Chapter XXIX
"It is such a lovely thing, the view of the ocean springing up before your eyes," Julia thought to herself after the first night which she spent on the ship "It almost seems like a completely different world, on a completely different planet."
The sun was shining high between the clouds, making the waves of the Atlantic Ocean look like pure liquid gold which everyone can drink from. Julia was outside, looking at its beauty and enjoying the breeze coming from it by closing her eyes and opening them up again after few seconds. She was doing it every day, imagining the moment when she would see her homeland again. It was so nice to be dreaming seeing her home and her family again, without the fear of not knowing when this dream might become a reality!
One day, she couldn't dream for a long time, as suddenly the peace which surrounded her, was broken by the group of four boy-soldiers who just ran from the inside of the ship straight into Julia's favourite spot. She opened her eyes quickly and was almost angry that the soldiers came there with all their joking and shoutings. But then she realised that they were also Canadian soldiers coming back home, just like her, and she even smiled at them.
Then she realised that they weren't just 'ordinary' soldiers, they were all wounded; two of the boys had their heads bandaged, the third one had an empty sleeve of his uniform, and the fourth one… Oh, the fourth one! "Merry?" Julia whispered breathlessly. It was Merry. Julia thought that she would never be able to recognise him, after he was blinded, with all the burns on his face and his eyes so blank and so not alive like they once were. But they weren't blank at all! They were as alive and joyful as they always had been!
The only thing about him that changed was this one burn which was covering his right cheek. But it was still Merry. "Merry!" Julia shouted out this time, almost screamed. Merry turned to the place where the voice was coming from. All the other boys did the exact same thing and almost gasped when they saw a beautiful, red-headed girl, crying helplessly at the sight of her brother whom she hadn't see in six years.
"Julia?" Merry whispered, not believing in the word he just said. Julia made her way through all the boys, and threw her arms on Merry's neck, kissing his blind eyes and his cheeks and his still red hair.
"Oh, Merry, it is you! It is you!" she whispered into his ear. How tall he was! But maybe he was always this tall? She couldn't tell, six years is a long time after all. But oh, how brown his skin was and how strong his arms were!
"Julia, you cut your hair!" he said when he touched Julia's short red curls.
She laughed and looked at his face, putting her hands on his cheeks with greatest tenderness, afraid to touch his face in fear it will break in pain "You see me after six years and that's the first thing you say to me?" Julia chuckled through the tears.
"But you will remember it even more now, won't you?" he chuckled too and put her into a tight hug again "Has it really been six years, Jules?" he asked in disbelief.
"I'm afraid so." Julia said and then suddenly turned to the three boys standing next to her "Could I borrow my brother for a while, please?" she asked them, grinning.
"He's yours, Miss." a boy with an empty sleeve said cheerfully.
"Let's take a long walk, Miss Blythe." Merry whispered to Julia whose arm was already resting on his shoulder.
"Of course, Mr Blythe." she replied.
And they did take a walk, a very long one, which Julia would remember till the rest of her life. Merry wasn't changed one single bit, and he didn't seem to mind his blindness so much. They talked about their war experience from the perspective of a Commandant, and a VAD. In one word, they finally felt that the war really ended, and the time of peace inhabited the Earth once again.
A few days later, Julia and Merry found themselves catching the train to Glen. It was early in the morning, and Julia was describing to her brother how beautiful Canada looked from the train's window, that morning on the first day of July. Cloudless sky, with shining sun and the wonderful birdsong and summer breeze filling up the air of Prince Edward Island made them both think of nothing else but home.
"Merry, we're here." Julia said in disbelief when she saw the train station which she left just three years earlier.
Merry got up immediately "Let's go then." he said with excitement and Julia took her suitcases, Merry took his and hand-in-hand they stepped off the train.
Nobody knew exactly what day Julia or Merry would be coming home, although they staretd expecting them three days earlier already, no one would expect them, both of them, returning to their home and family so soon. But both Merry and Julia took their time and walked slowly home, talking about how glad they were that nothing changed at all in the old Glen, and that all the trees, flowers and even buildings were still the same as they left them.
Eventually they reached the House on the Hill and Julia couldn't hold back her tears, neither could Merry, for that matter. And so Dr James Blythe, who opened the door to them, saw two, homesick, crying faces he had been waited to see for years. "It can't be!" Jem said and grabbed the two of them into his strong arms, kissing each of their faces with greatest happiness "Faith, Cee! Come here quickly!" he shouted out, laughing and crying at the same time.
