"Cecily, do I look alright?"
Izzy was frantic. She had been that way ever since she changed into her party dress an hour ago. She wanted to look her best for Felix, obviously. She even had Cecily do her hair and make-up for the big event so she'd look absolutely perfect. Yet, Izzy was still a nervous wreck.
"I mean, what if Felix thinks I look ugly? What if he ditches me the second we get there? What if we're dancing and I get two left feet? What if--"
"Izzy! Calm down. You look positively radiant. You will be fine; trust me. Felix already thinks you're beautiful as you are, so what do you have to lose?"
"True." Izzy took a deep breath and added, "You're right, Cecily. I'm fretting over nothing. I'll be okay."
"That's right." Another thought entered Cecily's mind. "Where's your brother?"
"In his room, sulking. I don't think he's going to go after all. Oh, and remind me later to ask Gus to kiss you at midnight."
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that."
Just then, Arthur came out of his room and knocked on Izzy's bedroom door. "May I come in?" he asked from the hallway.
"Sure," Izzy replied.
Arthur entered her bedroom and was astonished. He saw Izzy, sitting in front of her vanity, looking as radiant as ever. "Oh my God," he whispered to his sister. "You look--"
"Thanks, Arthur."
"Uh, I came to say I'm sorry for making you listen to what I said to Felicity."
"We forgive you, but I think you really should be apologizing to Felicity."
"If you do," Cecily told him, "I might reconsider kissing you at midnight. That, and Felicity would feel much better. I hate seeing my older sister unhappy."
"Will you go to the party tonight?"
"Yes, I will. But who am I going to go with?" Arthur wondered.
"You can't go with Gus and Felicity and me. I don't think you could go with Felix and Izzy either. You definitely can't go with my mother and father; they're already full with Aunt Hetty, Aunt Eliza, and Daniel. Maybe you could borrow a horse and sleigh from the blacksmith's office," Cecily said.
"I'll change my clothes and go right away," he said. Ten minutes later, he was out of the house, and Izzy and Cecily went downstairs into the parlor to wait for their rides.
* * * * *
(King Farm--7:40 pm)
Felix was pacing his kitchen floor, clenching and unclenching his hands. What if Izzy says no? What if she decides not to come? What if I make a total fool of myself? His thoughts continued to race through his mind a mile a minute while he paced back and forth. As his agonization progressed, Felicity came downstairs in her gown. Felix never noticed her; he was still pacing the floor. She had enough after a couple of minutes and said, "Felix, will you stop pacing for a minute and sit down?! You're making me nervous."
"Well, I'm already nervous, so I guess we're even," he replied as he sat down at the table.
"You're still nervous about proposing, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"You're going to be fine, Felix. If she says no, you can ask her later--when she's a little older and more mature. If she wants to think about it, don't push her too hard to decide. Of course, if she says yes, you know what to do."
"Yeah. You're right, Felicity. I'll be fine."
He hugged his older sister, and they went outside to hitch up the sleighs. Five minutes later, they drove to Izzy's house.
* * * * *
(Izzy's house--8:00 pm)
"Cecily! They're here!" Izzy called out from the foyer.
Cecily emerged from upstairs in her blue and white dress. Her hair was in a simple up-do (unlike Izzy's; her hair was in a French twist with some curly strands left down to frame her face), and she looked great.
"You look wonderful. Peter would be proud," Izzy remarked.
"Thank you. Shall we go?"
"Yeah."
The two young women put their coats and hats on and went out to the sleighs--Cecily with Gus and Felicity, and Izzy with Felix. Soon after, all five of them were off to the White Sands.
* * * * *
(The White Sands--8:40 pm)
Gus, Felicity, and Cecily arrived at the hotel. Gus helped his wife and sister-in-law take off their coats. Afterward, they joined the rest of the crowd in the dining area. "Where are Felix and Izzy?" Felicity wondered. "Weren't they behind us?"
"They'll be here soon enough," Gus reassured her. "Don't worry about it."
"Yeah," Cecily added. "I have to find Arthur. Come on, Felicity."
"Arthur? Arthur Pettibone?!" Gus wanted to know.
"It's alright, Gus. He knows about you and me now. He owes me an apology for some stuff he said to me, and I owe him one, too," Felicity explained. "Why don't you go talk to Aunt Hetty? She's over there with Mr. Tremayne," she added, pointing to one of the tables near the kitchen. "We'll meet you there."
