Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Katherine… with a K… surveyed her reflection in the little mirror nervously. She had always been a little nervous about said reflection. She knew she had always been plain… her earliest memory was that of being told she was an ugly child. And as she grew older, it was with the tentative knowledge that her looks became even worse. Tall, austere, grim… the perfect picture of a "spinsterly old schoolmarm". But as she looked into that little mirror in the tiny gable room, she surprised herself. Why… she wasn't ugly at all! Anne had helped her to pile her rich, dark tresses atop her head in the latest fashion and it did rather suit her. Anne had further insisted that she invest in new clothes and the shirtwaist of creamy lace with the sweeping skirt of rich wine-red velvet was really something marvelous. How could she truly look like that! Young and almost… pretty.

"I can believe almost anything in this Green Gables of yours," she had told Anne just that afternoon. And it was so. This lovely place was like coming… home. Home… after a dark, cruel, unfriendly world. Here, where the sea crashed on the shores, where cows wandered placidly through the lush pastures, where children ran along the red roads and shouted with laughter in the ever-changing forests. Here, where the lights of comfortable little farmhouse flickered through the shadows of the beautiful twilight, where blossom-laden branches swung gently in the breeze, where the delightful, homey smells of biscuits and cream puffs and spice cake drifted through the rooms of beautiful Green Gables.

Who could ever have known that the world was such a wonderful, lovely place to live? Who could ever have known that such kind and loving people really lived and breathed? Who could ever have known that such beauty truly existed? Who could ever have known that she… Katherine Brook… Katherine with a K, that is… could ever be someone's kindred spirit?

That was why she had said she could almost believe anything at this Green Gables.

She took a deep breath and smiled at that flattering reflection. Perhaps this bonfire tonight wouldn't be quite so frightening as it sounded. Perhaps she would even enjoy it. And…

"I happen to know of two eligible young men who have asked about you."

That was what Anne had said. Two eligible young men. Two! When no young man had ever dared to look at her before! She had always been cast aside. Laughed at. Sneered at. But now…

But she wouldn't allow herself to hope. She would be careful, guarded. Thank goodness Anne would be with her! She just couldn't do this alone. But where was Anne? It was nearly time to go… and Anne had still not come in.

At that moment, she heard the door open downstairs. Heard Anne's quick, light step on the stairs, and then she came into the little gable room, her eyes shining like stars, her cheeks aglow… truly happier than Katherine had ever seen her before.

"Anne!" she cried in surprise. "Whatever is the matter?"

"Nothing is the matter, dearest of Katherines," Anne laughed. "Nothing at all." She spun around the room, landing with a happy sigh on the edge of the bed. "Isn't the world such a lovely, beautiful place? And isn't this the most glorious of days? Just the sort of days in which dreams come true!"

"Something most certainly has happened," Katherine contradicted, raising an eyebrow. "I can see it in your eyes."

"Oh Katherine, you goose! Doesn't anything ever escape you?"

"Does anything ever escape a teacher?" Katharine shot back, amused.

"I'll make a solemn pact with you, Katharine. If you promise, on your honor, to live up to your name this evening, then I'll tell you what happened."

"Live up to my name?"

"Indeed. A brook should be sparkling… limpid… merry."

"Everything I'm not."

"Everything you've been this summer. So you can be it."

"That's only the magic of Green Gables. When I go back to Summerside, twelve o'clock will have struck for Cinderella."

"You'll take the magic back with you. Life is only beginning for you now… since at last you're quite free and independent. And you never know what may be around the next bend in the road."

The next bend in the road! In spite of her new state of mind, Katharine felt a bit of her old sarcasm returning.

"Bend in the road. There's no bend in my road. I can see it stretching straight out in front of me to the skyline."

Anne laughed. It was safe to laugh now, for the bitterness had gone out of Katherine's voice. It sounded merely rueful and impatient.

"Anyhow, we're going to be friends. I've always wanted to be friends with you, Katherine… spelled with a K! Under all your prickles, you truly are a kindred spirit."

Chapter Text

It was a gorgeous autumn day… all crimson and golden with gentle breezes and a luxurious blue sky. The air was crisp but the sun was shining, casting warm, comfortable rays over the landscape. Anne and Katharine wandered slowly over the fields, soaking in all the beauty of the day. Katharine could scarcely believe how close she had come to refusing Anne's invitation. Why… Green Gables and Avonlea were the best things that had happened to her in all her dreary, miserable life. It was like a ray of sunshine at last piercing the dark gloom of the walls she had built around herself.

"Don't you feel as if you could just soar up into the sky on a day like this? To sail on the wind and look down at the beautiful treetops?" Anne said dreamily, lifting her face to the sky. Katharine smiled. She had not Anne's gift for imagination, though she certainly tried. She rather felt that she would prefer to stay on firm ground and look up at the trees, instead of soaring above them and looking down at them.

"There," Anne added, as Katharine remained silent. "I can hear already the music, they must have asked Pat McGillis to play. He's in high demand for all the gatherings, you know."

