In the Woods When First We Met

198. Mother Nature Returns

Anne was still sleeping in Marilla's bed.

Marilla had shown her what she'd done with her bedsheets, to make it easier for Anne to sleep and less likely to get twisted up in her covers.

But Anne had only tried sleeping in her own bed once before she begged Marilla to let her back into her bed.

"It did help, Marilla," she told her. "It really did. I didn't get all tangled up. But I still want to stay with you. Please let me!"

And so Marilla had given in.

Anne felt better about Marilla's room now. Her bed was still a safe place, and the rest of the room was getting better: 

Marilla had explained her plan about changing the room layout to make it look different. The two of them had gone up to the spare room where Anne had chosen a colorful braided rug that was Marilla's least favorite, and put it down on the floor of the room. Then Anne had a glorious time moving all of Marilla's things around until she declared the room "a new creation". 

Marilla preferred it the old way, but said nothing, deciding her room wasn't as important as Anne's comfort.

But that night, as they lay in bed, Anne felt exhausted. After not being in school, it was a whirlwind of emotion and energy, and she felt ready to rest- happy with the promise of being able to do it all again tomorrow. If only that little pinprick of pressure in her lower back would go away.

Sometime during the night, Anne awoke to a feeling of having wet the bed. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up. Lifting the covers back, she saw that the unwelcome guest she'd first met a couple of months ago had returned in all its' glory.

"Oh, no!" she said loudly, then clamped her hand over her mouth, hoping she hadn't woken Marilla. But then she realized she'd likely have to wake Marilla, because she would have to get the sheets in to soak.

Marilla stirred in the bed and sleepily asked, "Are you all right, Anne?"

"No!" Anne said furiously. "No, I'm not all right!"

Marilla quickly sat up.

"I'm sorry Marilla, but you'll have to get out of bed. Me bloodying things up seems to be becoming tradition!"

"What are you talking about, Anne? Why are you angry?"

"Because! I can finally go back to school and then I have to go with this!" Anne said, climbing out of the bed. "All this time I didn't have it and now I get it! What if it goes through my dress while I'm at school? I'll be humiliated, Marilla! Just when I could finally go back!"

Anne stomped out of the room, taking the lamp with her as she went up to her room to find her sanitary napkins. She did not notice Marilla's tears.

When Anne finally returned, she immediately went to pull off the sheets. It was then that she saw Marilla's face.

"Just leave them, Anne. I put a towel over the spot on the mattress- just get back in and go to sleep. Morning will come soon, and you need your rest."

Anne felt awful. "I'm sorry, Marilla- please don't cry! I didn't mean to get your sheets bloody again! I'll fix it, I promise!"

Marilla shook her head, holding her arm out for Anne to come close.

Anne climbed into the bed with her and Marilla held her a moment, her hands shaking.

"It's just that I'm so relieved. So, so relieved."

Anne didn't understand what was happening. Why was Marilla murmuring that in such a weary voice?

"What is it, Marilla?"

Marilla pulled away from her. "I'm just so relieved because, Anne, you're not having a baby."

Anne was confused. "How do you know?"

"Your...womanly flowering time. It came. It finally came." She still sounded so relieved she was shaking.

"Yes, I know!" Anne said miserably. "But what has that got to do with anything?"

"You don't have those when you're expecting," Marilla explained, wiping her eyes.

"I didn't know that," Anne said, her face shocked.

"Oh, I've been so worried," Marilla breathed out.

"I haven't been," Anne said. "I've been glad! I've got awfulness all around me- not getting those horrible visits from Mother Nature has been a rare blessing in a time of tragical events! ...I know you said those come to prepare you for having babies someday, but I didn't know that not getting them meant anything. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Anne, how could I?" Marilla said, her voice still shaking. "I asked you if you'd been having them, and you told me you only had that first time, and the next month just a little spotting! How could I tell you that might mean you were expecting? The doctor told me that sometimes stress can cause you to miss them, or that being young can make things irregular...I didn't want to worry you over it until we could be more sure of what it meant."

"But now we can be sure?" Anne asked. "Really and truly?"

"Yes," Marilla told her.

"You know, when you first told me about this horrible Mother Nature person, you could have explained a little bit more about intimate relations, then," Anne pointed out.

"I didn't know I needed to!" Marilla looked flabbergasted. "I didn't know what had happened to you, Anne- I didn't know you had the experience you had!" 

Marilla tried to explain, "...When a young girl is first visited by Mother Nature, it's such a long span of years before the first time she'd have intimate relations, and-"

"Well, not for me!" Anne said, near tears. "For me, it all came at once!"

At this heartbreaking statement, Marilla's eyes softened. "Oh- Anne, I- I'm sorry." She reached out and stroked her tear-streaked cheek.

"So- so I can't be having a baby?"

"No, dear," Marilla said tenderly.

Something inside her came apart, then, and, shaking, she fell into Marilla's arms: every emotion that had taken captive her heart over all these weeks finally lifted away from her.

Marilla just held her tightly, and both came apart together.

When Anne finally regained her composure, she sat up and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand.

"You know, it would be nice if there was some sort of class or something where we learned these things, because I feel very left-in-the-dark!" she announced hotly. "Maybe at school, they ought to-"

"Anne, it isn't a proper subject to be discussed without hushed voices," Marilla interrupted, finding the idea of learning about these things in a classroom to be quite shocking and inappropriate. "However did you think of such an idea? Students sitting in a classroom learning about their..." Marilla stopped, and finished: "Such a thing could never be done."

"Why not?" Anne said. "We learn about everything else in school! Marilla, we learned how plants reproduce! But when it comes to ourselves, we shouldn't know?"

"I think this whole thing is quite unsuitable." She looked ready to move on. "Nevertheless, now you know."

"Yes, and I spent weeks sick over it. Marilla, if there's anything else that's going to happen to me as part of this wonderful journey toward womanhood, please warn me well in advance!"

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Thanks for reading! So Wattpad only lets you have 200 chapters and we all know this story was never going to be any shorter than 97,65832 chapters long, sooooo I am still writing this story but it has to be started as a new one, since I've reached my chapter limit!  So, to read the next part, look for Part 2 of "In the Woods When First We Met". Thank you)