Welcome to Avonlea

Chapter 15

"You amaze me." "How so?" "You stayed up well through nights and still wrote a novel into completion. And now it will be distributed through the world." I looked down smiling. "I hope everyone will enjoy it. I always wanted to see someone's face when enjoying a good book." "Lydia?" I stopped and looked towards the other side of the road. "Gilbert?" "I will leave you be. Meet me back at my home when you're finished." "But..." She left before I could say anything. "What are you doing in Charlottetown?" I looked down not able to look at him. "We... we needed to sell a few things. It... seemed a series of events happened and it was needed." "So you didn't come alone?" "No. Anne and Jerry came with." "Jerry?" He didn't sound very happy. "He's the hired help that Matthew employed. Though, after this... he'll have to find employment elsewhere." "Why does it seem something bad happened?" I looked at him. "From what Marilla said. The ship that was carrying the crops to the mainland went down. The vendor didn't have insurance, so, everyone who had a harvest lost everything. Matthew took out a loan against the farm and now... we're trying to end the contract of the loan. He had an attack of the heart and wouldn't be able to fulfill his end of it. But he just needs time before he's up and doing what he loves doing, farm work." "That's why you're selling things." "Anne is. She can come up with many different stories to attempt to get a better price with the broker. And Jerry is auctioning off our shire." "Sounds like your family was hurt financially." "Unfortunately it was." "So if Anne is selling stuff from your home, and this hired hand is selling the shire. What are you doing?" "Diana's Aunt Josephine. She helped me with something that will help immensely. But it's something that will take time before I know how well it goes." "And that would be?" He tilted his head towards me. "A book." "What can selling a book do?" "I don't mean selling a book in my possession. I mean a book I wrote." "You wrote a book? And it's going to be published?" He looked both surprised and happy. "You don't need to sound so surprised. The man at the publishing company read some of it and he believes it will do very well. Though it will take a year before I know just how well. Only Anne, aunt Josephine and now you know. They actually expect more from me in the future. I haven't told Marilla yet since she would scold me for staying up for over two days to finish it." "So you found what you wanted to do?" "Not entirely. I actually want to go to school and be a tutor. Help those that need one on one sessions." He nodded. "Enough about me. How are you doing? We miss you at school and they're also wondering." "I'm doing fine. I work on the docks." "Really? Must see some interesting thing and people that come through." "You have no idea." "I can imagine. Though it probably isn't anything like what you're seeing." "Most likely." He had a little grin. He was teasing again.

I became a little nervous until I looked where we were standing. "If you want to wait a moment. Anne should be coming." "No. I've got to get back." "Please. She's been... she's been trying to figure out how to apologize to you. And please don't say I told you. She thought apologizing was easy but this is something completely different." "It's what she said to me, isn't it?" "Yes. She knows it wasn't right but didn't figure that part out until after..." I motioned with my hands trying to make it look like I was cooking. "What are you doing?" He chuckled a little. "She didn't completely understand until I said something while making you the pie." "What did you say?" "Similar to what I told you. That... no one should ever go through what you are. The reason I wish there wasn't a reason number three." He looked back over at the broker shop. "I'll hear what she has to say. Only because you asked." I followed him as he crossed the road. "But you shouldn't do it because I said anything." "No. I should hear it. If she feels that bad about it, then I'll listen." I looked at him then the store before nodded. "I can't tell you what to do." "But you're able to convince me." I almost sputtered at him while walking next to him.

"Gilbert." "Hello." "I think I need to sit down." "I know somewhere we can go." I looked between them and felt like I was intruding. I went to the sleigh until Anne grabbed my arm pulling me along. He brought us to a little restaurant and managed to get me sat down. "So what have you been doing?" "Working at the docks." "Do you like it?" "It's a means to an end. I hope to get hired on a steamer soon." I stared at my warm cup my hands were around not moving at all. He was going to leave. "May I ask, what about your farm?" "I don't have to decide right now. I want to see some of the world first." I glanced at him and got one back. "If I come back to Avonlea... I want it to be my choice, not an obligation. It's what my dad would have wanted." I looked back at my cup and it didn't feel warm to me anymore. He might not come back. "Sorry to hearing about Mr. Cuthbert taking ill and all those troubles. Lydia told me." "It still seems unreal. Even though I just sold our... everything. But thank you." He glanced at me but said nothing. "He's a good man. He offered to help me with my land come spring." "We love him with all our heart." I felt the knot growing from both Matthew and hearing Gilbert was leaving. "I don't what we would do if... I owe you an apology." I glanced at him tapping my fingers on my cup. "No, you don't." "Yes, I do." "I should be apologizing to both of you." "No you shouldn't." "I was rude." "But it was my fault." "Can we please not argue for once?" "Can you please stop contradicting me?" I leaned near her. "Anne. Stop it. Enough." She looked at me and took a breath before facing him. "Gilbert... I'm sorry that I wasn't more sensitive about your father, and what losing him really meant to you." He glanced at me again but I looked at the table. "It's water under the bridge." "I know so much more now than I did. The way Lydia spoke about it, it made me see how wrong my viewing was of it. Anyway..." "Anyway... I should get back to work." It felt like I was wilting that this might be the last time I see him. Anne had to nudge me to get me going. Stepping outside, I almost didn't feel the coldness at all. "We miss you." "Yeah?" "There's no one for Lydia and I to compete with. Well, besides each other." "You want to have a spelling competition?" He glanced at me. "For old times sake." "How about... truce?" She held a hand out and he took it. "T-r-u-c-e. Moody would of gotten that wrong." "He would have!" I looked out to the road watching others walking on the other side.