Katharine listened and her heart thrilled to that music. Those beautiful strains of the violin, yet in the distance, floating down over the golden fields and filtering through the trees. Laughter was heard from all directions as groups of twos and threes meandered down the paths on their way to the Penhallow's farm.

The Penhallow's bonfire was a yearly event and quite a large gathering at that. Most all the young people were there… even those who had been away at school somehow managed to make it home. The two girls had barely broached the edge of the clearing back of Penhallow's farm when they were surrounded by a very excited and very loud group of friends. Ruby Gillis was the first to reach Anne and she threw her arms around her friend, just bubbling over with happiness.

"Oh, Anne, I'm so glad you're back!" she cried, stepping back and Anne noticed with a start the heightened color in Ruby's face. Ruby had always been a pale girl and the flush on her cheeks, the unnatural shine of her eyes did not bode well. But she did not show that she was alarmed, returning Ruby's greeting just as eagerly.

"You do remember Herb Spencer, Anne?" and Anne noticed then the young man at Ruby's side. "He's my latest." this in a low voice, as she leaned close. "And Jane is back from Halifax, you know, with her millionaire. She's so covered in jewelry you can scarcely see her beneath it all! You know, he's forbidden her to work in the kitchen and she's just eating herself up with envy of the cook. Isn't that ridiculous! I know I would never complain with an actual French chef to make all the meals for me and maids to wash the dishes… can't you just imagine?"

Ruby chattered on, drawing Katherine into the conversation until she seemed anything but reserved. Katherine later confided to Anne, "You know, I rather like that young girl, Ruby Gillis, I think? She reminds me of a daisy… all fresh and full of fun and fancy. Like a spring breeze."

"Why, Katherine!" Anne had laughed. "I do believe I must be rubbing off on you! That rather sounds like something I would say. And I must agree… but somehow it seems that… underneath all Ruby's gaiety that something… is wrong." and she broke off into troubled reflection for a long moment.

The first dance was called and Ruby pulled Herb Spencer into the circle of couples that had gathered in the little meadow. A young man that had been standing eagerly by the food table, wringing his hands in anticipation as Mary and Alice Penhallow began laying out covered dishes, suddenly turned and made his way through the crowded yard towards Anne and Katharine. Anne turned to her friend, whispering quickly, "This is one of the young men I mentioned, Katharine. Now, remember what I said," she admonished, grinning.

He had reached them now with an expectant look on his rather round face. As nervous as she was, Katharine realized at once that this young man was certainly nothing to be afraid of. He was rather short and stout, with a shock of sandy hair, a generous sprinkling of freckles, and a good-natured, humorous gleam in his round green eyes.

"Katherine, this is Mr. Sandy Crawford. He has been most anxious to meet you. Mr. Crawford, my friend, Katherine Brooke."

"So glad to meet you, Miss Brooke, so glad to meet you," Sandy beamed genially. "As soon as I saw you in the Cuthbert pew last Sunday, I said to myself, now there's a handsome girl, a real handsome girl, and one I'd not be ashamed of becoming acquainted with. You do dance, don't you, Miss Brooke?"

"Why I…" Katherine stammered, glancing wildly at Anne. "I've really never danced before…"

"No matter," Sandy laughed pleasantly. "Perhaps you'd rather join me for dinner. The food is much more tempting than the music anyhow." He offered his arm and Katherine, though hesitant, accepted it. Anne laughed to herself and then sighed as she followed them slowly toward the tables.

"Not exactly what I had been hoping for Katherine but, after all, she does have sense. And there still is the other… Why isn't he here?"

Chapter Text

"Sure is a pretty night, ain't it?" Sandy sighed contentedly as he settled down with his plate heaped high for the third time. Katherine had finished long ago and was amusing herself by watching him eat and wondering how much he possibly could hold.

"Beautiful," she answered shortly. She could have said quite a bit more but didn't think that Sandy would really be up to any kind of conversation that didn't border on commonplace things. She found herself drifting away from her dinner companion, watching the young couples dancing to the tune of Pat McGillis's fiddle. She sighed longingly and glanced back at Sandy. He was groaning with satisfaction over a roast ear of corn which he had in his right hand, while reaching for a muffin with his left. It was impossible to wax romantic when accompanied by such a person.

Anne was standing with Fred and Diana close by with little baby Fred in her arms. She glanced over at Katharine from time to time, rather nervously. She really wasn't certain whether she should impose upon Katherine and Sandy or otherwise let them alone. But fate provided a more pleasant alternative just at that very moment and Anne brightened as she saw the instrument of fate, as late as he was, wandering to the edge of the crowd. A few minutes more and she was on her way towards Katherine with the second of the "two eligible young men" in tow.

"Forgive me for interrupting," she said, as a matter of principle, although she was fairly certain she hadn't interrupted anything but Sandy's muffin. "Katharine, this is David McAllister. He had hoped to meet you. David, this is Katharine Brooke of Kingsport."

