Part 2 of "The Three of Us"

203. The Next to Be Married

The surprise inside the Cracker Jack box was a ring.

Walter wore it around all day until Anne noticed it was sticky. "Walter...ugh. You can't just wear it straight out of the box. You're supposed to wash it off first."

She took the ring off him and made him wash his hands under the pump.

Getting her first close look at the ring, she practically rolled her eyes. It was made of dark red rubber and the top of the ring wasn't a pretend gem, it was just a seal showing the Cracker Jacks symbol.

That's a real marketing endeavor, there, she thought. It isn't a surprise gift- it's an advertisement children will wear on their fingers! Looking down at the ring will be a constant reminder to ask their mamas to buy more Cracker Jacks...

Nevertheless, she washed it and gave it back to him.

"I'm going to give this to Clara," he said, putting it back on his finger. "Then we can get married."

Anne smiled.

"Well, don't get married too fast," she told him. "When you get married you move out and live together. And I want you to live with me and Gilbert for a while yet."

—-

Anne didn't see Emily for a week. She was working on a baby gift for her.

When she finally did see her, it was because Marilla had decided to have the Perkins family over for dinner as a little celebration of their intended bundle of joy.

Emily was thrilled with the robins egg blue  knitted booties Anne had worked on.

"We're having chicken," Walter announced as Clara came in.

"Walter," Clara said primly, "It's bad manners to tell your guests what you'll be serving."

Chastened, Walter's face looked grumpy.

But as Gilbert entered, Walter passed the message along: "Don't talk about serving chicken 'cuz it's rude." 

"It's rude to serve chicken?" Gilbert asked the little boy, bewildered.

Emily blushed. "I'm sorry- Clara's become very interested in the rules of etiquette lately, which ought to be a good thing, except she's taken to telling other people what to do. Clara," she said kneeling down to her daughter's face, "Just about the rudest thing of all is to call attention to what other people are doing!"

Dinner with the Perkins, Matthew, Marilla, and Gilbert was lovely, but Anne noticed that a few different times Clara had shifting on the bench to try see her reflection in the cabinet glass, fluffing out her blonde curls and adjusting her bow in response to it. As Anne looked at Clara in her perfect hair and her fluffy lavender dress and her pristine white boots with pearl buttons, Anne got a sudden sense of deja vu and felt it was really Josie Pye she was looking at.

She shook herself out of that, telling herself that Clara was only five years old and had plenty of time to come to her senses about what mattered.

—-

After supper Walter and Clara wandered around the backyard together.

Both couples couldn't help laughing when they saw Walter get down on one knee and hold the rubber Cracker Jack ring out to her.

"He was with us when you proposed,"  Anne said. "He's doing just what you did, Gilbert!"

Gilbert slid his arm around Anne, wanting badly to kiss her but holding back since they were in the presence of company.

When the two tiny lovebirds returned to the house, Emily and her husband Arnold, finding the whole thing amusing, congratulated them on their engagement.

"We can get married on Christmas," Walter said. "That's when people get married."

"Walter, Gilbert and I are getting married on Christmas, so you'll have to pick another day," Anne told him, "Anyway summer weddings are usually how it's done."

"All right then, summer it is," Clara said, looking proudly at her Cracker Jack ring.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit," Emily told her.

"How long's a bit?" Walter asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Arnold said. "Not next summer. Maybe in twenty more summers."

Anne laughed. "That'll give you lots of time to plan the wedding."

—-

"You know what's interesting about Clara?" Anne asked Gilbert as he was helping her with the dishes later. Anne was washing, and Gilbert was drying.

"What?" he asked, taking a pan lid from her.

"She never once asked to try his camera."

"Oh?" Gilbert asked, not knowing what this was about.

"You'd think she'd want to try it out; take some pictures! I know I would have! But she never even thought of being the photographer! Her only interest in photography was that she could have pictures taken of herself and how she would be pretty in them."

Gilbert laughed.

"That little girl could look into a mirror all day long and never get bored," Anne said with a sigh.

"That bad, eh?" Gilbert asked.

"Listen to this: Walter, why do you like Clara?"

Walter didn't look up from where he was lying on the rug, coloring with his new crayons. "She's pretty," he said.

Anne gave Gilbert a pointed look.

"I'm sure you like her for other reasons," Gilbert coached.

"Sure I do," Walter said. "She's got a pretty smile."

"But that's still looks, Walter," Anne told him.

"Oh, Anne, they have fun together, they make each other laugh...maybe he doesn't know how to put it all into words and explain it."

"I guess you're right," Anne admitted. Walter and Clara played together happily. They got along well and that wasn't a result of their looks.

"Anyway, she isn't nasty about her appearance, is she? She seems nice enough to the children around her."

"Maybe but I hope she won't turn nasty about it when they're old enough to start school. If she's popular, I hope it's because she's kind and not because she's pretty!"

—-

After Gilbert went home, Marilla called Anne into the parlor. "What is it, Marilla?" Anne asked, coming in.

Marilla held up her measuring tape. "I can't get started on your wedding gown until after I've measured you."

Anne's cheeks glowed. "I never thought I'd marry at all, much less have a mother to make my wedding gown!"

"I never expected I'd have a daughter to make a wedding gown for," Marilla replied.

"You're going to make a beautiful bride," she quietly murmured, pulling the measuring tape around Anne's shoulders. "Like something that came down out of the heavens."

"Why, Marilla," Anne cried, surprised.

Marilla blushed and set to work writing down her measurements. "Well, anyway, it'll fit proper and be good quality workmanship, that's the important part."

Anne grinned.