PART 1

Chapter 3

August, 1891


Anne hired a driver to take them to Toronto beach much to Gilbert's reluctance. They had bickered the night before over how they would arrive. A short walk from Anne's hotel was a street car pickup. Gilbert pointed out this option would be more affordable while adding a sense of adventure. Anne persisted that she could afford to hire him comfortable transport, there wold be no need to stand around waiting or for Gilbert to spend too much money. Gilbert finally relented when she stated that a women should not be seen inside a street car. He smiled thanking her for the generosity. Inside Gilbert was agitated. What Anne truly admitted was that a woman of her standing should not be seen in a street car reminding him of her status.

The money wasn't the only reason for the streetcar. He had thought it would allow Anne to relax let go of this gaudy show she had on. Invoking the old days, when they had no money and would happily loll about people watching. Wonder what people were reading, imagining conversations between them, or sometimes poking fun at the passers by. Anne would have struck up a conversation with someone, possibly a mother with a small child. There used to be a lot of laughter, golden laughter that bounced off everything. Her head thrown back, right hand on her chest. No one ever laughed like Anne did.

Instead, she sat upright poised like a statue. The conversation moved back and fourth, covering subjects of architecture and literature. While Anne sat perched forward Gilbert relaxed into the plush seat of the carriage, affording himself to view his companion. She wore a tailored ivory suit, covered with small periwinkle blue floral embellishments. A line of buttons traced from the top of her neck, following the spine to halfway down her back. Her head was adorned with a wide brimmed hat that matched the dress. Everything was coordinated, right down to her white parasol. As they rode on through the streets, he wondered about the Anne he first laid eyes on. The scruffy skinny orphan girl who was all limbs; did she ever imagine tailors would be making her clothes, fancy hotels would be the norm, expensive carriages at her disposal.

They arrived at the beach, both of them looking at one another with eyebrows raised as they walked to the boardwalk. "It's hard to call this a beach, don't you agree?" asked Anne.

Gilbert shook his head, "Compared to the ones in our youth, no it's not a true beach. Are the beaches of Lake Ontario worth the visit then?"

Anne smiled, gazing out dreamily towards the water, "It was. At least I can say I got to see one of the must visit places in Toronto when I write to Mr. Ford." She cast her eyes over the scene, reminding Gilbert of the endless moments he would watch her become enveloped in the natural beauty of the world, hoping that she would not move and he could stay watching her forever. She had the same effect at dinner last night, until she did something so out of character that made him remember that he might not know Anne anymore and how much she had changed.

"Seeing Lake Ontario makes me miss the ocean. There is something soothing about being close to it. Shall we take a turn on the pier?"

Anne nodded, opening her parasol as they began walking.

"I could not agree with you more." Anne replied. "But at least Amherst is closer to a salty sea than London. How is life in Amherst? Do you practice privately or at an infirmary?"

"Privately. It is good work. I have a steady stream of patients. It's not what I imagined when I began. I had hoped, to be helping those less fortunate. But Christine's family has some standing in the old town. Before I knew it, these people were my patients."

"Sounds like you are doing what you hoped to do, helping fight disease, pain and ignorance."

Gilbert remembered the conversation she was referring too. "Yes, but not the honest, real work I'd imagined. The town's working community is growing, and I hope to be down there helping soon. And it sounds like you are adding beauty to people's lives with your writing. "

"I hope so."

Anne then pointed towards a large building "that I am guessing is our destination for lunch, Scarboro's Heights Hotel. Shall we?" Gilbert nodded politely, as they walked towards the popular lakeside social location.

Mr. Ford was right, a hot day would see many people by the beach and the other half were in the dinning hall at the lakeside hotel. It was similar to the dinning halls he would frequent with Christine and her family. He rarely went to dinner or lunch without her family. Christine would openly display her annoyance at having them close by all the time, regularly joking that they should move to Kingsport or better yet, run away out West.

Before either of them looked at their menus a familiar face presented himself in front of Gilbert. Knowing instantly who it was Gilbert stood up to shake his hand.

"Terrance Bonair, what a surprise this is."

The young man nodded, nervously looking around for his superior. Gilbert noticing his caution understood and sat down. "It sure is a surprise, Mr. Blythe."

"I think you can freely call me Gilbert now since I am no longer your teacher. What brought you from White Sands to Toronto?"

Terrance began pouring water into their glasses, while speaking about how he ended up in Toronto to take his bachelors. During summer he supplemented his time and income, with tutoring and waiting tables.

Gilbert in turn told his own short story, covering his studies and why he was in Toronto. He did not mention his marriage to Christine. When Terrance said "It is nice to see you married Miss Shirley," with a smile in her direction, it was met with an irritated look from Anne.

Terrance realising the mistake he made, went to pick up the water jug he had on the table, accidentally knocking Anne's full glass, splashing water.

"Is this man bothering you?" came the voice from another waiter, who looked to be higher in rank.

"Yes he is," said Anne sharply rising to her feet abruptly.

Apologies were exchanged and tables were swapped for a dry one. Gilbert was relieved when lunch arrived, the encounter between Anne and Terrance confused him. His old friend Anne would have been sympathetic, laughing at the spill on the table. Her dislike did not go unnoticed to the maitre'd, removing Terrance from the floor. Gilbert wondered throughout the lunch if his old pupil would be employed by the end of the day. He knew how expensive university was.

After lunch they had decided to walk towards Kew Gardens following the boardwalk along the beach. Gilbert wanted to say something about her over-reaction. He was surprised when Anne made mention of Terrance and if he would still have a job by the end of the day.

