I felt trapped in Charlotte Town. There was nothing for me there, no room to grow.
So I cut my hair, changed my name, and got a job on a steamship.
I didn't expect to fall in love with Gilbert Blythe.
The only problem is, he thinks I'm a boy.
[gil...
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The two sat on the cold ground as they decorated the christmas tree. Yet somehow with each other's presence, Gilbert and Sydney felt just as warm as they needed.
Syd's whole focus was on where what ornament would look best but Gilbert's attention was on something very different.
He almost stared at Sydney (not almost, he was staring) and how she bit her lip in concentration and furrowed her brows just a little in thought. It was still impossible for Gilbert to believe that Syd was really there. With him. In, not his, but their home. He had spent so long on the ship dreading when they would inevitably have to part ways.
Gilbert was always just waiting for the day that Sydney would unintentionally break his heart. But the inevitable never came. She was there with him and she wasn't going anywhere.
"What were you thinking about?" Gilbert cut through the silence. "When you zoned out."
Sydney shrugged her shoulders, "A little of everything, I guess." She adjusted the little glass angel hanging of a branch, "Christmas, mostly. My parents, kind of. The piano, too."
"The piano?" Gilbert questioned.
"Yeah." Syd confirmed, grinning as she played with her fingers and biting her lip softly.
"I didn't even know you played."
"That's because I haven't played in years. Actually, today at rehearsal was the first time since..." Syd zoned off.
Gilbert knew better than to ask what 'since' meant, but considering their similarities in parental situations and how many things Gilbert hadn't done since his father died, he could guess why Sydney stopped playing.
Gilbert shook his head, "You don't have to-"
"It's okay, I doesn't hurt to talk about it anymore." Syd pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "My mother used to perform in big theatres in front of hundreds of people before she had me. She was that good." She laughed, Gilbert followed. "She started teaching me how to play as soon as I didn't need her to burp me."
"She sounds like an amazing person." Gilbert chuckled, already imagining a little white-haired Sydney Salem sitting in front of a piano and her big brown eyes scanning the keys intently.
"She was." She stated. Syd smiled fondly and rolled the branches of the tree between her fingers. She cleared her throat, choosing a lighter topic to cut through the air in the room. They way Gilbert's eyes were staring into her soul was almost too intense. "I mentioned to Mrs. Lynde, casually, that I played the piano, and she asked me to play for the show. And I think you know better than me how hard it is to say 'no' to Mrs. Lynde."
