after you

you tilted my hand

It had been about a year and half since the last gilbert and anne had promised their futures together. so much had changed from then to now.

diana and fred had recently started courting and have gotten just bad as gilbert and anne were when they had been first courting. now it was anne that only heard "fred this" and "fred that" and "fred just has the most beautiful voice" and it was now gilbert that got the "oh how amazing diana is" and the "oh im so glad i get to call her mine"

anne and gilbert hated it to say the least.

also not officially courting but in a relationship was harry and cole. they mostly kept it to themselves, only revealing the relationship to anne, gilbert, diana and fred.

to say gilbert was surprised by the new would have been an understatement. he was sure that anne had secretly had a fling with cole and that harry had a thing for her. he could not have been more wrong about the both of them.

but our story picks up on the summer before their third year of higher learning, the summer that they decided to spend in avonlea.

***

"bash?" gilbert called out to the place that he once called his home. a wave of old memories greeted him like an old friend as he made his way through the front door, "bash? are you home?"

"uncle gilly" a small voice had called out from the other room.

he smiled as he heard the little voice and the sound of small footsteps working their way to where he was standing.

"why hello my favorite niece, is you father home?" he said looking around trying to figure out why his two and half year old niece was alone.

"outside" she said simply with a small giggle as gilbert kissed her forehead then placed her on his hip.

"hey delphy" he said excitingly to her, "can you keep a secret for me?"

she nodded quickly, her only focus on what his secret was now. He made his way to his fathers old room and opened the cupboard like he had once done two years ago, "now this was my mothers ring" he said as he pulled out the simple gold ring with the emerald jewel in the center, "im going to give it to auntie annie soon"

delphines eyes had grown as wide a saucers, "are you and auntie annie going to get married?" she asked with wonder in her eyes. she reminded him of mary more and more each time he saw her.

"as soon as i ask her father, im going to properly ask her, yes" he said with a soft smile, "before gently placing her down, "but in the end its her decision"

"i can't wait to tell her" she said with the biggest smile

his eyes went wide before quickly trying to fix his mistake, "no no no no, you can't tell her yet, its a secret remember?"

"gilbert is that you?" bash had asked the newly aged 20 year old, "and is that a ring you're holding?"

well so much for it remaining a secret

***

while anne was babysitting delphine, gilbert thought that now would be the proper time to ask matthew for his blessing. he had slipped out of the house with a small 'i forgot to grab something on our way into town' leaving anne very confused.

gilbert was more nervous than he ever had been before. he always worried that he was disliked by annes family for courting her without asking matthew first.

"matthew?" gilbert spoke out as he fidgeted with the ring in his pocket, he imagined that this would be harder than asking anne for her hand.

"oh uh yes hello there gilbert. what can i uh do for you?" he said unexpectidly.

gilbert figured that there was no beating around the bush when it came to this, "i was hoping to ask for your daughters hand in marriage"