Author's Note:

Warning: There's a scene here inspired by the statue by Michelangelo of King David and a scene from the movie Dave. (Very funny movie of a look a like hired to impersonate the president whose in a coma and I took inspiration from the scene where the First Lady realizes that the man she thinks is her husband isn't…).

I'm finally writing again, and went through and edited this chapter. This chapter drags a bit as I worked to figure out what was happening at school for the second year. But I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 15: Patty's Place

"It's the homiest spot I ever saw—it's homier than home," avowed Philippa Gordon, looking about her with delighted eyes. They were all assembled at twilight in the big living-room at Patty's Place—Anne and Priscilla, Phil and Stella, Aunt Jamesina, Rusty, Joseph, the Sarah-Cat, and Gog and Magog. The firelight shadows were dancing over the walls; the cats were purring; and a huge bowl of hothouse chrysanthemums, sent to Phil by one of the victims, shone through the golden gloom like creamy moons.

It was three weeks since they had considered themselves settled, and already all believed the experiment would be a success. The first fortnight after their return had been a pleasantly exciting one; they had been busy setting up their household goods, organizing their little establishment, and adjusting different opinions. - XVI, Anne of the Island

That Anne was glad to leave Avonlea behind would be an understatement. The day before her story had been published in the island papers and Mr. William Blair had given away massive copies of the story printed on pink, green, and yellow pamphlets that he gave to every customer. He'd given a massive pile of them to Anne who'd promptly pushed them all into the kitchen stove as soon as he'd left Green Gables still congratulating Avonlea's finest writer as he climbed back into his buggy.

They'd spent the afternoon covering all the furniture with sheets, save for the kitchen table and beds. The trunks were packed and loaded and only their valances were waiting for the final items to go. It'd been a jolly long day traveling to Kingsport. Dora had sat primly throughout their travels, while Davy bounced with excitement with ever so many questions about the ferry and trains. It was decided they would arrive a day earlier than the girls so they might settle the twins in some what.

They'd arrived quite late, after nine. And merely left the trunks in the living room for morning, before inspecting the rooms. Anne would have the little blue room, nestled under the fir trees, with a view of the branches. The bed, a three quarter bed was large enough to share with Dora, though a bit cozy. The other bedrooms were in order, and Anne thought it quite snug pretty for all the girls upstairs. The barn room was another matter.

The bed there was barely more than a cot, and there was no second cot for Davy. "Oh dear," Anne said as she went out to inspect with Gilbert. "We'll see about something, but Davy best sleep in the house for now. Will you be alright here or should you stay in the room that is for Aunt Jamesina with Davy until we can find a better bed situation for you in the barn? Truly looking closer I think that cot might do for Davy but it would not for you."

"I'll look at second hand stores, and find something Anne. Don't you worry. Maybe I'll find us a bed we'll keep for when we're done with school."

Anne gulped at his words, and barely had time to respond as he quickly kissed her cheek and lead Davy into the downstairs bedroom. "Get ready for bed Davy as I lock up. Night Anne, Dora."

Anne had lead Dora up the stairs, pleasantly asked the girl which side she'd prefer, and after preparing for bed, the two girls knelt to pray, before climbing into the bed. It was as Anne was blowing the candle out that Dora spoke. "Anne, you took your ring off when you did your toilet and forgot to put it on." The little girl who slept closer to the vanity where the wash basin was reached over to grab it. "Minnie May said that Diana never goes without her engagement ring. That way Fred is always close to her heart. I know Gilbert always smiles at you when he holds your hand with the ring on it. Do you think that all married couples are as you and Gilbert? Will you hold hands as you sleep?" Dora sighed. "I pray that I find a man who loves me as much as Gilbert loves you."

