33. New Beginning (1/2)

chapter xxxii

it was the morning of the 6th of august, when olive and niall harris arrived at the steps of the house on the hill, in the very moment when julia was putting on her wedding dress. "hello, hello you gorgeous girl!" olive said cheerfully when she entered julia's bedroom. julia turned around and squeaked with happiness. she hugged and kissed both olive and niall tightly, forgetting about all the poeple surrounding them who were waiting to meet the friends of which julia couldn't stop talking about ever since she came back from france.

"i can't believe you're really here, in glen!" julia gasped and put her hands on olive's shoulders.

"i can't believe that you're getting married today!" olive said excitedly and kissed julia's cheeks again.

julia smiled at her again and then turned around to her mother, both grandmothers and

idesmaides who were looking at the new guests with interest in their eyes. "may i present to you, my dearest friends without whom i wouldn't survive the war. olive and niall." she said proudly and let her family get acquainted with them.

olive and niall looked even more in love with each other than the last time julia had seen them, the both of them had their eyes just for one another and couldn't hide it even if they tried. to be honest, julia had never seen them as happy, not even olive who at the worst hours, could always think of something optimistic. and that was also another reason which made julia even more excited for her own wedding day and married life.

"bath, your dress is absolutely beautiful." olive whispered to her ear when julia finally sat down in front of the mirror letting faith do her hair.

"thank you, olive darling." julia whispered back with a smile.

"we met your blythe already, you know." olive winked at her knowingly.

julia gasped and her cheeks turned pink "really? when?" she asked her.

olive chuckled at her friend's reaction "just now, when we took ingleside for the house on the hill, when we got lost, obviously." she laughed merrily.

everyone else in the room chuckled as well "and…?" julia questioned with a grin.

"he looks positively beaming!" she said theatrically and sat down on the chair making everyone else laugh once again. julia's cheeks flushed with red once more and she looked in the mirror in front of her. she was surprised to see a very beautiful young woman, a woman and not a girl, who had all her life in front of her. her red short curls were pined up to the back with lavender-flowers put around her head like a little crown. her cheeks were naturally rosy red and on her slender "anne shirley's nose" were eight small sweet freckles. around her neck was a small rose-shaped necklace she got from blythe three years earlier which she never took off. and in her shining hazel eyes, was the absolute definition of love, strength, independence and beauty.

"done, my darling girl." faith said and patted her daughter's shoulders tenderly.

julia stood up carefully, took her grandmother anne's veil and put it on her head gently. then… she turned around to face all the women in front of her. silence and the sound of gasp and astonishment spread across the room. julia's

idesmaids; leslie, luna and cee looked at her with eyes full of hopefulness; grandmothers' looked at julia with pride in their eyes; rilla, di, nan and una had tears in their eyes; olive, cilia, lily and rose's eyes filled up with their own memory of their weddings; and finally faith, whose lip started to tremble and whose cheeks were already wet, came up to her daughter and took her in her arms.

"even though you have your wedding dress on, and a veil is right there on your head, you will always be my little girl, won't you, dear?" she asked her, and looked into her daughter's eyes.

"of course, mother-dearest." julia whispered back, feeling how tears started coming up to her eyes "i may be blythe's wife and live in white sands, but i will always be your julia from glen." she said with a tender smile.

"i love you darling." faith said with a trembling voice, once again.

"i know you do. and i love you too." julia answered and kissed her mother's wet cheeks.

"alright, that's enough of crying for today!" faith said and dryed off her tears making everyone else in the room to laugh light-heartedly.

"bath, it's almost quarter to one!" olive exclaimed making all the others in the room to stand up at once and make their way towards the door of julia's bedroom.

"good luck, my darling girl." grandmother anne said and kissed her granddaughter on the nose tenderly.

"thank you, grandmother." julia whispered and her grandma winked at her knowingly.

"may god bless you both, dear." said grandmother rosemary "i know that you and blythe will be very happy together." and she squeezed julia's hand.

"we will." julia agreed and smiled at her.

then the

idesmaids went downstairs, along with olive who was whistling the "wedding march" all the way down to the garden and rose, cilia and lily walking with their small children in their arms. "oh, mum, it's really happening, isn't it?" julia questioned faith when they were left alone for a moment.

faith nodded and kissed her daughter's cheek lovingly "there's no way you can deny it." she said sweetly "are you nervous, after all?" she asked with a funny look in her eyes.

"no, not a bit." julia replied decidedly and chuckled "you know, mother-dear, that blythe and i really do love each other very dearly." she said with her cheeks turning red from emotions.

"i know, dearest. and that's why i'm not feeling bad for letting you marry so quickly." faith said with watery eyes.

"mum, if there wasn't a war, you would marry dad when you were nineteen!" julia exclaimed and faith laughed again.

"that's quite true." she answered and then the two of them turned around because they heard a knocking on the door.

"jerry is ready to start and blythe just can't stand still." jem said to his wife and daughter with a smile on his lips.