The Three of Us

117. Jane Has Two Gifts

Anne wished that Diana could come and stay all day again, but the following day school was back in session, and so Diana would be gone all day, with Anne left at home by herself.

She did not even have Jerry, because with the snow, his services were not needed. He would, of course, be coming back once the snow was gone, but to Anne, the time Jerry would return to work was very far away. Jerry's big family lived in town, and Anne thought about going to visit him, but she preferred to keep her time in town as limited as possible nowadays. And anyway, Marilla had mentioned that during the off-season for farming, Jerry was busy working in his family's shop, so he wouldn't have much extra time- if any at all- for her to hang about talking to him.

Anne was glad that at least Jerry had given her a Christmas card before he left. Thanks to her help in reading all those afternoons, Jerry had been able to write Merry Christmas, Ann all by himself. Anne was so happy that she did not even point out that he had left off the E. And Jerry had been so grateful to get Anne's meaningful gift to him: McGuffey's First Reader.

So Anne felt like a deflated balloon all day, waiting for someone to come by and make her feel as if she were part of the world again.

"Gilbert will come after school- he always does," Marilla pointed out while Anne moped.

"I know," Anne said, hauling laundry into the washtub.

"And Miss Stacy," Marilla remembered.

"No, not Miss Stacy. She's doing some of her parent-teacher conferences today. She said she would come tomorrow, though."

"Oh," Marilla said. Even she sounded let down. But then, trying to sound more positive, she said, "Diana might come over with Gilbert after school."

Anne shook her head sadly. "She can't. She has a piano lesson."

Anne was tired of playing a housewife; she'd done it for most of her life and after she'd gotten that brief window into what school was like, it was hard to go back to what she felt was a life of drudgery. She tried to remember that at least now she was with Marilla and Matthew, who loved her, instead of the Hammonds. But that thought didn't exactly cheer her up as she poured laundry soap into the washtub and set to work scrubbing dirty clothes.

When school was over, Anne watched the clock. Gilbert was there shortly, and Anne practically fell into his arms.

"Glad to see you, too," Gilbert laughed, hugging her.

"Tell me every single thing that happened at school today," Anne demanded, pulling him to the sofa and sitting down.

Gilbert stayed for a little while, but not long after he arrived, he said, "I'm going to head home. Jane said at school that she wanted to come see you sometime this afternoon."

"Really?" Anne asked, bouncing up to look out the window right that very moment.

Anne walked Gilbert out so that she could kiss him- quickly- without Marilla or Matthew seeing.

That made both of them happy, but while Gilbert rode all the way home thinking about that kiss, Anne forgot it the moment she saw Jane coming through the field of snow to see her. Anne was so anxious for company.

Finally Jane reached the house, and Anne pulled her into the parlor so quickly that Jane dropped the parcels she was carrying. Anne picked them up for her, and absentmindedly placed them on the bench.

Jane was pulling off her boots, not wanting to leave water on the Cuthbert's floor.

"Oh, I'll get you my houseshoes," Anne thought of. "Then your stockings won't get wet."