Anne could not escape into her dream stories that night. Instead, she lay there, feelings as though the ring on her finger shrunk as the night wore on. Gilbert wasn't in love with her anymore then she was with him. One day he'd realize it and regret their hasty marriage to protect Green Gables and the twins. She already did. Why couldn't Marilla have lived? Well, she determined, she would pour herself into this year. It wasn't as though anything would change more than it had for years yet. Three more years to graduation and then another three for his medical school. Perhaps she could stay at Green Gables with the twins and Mrs. Lynde during those years. Yes, that would do quite well. She'd write. Write something that would make her proud to put on the bookshelf in the Green Gables parlor. A romance that would make up for the lack in reality.

She would turn her story of Prince Royal and Lady Cornelia into a novel (Such she'd finally decided to name her heroine). Prince Royal would be the hero, Gilbert never could be. Haunting, mysterious, poetic, romantic, brooding, the perfect hero.

They'd spent the morning visiting the second hand shops, and were pleasantly surprised after a few hours to find a second hand bed that needed repairs but was quite serviceable. It was a simple affair, but quite serviceable for a single man. And Gilbert reminded Anne, Davy would do fine with the existing cot bed.

They'd returned to unpack just as Philippa arrived. She'd then teased Anne mercilessly when Anne had stepped out of the blue room with a small pile of things from her trunk that could only be Gilberts. "Why Anne!"

"Don't." Anne walked primly past. "We were economical in the packing. Davy shared a room with Gilbert all summer just as he is here."

The other girls arrived that night, and they made a cheery party that evening to a dinner that Anne and Dora cooked with Phil attempting her first foray into the kitchen. "You see Anne, I can learn. I learned to stir and how to chop such I don't chop off my fingers. Quite an improvement in one day I'd say!"

Anne had instructed the girls on Miss Patty's instructions to not put holes in the wall paper as it'd been new five years before. "We'll putty the holes up when we leave, dear—she'll never know," Stella insisted only to be seconded by the other two girls.

Gog and Magog were removed from under the bed to be shared by Stella and Pris and displayed after a strict lecture of care was given to the twins. That Friday night they had their first gathering of friends. Even Charlie and Moody came by to visit. Davy had stared at him with wide eyes when he'd arrived only to tell them how half a dozen ruthless Sophs, in his boarding house had swooped down on him the night before and shaved half his head. He looked quite miserable and confessed to Anne and Gilbert he had his doubts whether he truly was called to be a minister.

They'd prepared the house for their liking, and the following week began their school year, as did also the twins who during their time in Kingsport would be attending the local grammar school. Anne had escorted the twins for their first day, wished them the best before making her way to Redmond. Gilbert, who'd gone early for the first practice of the football team, made a point to find her as soon as she entered. The whole school was gathered in auditorium where the dean began to give the welcome speech. With Gilbert sitting beside her, and Phil on the other side, she felt quite certain this year would be a good year.

She'd been thought pulled aside by Professor Hamilton as they existed, "If you two would be so good to join me for a few minutes? Mr. and Mrs. Blythe?"

She'd gulped before waving Phil off. They'd followed Professor Hamilton into his office. She'd been surprised to see the Dean already waiting. "We wanted to clarify a few particulars about your unique situation, Mr. & Mrs. Blythe." The Dean spoke. "Professor Hamilton briefed me on the situation and your reasons for your hasty marriage last year. Also on your wishes to keep private on your situation."

"Sir," Gilbert spoke. "There was enough gossip back home about it, and there they'd met the man that would have been guardian to my wife and her cousins had we'd not married before."

"But the morality. It's one thing for an unmarried co-ed, but a married. And one who is not publicly married? We do not wish for a scandal this year or in the years coming because the two of you. If Mrs. Blythe were needing to drop out due to being in the family way, but being publicly Miss Shirley."

"Sir." Gilbert crossed his arms. "That won't happen. We're treating this like a betrothal. Anne will be graduating with no issue. She'll be top of her class in literature. Our friends and family understand, and my folks will help us have a marriage feast and renew our vows when we're ready to truly live as man and wife."

"Understood. Very commendable. It takes a true man to have the self control you'll need. Now, as Mrs. Blythe will remain on record by her maiden name as Ms. Shirley, will there be any question of the morality of your relationship?"

