Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and all the feedback. I appreciate every comment.

Chapter Seventy

Scarlett took Ella to her house and Ella had grabbed the dolls that Scarlett and Rhett had given her before leaving for Hartford. She handed them to Scarlett and said, "They are my most prized possession. I can't leave them behind." They grabbed Ella's clothes. There were pitiably few. There were a few men's shirts in the dresser.

Scarlett picked up one of the shirts and said, "What is this baby?"

Ella said, "It is Daddy's shirts."

Scarlett grabbed them all and said, "We will make a memory quilt out of them."

"You know how to sew?"

"Yes, but not as well as your Aunt Melly. We will sew it up together. We will even make Bonnie help us."

Ella smiled. She grabbed a box from behind the dresser and handed it to Scarlett.

Ella said, "It's all the letters you have ever sent me. When I was sad and lonely or just missing you, I would read your letters until I felt better."

Scarlett hugged Ella and said, "Aw Baby."

Scarlett had noticed that the box was hidden and had thought, 'Probably a good idea.' She said, "We have to go before your mother gets back. Anything else?"

"My necklace. The one you gave me with my birthstone on it. It's in Mother's jewelry box."

"Let's get it and go."

They walked into Suellen's room and it was a mess. Scarlett looked around the room and saw the brandy bottle by the side of the bed and knew what had happened to Suellen. The same thing that had happen to her. One brandy made the pain go away, two brandies made the thoughts go away, and three brandies let her go to sleep. She heard Ella say, "I can't find it."

"Leave it. I'll buy you a better one."

Scarlett hurried Ella out of the house into the waiting cab. Suellen could never know that Scarlett knew how much Sue was drinking. Sue's shame might make her fight the adoption.

Rhett went to his Atlanta attorney, James Taylor. Rhett said to Mr. Taylor, "Get me custody of Ella Lorena Kennedy. I officially want to adopt her. If you have to offer the woman that birthed her money to get her to sign the paperwork, do it."

Mr. Taylor replied, "What is the limit on money to offer her?"

"Money is no object but I don't want to give that bitch anymore of my money than I have to. Ella is priceless. I just don't want that she-devil to profit from selling her child."

"Are you opposed to intimidation?"

"No. I paid her three hundred dollars for her part of the family plantation back in sixty-six. The father had lost his mind so all the sisters thought they would inherit a third of the plantation. The father recovered his sanity and chose to leave the plantation to the other sister."

"So, she sold you something she didn't have the legal right to sell. I can use that. I will get her signature on the adoption papers. Don't worry."

"Keep me updated. I have to go. We want to be out of Atlanta before she changes her mind. I don't think she is going to change her mind. She sees the child as a burden not the precious gift she is. My wife is afraid she will so we are leaving as quickly as we can."

With that Rhett walked out of Mr. Taylor's office.

Mr. Taylor watched Mr. Butler leave. He had been one of his best clients but he was also a very demanding man. When he wanted something done, he wanted it done right away. Luckily, he didn't mind paying extra for that privilege. He would get to work on this custody and adoption immediately. Besides Mr. Taylor owed Mr. Butler for his wedded bliss. Peg was a wonderful woman. She had been in her early thirties when he had met her but he was not a young man so he had wanted an older woman. James had been enthralled at first meeting. He had thought his brother-in-law Brad was over-protective but James knew why now and he was alright with it. He had found out why when he had accidentally scared Peg. He had picked her up to kiss her and she had panicked. She told him that her first husband would pick her up and throw her across the room. James had apologized for scaring her and made sure to never do that again. Over the years he had found out all the things that bastard had done to Peg. So yeah, he was alright with Brad being over protective. With Brad's marriage in September maybe Brad would finally relax about his sister but James doubted it. After finding out the reason for Brad's extreme concern James was alright with it even if it did get annoying at times.

The only real argument that they had ever had was over Peg continuing to run the store. She had transferred her part of the store to Brad before they got married. James had thought she had done that because she was going to become a lady of leisure. She had done it so James would not have any legal claim on the store.

When he had suggested she give up the store, she had declared straight out that she would continue to run the store and she wouldn't marry him if he didn't accept it. James knew the store meant more to her than he knew. After finding out that she had been abused James was able to put all the pieces together. They made a bargain. She could run the store until she was with child. She had agreed.

Peg suspected that she would never be able to get pregnant. Her first husband's favorite place to hit her was in her abdomen. She didn't know for sure but she believed he had even caused her to miscarry a child. After it happened, she had mixed feelings. She didn't want that bastard's child but she had wanted a child. She still hoped she and James would have a child.

Within four hours, the entire Butler bunch was on the train to Columbus. Sadly, Ella never did question if her mother had said it was alright for her to go with them. Rhett would not even wait for them to get a private car. When they changed trains in Columbus, they were able to get one. Scarlett never wanted to go to the South again. She never wanted to see Suellen again and she never wanted Suellen to see Ella again.

Scarlett wondered when Suellen had stopped loving Ella and why. She fretted about it the entire trip. Finally, she asked Rhett about it, "Do you think my feud with Suellen had anything to do with her no longer loving Ella?"

