lifematesfromavonlea

[lifematesfromavonlea]

[lifematesfromavonlea]

A life together.

[lifematesfromavonlea]

[lifematesfromavonlea]

[lifematesfromavonlea]

[lifematesfromavonlea]

flower crowns and kisses

“Are you almost finished?” Gilbert asked, extending his hands in hopes of holding either of Anne’s.

“Just hold still, will you?” Anne slapped them away. “And no peeking!”

Gilbert threw his hands up in surrender, laughing with a tender expression that caused Anne’s breath to catch in her throat.

“Okay, sorry! My eyes have been closed for ages and I really miss looking at you.”

Anne’s cheeks burned bright red as she rolled her eyes and continued fumbling with the flowers she and Gilbert had picked on their walk to their favourite tree. She was thankful in that moment that Gilbert could not see the effect his innocent words had on her.

It was early evening, and they had spent the glorious summer day walking around the parts of Avonlea they missed most while at school. Gilbert and Anne were talking about their favorite professors when Gilbert pointed out a beautiful patch of flowers and Anne had the bright idea to make flower crowns.

Gilbert had no previous experience, but the excitement in Anne’s expression wiped out whatever little protest he would have made, if it was even possible he could even deny her this simple pleasure. That, and he refused to miss out on making anything a competition with Anne to rile her up, courting or not. In all honesty, he didn’t want to win nor did he expect to. Seeing Anne at work with her eyes focused and hands determined to create was a wonder and a prize in itself.

Gilbert only regretted his decision when Anne forced him to close his eyes. She didn’t want him to see how the flower crown she had made for him was much more intricate than the one he made her, if only to spare him from feeling inadequate–despite her knowing that Gilbert wasn’t the type to feel insecure about being less talented than her in any respect. Besides, Anne liked watching Gilbert when he didn’t know how closely she was looking at him.

“It’s only been five minutes,” said Anne. Gilbert had picked up the newfound softness in her voice and found her left hand and captured it between his hands. “Gil.”

“Anne,” he breathed, sitting up straight. “You’re really killing me, here. I’m dying to see you.”

Anne placed the flower crown ever so gently atop Gilbert’s head of soft curls that he didn’t notice he was wearing it.

“Anne?”

“Wait ten seconds.”

“Fine,” huffed Gilbert. “But once I finish counting down from ten, I will not deny my eyes the pleasure of gazing upon your beauty.”

Anne smiled. “Fine.”

“Ten,” Gilbert began counting immediately. “Nine.”

As the seconds passed, time slowed down for Anne in paradox.

She stared at the boy, no, the man sitting cross-legged in front of her. Her friend. Her partner. Her equal. Hers.

Gilbert Blythe had always looked ridiculously handsome. Too beautiful for his own good. However, in this scene, under their favourite Red Maple tree, wind gently blowing his dark curls to and fro and head adorned with a crown of the most delicate flowers, the most beautiful endearing smile gracing his lips, and his brows furrowed slightly in anticipation, Gilbert Blythe looked ethereal.

She had missed him terribly during the school year. Their correspondence via letters helped a great deal, but nothing could replace being physically present with the person you love.

Anne felt an overwhelming pang in her heart as she took in the wonder that was her proponent to her happiness and thanked the God she believed existed for allowing her to be alive and present in this moment with the love of her life.

“One.”

Time both stopped and sped up the moment Gilbert’s soft hazel eyes opened and captured Anne’s piercing gray ones. Their chests froze and it seemed in that moment they shared one breath.

Gilbert drank in the absolute beauty that was Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. Her hair, which matched the leaves that hung from the branches, moved like a crackling fire in the cooling air. He raised his hand to tuck a strand behind her ear and shivered when he heard Anne gasp at the contact of his thumb delicately brushing her jaw.

Their eyes travelled down to the other’s lips which broke out into a mutual smile that told of friendship and adoration for one another. A gust of wind unraveled the precariously-made flower crown sitting atop Anne’s head, which Gilbert had made in less precision but with an equal amount of love, if it was even possible to quantify it. The flowers of Anne’s crown tumbled and tangled out of and into her flowing strands and some petals brushed down her face like nature’s kisses.

Anne couldn’t help but laugh and close her eyes and do her best to capture this moment, this sensation in her heart and carry it with her for all eternity.

At the sound of her joy and the thought that he had everything to do with it in this moment, Gilbert felt an ache in his heart to be closer to Anne, despite the fact they were cross-legged without even an inch between them. So close, in fact, that Gilbert could find the five freckles that dusted Anne’s right cheek and resembled the shape of a heart. His heart soared at the remembrance of the day he discovered them, the day he was allowed to be so close to explore the pinprick details of the constellations on Anne’s skin.

His eyes fixated on her smile and the curve of her lips and they darkened with resolve. When Anne opened her eyes, hers fell on his with a vulnerability he never would have dreamed he’d have the honor to see. Like Miss Stacey’s magnets, the two were drawing closer to each other before they could even comprehend it.

Anne blinked, realizing Gilbert’s lips were mere centimetres from hers. She felt suspended in time, feeling the goosebumps rise from her warm skin as she felt his unsteady breath mingling with her own.

“Gil,” she muttered, enjoying the name and taste of it on her lips. “Gilbert.”

