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‘’Only three minutes!’’
Anne looked up from her notebook, smiling at their friends as they looked at the clock on the wall, counting the minutes until 2pm, when suitors would finally be allowed through the front door. Anne did not really care, knowing the love of her life was more than a thousand miles away, and therefore decided to focus on her upcoming exams.
‘’Anne, do you think Roy Gardner will ask to court you anytime soon?’’ Josie asked, a knowing smirk on her lips. Diana then looked at Anne with a small smile, as if thinking ‘’if she truly knew’’.
Diana had been sworn to secrecy regarding Anne and Gilbert, allowing them to take their time and enjoy their relationship in private for as long as they needed. However, this had led to many uncomfortable situations for Anne, who could not tell her friends and classmates that she already had a beau and thus received romantic looks from men with whom she did not wish to be associated.
‘’I honestly hope he does not, Josie,’’ Anne said, turning her gaze to her notes. ‘’I shall never love him the way he expects me too, as I can only see him as a friend.’’
Josie buffed, clearly not believing what Anne was saying. After all, every girl liked Roy, and he, apparently, only had eyes for Anne. What could Anne be waiting for, if not him?
‘’How I wish Moody could come today,’’ Ruby sighed. ‘’It’s so unfortunate that his mother is sick and he was needed in Avonlea.’’
Jane ran her hand through Ruby’s hair, offering her support, but kept her eyes on the clock. Anne didn’t need to look at it to know when the hands of the clock finally showed what the girls wanted, for she could hear their screams and feel their excitement. She did not react when she heard knocking on the door, knowing what it meant but not caring enough to let it distract her. She was used to boys visiting every weekend, and she was also used to not being the one to receive them.
‘’Miss Shirley-Cuthbert, a suitor is here to see you,’’ a voice called from the corridor. Anne’s mind did not register that it was her name that was being called -she was not expecting any visitors, so why should she have been paying attention?
‘’Anne, a suitor for you!’’ Josie cried, almost laughing. ‘’I bet it’s Roy!’’
At this, Anne finally looked up from her notes, furrowing her eyebrows.
‘’A suitor? For me?’’ she asked, clearly confused at the situation.
‘’Miss Shirley-Cuthbert!’’ Mrs Blackmore called. ‘’This young man says he has been traveling for more than a day, so do not keep him waiting!’’
By the time Anne finally understood what was going on, her friends were out of the door, running down the stairs and not listening to the headmistress’s complaints about how young women should not behave thus. Anne could feel their giddiness, all of them calling out different names and hoping they knew the man downstairs. Anne tried running after them, wishing to stop them in case that what she believed was true; however, she was stopped, receiving a stern look from the old woman.
‘’Miss Shirley-Cuthbert, your suitor cannot see you run like this. Remember to behave properly when you have visits,’’ she said. ‘’As your friends are already downstairs, I will not have to chaperone you. Behave like a lady, nonetheless.’’
Anne knew all was lost; by the time she reached the parlour, her five friends were waiting in front of its opened doors with wide eyes. While Diana seemed to regain her composure quite quickly, her other friends did not move until they finally heard his voice.
‘’Hello?’’ Anne heard. She had not yet seen his face, but her heart was already fluttering at the sound of the voice she had been dreaming about for the last three months.
She felt her nerves clutching at her stomach, afraid that she had imagined everything and that, perhaps, he would change his mind when he saw her. Her thoughts were loudly interrupted by the girls, who did not understand what was going on.
‘’Gilbert Blythe! What are you doing here?’’
‘’Gilbert? I thought it was a suitor!’’
‘’Oh, Gilbert, we thought a suitor was coming! You shouldn’t use this time to visit friends! This is suitor visiting time!’’
Anne, taking a deep breath, started walking towards her friends. She tried to ignore Diana’s questioning glance and her friends’s voices, focusing only on breathing steadily and not passing out from her nerves.
The moment she saw him, she knew he had not changed his mind. His eyes locked up with hers, and they were even fuller of love than they had been on the day they kissed. A shy smile adorned his lips, and she knew he was fidgeting with his hands even if they were behind his back, for he always did that when he was stressed, which she knew because of the way he was biting his lower lip and furrowing his brows. His hair was tussled, as if he had run from the station, which she did not doubt, and his cheeks were red from the interrogation he was being submitted to. She had never believed him to be more beautiful.
‘’Oh,’’ Gilbert muttered, his eyes never leaving Anne’s. ‘’But I am a suitor.’’
Realisation slowly set in, and the girls turned to look behind them, where Anne was standing. Gilbert clumsily tried to move towards her, tripping with a footrest he had not seen, finally breaking the silent spell. Anne quickly moved towards him as if his body and hers were magnets, and she was in his arms so fast that the girls did not even have a chance to react. Gilbert’s lips softly landed on hers as his hand caressed her cheek, not caring about the fact that they were being watched by five pairs of eyes, and Anne was not about to ruin the moment; she had been imagining this every night before going to bed ever since he had first (and last) kissed her. When they broke apart, foreheads resting against each other’s, he slowly opened his eyes and took in all of her face.
‘’I missed you,’’ he whispered, kissing her forehead softly. ‘’And your freckles, and your nose, and your hair, and you as a whole.’’
Anne laughed quietly, thinking only about how lucky she was. It was only Diana’s cough that broke them apart, their cheeks red as they turned to look at the girls.
‘’You are courting?’’ Josie asked with a screech.
‘’You still hadn’t told them, Anne-girl?’’ Gilbert asked, his arm around her waist.
Anne’s heart jumped in her chest at the nickname that she had only seen in letters, and she looked at him lovingly, burying her head on his chest.
Collective gasps left her friends’s mouths, and Anne shyly looked at Diana, who had a big smile on her mouth.
‘’Ladies, I believe you have questions,’’ Gilbert said, which was quite the understatement. ‘’However, I am only allowed to be with my darling Anne for two hours before I am told to leave this house and I have to return to Toronto, so I would appreciate it if you would let us take a walk together and, then, Anne will explain everything. Won’t you, love?’’
Anne hummed against his chest, a soft smile on her lips as she thought about being with him for two full hours.
‘’Diana, would you chaperone us?’’ Gilbert asked, a smirk on his lips.
‘’Of course!’’ Diana quickly answered, leading them outside of the house.
Anne could feel everybody’s eyes on them as they walked out of the door and towards the gardens. She could hear the girls whispering against the windows as they fought to be the one closest to it, and she had to force herself not to turn around and scowl at them.
As they were reaching a more private part of the garden, Diana quickly stopped walking.
‘’Oh, I fear I must have dropped my brooch!’’ she exclaimed, feigning sadness. ‘’I fear you will have to go on without me until I find it! Please, do not wait for me. I’ll go with you as soon as I have it back!’’
She turned around and ran towards the house without saying anything else, and Anne finally dared look at Gilbert with a great sense of smugness.
‘’So, you have two hours, you say?’’