Part 2 of "The Three of Us"

216.

It was nice, having Walter stay with Matthew and Marilla for a little longer.

While Walter couldn't understand why he was being left behind instead of going straight to Gilbert's house, he did like that he was staying with his grandma and grandpa and that there would be leftover wedding cake to eat there.

Marilla was secretly happy as well, because it was a lot to lose Anne and the house would have been much too quiet had they been left alone. A few more days with Walter after Anne left them would mean she could ease out of having them there, instead of both of them gone at once.

A quiet house was hard to come home to.

---

Gilbert carried Anne over the threshold as was tradition, and both laughed when he accidentally bumped her head on the doorframe.

"Uh oh," Gilbert said, setting her down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start our marriage with bumps and bruises."

Anne adjusted her flower crown. "I wonder why that's a tradition anyway."

"I know why," Gilbert said. "It's to keep demons from grabbing your feet."

"Why would demons want my feet?" Anne asked, laughing again. "Be careful- there aren't any on you, are there?"

Gilbert grinned. "Apparently they just like the bride."

"Then maybe I'd better stop looking like a bride," Anne said. "I'm ready to get out of this dress. When I first put it on, I thought I'd want to wear it forever! But after a few hours it's more of a hindrance than a delight- I'm worried about catching on everything and spotting it up! It's too bad so much time is spent on a dress we women only wear once!"

"What will you do with it? Just save it?" Gilbert asked, starting to help Anne with the buttons because she could not reach them in the back.

"I thought of cutting it up and making christening gowns out of it," Anne said brightly. "I do so love christenings! Walter wasn't allowed to have one..."

Gilbert was angered at the reminder that the Reverend had refused to hold a christening due to Walter's parents not being married first.

"Doesn't he have a christening gown, though?" Gilbert thought of. "I remember one...? Did I dream that?"

Anne shook her head and pulled the flower crown off her head, letting waves of coppery curls come tumbling down. "Mrs. Andrews gave Walter the christening gown that had been in their family for generations. I still have it, but he never wore it. I didn't want to put it on him! And there wasn't a christening for him anyway, so it didn't matter."

She smiled, admiring the rosebuds on her sleeves. "I do so love this. It would make beautiful christening gowns, once it's cut up and refashioned."

"So...does that mean you're thinking of...other babies?" Gilbert asked, pausing at a button at the small of Anne's back.

Anne took a breath. "It's what I want," she explained slowly.

She did not continue, and he did not want to push. "Maybe someday," he finished for her, sounding as casual as he could.

"I'm going to go get something to put on," Anne said, "And then I thought I'd make us something to eat."

Gilbert went to get out of his wedding clothes, too. He had moved some of his clothes to a spare room so that Anne would have more space for her clothes in his bedroom- now their bedroom-  and so he went up to the other room to change.

Anne quickly put a simple dress on. When she returned downstairs, Gilbert was back as well. She came up and kissed him.

He slid his arms around her waist. "Hello, Mrs. Blythe," he whispered, tracing the outline of her cheek.

Anne grinned. "I'll never get used to it," she said. She kissed him again.

"What do you want to eat?" she finally asked, breaking apart.

"Something easy," he said. "How about scrambled eggs?"

"It's so strange," Anne commented as they ate together a short while later.

"What is?" her husband asked.

"That I'm supposed to be here," she explained. "I'm not thinking about what time I have to get back, or that I'm expected at home before dark, or anything like that. This is my home now. I'm staying."

"That's a good thing, I hope," Gilbert commented with a smile.

"It's a wonderful thing," Anne told him, reaching for his hand. "I don't have to say goodbye to you."

Their simple supper of eggs was eaten by candlelight. The night was pitch black, as it was winter and the days were short.

After sharing another piece of wedding cake- and miles of conversation- Anne felt the day beginning to wear on her.

"I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed," Gilbert announced, seeing Anne's eyes beginning to lose their sparkle.

How do couples do anything together on their first night, anyway? Anne wondered. A wedding day is exhausting...

Gilbert had taken her hand, and to the bedroom they walked.

But at the doorway Anne let go, and hadn't followed him.

He turned to see her standing in the doorway, chewing on her lip.

She was staring at the bed.

Gilbert came over to her.

He reached out and took her hand. "We've had a long day. Why don't we just get some rest?"

She took a breath that Gilbert read as relief.

Gilbert left the room while she changed into her nightgown. He offered quietly: "I'll step out while you change. Give you some privacy. Let me know when I can come back in, all right?"

Anne nodded, a bit anxious.

He waited until she was in bed, the quilt covering her, before he came back in.

Gilbert had decided in advance that he would stay out of the bedroom while she changed her clothes. But, he did not think he should need to leave his room in order to change his own clothes- unless Anne said something about it, he intended to still change in his bedroom.

But he'd make it less awkward for her- he turned the lamp down low, not all the way off, but just enough so the room would be dimly lit, and he faced away from her while he changed.

Anne was glad he turned away from her before he started undressing, and she was glad the room was so dimly lit, because she found that she was too nervous to have it be any other way.

When Gilbert got in bed, he made no move to touch her. Instead he just lay down on his side, facing her.

After a moment she lay down, too, facing him.

For a few seconds they just lay close together, their eyes fixed on each others' in the dimly lit room. Their eyes spoke more to each other than words ever could.

Finally Anne asked, her voice quiet in the hushed room, "Gilbert?"

"Yes, darling?"

"...I'm sorry," she whispered.

Gilbert reached out and lay his hand next to her on the bed, his palm open, not touching, but inviting.

Anne lay her slender hand in his, comforted by the offer.

Gilbert squeezed her hand gently as he said, "You don't have anything to be sorry for. This is the best night of my life, Anne, because it's the first night I'm going to bed knowing that when I wake up in the morning I'll be waking up next to you. For the rest of my life I don't ever have to be apart from you. And that's more than enough."

They fell asleep within seconds of each other, and when they woke in the morning, they found that they were still holding hands...all night long, they'd never let go.