Chapter XXXI
The first week of August marked the beggining of the final preparations for Julia's wedding. Faith, Una, Grandmother Blythe and Grandmother Rosemary started preparing their delicious food and the wedding cake. Di, Nan and Rilla started decorating the garden of the House on the Hill, where the wedding would take place. Blythe was in a search of his shoes ("Julia, have you ever thought what kind of trouble finding the right shoes would make for a man?") and Julia with all her cousins, tried to help with everything they could, although most of the time, Julia would rather spend her time on dreaming her new life which was just about to begin.
"I am so excited and so very ready for my new life with Blythe!" she wrote in her diary four days before her wedding day "Will I ever believe that I will be Mrs Blythe Ford? The answer is and always will be: definitely no! The very thought makes me want to stand and jump up and down until I will feel my arms or legs no more. I will be a wife! And Blythe, my Blythe, will be my husband!
"I can't wait to see my new house, I've seen the photographs of course, but I want to know how I will feel like inside, or how I will like my new garden or the neighbourhood. Blythe told me that our house is quite big, not huge but quite spacious and that all of the walls inside are fresh and white! I always wanted my house to have white walls, it looks much brighter, and cleaner because of that.
"I am really thrilled to know that I will work as a midwife! It will be such an adventure! Who knows maybe I'll meet there, in the St. Gerard Majella's House, new kindred spirits of my own? I am quite positive that I will, at least I hope so.
"There are so many things to dream about!
"I got a letter from Olive today and she eventually bought tickets to Canada for herself and Niall. I will see her for just one day, on my wedding day becasue the day after I will be heading off with Blythe to our new home in White Sands and Olive with Niall are going to visit Niall's family in Charlottetown! I am as excited as Olive is for that visit, she will meet Niall's Canadian family and they will meet her. And of course, Olive will eventually see how beautiful our Prince Edward Island is.
"I will see them for just one day but one day can make a real difference!
"Blythe finally found himself his "wedding-shoes", as he calls them with a sigh which always makes me laugh. He is so happy about our wedding, and we talk about it all the time and in such detail as if it already happened! He kept all of my letters I sent him during the war in the pocket of his uniform, and he had them with him in each battle he was involved in. When I touched those letters again, a thrill came down my skin, those pieces of paper had seen the war from a very different perspective to mine and it was just so… queer. But Blythe tells me that those letters kept him strong and faithful, and I couldn't be more glad because of that.
"Oh, and Claire sent me a wonderful telegram today: she just had her first baby, a son whom she called Miller for her father. And that's another thing I dream about sometimes. The motherhood seems so distant and so undiscovered to me. It is a very sweet thing to think about. When I was a little girl, I always wanted to have two or three children of my own, all pretty girls and no boys. Now, I'm not quite sure. I think that I still want two or three kidlets of my own, but I actually don't mind whether they will all be girls or boys. Blythe told me that he would be just as happy even if in the end I wouldn't want children after all, but I know him too well and I know that his dream of fatherhood is just as sweet as mine is.
"Coming back to my wedding; Cee, Luna and Leslie will be my bridesmaids and they will all wear their pretty pink dresses and I will make them wear lavender-flowers in their hair. They are all positively excited about wearing the same dresses, which really are just the most adorable things in the whole world.
"And there's the other thing; today I put on my wedding dress and a veil for the first time. It was such a magical moment which I certainly will never forget. My Mother's dress is such a beautiful garment right from the "roaring twenties" with small beads around the waist and some of them still flowing at the bottom. When I saw myself in the mirror I could hardly believe in my reflection, I felt like a real Queen. And then I put on Grandmother Anne's veil… When I put it on, I shivered, remembering how Grandmother told me about her own wedding day and all the other stories she shared with me about her later life in her own House of Dreams in Four Winds.
"All in all, I don't regret not buying either my dress or a veil myself and I truly think that I couldn't feel more like a bride if I wore something bought and as Leslie put it: "fashionable". I just know that I couldn't be more happy with what I will be wearing on my wedding day.
"Oh, and in three days, just a day before the wedding, I will have my own party with all my girls. I think it will be the best thing in the whole world, especially because I know that the day after I will be going to White Sands knowing that I will be back in three long months! We will talk, laugh, dance and sing. It is just what I need before leaving Glen.
"I just realised that it's almost one in the morning… I really do have to stop going to bed in such late hours, and "waking up God-knows-when", as my Dad said to me yesterday.
