My dearest Bella,

I wish I could fill this letter with glad tidings and cheerful thoughts, but I promised myself that I would always be an honest friend to you, especially now when it matters most.
The Pringle girls are a tribe unto themselves! All pride and pretense, with hardly a kind word between them. I told you on my very first day, someone slipped a snake into the classroom. I wish I could tell you that that was only the beginning. Poor Carrie Pringle has fainted three times already, and I am so shaken I can hardly keep my voice steady anymore.
Worse still, Jenn Pringle pushed me to a point I'm ashamed to admit, I struck her hand. Just once, and not hard, but I still feel the weight of it. After everything with Mr. Phillips, I swore I'd never raise my hand to a student. That promise meant something to me. I broke it, and that drags me into the depths of despair.
Truthfully, I feel quite alone here. Everything is sharp edges and cold glances. I miss Green Gables, the quiet woods, and the comfort of familiar faces. I miss you.

There is one thing, or rather, someone.. that I must tell you about. But it is something I shall tell you in Person and not in a letter.
I hope your studies are going well. I wish you luck for your exams although I know you won't need it. You will be a bright mind that inspires the younger generation I know it in my heart.

I miss you dearly and I count the days until I see you and Diana again.

With all my heart,
Anne Shirley Cuthbert

Bella smiled at the letter and sighed. She missed her dear redhead friend. Amybella sighed and pulled out a new piece of paper and thought for a moment before she started to write.

—

Dear Gilbert,
Since we departed I have spend a great amount of time thinking..

—

Bella scoffed and put the paper aside to start a new one.

—

Dear Gilbert,
Since we have parted ways I have had time to think about everything that has happened between us and about my decision of marriage.
I hope you know that I never wanted to hurt you in any way.
You mean more to me than anything does to my life and I'm sorry that I let my fear of a long life commitment ruin everything we had. 
Now that I have had time and space to think I talked a lot to Anne and Miss Stacy and I realized that I am more than everything that has happened. I have realized that I have turned you down too quickly and I hope that you can forgive me for that.

I'm writing this letter also to tell you that I am coming to Avonlea for the summer and I hoped that we could maybe talk everything out.

With all my love
Amybella

•

Anne curled her legs beneath her on the bench swing, sipping lemonade with a folded newspaper in her hands. Diana sat nearby, fidgeting with the hem of her dress and occasionally glancing toward the lane with anticipation.

"She said the five o'clock," Diana said, more to the breeze than to Anne.
Anne smiled into her glass.

"She'll come." The redhead said and Diana nodded.
They sat in silence for a while until Diana looked up again.
From down the lane, the familiar clip-clop of a horse broke the silence. And Abraxas came to view with Amybella on him. Anne and Diana stood, and Anne's breath caught in her throat.

"Bella!" Diana called, laughing as she ran towards the girl.

"You brought him back!" She then said and Bella smiled.
She waved with a big smile, before she dismounted her horse.

"Oh, my word," Anne whispered, rushing forward.
The three of them collided in a tangle of hugs and laughter.

"You look so different," Diana said, stepping back to get a good look.

"I most certainly do not," Amybella said, pulling off her gloves.
They settled on the porch soon after, legs curled under them, arms brushing as they passed around slices of Marilla's raspberry tart.

"So?" Amybella asked with a half-smile, mouth still full.

"What did I miss?" The girl asked and Diana grinned.

"Well.." she said and closed her eyes.

"I'm pregnant." She said and Bella gasped just as Anne. It had been a year since Diana got married and Bella couldn't be happier for her friend.

"Oh Diana." Anne said, smiling at the brunette girl.

"What do you think it's gonna be?" Bella asked and Diana smiled.

"I hope for a girl. She's gonna have a bright mind and I'm gonna name her Josephine." She said nodding and the three of them giggled happily.

"Anne what's going on with you? You wanted to tell me something in your letter." Bella then said and Anne's smile disappeared

"Well.. I told you about Morgan Harris. Well, I have helped his daughter a lot and spend some time with him and.." the girl said looking at her hands.

"Wenn I wrote the letter to you, he had walked me home that evening and now.."
Anne blushed, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"She got engaged!" Diana then announced and Bella gasped.

"You did not!" She said but Anne nodded.

"The charming, far-too-refined man from Kingsport? Anne Shirley Cuthbert." Amybella said, shaking her head and Anne's cheeks got even redder.

"I don't know how it happened," Anne said, laughing softly.

"He was just... there. And he truly sees me for who I am. He asked and it seemed like the next step and the right thing to do." She said shrugging.
Amybella raised an eyebrow.

"That's not the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say."
Anne shrugged.

"Maybe I've used up all my romantic because I have come to realize that love is simple. It does not boast, it does not rush." Anne said and started to smile dreamily.
There was a pause, just long enough for Amybella let er eyes wander over Anne's face.

"Are you happy?" She asked and Anne looked up.

"Yes. More now than ever." She said, smiling softly, which made Bella's heart swell up.

"What?" Anne asked gently as she looked at Bella.
The girl cleared her throat, eyes fixed on the edge of the veranda.

"I just spend a lot of time thinking about everything between me and Gilbert." She said looking to her hands.

"And I have come to regret my decision on his proposal." She said and her voice grew quiet.
Anne's brows lifted, but she said nothing. Diana, suddenly stayed quiet too.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Amybella continued.

