Author's Note:
As I'm maintaining staying over 12 chapters ahead. Here's this week's bonus chapter. I'm writing Chapter 20 right now. I think dear reader you'll enjoy it. Do enjoy their preparations.
Note Below wrote when wrote chapter originally.
I thought I'd share some notes I have from pulling together the timeline based off the puffed sleeves. (You could off set this by 1 year forwards or backwards…)
Anne of Green Gables: 1892-1897
Anne of Avonlea: 1897-1899
Anne of the Island: 1899-1903 or Outside of Time
Anne of Windy Poplars: 1903-1906or Outside of Time
Anne's House of Dreams: 1906-1908 or Outside of Time
Anne of Ingleside: 1915-1921? Or Outside of Time
Interesting isn't it. I don't plan to write it, and if someone else wants to run with it - I bless you. But what would Anne of Ingleside been like if that was the time period. Per the timeline off Rilla of Ingleside, it takes place in 1899-1905. How would that book been different though if the timing was during the war? Gilbert would have gone off to work as a war doctor. Rilla likely would have been born 7-9 months after he left (depending on when he left), and Anne would have had a few years of being a single mother during the war. Most of Anne & Gilbert's school friends at the beginning of the war would have been in their early 30s. Who would have gone and fight? Would it have been Paul not Walter dealing with the issues of death on the front lines?
Chapter 7: Preparations
Davy, however, was perfectly happy. He reveled in getting out in the morning and shoveling out the paths to the well and henhouse. He gloried in the Christmas-tide delicacies which Marilla and Mrs. Lynde vied with each other in preparing for Anne, and he was reading an enthralling tale, in a school library book, of a wonderful hero who seemed blessed with a miraculous faculty for getting into scrapes from which he was usually delivered by an earthquake or a volcanic explosion, which blew him high and dry out of his troubles, landed him in a fortune, and closed the story with proper ECLAT.. - Chapter XVIII, Anne of the Island
Gilbert saw his future, laid out before him now as he sat beside Anne across from the lawyer. He'd work hard to protect and provide for his family. His family. He grinned at the thought. Anne and the twins. "We'll bring a copy of the signed marriage license next week."
"How old are you Mr. Blythe, sorry but you must be of age."
"Twenty one." Gilbert nodded, glancing towards Anne who sat frozen, a far away look in her eyes. "I'm of age."
"Then there shouldn't be a problem. When the Cuthbert account was set up with our firm to establish the Strict Settlement there was funds set aside to deal with the particulars including the oversight that will be needed. I will be coming out to inspect yearly, along with the other requirements. Congratulations though I know it's in a sad season. I'm sure it'll give peace to Marilla Cuthbert to know that Anne and the twins will be taken care of."
"Course they will be." Gilbert nodded, rising to shake the man's hand. "How much do we owe you."
Anne was reaching for her purse, but he paused her arm. This was his first step towards taking care of his family. He bit his tongue when the man stated two dollars. He'd had it thankfully, for he'd meant to buy new shoes for his mother for Christmas, not that he'd seen the right one earlier. His pockets lighter, with only what would get them back to Avonlea left, he escorted Anne out of the office, thinking on what odd jobs he could do before school resumed. As a married man he'd have more expenses.
They'd stepped out onto the street, as changed as their relationship. Dark heavy clouds had rolled in and it had begun to snow. Anne had stormed out ahead of him.
"Oh Gilbert! You really don't have to marry me, we'll sign over Green Gables and I'll get a teaching position somewhere, find enough for renting a few rooms for the twins and me…"
"No." Gilbert laid his hand on her shoulder. "We'll marry with Marilla there. Then they can stay at Green Gables with Mrs. Lynde while we're at school. Really the only thing that will change is I'll always get the third dance. And you can't. You won't make enough to support the twins and yourself. And… I'd hate to continue school without you. Please… Marry me?"
Anne sighed, her eyes brimming with tears. "Must we Gilbert? There must be another solution. There isn't though..." She almost slumped before him. "I… will… Gilbert. I know we'll need to make it a real marriage one day, if we want children…"
"Not for years." Gilbert took her arm, tucking it into his own. "We won't... we won't you know do that until we're ready to start a nursery... That'll be years. For I'll want to be finished with Medical school first."
