A Jerry Baynard X Diana Berry Short-Story
Dianna returns to Avonlea after a turbulent time in her marriage. It is not long until she bumps into a familiar face and forgotten emotions begin to rekindle, as the couple realise that in the briefest of m...
Diana found it amusing that even after Jerry had established himself as a gentleman of means, he still insisted on joining the workers to pick the apples in the autumn. Pulling her shawl closer to her body she wandered down the spiral path towards the orchard. She took thd time to stand and admire him at work with a soft smile.
"Lunch is ready" she announced watching him turn to smile. His warm skin and long dark hair suited him better than his fitted suits and clean-cut hair. He had said that being out in nature provided him with room to think of writing, he hated being cooped up in the study all day.
"I have something new to write today" Jerry added walking into the house. Diana tool his arm and walked inside together.
"Are you going to tell me? Or must I be made to wait" she pouted with an eye-roll. Jerry and Diana had made their home at the Barry house after Diana's parents decided to move across the country to be closer to May who had married a wealthy actor in the States. The warmer weather was also more agreeable for the older couple who enjoyed taking their winter in Georgia.
"I think you know the answer to that" Jerry joked as they sat down at the small table to eat a simple sandwich of a cheese sandwich. A stack of mail sat beside Jerry's spot as he uneasily began going through his mail. "This is why I do not stay inside" he muttered waving a long multi-page letter.
Diana smiled and watched his expression as he gave up on reading snd looked up to smile. "The kids should be home from school soon, let us enjoy the silence before they come" she added breaking off a price of bread.
"We were that age once" he added with a fond smile.
"Oh I remember" she smiled. "There was this french boy who I was absolutely infatuated by" she pointed.
"That's not how I remember it love, but I like your version better" Jerry added. Their lunch ended as quickly as it began with the kids returning home, to which Jerry asked them to collect the baskets of apples and bring them up to the house. The heavy loads seemed to calm their energy enough as they were peacefully doing their homework a moment later.
"Papa, Mrs Blyth said that she thinks I might even be able to become a doctor in Toronto" Sylvie added coming to sit by the fire and her father who was reading letters.
"Do you want to be a doctor?" He asked giving her his attention.
"Yes, mama wanted to be a nurse. I found it in her old diary. I never thought of it until I enjoyed science so much" the thought of his first wife made him smile sadly. It was sad that she did not even get to taste the life she had dreamed of for herself.
"Then you better study hard cherie and then we shall celebrate your success" he smiled as she squealed in delight and pressed a kiss on his head before running off to tell her siblings. Aribella and Sylvie were insufferable and insisted on doing everything together, while Jame and baby Elisa was the trouble maker of the lot. After marrying Diana on their return from Europe they did not have any more children, and while Diana and Simons's children took after their father in appearance, Jerry thought of them as his own. Leaving the children's laughter he retired to his study and pulled out a pen to write.
When one enters your life so abrupt. It makes you question all that came before.
It makes one stop to wonder, how simple it all had been before her. How life had a different purpose like a soft stream. How at one instance the stream stops to reconsider before falling rapidly.
Life is just that. A selection of rocks, crevasses, falls and valleys that lead you to where you are going, and leave traces from whence you came.
It had felt like an eternity since he had picked up his pen to write anything. But the words that he read back to him brought a smile to his face. That was him. Through working hard as a boy, meeting a beautiful but snobbish girl, meeting an elegant and full of life lady, marrying her gave him his best prize of all. But losing her changed his lense to realise how short life can be, and how even in the best of moments it can easily be taken away again. Even after so many years lost, Jerry was certain that she would want him to live in happiness and hope, and to continue to provide their daughter with the opportunities that they were not given as children.
Looking at Silvie laughing with her siblings brought happiness to his eyes. And at that moment Jerry decided that he would stop writing about heartache and memories, but of inspiration and love. For on their tiny island, his love stretched from coast to coast.
Because finally, Jerry Beynard was home.
THE END
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