15. Chapter 15 (1/2)

hello everyone! i wanted to thank you all for reading this story, also for following and favouriting it :) i very much appreciate all of the reviews i'm getting from you (special thanks go to kim blythe, alinyaalethia, irishprincess, avonleablythe and hecalledmecarrots), i love hearing what you think about this story. as it's the christmas day today, i want to wish you all a very merry christmas and happy holidays! :) - bathsheba blythe

chapter xv

dear diary,

we had christmas dinner yesterday and i must say that for the first time in my life, i didn't quite like it. of course i did like some of it. how can i not like spending time with my entire family and talking, laughing and singing with them? but something about this christmas dinner was different and this something or rather someone is called rosalind sutton.

yes, carl

ought his fiancee with him to our family christmas dinner last night to introduce her to our whole family which soon will be her own as well. my first impression of rosalind was "oh, she definitely has her own interesting way of style". rosalind wore a

ight green dress which caused susan to turn positively red from the urge to say that this length of a dress (which was just reaching her knees) is highly inappropriate. she also had a thick

own fur around her shoulders (which to be honest was making me feel uncomfortable), black gloves (which she was wearing during the whole evening) and a very intriguing, also green, hat with a black feather sticking from the very top of it.

rosalind, despite her oddly looking wardrobe choices, is extremely beautiful. i don't think i have ever seen a woman as beautiful as her to be honest. she has really short curly

own hair, with black and auburn highlights, her eyes are positively green (like her dress and a hat were) and her mouth is so perfectly shaped that i could watch her lips moving while she's talking, all day long.

all in all, rosalind is really charming and her

itish accent is very delicious i must say. however there's a "but" unfortunately. although carl's fiancee seems really friendly and nice at first, you can hear in her voice and her comments how highly she regards herself. maybe because she has her very own fa

ic shop? maybe because she is from

itain? i'm not sure why but the way she smiles at everyone and pats carl's cheek when she thinks (or maybe she doesn't care about it at all?) nobody is looking, made me feel unwelcome and uncomfortable in my own house!

"of course, mrs blythe, yes i make my own clothes, i never wear anything that wasn't designed and sewed together by my own hands." or "my darling di, i don't know how you do it, i would never be able to work with children every single day. they are so sweet and so annoying at the same time, aren't they? i love children of course, but i wouldn't be able to work with them, not ever." or "it's such a shame that you can't wear pink, di darling, i do love your hair it's so… fiery! but good grief, it's such a shame! pink is the best colour in the world!", and many other comments as well.

it's not that rosalind isn't nice at all, she really is, but sometimes she just doesn't make me feel quite comfortable and relaxed. she simply likes to be in the centre of attention, and never me or anyone in my family is like that and that's probably why i felt this way about her. carl was acting normally and i think that when he talked with rosalind she was calmer and quieter than when she was talking with me or anyone else for that matter, so possibly carl makes her a much better person than she already is.

but the day was wonderful anyway, and i decided not to let any rosalind sutton, even if she's the fiancee to my dearest friend, to ruin christmas and my very last as diana blythe at that. i tried to convince robert to come for christmas and he tried to convince his parents to let him come but they had an argument, apparently, and so robert had to stay at his home in ottawa, "utterly disappointed and quite frankly furious" as he wrote to me in his last letter.

but he did send me a christmas gift and i don't think that i can ever be more thankful and more happy about it. "over the moon" would describe it. robert sent me a handmade scarf, a silk one with beautiful floral pattern all over it, which he found somehwere on the market and the date on the label was "1893, paris"! it is simply beautiful and it goes perfectly with my purple dress with a sweetheart neckline. he did also send me a wonderful christmas card, chocolates and earings, pearl ones. even my mother's eyes shone when she was admiring them and i immediately told her that whenever she would like to wear them, i allow her whole-heartedly.

rilla was very moody most of the time and ken was rolling his eyes once in a while, making everyone laugh every single time he did. rilla literally can't move anymore, or so she said, and she certainly looks like she really couldn't move in any way. gilly was telling everyone that he wants to get a

other for christmas and was very disappointed that when it was time to go home, none of his unpacked presents were a little

other, this dear monkey!

blythe was quietly playing with jake and walt most of the time, under the table, making dear susan to get all jumpy and looking underneath the table once in five minutes to see whether someone didn't step on them, as if anyone would! julia and rose were chasing each other for a while and then the two ladies sat down on mother's and father's laps and talked to them in their own language, while my parents listened, nodded with understanding and answered them in english this time. however cilia and leslie were both being passed between each of our arms as everyone wanted to hold a baby during the christmas dinner, as it somehow fills up the magical atmosphere of christmas.

i talked mostly with nan and una during the evening, and we laughed and laughed together. nan and i already paired up all of the children, and we already established with una that her baby will be a boy and that she will give him a very bold and romantic name, and una shook her head while she giggled and blushed, and said that she secretly feels that it's going to be a girl, and somehow i believe her, even if nan doesn't.

it was a shame that i didn't get the chance to talk with carl so much, but rosalind was enough to entertain him, and he's such a good listener! she talked and talked and gesticulated and carl was nodding and asking quiestions, i was surprised that he was interested in the making of a "blind hem".

but when we finally got a chance to speak to one another when rosemary stole rosalind away to the kitchen and carl and i went together to play with gilly and merry in "pirates", carl started chuckling all of a sudden and when i asked him why did he start to chuckle, he whispered into my ear: "dear me, it's been exactly a year since our secret mistletoe-kiss!". and i started to laugh too, although i think we both didn't quite know for what reason other than to cover my own emabarrassment because now i know that when carl kissed me under that mistletoe a year ago, he was actually in love with me.

anyway, i should probably finish here, we are going to the manse today and we will have another family meeting again, so i actually can't wait!

after all christmas did lift my spririts up, and i keep my own promise to myself that i won't think about my worries until january next year.

yours,

di blythe

"di, you're a dear for making me tea and

inging some of those biscuits. and i really shouldn't allow you to do it, while you're a guest in my own house, but because i'm a size of an orange, i will allow you. thank you." rilla said while sitting comfortably on the sofa with her feet on the chair and her hands on her round belly.

di smiled at her baby-sister and she put the tray on the table in front of her and then put a scarf around her shoulders and shuddered "my pleasure, dear sister." she said and shivered again "it really is a cold day today, isn't it?" she asked.

rilla sighed wistfully "i know, very cold. even for january it seems extremely cold, too cold even." she looked behind di, outside the window and gasped "good grief, look di! it's almost like a snowstorm!" she exclaimed.

di looked around and was also quite astonished by seeing the perfect colour white everywhere just outside the walls of the house of dreams "dear me, i wonder how ken will get home in just three hours time?" she asked doubtfully.

rilla shook her head and took a cup in her hand "no idea. i'm glad that the kids are at ingleside with mother and susan though. mother and susan are more capable of chasing gilly around the house while carrying leslie and talking to blythe about elves and dwarves." she chuckled and so did di.

"i suppose that you really aren't capable of such things anymore rilla." she agreed "but i'm happy that you wanted me to come and have some tea with you, as we don't see each other so very often nowadays, do we?" she squeezed rilla's hand gently.

rilla grinned at her older sister "that's true, and i truly regret it." she said "but i know that you are busy with school and your students, and i know that i'm busy with my three and now fourth baby on the way." she giggled like a little girl and di smiled at her.