Scarlett had been casually getting undress in the middle of the room much to Rhett's libido's discomfort. After all these years together, the woman still didn't completely appreciate the effect her semi-clad body had on him. Of course, he would never tell her. She already knew she had lots of power over him in that way. He said, "Sometimes when people are angry and frustrated, they lose sight of the good things in their life. They lose sight of the love they have for a person. I did. I lost sight of the love I had for you because I was so angry and frustrated with the situation, I thought you were causing. I was angry at you for not seeing that I was the one you should love. That I was the one that loved you completely and totally even though I was doing everything in my power to prevent you from seeing that fact. I said some cruel, ugly things to you that I will always regret having said. If your sister was angry and frustrated with her life and blamed you and Frank then Ella was a perfect substitute to vent her anger on. She couldn't vent her anger at you and Frank was dead. If she had been drinking, she would have had even less control over her tongue. I know that from experience too. I smelled her breath at the reading of the will and she had imbibed a lot already before we had met in the parlor."

"There was an almost empty bottle of brandy by her bed that I saw when Ella and I went into her room to look for something. I told Ella to forget it and I would buy her another one."

"Why?"

"I didn't want Suellen to know that I knew she was drinking too much. I didn't want her to be embarrassed and decide to fight the adoption because of her shame."

Rhett didn't tell her that was silly because he had seen sillier things in his life. He had done sillier things in his life like not just telling this woman in front of him that he loved her. He said, "What was Ella looking for?"

"That heart with her birthstone that we gave her for her birthday."

"We will just have to get her a better one."

"That's what I said."

They smiled at each other.

After Suellen had told India that Ella was going to be living with Scarlett from now on, India had smiled. That was one less person she would have to deal with. After Suellen told her that she was going to let Scarlett adopt Ella so she would never have to deal with her again, India had smiled. India had said, "I'd like to see Scarlett try to make a silk purse out of that sow's ear. I'll get us some brandy."

Suellen and India had several glasses of brandy and laughed at the thought of vain Scarlett with that ugly child.

Scarlett knew that Ella was not stupider than a cabbage. She had to be taught slowly. She had to be given time to absorb the knowledge. She just had to be taught differently than other children. Ella's greatest trait was that she was sweet, kind, caring just like her father. She was resilient like her mother. Her real mother. Scarlett also knew she could make Ella the belle of the ball. She knew she could do it because she had done it in the first timeline. What Suellen and India didn't know was that after Ella turned thirteen, she was going to look more like the Robillard side of the family than the Kennedy. Scarlett didn't care about all that she was just so happy to have finally gotten Ella back.

A week after Ella had been living with them there was a small box on her plate at supper. Papa said, "I saw that and it made me think of you. So, I bought it."

Papa had smiled at Mama and she had said, "Go on."

When Ella opened the box, it was a necklace. The pendant was a heart. It had a nice size topaz on the front. On the back were the words: Love, Mama and Papa. Ella started crying. She felt like she was finally home.

Alex said, "She doesn't like it. She is crying."

Wade said, "You, doofus, she likes it so much it is making her cry."

Scarlett said, "Wade don't call your brother doofus."

Melly said to Alex, "I will explain it to you later," Scarlett and Melly looked at each other. "I really will explain it." Both ladies laughed.

While all that was going on Bonnie had gotten up and taken the necklace and put it around Ella's neck.

Beau said, "Can we eat now? I'm starving."

Scarlett said, "Yes." She got up and rang the bell which told the staff they were ready for their dinner to be served.

As they were eating Scarlett noticed that Alex was taking his peas and putting them in his napkin. Scarlett smiled. That was definitely her sneaky husband's trait. Bonnie was just like her bold and in one's face. Alex would smile and charm the person while getting around the person with some sneaky way. She smiled at her youngest son and said, "Put all the peas back on your plate. You have to eat all of them."

Alex replied, "They are yucky."

"Yucky or not you have to eat them."

Rhett said, "You want to grow up and be big and strong like me, don't you?"

Alex looked at his father for a long moment and started eating the peas. One at a time.

Wade leaned over and said, "It is easier to stuff them all in at once then you only have that yucky taste in your mouth once."

Alex did what his older brother advised. There were almost too many peas for his little mouth but he managed to get them all down.

Bonnie had called out, "Papa."

Rhett had turned and looked at her and said and signed, "Yes."

Bonnie had signed, "I will be nine on my next birthday."

Rhett had smiled and said and signed, "Yes, you will Precious."

Rhett had started using the sobriquet like Scarlett did when he was talking to Bonnie shortly after they had moved to the North. It was what she was precious.

Rhett looked at Scarlett and she smiled. Scarlett said, "I guess she didn't forget."

Rhett said, "That trait is definitely yours. If it involves jewelry you have a memory like an elephant."

Scarlett frowned at him. He didn't know if the frown was because he had made her sound greedy or compared her to an elephant. He smiled at her. When her eyes narrowed, he knew without a doubt it was because he had compared her to an elephant.

In the first month that she was with them Ella learned enough sign language that she and Bonnie were having conversations. That first month Scarlett taught both her daughters how to sew and they started making the memory quilt from Frank's shirts. It was difficult to sew and sign but they did. Melly helped with the sewing. Alex just sat in the room and practiced his charm. It was a relaxed time for everyone.

At first, they were going to give Ella the room that they had designated for her but Bonnie and Ella had insisted that they share a room. Once Ella had moved in with Bonnie, Scarlett redecorated the now extra room to give it a more masculine look and feel to it. She had even made Rhett help her with the project. She wanted Uncle Henry to come and visit a lot therefore she wanted him to be comfortable in his room.