Anne with an E The Next Chapter

Ruby - two

Ruby read from the small thin blue paper in her hands over and over again. Dr. Ward had written it out in his thin and scratchy doctor writing and her eyes tried to adjust. She read it again St- Andrew's Missionary Home.

"What is this place Gilbert?" Ruby asked.

"Well, Dr. Ward explained that it is a place you can go for a little while until the end of your pregnancy, say the next 6 months. No one would know where you are, Dr. Ward would simply say that you are receiving treatment for your illness in Nova Scotia and when it's over you would return." Gilbert explained.

"Without the baby?" Anne asked "But what happens to her baby?"

"That's correct Anne, the baby would be adopted out to a family. If that's what you want Ruby?" Gilbert questioned. 

"What do you want to do Ruby? Do you want to go and speak to James about this, see if the two of you can work it out somehow? I mean you don't really know what he would say?" Anne said.

"Anne really!" said Jerry "You heard what I said, the guy was playing with Ruby to get what he wanted. He still thinks he's marrying Diana! Mon Dieu!"

"Jerry!"Diana said.

"Well Jerry maybe he's not really that shallow deep down, maybe he was trying to impress you is all?" Anne replied quickly.

"No Anne, I agree with Jerry, he's not to be trusted... I always got a bad feeling from him" Diana offered.

"Yeah but maybe Ruby could keep her baby! If it meant that he'd come back!" Anne continued.

"Ruby..." Moody interjected softly, he shifted in his seat and looked at her squarely in the face "is that something you want....would you like to talk to James and see if the two of you can make a go of this?"

Ruby waited sometime before answering. "If it had been James from December, then yes. But I can see now that James from this March has made no attempt to reach me and I do believe Jerry may be right about him. So no... I don't want to talk to James about this at all".

"But ADOPTION!" Ruby, you can't possibly know what this does to a person. And if for some reason your baby is the slightest bit difficult, she could be sent to an orphanage like I was, and Ruby it's just the most horrendous environment for a child. Pleas give this some thought" Anne pleaded.

" Anne! This is Ruby's decision and not an easy one, you shouldn't be pressing her with this additional concern" Diana said, scolding Anne for her imposition. "This baby was conceived out of wedlock and poor Ruby was clearly coerced. She shouldn't even consider it" 

"Who is pressing now? This is still Ruby's child. She or he is still a part of Ruby. That baby will have Ruby's eyes or nose or complexion or hair and she'd never know it if she considers adopting out. Honestly, an orphanage is a scary place... I don't want this for your child. You know how it was for me" Ruby watched Anne's face... the torment that she saw in Anne's eyes was frightening.

"So what do you suggest Anne! That Ruby go ahead and keep her child and raise it alone... here in Avonlea where she will be laughed at and talked about by everyone. She won't be able to have her child baptized and no man will ever want to marry her after this... no man ever could! She will be forever the girl who made the mistake of getting pregnant" Diana answered sharply.

Moody winced when these words were said. "Not only that, but once that child starts school, people will call him a bastard child and all the children will tease or make fun of him. It's better to be adopted" Diana said.  

"Diana, Anne, that's enough!" Gilbert said. "Everyone just calm down...give Ruby sometime to think"

Anne sat down aggressively on the chair across from Ruby and Moody, while Diana crossed her arms and went to look out the window.