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Brooke," the young man offered his hand and Katherine returned the greeting. Her heart gave a little flutter as she looked up at him and, for once, she didn't disdain the unusual feeling. She felt certain that in all her twenty-eight years she had never seen such a man. He was tall… very tall… perhaps around thirty years old, with dark wavy hair and the kindest blue eyes she had ever seen… smiling eyes in spite of the tinge of sadness somewhere in their depths. He seemed as if he had laughed a lot in his life but there was still an air of academic seriousness about him.

Sandy looked up from his pie, his mouth still full, and frowned at David MacAllister. But he didn't say anything of course, his mouth being full, and instead, reached for a biscuit.

"Do you dance, David?" Anne spoke up tactfully, glancing at Katherine with a secretive smile. "The music is so lovely tonight, I don't see how any could resist it."

"Neither do I," David grinned. "May I have this dance, Miss Brooke?"

Katharine started, a refusal on the tip of her tongue. But she swallowed it, bitter as it was, and, surprising herself, accepted. He took her hand and drew her into the circle. Katharine had never really danced before but that night she felt as if she could fly. Never before had she experienced such a moment. It was as if all else simply melted away and nothing existed. Nothing except she and David… and the music. A new world was opening up to the "spinsterly old schoolmar'm" that night. A world she had never dreamed even existed. A world filled with beauty and music, laughter and light.

The dance ended, but they stayed for another. But it was getting crowded as more and more finished eating and joined the dancers. In the midst of a waltz, David and Katherine collided unexpectedly with Herb and Ruby and both couples withdrew from the dance, nearly weak with laughter, to collect themselves.

"Whew!" David laughed. "I don't know about you, but this is all getting a little too crowded for me."

"I've never really…" Katharine hesitated. "I'm not used to such crowds…"

"Neither am I." David shook his head ruefully. "I'd rather just go for a walk. Would you… join me?"

Katharine didn't answer, for she hardly knew what to say. But she rose and followed him away from the noisy clearing and out into the bright, pure moonlight.

Both were silent for a long time. Katharine because she felt so completely beside herself, so entirely different than everything she had ever known that she felt rather afraid. David because he was thinking how lovely Katherine's dark tresses looked in the moonlight. So like… but no. He would not think of that again. It was past and behind him now.

They walked until the music of the fiddle was but a distant sound. With a sigh, Katherine at last sat down on a tree stump, not caring to go any further. Why should she, when the view here was so intensely lovely that she couldn't draw her eyes from it? Seeing as there was only one stump, David contented himself with sitting on the ground by her side.

"Did you see the moon tonight, Miss Brooke?" he said softly. "I've never seen such a moon before."

Katharine looked accordingly and her heart gave a little thump. It was a great shining moon, almost blinding in its pure-white radiance. And all around it was a ring of light. Anne's words suddenly echoed through her mind.

"It was thought in ancient times, that when a man and a woman sat under such a moon, they would be bonded together in love for eternity."

She shivered suddenly, but not from the cold. A funny little feeling shot through her and she hazarded a sudden glance at the man at her side. He had suddenly dropped the sentimental mood and was being quite practical now.

"Tell me, Miss Brooke, what exactly does your work involve? Anne has told me quite a bit about your excellent teaching…"

Katharine stiffened. She didn't want to even think about teaching just then, let alone discuss it and thus spoil this lovely night. So she answered curtly, following it up by quickly asking him about his own work.

"Me?" He shrugged and leaned back against the stump with a laugh. "I'm not anything interesting. Just your plain, ordinary, everyday farmer."

"Is it really that bad?"

"No… no, of course not. I love farming… love being with the animals and working out in God's beautiful creation."

"What do you love most in life?" Katharine asked unexpectedly. Such a question was quite beyond her capabilities and it just came out without her intending it to.

"I suppose… well, I guess I don't know. You know what I really would love is something I don't have."

"And what is that?"

He hesitated and Katherine began to hate herself for prying. What was wrong with her anyway?

"A family," he said at last, softly. "A wife. Lots of little kids. Someone to talk to on rainy days. Someone to sit around the fire with at night. Someone to open presents with on Christmas." He stopped and grinned at her, ruefully. "Guess I shouldn't be boring you with my problems, eh?"

"But I understand." Katherine answered, so quietly that he could barely hear her.

"Shall we go back?" David stood and offered his hand. Katherine took it, shyly, as he helped her up and they walked slowly back together through the grove and the meadow.

Katherine found herself never wanting that beautiful evening to end as they rejoined the group around the bonfire. It was such a wonderful feeling to return somewhere and immediately be surrounded by a group of laughing, chattering friends. It was even a more wonderful feeling to suddenly have a friendship with a young man… a young man who treated you differently than ever a man did before in your entire life. But Katherine was to find that even that could become more wonderful. As the group by the fireside began to thin, Anne expressed a wish to begin "wending their way homeward". For, of course, Anne could never say anything as commonplace as "It's time to leave."

"Would you let me walk you home, Miss Brooke?"

