Home to Avonlea

41. I think I love you

It was mid morning by the time Anne, Gilbert, Diana and Wilson had hit the road.

They'd all been quiet over breakfast, only lifted from the silence with a light conversation driven by a cheery Diana focused on the how glad everyone would be to see them when they got home, especially Anne's family. Uncharacteristically, Anne and Gilbert were untalkative, only exchanging meaningful, bashful looks over the table. After a very hasty breakfast and an ask around for directions to Avonlea, they all got on their horses, Anne sharing with Gilbert and Diana sharing with Wilson and set off along the main road.

The weather was fresh and dry, the terrible storm having deserted the lands during the night. The sun had given it's rays all morning but the forest was still bearing the affects of the night's heavy rainfall. Anne looked all around them as they rode through the woods. The trees seemed worn and tired, blown out by the wind yet still clinging onto their new, green buds. Anne reflected that they mirrored how she felt - clinging onto hope after being in a terrible storm. She knew that all of the hope she still posessed was due to the efforts her friends had made to help her and her family's faith in her. She owed them.

Anne was thinking a lot about the future and she was excited now that she knew there was nobody trying to steal it from her.

Gilbert's thoughts were focused on the happiness he felt that Anne was letting him look after her and that she was on speaking terms with him, let alone the fact they'd kissed twice and she was accepting the affection he'd craved to give her for so long... For the longest time she'd fight him over everything, they'd always bicker and Anne would openly declare how much she despised him but now she had finally allowed and reciprocated his warmth and they were... Friends? Not exactly, they were much more than that... Gilbert didn't know the word for it exactly but he hoped it lasted.

The ride to Avonlea took all day. The group had to stop and get some food in a farm, Diana palming one of her rings in exchange for some bread, apples and water. They ate on the side of the main road on a grassy verge, with birds singing above them perching in the tall trees all around, which creaked pale and slender in the gentle wind. After their stomachs were full they moved on quickly, eager to get home. The sky stayed clear blue and the sun stayed bright. The air was warmer and Anne could see the beautiful flowers poking up out of every patch of long, waving grass along the road, splashes of green in every forest and hedgerow... Spring was in full force. Anne smiled as she rode, taking it all in, so full of joy to be alive and to witness this beautiful morning.

"What are you smiling about?" Gilbert murmured, seeing her bright face gazing all around in happiness.

Anne glanced over her shoulder at him, her blue eyes meeting his brown. She thought he looked very handsome, his curls falling down into his eyes - in need of a trim - and his tired eyes showing that soft look which he reserved only for her. She smiled, glad he was there to enjoy the day too. Anne was overcome by the feeling that dwelled in her heart as she looked at him. She felt that urge once again to hold his face and kiss it, to wrap her arms around his neck and close her eyes, to feel him hold her too. The feeling was beginning to be very familiar to Anne but it was still dehabilitating for her tongue, causing her trouble formulating sentences.

Anne thought that the butterflies would disperse eventually but with Gilbert, they never really did.

"I'm just so blissfully happy to be alive on such a splendid day as this, Gil. I'm full of wonder and joy at the world and it's beauty." Anne said dreamily. "Isn't it so wonderful to be alive?"

Anne was ever optimistic even after all her hardship, she never let it knock her down for long. Gilbert was inspired by her and felt his own heart lifted... If she could get through everything that life threw at her then so could he. They gazed at each other for a moment before turning back to the road and Gilbert felt that he looked upon the view with new eyes.