Dear readers, thank you all very much for reading this story, following it, favouriting it and of course reviewing it. I am extremely grateful and I hope that you enjoy this story more and more with each new chapter :) - Bathsheba Blythe

Chapter V

Dear Diary,

It is the first Friday of the year 1923, and therefore I decided to write in here everything that is happening as well as what I wish for for this new year that we all have just welcomed.

I don't have many wishes, and it seems a bit strange when I think of my New Years' wishes when I was let's say, fourteen years old, I had billions of them in my mind and now I don't even have five of them. What I wish for this year is to have my family happy and without any worries or fears on their backs. I wish for all of my students to pass to Queen's and therefore to break the record of having just two students who didn't pass to Queen's two years ago. And that is it, that is all I wish for this year of 1923.

Three days ago we had a not-very-small party again, but this time at the House of Dreams. Persis and her husband Louis, came for a whole months' long stay as Persis has to show her French (as she always emphasises that she is now a wife to a French gentleman) husband where she comes from.

They, of course, plan on going to Aunt Leslie's and Uncle Owen's house in Toronto in two weeks time, but before that they will stay here in Glen and I'm very happy as I always liked Persis and she always liked me. It is good to see a friend after such a long time of not seeing or hearing her at all! We haven't seen each other in three long years and Persis reminded me of that as the very first thing she said to me was: "Di, you didn't change at all in those three years and I'm positive that you never will!". Darling Persis!

She looks absolutely wonderful. Her clothes make Nan's fingers itch, she didn't have to tell me as I could simply sense it, I could see that Nan was jealous of Persis's gloves with lace (which she got from Paris) and her velvet hat with a real peacock's feather on it. I must admit myself that next to Persis I feel rather small in my smart, "not outshining" jackets and dresses. But at least Persis seems not to notice her own clothes, not so much at least.

But there is one thing that is changed about Persis, she started smoking to the very horror of her sister-in-law Rilla, and so the disgusted looks coming from Ken are considered something of a norm whenever she says that she will "Go outside for a few seconds".

But I must admit that her husband, like she always wrote to me, is a real gentleman. Louis is tall and handsome man with blonde curls and real sea-blue eyes. And his accent is simply as delicious as Susan's monkey face cookies, there, I must make sure that she will not see this journal ever in her life or she would do things no one would imagine Susan Baker to do.

I must say that Persis is quite enough in love with Louis, I don't mind her talking about him a bit, but good grief, she talks about him most of the time! Ken must remind her that she does, sometimes by saying "Louis is next to you, Pers." and she closes her mouth, kisses blushed Louis on the cheek and goes back to talking about "her" Paris.

But that's enough of Persis. Now I shall talk a bit about Robert Keats. Robert came for New Years' Eve to Ingleside and we talked until three o'clock in the morning, causing Susan to give me a speech in the morning as if I did something as good as scandalous! Robert didn't change one single bit and I'm incredibly glad because I wouldn't change him, not ever. He is a real hard-working and determined man, his company had its bright turn last week and I'm extremely proud of him, he's my friend after all.

Robert meets me three times a week, sometimes more, depends on how much work I have with "my" children. He always brings me some of his records with Mozart or Beethoven and we listen to them in my room and we analyse them together later on. I lend him my books and we talk about… well, everything I think. He always brings me something, whether it's chocolates or flowers (I always ask him where is he getting those flowers from, in the middle of winter and he replies "Dear Di, it is a secret which I will not share with you, and it will be much sweeter that way.").

I forgot that it's so late at night, I shall make my way to the land of dreams and hopes now.

Yours,

Di Blythe

P.S. Hopefully I'll be able to write here more often, but I can't promise anything, not with dear Jacob Drew who for his life can't understand algebra and he makes me just as incapable of it as he is.

"Oh, but please Di!" Persis insisted.

"No, darling." Di replied as calmly as she could "I am very thankful for your offer, but I must refuse it."

Persis sighed dramatically and clasped Di's hands in hers "Come on, Di! You would have so much fun! And I could find you a good-looking French man…" she raised her brow and smiled impishly.

Di's mouth opened wider and she took her hands away "Persis!" she exclaimed "I said: thank you!"

Persis growled and crossed her arms "Alright then." she said eventually although quite reluctantly "But do you promise that you will visit me one day in France?"

Di smiled at her friend "Of course, I will." she replied warmly "One day." and the both of them laughed along with Rilla who was sitting beside them, watching their earlier fight with amusement.

"I will visit you with Di then." Rilla announced and then patted her huge stomach "If my children will allow me to!" she said and Persis grinned at her and Di squeezed her sister's hand.

"I can't believe that it will be your third child, Rilla." she said and took the two year old Blythe on her lap, kissing his black curls tenderly "Do you think that it will be a girl this time?"

