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Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and all the feedback.

Chapter Sixty-Six

The Butlers got into Atlanta in the morning. While Rhett was making all the arrangements for their private car Scarlett and Melanie took the younger children with them to drop off Ella and George. Bonnie would have nothing to do with her Papa. She was ignoring him. Scarlett had taken Alex because it was easier if she had both of the younger children. Wade and Beau would be interested in everything Rhett was doing to get the private car ready. Esau and Prissy were visiting with Esau's Great Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter had come down to the train station. Esau didn't have any close relatives still living in Atlanta that is why he was willing to move with the Butlers.

When they got to the Hamilton House hugs were given all around in the cab then Scarlett had walked them to the door. Scarlett gave both the children hugs and told them she loved them before leaving them with India. Scarlett had given Ella some more advanced primer readers. Hopefully someone would help her learn to read better. Scarlett could tell by Ella's letters that nobody was helping the child learn to read.

When Scarlett got back to the train station Rhett saw she had her overly bright smile on. They left Atlanta around two and Scarlett said she wasn't feeling well. She went and laid down. She stayed in their room until supper. She was bright and cheerful at supper but only the two youngest people were fooled by her act.

A couple of hours into the train ride home Bonnie decided to start being nice to Papa again. She wanted to sit in Papa's lap. She missed Ella and when she was in Papa's lap, she didn't feel so sad.

India Wilkes continued to live with the Kennedy's even though there was no family relationship. Sue enjoyed India's company so there wasn't any reason to ask her to move out. The only change in the household after PittyPat's death was Frank moved into her old room and Peter no longer worked there.

After Aunt PittyPat died Frank got more and more sick. He had bad colds. He had the grippe. His chest ached. Every time Suellen turned around Frank was sick in bed with another ailment. He couldn't help with the store and he was too sick to help with the children. Suellen knew he wasn't sick he was drinking too many hot toddies but she was fine with him staying home for whatever reason. Frank would just give everything away to all the gentry that had fallen on hard times. Suellen knew he was because members of Polite Society would come into the store and ask for Frank with a hopeful expression. When they found out he was sick at home they would leave dejected. Suellen was cold-hearted and didn't even feel sorry for them but neither had her older sister in the first timeline. While Sue was at the store all day India ran the house and watched the children.

India was a bitter woman but so was Suellen. They enjoyed commiserating together about how horrible their lives were. They would have several brandies at night and talk about Scarlett and Melanie. They blamed all their problems on Scarlett and Melanie. It was mainly Scarlett but they talked badly about Melanie for she had encouraged Scarlett. It even became Scarlett's fault that Suellen had married Frank in the first place. Scarlett had forced her into a marriage with Frank. She had only gone along to avoid being an old maid.

Scarlett had left the trust she had set-up for Aunt PittyPat stay intact and the money would go to India. She owed India. Not for stealing Stuart but for how kind and helpful India was to her after Rhett had left. The trust fund allowed India to have some money of her own. Like Scarlett's aunts India never appreciated her monthly gift either.

Frank was miserable and his children were the only happiness in his life. Frank was a broken man. Before the war he had been a successful business man. He had been a cotton broker and he made large sums of money monthly. After the war he had started the store and was doing very well. He had been happy that Scarlett had forced him to marry Suellen for he probably would never have done it without her pushing him. He had been so happy that first year. He had been happy until that ill-fated raid. The death of Ashley Wilkes had destroyed the man he had been. He couldn't live with the guilt. The guilt that he had demanded the clan make that raid. The guilt that he had lived and Ashley had died. He wished he had died instead of Ashley. Those eighteen months that Mrs. Wilkes had lived with him he watched her get sadder and sadder. Her and her son. He had been so happy when she had gone to live with the Butlers but he had felt guilt at being so happy. At that point he had been able to push the guilt away. It was George's conception that brought back the guilt. As he watched Suellen grow larger and larger with his child he felt worse and worse. His life was going on. In fact, his life was rather good while Ashley laid in the ground and Mrs. Wilkes was getting sadder and sadder. After George was born his happiness was so intense but so was the guilt. So, he decided that he would never have relations with Suellen again. He could never take the chance of having another child not while Ashley laid in the ground. He could not have a great life when he was the cause of his friend's death. His steady decline began. The sawmill was a money maker but he had to work so hard at selling the lumber. He had to force himself. He didn't want to sell lumber. So, he stopped. He turned it all over to Hugh although Hugh wasn't very good at selling lumber either. He sold the mill after Hugh quit because it was going bankrupt and he still didn't want to sell lumber. He told everyone he would rather run a General Store to save face. That was alright for a while then Suellen started nagging him about building their own house. He couldn't tell her why they didn't have the money. It was because he couldn't refuse good people things they needed, so he would give it to them and tell them to pay him when they could. He didn't write any of it down because he didn't want Suellen to know what he had done. He always felt so bad physically. He had started making himself a hot toddy then it became two hot toddies and sometimes three. Sometimes a hot toddy in the morning to get him started. In the end, he couldn't remember who owed him money.

