Chapter Text
Anne always dreamed about her wedding day, what dress she would wear, who would be there, but most importantly who she was marrying. He would be tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, and romantic. She guessed that all she really wanted was her own Mr. Rochester, sans the hidden wife of course. While her fiancée might be tall, dark, and admittedly could be described as a little handsome, he was in no way what she expected or even wanted in a spouse. And her dress, oh her dress! Even the thought of it would make Anne burst into tears. Not only was it not the newest style, or a pearly white, it wasn’t even new.
But alas, there was nothing she could do, not as she walked down the church aisle making her best effort not to look at the altar where he waited, but the sight of all the empty pews just made her heart hurt more. This is nothing like she imagined in the slightest.
Gilbert should have been the happiest man on the planet. Not only was he about to marry the prettiest, smartest, and most amazing girl he knew, but she was also the love of his life. Instead, he felt utterly awful. This was not how he planned it to go. He was going to graduate from Redmond, propose to Anne, graduate from medical school, and then marry her, and in that order specifically. Now here he was about to marry Anne without even attending Redmond, with no degree and no money, Gilbert had no clue what he was ever going to do with a wife of all things. Even worse than all of that was the fact that Anne did not love him, they had only even become friends less than two years ago.
As he watched her walk down the aisle, avoiding eye contact, his heart broke a little even though he knew that this was not about him, but instead about the situation that they had been put in. This should have been the best moment of his life.
Anne reached the altar somehow, exactly how she was not quite sure, and it took every fiber of her being not to run as fast as she could out of the church and back to Green Gables. But, she knew better than to do this because she would never be welcome there ever again. The minister must have been performing the ceremony, but she heard nothing as she stared at the ground and tried not to cry. Suddenly, Anne heard a throat clear, and looked up to find the minister and Gilbert looking at her expectantly and she realized it must be time to say the dreaded words. She managed to croak out a weak, “I do.” With that, the minister went on to tell Gilbert he may kiss his bride. Anne froze, she never considered that she was going to have to kiss Gilbert. For a split second as she saw him lean in nervously she wished that it was going to be magical and instantly fall in love and that they would live happily ever after. That hope was gone a moment later when the kiss happened and she felt, well she felt…absolutely nothing.