"I have a feeling that these last three days are going to be the most wonderful days of me being still, Julia Una Blythe."
The 5th of August came and with it came the party which Julia was waiting for ever since she came back from France. All "her" girls and Julia had their picnic on the beach in Four Winds with Julia's old, but still the best, portable radio. "Oh, it's so nice to finally be somewhere where there are no boys around, it really was a splendid idea, Juliet." Rose said when she ate her chocolate cookie.
"Thank you," Julia replied with a smile "And I knew that an evening with just you, my girls, would be just what I need before tomorrow…" her cheeks flushed with red and she sighed helplessly "I can't believe that I won't see you all until October!"
"Well, at least my wedding will be a reason for you to come to Glen again." Luna said proudly and Julia kissed her cheek gently.
"I'm so happy for you and Merry." she said with a smile.
"I would never suspect that you, Luna Blythe would marry someone like Merry." Leslie added with impish eyes. Luna just smiled and her pale cheeks suddenly turned bright red, causing Leslie to stick her nose up high as she achieved her goal.
"How did our parents react, anyway?" Cilia asked her sister while drinking her lemonade.
"Mum was very happy becasue she knew for how long I loved Merry," Luna replied shyly, although still smiling "-and Father was very peaceful but he is quite sad that his second daughter is going to be married too."
Cilia touched her sister's hand "Poor Daddy." she said with a sigh "I know, he was very moved when I married Marshall so suddenly. But he'll be fine, Luna, you'll see." she grinned at her warmly.
"Julia, tell us about your wedding dress." Rose insisted excitedly "I know that you didn't buy it yourself but still, tell me how does it feel like to have a wedding dress." she said remembering that her own wedding with John was a secret and that she didn't have any time to buy a wedding dress of her own.
"Oh, it's so wonderful, you know." Julia answered eagerly "I told you already about its design, so you know it, but the feeling I got when I put it on…" she sighed happily "-and it's reminding me that I am really getting married tomorrow!" All of the girls around her chuckled.
"I wonder when I will be married?" Nancy questioned while playing with a pile of sand which flew on the blanket on which she was lying.
The girls looked at questioningly "Nancy, you are fifteen years old." her sister Cilia said to her with furrowed brows.
"Well, don't tell me that you didn't think about getting married when you were fifteen." Nancy replied harshly. Cee looked at her friend meaninfully but Nancy ignored her, as usual.
Leslie sighed and clasped her hands together "Goodness, Nanc's!" she said dramatically "Of course we didn't! We were thinking more about going to the college than about getting married."
Nancy humphed and rolled over so that she was lying on her back "I don't think I want to go to the college." she said "I'm not good in anything really."
"Oh, Nancy, of course you are good in things." Luna said kindly "Your grades at school are really good."
"Yes, but…" she sighed and put her hands on her chest "I would rather be married than go to work." Julia couldn't help but start laughing at that, and all the other girls followed her example, even shy Luna and Cee couldn't hide their smiles. "What are you laughing at Miss bride-to-be?" Nancy asked her angrily.
"Nancy what do you think being married means?" Julia asked her, still grinning, seeing at the corner of her eyes how Rose gives her a meaningful gaze.
"Let's just leave the topic, thank you." Nancy said and her cheeks turned fiery.
"Alright then." Rose said and chuckled again "Julia, are you taking River to White Sands with you?" she asked her suddenly.
"No," Julia replied sighing "-River is quite old now, and Dad thinks that he should stay here, besides Blythe says that one day we will build a stable and we will buy another horse." she smiled hopefully.
"Are you packed for tomorrow?" Cilia asked Julia.
Julia just shook her head and all the girls giggled "I should have known that, Sheba." Leslie said with a smile.
"I'm so not organised sometimes." Julia admitted with a grin.
"But you did start packing at least?" asked surprised Lily.
"Yes, of course, I'm not that disorganised." Julia chuckled "Gosh, is it really tomorrow, girls?" she asked them breathlessly again.
"Yes, darling." Cilia said tenderly "You will see that the wedding day is one of the most beautiful days in a girls' life." she touched the gold band resting on the fourth finger of her right hand gently.
Julia smiled at her "I already feel that." she said and then she gasped "Oh my God! I will see Olive and Niall tomorrow!" she put her hands on her blushed cheeks.