She nodded though did not look at him. "Lets hurry, the station…"
"Maybe we should seek shelter." He glanced up at the sky. Since they'd stepped outside it had already begun to come down heavier.
"I can't leave Marilla…"
"I'd rather stay here where we've friends to call upon rather than get stuck in Bright River. We might find some kind soul to take us in, but what if we're stuck at that little inn across from the station? We brought the buggy not the sleigh. It might be too thick for the buggy's wheels, and I didn't check if the runners were strapped to the bottom. Dad mentioned doing some work on them before the real storms hit."
Anne sighed then pulled his arm. "The Allen's new home is a mile east of here. We best hurry then."
—
They arrived just as their noses were freezing, and already nearly an inch of snow lay on the ground. Knocking on the knocker, the kind Mrs. Allen exclaimed upon seeing them, hurried both inside to the parlor in front of the fire to warm while she rushed to see to the tea and call the Reverend Allen from his study.
The Reverend Allen insisted they stay the night, they'd make a cot for Gilbert in the kitchen while Anne would have the spare room. They'd asked after all the news of college, and for half an hour Anne could forget the heaviness of the future awaiting her. But at last she had to share, how they'd rushed home due to Marilla's illness and the legal issues they were facing upon Marilla's death. Gilbert then had the cheek to announce that they were engaged and ask the Allens if they could come to the wedding and the good Reverend to officiate it.
Anne felt she was in a whirlwind as they all decided on a late morning wedding that Friday. Anne had tried to suggest they wait until after Christmas, but concern for Marilla no longer being with them and that the trains would not be running after Saturday until the following Wednesday put too much urgency to set the date sooner.
She'd dreamed of course of her wedding with Diana. The tall dark brooding handsome mysterious man of her dreams that she'd marry. All the details and the splendid speech he'd make for his proposal. A far cry from Gilbert's constant unromantic proposals. Clothed more in practicalities and nothing of the romantic sentiments she dreamed of. Why he could have written a speech of how life would be unbearable without her, perhaps a poem. He could have tried! Still though, she had her hero in her dreams, she could escape in stories after all. Perhaps she'd write a novel and publish it, finding a way to help support them…
Glancing at him she bit her lip. At least he'd promised nothing would change, for even his jest about the third dance. He would have tried to claim that anyways. She wouldn't be expected to be his wife in every sense for a long time. Though she supposed one day they would want children and would have to. But perhaps the twins would be enough, or they could adopt? Images of what she'd seen and heard before coming to Green Gables made her hands shake before pushing them under her skirts she sat to keep herself still. Gilbert wouldn't…
—
He'd had a good talk about his responsibilities with the Reverend after Anne had gone to the kitchen to help Mrs. Allen prepare their supper. He'd even promised the reverend he'd no plans to claim his husbandly rights and risk getting Anne pregnant before he could support them better. He would be a good provider for Anne and the twins, and raise the twins well. Where they would all live of course was something to worry about later. For now, it was enough that he'd provide. Somehow.
They talked about the differences between the cares of a single man, vs a married man. Searching the bible for its standards for a husband. It was a big undertaking. To love Anne as Christ loved the church. But then he realized, he already did.
They'd made arrangements over supper to secure the license in the morning before returning home. Then the conversation shifted as Mrs. Allen asked them their plans for after the wedding as husband and wife. It had been an awkward conversation but bore some fruit, for the Reverend Allen fetched a bible, not the King James he'd grown up with but the Revised Version, published fifteen years before with more modern language. He'd then read them the story of Mary and Joseph. When the Reverend Allen finished he'd set the book down, looked Gilbert straight in the eyes. "What you're entering in is more like the ancient Hebrew practice of a betrothal. Legally binding, only a divorce would allow you to separate. Truly it's the same as being man and wife with the only difference is that the marriage is not yet consummated, they call it espoused in the King James, and Betrothed in the revived."
