Anne with an E The Next Chapter

The Hard Truth

Diana emerged from the forest and decided to take a long way home and stop at the lake of shining waters. She was hoping to delay her arrival to Green Gables to see Anne so she didn't arrive at the same time as Jerry.

Since they had started meeting secretly, she felt like it was obvious to everyone around her. She was starting to feel like a liar and a fake. She needed to talk to Anne about this, as she knew keeping this secret from her before had not ended well.

Diana was surprise when she found Anne standing on the bridge, looking out over the water and crying quietly.

"Anne? Are you ok?"

Anne jumped at the sound of Diana's voice and spun around and back again, hiding her tears

"Oh, hi Diana!"

" I'm so sorry for scaring you. Are you quite all right?" she said gently as she approached her friend. Anne was holding what looked like a shirt and had been leaning, head down, on the railing and weeping.

Anne wiped at her face and pulled herself together.

"I'll be OK, it's just been a very hard summer and so much has happened since Matthew was sick, I think it all just hit me." She tried to smile. "I've just seen Gilbert off at the train station too". She started to tear up again and Diana gently rubbed her back and listened intently.

"It's more than just missing him...he's just been a pillar of strength for me and brought me so much comfort over the last few months...I'm just afraid of taking these next steps in my life alone" she looked up at Diana who kept listening.

"Ohhh and you're leaving tomorrow too. That's just another thing for me to contend with. I'm so sorry Diana, I'm going on about myself".

"Not at all. You let it out" Diana soothed.

Anne started to cry again and the girls hugged tightly. Diana held Anne's hands and looked at her face squarely. She said

"Anne you are so strong..." she began but then she felt Anne's hand and recognized something different on her friend. She looked down at her hand and spotted the small gold ring with the green stone. Confused, she looked up at Anne, slightly puzzled and questioned her "what's this ?" as she looked closer at Anne's new ring. She looked up again quickly and Anne's face went from solemn to bright and happy. She let out a small squeal, as she did when she was excited.

"Oh Diana, I wanted to tell you right away but there weren't enough hours between when he asked me last evening when the train left today"

"Asked you???" Diana said trying to wrap her head

Anne looked at her friend sheepishly "well Gilbert asked me to marry him"

"WHAT... oh my goodness !!!" she squeezed her friend tightly and jumped up and down so thrilled for her friend.

"And it's all thanks to you. If if you hadn't had the courage to confront Gilbert on the train last year, I don't know if we'd be here today. He would have likely stayed on in Toronto and we would just have been a part of each other's past. I'm so grateful to you" she said.

"Don't mention it. You and Gilbert soulmates. You would have found your way back to one another".

"Maybe" Anne said.

The two girls walked along the path and Anne filled her in on every last detail of the proposal, every last gesture and word Gilbert had uttered. She told her the plans for the little cottage and how things would unfold over he next year. Diana was thrilled for the two of them and became a little misty eyed.