A Bend in the Road Chapter Nine

 Chapter Nine

An Abundance of Kindred Spirits

    Sandy's letter did come, as Katherine expected it would. It was just as friendly and jovial as its author. Mrs. Andrew Pringle, who passed Katherine on the street while she happened to be reading this letter, was shocked and almost overwrought to hear Katherine Brooke… of all people… laughing! And that Katherine Brooke should greet her so enthusiastically with such a happy smile!

    "After this, I shall be surprised at nothing." Mrs. Andrew had confided to a rather indifferent Mr. Andrew later that evening. "Simply nothing. But they say that Miss Brooke spent her summer with Miss Shirley. I suppose that accounts for the change. It is a warning to us all," she concluded, without making any sense whatsoever, "not to trust someone with hair the color of carrots."

    Sandy and David were not the only ones who wrote. Katherine found herself overwhelmed with delightfully friendly letters from people she didn't even know liked her. Sensible, stiff little epistles from Marilla; gossipy ones from Mrs. Lynde, peppered with her sound advice; breezy little notes from Ruby, who seemed, unawares, to be falling quite madly in love with Herb Spencer; fat, newsy letters from Diana Wright, who chattered on contentedly about little Fred and his first tooth, his first smile, his first laugh… and so on.

    Anne was walking dreamily home through the golden afternoon sunshine one lazy, warm fall day. While it was common for Anne to be wandering along with her head in the clouds, the particular reason for it this day was the fact that a rather large letter from Gilbert was in her handbag and her heart was still fluttering over his last paragraph. She intended to go to the little grove behind Windy Poplars to read it over again. Read it as it deserved to be read… slowly, savoring every beautiful word, even if they were written in a decidedly unromantic scrawl and punctuated with equally unromantic sentences such as those describing the latest medical discovery. Horribly dull, of course, but Anne loved them for the mere fact that they were written by Gilbert. Upon entering the grove, however, Anne was surprised to hear muffled sobs from beneath the towering oak tree just beyond.

    "Why, Katherine!" she cried, alarmed. "Whatever is the matter?"

    Katherine looked up, startled, from the letters in her hand, wiping away a tear. For a moment she looked ashamed, then she threw back her head and laughed.

    "Oh, Anne," she cried. "Nothing is the matter!"

    "Then… then… why are you crying?" stammered an astonished Anne.

    "I'm crying because… because I'm so ridiculously happy," Katherine was still crying, but with a funny, rather crooked grin. "Look at this Anne, just look at it! A letter from Ruby and one from Marilla and another from David… all on one day! I can't remember getting one letter… not even one… ever before in my entire life! No one ever cared to write to me, no one ever even though enough of me to send so much as one line. And now I find myself with a stack of letters a foot high. Friendly, happy letters… from people who care about me! Just look at this… this paragraph from Marilla's letter. "It has been rather lonely here since our girls left. Rachel and I are both eagerly looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays with you. As Rachel says, it will be a relief to have someone at the table who is not an old crank like us." Just think of that, Anne. "Our girls"!"

    Anne laughed in relief as she dropped to the ground beside Katherine. She felt a justifiable pride in dear old Avonlea and her kindred spirits. They had done just exactly what she expected them to do… welcomed Katherine into their homes and hearts and lives just as if she had always belonged.

    "And David," Katherine laughed again and Anne smiled to see the telltale blush on her cheeks. "Just look what he said. His jersey had a calf not long ago and now he writes to tell me he finally named the calf after all. "Remembering how you always put the emphasis on how your name was spelled, I decided to call her "Kay" in honor of "Katherine with a K". It might not be the most cow-like name but, being naturally an un-creative person, it was the first thing I came up with."