Katherine could scarcely believe that David would ask her that… for a man to walk a woman home meant that perhaps… perhaps he had more important intentions in mind than simply friendship. She found she could hardly answer… her mind was already drifting back to a night long ago when she had been a young girl. That was long before her hopes and dreams had crumbled, when she had been susceptible to all the hurt the cruel world had to offer. That was long before she had learned to build walls around her heart. She was only seventeen then, a lonely and dowdy orphan whom nobody wanted and nobody cared about.

It had been Robert Ellis. He was the handsomest young man in Summerside. On occasion he had been rather friendly to the solitary orphan girl and her lonely heart had warmed to him. It wasn't long before she found herself in love… for the first, and what she later believed to be the last, time in her life. And one night after prayer meeting, he had approached her, rather shyly.

"Miss Brooke? Could I walk you home?"… just like that. And her heart had completely melted. But her eager reply was cut short. Annabelle Pringle. The wealthiest and most popular girl in all of Summerside. She had set her cap for Robert Ellis and, when a Pringle took it into her head to get something, it was wise to get out of the way, for they usually got it.

"Why, Robert! I'm surprised at you." she had stepped in between them, her dainty little face raised piquantly to his. "To ask to see Katherine home from prayer meeting when you know you had already asked me. Really, Robert, it is too much." She was taking his arm, towing him towards the door, while Katherine stood speechless, her face white and her heart already broken. "It is sweet of you, of course, to ask Katherine, but really, what would people say if they saw you together? A girl of such dreadful connections… an orphan!" she had glanced over her shoulder with a condescending little simper before walking off with Robert. Katherine didn't even notice the stricken glance he cast at her. She was blinded by tears. She never knew that Robert really hadn't asked Annabel Pringle… that she had made up the story. But he hadn't enough spine to stand up to her. The following year, Robert Ellis married Annabelle Pringle and Katherine began to build those walls around herself. It was just one in a long line of sorrows.

But here she was… in this magical place of Avonlea… and another young man was asking to see her home. And there didn't seem to be an Annabelle Pringle anywhere in sight.

So she accepted his offer. Sensing something about to happen, Anne wisely declined when he extended the offer to her and walked home with Diana and Fred.

And so it happened that Katherine walked home with David McAllister, beneath that magical moon with the ring around it. They talked about commonplace enough things, laughing heartily all the while, but there was nothing commonplace about the feeling in Katherine's heart when he bid her good night at the Green Gables gate and sauntered off through the moonlight, whistling merrily. She watched him until he vanished from sight, with a peculiar smile on her lips. Perhaps this was just another work of the magic of Green Gables. How she dreaded the thought of returning to Kingsport!

Chapter Text

"I've had the loveliest evening," Katherine sighed with happiness as she sank onto the bed in the little east gable room. Anne was smiling knowingly but wisely refrained from speaking. "Now, what are you smiling about?" Katherine frowned. "Never mind your excuses, I want to know what secret you've been keeping from me!"

"Oh, Katherine… I hardly know what to say…"

"Why, Anne! I've never known you to be at a loss for words before!" Katherine shook her head in mock disappointment. Anne only laughed at her.

"Gilbert Blythe asked me to marry him."

"And you said yes, of course," Katherine smiled. She remembered well the second day after their arrival at Green Gables… how that little Barry girl had happened to mention that Gilbert was dying and Anne had turned white. She remembered how Anne had sat up all the night, praying silently, weeping. Although Anne had never told her… not in so many words… Katherine could see plain as day that she loved him. Strange how a woman always knows… even a woman who has never before had love in her life. Anne, of course, had answered in the affirmative and Katherine threw her arms around her friend… a gesture completely foreign to her yet somehow it felt natural. She felt suddenly as if she had shed years and returned to her lost girlhood.

oOo

"Gilbert and I are going for one of our old-time rambles today…" Anne laid down her patchwork with a dreamy smile. "Down Lover's Lane, around the Lake of Shining Waters…" she paused and turned to Katherine. "I feel a little guilty, though, leaving you alone all day."

"Oh, you go on and enjoy yourself." Katherine shook out the shirtwaist she was embroidering and surveyed it, satisfied. "I was planning on venturing into town on my own today. I owe a call to Ruby Gillis and to Mrs. Irving and perhaps I'll make it over to Lawson's… I wanted to look at that dark red taffeta you mentioned... There's Gilbert now."

Her patchwork forgotten, Anne flew to meet him and the two wandered off together, arm-in-arm. Katherine watched them go with a wistful little sigh. Then, shaking her head at her own foolishness, she wended her own way towards Avonlea.

It was a lovely day… one of those lazy, warm, late-summer afternoons with fleecy clouds floating slowly by in a sapphire sky and the sun beaming comfortably down to cast a golden glow on fields ripe for harvest. Already many of the farmers were out in their fields with their teams of blacks and bays. Katherine walked slowly, breathing the clear, fresh air slowly and taking in every little sight and sound all along the little path that twisted and turned its way into Avonlea. The closer she got to town, the slower she walked. She felt that somehow, if she slowed down, then time would also slow down and she wouldn't have to return to Kingsport so soon.

