Baker - G. BLYTHE

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-ˋˏ *.·:·. [TWO WEEKS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

ONCE AGAIN, LIKE CLOCKWORK, THE SPRING WARMTH MELTED THE SNOW BLANKET THAT COVERED AVONLEA. With the cold gone, the wildlife had the chance to blossom. Flowers bloomed over the fields again, the small animals had begun to dart across them and the farms had never looked more alive. Sunset or sunrise strolls became one of her favourite things to do with Rían. They gave them a break from the house, a chance to take their mind off things and they both simply loved the feeling of the soft wind blowing against their faces. Charlotte needed the walks as the days passed, Mary had fallen ill and didn't seem to be getting better and Rían learned that life in Avonlea at his age got boring quickly. Walks had become a tradition, they spent the time talking and gossiping.

Charlotte had just finished restocking the loaves in the front, some of which she had baked herself, when she noticed that Gilbert had come in without her realising it. With a single moment of eye contact, she immediately dropped her cloth on the counter and walked over to him, trying to figure out what was wrong. He had been so happy after coming back from a trip to Charlottetown, that he had picked up the habit of singing or humming tunes around the house rather awfully. He came back with such a huge smile on his face that Charlotte and Bash began to pester him so they could know the reason behind it, he eventually relented telling them that he had lunch with Anne that day. It sent a gut-wrenching force through her stomach but she paid it no mind at the time, later thinking it over immensely instead of sleeping. So now seeing the look of complete hopelessness on his face, the gutted gazing at his shoes rather than anything in front of him, the way he clutched his cap in his hands, Charlotte grew to be deeply concerned.

"Gil?" she whispered. He snapped his head up in shock but felt himself relax slightly as he recognized her eyes. Gilbert felt ever so disoriented, he had been in such deep thought that he didn't even realise that he had walked to the bakery, he just found himself walking there without even thinking. "What's wrong?"

"It's Mary, she has Sepsis," he muttered slowly, hating the fact that he had to break such dreadful news to another person. He hated seeing the happiness drawing from her eyes, he hated seeing how she seemed to get paler. Charlotte felt pure heartbreak, her stomach twisted over and over as guilt and grief-filled it. It felt as if her head had shut down, all she could think of was Mary's imminent death and how she had failed to notice what was wrong.

"Oh," she muttered trying desperately not to let her voice break, she was very unsuccessful and just let the tears fall down her face after that. They came in bucket loads, streaming down her face as her entire body became numb. "How could I have been so blind?" she muttered, not intending for Gilbert to hear. Charlotte began to pace, taking small strides across the room and then back on herself. If anyone else but Gilbert was in the bakery they would thought she had gone mad.

"Lottie what-" Gilbert asked in confusion at her muttered words, Charlotte was quick to interrupt him as her mind ran a million thoughts through her head every second. Guilt that she could have noticed early, that she could have recognised it before having to send for the doctor, that if she had seen it before Mary wouldn't currently be lying in bed and facing having to say goodbye to her husband and daughter forever. Her fault, she thought it to be her fault.

"My Father, he had the same thing. A glass jar dropped in the kitchen and he cut himself accidentally," Charlotte responded quickly as if she would forget the words before her mouth could speak them, she didn't mean for it to sound so harsh but she couldn't take it back now. Charlotte became breathless as she paced, nervously pinching her finger so hard that it had begun to bruise. She scoffed, hating her very mind, "How could I have not recognised it?"

Gilbert snapped out of his immediate shock and quickly (but gently) took the girl by her shoulders. He looked directly into her eyes, trying to see past the blurry layer that had formed over them as he calmly broke her deluded thoughts, "Charlotte deep breaths." The use of her first name snapped her head back into place, the thoughts stopped spinning and tears stopped falling down her face. She slowly filled her lungs a few times, his hands still resting on her shoulders, trying to slow the rapid beats of her broken heart.