Chapter XXX

Two weeks later, Owen Ford arrived at the Glen's train station and had been greeted by his whole family. He changed in looks, he got more mature on the face and looked much more handsome than anyone had ever thought he would. To everyone's surprise he even got a bit more talkative, which was just the sign that he wasn't affected by the war all together in the bad way.

Walt, Lily and little Julienne arrived the day after Owen, and Julia couldn't stop hugging her little namesake from that day on. Julia couldn't believe that she could be in Lily's position in a just few years time, having a little roly-poly baby in her own arms, and kissing it just as much as she liked to kiss little Julienne.

Walt also didn't change, even though he was walking with his wooden leg, he was still Julia's loving, poetic and funny older brother whom she loved so much. On the evening Walt and his family arrived at the House on the Hill, Julia, Merry and Walt spent the whole afternoon together, in Rainbow Valley talking over everything they missed out of each other's lives for the past six years of their lives.

Cilia arrived earlier than planned, making another surprise-homecoming. Julia met her little Knoxie, who looked just like his proud father Marshall, who was now a very well-known surgeon in Charlottetown.

Merry got a job in town as a manager of the Rogers' Farm, a position which Troy was supposed to get if he would have lived. And therefore, Merry and Luna decided on getting married in October. And so the family of Blythes, Fords and Merediths was happy again. They thought they would never be so happy, but they were, and they were all impatiently awaiting all the weddings which were supposed to happen one after the other that year. Even Cornelia was happy, and she didn't blame neither Blythe nor Julia for her broken engagement. She found love somewhere else, with a boy called Joshua Shepstone, who was her neighbour whole her life, and waited for her as patiently as Blythe waited for Julia.

All was well, eventually.

On one warm morning, two weeks before Julia's and Blythe's wedding, Julia woke up early and decided on going to Rainbow Valley, which was and always would be her favourite spot in the whole world. She left a note for her parents on the table in the kitchen, then she got into her old riding suite, put on her even older red scarf, and jumped on River's back who knew exactly where to go.

She galloped through the fields with her hair, although short, flowing in the air, and her bright scarlet cheeks, straight into the Rainbow Valley which could never, no matter what would happen, could never change nor loose its magical spirit of the ghosts from the past and maybe even the ghosts of the future.

Blythe Ford was sitting under the White Lady, looking at all the photographs he had ever got from his Julia, which helped him greatly during the war, and during the most fearful situations he had been in. He enjoyed the peacefulness of this sacred place but wasn't at all disappointed when this peacefulness was broken by...

"Blythe!"

He lifted up his head under the photograph of Julia receiving a Royal Red Cross medal, and saw his Bathsheba jumping off the back of her horse, looking even more dashing than she had ever did before. He stood up immediately and put her in his arms "What are you up to, Julia o'mine?" he asked her with a raised brow.

"Oh, I suppose I could ask you the same question!" she said laughingly and Blythe chuckled.

"Well," he replied and the both of them sat down under the White Lady "I felt that I just couldn't miss the sunrise in Rainbow Valley today." he smiled and looked at the pink sky in front of him.

"Neither could I." she replied and put her hand into his "Can you believe that it's just two weeks to go?" she whispered wonderingly.

Blythe looked at her lovingly, his eyes gleaming "I wish it could be today." he whispered back.

"No," Julia shook her head "-it's nice to wait, and still have time to dream before it will all become a reality." she grinned at him.

"You're quite right." he replied in the same tone "You know I still can't believe that you will be my wife." he squeezed her hand.

"I can't believe it either." she said and kissed his nose tenderly "But in what I can still hardly believe is that Olive is already married to Niall!" she exclaimed.

"You didn't tell me!" Blythe said.

"Because I got a letter just yesterday, silly!" she chuckled "They married a week ago, and they are now living together, just like Olive always wanted, in the heart of Kensington." she smiled dreamily.

"Oh, that's splendid news." Blythe grinned "But I have better news to tell you." he whispered mysteriously.

"Oh, go on!" Julia demanded with excitement in her voice.

