bare feet "I'm not even wearing any shoes!"
Ken chuckled and took her hands in his again "That's exactly why you're perfect, Joy." he said softly "I love you. Always have and always will, whether you like it or not."
"But I do love you, Ken!" she exclaimed and put her hands on his cheeks "And I know you love me too but, Ken, I promise you that our love for each other is not in any shape or form romantical. It just doesn't make sense! Can't you see it?"
"Why would you say I don't feel something that I do?" his voice weakened and grew desperate.
"Because, as you said yourself many times: I know you better than you know yourself." she clasped her hands together and chuckled "I can't believe I haven't thought of this in that way before. It explains my lack of those feelings for you, but it also highlights that whatever you feel is a simple infatuation and nothing else. What's more is that it will pass, I know, as all infatuations do."
"An expert, are you?" he asked, visibly becoming quite impatient with Joy.
"Quite frankly, yes." she replied and made him look up at her with a pale face "Yes, Ken! Why does it surprise you that I've been infatuated with people? Well, maybe because you've never met any French or Italian men…" she raised her eyebrows and Ken couldn't contain crimson coming into his cheeks or his laughter. A moment passed and they both looked at one another more seriously again "See?" Joy continued "We're like siblings, Ken, not lovers."
He sighed "I don't know whether you're right or not, although you've always been right about everything." he finally said, slowly regaining strength in his voice "But answer me, Joy, why wouldn't we work?"
She came closer to him once again and smiled lovingly at his face which spoke of their childhood and millions of letters they exchanged throughout those last five years. Ken's face, his smile, meant safety and reliability for Joy and hers meant trust and loyalty for him. In that moment, the moon shone down on them and somehow made their faces radiate with something Joy would only describe as 'devine truth' and so she smiled further.
"Kenneth Ford, an accomplished young man from Toronto, planning to never leave his beautiful country of Canada and always following girls with fashionable hats and even more fashionable grace. He deserves no woman less than that." she said and took his large hands into hers, inspecting them with a smile on her face "Joyce Blythe, a seemingly accomplished writer who forgets to brush her hair, leaves her hats on trains, wears trousers, lives in Italy with no intention of settling down anywhere else and loves her life as a soon-to-be spinster." she shrugged helplessly and chuckled at the comparison she just made.
Ken couldn't help himself and laughed too. He quickly put her into a tight embrace as if to put back any broken pieces in them both back together and it seemed to Joy that he did just that in that very moment. She realised she could breathe again and so she did, letting out any worries that kept her mind too awake.
"A truce?" he asked and outstretched his hand formally to her.
Joy squealed and clasped her hand in his, letting more of her hair fall out of place "Sir, yes, sir!" she laughed and took his offered arm whilst starting to walk back inside, to rejoin the cheerful crowds of young people, now engaged in a waltz. Suddenly, Joy's eyes found Rilla who was touching her clearly blistered poor feet. Rilla did this discreetly and only for a moment, and then she was looking around, clearly hungry for another dance once again. Joy pinched Ken's arm "Dance with Rilla, will you, dear Ken?" she asked him. He chuckled and patted her hand in agreement, releasing his hand from hers "Oh, and Ken?" he turned around with a sweet, curious smile "If you call her a Spider again I will personally break your other ankle!"
He laughed at that "I wouldn't dare!" he replied and disappeared in the crowds making his way towards Rilla as Joy herself laughed at how tall he suddenly looked to her. She was still buzzing from the fact that now, after her talk with Ken, she can carry on with her life and now so can he. "Oh!" she gasped at herself and giggled, looking at her bare feet "Where in the world is Walter?" she asked herself and started peering around.
"Looking for these?"
She turned around and as if their minds were one, Walter stood in front of her with her slippers in his hands. "Actually, looking for you, dearest brother." she smiled at him and kissed his cheek "Thank you for taking such good care of these horrid things."
He chuckled and watched Joyce as she started to put them on with a grimace on her face. "In all honesty, I've never thought I'd see the famous J-squared dance like this again." he remarked and put his arm around her shoulders once her slippers were on her feet again.
