Baker - G. BLYTHE

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [TEN YEARS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

"And it is in dying that we are born into an internal life."

A greying Gilbert sighed as he sat against the all too familiar cold slate bench, "Your Mother should be joining you soon, don't worry she isn't in any pain I've made sure of that. She's currently in our spare room, the one with the painting that you did of Mary and Sebastian's wedding. She keeps talking about how beautiful that day was, how she caught me looking at you a few times and tried to get you to see it without you realizing that she was doing it. You looked beautiful that day with that cream ribbon in your hair and the dress that had the tear on the cuff."

"I miss you terribly you know. I miss your laugh, your ability to make the smallest things funny, the light that followed you around wherever you went and the feeling that I would get just looking at you. I miss that you purse your lips when your focused on painting, I miss that you mislay paintbrushes all over the house in the weirdest of places. I found one in your wardrobe a few days ago, it was one of the ones I got you when we were younger. I miss that you cared more for others than yourself, that's something I see in our girls."

"Evelyn found your easel last week, I finally unlocked the door and she seemed to just stroll right in and pick up where you left off. The paintings are streaming out of that room again, it's mostly flowers and things but I can't help but notice she has quite a few scrapped paintings with the main focus being a boy. You would like him, he reminds me of Mary a little sometimes. The entire thing is a little scary sometimes, thinking that our daughter is going to eventually marry and it could be to this person at school. It reminds me of us more often than not, hopefully he won't make the same mistake that I did but if he does I will be there for her, don't worry."

"Mary cleaned the kitchen since I last came to speak to you and found all of your and your Mother's old recipe books so now every morning she's up and cooking pastries for the family to eat for breakfast. Delphine's particularly fond of the ones that you created with her Mother oddly enough. Mary found a mentor in Cole, he came down to see you and his family a few weeks ago and they just seemed to click. His daughter, the one that he and Nathaniel were trying to adopt from the orphanage, and Mary seemed to click also. They had a lot of fun running through the flower fields and jumping into the pond at the bottom of your Brother's home."

"And Patrick, well he's the same as usual. Your Mother says he's quite like the man you named him after. Apparently her husband was quite the joker, always telling jokes or messing around to make somebody laugh and Patrick does the exact same thing. Granted sometimes it involves annoying his siblings. He came home from school yesterday and ran straight back to the forest without another word. He came back covered head to toe in mud but with a bunch of flowers in hand, flowers which we have in a vase on the dining table. How funny that he came back with red tulips and those flowers from that day in the meadow from when we were younger, the place where I proposed to you. The red tulips making constant occurrences makes sense now, red tulips generally mean a perfect love and you are certainly my perfect love."

"Delphine had a baby a few weeks ago, she's still struggling to name the poor thing but she's settled on a middle name. Something Charlotte is all she has currently, most people have just started calling her Charlotte but to me it feels, difficult. I know it is just a name and it's truly lovely that she chose to represent you in her own child, your legacy as such but as selfish as it seems I don't want anyone to have your name. I know you wouldn't have been too keen on it either, it just feels wrong having someone else called a name that holds such emotion. You'd probably tell me it's just a name, the meaning behind the name is what you make it to be. I suppose that's true, it is a beautiful name after all."

"Your Brothers doing good, him and Edward have started to be slightly more accepted here. Sure there are still a few people that dislike them being male and living together but everyone only knows them to be friends. Friends that share the ownership of a bakery. He always has a smile on his face though. Rían comes over weekly to teach the children Irish, they are currently working on a few simple phrases like how to introduce themselves and how to say I love you, which of course they already know. I always loved that about us, we had something special that we could say to each other without anyone else knowing. Remember how it felt when Evelyn said it to Mary once she was born? You cried remember? Evelyn told me about that yesterday, she said she remembered the happy look on Mother's face and how I leant over your shoulder to kiss you as you held Mary. I had forgotten all about that until then, I have to admit it did cause a few tears."

"I hate the fact that I can't see you. I hate the fact that I can't hear your voice in my head all the time anymore. I get a few small messages throughout the day, random things of wisdom or memories. Like when I was about to leave our bedroom whilst leaving the dresser drawer open cause Bash had called me, your voice saying to close it or one of our babies could walk into it or the entire thing could fall on them rung in my head. I closed the drawer don't worry. I hate the fact that your side of the bed is cold, I hate that I can't wake up to your smiling face anymore but all that hate is canceled out slightly with our children. I see you in each of them even more every day, it's comforting I suppose."

"I hope your happy my love. I hope that you found your Father, my father and Mary. You're probably spending the time talking to them about everything, spending the time laughing with Mary about everything that Bash and I did wrong on the farm over the years. Please don't tell her about the potato incident, that's more embarrassing than funny. Who am I kidding, that's probably the first thing you told her."

"I love you Charlotte Blythe, in any world and even if death separates us i'll always love you. Rest easy my love."

He wiped the tears that had fallen down his aged face, the stress of losing his wife and having to look after their three children alone had taken a toll over the years but he never complained. Not once did you hear a sour word from Gilbert Blythe's mouth. He could have had it better, he could still have Charlotte but he was happy with his family. The children that his late wife had birthed were the happiness in his life, they were the one things that kept him going through everything. And so Gilbert Blythe walked back into the happiness that came with his house, turning back to look at the grave where his wife lay. The grave that was covered top to tail in blooming flowers that shook in the slight breeze.

Years later and they were together again. Man and Wife together forever in the afterlife. Having what they had both dreamed of in childhood. Unconditional love that never broke, no matter what separated them.

THE END