Anne with an E The Next Chapter

Thanksgiving Weekend - part 1

Diana was facing Thanksgiving dinner with trepidation and had a great pit in her stomach. Her parents had gotten to know James Andrews over the last few months and they had decided to invite him to thanksgiving. He had expressed a keen interest in getting to know their daughter and her parents were a flutter with the possibilities this presented. Her mother was so excited to tell Diana about dinner when they picked her up from the train station, they never even asked her how she'd been or how things were going for her as a teacher in Carmody. Simply put, she would be given anything she wanted to make herself the most beautiful she'd even been this weekend and they would spare no expense.  As far as they were concerned, their eldest daughter would soon be married off and it was a time of celebration. She'd been dreading the weekend because of it. The ride home consisted of her mother going on and on about James and fussing relentlessly about Diana's attire. She wondered what they could do to improve the sheen in Diana's hair and how they could style it. Diana stared out the window to the sputtering rain and felt a world of sadness overcome her. She didn't even know if Jerry had decided to move forward with Amélie or if he was waiting for her since she hadn't heard from him. When they arrived to the house, she walked in to an empty feeling home and said she needed to get straight to bed. She was so tired from her travels, but truth be told, she couldn't stand another minute of her parent's fussing.

On Saturday morning, Anne and Gilbert had invited her to come out to see their house. Diana woke early, dressed and left a note saying she'd been up early and had decided to go visit Anne. She snuck out of the house quietly and enjoyed a refreshing walk to Gilbert's cottage in the woods. It was just passed 9 am when she reached the the beautiful familiar cottage. Anne greeted her at the door with a great cheer which made Diana's fears and concerns melt away. Her best friend always had a way of lightening all the heaviness in her life. They hugged tightly and she whispered into Anne's shoulder

"I've missed you so much" she said and choked back her tears. Anne pulled away and looked at Diana with a warm smile and rubbed her arms.

"What you need is a scone and a cup of tea"

They giggled and Anne put a scone in Diana's hand and poured her hot cup of tea.

"Oh my goodness" she exclaimed as she drank her tea and shut her eyes tightly. 

"What's wrong... you looked upset when you were walking up." Anne said tenderly.

"My parents are setting me up with James this weekend is what's up the whole thing is a disaster. My mom was going on and on about it all the way home and she wouldn't even look at me she was so excited. She couldn't catch on to my frustration if I was on fire! The woman only sees seems to care about impressing James... you would think that he was deciding on a proposal this weekend!" 

She looked at Anne who was listening intently as she ate her scone and poured her heart out.

"I haven't heard at all from Jerry either Anne, and it's making me so nervous. Oh Anne, what ever am I going to do?"

Anne smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"Well... for starters, you'll take your tea and this one out back" she said, filling Diana's mug with hot tea and handing her an other mug.  She led Diana to the back of the house, through the spare office and out the stained glass door to the yard. Diana walked out behind Anne and found the great scene with the lake and glorious forest behind it. Her breath caught when she saw Gilbert and Jerry standing by the lake. Gilbert smiled and said "hey...look who's here..." and with this he said "well I'll leave you two to talk" and went in to join Anne.

Diana smiled and set the tea down on Gilbert's old chippy outdoor table. Anne and Gilbert left her there to face Jerry. She didn't take her eyes off him as he walked slowly towards her with his hands in his pockets. He wore and an oat colored cable knit sweater, layered with a plaid flannel jacket and a paper boy hat that looked new.  Diana warmed when she saw him approach and noticed that something was different about him. A sort of peace was on his face.