xxvi.

"Bottles, nappies, extra clothes..." Eleanor checked to make sure everything was loaded into Dellphine's bag as she had the baby resting on her hip.

"Now we need Uncle Gilbert to finish loading the baby carriage into the back." Bash smirked as he motioned to the struggling boy.

Eleanor rolled her eyes and handed Bash Delphine and the bag, she hurried down the porch stairs and helped Gilbert push the carriage onto the horse drawn carriage.

"I could've got it on my own." Gilbert muttered as he planted a kiss to her cheek.

"I know love." she smiled but turned to Bash and shook her head.

He chuckled before shaking his head at them, they all climbed into the cart. Eleanor sat on the edge, her feet swinging and the breeze hitting her perfect curls.

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"Welcome to the county fair! Step up! Step up!" a man shouted in the distance.

Eleanor smiled as the sounds of playful music, children laughing, people talking, and trees swaying in the breeze filled her ears. She hopped out of the cart, grabbed Delphine and gave her a tiny twirl to which she laughed at.

"Oh Delphine, if only Mary were here to see this." she smiled and gave the baby a quick squeeze.

"Do not forget your scones Eleanor." Bash reminded.

"Oh! I almost forgot." she chuckled and grabbed the basket, slipping it onto her arm as she headed towards the entrance.

She handed the man a dime and told him to keep the change as she waved for Bash and Gilbert to come quicker. They hurried up to her side as the three of them admired the whimsical fun of the fair.

"Look!" Eleanor grinned as a man on stilts dressed in clown clothes was making faces to a little boy who was laughing.

"I'll take Delphine, you go turn in your scones to the judges." Gilbert stated as he grabbed the baby.

She nodded and waved to the two before hurrying off to find the judges tent, once she found them she quickly entered her name in and gave them her basket of delicious scones she finished yesterday. She could see Anne's cake and she wanted to cry it was so beautiful.

"Eleanor!" Anne's voice made her jump slightly as she turned around.

"Hello Anne." she smiled and gave the girl a quick hug.

"Wheres Delphine?" Anne asked as she could barely stand still from excitement.

"She's with Gilbert, let's go find them." Eleanor giggled and grabbed the girls hand, pulling her through the crowd.

They searched almost the entire fairground but couldn't seem to find Bash or Gilbert anywhere. Marilla was holding to baby, but gave her to Eleanor because she had to hurry off to find Matthew.

Eleanor was walking near the entrance when she seen Gilbert's head of curly hair, she also noticed a neat head of dirty blonde hair under a hat.

"Who do you think that is Delphine? And why is she talking to Gilbert?" Eleanor grumbled as she started towards them.

Gilbert turned around as he heard the crunch of someones feet, he jumped slightly as he saw Eleanor's confused and slightly upset face staring at him.

"Eleanor! I was just about to come find you." Gilbert smiled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer.

Eleanor was able to get a better look at the girl as she was standing directly infront of her now. She was tall, had light blue eyes, fair skin, and a gorgeous figure.

"I'm Winifred Rose, lovely to meet you." the girl smiled sweetly, almost too sweetly, a sickly sort of smile.

"Hello Winifred, I'm Eleanor Parks. Gilbert's girlfriend." she smirked.

The two glared at each other, their stares saying a million words. Gilbert noticed the hostile energy between the two but he quickly snaked his arm around Eleanor's waist and pulled her close to him.

"W-Winifred...have you met Delphine?" Gilbert coughed out.

Winifred's glare transferred from Eleanor to Delphine, her gaze softened and she let out a gasp.

"Oh! What a gorgeous baby! Though Gilbert, I can't believe you're still dating Eleanor even though she went and had a baby with a...black man...while dating you." Winifred whispered.

Eleanor scoffed and handed the baby to Gilbert, she pulled her sleeves slightly up and was about to take her bracelet's off when Gilbert stopped her.

"She didn't- it's not hers-" but before Gilbert could finished Eleanor cut him off.

"You only just got here and you're already accusing me of cheating on Gilbert? Who do you think you are?" she snapped.

"I'm someone that could treat Gilbert better than you can." Winifred snapped back.

"And how do you know that? What do you have that I don't?" Eleanor yelled.

"A family." she smirked.

Eleanor blinked a few times before she looked at Gilbert.

Had he told Winifred about Eleanor's problems?

He simply stared back at her with a shocked and confused face.

Before anyone could do or say anything, Eleanor raised her hand and striked Winifred across the face.

"You listen here and you listen good. I don't give a shit who your family is, how much money they have, or who you are. You are nothing compared to me, you're just a low life volunteer nurse who wants my boyfriend. And guess what, you can't have him. So stay out of my way, and stay away from Gilbert." Eleanor snarled.

"Or what?" Winifred hissed as she was clutching her face.

"Do it, and find out. Bitch." she snapped before grabbing Delphine and turning, her curls smacked Winifred in the face as she strutted away.

Delphine was grabbing onto Eleanor's curls and bouncing them up and down. The baby smiled and laughed as rage fumed from Eleanor's body, but she had a sense of peace surrounding her body.

She once again found Anne and handed her the baby. Then turned and walked off, trying to find something to do as she waited for Gilbert to find her.

She didn't know how he was going to react and she didn't want to find out just yet.

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"Have you seen Eleanor?" Gilbert asked Diana.

"I haven't seen her since she spoke with me and Anne, she told me what she said to Winifred. She seemed sort of upset about it, you want to find her quick...you know how quick she is to act on things." Diana sighed.

Gilbert nodded before turning and hurrying off.

Once Eleanor had told on Winifred and left, the girl burst into tears and grabbed onto Gilbert for comfort.

But he simply pushed her off, he was furious at her for speaking to his girlfriend like that. He loved the way Eleanor stood up for herself, he knew some of her arguing points was from when he went out to tea with Winifred.

But once Eleanor and him broke up for that little amount of time, he was quick to break things off with Winifred. For he loved Eleanor too much.

He glanced up and spotted her long bouncy curls in the distance, he ran towards them and called out his lover's name.

"Gilbert listen I-"

He smashed his lips onto hers as he picked her up and spun her, their lips not leaving for a second.

"I love you. I'm sorry she acted like that, I can't believe she said that to you about Delphine and I told her I'm not speaking to her ever again-"

"Oh shut up dummy." Eleanor smiled and kissed him again.

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The fair was coming to an end, people were packing their acts up, the judges had finished judging the baked goods.

Eleanor won second place to Marilla for her Creme Puffs, Anne had accidentally used linament instead of vanilla in her cake from a faulty labeled bottle, and Matthew won second place in his vegetable contest.

Over all, it was a successful day for the little town of Avonlea.

Although,

Gilbert never did find a good time to propose that day, maybe tomorrow? Maybe the day after that? Maybe next week,

Only time will tell.

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That last section was embarrassing to write but yk, it's fine HAHA

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

words:1360