She stopped then, for just before her was perhaps the loveliest little farm she had ever seen… next to Green Gables, that is. Rolling green pastures sheltered contented-looking Jersey cows and just beyond, a flock of fat little white hens. A beautiful white farmhouse surrounded by a whitewashed picket fence sat far back from the road, nestled in a grove of ancient old oak trees. Katherine leaned over the fence as she took in the little scene. It wasn't the Taj Mahal, nor the pillars of Karnak, but somehow it caught her interest perhaps even more than those mystical places of dream and fantasy would have.

"Here is a place I could really call home," she mused dreamily. "I feel as if I know it already… if this little farm was a person, I suppose I could call it a kindred spirit." Then she laughed at herself. "Listen to me! I declare that Anne is contagious."

Later that afternoon, having made her calls, she decided to purchase the red taffeta after all, although the price really was rather extravagant. Anne had insisted that she get some sort of a suitable party dress and, also according to Anne, deep red was supposedly Katherine's color… "Though I can never wear it myself," Anne had confided to her, mournfully.

By the time she turned back toward Green Gables, Katherine was caught up in such a reverie that she scarce paid attention to her surroundings. It wasn't like her to think about clothes but that red taffeta had put her into an unusual frame of mind. She was wondering how to make it up and whether she should use the latest fashion in skirt gathers or if she should stick to the old and familiar. She was so diverted by this fascinating subject, that she didn't hear the cries of warning or the thundering hooves behind her until it was nearly too late. Whirling in shock, she saw in alarm the runaway horse with its empty wagon, rearing up and plunging straight toward her with its head thrown back, eyes rolling in fear. She froze, paralyzed with shock until the horse was nearly atop her. At the last moment, she heard someone calling her name and felt herself whisked off her feet and jerked out of the path of the oncoming animal just in the nick of time.

There was no chance of her being lost in daydream this time as she stared after the near-disaster scene, breathing heavily in her sudden fright.

"Are you all right, Miss Brooke?" It was only then that she turned to see her rescuer and instantly felt the blood rush into her cheeks. Fancy Katherine blushing! She thought she had forgotten how… or else had never learned.

"Mr. McAllister!" she cried, pressing a trembling hand to her heart. "I… I… You saved my life! I don't know what came over me…"

"I'm thankful I was able to reach you in time," he answered in a low voice. "I didn't think I was going to make it." He turned to glare at Abner Sloane who was hurrying up to them.

"What was the idea, bringing that dog into town… with that horse?" he spoke angrily. "That horse is green-broke and shouldn't be hitched to a wagon at all. And that dog…" But words seemed to fail him considering the dog.

"That is a good horse," Abner returned, equally angrily. "And none of my other horses are strong enough to pull a heavy load. And as for my dog…" but words failed him as well.

"Well, you'd better get someone to train him better… Miss Brooke could have been killed!"

"Begging your pardon, Miss Brooke, ma'am," Abner tipped his cap. "I'm right sorry you were put in danger. I must see to getting my horse home now, if you'll excuse me."

David shook his head in disgust.

"He should know better than to use such an animal as that horse… it's practically wild." But he turned to Katherine, concern filling his eyes. "Are you certain that you're all right?"

"Yes… thank you… I'll be fine…" she faltered shakily. The incident had been rather bone-jarring, to say the least.

"I've got my wagon back at Lawson's… I'll take you home."

Katherine accepted his offer gratefully, although she felt that, had she refused, he would have insisted anyway. On the road home, she found that it was even more pleasant to discuss the beauties of Avonlea with a companion than to enjoy them silently by oneself.

As they passed the little farm that she had seen on the way into town, she pointed it out, eagerly.

"Whose farm is that?" she asked. "It really is the most beautiful spot I've ever seen."

"You like it?" Something shone suddenly in his eyes that almost frightened her, but he was smiling, pleased. "That's my place."

"Really?" Katherine's heart suddenly skipped a beat and she was at once annoyed with herself. Hadn't she herself once said that such a phenomenon as one's heart skipping a beat was stuff and nonsense? "I do like it… I love it. It's… enchanting." There. Another uncharacteristic phrase. What really was the matter with her? But she hardly cared.

"I'm glad you think so," he laughed, but then his expression grew thoughtful and he seemed for a moment to be far away… ten years away… when another young woman had said something quite the opposite. But that had been so long ago that it hardly mattered anymore.

When at last the wagon drew up before the Green Gables gate, both were a little sorry. Although neither said as much to the other, both felt that the ride had been much too short.

"Thank you again, Mr. McAllister," Katherine said as he handed her down and gathered up the reins again.

"I'd much rather you called me David," he answered, unexpectedly. "I'm really not used to formalities."

"If you call me Katherine," she said softly.

"Katherine, then." he smiled as she stepped back to allow him to turn his horse. But he leaned down again. "The Sloanes are having a corn husking tomorrow evening. Perhaps you would like to come?"

"I don't know… I've never… husked corn… before…" Katharine replied hesitantly.

