Welcome to Avonlea

Chapter 19

"Marilla. We need to talk to you about Nate and Mr. Dunlop-" "Anne. Lydia." I stopped seeing 'Dunlop' holding a pie. "We missed you so much. There's a lot of catching up to do. I made this for you special." He held it out and I only stared at it. I wasn't comfortable with him then and I definitely wasn't now. If what I heard was true, his hands took other peoples lives. "You must be tired and hungry." "Thank you. We're fine." I answered before Anne could. "Mr. Dunlop, I kindly ask that you leave my kitchen so I can attend to supper. Come help me Anne. Lydia." I kept watch over my shoulder as we left to the pantry. "Marilla you have to believe us. There was a story in the paper. The same thing that could happen here happened in Cape Wolfe. Malcolm Frost. He was a naturalist who reported on the story. He said there was no gold anywhere on Prince Edward Island." "And you figured this from a reporter." "Marilla please. Nate never brought any physical proof showing there was any. All he showed was a forged piece of paper that he used a... um..." I couldn't think for the life of me at the moment. "Embosser." "Thank you. He used it to make the seal on paper. He has multiple from different places so they had to of done this before." "Nate and Dunlop are working together this entire time. They used Green Gables Marilla. They used us. They're grifters!" "I believe you. I believe you." "We believe you too Anne. Lydia." I felt the spiders crawling on me hearing and seeing Nate. I panicked when they came in and started tying us up. "It's too bad. We could of gotten to know each other better if you weren't so suspicious all the time." I turned my head away when Nate tried to touch me. "We need to go."

My fingers were reaching for the roped and I would scream frustrated when they moved. I would get ahold again and try getting it loose but it wasn't working. Anne kicked my leg and bent hers to push against Marilla. Looking and seeing the wall. I planted my feet and pushed her to it. It felt like forever but we were able to stand. I was being pulled back and was watching over my shoulder to see what was happening so I didn't fall and take us down again. Shuffling through the open door and through the kitchen. When made it to the porch and I just felt anger again. I don't know which one did it but they made the meal bell go off.

I felt relieved when Matthew got to us and getting our binds off. "I'll go for help." I paced while he left. "We need to do something." "The most we can do right now is pray." I felt my temper flaring up and stormed back to the house. I stopped at the room Nate was in and slammed the door to our room closed. I felt embarrassment. I should of told Marilla or even Matthew what was happening, but I felt nothing but shame. I didn't know if Marilla would of listened because of how he acted towards her. But, I should of put trust into Matthew. If I did, none of this would have happened.

I jumped when our door opened. Anne walked over to me and handed a letter and seeing the name of the sender, I felt horrible. "Why didn't you say you and Gilbert were writing to each other? He hasn't responded to my letter yet." I took the letter from her. "We're pen pals. Is that wrong?" I placed it under a few papers while I did my homework. "But why?" "I really don't need to answer that." "You still like him. What are you going to do when he comes back?" I turn to her quickly. "I will handle it myself. Just don't say anything to him. It's something that should come from me and me alone." I turned and started again. "What about Ruby?" "What about her?" "She likes him too." "I know we're friends and I shouldn't. But that's not how things work. Besides, it also is his decision. We can't force him to do anything. Just please, leave it alone." I heard her sigh. "Matthew got another letter from Ms. Jeannie again." "Let me guess. He put it in his pocket." "How did you know?" "He did it the first time Anne." "Oh. A woman of Matthew's past is reaching out to him with letters. However they were parted must have been tragical. But now, after all these years they have been reunited." "Anne. This is Matthew's business. Not ours." She huffed and left. I waited until she did leave and opened the letter from Gilbert. I did giggle a few times until he asked about the gold. Getting another paper ready. I started writing him telling him what happened, it wasn't the best letter, but it was better than none at all. I still put some witty remarks and teased wherever I could.