"Betrothed..." He glanced towards Anne who mulled the word on her lips. "I think that's best Gilbert. I... I don't wish to have everyone knowing, having to explain. It's just to legally protect that we're marrying at all..."
"I won't lie."
"Oh no! Anne cried, "Nor shall I. But Gilbert, it's such a rush and all will gossip and try to tell us we've no business marrying before we're done with school. It's to protect the twins and Green Gables, and so Marilla will witness before I... Oh I can't imagine a world without Marilla or Matthew. We'll have ever so many questions if we're married, and not yet living as man and wife. Betrothed is better I think. It's the truth for we'll be under legal contract to complete the marriage when we're done with school."
"It's a matter of words. Betrothed means to be under contract for marriage. Quite truthful for your planned life after you marry for you do not mean to complete the marriage quite yet." The Reverend Allen advised. "Though if any ask if Gilbert is your husband I ask you speak truthfully."
"Naturally. But I'd rather not explain why, that others not know of the threat of Douglas and..."
"Then it's settled." Gilbert nodded. With that the discussion turned to the plans, a simple small wedding that Friday in the Green Gables parlor. They'd call it an engagement supper with only those most intimate invited. The Allens would come that morning and he'd pick them up, to both see Marilla before she went and to officiate their betrothal ceremony as Anne put it.
He'd laughed as the Reverend Allen pulled out a book noting some of the research on the betrothal and marriage process known in the Bible. There wasn't that much info, but Anne had gone dreamy eyed about the few foreign customs they'd found, including that the bride and groom would share a glass of wine.
He'd laid there that night on the cot, thinking that next time they were stranded like this he'd have a warm bed to lay beside her in, to hold her hand, perhaps hold her in his arms. More than that would not be wise as much as he might wish it while they were in school. The thought of one day truly knowing her as Adam knew Eve set his blood pumping. He'd turned and pushed his thoughts beyond such enjoyable dreams to the fruits that it would bear. He envisioned a little baby, with a tuff of red hair, in a long baby dress cradled in Anne's arms. To that dream he fell asleep.
—
Anne stared out the window of the train as they slowly moved along. The tracks in two places had heaved from the ice forcing them to stop and wait for the tracks to be repaired. She thought on people's reactions, on Marilla.
"What if Marilla doesn't make it to Friday?" She didn't dare look at her fiancé. Her heart sunk slightly at the thought. Her fiancé. He certainly wasn't her romantic ideal. But at least he was a good friend. And she'd have years to prepare her mind before they fully stepped into marriage, if they ever needed to. Perhaps they could just continue as they were? Oh she might be returning to Kingsport as Anne Blythe, but nothing else would change, she prayed.
"We'll still marry, give up Green Gables and take the twins back with us to Kingsport. Beg our landlords to let Davy and Dora stay with each of us, and come summer look for an apartment. We'll find a way, somehow together."
"Together." She nodded slowly. "I guess Mrs. Lynde could go to one of her daughters…"
They returned, and an inspection of the buggy proved there were conversion runners strapped to the underside. It took Gilbert an hour to remove the wheels and attach the runners. He was just removing the first wheel when Anne huffed. "We could have come back yesterday, what if Marilla…"
"We'll just trust Providence." Gilbert said giving Anne a hand unto the buggy. "Anyways we'll bring good news…"
She nodded settling into the buggy. "Gilbert, I was thinking more on it. I will wear your ring, and explain to all that we're betrothed. But like Mary and Joseph until our marriage supper shall we say, the wedding when we graduate. I'll still use Anne Shirley. Then when we're both done with school, and you're hopefully Dr. Blythe..."
"And can afford a wife to take my name?" Gilbert cut her off. "I don't like deceit."