"I hope so." Rilla replied as if she was speaking to her baby growing inside of her "I love my darling boys but I always thought that having a daughter is something of a dream of mine from very long ago." she smiled mysteriously and Persis and Di chuckled together.

"Let's hope it's a girl then." Di said.

"And if not, I am happy to adopt your third baby boy," Persis added with a smirk "-that is if you would not want to raise another man in your house."

Rilla and Di laughed together "Of course I will want to raise my baby if it's a boy, Persis. What a horrible thought!" Rilla reprimanded her sister-in-law laughingly and tickled Blythe under his chin, making him to shyly grin at her in return.

"Do you think that you will have children in the future, Pers?" Di asked her friend.

"Of course I will." Persis replied eagerly "I want at least two sweet kiddies with my hair and Louis's eyes. But before we will start a family of our own, we want to finish our travels all around France and England first." she looked significantly at her friends and then chuckled herself "Oh, I do love travelling, you know that girls, don't you?"

Di nodded and so did Rilla "We know it too well." they both said in unison and the three women, or in that moment girls, couldn't stop laughing for another two precious hours.

"Class dismissed. Have a very good weekend, boys and girls." Di said to her "Queen's class" and when her pupils started getting up from their seats, she put her hand high in the air again and they all looked at her once more "And remember to revise for your mini-test next Wednesday!" she told them and grinned to herself when the students groaned.

Di started cleaning off the blackboard behind her while she humed the happy tunes of "Whispering" by Paul Whiteman. That's how Carl found her, twirling around with a sponge in her hand and her red hair waving around her while she sang and laughed at the same time. "I see that you have just as much 'fun' in Fridays as your students do." he said to her, leaning against the door of her classroom.

Di jumped and turned to face him, blushing heavily. She never dreamed that someone could find her dancing and singing like that, while cleaning the blackboard of her classroom "I suppose so." she replied to him with a smile "But Carl, you nearly startled me!" she exclaimed and Carl laughed.

"I thought I did. And I won't say that I didn't intend to, just a little." he answered to her exclamation and put on his hat "Ready to go?"

Di put down the sponge on her desk and took her folders in her arms "Do you mean that Auntie Rosemary let you go and have dinner at Ingleside at last?" she asked him with a raised brow while they started walking together outside the school building.

"Yes, she did." Carl smiled at Di "But that's only because Bruce is not feeling very well today and he needs Mother Rosemary to take care of him."

"Poor Bruce." Di said sympathetically.

"Oh, don't be so sad for him, Di." Carl chuckled "Bruce is 'over the moon' that he doesn't have to go to school on a day as snowy as this one is." he said and Di laughed, tightening up her blue scarf around her neck.

"So, Carl," Di started "-did you see Rilla's and Ken's little girl?" she asked him excitedly.

Carl shook his head "I was meant to pay them a visit yesterday evening but I had so many marking to do, I just didn't have enough energy to lift my head high enough." he explained "Tell me about little Leslie." he winked at Di knowingly and she smiled at him.

"She is so frecled that Mother can barely look at her without apologising." she replied and both of them laughed cheerfully "At least her hair is auburn, Mother added with such relief that Father rolled his eyes, and he never does so, not at Mother at least." she chuckled again "But Leslie is a sweet-pie and I could easily eat her up if I could. It's a shame that Persis left for Toronto just a day before Les was born."

"True, but she will see her little niece before she comes back to France, I imagine?" Carl asked her.

"Yes, she will." Di answered "But Carl, you must see her and you must tell Ken to stop talking about his "little baby-Willa" the whole time. He will listen to you."

Carl laughed again "You know that I can't make Kenneth Ford speechless." he said "But I will try my best." he then looked at Di more sheepishly. There was one question that was on his mind ever since the New Years' Eve party at Ingleside, when he met Di's Robert Keats and when counted that this mysterious Robert danced with Di four times that night.

Di looked at Carl and her brows furrowed "What is it?" she asked him worriedly.

Carl looked into her expectant eyes and sighed "Well, I was just wondering... how is this Robert fellow, your friend I mean?" he asked her eventually, and it was as if a stone was resting on his heart.

"Very good, thank you." she replied to him, her cheeks suddenly getting redder, not because of the cold wind blowing into her face "But why are you so serious, Carl?" she asked him.

"I was just thinking, is there… well… anything between you two?" he asked her slowly.

Di laughed and waved her hand "No!" she chuckled "No, Robert is just a good friend of mine. He and I meet about three times a week and we listen to music, talk and read books, that's all. That's not enough to be in love." she said although she thought that it was just her mouth that moved, and that it wasn't her own voice speaking those words.

Carl looked away and his eyes followed the road in front of him "It is, Di. I think it is." he replied softly and Di looked at the road too, feeling more confused by his tone than she ever was.