"No?" she asked in a teasing surprise.
He smiled at her "It was that moment that made me stop thinking for once since yesterday evening." a shadow came across his face.
"Walter, you don't know if England will join the war. You can't possibly know that." Joy protested, her heart suddenly in her throat.
"Joy, my dear Joy…" he squeezed her hand, as if afraid to forget its touch "I have a terrible, awful feeling in my heart and I know that I can't know for sure, you're right, but… it's not going to end well." Joyce felt as if some strange, unknown force paralysed her and the very realisation of this force made her even more terrified. She, a forever lasting optimist, was now afraid and to the point where she could feel hairs on her back rising. She squeezed his hand back and put her head against his chest and listened for his heart. It was beating fast, as if he was in the middle of a dance, but it was there and that reassured her. He was here, and his soul could still be here too, saved as well. Unless…
"*England declared war on Germany today," Jack Elliott's slow voice filled the room "*The news came by wire just as I left town."
Both Walter and Joyce's bodies became still and tense. Joy felt as if time stopped and all she could hear was a white noise. She felt as if she died and was now faced with a judgement of God. She knew just as well as her brother that this night would define the rest of their lives.
"Walter!" she shouted after her brother flew outside without uttering a word "Walter, wait!" she quickly caught up with him and turned him around just in time to witness his pale face and still, worried eyes. She suddenly found herself at a loss of words, a writer's worst nightmare. Her mouth was slightly opened and her mind was ready to speak, say some comforting, optimistic words of poetry but her body was not ready for such a thing.
"*The Piper has come, hurrah!" Both Walter and Joy turned around to see Jem walking up to them with a wide smile and a wild look in his eyes. "*I knew England wouldn't leave France in the lurch. Jack says they'll be calling for volunteers tomorrow."
Joy's face fell and now it was her turn to turn pale. "What? Wha…?" she managed to breathe out.
"*What a fuss to make over nothing," said Mary Vance as Jem suddenly disappeared. She was standing with Miller Douglas and it seemed to Joy as if she appeared out of thin air "*What does it matter if there's going to be a war over there in Europe? I'm sure it doesn't concern us."
"Oh, for God's sake, Mary!" Joy burst out, barely keeping calm enough not to shake her "If Jem will volunteer tomorrow so will other boys from Glen and from Four Winds and from all over Canada! How can you even say that it doesn't concern us?"
Mary Vance scoffed but wasn't fast enough in response and Walter spoke first.
"*Before this war is over," he said, absent-mindedly but wholeheartedly "-every man and woman and child in Canada will feel it - you, Mary, will feel it - feel it to your heart's core. You will weep tears of blood over it. The Piper has come - and he will pipe until every corner of the world has heard his awful and irresistible music. It will be years before the dance of death is over - years, Mary. And in those years millions of hearts will break." he was almost at a loss of breath. Joy watched him and for the first time in her life, she didn't know how to respond to what her brother said.
"That's enough of that." Joy said gravely with tears in her eyes as she saw both Mary Vance and Harvey Crawford beginning to open their mouths in response "Walt, come with me." she took his hand and led him away from any people in sight.
After walking in silence for what seemed hours, Joy stopped in her tracks and so did Walter. She looked into his eyes, deeply enough to hear his speech again playing over and over but she still felt that she was only touching the surface of the sea of sadness that appeared in her brother's eyes. She didn't even realise when her cheeks started being stained by tears and her hands began to shake. "I… I don't… Walter… I…" a blur came out of her and it terrified her further, she was completely out of her usual self and she had no idea what to do about it. Walter did know, however, and he embraced her tightly, letting his own tears fall down his own cheeks as he buried his head into Joyce's red, unruly curls.
Surprisingly, the moon kept on shining. It felt as if it shouldn't and yet the moon persevered and its light was upon the Lighthouse and the two Blythe writers. That night was indeed a change in an ocean's current of Joy's life, however, it also left a force of strength on her heart which she would carry with her for always from that night forwards, already suspecting in that moment that she would need it greatly in the years to come.
