March 17, 1896 (cted)
She leaned into the warm embrace, her arms tight around the expanse of the Doug's rotund belly.
"Anne. Come on, this is getting to be indecent."
She said nothing, but burrowed further into his shirt, overcome with gratitude and relief.
"I'm glad to see you too, you know," chuckled Doug, "but you're making a scene."
His pronouncement made her push away at last and quickly glance around. The men went about heaving benches and laughing among themselves, paying absolutely no heed to their private reunion.
"Liar!" she cried, hitting his shoulder with a resounding smack.
"Hey now, is that any way to greet a friend?" he laughed.
Anne looked up at him, puzzled. "What are you doing here? I thought you were scheduled for surgery."
"It sounded as though you could use some help, so I came," he said, as though it were really quite simple.
"But...you can't just leave your job!"
"Can't I?" he asked insouciantly. "I've given the hospital enough of my time, that I can take some time off when an emergency arises."
"It's a country wedding," she pointed out, her mind still reeling. "Not a life saving procedure!"
Doug shrugged. "It seemed important." His large brown eyes held such candor that Anne swallowed hard.
"It is," she admitted. "To me, at least, and to Davy and Millie. But it's an awful large sacrifice you've made, coming all the way here."
"I've been told that large sacrifices are an efficient way of getting on your good side."
She huffed, doing her best to repress a smile. "That goes for anyone, I'm sure."
"It worked for Gil, didn't it? Can't see why it wouldn't work for me." His breezy tone unnerved her.
"You've got some nerve, you two have that in common," she rolled her eyes.
"Thank you."
"That wasn't meant as a compliment." A quick look around confirmed that the men were stopping for a break, and enjoying some refreshments brought out by Dora and Mrs. Harrison. "Doug, I wish we could put you up at Green Gables, but I'm afraid that with Mrs Lynde and Dora staying with us, we have quite the full house."
"No worries: Mrs. Blythe'll give me a room," he said with an easy smile.
"My, but you are confident! Does that ridiculous charm of yours always ensure that you get your way?"
He flashed her a toothy grin. "Pretty much."
"You are unbelievable," Anne sighed.
"You're too kind."
"Why, you-"
"You seem flustered - and quite flushed. Anne Shirley, am I making you nervous?"
"Oh, really!"
"Admit it: I'm having an effect on you. It's the charm, isn't it?"
His deliberate provocation resulted in her elbow connecting with his gut. As per Anne's habitual luck, ill timing made the blow backfire.
"Doug!" called Mrs. Blythe, having just witnessed the attack from the kitchen window. "Goodness, are you alright?"
"Fine," he choked through a melodramatic bout of coughing, clutching his stomach theatrically. "I'm fine," he wheezed. "Anne's elbow just slipped out, caught me at the wrong time."
"Oh, Anne," sighed the woman with mild reproach. Mrs Lynde's shrill outrage resonated from indoors before Anne could defend herself. "I better go see what's that's about. Doug, dear, do you have a place to stay? I have the spare room made up, you're welcome to it."
"I'd hate to impose-"
"Nonsense, it's no problem at all. I - yes, Rachel, I'm coming! - I'll be leaving within the hour, we'll go get you settled then. Excuse me, darlings, I really must go." Sarah Blythe disappeared from the window to go put out whatever the fire was.
"And that's how it's done," Doug crossed his arms with a satisfied smirk.
"Miss Shirley, Mr Sheehan - I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you think you might give us a hand with the ladders?" asked young Henry Bell rather sheepishly.
"Sure thing! Miss Shirley, if you'll excuse us," said Doug with a tip of his hat, and he walked off with Henry, leaving a dumbfounded Anne standing alone.
x-x-x-x-x-x
"Nice of him to come," commented Davy, blowing steam off the top of his mug.
"Who?" Anne's gaze floated off in the distance, her own teacup forgotten in her hands.
He wasn't fooled by her feigned absentmindedness for a second. "Mr Sheehan. I didn't know you'd invited him."
"I didn't. Well, I did, but he'd declined. I had no idea he'd show up." She turned to face Davy, concerned. "It doesn't bother you, does it?"
"Nah, he helped a bunch. The man can lift more 'n me, Ralph and Henry put together."
She scoffed, though her lips twisted into a smile. "Well, that's something, I suppose."
The two remained silent for a while, watching the stars twinkle in the indigo sky.
"You're sure you don't mind?" asked Anne.
"He's the only friend you invited. 'Course I don't mind."
"No, I meant us having the party tomorrow. Maybe we should have canceled..."
Davy shook his head. "People've been looking forward to it. I've been looking forward to it."
"And Millie doesn't mind leaving early?"
His boyish shrug was contradicted by the wisdom of his words. "She and her mother'll stay until tomorrow evening, and Mr Hodgson'll be there on Saturday. As long as me and Millie are married by the end of the week, the rest doesn't matter."
"I'm so happy for you," whispered Anne through a constricted throat. When had the little boy who loved sweets and pranks grown so mature? When had he learned the life lessons she still failed to understand herself?
"Who invited him?"
