Unforgettable

Chapter 10

Marilla refused to allow Amanda to get up until well after lunch time, and this freedom to move about came with a set jaw, a stern look, and many limitations.

"Now, Amanda Claire, I do not want to see so much as a dust mop in your hands today. Not one scrap of a cleaning rag, young lady."

Sitting up and stretching, the girl smiled sweetly at the concerned older lady. "Yes, Marilla," Amanda agreed.

"Now I know you won't want to sit around doing nothing while everyone else works around you. Honestly, I thought you had servants at your grandmother's house? But if you feel up to it, you could start answering some of your mail," Marilla suggested.

Amanda frowned. "But there isn't that much of it."

The older woman smiled. "Oh, isn't there?" Marilla left the kitchen and returned with a large basket that was brimming over with letters and cards of all sizes.

Amanda's face flushed and her eyes widened. "Is all that ... for me?"

"It is, indeed. Green gables has never seen so much mail," Marilla confirmed. "Our postman has suggested we get you your own dedicated mail sack."

"I am very sorry, Marilla. I had no idea it was so out of control." Amanda took the basket from Marilla's hands and was again surprised by the weight of it.

Marilla shrugged. "I understand. You have had other things on your mind. But I do not have a basket much larger than that one, so if you please?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Will you be using the parlor this afternoon? If not, I'll go in there and sort through all this."

"I won't, but you might want to check with Anne. I don't think she's having any company come around, but with that girl, it is hard to predict sometimes." Marilla chuckled. "Most of the time," she amended.

"If Anne's entertaining friends, I'll just go outside. In fact, I won't bother Anne at all. That's a much better idea. I'll just do that, instead."

"Fine. Fine. Now get along with you, girl. Whatever you think best. Just remember, no work!" Marilla reminded as the girl left the room. She might even get more done, seeing as how she'll be a lot closer to Matthew out there, Marilla told herself. The lady felt like grinning. This was an irritating impulse that had been getting stronger ever since she had taken in the orphaned Anne to raise. And having sweet little miss Amanda around certainly was not helping matters there, either.

Oh, what am I going to do with those two girls, Marilla sighed and drew in a deep breath to compose herself, taking great care to hide her warm and approving smile under her usual mask of sternness. But she knew that mask was melting ore and more every single day.

I'm not even certain that I'll be able to keep from crying at Matthew's wedding, she thought. And that brought her up short. Matthew's wedding, Good Lord all-Mighty! What was wrong with her? Whatever could she be thinking about? The possibility that Mr. Matthew Cuthbert, her painfully shy brother, might ever get up enough nerve to court the darling child properly, let alone issue a marriage proposal to that her was preposterous, utterly absurd, and worse of all, not likely to happen any time soon.

Dear Lord, please help me. Now I'm daydreaming, just like my Anne, Marilla thought, but the thought came not with total disgust, but with an almost overpowering sense of happiness and relief. Marilla Cuthbert would never have guessed she still had such things in herself, not after all this time, after so many years and not even with Anne's constant influence.

Putting her knife down on the chopping board, Marilla washed her hands and left the kitchen and went to the foot of the stairs. Anne? Anne Shirley! Come down here this instant," she called up. And within no time, Anne appeared almost at a run. Marilla did not even comment on how she was trailing dusts motes behind her with the dust mop dangling carelessly from one hand.