Ella was nervous she looked in the mirror again an again. She didn't know why but she was scared of seeing this man who she had not heard a word from since he had left her mother.Why would he want to see me now? she thought. She sighed and shrugged off the bad feelings looking in the mirror once more, hating the fact that she had to wear black, it did nothing for her eyes which were now a mixture of green and blue and could seem one more than the other depending on what she was wearing, but, unfortunately for her the Black dress she was wearing did absolutley nothing to enhance either. She looked in mirror once more and sighed it will just have to do she thought to herself. She could recall back in her early days her mother had also complained about having to wear black. Back then she was young and had not understood but now she understood perfectly. Being a pretty girl she hated to wear anything that made her stand out less. Besides she thought Mother would of been so much more happy with me wearing pretty colours.

She then gloomily walked down the stairs and into the room where the person she had been dreading to see was sitting. As she walked in the room he stood up.

"Ella I'm so very sorry for your loss" She pushed back all her bad feelings and managed to smile.

"Thank you so very kindly Mister Butler" she said taking a seat on the green lounge chair.

Rhett was slightly taken aback by the indifference in the way she addressed him. She acted like there had never been anything between them and he was silent for what seemed to be forever. She silently just kept wishing that he would say something, anything.

"Well" he finally started "I can't say that I have been here for either you or Wade but that does not mean that I don't care about you, you know that don't you Ella?"

She looked at him in such a way that it answered the question and he immediately felt a pang of guilt. He had abandoned these children and now he could not blame them for feeling resentment. But she let this look slide and smiled.

"It is nice of you to come" she finally said "I mean better late than never"

This made him smile and felt like she couldn't help but forgive him after all he really had no ties to any of the children. They were not his and besides she had never attempted to see him out of all these years, although she knew that her mother would of scolded her if she had.

"Where is your brother?" he asked the mood changing to one of more comfort.

"He should be here tomorrow morning, he was most upset that he had not been here when she died, but I know that she forgave him for it."

Rhett for a second studied the girl sitting before him she was nothing of the child that she had once been, she had grown and turned too a young lady. She was also fortunate enough to not of stayed the ugly child that her mother had said she was. Her features had slightly changed and were very much like her mothers but at the same time they had a softness that must come from her father. It was amazing that such a child was now in front of him.

"Tell me Ella" he started " How are you really?"

She looked looked up stunned like a scared rabbit. not sure of what to say she sat for a moment, noone had asked her this question and for a second she thought she might cry. The last few weeks had been scary and she had been drained both physically and emotioinally. Most her strength had come from her mother, so it was a shock when her mother got sick and then passed away. Ella had always believed that her mother would never die, so the shock of her life came when she had passed and then she had to be strong, there was noone for her to lean on. Rhett looked at her concerned.

"Ella" he pressed. She looked at him snapped out of her daze.

"Oh" she cried finally "You wouldn't believe how hard it's been, everyone expects me to be fine but I'm not fine, I'm not fine" she then started to cry.

He was unsure what to do this girl had seemed so confident only a few minutes earlier and now she was a mess. He looked at her feeling sympathy and immediately he held her. She broke into to louder uncontrolable sobs as if she was finally letting go of all the pain that she had been holding inside.

"I've been so lonely" she said finally, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You really loved your mother didn't you?"she smiled with the thought of how close she had became to her mother.

"yes she was like a friend to me, oh Rhett if you could only of seen how much she had changed and how much she loved us, I know that everything would of been different"

"I thin that your probably right Ella but we had our chance and t passed a long time ago"

Ella acknowleged this she knew that they had hurt eachother and she had heard all the stories from her mother when she had came to the right age to hear such things. So there was no doubt in her mind that what he was saying was in fact the truth.

"There is another problem" she said "I now have noone to take care of me and I don't think I can live in this house all alone, and I don't want to be a burden on my Aunt Suellen and Uncle Will"

"A burden" he exclaimed "Tell me dear how on Earth could you be a burden to anyone?"

"Well as you know they have kids of their own and I would only be one more mouth to feed and although Uncle Will will say that it's fine I know that it's not"

Rhett looked at her amused slightly, she could not be serious he did not think for a second that her family would not want to take her and by the look on her face it seemed that she knew that they would take her too.

"Why do you not want to stay with them?" he asked, she looked as if she had just been caught doing something bad and slightly blushed.

"Ok I don't want to live there because I can't stand my cousins their both whiny little brats" Rhett started to laugh when she said this.

"What's so funny" she said not sure why he was laughing.

"Well Ella it's just that little truth reminded me of your mother"

"And what is so funny with me being like my mother"

"Nothing at all dear, but I guess I just did not expect it that's all"

"Alright then" she started "Now that the joke is over are you going to help me?"

"And how do you suppose I can help you" he said with a smile.

"Well I don't know but you have to have more ideas then what I would, I mean I wasn't going to trouble you but I just can't seem to think of a solutioin no matter how hard I try"

He thought for a moment pondering what she had said. He did not even know that he could help her, I mean there was nothing really in his power that could be done.

"Well do you have servants?"

she nodded.

"Then why don't you just stay here by yourself"

"Alone" she blurted as if it would be the worst thing in the world

"Well how else do you live by yourself?" He said with another amused look

"Oh no I can't do that what will people think?" she said with a gasp and a hand over her face. Again Rhett laughed.

"Are you saying that people are going to think less of you because you live by yourself?... and this worries you?"

"Well of course it worries me I don't want people talking about me..I don't think that i would be able to handle that at all"

"Well what about Wade couldn't he stay here with you?" she thought about it for a minute then shook her head.

"No he has buissness elsewhere and he would hate me forever if I made him stay here even though I know I could."

"Well" Rhett said finally "I will about this and come up with a solution for you, but now i must go so I will see you tomorrow Ella"

And with that he grabbed up his hat and coat and left the room. Ella stayed there long after he had left It will all be fine she told herself it has to be.

Thank you for reading ummm please review because I love reviews Mwa.