"You're going to have to choose," whispered Emma to Anne. "Won't you?"
Anne turned to face her twin. "Emma MacEilan, if you don't go to sleep this instant I will smack you."
They lay in bed, moonlight streaming in silver ribbons  on the floor.
"But you will. Anne, when you see Charles again, you'll have to decide between him and John." She whispered it even more quietly.
"No, I won't. I've made that decision."
"Oh?" Emma sat up on one elbow, her braid swinging over her left shoulder.
"Charles is my friend. I don't think I want anything more from him."
"But you do from John?"
"He's courting me, isn't he?"
Emma lay back down, pulling the blanket back over her shoulders. "Shame. I meself liked Charles better."
Anne snorted a little. "You can have him."
"You'll marry John, then? I don't think I'm ready for that."
Anne laughed out loud, then reverted back to a whisper. "Goodness, Emma, not yet! A few years from now, perhaps. I'm certainly not ready for it either. We are but sixteen. In a few years, perhaps."
"Mrs. Remigrant married at sixteen."
"Forty years ago!"
"Katherine married Iain at sixteen. Less than five years ago."
"That was because Wilford Smith had threatened to hurt her, but even he wasn't indecent enough to hurt a married woman."
"I suppose." Emma sighed. "You're just nervous, aren't you?"
"Whatever for?" asked Anne airily, not even trying to deny it.
Emma took it seriously. "For Charles and his family to come in the morning. You're scared he'll have changed; scared that he won't like you anymore. And I think you did once have feelings for him."
"I was nine, Emma." Anne turned away from her sister. "I've grown up so much more since then."
Emma knew that the conversation was over. She turned over and let her eyes flutter shut, letting herself slip into dreamland.
Anne couldn't fall asleep so quickly. As the family's clock ticked its way to midnight, she still lay awake. Emma was right; she was nervous for her old friend's visit.
But then there was the matter of John, too. Sure, in four or five years they might get married, but wasn't it far to early to think about that?
Her head swirled with everything. She remembered a time when her biggest worries had been a rip in her skirt or a lost shoe. Now, she had to worry about getting married.
Why does growing up have to be so hard? she thought, turning over yet again. Why can I not just know what to do? Dear God, please, if You know how to help me, please do!
She ended her silent plea to her God and closed her eyes for the hundredth time.
This time, sleep took her.
*****
It seemed to Elizabeth that the sun rose and the cock crowed just a second after she had fallen asleep. Slowly, she rose out of bed, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the flying elbows of her youngest sister.
"Elizabeth!" cried Maria, rushing by to get to the wardrobe. "Do hurry! Anne and Mary and Emma are going to the train station in five minutes, and we need to have everything cleaned up from breakfast by the time that they get back with company."
"Come on, Elizabeth!" This time it was Jane who almost hit her with some part of her body or another- in this case, her knobbly knee.
She dressed quickly and re- plaited her hair into one long braid.
"Elizabeth!" It was Emma who called this time. "Breakfast!"
Elizabeth went down the stairs and sat at the table. After grace had been said, she made an announcement.
"I've decided something," she stated as firmly as an eleven- year- old can. "I no longer would like to be called Elizabeth."
"Why ever not?" asked Mary. "It's a pretty enough name."
"It's a mouthful," replied the girl. "I'd like to be known as Liza."
Anne and Emma smiled for a moment. "Then, Liza, you shall," said Anne. "Eat up, now."
Liza didn't dare point out that Anne hadn't touched her bowl of porridge, though she dearly wanted to. Instead, she took a bite of her breakfast without another word- except the occasional "Pass the sugar, please."
*****
Anne had dressed in her Sunday blue calico that day- the nicest dress she owned. She wore a matching bonnet and her white gloves, but still she felt something uncertain. She felt as thought nothing was right, that something seemed, well, wrong about her errand. Was it proper to be seen with a man who was not her beau? Of course it wasn't! What would people say, what would people think- she gasped- what tale would reach John's ears first? That she was running around with another man? That- oh, she couldn't bear even thinking of it.
Emma, in her green lawn, touched her shoulder gently. "Calm down, Anne," she said softly. "It shall all work out as God sees fit, won't it?"
Anne slipped her hand into her sister's hand and smiled, taking a deep breath. "You're right, as per usual," she said, setting her shoulders. "Let's go see our friends again, shall we?"
*****
By the time the three MacEilans had reached the train platform, the train was in sight, the shrill whistle screaming into the bright blue sky.
As it pulled up to the platform with a screech of brakes and a great belch of smoke, Anne waited for a little, dark- haired boy to come out, a boy who had that dimpled smile on his face and the brightest brown eyes a boy could have.
She saw no boy that matched her description. First it was a pale, thin woman, with a gentle smile and graying hair, then a tall, stiff young woman with a permanent air of disdain and elegantly coiled raven hair, then two blonde teenage girls with dimpled smiles and rosy cheeks. They were recognizable, at least. Mrs. O' Flaherty, then the eldest child, Rose; then Iona and Aisling. But where was Charles? He's somewhere, thought Anne, as she and Emma turned to embrace the members of the family they had been so close to.
"Oh, Aisling!" cried Anne. "The last time I saw you, you were just a little girl. How you've grown!"
All of a sudden, a hand tapped her shoulder. Iain and Katherine stood there. Iain had a twinkle in his eyes, and a grin on his face. "Anne," he said, "I'd like to introduce you to this wonderful young man I met on the train. Lovely fellow."
He gestured behind him to a tall, dark- haired young man with bright, shining brown eyes and a dimpled smile. The man grinned.
"Charles!" she almost screamed, throwing her arms around him. Tears sprang to her eyes as they embraced like children once again.
After a very long moment, they broke their hold on one another. Anne could feel the tears that dripped from her face, and she reached for her handkerchief to wipe them away. Everyone talked happily as they stepped off of the platform.
"And what on Earth have you been doing for all these years?" he asked her, still grinning. She grinned right back.
"Well," she began, "I-"
"Anne?" came a familiar voice.
She looked around her, and then she spotted him. It was John, on Main Street, with reins in his hand and groceries sitting beside him on the wagon seat. "Anne, who the- who is this?" He was bright red, and he spluttered as he talked. "I want an explanation, Anne, and I would like it now."