In the Woods When First We Met

150. The Wedding Planner

Ruby felt a little fuzzy on the details of intimate relations.

Anne had said that she could hear the Hammonds having intimate relations, and that she had heard things go two different ways- sometimes Mrs. Hammond acted like it was fun, and sometimes she yelled and fought about it. Ruby didn't understand exactly was going on when they did things the fun way, and she didn't understand the mouse in the pocket. ...But when Anne talked about the other way- the way where Mrs. Hammond didn't want to do it- that scared Ruby.

So, she gathered, Billy and Anne seemed to be in disagreement on which way they did it. Billy seemed to think it had been the better way, and Anne seemed to think it had been the scary way and that she hadn't wanted Billy at all.

Ruby wasn't sure who to believe.

Who was more likely to be giving an honest telling of what had really happened?

Anne had been lying to them all along, so maybe she shouldn't believe what Anne said.

But then Billy was not exactly trustworthy himself.

Josie definitely believed Billy. She was convinced that Anne had led Billy astray. Ruby wasn't so sure... Josie overlooked a lot of Billy's faults, but Ruby had seen Billy be mean before- really mean. She wouldn't put it past him to attack Anne in some way...even if she didn't exactly understand what he had done.

Regardless, the end result was that Anne was expecting a baby and Billy was the culprit.

Ruby thought that if Billy really was abandoning Anne now when she was with child, that it was just terrible of him.

Ruby grieved that Gilbert could no longer be hers- she had cried herself to sleep- but the next morning when she woke up, she decided to be as logical and grown up about this as she could possibly be. She thought it was very brave of Gilbert to offer to step in so Anne wouldn't be shamed for having a baby out of wedlock. There's no boy as devastatingly romantic as him, but there's also no boy as giving.

She sighed. We would have had such a beautiful wedding and our house would have been perfect and we'd be so happy...but- she thought bravely- Gilbert has sacrificed all his happiness in our marriage to help a poor troubled unwed mother. I suppose I can't fault him for that. ...It really is very noble of him.

Ruby decided that she would show her love to Gilbert- and her forgiveness of Anne- by helping them with their wedding. She had lots of ideas for a romantic wedding, she'd planned everything out perfectly for when she herself married Gilbert. But now her ideas would have to be for Anne instead.

She'd even saved things she wanted to use. She went to her closet now and got out her wedding supplies, which she kept in an old hatbox of her mother's. She opened it up and began taking things out- she had a drawing she'd made of how she wanted her hair to be styled, she had a thin newsprint dress pattern for the style of wedding dress she wanted, a swatch of fabric in the shade of pink she wanted her bridesmaid's dresses to be, and small bunch of flowers she'd pressed to remind her of what kind of flowers she wanted to use in her wedding.

Then she remembered her white wicker doll baskets that she had told Gilbert they could carry roses in. She picked them up off the little round doll table and chairs in the corner of her bedroom, which she never played with anymore- except sometimes- and she set them with the rest of her wedding supplies.

"Someone will have to ask the reverend to do the ceremony," she said aloud. "I suppose Anne's family will do that part. And we'll need to plan for the dinner afterward." She began making a list of the food they should have for the wedding party. She wondered if her mother would let her borrow the crystal punch bowl she always used for fancy parties.

"And invitations," she thought suddenly. She got her composition book and made two drafts of invitations:

Mr. John Blythe along with Mr. Matthew Cuthbert and Miss Marilla Cuthbert

Request the Honor of Your Presence

At the Marriage of Their Children

Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley Cuthbert

To Take Place on-

Ruby left a blank space, not knowing what day it would be. But it'll have to be soon, she thought, or Anne's going to start showing.

Then she wrote out another invitation.

Mr. Matthew and Miss Marilla Cuthbert

Request the Pleasure of Your Company

At the Wedding of their daughter Anne Shirley

To Mr. Gilbert Blythe, son of John Blythe

At half past three o'clock...

Ruby stopped.

"I'll get Anne to take a look at these, and once she picks one then I'll ask my mother to get us some fancy stationary and we'll start drawing up a guest list."

Ruby put everything back into her hatbox and decided that she'd ask Anne to come over after school sometime this week and they'd start working on the wedding.

Ruby decided she was an extraordinarily giving person, and she felt quite good about herself.