She frowned at his question. "Why - I did. I mailed out his invitation with all the rest."
"No, not Millie's old man - Mr Sheehan. Who invited him?"
The corner of her mouth quirked upwards. "I have a fair idea who the culprit might be."
March 18, 1896
"Anne Shirley!" Mrs Lynde barged into the kitchen with as much ease as when she'd lived at Green Gables. "What in the world are you doing in that apron?"
"Whipping cream" was the obvious answer, but Anne sensed that Rachel wasn't going to let it slide.
"You ought to be hosting, young lady! People are already arriving, and here you are, ruining your sleeves - Dora? Dora! The girl's been ready for hours: why is she out there, receiving guests in your place? I'll tell you why, it's that Charlottetown boy who has her distracted. There you are, girl!" Rachel freed Anne from the apron and transferred it to Dora without a pause in her monologue. "Come on, not a moment to lose - we've pies to top! You: outside!"
Anne was shoved out of the kitchen and onto the porch. Some early comers had already gathered on the property. Davy was escorting Mrs Hodgson over to where the Harrisons were sitting, and Millie was catching up with the Avonlea based friends she seldom got to see. Anne frowned at the woman standing in the shade, talking to Ralph Andrews. What in the world was she doing here?
"Tell your sister to come see us next time she's in town," said Diana as Ralph took his leave. "Anne, there you are!"
"Di, what are you doing here?" She peered at the bundle in her arms. "It's way to early for him to be out!"
"Oh, we only stopped by to say hello, wish Davy and Millie our best. He's fine, he's enjoying the fresh air."
"Give him here." Jack didn't protest the switch - he barely registered the transition through his half-open eyes. "My, but he's already changed so much. Hello, handsome boy! Fancy seeing you here!"
"Fancy seeing him here," muttered Diana. "Why didn't you tell me that he was coming?"
Anne followed her line of sight to Doug was chatting amicably with the reverend and his wife. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same question."
"What do you mean?"
Anne scrutinized Diana from the corner of her eye whilst rocking the sweet lad in her arms. "You didn't tell him to come?"
"Anne, I haven't been allowed to sit up in weeks, let alone hold a pen! Imagine my surprise, when Fred told me he was here, moving furniture and hanging garlands!"
"Well, someone got him here. If it wasn't you, then who?"
Diana shrugged. Her figure still seemed a bit broader, and it would likely stay that way, but the twinkle in her eyes was back, and she positively radiated with joy of motherhood. "Whoever it was... I'm glad," she pronounced, as though trying to convince herself.
"You are?" asked Anne tentatively.
"Of course I am. Give him here." She took her youngest son back into the crook of her arm and deposited a kiss on Anne's cheek. "We've got to get going - he's had enough of being outdoors for now. Stop by on Sunday after service?"
Anne acquiesced, troubled by the fact that Diana's last statement was the only one of which she did not doubt the authenticity.
x-x-x-x-x-x
The celebration was in full swing. Supper had gone very well: food ran in abundance, and no one at the table was left feeling less bit stuffed to the gills. Merry chatter filled the air like an uncoordinated chorus, occasionally punctuated with speeches courtesy of Ralph Andrews, Fred Wright and even the good Rev. Allan. Anne hadn't been able to dodge the request for an address of her own, and had eventually consented to raising her glass of cordial in a toast. "To my Davy and his Millie: may your lives not be merged, but entwined till eternity. May your children raise their children with the same love that you bear for each other. May you fill Green Gables with the happiness it was meant to know: for tomorrow, it will truly be your home."
It was the best that she could do on the spot - not her finest, but apparently enough to move both Millie and her mother to tears. Davy had turned to embrace her in a rare voluntary display of affection, and Rachel Lynde's reluctant approval drifted from wherever she was sitting - "even though in my day, it was not a lady's place to deliver speeches at the table."
After tea and dessert, the women in attendance all pitched in to clear the dishes, making quick work of it while the men pulled the tables to the side and dug a pit for the fire. The older guests wished the young couple well, and paid their respects to their hosts before driving off into the cool early spring evening, leaving the younger folk to extend the celebrations. The parting kiss Davy bestowed upon Millie had his friends cheering, whistling and calling out encouragements that were as close to obscenity as Avonlea had ever heard. Rachel Lynde had mercifully retired earlier, with a strict warning to tomorrow's groom not to go to bed too late.
Thus, the remaining guests gathered around the tall flames, the talk turning unsurprisingly to farming (seeing as the vast majority of the guests were male and either owned plots, or worked their fathers'). Anne watched from the porch, sitting back in the wicker chair and drinking in the sight of an excited Davy being thumped on the back by one of his peers.
She heard the door swing open, and a teacup was presented to her. Even as she opened her mouth to thank the young lady, her eyes registered that the fingers carrying the saucer were two times too big. "You're not Dora."
"Not since I last checked," confirmed Doug, holding out his offering to her.
"What are you doing here?"
"Most people just go with 'thank you'."
"I'm sorry - thank you," she accepted the tea with belated grace and gestured to the seat beside her. The straw creaked audibly under his weight.
