Back to the current time.
The flash forward was to show you how Walter is bad at school subjects. Lol.
Anyway, after the next couple chapters, we will probably have a time jump of a whole year.
--
Before long, February was upon them, and Gilbert began to think of Valentine's Day. He and Anne had not celebrated Valentine's Day the first year they'd known each other, but they'd only known each other a short time then, and they'd been friends, but nothing more. Now, it was clear that while they were too young to court, they were in some sort of quiet relationship, so he felt free to think of what he could do to show her how much he loved her.
Beyond that, he wanted to assist Walter in giving his mama a present.
He thought of her birthstone- she always wore his gift now, hanging from the chain he'd given her on her birthday. Now that she was happily attached to Walter, he decided he would give Walter's birthstone to her for Valentine's Day. She could wear that on her chain, too. When Walter's birthstone came in the mail, Gilbert was happy with his purchase- and relieved that Walter had been born during a month whose stone wasn't outside his ability to buy.
While he was at the post office picking up the gift, he had an idea.
"Say," he said to the postal worker. "Do you have any more of those stamp pads I could buy?"
The clerk looked at him strangely. "We don't sell these- they're for official postal duty."
Gilbert nodded. "What about borrowing one, then? If I can't buy it?"
"Borrow it? Whad'ya mean borrow it? I'm not to let it leave the premises. This is official government property right here!"
Gilbert sighed. "What about if I used it right here- could I come in and use it right in front of you?"
"Suit yer' self," he shrugged. "Long as you don't interfere in official business."
"I won't," Gilbert promised. "It's just for...sort of a craft. Thank you."
---
"Could I borrow your baby?" Gilbert asked, knowing his question was funny and allowing it to be so. He smiled, his eyes twinkling conspiratorially.
"Borrow him? What do you mean?" Anne asked in surprise.
"Just for a little while. He's going to help me with a project," Gilbert said mysteriously.
Anne didn't know what to say. "But where will he go?" she finally asked.
"It's a surprise," Gilbert said. "I can't tell you. But I assure you he'll be perfectly safe."
"Oh, I know," Anne told him. "I trust you. I just can't imagine why you'd want him for anything."
"Can I?"
"He eats every three hours."
"We won't be gone that long," Gilbert promised. "It'll be quick, I promise."
"I...I suppose so. Can't I come?" Anne was holding Walter close.
"If you came, you'd spoil the surprise," Gilbert explained. He glanced around. "Do you still have that basket you used to carry him in? I'd try to drive while holding him on my lap, but it's so cold I'd rather have him in something."
Anne nodded, retrieving the basket from the pantry. She handed Gilbert the baby and went toward the stairs, calling back to him. "I need to get him some warmer clothes."
"We're going to make your mama a present," he said happily to Walter while Anne was upstairs.
Anne returned with an armful of fabric. She dumped everything on the kitchen table and motioned for Gilbert to set Walter down on it. Anne put warmer clothes on top of the clothes Walter was already wearing. Then, she pulled a sweater over Walter's head, and changed his booties out for thicker ones. She put booties on his hands, too. She then pulled some sort of quilted bag up over him, so that his lower body was enclosed in it. Then she wrapped him in another quilted blanket, lay him in the basket, and draped a softer blanket over the top of the basket to keep out the chill.
"All right," she announced. "He's ready."
Walter let out a wail. He tried to move and could not.
"I know you don't like being wrapped up," Anne said through the blanket. "I know you want to be able to move. But it's too cold. Stay put."
Walter cried.
"He's all yours," Anne said, pushing the wailing baby toward Gilbert.
"Gee, thanks," Gilbert said good-naturedly. "Hi, Walter...Anne, are you sure he can breathe in there?"
Anne nodded. "He can. All right, have fun."
Gilbert carried the basket out and placed it in the floor of the buggy so it would be held in place by his feet and not get jostled.
"Walter, I'm sorry," he said. "Mama wants you to be warm. And miserable. Don't worry. When we get into town, I'll...unroll you."
Gilbert had never driven with a baby before and he kept looking down as if worried Walter would disappear somehow.
Once in town, he lifted the basket out and went into the post office with it. He stamped his feet to get the snow off his boots and shivered as the heat hit him from inside; there were enough other people in the post office that the building felt warm just from being packed. Before he went up to the counter, he took Walter out of the basket and began to unwrap him. Walter ceased crying as soon as he was free to move his arms and legs. Gilbert smiled at him.
As he carried the baby to the counter, Walter on his arm and the basket carried in the other hand, he was watching Walter's reactions to his surroundings. Walter had never been anywhere but home and church, except for the hospital and boarding house, which he didn't remember, and the Warren's farm, which he'd rather not remember. He watched everything with interest.
Gilbert, still smiling, set Walter on the counter top. The postal clerk looked at the baby disdainfully.
"I'm here to borrow the stamp pad," Gilbert said cheerfully. "And I need to buy a blank card."
The clerk took his money and handed over the card, then said- gesturing toward the baby- "Would you kindly remove...that?"
Gilbert said, "I can't, I have to have him sit down." He began pulling off Walter's booties and mittens.
