Doctor ~ G.Blythe [1]

seventy.

+ liniment +

I walked towards the large tent as a loud bell was rung by a man standing outside, greeting people as they entered the tent, the sound indicating that the cake competition was about to begin. I smiled as the man as I ducked through the flapped door, crowds of people standing inside, a large long table at the front of the tent with loads of cakes scattered across it all.

My eyes looked around the crowd as I saw Anne pulling Marilla and Matthew to the front, and I already knew that one of these cakes was hers. I saw my mother talking to Bash at the front of the tent, Delphi in her arms as she gently bounced her up and down on her hip. I shimmied past some people who were too preoccupied to hear my polite excuse me's, making my way over to my mother and Bash as the latter smiled at me.

"Hello" I said as he took his hand off of the white baby carriage he was guarding, giving me a quick hug with a smile on his face. "It's nice to see you again, Kate" he said to me as I nodded my head at him turning to Delphi who was reaching out to me. "Sorry I haven't had much tome to come and visit you" I said to him as my mother passed Delphi to me, who clung onto the sleeve of my dress as I kissed her cheek quickly.

"No worries, we've been surviving perfectly fine" he said to me as I made kissing noises at Delphi who was squealing with excitement, bouncing up and down as I set my other hand on her back. "Marilla, hello" My mother said as we all turned around, the Cuthburts standing there as my mother embraced Marilla gently, a somber smile on her face as Anne cooed at Delphi.

"Which one is yours?" I asked her, nodding my head over to the table of cakes as Anne nodding her head, pointing at one of the big ones in the middle of the table. "16" she said as I looked over at it, the top of it stained blue with feathers poking out the top of it, my mothers bare cake covered in berries set directly next to it.  "It's decorated amazingly" I told her as she thanked me, her eyes going past me as I turned to see Gilbert and Winnifred, and her parents making their way over to us all, everyone starting to crowd to the front of the tent as the judges came up onto stage.

"Hello again" Winnifred said to me as I smiled at her, Gilbert talking to Bash as Winnifred's blue eyes shifted to Delphi, a small smile on her face as she looked at the baby. "You are just too cute" Winnifred said as she outstretched her gloves hand to squeeze Delphi's cheek. Before she could Delphi turned away, looking back over my shoulder at Anne who was standing watching. Winnifred pulled her hand back towards her, letting out a small laugh as she clasped them in front of her.

"Did you make a cake?" she asked me as I quickly glanced at her parents, who Gilbert was introducing to my mother. "No, but my mother did, I couldn't seem to find the time" I told her, my smile so wide that my cheeks were starting to hurt a little bit as I rubbed the back of Delphi's back on small circles. "I'm not much of a baker myself, i'd rather eat the pies than make them" Winifred said to me with a small laugh, making me laugh as well, not because it was particularly funny, but just because I knew that I should laugh.

"Welcome to the annual County Fair Cake Competition" the man said one the stage, everyone gushing as both Winnifred and I turned to look at the stage, Delphi still making small gurgles as she held my hair in between her fingers. There was an applause in the audience as the man announced the lady who was next to him, who apparently was some kind of expert baker who had attended college for baking, which I wasn't even aware was a career bath outside of small bakeries.

He read out the rules from the small piece of paper he was holding, a small scatter of applause fell around the tent once again, the man cutting into the first cake as they ate it slowly, making comments as the whispered to each other, writing down a score on a piece of paper they had on the table. I watched as they ate slice after slice, Delphi yanking my hair every so often with a loud squeal, making me wince as I tried to pry her small fingers from my hair, Winifred watching closely.

"Number 15" the man said as I moved Delphi to the front of me, perching one hand over the front of her and the other under her dress, propping her up in a sitting position against my chest as I swayed lightly. "I love the minimal decoration, it looks very sophisticated" the last said as the man cut into it, revealing the small pieces of strawberry worked into the butter cream between layers.

My mother clasped her hands in front of her in excitement as they slowly took a bite, nodding their heads. "A nice floral flavour which compliments the berries" The man said as the lady nodded her head in agreement, setting down her fork. "It's a very well made cake" she said as Marilla turned to my mother, holding her thumbs up as my mother turned to look at me, my smile matching her own as I nodded my head reassuringly at her.

"Entry number 16"  the man said as he set down the plate with my mother's cake on it, moving onto Anne's as they both looked down at it. "Wonderful presentation" the man said as he picked up the knife, Anne turning to me with a wide smile on her face, throwing her red curls over her shoulder. "It's the lake of shining waters" she told me as I nodded my head, the design mimicking the lake we had spent most of spring lounging around in the warm sun.

"It's a little ostentatious" the lady said quietly, pointing at the fathers as the smile on Anne's face faltered slightly, but she held a brave face as they cut into it, slicing off the tips with their dainty forks. They took the small bite as the look of disgust fell into their faces instantly, putting their plates down as the grabbed their napkins, spitting the pieces of cake out with great objections.

"Dear god what is that that flavouring" the man said as the crowd started laughing, Anne's face dropping as I turned to look at her, knowing that she was definitely sad at this. The crowd was laughing as they watched the judges try to get all the taste of the cake from their mouth, downing the cups of tea they had.

"It tastes like liniment" the man exclaimed as the crowd started roaring again, the small group surrounding us not making a noise as Anne shook her head, turning as quickly as she could and pushing her way through yeh crowd, trying to get out of the tent as quickly as possible. Marilla let out a deep sigh as she followed after her, the crowd still laughing as the judges pursed their lips while writing down comments, someone refilling their tea cups quickly.

The amount of noise and laughter had made Delphi laugh, her small giggles being drowned out by the loud crowd, but I could feel her laughing against me, making me smile down at her gently as I turned around once again. I looked over at Bash, a pair of brown eyes catching mines as Gilbert and I held eye contact with each other, small smiles on our faces from presumably different events. Mines coming from the baby who was giggling uncomfortably in my arms, and his from hopefully the situation of Anne's cake.

I tore my eyes away quickly, turning back to the front  as the judges tried to quieten down the crowd, holding their hands out to us. The lingering image of Gilbert smiling at me sombrely stuck in my head, and at the thought of that, for the first time in a long time now, made the butterflies return to my stomach.

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A/N: IM SO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED IN SO LONG
I know I have like no excuses because I haven't had anything to do lately but I just haven't had much motivation lately and self isolation blues are hitting me hard so i'm super sorry but I haven't abandoned this story I promise
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