All the girls chuckled again "Of course you will, you goose!" Rose said to her and patted her shoulder "And by the way, I can't wait to meet them. Especially Olive." she winked at Julia knowingly.
"You'll love her." Julia said with a smile "She is just the funniest thing alive!" she laughed.
And then, suddenly, the song which Julia loved singing to so much during the war, turned on the radio. She got up immediately and took out the hand towards her sister-in-law "May I?" she bowed at her.
Lily giggled "Of course!" and all the other girls followed their example and they all danced to the "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by Andrew Sisters on the beach. And the sight of them was just as wonderful and fresh like the ocean breeze surrounding them. They all forgot about the weddings and marriages and future. They all lived in that moment and felt like ten-year-olds all over again, dancing with one another and singing as loudly as they could.
And then…
"It's raining!" Nancy squeaked and started packing up all of the food and blankets very quickly.
"Leave it Nancy!" Julia said and put her arms high into the air, enjoying how the droplets of rain started covering her whole body "Let's have fun and dance!"
"Yes, leave it Nancy!" added Rose and took Julia in her arms "Let's dance and sing in the rain!" she shouted happily.
"But we will be ill!" Nancy squeaked again covering the radio with the blanket.
"No we won't and you know that we won't!" Cilia said to her sternly and took her hand "Come on!" and the girls spent another twenty minutes dancing and singing in the rain, having the time of their lives.
When they came back, giggling and almost totally soaked, to the Ingleside where their whole family was gathered and was waiting for them, everyone in the Ingleside's living room fell silent and looked at them closely, with surprise and maybe even gleam of wickedness behind their gaze. The girls stopped giggling when they enteredt the room and looked back at their family members with just the same shining eyes.
"Who's idea was it?" Rilla was the first to ask.
"Mine, dear Aunt Rilla." Julia said seriously and bowed in front of her as if Rilla was a queen. Laughter spread across the room very quickly and everyone agreed later on that it really couldn't be anyone else's idea other than Julia's very own.
"I can't believe I missed seeing you dancing in the rain." Blythe said to Julia while both of them were walking back to the House on the Hill.
Julia smiled at him "Well, you will have many other opportunities to catch up on what you missed." she squeezed his hand as he smiled at her lovingly.
"So it is tomorrow then, isn't it?" he whispered as if he was telling her a secret which no one was supposed to know except for her.
"It is." she whispered back and grinned mysteriously "Are you nervous?" she asked him, her eyes gleaming.
"Well, of course I am." he whispered back and Julia looked at him worriedly "What if you will change your mind at the very last minute? You are the most unpredictable person I know." he said and then he couldn't hide his smile appearing on his lips.
Julia poked him gently on the arm "Oh, please Blythe, you know that I will come." she said and after a few seconds they both laughed.
"This time tomorrow, you will be Mrs Julia Una Ford, how does it feel like?" Blythe asked her with twinkling eyes.
She kissed his cheek "Like the most beautiful dream which will finally become a reality." she said wonderingly.
Blythe looked ahead of him and sighed almost angrily as he saw the figure of the House on the Hill already. Julia looked in the same direction as him and sighed too, sadly this time. "Tomorrow at one in the afternoon," she said to him when they stopped next to the road which was leading towards Four Winds.
Blythe chuckled "I won't forget, don't worry." he replied and bent down to kiss Julia Una Blythe one last time.
"I almost forgot how tall you are." she whispered with a smile when she touched his cheeks.
He smiled at her adoringly and kissed her forehead "I'll see you at the altar then, my sweetheart." he whispered.
"I'll see you there, my Blythe." she whispered back and kissed both of his cheeks tenderly.
""Parting is such sweet sorrow."" Blythe quoted Shakespeare's famous line which he always wanted to use but never found the perfect moment to do it.
Julia gasped silently ""That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow."" she whispered back.
"You remember when we both learned the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet" then?" he asked her in surprise.
"I would never forget it." she said and kissed him once again "I'll see you soon then." she said excitedly.
"Sooner than you might think." he whispered back and turned around towards the road leading to Four Winds.
Julia was looking at him for as long as her eyes could see his figure walking down the road, turning around once in a while and waving to her, like a little boy he once was. When he vanished from her sight, she thought to herself: "Is that even possible to love someone so much?". Then she grinned and made her way towards her home, for the last time as Julia Una Blythe.