"It's not hard to learn," he grinned. "I'll wager you'll be a natural in five minutes flat."

"Then I'll come," Katherine laughed.

"I'll come by at six tomorrow to pick you up." And with a friendly wave, he slapped the reins over the horse's back and moved on down the road.

Chapter Text

A country corn husking is simply a delight. Katherine learned that quickly. The Sloanes' huge old red barn was filled to bursting both with piles of corn and an unbelievable amount of people. As large as the barn was, Katherine was amazed that it could still be so full.

They sat on the floor in groups of threes and fours, all clustered round the golden heaps of corn, talking and laughing as they worked. Coming to Avonlea had been just one first after another for Katherine and this was simply another on her long list. A gathering of this sort she had never even dreamed of.

With David's help, she was indeed a "natural in five minutes flat". There was really nothing to it… just pull the shucks off the cob and fling the shucks in one direction and the cob in another, although taking care to land in the correct piles. She also learned it wasn't a good idea to fling either too far… a husking bee could turn to chaos instantly if a cob chanced to fly across the room.

Sandy ambled in late that evening and instantly made his way, tripping and fumbling over the heaps of corn and shucks, across the room to where Katherine sat with David, Ruby, and Herb. He was invited to work with them and duly accepted, although he didn't exactly work well. He shucked about one cob to the others' three.

"It's just too bad," he sighed mournfully, staring regretfully at the cob in his hand.

"What is?" Katherine asked, curiously.

"One simply cannot eat field corn. If only they would get the refreshments out! I'm simply ravenous… haven't eaten a single thing since tea time."

"Tea time was three hours ago," David was trying to stifle his laughter.

"Actually, it was two hours ago," Sandy returned, reaching for another cob. "I have tea at five instead of four… since I usually have a snack at two. Well, even if I can't eat it, I hope I'll get a red cob."

"A red cob?" Katherine frowned, confused. "I thought corn was always yellow."

"Red cobs are rare," Ruby answered, flushing daintily. "It's a time-honored tradition that whoever finds a red cob must give a kiss to the one they like the best," and here she glanced sideways at Herb with a little smile.

"Gracious… I don't know what I'd do with a red cob," Katherine answered, shaking her head.

"Why… look at David!" Ruby cried suddenly, with a laugh. "Speaking of red cobs, indeed!"

Katherine looked accordingly. David was sitting motionless, staring at the red cob in his hands. Catching wind of Ruby's words, the entire room fell silent and all eyes turned toward the corner where David sat. It was as if all held their breaths… waiting to see what he would do. He looked up suddenly and his eyes met Katherine's. She dropped hers immediately… her heart beating more quickly than she had thought it possible for a human heart to beat. He leaned toward her suddenly and kissed her cheek. She was stunned. Never in all her life had someone kissed her… not ever that she could remember… and she had thought that no one ever would. She felt like she could laugh… burst into tears… she didn't know. But a whole new world suddenly folded open… like a beautiful red rose bursting into bloom… just at that moment.

Perhaps… she thought wildly… perhaps this is what being in love feels like.

"Why, David McAllister!" a shrill voice broke the silence with a laugh. "I'm surprised at you! Why… after all I've heard about you and Emily, I never thought you'd find another to whom you could give your heart!"

"Josie Pye!" Ruby whirled round indignantly. "You learn to hold your tongue!"

Josie narrowed her eyes at Ruby and flounced back to her circle. After the first few stunned seconds of silence, the room was busy again and filled with laughter. But Katherine felt certain now that she would cry… and David was shucking corn twice as fast as before, his head down, his face white.

"Emily…" Katherine faltered, looking at Ruby in frightened confusion. Ruby looked down.

"We in Avonlea don't speak of Emily any more. Josie has no tact… and no heart. I'm sorry, David."

"It doesn't matter," he murmured. "That was years ago."

The incident somewhat dampened the spirits of the little group but it was quickly forgotten by all, perhaps, except Katherine and David. Katherine was worried to such an extent that she somehow found the courage to bring it up to David during the drive home.

"Emily." he said softly. "Emily Blythe. We went to school together… she was just a couple of grades behind me. She was the prettiest girl in Avonlea in those days… curly dark hair and big hazel eyes. We were engaged at one point…" his voice trailed off and he lapsed into silence.

"And?" Katherine prompted gently. He shook his head.

"Some things are better left in the past. But don't worry about it, Katherine. That happened too long ago. It doesn't bother me anymore, really."

Katherine didn't have to wonder long about the mysterious Emily. When she arrived back at Green Gables that night, as she was pressed into telling every detail of the evening… although she didn't mention the red cob… she rather evasively brought up the incident with Josie, asking who Emily Blythe was.

"Emily Blythe! Gracious, it's been years since I've heard her name, poor child." Mrs. Lynde sighed. "It was a terrible disgrace, that's what."

"What happened?" Katherine could no longer contain her curiosity.

"She was the older sister of Gilbert Blythe," Marilla interposed quietly. "Her father's favorite, so I've heard.

"Land sakes, he loved the girl to death. Spoiled her, if you ask me. Gave her too much freedom, that's what."

