<P> Upon her return to Avonlea after staying with her friends Paul, Stephen, and Lavendar Irving at Echo Lodge, Anne learns that Gilbert is deathly ill with typhoid fever . Anne holds vigil in her room at Green Gables the night Gilbert's fever breaks, realizing then that she had always loved him, only when faced with the prospect of losing him . Once Gilbert recovers from his illness, he proposes again to Anne, and she accepts . Gilbert offers her an autumnal fantasy "of a home with a hearth - fire in it, a cat and a dog, the footsteps of friends--and you!". It is explained that Christine had been engaged to someone else all along and Gilbert was only being friendly, having been asked by Christine's brother to watch over her . Anne's friend Phil Blake had written Gilbert, telling him to "try again", and he rapidly recovered after that, and took her advice . Anne and Gilbert once again walk in the "haunted meadows" as "king and queen in the bridal realm of love". </P> <P> Their engagement lasts for three years . Her engagement ring is noted to be a circlet of pearls rather than a diamond, a stone which Anne said always disappointed her because it wasn't the lovely purple she had dreamed of . Anne resumes her teaching career in the Island's second - largest town, Summerside, while Gilbert completes his three - year medical school course . During this time, Anne interacts with various eccentrics at both work and around the town . Significantly, Anne rises up to become the principal of the Summerside school, making her an equal with Gilbert . While working as a principal, Anne has to deal with a difficult fellow teacher Katherine Brooke who goes out of her way to be rude to her . Brooke openly envies Anne's ability to have a jolie vie, and tries to drag her down at every chance . A mature Anne has now risen above her youthful "scrapes" and is motivated by a desire to help others, realizing that Brooke's nastiness is due to her own low self - esteem, and helps find a job that better suits her than teaching . </P> <P> Anne and Gilbert finally marry at Green Gables, the house Anne grew up in, and move to the village of Four Winds, P.E.I. There, they take up residence in a small house Anne dubs the "House of Dreams", and Gilbert takes over his uncle's medical practice in the nearby town of Glen St. Mary . Anne praises her "house of dreams" as "like a creamy seashell stranded on the harbor shore", which is surrounded by fir trees "enfolding secrets" while the lane leading to the house is full of blossoming trees . The house looks up to a harbor on one side and a shining brook in the valley below . Anne's major problem at the House of Dreams is helping her neighbor Leslie Moore, whose husband was left brain - dead in an accident, and who is as emotionally dead as her husband is brain - dead . </P> <P> Anne's first two children (one of whom dies in infancy) are born in the House of Dreams, before Anne and Gilbert and their growing family reluctantly move to larger quarters . In a moment of theological reflection, Anne questions if the death of her child is the "will of God", using phrases exploring the theodical question of death and pain in a universe presided by a just God that are identical to those Montgomery used in her diary after her second son was stillborn . After Anne's loss, she and Leslie bond as the two women share their stories of pain as they "talk it out", leading them to hold hands and declare: "We are both women - and friends forever". Anne and Gilbert live the rest of their lives in Glen St. Mary, in a large house they name Ingleside . They have a total of seven children between approximately 1895 - 1900: Joyce (or "Joy") (who dies very soon after her birth at the House of Dreams), James Matthew ("Jem"), Walter Cuthbert, twin girls Diana ("Di") and Anne ("Nan"), Shirley (the youngest son), and Bertha Marilla ("Rilla"). Anne is quite ill after the births of both Joyce and Shirley, but recovers both times . A major problem for Anne merges when Gilbert's obnoxious Aunt Mary Maria visits and refuses to leave, tormenting Anne in various ways . </P>

Who does anne marry in anne of green gables