"Do you have brothers and sisters?" she asked, when Gilbert had rounded up his account of his trip to Alberta. "I thought you didn't, because they'd have been at school, or you would've mentioned them by now, but then I thought they might be older than you and off on their own."
"No...no, it's always been just me and my dad," Gilbert said.
"You care for him all by yourself, then, in his illness," Anne remarked softly. "It must be a lot to contend with."
"Not at all," Gilbert said, but Anne didn't quite believe him.
Then he looked at her and said, "He took care of me by himself. Now it's my turn to take care of him."
"Were you very young when you lost your mother?" Anne asked softly.
She was afraid that Gilbert had found her question too intrusive, because he was quiet at first. But after a moment, he said:
"She left this world as I came into it."
"So you never got to know her," Anne whispered sadly.
"I know her in my own way," he finally said. "I know what made her laugh...I know about her favorite things...about her childhood...and how she met my father, and how much they loved each other..."
He looked wistful; it was Anne who looked like she could cry.
He smiled. "My father told me once that if I ever wanted to see her smiling I should just look in the mirror. He said her smile was...impish, that's what he called it. An impish grin. ...He said whenever I smiled that way, he could see her face just as plain as day."
"How wonderful," Anne said out loud to herself more than to him. "To know things like that."
YOU ARE READING
In the Woods When First We Met
FanfictionGilbert is there for Anne when she needs someone the most. Billy did far more damage than seen in the episode. Anne goes through my own journey of healing after a trauma. Serious issues. (Skip chapters 3-4 to make it less scary to read; if you skip...
