Anne with an E - A Winter Journey

15 - I don't mean to be rude

           

Anne reluctantly removed her gaze from Gilbert's face and looked forwards.  Sure enough, just ahead of them was the cabin.  Her plan to apologise to Gilbert was temporarily forgotten when she saw the door open and a dark-haired figure emerge.  A huge smile spread across her face and she swung her legs in delight as she waved to her best friend.  Gilbert couldn't help but match Anne's wide grin, her joy completely infectious.

At first, Diana was shocked and concerned when she realised that Gilbert was carrying Anne.  "Why isn't Anne walking? Is she hurt? What happened?" she worried.  As they got closer, however, Diana could see that Anne was waving happily.  Her concern was replaced with joy as she called to Ruby and waved back.  As Ruby joined her at the door, she noted the big grins on Anne and Gilbert's faces.

"Do you think they've made up?" she asked Diana hopefully.

"I wouldn't bet on it," replied Diana, "I think they're both in denial about their true feelings.  They're probably just happy to see us."

Diana's doubts were confirmed as Gilbert set Anne down in front of them.

"Oh Diana! Ruby!" exclaimed Anne dramatically, embracing her two friends, "I thought I'd never see you again! How lovely it is to see your delightful faces!"

"Oh Anne!" gushed Diana, "We were so worried about you! Whatever happened?"

"Why don't we tell you all about it inside?" suggested Gilbert thoughtfully.  "Anne must be freezing."

He turned to Anne and offered her his arm to assist her into the cabin.  She gave him a grateful smile and accepted his assistance, hobbling inside to the warmth.  Gilbert couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness as he realised their time alone was over.  "This is for the best," he reminded himself.

Once inside, the group sat down in front of the fire and Anne recounted the afternoon's events.  As Diana listened intently to Anne's story, she couldn't help but steal a few glances at Gilbert.  While there was definitely still and air of awkwardness between him and Anne, something had changed.  He blushed when Anne told the part about him heroically finding her and he was definitely hiding a small smile when she explained how he valiantly carried her back to the cabin.  "Oh Gilbert," she thought with amusement, "You won't be able to mask your feelings forever."

As Anne came to the end of her exciting tale, her stomach let out a loud growl.  Her cheeks turned bright pink as her friends laughed at the sound.

"You must be starving!" said Ruby.  "In fact, I'm quite hungry myself.  Do you have any more food Diana?"

Diana opened her basket and took out the small parcel of pastries.  She unwrapped the cloth to reveal four cakes.  They decided that Anne and Gilbert should have one each after their tiring afternoon.  Diana and Ruby shared one between them so that there would be one leftover in case of emergency.  Silence fell upon the four friends as they enjoyed their sweet treat. 

As they ate, Gilbert found his eyes wandering towards Anne.  He watched as she ate her cake with her eyes closed, savouring every mouthful.  He smiled as he noticed that she had a smudge of sugar on the tip of her nose.  His eyes drifted down to her feet.  She was sitting in an awkward position, clearly trying to take as much pressure off her left ankle as possible.

"Anne," he said softly.  "Would you mind if I took a look at your ankle?"

Anne's eyes shot open in horror.  For some reason she could think of nothing worse than Gilbert looking at her bare ankle.  It seemed too personal.  "Too intimate" she thought self-consciously.  No-one except Marilla and Matthew ever saw her without boots and stockings.  It seemed improper to let a boy look at her bare leg. "Especially Gilbert," she thought.  She tried to think of a good excuse quickly.

"I don't mean to be rude," Anne said as politely as possible, "But I think I should wait and let the doctor look at it. He will know what is best.  Thank you for offering though."

"Well actually," reasoned Gilbert, "I've been working with Doctor Ward as his apprentice.  He recently had a patient with a sprained ankle, so I've been reading up about different types of ligament injuries."

Anne's eyes widened in surprise.  She knew that Gilbert had decided to become a doctor but she had no idea that he was pursuing his vocation so seriously.  She admired his determination and was impressed by his growing knowledge of medicine.  Unfortunately, that meant that Anne had no argument to stop Gilbert from looking at her injury.

"Okay then," she said nervously, "You can take a look."