"But she was a sweet girl. Loved by all who knew her." Marilla was charitable still.

"And a great beauty." Mrs. Lynde added. "The kind that makes a man stop and look twice. David McAllister was head over heels in love with her… ten years ago. I never saw a man so smitten by a girl."

"And?" Katherine urged, for both women had stopped to shake their heads mournfully at each other.

"They were engaged when he was twenty and she just seventeen." Marilla continued slowly. "I still remember the day they were announced in church… he beaming with pride and she smiling so happily."

"And then one day a stranger showed up in town," Mrs. Lynde sniffed with an air that told Katherine she had little regard for said stranger. "One of them dreadful foreigners from the states. He was terribly rich… just scads of money. And terribly handsome too. Emily took one look at him and most likely forgot David even existed. Though I can hardly imagine why… David was much more handsome… and much more respectable too. Her family still wanted her to marry him of course but I declare that stranger must have bewitched her! She told David straight to his face that she was tired of a provincial life… that she hated the very sight of his farm and didn't want to waste away her life as a farmer's wife."

"I'm surprised she really had it in her to say that." Marilla frowned. "But that is how the story got around."

"I believe it." Mrs. Lynde stated with firm conviction. "No telling what nonsense that stranger put in her head. But when her father stepped in and forbid her to see him anymore, she up and ran away with him. Poor David just ate his heart out with grief."

"She took consumption and died shortly after leaving Avonlea." Marilla put in quietly. "Her father was so upset over the whole situation that he became dangerously ill and the entire family left Avonlea. They stayed in Alberta for three years."

"And when he was better, they came home and continued on with life just as if nothing had ever happened. No one has hardly mentioned poor Emily since then except perhaps in a whisper. But the Pyes were always too meddlesome for their own good." She turned to Marilla. "I suppose if none of that had never happened and they hadn't been gone for so long that Gilbert never would have gotten so behind in school. Wouldn't that have been a change! Without all that rivalry between him and Anne, I suppose your life would have been rather dull indeed, Marilla, that's what."

Katherine had fallen silent, not certain how to take in the news. She almost wished she hadn't asked... but at the same time was glad she knew. She found herself wondering if it was truly possible for one to fall in love more than once. Or was she entirely fooling herself? Perhaps David just wanted a friend. She wasn't entirely certain what she wanted herself. It was just part of that Green Gables magic...

"Don't you worry, Katherine," Mrs. Lynde was saying, complaisantly. "It's been ten years and David would be a fool indeed to turn down a good match for old time's sake. Pure sentimental hogwash, that's what."

"It's late," Katherine murmured, without answering Mrs. Lynde. "I should be getting to bed."

No sooner had the door closed behind her than Mrs. Lynde added knowingly, "Mark my words, Marilla, something is in the air, and that you may tie to. I have more than a feeling that David and Katherine will make a match of it after all."

"If Providence wills it," Marilla smiled tolerantly.

Chapter Text

"Anne, do you think it is possible to fall in love more than once?" Katharine sprung this momentous question upon poor Anne the moment she had shut the door in the little east gable room behind her. Her heart was beating so strangely and she could feel the heightened warmth in her cheeks. It was all so unsettling… so new to her.

"The fountains mingle with the river and the rivers with the ocean, the winds of heaven mix forever with a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law Divine in one spirit meet and mingle. Why not I with thine?" quoth Anne dreamily. She was sitting before the window, staring out at a silvery crescent of a moon floating in a star-studded sky.

"Anne?" Katharine frowned, not certain of what her friend was speaking, or even if she had heard her. Anne turned toward her then, with the slightly-agonized look of one who has just been torn from a beautiful dream.

"I'm sorry, Katharine… I was drinking in the beauty of this lovely night… and… well…" she paused with a faraway smile. "Never mind. What did you say?" And so Katharine repeated her fateful question, ashamed to own that her voice was trembling.

"Of course it is, dear Katharine!" Anne laughed lightly. "The heart is not restricted in that way. Once a broken heart heals, it may find again the love it thought it lost." She leaned her head to one side and looked at Katherine contemplatively. "They told you about Emily, didn't they?"

"How did you know?"

"I have my ways," Anne smiled. "Or perhaps I should be less cryptic and just say that Mrs. Lynde has a loud voice." Katharine laughed.

"She does at that!"

"How do you feel then… about Emily, I mean?"

"I… hardly know…" Katharine faltered. "I thought… well, I don't really know what I think. Even though Avonlea feels like home, I really am just an outsider and I'm walking in on years of life before I ever arrived…" Her voice trailed away and she was silent for a long moment. Anne said nothing, only waited for her friend to continue.

"I keep thinking of my dreams… my dreams of travel. And then I think of this new dream that is somehow forming in spite of all I can do. This strange new dream of a home… and a family… someone who loves me."

"Just wait till a dream comes true," Anne answered softly. "Mine did, although it was a dream that I didn't realize I even had until… until I nearly lost it. I know that yours will too, one or the other, someday. Remember, there really is a bend in the road. And don't contradict me this time," she finished with a laugh.

