He was a carpetbagger, an opportunist from the North. Yet she'd heard the wares he sold were able to work incredible wonders, and Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler was a desperate woman.
"As long as there was Bonnie, there was hope." Those had been Rhett's exact words right before he'd walked away from her. Was there a chance she could bring hope back?
The door made a tinkling sound as she entered Vendredi's Antiques to see Lewis Vendredi himself standing behind the counter. "My dear lady." He smiled and bowed. "I've been expecting you. I believe I have just what you need." Before Scarlett could respond, he walked toward the back of the store and returned with a small white coffin.
Scarlett listened as he explained how the magic worked. There would be a price to pay, but she'd expected that. If she, Rhett, and Bonnie could be reunited as a family, she knew it would be worth it.
She purchased the coffin, took it home, and placed it in the bedroom that had been her small daughter's. When everything was dark and still, she took her lantern and shovel and headed for the cemetery. Once there, she followed the familiar path to her destination.
'Bonnie Blue Butler, 1869-1873' read the headstone. The familiar melancholy settled over Scarlett, but she brushed it aside as she concentrated on her mission. Sinking the shovel's tip into the moist earth, she began to dig.
It was exhausting work. Her fingers developed blisters, but she struggled on, and at last she heard the shovel hit a hard surface. As soon as she had the coffin unearthed, she fought to lift it from the ground.
"Oh, Bonnie," she whispered as she gazed at the pine box which encased her daughter's body. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered Bonnie's sparkling blue eyes, her smiling face. What would she look like after all this time in the ground?
She had to use the shovel to pry the coffin's lid open. The stench was overpowering, and she had to wait for her stomach to settle before holding the lantern over the child.
The dress Bonnie had been buried in still looked new, but her face was covered with black mold. Scarlett used a handkerchief to wipe away as much of it as possible, then lifted the limp body. It wasn't at all unlike holding a twenty five pound bag of flour.
The following evening, Scarlett donned her nicest dress and made up her face to look like that of one of Belle Watling's girls, then went out. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for.
She waited outside the bedroom door, covering her ears with her hands so she couldn't hear the obscene chomping and slurping noises. After awhile, Bonnie emerged from the room, looking just as she had on her fourth birthday.
"Hi, Mommy."