"No." They both shook their head.

"Very well. Current policy does not allow married co-eds without special approval of the board. Should your marriage become public, that will be required. I assume any from your home town know to keep quiet? Otherwise I can arrange Mrs. Blythes review with the board, with her enrollment this term being conditional…"

"No." Anne squeezed her hands behind her back. "Only a few know and they understand our situation. That we consider the first wedding a betrothal ceremony. We are always chaperoned, and nothing irregular."

"Of course, now, I believe the bell will ring for the start of classes. Your schedules are here and I believe you both begin with…"

—

They'd picked up their mail at the post office that afternoon, before walking home together with the girls. The twins were already home and exploring the orchard behind Patty's Place. There was a letter from Mrs. Lynde, the first mail to arrive to the girls at Patty's place.

Gilbert had laughed as he'd leaned over Anne's shoulder at Mrs. Lynde's thoughts over the Baking Powder story. "It is perfectly amazing, the price they pay for such lies, that's what." Mrs. Lynde had written. "Diana Barry had visited me when she was in town to ensure me that all was snug at Green Gables and how useful the prize money will be for the two of you. It is quite the adventure and I leave next to visit my son Tom in Nova Scotia. Though pleased to see my children and their families. I am quite certain that Avonlea is the only truly civilized spot in Canada. I intend to inspect your home when I arrive in two months. To ensure it's up to standards. But then Marilla raised you, and I quite approve of your two friends I've met from Queens. Though the third not being an Islander, I have my doubts about. Do ensure that barn is snug enough for the boys. They can be horrible drafty things. It would not due to have Gilbert die of pneumonia before you've finished school. Thankfully it will not yet be too cold by the time I come to collect the twins."

The bed Gilbert had found worked. Sort of. He'd used rope and glue to hold together the splintered headboard, and with the help of all the girls they'd re-stuffed the mattress with fresh straw. The girls had suggested purchasing feathers for the mattress only for him to insist that it was a waste of funds. He'd worked hard to enjoy this year with Anne and all the girls, not to be working hard to pay for a feather mattress.

The only picture from their wedding was kept on his bedside, and Davy's cot which was paced on the other side of the night stand, had a scribbled drawing of Avonlea. Gilbert had done it for the boy to map out the boundaries of Green Gables the month before. "Got to study it as I mean to farm it well soon as I'm old enough. You think sixteen will be, I want to know?" Davy had asked.

—

It was the fourth day of classes as Anne left for school that she'd began to notice strange stares following her. Had the fiasco of the Baking Powder made her the laughing stock of Redmond? It was nothing of the sort. Instead she'd found a straggly street cat following her as red as her own hair. She'd tried to send it off. Yet it even kept following her. Dora had been enchanted by the strangily cat, and that night had insisted that they call it Rusty. "We'll give it a good nights rest," Stella insisted, "But Anne, it truly must go as Aunt Jamesina will be bringing the Sarah-Cat and they will fight. For it's clear that Rusty is a fighter."

The cat would not leave. They'd even tried to chloroform the cat to Davy's glee and Dora's horror. The next morning upon finding the cat still alive due to a knot hole in the box, Anne swore the cat would remain. By the time in mid September when Aunt Jamesina arrived, Rusty was tolerably handsome, plump and ruling the neighborhood.

Aunt Jamesina arrived with two cats, Sarah-Cat and Joseph, and settled in. That the cats fought out their order was quickly decided. Even Gilbert who watched as he carried in Aunt Jamesina's trunk shook his head at how quickly the Sarah-Cat proved her rule to the feisty Rusty.

At Anne's insistence, Gilbert rarely walked Anne to school and was vague about his lodgings. They'd developed a schedule on taking turns walking the twins to the grammar school. Most of the other children Dora had pointed out to Anne one evening as they were setting the table, were much better dressed. And the Tobacco King who lived next-door's son who was a year older than them teased Davy merciously for wanting to be a farmer.