"All right."
As Gus went to see Hetty, and Felicity and Cecily sought after Arthur, Felix and Izzy entered the hotel. After Izzy removed her coat and hat and turned to look at Felix, he was stunned. He thought to himself, Is this the same Izzy Pettibone I met over seven years ago? She looks so beautiful; it's almost awe-inspiring.
"Izzy," he said in a low voice, "you look--"
"Thank you, Felix. You don't have to say anything else."
They exchanged a quick kiss and entered the dining area, arm in arm. Meanwhile, the gossips started doing what they knew best--gossip, of course!
"I don't know how she could forgive him after what he did to her three and a half years ago," Clara Potts told Mabel Sloane.
"Well, they do seem happy together," Mabel remarked.
"That's right, ladies. We are happy together," Felix said as he and Izzy approached the women. "And I would appreciate it if you kept your comments on Izzy and me to yourselves."
"Same here," Izzy added. They went to look for someone else to talk to, leaving Clara and Mabel dumbfounded.
* * * * *
(9:05 pm)
"Everybody! May I have your attention, please?" Simon Tremayne announced. Everyone stopped talking to each other and faced him, anticipating what he'd say next. "Thank you," he continued. "First, I'd like to welcome you all to our New Year's Eve party. Second, I'd like to publically welcome back Felix King."
Felix was swarmed by applause from everyone present. After it died down, Mr. Tremayne kept going. "I hope in 1915 more of our young men, like Felix, come home safe and sound. May this war end soon." Again, everyone applauded Simon's comment. Then he said, "Now, let's have some fun! This is a party, after all!"
The crowd clapped and cheered after that. Then the band that was there began playing some upbeat music, and everyone who had a partner started to dance.
* * * * *
(10:15 pm)
After playing ten fast songs and a few slow ones, the band decided to take a fifteen-minute break to mingle and get some food. Felix and Izzy found Cecily talking to her boss, a tall man with blonde hair in his mid- to late-thirties. He was quite handsome, too. "Excuse me, Cecily, but can we talk to you?" Izzy asked.
"Sure. Excuse me."
She and Izzy and Felix walked to an empty corner of the vast room to talk. "So," Izzy said, "have Felicity and Arthur made up?"
"Yeah. And Arthur and I will be kissing at midnight," Cecily proudly announced.
"Arthur? Arthur Pettibone?" Felix asked, shocked.
"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"
"No; I'm just surprised, that's all."
"Why?"
"'Cause you're kissing Arthur Pettibone tonight, of all people."
"Well, did you think I would kiss you at midnight?"
"Think about it, Felix," Izzy told him. "Who would she rather kiss at midnight, you--her own brother--or my brother?"
"This is true."
"Besides, you're kissing me at midnight, right."
"Of course I am."
The three of them went to where the food was being served and sampled some of the delights, which included fruitcake, cherry pie, and lemon merangue pie. There were even strawberry tarts available. The threesome had three tarts each by the time Gus and Felicity found them.
"How've you two been doing so far?" Izzy wanted to know.
"Fair to middlin'," Gus replied.
"So far, so good," added Felicity. "What about the three of you?"
"Pretty good," Izzy said.
"Not bad," added Felix.
"Couldn't be better," Cecily told them.
"Do you two ladies mind if Gus and I talk to Felix alone?" Felicity wondered.
"No; I'll go see my brother," Izzy answered.
"I'll go with you," Cecily said. They went to find Arthur, while Gus, Felicity, and Felix went into the lobby.
"So, have you asked her yet?" Felicity wanted to know.
"Asked who what?" Felix was confused.
"Izzy! Marriage!"
"Oh! Not yet. I'll ask her when I'm good and ready to ask, alright?"
"Fine!" she replied, raising her hands as if in surrender.
"We were only wonderin', that's all," Gus said in his wife's defense.
"Well, you can rest easy," returned Felix. "Why don't we go back in there and enjoy the rest of the party? There's less than two hours left of 1914. Let's savor what's left."
With that, they went back into the dining area. They enjoyed some punch and some strawberry tarts until the music began again ten minutes later.
* * * * *
(11:30 pm)
After another hour of music, the band took another break, except this one would extend until midnight. For the next half-hour (until it was time to count down), everyone present would reveal their regrets over the past year and their New Year's resolutions. As the revealing progressed, Izzy decided to go outside and get some air. A few minutes later, she was joined by Felix. They sat together at one of the tables on the veranda.