"I wanted to tell you today anyway," he replied with a shadow of a smile on his lips "-I bought us a house." he said eventually.

Julia's eyes widened immediately and she squeaked in joy, throwing her arms around Blythe's neck who started laughing along with her "We have a house!" Julia shouted, and then quietened remembering not to wake up the dryads hiding in the trees around her.

"Yes, we do!" Blythe kissed her "But it's not the end of the news." he said again.

"Yes?" she asked him nervously.

"The St. Gerard Majella's House in White Sands gave me a call just yesterday," he began with shining eyes "-and they told me that you can start your "midwifery adventure" in September, as they are in a desperate need of a new midwife." and he ended up being kissed by Julia who by then lost her mind completely, being overwhelmed with happiness which was almost impossible for her to bear.

"I wanted to give you this." Blythe said suddenly and took out the small pearl ring from the pocket of his jacket.

Julia's eyes widened in surprise once again "The engagement ring?" she asked in disbelief.

"I should have given it to you earlier, but I couldn't decide on the kind of the ring. Eventually my Mother gave it to me, as it was the engagement ring Father gave her, and which his Father gave my Grandmother too." he put the ring on Julia's hand carefully "I hope you don't mind pearl instead of a diamond." he smiled at her.

"How could I, Blythe? It's so perfect in every way. And it was worn by women in your family for generations." she looked at it closely, admiring it even more if she would be looking at the diamond ring "Besides, I never liked diamonds. And pearls are so much more… likable." and they both chuckled again. And the two of them stayed together in each other's arms, watching the sunrise together in their Rainbow Valley, dreaming the dreams for the future which they would spend, after all, with each other.

Later that day, Grandmother Rosemary and Grandfather John invited Jem and his family to a dinner. Rose, John, little Jackie and Jake were already at the manse and so the family sat down by the table together, everyone being very thankful that they could all be together again. "How are you feeling, Grandpa?" Julia asked John Meredith worriedly just after they all stopped admiring the cheesecake from Rosemary's special recipe.

He sighed softly but smiled at his granddaughter "I'm still quite weak, but fine on the soul, dear Julia." he said.

"Don't worry, sweetie." Jem said tenderly "I examined your Grandpa and I assure you that he is really fine, just needs some rest from time to time."

Julia grinned at her Grandfather again, her heart more content than it was before "Well I hope that you do get a rest from time to time." she winked at him knowingly and he winked back.

"I will always make sure of that." Rosemary said in a decided yet warm voice and then hurrumphed "Julia, did you buy a wedding dress yet?" she asked her excitedly.

"Yes, Juliet, did you?" Rose joined in.

Julia chuckled "No, and I'm not going to buy a wedding dress." she said, making everyone except Faith, Lily and Cee, look at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked her in surprise "How can you not have a wedding dress?"

"I mean that I will wear my Mother's wedding dress." Julia said and smiled at Faith who smiled back at her daughter with pride in her eyes.

"Oh, that's such a beautiful idea." Rosemary said cheerfully "And what about your veil?" she asked again.

"I will wear Grandmother Anne's veil." Julia replied with twinkling eyes "I always loved it's design so much. And besides, I promised her some time ago, that I will wear it on my wedding day."

"When did you promise that?" Walt asked her.

"Well, some…" she giggled "-sixteen years ago." and her family sitting around the table laughed joyfully.

"And what about you, Rose and John?" Merry asked them suddenly "What are your plans after the summer?"

"I am going to take after my uncle's job as a History Professor in Montreal." John said proudly, looking at his wife with smiling eyes.

"Oh Rose, you will be so far away from me!" Julia said with a sigh of sadness in her voice.

"Certainly not as far away as for the past five years!" she replied and the laughter spread over the table again.

"Cee, darling," Grandfather said to his granddaughter who was stitting by his side "-the latest painting you gave me, made a real impression on Mary Vance today when I showed it to her. It's a difficult thing to do, to impress Mary Vance and so you should really be proud of yourself." he said and put his wrinkled hand on her small shoulder, making everyone else to chuckle a little.