"Jem, I am cooking, for Heaven's sakes, I can't be in both places…." Faith entered the hall with a towel in her hands, waving it madly. She stopped when she saw Julia and Merry standing on her doorstep. "Oh, my babies!" she exclaimed and joined in all the hugs and kisses, her eyes filling up with tears "You are home! Oh, this is the most beautiful day of my life!" she said breathlessly between the sobs.
"Daddy, is everything…" Cee came into the hall hurriedly. Cee, who grew up so much, and certainly wasn't a baby anymore! A girl of fifteen with the sweetest dimples and caring, passionate eyes! How tall she was, Julia thought, and mature! "Oh, Julia! Merry!" she cried and was the last addition to the family's reunion.
One hour later, the Ingleside, the manse, the House of Dreams, the Farm House, the Blue House in Charlottetown and the slightly bigger house in Kingsport were all informed about the arrival of the two missing members of the Blythe family. The House on the Hill was in the very centre of attention that day, and was invaded with all the Blythes, Merediths and Fords from Glen and Four Winds just two hours after the arrival of Julia and Merry.
The grandparents were admiring how mature and lovely both of them looked, and as they were the first ones to arrive for their greeting, they couldn't help but to hug and squeeze the two of them all the time. "You are home now, safe and sound." Grandmother Blythe laughed joyfully "The children of the War." she said and patted Julia's hand which was resting in her own.
"I wouldn't say children, Grandma." Merry said from the other side of the table in their living room "I am twenty-five and Julia is twenty-three." he smiled mischievously.
"Oh, even if you were ninety, you would still be my little boy, Merry, darling." Faith said and kissed her son on the forehead tenderly.
"There's someone knocking on the door." Cee declared when she came out of the kitchen "I think it's the manse folk." she grinned at both her sister and her brother.
Julia gasped, and stood up as if something had pinched her "Rose!" she squeaked when the tall, completely unchanged woman came into the room with a four-year-old Jackie in her arms.
"You dear Juliet o'mine!" she exclaimed and kissed her friend's hands "It's so good to have you back!" Rose looked like a real rose, so fresh and beautiful in her flowing red dress and long brown curls lying on her shoulders. Julia could almost drink her sight in, she missed her so much!
"Oh, and this is the little Jackie! Who is not so little anymore." Julia laughed and patted Jackie's brown curls gently. Jackie smiled at his auntie and before Rose opened her mouth to say anything, she was interrupted by her brother who just came into the room.
"Well, well, well, there she is." Jake came into the room with a funny smile on his face.
"Jake." Julia breathed out and let out a small cry, falling staright into his arms "You didn't change a bit. Except for how brown you got." she whispered and then chuckled.
He laughed as well "That's quite right. And you got even more beautiful than you already were." he winked at her knowingly.
"Thank you." she said gracefully and then there was time for Julia to meet Rose's husband, John, who turned out to be very handsome, extremely elegant and charming. Nan and Jerry greeted their niece and their nephew with tears of joy in their eyes, and almost as soon as they all sat down by the table, there was another knock on the door.
This time, the Shirley's family came in along with the Carl's family. Luna was embraced tightly by Julia, who thought that she had never seen a more real definition of a moon's beauty. Then Merry hugged Luna, and both of them, unoticed by anyone, shivered under the touch of their skin.
Una and Shirley with their grown-up and crazy as ever, daughter Nancy sat on the sofa next to Grandfather Meredith who couldn't stop smiling all the way through the 'ceremony' as he called it. Carl and Di came into the living room with their twelve-year-olds, the "small" Cordelia who grew up to be a beautiful future-biologist like her Father, and Tom who turned out to be a prospering mathematician just like his "dear Uncle Walt".
"Do you know when Walt and Lily will be able to visit?" Julia asked her family when she sat for the third time by the table "I am anxious to meet little Julienne!" she said excitedly.
"When I told Walter that you are back," Jem said, smiling radiantly "He said that because it's the summer-break, he will "pack his family on Friday and bring them here on Saturday"."
"Wonderful!" Julia exclaimed happily "And what about Cilia?" she asked, looking at her Uncle Shirley and Aunt Una.
"She is supposed to come for a week in the first week of August, for your wedding especially." Shirley said and winked at his niece "And you will finally meet our grandson Knox." he grinned at his wife knowingly.
"If he's as sweet and as adorable as he looks in the photographs I got from Cilia, then I'm afraid I will not be able to refrein myself from eating him." Julia said and everyone chuckled. And suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which Julia was awaiting to hear the most of all. The Ford family arrived at the doorstep of the House on the Hill.
