Between the words: Anne with an E

Letter 14

Dear Anne Shirley Cuthbert,

We hope this letter finds you in good health. We were absolutely enamoured to hear your accounts about what is called Residential schools. It is from our knowledge that these institutions are run by Christian organisations and the Canadian government. The information that these parties shared was that re-education was needed to merge the native people into modern society. However, no future plans have been finalised on what is to happen once the children have left the school.

Your piece offers a great perspective into the lives of native peoples and the experience of having their child forcibly taken away from them. In this regard, we would like to print the piece come the new year and hope that you might be able to visit Toronto at your earliest convenience to discuss alterations to the article in full.

We are also happy to include female writers in our article, however, due to the nature of the piece and your social standing, strongly advise writing under a different name.

We look forward to making your acquaintance and response,

Richard Banks - Writer in the Global 

Anne Shirley could not contain her shock in reading the letter in her hands. They wanted her to go to Toronto. They wanted to publish her piece in the newspaper. Marillia stopped pacing the floor and Mathew sat on his chair with a smug grin. "Marilla, can I go?" Anne started instantly.

"May you go? All the way to Toronto?" she repeated with worry. 

"Please Marillia, Ill go with Gilbert and message Aunt Josephine, I am certain that she will have someone I would be able to stay with. Miss Stacy could accompany me, I am certain she would agree. Please Marillia, I must go" Anne babbled with excitement. They were calling her name. 

"We had best invite Miss Stacy and Gilbert Blythe for tea" she added. before Anne could bust with glee, Marillia added "only to discuss the idea." she added. Before Marillia could say another word Anne raced towards the door to ready Bell to ride onto Miss Stacy's home and Gilberts. Mathew followed slowly and allowed her to attach the carriage for their guests. "I knew you could do it Anne" he added as they finished strapping and prepping the cart. 

What a wonderous Christmas present she thought as Bell skipped onwards to her destination. She first went to collect Gilbert and tied Bell. The sound of the horses must have alerted them, as Gilbert emerged at the door. "I wasn't expecting to see you today, not that I'm not glad of course" he added.

"I have the very best of news to share. But I need to talk to you about coming to Toronto with you and Marillia won't let me go alone obviously. And so we need to visit miss Stacy to see if she might be able to Chaperone me" she babbled.

"What do you need to do in Toronto?" he asked with a small smile. Anne handed him the folded paper from her pocket and watched his expression "Anne, this is amazing." he smiled "It's beyond amazing" he added. "I had not even realised you had submitted something"

"Well I did, shortly after we graduated and it has been so long since I wrote that I didn't expect anything from it. But I must go, and I need your help to convince Marillia that I am in safe hands" Gilbert nodded with a smile before skipping towards the door, yelling to Bash on his departure and grabbing his checkered red winter coat. The couple found themselves trotting towards Miss Stacy who was delighted to join. 

"I am so glad that you both have aspired to be great people" Miss Stacy smiled at them both "I am certain that with your sharp minds our world will move into one of beauty and long health" she smiled.

"Well with Gilberts fancy lectures and meetings with doctors I am certain of it, you must tell Miss Stacy about all the fantastical people you have come to meet" Anne boasted from the middle spot. She had heard, well-read so much on his adventures but it was more musical to hear them said aloud. The way he described the rooms and the people and the medical words she didn't understand made Toronto seem excruciatingly exciting. Green gables met them with a freshly brewed pot of tea and a batch of scones that Marillia must have pulled out of thin air. 

As the five, gathered around the table. Ane twisted her fingers in anticipation. She had never wanted anything so much in her being. This would be the most magical opportunity she could imagine. In her focus on the many questions Marillia was asking Miss Stacy, she did her best to hold tightly to her tongue. She felt a warm hand grip hers and was comforted in the thought that Gilbert was there. 

"I have a very close friend in Toronto who is a doctor, I am certain that she would be delighted to host Anne for the week. I will also be glad to attend the meetings with Anne to make sure she is safe, and we could visit museums, so it would be an educational and worthwhile trip for us both" she explained.

"Only if it is not too much trouble Miss Stacy," Mathew added.

"Think little of it. It comes at the perfect time, I was just feeling the need to get a change in the air. So I think this trip would do wonders for us both" Miss Stacy added with a smile. 

Marillia stared firmly at Anne and took a sip of her now cold tea before glancing over to Mathew. She wasn't sure what help he would be, but she was certain that she could not hold Anne back, especially when she had promised herself not to do so. Taking a deep breath and pressing her shaking hands onto her apron covered lap, she nodded. "Fine then, Anne can go".

The words were music to Anne's ears as she squeezed her hands to her chest in happiness. "Looks like I get to visit Toronto after all" she giggled happily her face turning almost as red as her hair. 

"Looks like you do" Gilbert smiled. Their afternoon tea came to a close, and so the three loaded back onto the wagon, and Anne dropped her wonderful friends back at home. "I always knew great things were to come for you" he added as they started slowly moving away from Miss Stacy's home.

"always huh?"

"Yeah, ever since you first came to Avonlea. I dunno, I always knew there was something about you. Heck, I even told my father about you before he passed" he added looking forward

"Well you are lucky then, with Ruby as your warrior guardian, we were all forbidden to even utter your name, let alone think about you"

"That's why you were always running away from me when we were kids" 

"I did not run away" 

"Um, yes you did"

"No, I didn't Blythe"

"Sure."

Anne couldn't help but smile.

"It's strange you know. writing things in letters compared to saying things aloud" she added thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, in that first letter I ever wrote to you, the one you never found. I told you I loved you" she took a sharp breath and focused her gaze on the reins " but since we have reunited, I had never actually told you" she added.

"And that you still do?" 

Anne's eyes finally met his and Bell knowingly came to a hault. Her gaze flickered between his warm brown eyes and lips "And that I still do" she admitted softly in the wind.