Marilla and John Blythe

by elsiecarson

BASED ON THE MOVIES. Anne is in Kingsport. Gilbert is off at medical school. John and Marilla are both feeling pretty lonely without their kids at home. John has been helping Marilla with the farm since Matthew died and he comes to talk to her. The past is dredged up and things change between them.

3. What on Earth is Going On?

"Marilla Cuthbert what on earth is going on here?" Rachel asks as Marilla and John enter the kitchen.

"Oh, Rachel, mind your own business for once. Just because John is here doesn't mean that anything is going on." Marilla smiles at John as she speaks.

"It isn't nothing. You're smiling and you're holding his hand. You haven't been a couple for thirty years. Something has definitely changed. Don't I have a right to know?" Rachel asks as she looks at her friend suspiciously.

"All right, Rachel, perhaps you do have a right to know. John and I are back in a relationship because I've forgiven him and he's forgiven me for being foolish." Marilla says as she sits down heavily at the kitchen table.

"Marilla Cuthbert! You told me years ago that you'd never forgive him. What on earth changed?" Rachel asks genuinely.

"A supreme sense of loneliness, Rachel, I watched all my friends get married and I think I could have been one of them had it not been for my temper and my stubbornness. How could I avoid being angry with myself for denying myself love?" Marilla says as she passes John some potatoes and the peeler. "I assume you know what to do?"