Devoted To You || Gilbert Blythe

XVIII

~𝒜𝒹𝒶~
Home. A noun. Meaning any place of residence or refuge. A dwelling place.
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I let out a sigh of contentment as I shut my book. "You know some people say that God's greatest gift to us is children but I believe that it was Jane Austen."

"I wish I could agree." Aunt Jo replies as she reads a Charles Dickens book. "I tried to read one of her books but it just frustrated me. Why must they wait until the last chapter to realize they are in love?"

"I will say that is the only frustrating thing about her stories." I stand to slide Pride and Prejudice back on the shelf. "But Austen's style set the stage for the movement of literary realism. So I suppose it is often overlooked." I go back to my seat. "I do wish that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would've admitted their feelings sooner."

"Speaking of love stories." Aunt Josephine stands from her place on the sofa and heads into the hallway. She comes back with a blue envelope. "This came in the mail." She winks.

I take it from her hands and hastily open it up. A smile dances on my lips when I see Gilbert's hand writing.

"Is it your lover?" I feel her peaking over my shoulder.

I hide the paper. "Aunt Jo." I scold. "You said that snooping is terribly rude."

"It is when you are eavesdropping on me and my friends." She nods to the letter, urging me to read it. I roll my eyes and unfold the letter all the way.

✺︎✺︎✺︎

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒜𝒹𝒶,

𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁. 𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊? 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒶𝓂𝒷𝑜𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑔𝓊𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝐹𝒾𝓇𝑒𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓂. 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒷𝒶𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓌. 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈. 𝐼𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒢𝑜𝒹'𝓈 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝐼𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝐹𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓊𝓅.

𝐼'𝒹 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝒸𝒽𝑜𝑜𝓁 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈. 𝐻𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔? 𝒮𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒾𝒻 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈.

𝐼 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐼'𝓂 𝓉𝒾𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝓊𝑔𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝒶𝓎. 𝐼'𝒹 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈.