𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 | gilbert blythe

14. overmorrow

It had been three days since the funeral. Three days since Penelope had been freed from her fathers clutches.

The men had brought him to the closest Mounties and with a written testimonial from herself, Gilbert, and Anne, it was made sure that'd he'd be put away for the indefinite future.

In the meantime, she had been staying with Anne and the Cuthberts. They were lovely people and Penny felt her worries clear as she looked out onto the endless fields of Green Gables.

The people of the town didn't really bring up what had occurred, perhaps to their own desire as they refused to admit they'd let a child suffer that long beneath their knowledge. But they did send warm smiles to her when she saw them.

Currently, Anne and herself had been invited to Diana's to make food for Gilbert per Ruby's request.

Both girls had felt awful after discovering what Penny had gone through. Ruby especially having known Penny so long, but Penny reassured her that she hadn't known because Penny hadn't let her know and that none of it was her fault.

But freshly washed and clothed in one of Anne's dresses that slightly hung off her shorter frame, Penny could feel herself drift into contented bliss as she listened to the girls chatter away. For the first time in a long time, she was unafraid to be part of the group for fear she would say the wrong thing.

"If the key to a man's heart is through his stomach..." Ruby walked diligently between the table and the stove, delivering ingredients to Penny who was manning the sauce for the meat of the shepherds pie they were making.

"Which it is," The Barry maid giggled as she swept, watching over the girls.

"...then we have to make sure this is the best shepherd's pie that Gilbert has ever tasted," Ruby concluded with a silly smile.

"Being a good cook shouldn't be very high on the list of romantic attributes, if you ask me," Anne chortled as she carried the dough for the topping to the main table, "If one was interested in romance, which I'm not, I'd like to be noticed for me, not my dinner,"

Diana and Ruby giggled, "You're so funny, Anne,"

"I wasn't meaning to be funny," Anne shook her head.

"Oh, so what's on the list?" Diana inquired. Penny moved from the stove to join the conversation, standing beside Anne to help the girl mash the potatoes.

"My brain, Diana. My personality. As in, who I am," Anne sighed, "I like to believe that's what truly matters. If romance matters at all. Which it doesn't."

"Yes, it does!" Ruby nearly shouted, "Don't you think Gilbert looks even more handsome now that he's sad?"

"I hadn't noticed," Anne grumbled.

"He does!" Diana was quick to agree.

Then all three girls turned to look at Penny who was preoccupied by rushing around completing tasks the other girls had left half done.

"Oh, I guess he does," Penny shrugged, she had known the boy was handsome but she hadn't particularly thought sadness added anything to objective beauty.

"I know!" Ruby giggled, leaning towards her friend.

The girls had done magnificent jobs in trying to return Penny to normal life, not asking too many questions and simply acting as normal girls their age would act. Penny appreciated it more than she could tell them.

"Ruby and Gilbert sitting in a tree," Minnie May, Diana's younger sister, sang out, "K-I-S-S-"

"Minnie May, we're trying to work." Diana gave her little sister a berating look.