Finding Gilbert Blythe

Appreciating Gilbert Blythe

August 2014

"Smile for the camera!"

There is a flash and everyone cheers as Mrs Marcella Behrmann and Mr Elijah Behrmann take their first picture together as man and wife. In the far corner of the wedding hall, Ridley watches her sister - now a wife-with a small smile on her face. It really only seemed like yesterday Marcy had dumped another of her boyfriends and had vowed to herself - and to Ridley-that she was absolutely, positively done with men. No more boyfriends! Certainly no future weddings either! And now here she is with the love of her life looking happier than she has been for years.

There are a lot of people here - mostly from Elijah's side of the family; uncles, aunts, cousins and nieces and nephews, friends of friends of friends, but Ridley can spot one or two familiar faces from her side. There is Marcy's maid of honour Vanessa who is currently flirting with the best man. Naturally, Marcy had wanted Ridley to be her maid of honour but Ridley declined the offer, knowing her role as maid of honour wouldn't really work because of the distance between them prior to the wedding, so the offer was given to Vanessa, who is Marcy's best friend and co-worker at the restaurant she works in. Christopher and Dee were invited to the wedding too but Ridley hasn't seem them anywhere since they first arrived for the ceremony. What must they be doing right now? She frowns and banishes all thoughts of Christopher and Dee out of her head. Actually, I don't really want to know what they must be doing right now.

Ridley feels a twinge of pain when she suddenly thinks of how sad it is that her parents have missed their oldest daughter's wedding, and how it will be the same when Ridley's time comes. She's been having a lot of thoughts about mum and dad these days, as anyone would do whenever one of the most important days that they will ever have in their life finally arrives; a day that most people get to share with their mothers and fathers. Yes, there has been that sense of loss other times, like when Ridley got all As and A*s in her GCSE results and the only family member she had to share that joy of achievement with was her older sister, or when Marcy passed her training for the cooking course she had taken. But there's something a lot more different about weddings. Marcy has entered a completely new chapter in her life and their parents were not here to see it, and that sense of loss feels even greater, more heightened somehow. But, strangely enough, mingled with the loss is a sense of pride. Pride that these two seemingly broken little girls have made it so far in life. No one had ever thought Marcella Denvers would ever amount to anything -- once a violent, bitter and angry child had now flowered into a successful young woman. And it was the same with Ridley too. Maybe they didn't need their parents to be there for them, after all. They had -- have -- each other and that's what is now important.

Ridley is abruptly startled out of her thoughts when glasses begin to get gently clinked with spoons, and the whole room goes quiet. Elijah Behrmann coughs awkwardly and pulls at his bow-tie before nervously getting up on the stage platform, announcing that his wedding speech is about to begin, and he fumbles with his coat pocket before taking a piece of paper out. Marcy watches with blushing cheeks as Elijah tells the room about the first time he laid eyes on her and how he knew, from that moment on, just how terrifying she was. The whole room laughs and everyone immediately bursts into a thundering applause afterwards, wolf whistles and all, once he is finished with his speech. Ridley watches with a warmed heart as Marcy wraps her arms around her husband's neck and kisses him sweetly on the lips.

The room grows noisy again and Ridley walks around aimlessly, deciding it is probably best if she starts searching for Dee and Christopher before they end up lost in Australia or something. The noise and the heat get too much for her so she decides to step out of the hall for a bit, just for some fresh air. When she steps out, she notices that there isn't anyone outside. Good. Ridley has had enough of large crowds to last a lifetime. When she has her wedding, she'll make sure it's limited to only fifty people. Why did Marcy ever agree to so many guests will forever be a wonder to Ridley.