“Anne,” he whispered. “I’m going to kiss you now. If you have any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace because I’m about to lose mine.”

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert made no sound, dared not to even breathe, for fear that doing so would deprive her of the experience that is Gilbert Blythe’s kiss.

These equals in love pulled the other closer, Anne gripping Gilbert’s shirt, tugging him toward her, and Gilbert slipping his fingers behind Anne’s neck, pulling her closer.

Gilbert smiled as their lips met, his heart bursting with love and fulfillment as he tried, for the nth time, to wrap his mind around the fact that he belonged to this redhead with the most beautiful heart as much as she was his. His girl, who had stolen his heart years ago before they even knew they cared for each other. His vision, who embodied adventure and a promise of life. His Anne with an E, who spoke beauty into existence and pushed him to be the best he can, which at the moment meant kissing her with all the love in his soul.

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes at the thought that she was allowed to love Gilbert Blythe and be loved by him who had seen her for who she is and chose to love her because of and despite it all. Beautiful, strong, gentle, brilliant Gilbert Blythe, who had so much love and passion for the world he barely knew what to do with it except to kiss her in this space in time. And he belonged to her. Her Gilbert, who loved the very things she loathed about herself, and helped her see the beauty in what she called her chaos. Instead of crying, Anne laughed into the kiss as the giddiness of her heart bubbled out of her beating chest.

Gilbert’s free hand found the small of her back and firmly rested itself there as Anne captured his face between her always cold hands, smiling when Gilbert shivered at her touch and grinning when she felt his pulse quicken as her fingers nestled at the tender spot right under his jaw.

Anne was almost delirious at the romance of it all. Never in her wild imagination would she have conjured up this astounding image. Kissing Gilbert Blythe under the tree he labeled his favorite because it reminded him of Anne Shirley-Cuthbert and her fiery spirit.

As they pulled away, they sighed at the loss of contact but they could not deny themselves their need for oxygen.

Chests heaving, gasping for air, cheeks flushed, lips swollen, hair disheveled. The pair took in the other’s appearance and laughed.

Anne intertwined her fingers with Gilbert’s and pulled him in for a quick peck. Concern superseded her longing to kiss him again when she felt the rapid pulse beating wildly in his hands.

“Gil? Are you alright?”

He nodded, flashing her his crooked grin and relishing the flustered demeanor of his love, and knew for certain he looked the same. Anne felt pride knowing that it was she who caused him to look so improper, his dark hair sticking out in messy waves and his cheeks bright red. Mrs. Blackmore would have a heart attack if she could see them now. She laughed, remembering the incidents where they were almost caught kissing in the parlor by Mang and the girls. But they were alone now, with only nature as their witness, so Anne took the liberty to kiss either of his cheeks, which immediately flushed a deep red. She reached up to brush her fingers through his hair in a half-hearted effort to tame the curls she adored so much. Gilbert’s expression turned serious as he watched Anne close her eyes and smile.

“Gilbert,” Anne voiced her thoughts aloud. “I know I am my own person, but being with you makes me feel so... whole.”

This illicited a smile from him. “Really?”

Anne looked at him and her cheeks darkened. “Really.”

“Well, you have quite the opposite effect on me,” Gilbert said with a shaky breath.

“Oh? Do tell,” Anne grinned, moving closer now.

“I am undone,” Gilbert confessed to the woman he loved, to the Red Maple tree, to all of Avonlea. “And you, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert,” he added, his lips brushing hers as he spoke, “are my undoing.”

[lifematesfromavonlea]

it always has been, and always will be, you. 

[lifematesfromavonlea]

[lifematesfromavonlea]

Anne: See! I was right! I am always right.

Gilbert: Anne, you’re not always right

Anne: Oh yeah, name one time I’ve been wrong

Gilbert: Okay what about the time you said you would make a terrible wife? That’s not true! I love being married to you!

Anne: ...

Gilbert: *raises eyebrows*

Anne: it’s really hard to argue you with you when you say stuff like that

[lifematesfromavonlea]

I’ve never bought into that “you just know” notion. Love is a tricky thing. Sometimes it feels like an undeniable force that hits between the eyes and doesn’t let up. Other times, it’s malleable, questionable. It’s truth hidden in and amongst external obstacles and internal circumstances that’ve formed who you are, what you expect in the world, and how you can accept love.

[lifematesfromavonlea]

Have you any unfulfilled dreams, Anne? Of course. Everybody has. It wouldn’t do for us to have all our dreams fulfilled. We would be as good as dead if we had nothing left to dream about. What a delicious aroma that low-descending sun is extracting from the asters and ferns. I wish we could see perfumes as well as smell them. I’m sure they would be very beautiful. I have a dream. I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends – and you!

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

[lifematesfromavonlea]

Tragical romance and all.

[lifematesfromavonlea]

My Anne with an E. It always has been, and always will be you.

[lifematesfromavonlea]

Let us dance together as equal partners through the years.

[lifematesfromavonlea]

shouldn’t we be arguing about something right now?

[lifematesfromavonlea]

ANNE WITH AN E (2017 - 2019) | s03 ep08 'GREAT AND SUDDEN CHANGE'

[lifematesfromavonlea]

“Dear Gilbert,

I’m sorry I was confused before. I’m not anymore. I love you.

                                                                                               - Anne.”