"I won't," Katharine grinned. "I haven't the heart for contradicting you any longer… somehow you have a way of knowing what will happen. So I'll just wait…"

"And trust in Providence," Anne added. "He knows your future… and He'll show you, just when the time is right."

oOo

In spite of the golden autumn sunshine streaming through the windows of Green Gables the next morning, Katharine felt rather down. Part of it, in fact, was because of that lovely sunshine and the golden glow that settled all over Green Gables.

Three more days. That was all Katharine had. And then it was back to Kingsport and the miserable dark drudgery that she detested.

"I'm going for a walk," she stated bluntly to Marilla, Anne, and Mrs. Lynde collectively as she finished Marilla's home-cooked breakfast… such a breakfast! And the meals at the boarding house were dreadful… Dreadful, with a capital D.

"Poor thing," Mrs. Lynde shook her head sadly as she watched Katharine's departing figure from the kitchen window. "Just dreading the thought of going back, that's what."

"That", as Mrs. Lynde had said, was exactly "what". But perhaps a little bit more. And Katharine was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even look where she was going. Her feet followed her heart as they led her down the red dirt road. Before she realized where she was going, she found herself, to her own great surprise, on the road just before David McAllister's farm. What's more, David McAllister himself was out in the pasture just then. Her first thought was to move on quickly in the hopes he hadn't seen her, but he was calling to her and she turned back.

"Katherine… Katherine…" he was hurrying toward her and was now at the edge of the field, just across the fence from her. "I'm… I'm sorry… about last night."

"Why… what's there to be sorry about?" Katherine asked innocently but her face was flaming.

"Well…" he seemed awfully uncomfortable and she felt suddenly terribly sorry for him.

"David… don't worry about it. Really. I'm not upset in the least little bit… I mean it. I promise."

""Really?" he smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. There was something about David McAllister's smile that was completely irresistible. "About Emily..."

"You don't need to explain," Katherine interrupted. "I know… all about it… now."

"It was ten years ago, Katherine. Nearly a lifetime ago… or so it seems. There are times now and then when I miss her, but not in the way that I used to. When it first happened, I mean. I wonder sometimes what my life would have been if she hadn't… gone away. But if she hadn't, then I… I… wouldn't have..." he was speaking in a low voice, his eyes on the ground. But he suddenly looked up and his eyes met Katharine's. A feeling, sudden and unexpected, suddenly shot through her… an almost eerie feeling of premonition.

"Never mind the past." Katharine attempted to laugh. "It's a beautiful day. So beautiful that I must live in the present. Will you walk with me?"

And so he did. It was the last time for a long while that they would walk together and Katherine knew it. That fact alone put a rather gloomy outlook on the otherwise perfect day. He took her down his pastures and through the woods back of his house, showed her the little brook that ran through the back yard and the little clearing in the woods just made for a picnic. Then they took the back way, through what Anne called "The White Way of Delight" and what David called "Fraser's Apple Orchard", though why he didn't call it "The Avenue", as Katherine had heard it was termed, she didn't know.

They stopped at the Green Gables gate and Katherine could see Marilla and Mrs. Rachel, complete with patchwork and knitting, sitting on the front porch. She sighed, internally. No escaping from Mrs. Rachel in this situation...

"So you're leaving on the Saturday morning train..." David said slowly, with a sideways glance at the house. Katherine nodded.

"I'll pick you up and drive you to the station," he added. "That is... if you want me to..."

"Oh, yes!" Katherine said quickly, but then her face fell. "Anne had already asked Gilbert and..." she paused. "But would you come along anyway?" she continued, hopefully.

He smiled and nodded. She turned toward the house, but he caught her hand and she stopped.

"Katherine... you will come back soon?"

"I hope to come back for Christmas," she answered.

oOo

It just so happened that Gilbert and Anne left extra early Saturday morning, hoping to spend some time in Carmody before the train left the station. And so David picked up Katherine an hour later and they drove alone to the Carmody station. Anne was waiting for Katherine on the little platform, tickets in hand.

The train was already slowly moving to a stop and Katherine felt her heart sinking with every moment that brought it closer. All too soon, the conductor was calling for passengers and her bags were being carried aboard. David still stood on the platform as she turned to board the train, watching her with a smile half-sad, half-hopeful. She stopped suddenly and went back to him.

"Will you write? I mean... would you mind... if I write..." There. Something truly was the matter with her. She couldn't hardly speak a straight sentence any longer.

"I'd be glad to," he answered eagerly. "And... I'll be counting down the days till Christmas."

"As will I," Katherine smiled, relieved that she had the presence of mind to say that straight through. Just three words, but at least she hadn't stammered.

And before she knew it, she was on the train, speeding quickly away from Avonlea. She leaned up against the window, watching David standing still on the station platform until she could no longer see him. Then she sat back against the hard leather seat and applied herself to composing herself. If she was going back to Kingsport, she was most certainly not going back in such a flustered state.