"I didn't want to belong to anyone, you know? I thought that saying no was some declaration of freedom. But it turns out.. it was just fear. And now I'm not sure if it's too late."

Anne reached for her hand. "It's never too late if it still matters."

Amybella smiled faintly. "It does."

Diana opened her mouth to speak, but the screen door creaked open behind them. Minnie May stepped out, arms full of laundry, but her expression was distant, troubled.

She hesitated at the top step.

"What is it, Minnie?" Anne asked, standing.
The girl shifted her weight, hugging a pillowcase to her chest. Her eyes flicked from one woman to the next before landing on Anne.

"I heard you talking," she then said and started to sway from one foot to the other.

"Did you know..." she said quietly, her voice unusually small.

"Did you know Gilbert Blythe is dying?" She said and Bella's heart stopped. She felt her skin going numb and goosebumps spreading over her arms.
The world held its breath.

"Minnie May hold your tongue." Diana said warningly.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked
Anne sat frozen and Diana reached for Amybella's hand.

"We didn't mean to tell you so suddenly." Diana said and Anne spoke up too.

"He..took scarlet fever in midterm. He picked it up at the hospital in Halifax." She said and her eyes turned sad. Bella looked between the girls.

"But he's gonna be fine right?" She asked.

"We don't know yet." Diana said and Bella stood up. Before anyone could stop her, she had taken Abraxas and was on her way.

•

Bash stood at the bed, a bowl of water and a rag in his hands. He gently took the rag, quenched it and then started dabbing Gilbert's burning forehead.
The door then opened and Amybella stepped in. Her eyes found Gilbert's pale, sweaty skin.
Bash turned to her and put the bowl down to the nightstand, before he walked towards Bella and took her into his arms.
He felt his shirt wetten from her tears.

"He may be skinny and doesn't have much to his arms but he's gonna make it." Bash tried to assure her and Bella nodded.

"Could you give us a minute." She said and Bash nodded.

"Of course. I'll be outside and fetch something for supper." He said and then left the room.
Amybella slowly walked closer to the bed, seeing Gilbert lying on it half dead.
It reminded her of an all too familiar scene she had experienced not too many years ago.
Gilbert laid in his bed just like his father had when she had first met the boy.
Oh how much had changed.

Amybella slightly reached out and nudged Gilbert's shoulder gently. She then sat down on his bed and took his hand into hers.
The man then opened his eyes.

"Amy." He whispered, his voice soft and weak.

"Hey Gil." She said, smiling softly at him. She leaned forward.

"I've come to take you on one of our old time walks through the fields." She said tilting her head.
Gilbert's mouth lifted slightly into a grin.

"I wish I could go." He said and Bella's heart started acing.

"I uh.. I brought you a book." She said and pulled out a brown cover of a book, showing it to him.

"Anne and I made it. We wrote about Avonlea. Just like you suggested." She said and felt tears coming to her eyes.
She tried to clear her nose and then opened the book.

"Anne dedicated it to Marilla and Matthew. I dedicated it to you." She said and showed him the first page of the book.

"I wanted to give it to you on your birthday but.. well, I couldn't wait." She said and tried to laugh but failed. She felt Gilbert's fingers around her hand tighten slightly but she could feel that he barely had the strength.
He must be in horrible pain.

"You know that Bash has finally confessed his love to Miss Stacy?" Gilbert asked, whispering and Bella smiled. She was glad.

"He's finally done it." She said and looked back into the kitchen that laid behind the closed door and the hallway.

"Yeah." Gilbert said, his eyes not leaving her for a single second, like he needed to memorize her just for one last time.

"I got your letter." He then said and Bella looked to her hands.

"I couldn't read it." He then said and Bella looked up. She then looked to his desk and saw her letter lying on it.

"I uhm.. I wrote that I had a lot of time to think about everything that has happened." She said and started to fidget her fingers.

"And I wrote a confession." She said and looked up to the boy.
Gilbert looked at her with his brown, dark eyes.

"I regret my decision Gilbert. I regret turning the one person down that held onto me and.." she said and closed her eyes.

"And loved me for better and worse. Oh Gilbert I'm ashamed!" She then said, looking at him desperately.
The first tear started to roll down her cheek.

"I let my fear ruin every good we had. I let you on and then left you standing because I am a fool Gilbert. I'm nothing more than that and now I fear it is too late. I feared that I hurt you too much." She confessed and a sob made her shoulders shake.
A silence stretched between them. Her words settled in while Gilbert's eyes didn't leave her.

"You regret saying no?" He then asked. Amy's eyes were soft and vulnerable. Her whole being laid out before him completely exposed and that moment.
It was the most exposed she had ever been to anyone but she was willing to risk it.

"Yes." She said and nodded.

"You wanna marry me?" He asked and she laughed slightly but it sounded sad.
She didn't have a good experience with the term of marriage. It seemed like a put on show or a game between fathers and their money when they married off their daughters or send some decent girl to their son.
It wasn't often about love, she saw that with her parents.
But when she thought of her and Gilbert at an altar, she couldn't help but let happiness fill her heart. Between them, it would be right.

"I do." She said and then saw Gilbert smile ever so weakly.
It was like the room lit up a bit and the a bit of life had returned to the man.

"Then I might not yet be ready to be conquered by this fever."

Author's note:
And so he died.

Just kidding.

—
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