Suellen had turned into a shrew. He guessed that was because she had expected more than just being a shopkeeper's wife. She was always talking about how great Scarlett's life was even with her deaf child. At least Bonnie was beautiful and although Suellen never said the statement, 'Ella was not beautiful' it hung in the air. Unfortunately, his little girl looked too much like him. Ella's best feature were her eyes which were the same color as Scarlett's eyes. Frank suspected that was what Sue hated most about Ella's looks, her eye color. The more Suellen nagged and griped the worse he felt so the more hot toddies he would have. Most nights he had been so drunk he had just passed out in the bed while Suellen was talking to him.

He really couldn't blame Suellen. She had been brought up in the lap of luxury. He had made grand promises and he had let her down too. He felt guilty about that too. No, his only happiness was George and Ella. More Ella than George because Suellen was possessive of George. He loved Ella and George and no matter how bad he felt he helped Ella with her reading every day.

He wished he felt better. If he felt better, he would be able to do more. He felt guilt about being so sickly too. He needed to make himself a hot toddy to help him get through Suellen's carping.

As he walked to the kitchen to make his hot toddy, he wished he was younger. If he was younger, he would be able to do more. He should never have married such a young bride.

The Butler brood returned to their lives in Hartford. On the train ride back to their home Scarlett saw Rhett and Wade having a lot of long conversations. Occasionally she would see Wade's cheeks get pink but he never moved away from Rhett. Later when Scarlett asked Rhett about it, Rhett said, "We were having a conversation about the facts of life," Scarlett's cheeks turned pink. "Don't worry, my dear, I counselled him to stay out of whore houses." Rhett didn't tell her that he had added advice to the statement about what to do if Wade didn't heed the wisdom of his advice.

As Rhett had watched his wife become embarrassed with the mere mention of the facts of life it always made him smile. She would do all the things he wanted to do as long as he didn't talk about them outside their bedroom.

When they got back to Hartford, they found out that Evie and Nate had gotten married while they were away. There were congratulations given by everyone. Scarlett and Rhett were very happy for the couple.

Everyone went back to their routine. Rhett making money and aggravating people; Scarlett spending Rhett's money and socializing; Melanie going to the school and helping people; Alex, Thomas and Rachel being toddlers; Bonnie, Wade and Beau going back to school and Prissy and Esau managing the household staff.

November came and Rhett and Scarlett went out for Rhett's birthday. She admitted that she really was selfish when she told their driver Joseph to take them to her favorite restaurant for Rhett's birthday supper. She knew he preferred Sandborn's but he would not say anything. He wouldn't do anything to make her mad on his birthday because he wanted to get his birthday surprise which wasn't much of a surprise since she did it every year. It made shopping for him so much easier because she didn't have to shop at all which made her giggle and snuggle into him.

Christmas time came. Scarlett had done her own Christmas shopping in September and October. She decorated the house. She still stayed inside a lot. It was just too cold out there. Her friends knew about her aversion to the cold and although they teased her about it, they also came to visit. Scarlett was alright with them teasing her. She knew they just didn't understand how cold she got. Rhett would smile at her when she would get ready to put another log on the fire when it was already hotter than hell in their room. He would stop her and say, "Let me warm you up." She would always smile up at him and nod. He guessed she was warm when they finally went to sleep because she never said anything more about putting another log on the fire.

They had a lovely Christmas. They cut down a tree. This year everyone went again although the ladies still stayed in the carriage. Scarlett had a pair of bloomers made for Bonnie for just this occasion. Bonnie liked them as much as her mother did. Scarlett had another two pairs made for Bonnie.

They decorated the tree. They opened presents. They had Christmas dinner. Everyone had a good time. They sat in the music room and they sang songs. This year there weren't any sad memories for Rhett and Scarlett. They had replaced them with happy memories.

Scarlett and Rhett were so happy with Bonnie's progress. They were also amazed at how fast she could sign. They often had to tell her to slow down. She would get an exasperated expression on her face but she would slow down. After this happened once to Rhett Scarlett said, "You could manage to tell nothing with your facial expressions while your daughter can tell a whole story with hers." They had laughed because it was very true. Bonnie could tell more information by her facial expressions than most people could in an entire sentence.

Right after Scarlett's birthday in March they got the sad news that Frank had died in his sleep. Rhett and Scarlett and the family went to the funeral in the spring of seventy-six.

Evie and Nate stayed in Hartford to watch over the house and the other servants while everyone else went to Atlanta. Nate needed to get The Katie ready to be taken out after not having been sailed for several months. He needed to make sure it was still seaworthy.

Rhett had sent Prissy and her family on down to Tara so Prissy could have more time with her mother.

Melanie had made the trip with them to spend time with Uncle Henry. Rhett and Scarlett saw no reason for anyone to attend the funeral but them. While Scarlett and Rhett were at the funeral Henry would meet Melanie and all the children at the park. Henry enjoyed seeing his grandnephews but he really enjoyed seeing his niece. In the last six months through letters, they had become very close. After his revelation he could be more openly affectionate with her and she with him. When Melanie saw her Uncle Henry coming, she smiled a smile so big it lit up her face and it filled his heart with joy.