The first one who Julia hugged and kissed was the ever so fashionable Leslie who thankfully didn't bring a "killigly handsome British soldier" back home. Then Gilly came into the light and Julia couldn't help but to laugh when she saw him "Well it's the first time in a long time since we haven't seen each other outside the hospital walls!" she said and her whole family laughed again when they hugged each other.
Then it was Uncle Ken and Aunt Rilla to squeeze both Julia and Merry, leaving them almost out of their breaths before sitting down by Faith and Una. "And now, Julia, we have a surprise for you." Gilly said mysteriously and pointed at the door "Come out, you old thing!" he shouted joyfully.
And unexpectadly, Blythe Ford appeared in front of Julia. She put a hand on her mouth and gasped with amazement "You are walking!" she exclaimed, not being able to move at all.
Blythe smiled at her lovingly and put his hands on his hips "And so I will take you in my arms!" he declared and he did just that. He stepped towards the laughing Julia, took her in his arms with grace, and kissed her in front of their whole family. Everyone chuckled and clapped until Blythe finally put Julia down on the ground, still holding her hands, and looking deeply into her shining, watery eyes.
"How…?" Julia questioned slowly, looking at Blythe from head to toe.
"Nobody knows." Blythe answered and grinned at her "I started feeling my legs again, a week ago. Uncle Jem examined me and allowed me to try and walk again. And so I did and… there I am." he said and tapped his feet happily.
"I could never be more happy than I am now, in this very moment." Julia whispered through the tears and kissed him once again on the lips, before she let him go and give Merry a brotherly, very warm hug.
And so the 'almost whole family' sat down by the table and listened to all the tales from Julia and Merry's life during the war. Everyone listened carefully, sometimes laughing, sometimes holding their breaths, sometimes even having tears in their eyes. Julia couldn't believe that they were all together again, safe, away from the war and death, and so near love and happiness.
It almost seemed as if she left Glen just a week earlier becasue nothing nor anyone changed. Maybe some of her cousins, and definitely her sister, changed in their looks, but not on thier insides. They were all still a big and loud family from the six years before, who couldn't be more alive than on that day.
"So you will be married in August then?" Rose asked Julia and Blythe while she was sipping the tea from her cup and holding Jackie on her lap.
Blythe looked at Julia and smiled to her dreamily "Yes." he said "And we decided on the 6th."
"But it's just a bit over the month!" Faith protested "How can everything be done in a month?"
"Mother-dear," Julia said to her and patted her shoulder gently "You and I know exactly well that it can. And it will be done in a month's time." she said decidedly.
Faith smiled back at her daughter "If the bride-to-be says so, then it must be done!" she said and the chuckle spread across the room.
"Merry, did you meet any pretty girls during those six years?" Leslie asked him suddenly, with a shadow of a smile forming on her lips.
"Not really, no." he replied quite absent-mindedly "Besides who would ever love enough to marry a man who can't see nor work properly, with those horrible burns on his face?" he said almost in despair. Everyone fell silent and looked at him worringly. Julia felt how her heart was breaking under the sadness which appeared on his face so suddenly. She had never seen Merry, her Merry, so concerned with his mind being far far away in the land she didn't know about. That's when she realised that that was this one thing that was changed in his voice, the lack of certainty for the bright future of which he was always so sure about.
"I would." said the quiet voice from the corner of the room. Everyone turned their heads towards the sound.
"Luna?" Merry was the first to say.
Julia's eyes, and everybody else's widened in surprise. Luna, the most shy of the family, who could never speak about her feelings, now declared her love to Merry, surrounded by her entire family! And Merry knew her voice immediately! Nobody did, but Merry did although he couldn't see. But he could feel. Julia felt how her heart started to beat quickly and she put her hand on her chest as she felt that she was about to cry.
"Merry, I've always loved you." Luna's quiet but strong voice spoke up again.
Merry's face changed from the tired and a heartbroken one to a face of a man who just discovered that life, after all, can be beautiful "And I've always loved you." he replied breathlessly.
Luna, shaking all over her body, stood up from her chair and ran across the living room to Merry's open arms. Julia put her hand on her mouth and gasped, trying to hold back her attack of crying. Blythe touched her hand knowingly under the table and she looked at him with watery eyes. "Luna, will you have me? With all my blindness, and burns and craziness?" Merry asked the crying woman in his arms.
"With all of my heart and soul!" she whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
Everyone started clapping and whooping when the two of them shared their first kiss. Julia thought that she had never felt so moved in her life, and therefore she kissed her Blythe, thinking that life really couldn't get any more beautiful than this.