—

October came before they knew it though. The Harvest Dance had come, and Aunt Jamesina had offered to watch the twins such that Anne and Gilbert might enjoy the dance. Gilbert who was working that Saturday promised to be home in time to prepare for the dance. The other girls dates would pick them up at Patty's Place and would be a merry party leaving that evening for the dance.

Half an hour before the dance was to begin, and it was nearly time to leave Patty's Place, there still was no sign of Gilbert in the yard. Even Davy who'd gone to report on their room in the barn said Gilbert still wasn't there or even his things laid out. Anne bounced her foot as the other young men arrived to escort the girls. Had he been held up at work? He must have.

Perhaps, Pris suggested, Anne should just go with the other girls, and leave a note for Gilbert to meet them at the dance. The other young men had arrived after all. They would be late if they kept waiting. Glancing down at her ring, Anne could just imagine the stares if she arrived without Gilbert. No, she'd wait for him. The others really should go and she'd surely not be too late with him.

Once the girls had gone, Aunt Jamesina and the twins gathered their own things to walk two blocks to the new friend of Aunt Jamesina's from church who'd been praised for her plum cake. That, Davy declared could not be missed and he promised Anne the best behavior for Plum Cake always deserved the best. Anne merrily waved them off. "Gilbert and I shall leave for the dance as soon as he's back and changed."

She'd remembered when Aunt Jaemsina and the twins were out of sight she'd not seen Gilbert's suit laid out and brushed for the evening when she'd stopped in the afternoon to put away some of the finished laundry. He'd been working so hard. Perhaps she'd best layout his suit and select a tie, his lavender one to match her lavender evening dress. She'd rush over quickly and set it out and then return to the living room to wait.

If she hurried, she could be back in the living room when he arrived and could prove she'd been a good betrothal wife to set his things out for him. She'd hurried through the kitchen, across the yard and into the barn, flinging open the door to the small room that he shared with Davy. And froze.

Gilbert Blythe was standing in the center of the room, facing her on full display. Head tilted up as he poured a jug of water over his head, as streams of water and soap poured down collecting at his feet in the tin basin the boys used for bathing. Quickly she gasped before her turning back to him, grasping the door frame as she felt quite faint. How mortifying. She'd not seen him arrive as his habit was often to wave to them in the main house before heading to the barn.

"Anne!"

"You… You were late and I sent the girls ahead. I'd thought to lay out your suit and brush it so that we might arrive sooner. Oh this is mortifying. I'll be waiting in the living room."

"Anne."

She'd stood in the door, carefully studying the stall across from her on the other side of the barn. Determined to not think about how Gilbert looked like one of those statues in her art text book Specifically the photograph of the statue of King David on page 104. The girls had all been scandalized that it was in the textbook for the art class both Pris and Anne were taking. That it was on display in a gallery in Italy, the photograph leaving all of King David on display with only a fig leaf leaving anything for the imagination. She'd had no such luck that any well placed fig leaves were in front of Gilbert. She'd almost burst out laughing as she stared at the stall suddenly wondering if Miss Patty and her niece were going to visit that gallery. Would they be knitting as they studied the statue? Perhaps knitting King David a new fig leaf. At least, that would be what Gilbert would claim if he knew her thoughts. Though he'd never let her forget that she compared him to the statue. He really never should know for it would go to his head.

"At least it was you and not one of the other girls. I mean, we are married and one day I'm sure it'll be normal when we're done with school. Me bathing after work because I stink while you set my suit ready so that I can take my beautiful wife dancing. Even when we're old. It would help if you'd brush out the suit while I finish up."

"I'll wait in the living room. Perhaps we best just stay home and study…" She had a sudden image of never being able to look him in the face, and to be dancing with him that night, it would be impossible. She would be forever thinking of what he looked like without clothing. Phil had teased Anne that she'd had that page memorized because the artist Michelangelo must have used Gilbert as am model with them both having curly hair. She'd gulped.

