₁.₀ SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

001.

Help is supposed to arrive at Green Gables and Marianne really doesn't know what to think.

It isn't the fact that it was going to be a boy that worried her - having a brother has taught her better than that. She and Edward parted ways just this summer and, truth be told, the sorrow of their parting still lingers whenever she passes his old room. And, no matter what some may insist on, Marianne doesn't find it a sweet feeling - it's all rather bitter.

Now, what Marianne does find disturbing is the fact that someone is coming to live here at all.

"You'll want to hurry and eat if you're to meet the train on time."

Even though Marilla's words are not meant for her, they are enough to wake Marianne from her daze. She has forgotten herself again, suddenly more than aware of the last plate still in her hands.

In front of the table Marilla stills for a brief moment, a sigh escaping her lips. "I pray this isn't foolishness, but it's too late now," she says. "We made a practical decision."

Marianne knows she's right. They do need help, Matthew especially. Until now he had Edward to assist him in work, but that option was no longer possible since the moment Marianne's brother left for his law studies. And, although she feels bad for it, Marianne knows she is not much of a help herself.

Despite her attitude with the whole ordeal, she sends the older woman a small smile. "We just have do hope for the best, don't we?"

Any other day, Marilla would have lectured her on the matter of hope - the term so close to imagination - but she stays silent now. She is nervous too, Marianne notices.

The feeling of uneasiness following each change is something they have in common.

"You coming in sometime today?" Marilla calls out to Matthew, reaching around to untie her apron.

Already seated at the table, Marianne watches him enter the kitchen. Matthew seems more unsure about adopting the boy than the two of them. He is the one to pick up the newcomer from the train station and accompany him all the way back home. Knowing Matthew so well, Marianne is sure that perspective is making him even more uncomfortable and can't help but feel compassion.

If her thoughts on the matter were different, perhaps she would ask to come along. But she is aware of the fact that, right now, she wouldn't be able to welcome the boy with an appropriate manner; instead she decides to wait for his arrival at Green Gables.

Besides, she has chores to do here.

"Matthew Cuthbert, you must be in a state. Since when do you sit at the table without washing your hands?"

He moves to the sink without a word, which really doses show how life in Green Gables looks for it's habitants.

Not paying her brother more attention, Marilla continues with her speech. "Let's not forget you were the one convinced of this plan," she says, being in fact wrong; ever since the beginning, it has been all Edward's idea. "You've been set on it since winter, so there's no point in fretting now. Not that I disagree, because I don't," she finishes.

Marianne isn't used to Marilla talking so much. Matthew too, she thinks, as he sits at the table at last.

"Will you be ready to set off as soon as you're finished here?" asks Marilla, this time in a slightly softer voice.

"I will."

They finally start to eat and Marianne is hoping for some quiet now. And yet she doesn't even have a chance to take a first bite, when Marilla speaks up again. "Bet it won't take long for Rachel to come a-knocking", she says and it is the closest thing to trying to make the atmosphere seem less tense. "Lord knows she's got a hunger for gossip like a person starved."