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How Destiny Gives Happy Endings

By Nellie

Location in time: starts right after Anne's wedding.

The sky was getting darker when everyone finally left Green Gables, that September evening. Rachel Lynde was cleaning up the kitchen, glancing strangely at Marilla. The latter was slowly sweeping the floor, looking far away in an other world. Mrs. Lynde was afraid this look meant that Marilla was feeling ill.

"Marilla, are you all right?" she asked, though she knew her friend would never admit being sick. "You seem like you caught a cold or something."

Marilla turned to her in astonishment, as if she had forgotten the very presence of Mrs. Lynde.

"I’m fine, I really am. I just feel like a big part of my life just disappeared tonight when Anne left with Gilbert. I know it has only been a few hours, but I miss her already."

Mrs. Rachel shook her head, deciding to give up. Poor Marilla Cuthbert had really become odd with the years. She finished washing the dishes and went to her room, it was getting late and the day had been exhausting. "I’m afraid I’m getting too old for weddings" she sadly thought while climbing the stairs.

Marilla brought a chair close to the kitchen window and sat on it, looking far to the sunset. She sighed, thinking Anne would have loved it. She wondered what her life would have been like if Anne had never came to Green Gables. She got lost in her thoughts, discovering Destiny really has a way of doing things. If she had married John Blythe . . . Marilla tried to bury that thought deep down. She had done it for so many years already. And it was fool to think of such a thing, John Blythe and she were only good friends, they would not have gotten married. Probably . . . Marilla took a deep breath, wishing she had forgave him. Maybe things would have been different . . . She remembered that period of her life so clearly . . .

It was a warm June afternoon and Marilla was coming home from visiting her cousin Angelina, in Carmody. Angelina just had her first baby, a lovely little baby girl called Gladys with big blue eyes and thin blonde hair. Marilla wondered if she would ever have such a cute little thing of her own. Angelina’s husband, Mark, had offered to take Marilla home to Green Gables in the buggy, but Marilla refused. On days like this she preferred to walk. It was a long walk, but she was alone with her thoughts and she liked being alone sometimes. And she had so much work to do when she would get home. There was no hurry.

She took a shortcut in the thick forest just before the village. The road was going around it, but it was much quicker to go through. Half way in the woods, she could see Blythe’s farm, on its hill on her right. She stopped walking for a few seconds, looking at the house tenderly. She did not want to admit it, even to herself when she was in situations like this, but she knew deep down in her heart that John Blythe could be more than a good friend if he asked her to. She turned her eyes away from the house and started to walk, trying to think of Gladys.

John Blythe was a very good friend to her, they had always been. In a village the size of Avonlea, there was not much choice but make friends with every other kids your age. But Marilla never played a lot with the others, she did not have the time to play, Green Gables required a lot of work. But John had made its way in her heart and they had been really close for the last year. Everyone in town said he was her beau. She laughed when people said that to her. But deep down inside, she almost wished it were true.

She was almost out of the woods and could see the village ahead of her when she heard a horse coming closer. She turned around a saw John coming her way, smiling. She smiled back and waved. John climbed down his horse and walked next to her.

"So, you’re finally back from Carmody?" he asked.

"Why, I am here, aren’t I?" she replied laughing.

"I’m glad you’re back, it was getting quite boring around here without you."

"Don’t tell me absolutely nothing happened, I’ve been gone a whole week!"

"Well, Rachel is claiming that Craig Morris will propose to her, but I don’t think he will. He doesn’t like Rachel, she is way too gossipy!"

Marilla laughed. She knew Rachel very well and she did gossip a lot. John kept talking.

"However, I believe Thomas Lynde intends to do so."

"What makes you think that? They don’t know each other much."

"You should have seen him in church this Sunday! He was sitting right behind her, and I think he did not hear a single word Mr. Grey said! I’m sure he almost touched her hair once!"

"I wonder what Rachel will think of all this!"

"Oh, I think she would say yes if he asked her. She seems like the kind of girl scared to be an old maid, I think she’d say yes to anyone who’d ask her."

"I disagree! Rachel is not like that!"

"You girls are just alike, I’m sure she’s like you."

Marilla stopped suddenly and looked at him, shocked.

"What did you say? You think I’d say yes to the first man to propose to me because I am afraid to be an old maid?"

"I . . ."

"John Blythe, you might as well get back on your pathetic horse and go back to your house."

Marilla walked very quickly towards Green Gables, which was now very near. She did not look back, even when John apologized and begged her to come back. She rushed into the house and decided to bake bread to relieve her anger. Baking always worked to keep her from thinking.

Two days later, she accidentally met John at the general store. The second she saw him, she turned back and left. He walked with her to church, the next Sunday, and though he was begging her to forgive him, she did not even look at him. And when he came to Green Gables, to apologize again, she let him outside, pretending he was not there. He left after fifteen minutes and never came back. For a week the acted like strangers, not talking or looking at each other. And when Marilla finally found in her heart to forgive him, she was too proud to apologize for her behavior.

She never got married and lived with her brother. She had proven John wrong, but was the victory worth the pain?

A cold draft of wind coming from the window brought Marilla back to reality. Maybe it was better that way, if she had married John Blythe, "Which is still very doubtful even if I had forgiven him" she reminded herself, she would never have had Anne. And Anne would probably have never met Gilbert. Marilla smiled, realizing that her little Anne had married a Blythe. Her daughter was a Blythe, how ironic. She gently laughed and put the chair back into place, near the table and went upstairs. She could hear Rachel Lynde light snoring through the wall as she climbed into bed. Even if it wasn’t hers, the story had a happy ending after all.

THE END

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