"Study no. But sure on staying home. We still haven't started that book of Keats you gave me for my birthday. Perhaps a cozy evening just the two of us would be better the dancing."

"No!" Anne shook her head. "I mean. We really must show up at the dance. They're expecting us. And anyways it might cause gossip if we don't show as all of Redmond will be there…"

"Just give me a minute, I brought home a flower from the drug store for your dress, it's on the bed if you want to pin it on while I dress? We had a delivery and I spent the day off loading boxes. But you're right I do want to dance with my wife."

"Betrothed."

"Betrothed wife."

—

That his wife had seen him for the first time as God created him while bathing was something that Gilbert was determined to file away to think of only after Davy had returned to Avonlea. That and the image of the two of them curled up reading Keets before the fire alone. He'd rushed home as soon as they'd finished unloading the shipment that had come several hours late due to a breakdown of the train. He'd been sweaty and smelled as he'd run the whole way home taking every short cut he could find including cutting across the Tobacco King's yard to reach the barn. He'd meant to bath quickly, dress and brush his suit before likely finding a note from Anne that she'd gone ahead with the girls. That she'd waited made him grin. That she'd wanted to lay out his suit like his mother did for his father every Sunday morning made his heart swell.

He'd been dressed in record time, and was jogging up to the main house when he saw her, standing on the back porch waiting. She'd refused to speak, blushing quite red each time she'd glance at him. He'd pinned the hot house rose onto her dress shoulder, then taking her arm escorted her out of the yard to the street to walk to the dance.

She'd barely taken time to breathe once they reached the street as he walked arm in arm with her. She spoke of everything and anything. She spoke of Diana's Aunt Atossa, of Mrs. Lynde's latest letter and her thoughts of her daughter in law's housekeeping. "Not up to Avonlea standards I tell you. The mainland is certainly lacking." She spoke of a letter from Jane out west. She'd settled in and was enjoying her new teaching position. She spoke of Diana's latest letter, though he'd read it himself. She would not look at him, instead looking straight ahead, talking so much he never had a chance to get a word in.

They'd arrived forty minutes late. The fifth dance had just started and as they checked in their coats and Anne collected her dance card, he'd taken it before she could even comment and scribbled his name down for the fifth and final dance. "Come on Carrots. Let's Polka."

He'd done his best to make her laugh as they danced. He'd danced with each of the other girls, and sat out a dance watching Moody dance with Anne. She was beautiful. She'd glanced towards him when Moody had waved at him and turned red quickly returning to Moody to speak.

His wife was beautiful.

The final dance was a waltz. He'd found her surrounded by a few men, "Excuse me, my betrothed and I have this dance." She'd blushed as he'd stared at her. He'd lead her onto the floor, his arm around her waste, perhaps closer than he should he whispered. "Wife I mean to kiss you properly tonight."

"Absolutely not." Anne hissed. "We caused enough talk arriving late. We'll walk back with the others and then you and I have the twins to check on and ensure they're asleep."

Well, he'd just have to kiss her then. Just as the dance came to a close he startled her by leaning in to kiss her lips. He heard a whistle near by, before he felt the sting of Anne Blythe's hand on his cheek before she twirled and marched off the dance floor.

Author's Note:

The awkwardness of Anne accidentally walking in on Gilbert while bathing was never planned. I'd only outlined to the settling in at Patty's Place and the establishment of all the residents including the three cats. But the chapter was shorter than planned and I remembered the Harvest dance (As I wrote this I had posted that chapter this morning). Well, I thought responsible Gilbert would be late due being kept late at work. The others would have left without Anne who would have felt guilty for how hard he was working for them. And she'd of course want to go out and set his things out so that he'd be ready quicker so they could enjoy the dance sooner. What's the worse that could happen? That and a clip from the movie Dave had popped up when I wrote this… oh and in editing I had to have her compare him to the statue David by Michelangelo. The photograph I see Anne having viewed of the statue David is on the wiki page for the statue. It was done about 1873.

Please do leave a comment about how long you think it'll take Anne to talk to Gilbert normally again?