The Three of Us

34. "Twenty-Six Weeks Old"

I know I keep having Anne be upset by the baby kicking, but, this is the last chapter where she hates the feeling of it kicking. ...There is a chapter coming up soon where she will get annoyed by it kicking but then in that same chapter she will decide it's sort of nice to feel it in there...and I think you guys will really like that chapter, I tried to make it a really sweet little time of just her and her baby getting to know each other : ) (That chapter is coming up pretty soon, you won't have long to wait for it.)

She is still going to waffle a bit about whether or not to actually keep the baby- but at least the baby kicking will no longer be unpleasant to her.

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Anne glanced at the clock. "Oh, Gilbert, I forgot. I can't do geometry...I forgot our Sunday School teacher is coming at four. And I haven't done anything since the last time she came."

"Oh. Can I help with that, then?" he asked.

Anne put her math book down and got Marilla's Bible and her Sunday School booklet.

"I don't see how you could," she said. "I'm sorry. If you want to go home, I understand. I don't expect you to sit here watching me read."

If the choice was to sit and watch Anne read, or do anything else in the world that didn't involve Anne, he'd sit and watch her read.

But once Anne was sitting with Marilla's Bible, she sighed. "I'm hungry. Again."

It never ends, she thought.

"I can go get you something," Gilbert offered.

"No, I have to think of what sounds good," she explained. She got up. "Would you like something?" she asked.

"No," Gilbert said, shaking his head with a hint of a smile. "Thank you." They'd had pie only a half hour ago, and Anne had eaten two pieces, and seemed to be holding herself back from having a third.

Now she went into the kitchen to retrieve the rest of the pie.

Gilbert picked up Marilla's Bible. "Where are you?" he called out to Anne.

"In the kitchen," Anne called back.

He laughed. "No, I meant in your book."

"Oh," Anne called out. "The Babylonian king's siege of Jerusalem. ...Don't you think King Nebuchadnezzar is a positively delightful name to say? Nebuchadnezzar- it makes me laugh every time I say it!"

Gilbert smiled. "Don't let Miss Cuthbert hear you say that. I don't think she'd take kindly to you saying anything in the Bible makes you laugh."

Anne came back in with her piece of pie.

She sat down on the sofa, moving so she was sitting with one leg tucked under her. She ate a bite, then said, "I wish I had cheese to eat with this pie."

Anne turned her attention to the page. Gilbert sat with her, pretending to read alongside her, but really just watching the way her lips moved as she read to herself.

After Anne drained her second glass of water, the baby began moving around again. This was met with immediate and dramatic disapproval from Anne.

She set her empty glass down and dropped her head into her hands. "No!" she moaned.

"What is it?" Gilbert asked quickly.

"I want to die!" Anne wailed.

"Anne!" Gilbert cried, alarmed.

"Well, I do!" she exclaimed. "It's moving again! It always moves around after I drink glasses of water! I hate feeling it move, Gilbert! And it doesn't stop! This is horrible. It's horrendous. It's...I can't even think of a worse word!"