6. 14th May 1940 (1/2)

chapter vi

julia spent three hours talking with her parents about what had happened between her and blythe after the christmas dinner.

mother em

aced her in the most tender way which only mothers know, and she was stroking julia's hair while telling her that nothing what she said was wrong and that blythe really shouldn't have kissed her. father agreed and added that everything will get solved in its time and that julia should get on with her things as if nothing happened. well, it was certainly easier to say so than to actually do so but somehow julia managed to laugh (although quite bitterly) and dance when new years' eve arrived.

blythe was indeed

oken-hearted, firstly because he knew that julia could never love him in a way he loved her, and secondly because of the way she treated him on christmas day. it seemed as if the life flew out of his soul, and his thoughts were drifting somewhere between the clouds. he didn't talk to julia, or at least not when he didn't need to. to be precise, he hardly talked with anyone since the christmas day, but everyone respected him doing so.

julia on the other hand was simply too scared to talk to him about what happened, and somehow knew that even though if they had been able to speak to each other, their relationship would have never been the same. and she herself, for that very reason, was

oken-hearted as well just as much as blythe was.

everyone in their family knew what happened and felt sorry for both blythe and julia and sympathised with both of them. julia decided on not telling troy about it and merry kept her secret away from him. it just didn't seem right to tell troy that blythe confessed that he loves his fiancee and later on kissed her.

in january rose, blythe and walt came back to redmond whereas jake and gil got their khaki uniforms shortly after the new years' eve and left glen st mary at the end of january for their training in toronto, leaving two more empty chairs for the next christams dinner at ingleside in 1940.

13th march 1940

dear julia,

how i wish you were here with me, in redmond! believe me, i really don't like any of the girls here. they judge everyone and they look like perfect porcelain dolls who are waiting for the first chance to get a husband. i don't know how they can live under these countless layers of make-up on their faces… well, at least i have my john with whom i can talk to whenever i like, especially because my dear

other jake is so far away from me now. john really is dearer to me with every passing day.

oh, dear sheba, i'll be honest with you, he's just perfect in every way! he's so kind and funny and very very clever, i'm telling you. i got my first kiss from him just two days ago! now i know why you were so excited when troy kissed you for the first time in june.

i'm so afraid, you know, john is thinking about joining up… i really don't know if i can endure it ever since jake left for training almost three months ago. three months ago! dear me, when does this time go?

i'm so glad that you "almost" recovered from the 'blythe situation'. in my opinion you should keep up your good work, like you always do and just… let the things happen.

julia, you'll turn 18 in two months and i know that you want to go overseas as a vad, and i know you will, but wait after the summer holidays, please? i have to spend some time with you before you go, my dear friend.

you're asking me about blythe. well, he is fine and all his teachers tell him that he is their best student with amazing imagination. he reads all day and night all of his poetry books which i could never understand and you always could. i know he misses you, but i have a feeling that he's too afraid to write to you or sometimes even say your name… i feel sorry for him and that's why we spend lots of time together, although i can see that i am not quite the person he wants to talk to. but he seems alright, so don't worry, he'll get over it in time. besides, there is this one girl, called helen sampson who is spending lunch-

eaks with him. they are talking about poetry of course and it seems as if helen is madly in love with blythe, who wouldn't even dream of loving her back; julia, she wears a '

ight red lipstick' for every lesson!

darling, i have to go now, it's almost midnight!

i'll write to you soon!

yours,

anna rosemary meredith

p.s. do tell me whenever you hear something from merry or troy! are they going overseas anytime soon?

1st april 1940

dear sister o'mine,

we are going overseas next week, as you know. it's been way too long, we've all waited too long. i think we were all ready for fighting two months ago!

anyway, i don't have much time for writing but at least i hope that you will be able to read my scribbles.

everything is fine, so don't you worry about me, you dear heart. i'm so happy to hear that you're alright now and that you take such a good care of mum, dad and cee. you are truly an angel! i hope troy realises just how lucky he is!

it's sad that i have to leave our old canada-land with jake and gil training as

avely as they can. i heard that they will end their course in around a month so certainly much earlier than we did!

well, at least the training made us both lieutenant meredith blythe and lieutenant troy rogers. tell me, how fancy do our names sound?

dear sister, i have to go now so i'm sending you, mother, father and cee lots of kisses for you to share between the four of you.

i'll write you a longer letter when i'll arrive in england.

your