My Fairy Queen Anne

i like the way you're everything i ever wanted

Anne clung to Marilla and pondered over how utterly fortunate she had been to receive such a family. She'd endure her past horrors a thousand times over before forsaking this community of loving people around her.

Anne tightened her grip on Marilla for a minute before composing herself as they heard the sound of laughter up the walk. Not two minutes later, three knocks resounded on the door.

Anne shot up immediately to go greet them with a truly joyful smile, her mood slowly transforming when she saw Gilbert's blissfully oblivious face through the window. 

"Dear Lacroixs!" she greeted, hugging each one of them to ensure that they didn't see the puffy mess that her eyes had become. It would wear off in a couple minutes. "And of course, my dear Gilbert," she added, ushering them in. She gestured to let Gilbert in the through the door, but he stopped, peering at her with a furrowed brow, downturned lips, and perturbed hazel eyes, always so aware of his Anne.

"You've been crying," he noticed.

"Are you going to ask me if I've been chopping onions?" she jibed with a smile that crumpled into a grimace, using humor to distract from the subject at hand. He wasn't fooled, of course.

He laughed softly, but his fingers urged to touch her, twitching with the desire to wipe away the remaining moisture of tears on her enchanting face but restraining himself in front of proper company. "That was fair game," he granted with an accepting chuckle. "But I'm more concerned about why you were weeping anyways."

"Oh, just some of the irksome parts of life. I'll explain later. For now..." Her eyes flitted around to scan the perimeter before leaning upwards and pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Let's just be joyous."

"You're tempting fate, huh?" he laughed, walking inside the house alongside her.

"What am I if not an adventurer, Gilbert?" she responded dramatically, his infectious grin making her laugh. The two were blissfully unaware of their family (most of all, Sebastian) smiling at the interaction. Marilla didn't care for rules of propriety as strictly as her best friend did, and it warmed her heart to see the adoring -- and sometimes, downright sinful -- glances they gave each other. It reminded her of her own tragical romance back in her youth.

"Anne, why don't you show Gilbert Prejudice's new calf while I put the finishing touches on?" Marilla suggested with a knowing smile, gesturing to the door.

Anne nodded enthusiastically, taking his hand and leading him out of the door, rambling about something of her imaginations while Gilbert looked at her fondly and interjected to propose something or the other every few seconds.

"I'll bet my last dollar that wedding bells will be ringing by the time they're out of school," Elijah commented with a throaty chuckle.

Sebastian snorted and let out a hearty laugh. "I'm just glad they got over all that denial."

"I was afraid that she was growing too fast, but...I trust her. Almost seventeen, where did time go?" Marilla sighed in an uncharacteristic fashion. She'd imagined sewing Anne a wedding dress earlier that day, layers and folds of pure white that would billow out from her small figure. She imagined Anne and Gilbert, aged and gray and in their own house (by the sea, knowing her daughter), a little red headed girl with a flapping jaw of their own.

Hazel, with an unusual tenderness in her eyes, responded quietly. "I know what you mean. Sebastian left us at 16... next I saw him he was 21. The time after that, he comes along with a skinny white boy in tow!"

"Hey, it's only okay when I say that!" Sebastian pouted childishly. He reached out to swipe a fingerful of frosting off the cake, but his mother tutted in disapproval and smacked his hand with a nearby wooden spoon. Though neither of them would admit it, they were both pleased at how their relationship was slowly healing. Hazel was comfortable saying that she loved her son and was proud of him now, and Sebastian was able to see Hazel's words through the context of her experiences.