"Pretty boring in there, isn't it?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah. I like the idea of sharing your regrets with someone, but not the idea of sharing them with half of Avonlea."
"So, why don't we share them with each other? I'll even go first." She took a deep breath and continued, "I regret leaving Avonlea, knowing you were gone, and knowing I couldn't stop it."
"But maybe it was a good thing you left."
"What?!"
"You got to go to other places and discover your own identity. If you had stayed, it would have been near impossible."
"But aren't you the one who told me only three and a half years ago to stay?"
"I did. Things are different now, though. You had to go. If one of us should regret leaving, it should be me. I regret enlisting. I regret going over to Europe to fight in this senseless, meaningless war. I also regret not telling you about joining the Navy sooner. It wasn't right."
"It wasn't; you're right. I was very upset. You were leaving, and you didn't tell me. But maybe it was a good thing we went our separate ways for a while. Maybe we needed to find out some things about ourselves--where we belong, what we're like, and who we belong with."
Their conversation was interrupted when Felicity came out. "What are you two doing out here? You'll catch your death!" she exclaimed.
"For one thing, Felicity, we were talking. For another thing, we want to be alone, so would you please go back inside?" her brother retorted.
In a huff, Felicity went back inside. Meanwhile, Felix and Izzy continued their conversation. "Sorry about my sister. I don't know why she's being so nosy all of a sudden," Felix said.
"I don't know. Do you want to go for a walk, get away from here?" Izzy wondered.
"Please! Anything to get away from the terror that has become Felicity Pike."
They went inside to get their coats, and then they walked to the frozen waterfront. The ice-covered water glistened in the moonlight, as did the powdery snow resting in front of it. They stood facing the open ocean, with Felix's right arm around Izzy's waist. "Calming, isn't it?" she wondered.
"Yeah. So full of memories, too."
"I know."
"Let me ask you something, Iz. Do you have any other regrets over the years?"
"Probably not getting to know my aunt Lillian when I was younger. I also regret being a snob when we first met; that wasn't right. What about you?"
"Other than going off to war, I regret not taking notice of you while you tried to prove you were a woman. I regret what happened after Pine Bend, for sure. I was very ignorant back then. I think I tried too hard to impress you. I was young and nervous at the time."
"Both of us were young and nervous back then, Felix. How do you think I felt when we went to Pine Bend? Or when I waited for you at the lighthouse that time when you were expecting what's-her-name."
"Oh, yeah, Greta Steig. I do admit; you did surprise me. Do you remember the bachelor's auction? Why didn't you bid on me then?"
"Another thing I regret. I was afraid you'd resent me. However, I was glad your mother outbid Velma Bugle. What happened to her anyway?"
"Don't know; don't care. I didn't like that my mother won me--that was pretty embarassing--but I was grateful for what my father did, asking you to come to dinner."
"That was a good dinner, especially since you made it." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and continued, "You'll have to make dinner for me again sometime, or I could make something for you."
"I'd like that. Remember the fox farm? I regret ditching you like that. I was so set on making us rich that I didn't care about your feelings."
"I know, and I forgive you. Of course I did it for you. You must know that by now, right?"
"Of course, Iz."
"You know what my other big regret is?" She rested her head on his arm and put both of her arms around his waist. "My other regret--and probably my biggest one--is that I waited so long to forgive you after what happened. You were so desperate to make up with me, and I held that grudge against you for so long. It wasn't until you told me I was perfect as I was that I had to forgive you. By the way, what happened after you told me?"
"You know I ran upstairs, of course. I was so upset about you leaving that I went into your aunt's room and bawled my eyes out. I prayed to God you wouldn't leave. I knew that if you did, I'd go to Boston and bring you back. You meant a lot to me then, Iz, and you still do."
He moved his arm from around her waist, carefully removed her arms from his, and got down on one knee. Izzy was so surprised. "Felix! What are you doing?!"
"This is my biggest regret. I should have done this a long time ago," he replied.
He took out the box with the ring in it and opened it. The ring was sterling silver with a relatively small (yet noticeable) diamond in the middle, which glistened under the moonlight. Izzy was on the verge of tears; she knew what was coming next. Felix took her right hand and asked her in a soft voice, "Isolde Pettibone, will you marry me?"
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