The clerk pushed the stamp pad forward and went back to his work.
Gilbert took it. "All right, Walter...let's see. How are we going to do this?" He'd brought a whole handful of handkerchiefs with him, knowing this would be a messy endeavor; now he got them out and set them down next to the baby. "Maybe we better do your feet first," he thought. He stuck Walter's foot onto the stamp pad. Walter laughed at the squishy feeling of it, then reached toward it, wanting to grab. "No," Gilbert said to him. He pressed Walter's foot onto the blank postcard.
Then he took Walter's other foot and repeated the process, this time doing the footprint overlapping the first one at the heel, so that the two feet together created a shape that resembled the letter "V".
Gilbert used a pen to write "L" and "O" on one side of Walter's "V", and then wrote an "E" at the end.
Gilbert wiped the baby's inky feet with a handkerchief, but knew they'd have to be washed. He hoped the ink would come off so Anne wouldn't be cross with him.
"All right, now we'll make the front of the card," Gilbert murmured. "This is the tricky part."
Gilbert needed to get ink on his own hand, but put it over top of the baby's and keep him from moving. He managed it, and when he lifted up his hand, there was an imprint of Walter's hand inside his own. He thought it looked really good. "Mama's going to like this," he said softly to Walter. "You did a good job."
Once finished, he wiped his hand as best he could and then wiped Walter's. He felt he hadn't planned for how dirty this activity was going to be, and figured he'd have to use a handkerchief to wrap around Walter's hand and then put his wrapped hand back inside his mitten. "We'll have to go wash," he said.
The postal clerk was looking at him.
"Thanks," Gilbert told him, handing the stamp pad back. "I appreciate it."
The postal clerk didn't say anything as Gilbert turned to leave.
Gilbert was standing at the door when he realized he'd have to roll Walter back up in all his layers before exiting the building. "Uh, oh, little guy, we better get you wrapped back up, hadn't we? Can't have you getting sick."
Gilbert set the basket down on the floor near the door and picked up Walter's many layers.
Before he got him all the way wrapped, the door opened and Mrs. Andrews was there. She stared at him a moment in shock and then swallowed. "Hello, Gilbert," she said uncomfortably. She seemed to be avoiding his eyes, but he could see her trying to look at the baby inconspicuously. "I hope you don't have him because Anne is ill," she said hesitantly.
"No, just looking after him for a bit," Gilbert said, trying to sound neutral. "Have a good afternoon."
He took Walter outside then, even though he wasn't all the way wrapped up yet, because he wanted to avoid any further conversation with Mrs. Andrews.
He could feel eyes, and when he turned back, he saw that she was watching them.
---
Gilbert decided he needed to go home and try to get all the ink off of Walter before he delivered him back to Anne.
Pulling up to his house, he said, "Welcome home," then he shook his head at himself, the words coming out without him realizing them. "Your second home...your home-away-from-home. I hope you like it here."
He took Walter in, but didn't unwrap him this time, because his house was much colder than the Cuthberts.
He decided to heat a pot on the stove so that the water to wash off Walter's hands and feet wouldn't be cold. While waiting, he played peek-a-boo with Walter.
After a few minutes, the water was warm and he got the ink off.
"There you go, good as new. Mama wouldn't like you having inky hands and feet. Are you ready to go back to her now?"
But Walter had become interested in Gilbert's kitchen. As he looked around, a bright colored dish towel caught his eye.
Before Gilbert knew it, Walter was heading for the dish towel.
He had started to crawl.
Gilbert stared at him in disbelief. Delighted, he picked the baby up and praised him as much as if he'd just conquered Mount Everest.
Then a thought occurred to him- better not tell Anne she'd missed this.
---
"Where is Walter?" Marilla asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Anne said casually, teasing Marilla.
"You don't know?" Marilla said, staring at her.
"I laid him down someplace...?" Anne said, acting as if she couldn't quite remember. "Hmm, I guess I ought to look for him. I haven't seen him in a while. Wal-ter...Wal-ter!" she called out.
Marilla was in a panic. "He's rolling over now, Anne, you can't leave him alone! Heavens, he could be crawling!"
"He isn't crawling yet," Anne reminded her.
"But he's old enough to! This could have been the first time! He could have crawled away and- gracious, the cellar door is open, what if he fell!"
She ran to look down the cellar stairs.
Anne laughed. "Marilla, I'm sorry- really I am! He isn't lost. Gilbert took him somewhere."
"Gilbert took him?"
"Yes, he said he needed to take him someplace," Anne explained. "He said I couldn't go because it would ruin the surprise."
"But does he have nappies? Does he have bottles? Did you dress him warmly?"
Anne regretted teasing Marilla. "Yes, he's dressed warmly. Of course he is. And I didn't give him any bottles because he said he'd be back very soon."
"But what about nappies-"
"He'll be back soon, Marilla," Anne insisted. "I'll change him the minute he's back, I promise. I don't like him in a wet diaper either but he probably didn't even go yet. He hasn't been gone very long."
Marilla was looking out the window. She only breathed when she saw Gilbert's buggy coming through the snow.