4. Dark Days Arrive (1/2)

chapter iv

"united kingdom and france are officially at war with germany." dr james blythe announced on the 3rd of september at ingleside.

grandmother and granfather blythe asked their all family members to come for a family dinner that day, and so the blythes, merediths and fords were sitting in the ingleside's living room with very pale faces when jem entered the room with a newspaper in his hand.

una's eyes were filled with a heart

ake she was carrying for over twenty years of her life; faith grabbed julia's hand and her daughter could feel how it trembled; nan's and di's husbands em

aced their wives while the 'ingleside twins' held each others hands; rilla filled the air with a loud and terryfying "oh!" and gilbert blythe put his wrinkled hand on his wife's shaking arm.

at the same time, merry jumped from his seat and took julia in his arms, waltzing with her for a moment "yes! finally i can be a part of something big and important to our country!" he shouted joyfully.

julia pushed him away and looked at him angrily "will you stop meredith blythe?! look at your mother's face!" she hissed with tears coming to her eyes. merry turned his head towards faith's golden-

own eyes which were filled up with so much fear that she could hardly hold back her tears.

"oh, merry!" she said and stood up to kiss her son's cheeks.

everyone was silent. nobody dared to speak for nobody knew what to say, what to wish for or what to predict. the silence was

oken by grandmother blythe's strong voice filling up the room "we are very proud of you merry, and may god

ing you home."

dear blythe,

merry and troy enlisted today. they are both so excited and so happy that i'm sure that their faces hurt already from the constant smiling.

i am truly heart

oken. not only becasue they will have to leave for their training in just two weeks' time but also becasue i can't enlist as a nurse yet. i have to wait until next may. this is way too long! but i know that even if i were 18 today, i would stay at home to help mum and dad to cope with merry's absence. goodness, and cee! she was crying for three hours today!

i pray for both of my boys ever since the war was declared. but not only for them, i pray for the poor polish people as well, who were attacked so suddenly by this horrible hitler and i pray for all the soldiers from all around the globe who already have or will enlist and go to the front as

avely as my

other and troy will.

i am proud of them, i really am… but blythe, will i ever be able to sleep peacefully again when they're gone?

sorry, i'm so selfish! i didn't even ask you anything about redmond! forgive me for being rude, please dear blythe? how is redmond-life? did you learn any new shakespeare's sonnet? or maybe you read another jane austen's book?

please blythe, promise me that you won't join the horror of the war, please, dear cousin and friend!

yours,

sheba blythe

dear bathsheba,

do not fear, i won't join 'the horror of the war'. now i can almost hear you saying: "but do you promise?", and yes, i do promise you that i won't enlist now or any other day for that matter.

stop saying that you are being selfish by telling me what you feel! how i wish that i could em

ace you in this very moment both of us sitting under the tree lovers. i would read to you one of the uncle walter's poems and remind you of 'keeping faith'.

it seems as if the war is already affecting my redmond-life. gil and jake are whining about going to the front and i suppose that they will sign up after the first term. you probably ask if your

other walter fancy enlisting; no, or at least i don't think so, he is actually the only person with whom i don't have to discuss whether i would rather fight in france or in africa.

you guessed right; yesterday, we read sonnet 116 written by w. shakespaere. julia, i only wish that my sonnets will get half as good as this one, someday in the future.

jake just came back from the li

ary and was gently reminded by mr lawrence (his history teacher) that we have to turn off our lights.

i will write you more soon!

have courage, dear and if the courage will fail you, have hope for hope is the only thing stronger than fear.

forever yours,

blythe ford

one day before merry and troy's departure, julia was supposed to meet up with troy in rainbow valley, just for a moment though as he was expected home for most of the afternoon so that his parents could spend last few peaceful hours with their only child.

both merry and troy joined the lfc (land force command) and got their khaki uniforms the day before which they wore proudly for the whole day.

the sunset was just about to start when julia reached rainbow valley that afternoon. her mind was whirling. will troy propose? she asked herself. they never actually talked about a possibility of getting engaged. what would she answer if he did ask her? she didn't know what to think or feel, so she focused on smiling and pretending that her heart wasn't beating as fast as it was.

troy was already there, waiting for her with a funny smile on his lips and shining black eyes. he wasn't afraid of going to the front (nor was merry) which julia took as a good sign. the two of them were very excited and were positive that it is going to be the adventure of their lives.

julia, although she hid her fear and doubts very neatly, she was in fact very happy for her boys but most of all she was extremely proud of them and what wonderful young men they grew into for those past few days. they were no longer boys after all, but almost grown-up men.

julia flew into troy's arms and kissed him on the lips.

"i'm such a lucky fellow to have you by my side tonight." troy whispered to her ear, putting his arms around her waist.

"and you will have me tomorrow in the morning as well. i will wear my best dress, especially for you, so that i could make every other girl on the station jealous for kissing troy rogers goodbye!" julia said excitedly, hiding all of her nerves inside. troy chuckled.

he gently put his hand on her cheek and looked at her seriously "julia, you know that i may not come back…" he started slowly yet meaningfully.

"don't say that…" she interrupted him but her eyes went wide open.

"i will say it becasue it's true. so…" he sighed and started again "i may not come back and that's why i wanted to ask you to marry me when… if i come back." he said and took out the small diamond ring from the pocket of his uniform.

julia's face got white and her mouth opened slightly. this was it! this was all she feared the most to happen that afternoon! there he was, the handsome troy rogers, standing in front of her, wearing his

and-new uniform and asking for her hand. why, she vowed that she would never marry! and the vows can't be

oken just like that! she couldn't possibly promise to marry troy! no!