Part 2 of "In The Woods When First We Met"

218. Gilbert and Anne

When Josie had run away from Green Gables and Jane had followed, there had been a long silence in the room. Tillie, Ruby, Diana, and Gilbert had said regretful goodbyes to each other. None of them wanted to leave.

Diana had to keep a close eye on the time, since she wasn't allowed to visit Anne at all and needed to return home before her mother did, and Tillie and Ruby had each told their parents they were going to be at each other's houses, so they needed to be home before either family sent for the others.

Gilbert stayed, because he had to: he was looking after Anne while the Cuthberts were out. They hated to ask him, but Mrs. Lynde was away visiting one of her children, who had a new baby, and they could not leave Anne alone. Jerry was here, but he was working, and he did not know what happened to Anne. He believed she was cooped up in the house with some long illness, and no one said anything to correct him.

Gilbert didn't mind; he wanted to be with Anne whether they needed him or not, so he was happy to stay and help. Though there wasn't much to do, really. She didn't need anything, and she had no interest in doing anything. She slept too much, and when she was awake, she hardly spoke. He had nothing to do but hang around the house, trying to be useful.

His father had been doing so much better lately, and Gilbert wished Anne would come over to his house, because he felt sure that being with his father would give her the magic she needed to come back to life. But she appeared listless when Gilbert suggested it the first time, and the second time she snapped at him. He did not ask her again. He knew she was not going to get out of bed.

As the afternoon was fading, Gilbert decided he would go ahead and cook supper for Anne. The Cuthberts' had promised to be back before evening, knowing that he needed to be home to get supper for his dad, so he could just wait and let them handle it, but he thought he might try and see if he could get her to eat.

He went up to see if she was awake and ask her what she'd like for dinner, though he didn't expect her to have a preference. He softly opened the door. "Anne?" he called out.

She did not answer. He still felt like he shouldn't be in her room, but as Marilla had said weeks ago, We've strayed beyond what is reasonable. So he came in.

She was sitting up in bed, looking out the window.

Gilbert knew they all had taken a big risk in assuming Anne would stay asleep all afternoon and miss Billy's visit. "How long have you been awake?" he asked a bit fearfully, hoping she hadn't heard anything from when Billy had been so close by.

"A while," she answered, not looking at him.

He looked over to where her gaze was. There was a branch hitting the window pane.

"Is that bothering you?" he asked.

She shook her head. She just kept staring at it.

"Well, hey, I wanted to know what you felt like eating," Gilbert asked.

"Scrambled eggs," she said absently.

It was a sad state of affairs that Gilbert was so overjoyed to be given an answer, and an answer that implied Anne might possibly be interested in eating.

"Coming right up," he said with a cheerful smile.

He didn't waste any time getting back downstairs and putting a pan on the stove. He hoped Anne wouldn't change her mind before he finished.

He got back upstairs as soon as he could, with a plate and a silent prayer that she'd eat.

He pulled her chair over to the bed so he could sit beside her.