"To answer your question, I was fetching you this." He handed over her shawl, seemingly summoned from nowhere. "It's a bit cold this far from the fire. Don't you want to join them?"
She shook her head with a wistful smile and slipped the shawl around herself. "They make me feel old. I've known them all since they were born."
"They seem like a nice bunch," noted Doug. "Salt of the Earth, country courtesy and all that."
"Most of those boys have had me as their school teacher," she replied dryly. "Just wait until I turn in for the night, and then their language will digress."
"Oh, I don't know," said Doug with a knowing smile. "There's a few fair ladies left to impress in the mix."
"You'd be surprised," Anne grinned knowingly. "Some of those girls are worse than the boys. Well, except for Dora. Speaking of which - where is she? She hasn't turned in yet, but I don't see her around the fire."
"I believe she is in the barn, having a rather heated discussion with Mr. Andrews."
"Ralph?" Anne bolted from her seat. "I have got to see this!"
"Ooh, are we spying now?" Doug followed her in the dark.
"Hush! It's reconnaissance."
"Feels like eavesdropping to me: but hey, whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Shh!" She held up her hand, and they both leaned towards the barn's entrance.
"...could've asked. You know what this is? This is you being jealous."
"Jealous?! I rather think not!"
Anne's eyes widened. Never had she ever heard Dora tell a falsehood before - the girl was far too proper and obedient. A good thing, too, because she was so transparent, she might as well have been a windowpane.
"Oh, yes, you are!" Ralph's laugh was brittle and humorless. "Anyway, you're hardly in a position to complain. You know how I had to find out you were bringing someone? Through my mother, who promised Davy he could put your guest at our place!"
"I didn't know he was going to ask your mother! Anyway, Mr Wallace didn't come with me: Mr Kelly is spending the night in White Sands, at the hotel. And why would you care whether I should invite someone, anyway?"
"I don't." As it turned out, Ralph was just as bad a fibber. "I just find it hypocritical of someone who wouldn't be seen holding hands with the boy walking her home from school, to be chauffeured from Charlottetown to Avonlea by an unattached man without a chaperone, is all."
"A chaperone was hardly necessary: he was driving the whole time, and I sat in the back. Not that I have to justify my actions towards you!"
"Me? I'm not the one who's worried about what people'll say about me!"
"Oh, that's rich! You were so worried about what your mother thought, so thirsty to earn her approval, you'd blinded yourself to how unreasonable her requests were! Anyway, you've said it yourself: you were a boy; Liam is a man."
Anne and Doug quickly ducked in the shadows as Dora's form stomped out of the barn and towards the house.
"Ouch," whispered Doug. Anne, at a loss for words, simply nodded.
"I better go after her."
"You do that - I'll ask Ralph to give me a ride to Mrs Blythe's, maybe try to convince him not to jump off a cliff while I'm at it."
"That's very sweet of you," acknowledged Anne, moved by his willingness to help.
"I always am," Doug smirked, shattering his do-gooder image with his cockiness. "See you tomorrow?"
Anne nodded. "Dress sharp, and don't be late."
x-x-x-x-x-x
"Dora? May I come in?"
The door opened an inch. "Are you alone?"
"Yes. Please, let me in."
Once admitted into the small office, Anne sat down on the bed and motioned for a tearful Dora to sit down next to her. Anne stroked the girl's golden hair, and waited for her to make the first move: she would speak when she was ready.
Predictably, Dora sat back and blew out a watery sigh. "Why do men have to be so dense?"
Anne had to choke back a bark of laughter. "It's the age-long question, darling."
"Well, I hate them." Dora crossed her arms in a show of defiance which did not match her personality.
"Now, that's a bit harsh," came Anne's gentle reprimand.
"I know!" the girl cried. "I do, I hate them - but I can't help wanting a man for myself, Anne! I wish I could be brave and stay independent, like you, but I can't. I want a husband, I want a family... I want what Davy has with Millie."
"There's time yet. If it's truly what you want, I'm confident it will happen for you." She braced herself and continued. "Just be sure that you don't let the right one get away."
"I'm so confused. Liam - Mr Kelly - is looking forward to escort me tomorrow. He's really very nice, and he says all the right things. He's a gentleman, and compliments me all the time.
Sounds boring.
Anne ignored the comment. "What do you think of him?"
Dora frowned in concentration. "He's handsome. Kind, intelligent... ideal."
"But?" prompted Anne.
"Oh... I just don't know. There's something off about him - he's too... too perfect. Oh, it doesn't make any sense! I ought to want things to go further, but something keeps holding me back!"
"Something or someone?" asked Anne with a knowing smile.
Dora flushed. "There is nothing between Mr Andrews and myself."
"I never said anything about Ralph."
"Well, good, because it's not happening. It just can't work between us - it never work."
She can keep telling herself that: you know where that will get her.
"No one knows what you feel better than yourself, dear. But ask yourself this: which boy makes you the happiest? Which one would stay by your side through thick and thin? Who could you give up, if you had to? Who could you not live without?"