"shit, maybe I miss you"

quite sad when Gilbert didn't turn up at school for the next couple of days.

The winter days had started a week ago, and snow filled the fields of the Covey family. Seeing how cold it actually was, she suspected that he had probably caught a cold. She couldn't help but miss him in class. She tried to convince herself it was just because he was her competition in class, but deep down, she knew she missed his company. Even tho she wanted to be something more, they were best friends, and she was lost without him. She hated feeling so dependent of someone, but she couldn't help it. She knew she was falling for him, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

She looked for an excuse to visit him, and the perfect time came.

She was tidying up the class as everyone left to go home, for the school day had indeed, finished. She had to stay behind because she had gotten detention from the other day where her and Gilbert had been passing notes in class. She found it unfair that she received detention while Gilbert was back in his house, but Mr Phillips told her it was none of her business, so she kept her thoughts to herself. As she finished dusting over the window so not to dirty the classroom, Mr Phillips snapped his friends three times in a row.

"Amelia." he called out. The young blonde turned around to look at her professor, who had his legs on the desk. "Take these lessons to Gilbert Blythe. He'll be missing class for a time, and I don't want him falling too far behind. he's my best student, along with you." he handed out his books and Amelia picked them up.

"May I ask, why is he missing class?" she questioned softly, and Mr Phillips sighed at her. "I already told you, it's none of your concern. You may ask him when you see him. now, hurry along." she nodded, and scatted along.

Amelia walked through the woods to get to the Blythe's house. The snow on the ground was a foot deep, so she would trip sometimes, but luckily, she hadn't fallen yet. She was covered from head to toe in warm clothes, but still didn't feel warm enough. She tucked her face in her scarf, trying to hide her bright red nose, and was sure she was going to catch a cold. That didn't stop her. She hadn't seen Gilbert in days, and she thought it would also be nice to check on him, to see how he was doing.

She walked up the steps and admired the house. It wasn't very big, but looked comfortable and cosy, and warm enough inside. She knocked on the door two times, but when no one answered she knocked again.

When the door opened, Amelia smiled brightly, but didn't expect him to open the door. A weak looking man opened the door. He was visibly pale, and had dark circles under his eyes. He looked to be in his late 40, a bit older than her own father, but that didn't change anything.

Either way, her smile didn't falter. He panted as he held on to the sides as not fo fall over. "Sorry to make you wait."

"You must be mr Blythe." said Amelia kindly. "I just dropped by to see how Gilbert's doing."

"Gilbert..." he paused to take a deep breath. "is out back chopping some wood." he looked at her up and down. "What a wonderful set of blue eyes." she smiled thankfully. "you're the Covey's girl, aren't you?" Amelia nodded. "Gilbert won't stop talking about you." he chuckled, but coughed afterwards. "How's your mother? Still stubborn, I suppose."

That left Amelia speechless. How did he know her mother? She had no idea her mother used to live in Avonlea. "She...passed away five years ago." Mr Blythe looked at her painfully. "I'm sorry to hear that." before he could add anything else, a voice interrupted them. "Dad, what are you doing?" Gilbert had some blocks of wood in his hands, but lay them down on the porch to help his dad. "You shouldn't be walking"

"My son worries to much. It seems this young lady has urgent business with you. I'll go inside now."

"I'll fetch your chair."

"No, I-I-I'll go on my own." he stuttered and disappeared through the door inside. Gilbert made sure his father got inside with no problems before he turned to her. Amelia took Gilbert's appearance in. His hair was messy, and had some snowflakes on top, for he had been outside chopping wood. He had an oversized beige sweater, and Amelia wished she could take it, for she was sure it smelled like him, which was probably a heavenly smell.

He looked at her up and down. "Are those for me?" Amelia looked at his books in her hands. "Why, umm, yes." she handed him the books, and their hands touched before she took her hand away quickly. He frowned upon her actions but smiled nervously. "It's kind of you to bring them by." his voice was laced in confusion. "Mr Phillips doesn't want you falling behind."

"I don't, either. If you're going to beat me in class, I want you to do it fair and square." he smiled. "I'm afraid I beat you long time ago, Blythe." they both laughed, but Gilbert couldn't help but love how his name rolled out of her lips so easily, like she had been rehearsing. "Is that the only reason you came by?" Amelia thought about lying.

"Well, I was, you know, I wanted to check on you. To see if you were, okay." he smirked slightly, but Amelia was too busy trying to her hide her blush. "Well, I'm okay." he lied. he wasn't okay. He was scared of losing his father, and what that meant for his future. He didn't actually want to be a farmer, but what was he suppose to do. Amelia swallowed the lump in her throat. "Well, I live quite near if you need anything." Gilbert nodded before looking down.

"Well, see you." Amelia nodded. She felt that Gilbert was shutting her out. She truly understood, she did. Loosing her mother had been really tough, and she had shut out everyone important in her life. But she knew that it would be better if she helped him through this dark time in his life. Otherwise, she wasn't going to force herself upon him, and if he wanted to be alone, she would let him. She more than anyone else knew it.

She waved at him goodbye when she was at a fair distance, and walked back to her house.

On the way back, she thought of what mr Blythe had said about her mother, and couldn't help jumping into conclusions. but at the end, she thought it would be wisely to simply ask her father. It was probably something simple. So when she reached home, she left her boots in the porch for the servants to look after, and quickly walked into her father's study. he looked up from his paperwork with his glasses on the far end of his nose.

"What did I say about knocking, Amelia?" he said strictly, but he had a warm smile on his face. Amelia completely ignored his comment. "Did mother used to live here, father?" Mr Covey's smile slowly disappeared and sighed, as he took his spectacles off and rubbed his forehead. "I knew you'd find out. But how?"

"Mr Blythe asked me about her, but didn't seem to know about..." she left her comment hanging, afraid to finish her sentence. She didn't want to upset her father, but she was also afraid that if she continued, she'd burst into tears. "She did used to live here, yes. The only reason she left was because her mother had passed away, so she moved to Scotland with her father. That's how we met. We lived there for years until she left and...left us." Amelia took the words in.

"Is that why we moved back here?" her father nodded. "It's nice to have a memory of her. to feel her." his voice broke. "It sometimes feels like she's still alive." he broke into a sob and Amelia couldn't help but do the same. Tears ran down her face as she hugged her father, and both of them stayed like that to what felt like to be hours.

Pain changes people, it makes them trust less, overthink more, and shut people out.

——

This truly breaks my heart, but it had to be done.

Do you think Amelia will discover more about her mother?

Do we need some more father daughter scenes?

Till next time!