Cee, being still quite shy and timid, smiled lightly at her grandfather and her cheeks turned bright pink "Thank you, Grandfather." she replied softly and the two kindred spirits smiled to each other. And so they all chatted and joked for the next few hours, not noticing how fast was the time flowing. After the dinner, John took his wife (or rather she took him) and little Jackie upstairs to their room, Jake went fishing with Gilly, and Jem took his family back to their House on the Hill.

"Merry, do you really love Luna?" Julia aksed her brother while they walked all together back home.

"Of course I do, Jules." Merry said and smiled "She is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me." he put his arm around Julia's shoulder "And I always loved her but, believe it or not, I was too shy to tell her."

"Meredith Blythe, too shy?" Julia asked him in surprise and everyone who listened to them laughed "I thought that Luna was shy."

"She is," Merry said "-but in a different way." he smiled dreamily and Julia grinned at him too.

"Julia, do you think that you will be able to visit us one day, in Kingsport?" Walt asked his sister, squeezing her hand.

"Of course I will, although I don't know when it's going to happen but, of course, dear Walter." she replied and squeezed his hand back.

"I can't believe that you are going to leave us, my darling girl." Faith said to her daughter with a half-smile on her face.

Julia kissed her Mother's cheek gently "Mother-dear, you know that White Sands is just two hours away from Glen," she said to her "-besides, you are all always welcome to visit us in our new home." she said, thrilled to bones by saying "our new home".

"Well, now I know that my wife won't stay at home from this day on!" Jem chuckled and Faith poked him knowingly in the arm.

And so the Blythe family continued on walking together, enjoying their company and talking over everything they weren't able to talk over for the past six years. Julia thought that they didn't change at all, even though Walt was already a father, her parents bacame grandparents, and Merry and Julia herself were getting married in a very short time. "And this only proves me that some things can never change." Julia thought to herself.

Two days later, Blythe 'phoned up the House on the Hill and said, in the most exciting tone, that he found the field full of roses which he and Julia once discovered so many years ago but could never find it again. Julia ran, or maybe even flew, immediately to the House of Dreams and together, hand-in-hand with Blythe they entered the forest, both being positively thrilled about seeing the mysterious, magical field once again.

"Now, close your eyes." Blythe whispered suddenly.

Julia looked at him in a funny way "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course I'm sure. No peeking, please." he said and Julia chuckled when she closed her eyes and let Blythe lead her for the next five minutes. All of a sudden, Julia could smell the roses' beautiful scent which she always loved the most in the whole world of flowers, and the butterflies in her stomach started giving her the feeling of excitement even greater than just a few minutes earlier. It was as if she was entering another world, a world like no any other.

"Welcome to our new kingdom." Blythe whispered to her ear and stopped her from moving. Julia opened her eyes slowly and was breathless and speechless the minute she saw that she was in the very centre of the circle made out of roses. The sunset was creeping behind the horizon and the orange light was leaving mysterious dancing shadows between the trees which were left on the roses. Julia thought that it looked exactly as one could imagine a red-sea would look like.

Blythe watched Julia's face as she started walking around, gently touching each of the roses' leaves with greatest grace and he could almost swear that she was dancing, although it was clear that she walked. He caught his breath when she finally turned around to face him. She looked just as if he imagined a Queen of Dryads would look like, especially with her smile which could shine out the sun hiding under the horizon just behind her back. A new poem started to appear in his mind, making him to smile wonderingly at Julia who looked at him with shining eyes.

"Blythe, I don't think I have ever seen something as beautiful as this." she whispered and made her way towards him, putting her arms around his neck, as if he was her King and she his Queen.

He smiled at her tenderly "Me neither." he whispered back "What should we call it then?" he asked, taking her hands in his.

Julia humphed while thinking "Let's call it our... Secret Way to the Light." she whispered, smiling at Blythe lovingly.

"And we musn't tell anyone about this place." he whispered back, his tone serious.

"Agreed." she whispered back and they both laughed together. Their laughter echoed throught the forest like an enchanted song bringing life and romance into it's stillness, and both Julia and Blythe knew that this song would remain there, between the Secret Way to the Light, forever.