"Nor do I. Truthfully though it's no one else's concern. We'll have a rash of questions otherwise why we married so quickly, and if I change my name we might as well just confess the whole thing. They'll be asking about our educations, if we're expecting, will I stay home and keep house now that I've caught a husband?" She spat it out. "No. I might legally become Anne Shirley Blythe, but I'll use just Anne Shirley for the time being. We'll explain that you proposed in Charlottetown, no on the boat, but that I was so worried for Marilla that I didn't give you my answer until Charlottetown. It wasn't a very romantic proposal though. Why couldn't you have given a flowing beautiful speech? Oh you couldn't have waxed on about my red hair, you did call it carrots once for good reason. We simply won't mention that we're to marry on Friday. We'll tell Marilla of course when we're home, and Diana and Fred. They can be trusted, but the rest will just believe the Allens are coming to see Marilla out of concern."
"I've got to tell my parents."
"It'll be an engagement lunch then." Anne sighed. "We'll tell the others that we're to have a little lunch. Something to cheer Marilla with when the Allens come, for she'll join us if she's able. Oh she simply must recover."
—
It was nearly noon when they arrived at Green Gables. Davy, busy building a fort leapt at their approach. "Oh Anne! Mrs. Lynde said Gilbert must have been sensible and had you stay in Charlottetown, but isn't this snow just bully? She's upstairs right now with Marilla. Marilla had another episode, and Mrs. Lynde said I was making too much noise and would I go out and make a fort or something. Dora's helping her. Diana's making us lunch. At least Minnie Mays' not over. Dora suggested I marry her and we could then live at Orchard Slope if we loose Green Gables. We're not going to loose Green Gables are we? I mean you'll just move back here or…"
Anne glanced at Gilbert. "Let's find the others, come along Davy boy."
"You're back! Oh please tell me you've good news!" Diana cried rushing into Anne's arms and kissing her cheeks.
"I must see Marilla, come if she's awake I can tell you, Mrs. Lynde and her at once. Gilbert can tell the twins of our trip…"
She shot him a look before dragging Diana upstairs to Marilla's room. Marilla was awake, a damp cloth on her forehead.
"So I assume," Mrs. Lynde spoke from the corner where she sat mending one of her mourning dresses the minute Anne entered. "That you've news of that lawyer, that everything's in order? Where'd you stay last night?"
"Yes. Everything is secure." Anne took a deep breath. "It'd begun to snow when we'd met with the lawyer, and discovering it we'd argued of course of what to do. I wanted to rush back, when Gilbert…." Anne sighed imagining how the proposal might have gone if Gilbert had a truly romantic poetic bone in his body. "I'd been arguing about fear for Marilla, the future, loosing my family. He proposed then, sweeping me off my feet. Well he had on the boat coming over asked before but I'd been too worried over Marilla."
"Anne!" Diana clapped her hands. "Do tell me you accepted."
"Yes." Anne squeezed Marilla's hand, glancing down at her before smiling at Rachel and Diana. "We then rushed to the Allens, they were but a mile away and were freezing when we arrived. They of course put us up and were the first to congratulate us. They said they'd return on Friday to see Marilla. We thought we'd make a small party of it to celebrate that day."
"I'm glad Anne." Marilla spoke shakily. "Now help me sit up. Rachel you get me some tea, that willow bark for my headache. Anne bring Gilbert up while Diana makes me presentable."
—
Gilbert climbed the stairs behind Anne. Diana was just leaving Marilla's room as Anne lead him in.
"I'm giving you two my blessing." Marilla spoke matter of factly. "Who did the lawyer say was likely the heir?"
"Davy."
She nodded. "Then Douglas will insist on being the guardian. Didn't care a smite about them when their mother died. Wrote to me that I should have sent them on to an orphanage. Course, he didn't approve of Matthew and I taking on Anne. Least he was glad we hadn't gotten the planned boy."
"We'll be marrying Friday." Anne said. "You're so much better already then when we left for Charlottetown. We'll keep quiet that we're married on paper. A betrothal ceremony. I mean I will be legally his wife, but we'll keep quiet. When we're done with school perhaps we'll have a second ceremony."
"So Green Gables will have a wedding at last. No house is properly a home without a birth, a death and a funeral. Matthew and my mother both died here, though Father died of a stroke in the church pew."
Anne's eyes went wide.