"I didn't mean to turn like that, having him removed from the floor." Anne sighed. "I was only annoyed because he asked if we were married. I suppose it bought up the memories from when we were young. I used to find it so cumbersome that everyone would remark about you and me, pushing for us to be engaged or something."

Gilbert couldn't help but laugh. "I learnt very quickly after my proposal how unsuitable you found me and that the idea of marriage between us angered you. What a fool I was to not have seen it."

She stopped, turning to face him "I wasn't angry because you were not a suitable man to marry, you were - more than you could know. I felt like our friendship was under a magnify glass everyday. No one would talk to me without mentioning you – I felt like – like I was living in a shadow of expectation."

He paused, unsure how to respond. Anne's grey eyes, were hidden by a shadow from her hat brim. Her words had stirred something within him, the whispers of unspoken words and questions began to fill his mind. Had they been away from the Avonlea gossip and Redmond chitchat, would Anne have answered differently? Did he speak too soon?

Gilbert stepped away to look out towards the lake, summoning the hurtful behaviour Anne invoked after his proposal. She all but cleared him out of her life after that day.

"I suppose we both had some living and learning to do, neither of us were ready" Gilbert added.

"What do you mean?"

Gilbert continued walking, "You are correct, the constant suggestions we should have married were suffocating at times. I imagine it was the gossip of our dear old Avonlea and fellow Redmond students that put the idea into my head in the first place." Gilbert knew he hurt her saying that. He felt a small triumph in the thought that his words wounded Anne. "We bickered so much. In retrospect it would not have been a romantic match i'm sure. Like you said, it would have been for expectation only, not for love."

They walked on in silence. Gilbert felt torn by his last comment. Part of him felt like she deserved it. The satisfaction of telling her it was never love that took him to Patty Place that afternoon left a satisfactory yet bitter taste in his mouth. He had hoped to see Anne put on her steel glaze, tilt her chin up, the way she did when she was hurt and angry. Instead her gaze was cast down. There was no rebuke, only regrettable silence.

When she first refused him he had many conversations in his head with her telling Anne exactly this. In each exchange she would be rilled up, challenging him. He scribbled letters that never made it past his desk. But he imagined the return note he would receive. The reaction he was drowning in now was never a scenario that passed through his mind.

"Is Mr. Ford married?" asked Gilbert, looking for a way to move the subject away from them.

"No, he is not. I tell him that he is too particular about the woman he wants."

"I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Why should a man settle?"

"Maybe the ideal we think we want, is not always our best match."

The entrance to the garden was a welcome relief from the August sun. Anne dropped her parasol, letting it dangle from her hand. She stopped for a moment, gazing at the trees around her. The park was as bustling as the beach, with families congregating where the grass met the boardwalk. Blankets laid out, children running across them met with cry's from mothers.

"I have not asked if you have children?"

"No, not yet."

When she asked him back, he replied with the same answer. He had hoped to have started a family by now. He had expected Anne would be mother to a handful of babies by now.

"I haven't the time," muses Anne as she leads them through the park as if she knows it. "Plus Roy is busy with his business."

"Yes, I suppose the famous author Mrs. Gardner and her husband Mr. Gardner the shipping tycoon cannot afford maids and nannies to help with a family," say's Gil sarcastically.

Anne knocked her parasol against his arm playfully, "I didn't write my stories under Mrs. Gardner, my pen name is still Shirley."

They had wondered beyond the path, crossing past beds of flowers. A dense collection of trees sat together, creating a secluded corner in the park.

"Do you know what this reminds me of Gil?" Gilbert shakes his head, looking around. "That place where the apple tree grows, deep in the woods."

"That apple tree always reminded me of you, from the moment I first saw it. I thought how it had come to life amongst the darkness of the forest, determined to do well. The earth was Green Gables. The sun and rain were Mathew and Marilla, helping you grow towards the light."

Anne turned to look at him, "Really?"

Gilbert nodded. "Something silly I used to think."

"If Green Gables was the soil, Matthew and Marilla were the sun and rain. What were you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You helped me thrive, grow. Even though we bickered from time to time, disagreed on some subjects, I valued you more than anyone. You were a true friend and I have missed you dearly."

The light from the sun shot through the trees, casting long streams of light. One lit up her face, highlighting the freckles that rested there. She looked earnestly at him, causing the whispers of wonder to circulate once more in Gilbert's mind. He looked away, willing the thoughts to vanish.

"I will admit that I had not missed you at all until we walked into the Gardens. This Anne I have met is very different to the one I used to know. But then we have not been around each other since – well – I guess that silly day at Patty's Place. I only came along to dinner last night out of politeness."

"And what about today?"

Gilbert shrugged his shoulders, looking at the trees as if he were bored. "Much the same, I said yes out of niceness, nothing more. You and I are of different worlds now, we have little in common really."

Anne stepped back, looking for the path. "Very well Gil-"

"You think you are too good, more now than you used to. Even you admitted that you could not be seen on street car. The very thought of being close to the people that are at the level of your servants abhors you."

Anne opened her mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again. Gilbert watched defeat come over her face. Any spirit and fire that had rose up, retreated.

"I think it is wise if I return to my hotel," Anne replied in a quite voice. "You don't need to accompany me back," she says as if reading his mind. "You are free of me. It was good to see you, even if you did it only as a courtesy. I wish you all the best Gil, I truly do."

Not waiting for a reply, Anne walks past Gilbert. He turns and watches her, wondering if she will turn around. As she disappears across the park, he kicks a stone before he goes his own way, feeling like a thirteen year old boy that had a slate knocked on his head.