Anne with an E The Next Chapter

Awakening

"Good morning you two. Diana, it's lovely to have you down for breakfast. Shall we ?"
Entering the dining room, Jerry whispered to Diana "did you talk to her yet" but Diana quickly shot him a look telling him she hadn't. Aunt Jo always had exceptional hearing and had actually heard what was said over the morning chatter in the great dining hall. They found Anne, Gilbert and Cole discussing the latest Avonlea news.
Aunt Jo turned to Diana and said "no you haven't talked to me about anything yet... but I hope today you will find the time to enlighten me. Meet me in the study after breakfast."

Diana looked down at her feet and then up at Aunt Jo with a slight nod.

Breakfast passed sooner than excepted and everyone enjoyed a delicious meal of poached eggs, savoury crepes and the most delectable coffee Gilbert had ever tasted. Compliments to the chef went all around as Rose cleared the plates. Cole and Anne prepared to take a walk around the grounds and Gilbert asked if he could visit the stable with Cole obliging and offering to lead the way. They looked to Jerry and Diana, but she quickly responded saying she would stay back to chat with Aunt Jo.
"Are you coming Jerry?" Cole asked.
"Uhh, I've seen my share of stables and barns, I think i'll just stay and sit by the fire" he said.
As they cleared the room, Aunt Jo invited Diana to the study and Diana motioned to Jerry to follow them.

"Do you mind if I come along?"

Aunt Jo looked at him with care "Dear, I don't mind, but I do want to have a discussion with my niece and..."

"It's fine Aunt Josephine. Jerry knows many of my worries and has been a good friend" Diana said reassuringly.

"Then certainly, you are welcome to join".

The fire in the study burned warmly and the walls seems to provide extra coziness with their rows of shelves stuffed with hundreds of books. Jerry's eyes widened in amazement as he walked in the small but high ceilinged room. The space had a soundproof quality about it and it seemed that any words spoken there would be secure.

"This was Gertrude's collection and was one of her favorite rooms. We shared many a up of tea, many discussions and many silences in this room".

"You must miss her a great deal" Jerry said taking a seat on a plush green wingback chair by the fire. He looked at a book sitting on the adjacent table.

"Cole is reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I do believe you would enjoy it as well Jerry" she said with a smile.
He smiled genuinely at aunt Jo, pleased at the thought that she thought of him as a reader. He cracked the book to start the 1st chapter.

While the day was still snowy, it was much brighter and a beautiful beam of sunlight entered the little study.

"Now, what is it you wanted to tell me" Aunt Jo said as she sat down next to Diana.

It took some time for Diana to find her words. Aunt Jo sat in impeccable silence and waited graciously for Diana to speak. She never let on that the odd silence was the slight bit worrisome. In fact, she'd endured roughly 1.5 months of Diana's silence and was simply elated that she was sitting here in front of her on the setee.

Diana started, in a place she wasn't sure was the beginning or the middle of the story. Jerry continued to look at the book in silence, only glancing up momentarily to offer a reassuring gaze at Diana. When she would get stuck, he would simply raise his eyes and catch hers and suddenly she knew where she was again. She told Aunt Jo about losing the teaching contract and how devastating this was to her. She felt humiliated to not have a fixed employment and didn't want to return home. While Aunt Jo tried to follow, she could not quite understand why a girl of Diana's upbringing would be so vexed about the loss of employment. None of it made sense. She pressed her on this topic. Why not just return home and look for a new contract elsewhere? Or why not even stay with she and Cole and continue to search for work here... why stay in bed for over a month? Finally, it started to come together when Diana shared her news about her parents finding a suitor for her.