"Matthew and I were little when the house was built. Before that we lived in my Grandfather's home. The hired man here once though was married, they had a babe in the kitchen when I was twenty. Only Matthew, John Blythe and I were about. Mother had already passed, and Father had gone with the hired man to purchase some cows he coveted over in Bright River. The babe was born, I'd sworn off ever thinking of putting myself through that ordeal and when John Blythe made an unsavory quirk about childbirth sitting in the sitting room downstairs. Me drenched in the afterbirth and blood. I slapped him hard and it was the worst row we ever had. I'm afraid that was the end of us courting." She chuckled. "He tried of course to mend things, but I wouldn't hear of it."
"Now promise me now that Gilbert and I are securing the future. You'll do yours and not die. You can't… Oh Marilla… I'll be staying of course. Gilbert will arrange for my things to come back."
"You're not stopping your education."
"No…" Anne shook her head. "Just until you're better."
"Humpf." Marilla snorted. "Your as bad as me. What ever happens, promise you won't stop. I mean to see your graduation. Do not stop life on account of me. Now go. I'll need to rest extra if I'm to be able to come downstairs on Friday."
Anne and Gilbert descended the stairs. "Anne," He whispered, taking her hand half way down the stairs. "I best head back home, tell my folks."
She nodded, squeezing his hand. "We'll plan for them on Friday."
"Plus Uncle George and Aunt Milly." Gilbert sighed. "They live next door, mother and her sister are rather close. We'll tell others it's just family gathering. Well family plus Fred & Diana. "
"Perhaps it should just be us and the Allens, the less who know…"
"No." Gilbert gripped her hands now. "We can call it a betrothal, but I'm marrying you at least with our family there. And after, I won't lie if I'm asked if you're my wife."
"I wouldn't ask you to…" Anne gazed up at him. "But keeping quiet will give us time to adjust. It's so sudden."
"We should put your ring on…"
She shook her head. "Friday… When we… well you know."
He nodded, staring at her, her lips she supposed. Had she something on her face? "Well, there's much to do in preparation…"
"We should warn them all that it'll be a wedding…"
"No." Anne shook her head, "They'll argue us out of it. Say it's unwise to marry now. I'd rather not explain about Douglas Cuthbert. Well perhaps Diana and Fred…"
She'd taken to daydreaming about how she'd decorate the parlor and sitting room, her thoughts in the woods where she'd find the best boughs to decorate for Christmas when she'd realized he'd leaned in close to her. With a shock she'd realized his intention too late. She'd managed to shift her head slightly, so that his kiss landed on the corner of her mouth. She felt bile rising. "You promised only the third dance."
He looked sheepish she thought, as he straightened. "Sorry, You looked too cute. Anyways its what they'd expect, we're engaged after all."
She'd glared at him, stood as primly as possible, swallowing down the bile in her throat at the implications of their future. "Well you best find Fred."
—
Gilbert didn't go looking for Fred. Instead he first went home, changed and gave his parents the good news that Anne had accepted his proposal. The Allens would be coming Friday to see Marilla, and as Anne had always been close to them they'll have a small engagement luncheon with Marilla joining if she was up to it - for she'd seemed to have taken a turn for the better. He'd gone next to his Aunt's kitchen to invite them, and only then did he go looking for Fred.
Gilbert found Fred in the small barn, on the farm that Diana had already named Lone Willow for it's single willow tree. That she would not live there for over two years was unimportant. She was already in Fred's eyes the mistress of his farm, though he'd yet to fully buy it out from his father. "Need a hand?" Gilbert asked.
"Just about got it." Fred said looking up from where he was prying loose a crooked nail. "Was trying to organize the farm. Not as much to do in winter. Just sit and wait and rest. Busy enough in the summer anyways. How's college? Diana said you were valiant rushing to escort Anne home when the news came. Got any news?"
"Anne accepted my proposal." Gilbert smiled. "And at our news Marilla's determined to take a turn for the better."
"Wonderful. It's been worrying Diana awfully about Anne and Marilla."
"You'll stand up with me?"
