Hope you are doing okay and haven't been too badly affected by the pandemic and lockdown. I'm not begging for an update, just hoping that all is well with you and your loved ones! Take care Mrs VonTrapp. :)

Hoping you and your family are all well and that you will be able to continue this soon

LOVE THIS! It's so beautifully done with the included actual book passages and the flushing out of the detail and the relationships. Marilla calling Anne her daughter made me cry. Can't wait to go find the super fun bits and then to return for the rest of the story. Thank you much for all the time, talent, and typing you've out into this!

if you ever want to write a story about Gilbert's parents getting together then I am here for it! You write John Blythe like no one else.

I'm trying to compose what is so great about this chapter and I am missing the mark, I think. It's not the fact that Anne and Gilbert are alone without restraints. It's not the fact they have a marriage license and can proceed ahead into unchartered waters. They know what it is they are supposed to be doing, but it still seems a bit weird for them, that they have a green light to proceed. You get this out of body/situation feeling ('is this real?') as they overcome lovers. He can sense the uncertainty and the inexperience and the worry that they're not doing it right, but at the same time, you feel the instinct nature guiding their actions. What's really marvelous is how the become vulnerable to each other.

Yes, Gilbert tries to instigate Anne to be assertive with him, but in doing so, I think he's really saying that he's feeling a bit uncomfortable (in a good way) and that siphons off some of his unease. It also gives him assurance that he's not a monster because he wants to make love to his wife. He's dealt with the desire for most of his life. He carries Anne over the threshold because tradition tells him to do so, and he'll comply, but now he's off-script.

I do think Anne knows what she is doing to him as she strokes his suspender straps. She's not scared, but she's not exactly sure either. They are talking and they are staying respectful and yes, they are even having mishaps. You show awakening very well, even though they know they have the buttons and switches, it's quite another thing to turn them on. Yes, they are aware of how things should work, but the experience is its own revelation. They just know what to do, yet haven't a clue either. Does that make sense?

Beautifully, beautifully done! I thank you for creating something that this old Anne reader can cherish. I read the books first when I was 13 - 40 years ago! And I find that I return to them every 10 years or so, and every time I do I wish for more. The last time I had spent time with Anne there had been no Fanfiction - or there had it was not so easily accessed. But your stories fit so beautifully with the canon and with the Sullivan movies and the world of Anne Shirley et al, which can sometimes feel fractured in a way that I want so desperately to make whole, you have made whole and filled in so many beautiful details! Thank you!
THis is something I had tried to do with another favorite of my young life, Scarecrow and Mrs King. I have got to find a way to re immerse myself in their world and finish the task I had started. But, O how I understand the way real life can drown their voices out. Perhaps Anne and Gilbert can lead me back to Lee and Amanda... but I am not ready to leave Anne and Gilbert yet... especially not on their wedding night!

Luna White
Hello, I am back! Update?

Cherishing is the perfect title for this chapter, and a word I thought of frequently as I read their first steps into lovemaking.

It was sweet to have Gilbert careening around the house with Anne in his arms in a prolonged carry-over-the-threshold. They’ve always been a playful couple, and that’s not changing now! You’ve really captured their style of speaking - banter, really - and it’s so enjoyable to read. “A suit will do a man wonders” indeed! When he said he hadn’t realized how lovely their room would be with her in it tugged at my heartstrings. And I loved his breathless question on whether she was tired and would like to wait. Of course he would ask such a thing. And of course Anne would want to steam forward, and we finally get the rest of Keats.

Her breathlessness with the corset was a gentle step towards their discovery of one another, and a reminder of a time where corset breathlessness was certainly endemic. As a Hunger Games fan, I loved the “does this feel real?” Poor Gilbert waited and suffered for this moment, and Anne keenly feels the burden. And gradually it all feels real to Gilbert as the corset comes off like an oyster shell and Anne is a pearl beneath.

I am finally caught up in my reading and reviewing of your beautiful story! My sincere apologies for how behind I was. I have been dreadfully neglectful of Fanfiction these past months, and it’s a treat to be back! Thank you for all your kindness with my own tale and in welcoming to this wonderful Anne of Green Gables community.

Lol, several long and frustrating hours omitted… would not have left us with this lovely chapter. When I read House of Dreams for the first time, I remember being incredulous that a bride and groom would start their honeymoon this way. Surely L.M. could have come up with something else that would still serve those rigid parameters regarding physical love other than a trout supper and Captain Jim? I’m not a Captain Jim fan, can you tell? But anyways… I digress.

I suppose it’s nice to show up to a hot supper with a welcome in a new town, and Dr. and Mrs. Dave are warm and loving. I love your “equal parts grateful for such kind ministrations.” And the “flustered to be separated from the man who had been by her side the entire day” was sweet, too. I liked her reflections on “a bride, but not yet wife” and her anticipation of she and Gilbert discovering one another later. How will they ever survive the trout supper?!

Gilbert, of course, was worried that “they’d never leave!” I laughed at that, poor man. I loved your “like a flame he was trying to coax to life.” His “tremor more elemental than excitement” is thrilling! So excited for the next chapters!

They’re all stitched together now! That was a lovely turn of phrase, and it was sweet to see John and Marilla dance together. ‘Was there anyone for you but me?’ was so sad and forlorn! You brought it back to cheerfulness so nicely with that quip about cider and red currant wine.

Ralph and Dora are so adorable, and now I want you to give them their own fanfic! Tht puppy love has some sweeping undertones for a wonderful romance. I almost swooned at his “he was glad he had said she was beautiful, oh how she was, enough to make his breath pained.”

There’s a train to catch, and Gilbert finally catches on to the significance of the handkerchief. Forget-me-nots and John Blythe never forgot. It was lovely to bring in “the ties that bind,” and remind us about the threads holding everyone together (and the “stitched together” from earlier).

They have a tender moment in Anne’s room upstairs, with Gilbert being Gilbert as usual with his self-control. I hope that will change in a chapter or two!

Awww this chapter makes my heart sing! That ‘inadequate word,’ that photographer, and that kiss for their eyes only! That was wonderful! What a great idea to put in your tale, and it seems like just what they would do, too.

I love all the bits from House of Dreams here - Gilbert bursting with pride, Mary Maria’s ‘so many nice girls’ and all that splendid Tennyson and Keats. It’s a very Anne and Gilbert chapter, and what could be better? Fred and Gilbert offer up such lovely toasts, especially with Gil’s touching tribute to Dr. Spencer for saving his life. I loved how Phil and Diana ‘collapsed into tears.’

Perhaps some of the more ‘audacious’ bits of Keats’ poem will happen in a couple more chapters, hmmm?

It’s sweet to see Dora take the stage and have an interlude of her own. I love her thought process. Ladies choice indeed!

Thank you for another wonderful chapter!

My deepest apologies for the delay in reviewing your wonderful tale! This chapter is so perfect and charming! I particularly love this chapter in House of Dreams, and you bring it to life so well! I love your Diana, with her humor and knowing patience as a four-years matron.

Having only known Anne’s morning as a bride on her wedding day in canon, it’s lovely to read your interpretation of Gilbert’s experience as a groom on his wedding day - waking up in a bed too small with COLD FEET (literally) of all things! Haha that was a perfect thing to throw in there. I loved that.
The bit about the compass of his heart pointing toward Anne was so splendid! What a lovely metaphor! I also loved the bit about him being unfairly tall and unreasonably dashing. You have such a wonderful way with words!

Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter. Gilbert alway the gentleman.

Superb writing! But apples bloom in may/June not July - August. Might have apples though

Beautiful