by Bronte Regos-Thiele
I woke early to my mother shaking me awake, even though I had come in late the night before. I had been talking to Anne and lost track of time and had rushed home as the light was fading. I roused myself quickly and got dressed in my work clothes with an apron over the top, going out to milk the cows and collect the eggs from the chickens. It was a chilly morning, but the sun was bright, and the sky was clear, so it looked as if it would be a warm summers day.
As I came in, I helped Mother set the table for breakfast. Father was reading the paper, and Minnie May was playing by the hall. Minnie May has grown so in the last few years, she is now almost ten. I am so glad that now Davy and Dora have come to stay at Green Gables that Minnie May has a friend to play with. They get on splendidly, and Minnie May was telling me how Dora has a crush on Paul Irving. However, now that she is ten, mother will likely start to give her more responsibility, especially with my moving away soon. Oh, every time I think of that night, I find myself blushing.
It was two nights hence when Fred came to call. We went out for a walk in the garden, and we went under the big willow tree to escape from Mother’s prying eyes. And… Fred asked me to marry him. He seemed so nervous, but what he said was so sweet and romantic. He told me that his Father is to buy Abraham Fletcher’s farm for him, but that Fred must buy two thirds of it before it can be in his name, which Fred thinks will take three years. But I’m willing to wait that long for Fred. It will give me time to make my fancy work, for I am determined to have at least as many doilies as Myra Gillis.
After breakfast Mother and I clean up the kitchen. She has decided she wants to bake some fresh berry preserves, so I go out to the garden to fetch some berries for her. She said that now I am to be a wife, I must help more around the house during the day, and not go off so much with Anne or the Improvement Society. Once I have picked the berries, I come inside and remove the apron, taking to some fancy work as the weather is now quite hot. I treat myself to some lemon cordial and a slice of cake while Mother is outside calling in Minnie May and Father in for dinner.
After dinner I help mother do more cooking in the kitchen, kneading some bread and baking a cake. This leaves me lots of time to think about my talk with Anne last night. I knew she might not find Fred the ideal match for me, but I didn’t expect her to mock me so. She and I are just so different in many ways, I sometimes think she is still that same girl I met almost seven years ago. She still holds the same ideals, even if she is soon to go off to college and leave me all alone again. It was so nice having her here these last two years, and the next four without her shall be ever so lonesome. But I shall have Fred and our wedding to look forward to.
After supper, I am wrung out and exhausted from a day of working. I cannot wait to not have Mother looking over my shoulder all the time, judging whether my work is good enough. I know she means well and wants me to be a good wife, but I wish she’d trust me more. At least tomorrow morning I have church to look forward to, and Anne and I will be able to have another long talk on our way home. And I shall see Fred. I cannot wait for the day when I am to become Diana Wright.