"Sure." Fred grinned picking up another nail. "Guess you'll be marrying after me though. I've only got two years and some months. Though knowing Diana's mother she'll argue for waiting until summer for the best flowers. Rather than marry in February soon as Diana's twenty one."
"We're marrying Friday."
Fred cursed as he missed his nail. Shaking his hand he stared at his friend. "Friday?"
"We won't live as man and wife, not until I'm able to support us well and are ready to start our nursery. I won't risk getting Anne pregnant before I'm ready to support my family." Gilbert grinned at the image of Anne rocking a baby with a tuff of red hair. "But if Marilla dies before we're married, there's some legal issues over the guardianship of the twins and Green Gables."
Fred nodded. "Makes sense. I'll ask my mother to press my suit for Friday. Pass me another nail?"
—
Anne smiled as Mrs. Lynde took charge on planning the luncheon. "Now how many Anne? I'll see to the food you'll have enough on your plate and it'll keep me busy from worry over Marilla. She rather did perk up with your news. I know it'll be tempting from time to time with a long engagement. I know all too well how tempting things can get. My eldest I'm sad to admit was born six months after our wedding. Don't make my mistake now."
Anne's eyes went wide. No, she thought, they certainly were not going to make that mistake. Her hope was that they could delay announcing it until she'd come to terms and grieved her dreams properly. Perhaps they'd even manage to never tell a soul besides the few going that would witness her pledge her life to Gilbert. Instead she imagined somehow Gilbert changing into that poetic hero of her dreams, sweeping her off her feet and a beautiful wedding after graduation.
"How many Anne?"
"Fourteen, including Marilla."
"It'll be a bit crowded, but with a table in the parlor and the one in the sitting room it'll do. Mine's in storage up in the attic, I'll ask Gilbert to bring it down next time he's here."
"I know it'll just be family Anne, but…"
"You and Fred will be there, non other though." Diana squealed.
"Help me pick what to wear on Friday?" Anne asked, pulling her friend out of the kitchen.
"And you didn't bring home much did you? Wanting a good impression on Gilbert's family."
"Just my traveling dress and what I'm wearing. Left several older dresses. Marilla insisted that I embark to Redmond in new clothes." Anne lead the way up the stairs. Only when they were in the room, the door shut behind them, and Anne glanced outside to see the twins playing in the yard did she whisper. "It's not just a good impression. There's legal issues for the twins and Green Gables if we wait until after Marilla… Oh it's so wonderful that she's recovering, but still we thought it best."
"Best for what?" Diana asked.
"The Allens are not just coming on Friday to see Marilla. The Reverend Allen is going to marry Gilbert and I then."
"On Friday?"
"Yes." Anne shifted through the dresses left behind, mostly summer dresses and an old winter dress that had seen better days. There were also two black dresses from the mourning of Matthew two years before. "We mean to wait to have a second wedding, consider it a betrothal ceremony. We don't mean to live as man and wife for years. We'll be swearing all of you to secrecy right before. Mrs. Lynde won't approve, but we need to be man and wife legally if anything happens to Marilla… if she…" Anne burst into tears.
"Anne…" Diana wrapped her arms around her friend. "We've got much to do then. Now what will you wear? It really should be white so you're a proper bride. Your white organdy? it is a bit old and too short for you now. We'll embellish it, and make it a fitting wedding dress, some layers of ruffles that you'd never know it was from when you were sixteen. A little cold for December, but you'll look lovely. You will wear a veil won't you?"
"Yes indeed." Anne sighed. "I shouldn't feel like a bride without one. But then with this whole rushed affair and marriage of connivence I don't feel much like one anyways. The organdy will do I suppose, though we'll need to add near a whole foot of fabric for I grew along with the younger cut. It'll be chilly, but I suppose with a heavy petticoat and my long underwear it shall't be so bad. Anyways we'll want to keep the stove and fireplace going to keep Marilla comfortable."
"Leave it to me for the veil." Diana cried. "Put on the white organdy now and lets take stock of what changes to make. Truthfully the whole thing is so romantic."
What Anne felt was far from romantic. Instead she felt her insides turning and wondered if she would not bolt and run come Friday.