Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Sarah Shilo: Yes, this story has become my own personal odyssey. It has taken on a life of its own. 😊

Chapter Seventy-One

Within the month Rhett had legally adopted Ella. When Suellen had balked at signing the custody papers and demanded money to do so, Mr. Taylor had threatened Mrs. Kennedy with legal action to get her to sign the papers. The attorney had stated that selling something that didn't belong to her was considered swindling by the state of Georgia. Mr. Taylor could have her arrested right now.

Rhett was pleased Mr. Taylor had gotten Suellen to sign the papers to let them adopt her daughter without giving Suellen any money. He was so very glad they finally had custody of her. He loved Ella so very much but also because he didn't want to have fail to fulfill his promise to Scarlett. He hadn't broken any promises to Scarlett in this timeline and he certainly didn't want not getting Ella to be the first one.

The day they got the paperwork was the night that Rhett and Scarlett were finally completely at peace with their new lives. Rhett said, "I told you that we would get all our babies back."

"You were right."

"I thought we had established I am always right."

"Not always. Would you like me to give you some examples?"

"No, thank you."

They both smiled in the darkness. It was one of their private jokes. They didn't make love. They just held each other close and enjoyed the perfectness of their lives.

That Saturday afternoon they had a large impromptu party to celebrate Ella becoming Ella Butler. There were probably over two hundred people in attendance. The Butlers were popular in the speaking community and in the deaf community also. Despite Rhett often behaving like an aggravating horse's behind he was like by most people in the community and he was definitely respected by everyone. Harriet Beecher Stowe had even showed up. Scarlett didn't ask Mrs. Stowe to leave but she and Melly still wouldn't talk to her. They knew all about snubbing someone after all they were raised in the south.

There was cake, ice cream, popcorn, peanuts, tasty little sandwiches and some very delicious punch. There were a lot of people there. Evie was keeping an eye on Alex but Evie really had a hard time telling Alex no and he knew it. He was his parents' son. He could manipulate and charm all the women but especially Evie. Alex was a good boy most of the time but he had no qualms about charming Evie into giving him what he wanted. Alex had several sandwiches, punch, several cookies, a lot of ice cream and some popcorn. Every time Evie tried to tell him no, he would look at her with those big blue eyes and push his bottom lip out. Evie caved every time. When Alex's father saw him lying on the ground, he knew what had happened.

Rhett picked his son up with the intent of taking him to his room. Fortunately for Evie, Rhett had very good reflexes and he was able to turn his son away from him when Alex started throwing up. Unfortunately for Evie, she was standing in Rhett's line of sight flirting with her husband when she should have been taking care of Alex.

Rhett called out, "Evie!" He hadn't seen two people move that fast in a long time. Evie just came and got Alex and went inside the house.

Nate said, "I will get some ash to put on that."

Rhett nodded his head and walked off. Yes, Rhett knew what had happened and he hoped all three people had learned their lesson.

Eleven-year-old Ella was so very happy. She felt with her hand the tiara she was wearing. Papa had given it to her that morning. Papa had said, "You're our princess and every princess should have a tiara." Mama had helped her put it in her hair. Bonnie had one too which was only right because Bonnie was a princess too. Mama was wearing a tiara but it looked more like a crown. Papa had said, "If my daughters are princesses then my wife must be a queen." Ella remembered how Mama had blushed when Papa had kissed her hand.

Earlier when she had tried to put on one of her new dresses and it was too tight around the waist, she had been so scared that Mama was going to yell at her for already out growing her clothes but Mama had just laughed and said, "We will take them back to the dressmaker and get her to fix them. If she can't fix them, we will just buy new ones."

Ella had said, "You aren't mad."

"No, my love, I knew this was going to happen. You were much too thin when we got you. You are going to be tiny like me but not that tiny."

Ella was very glad that Mama wasn't mad about her outgrowing her clothes. In fact, Mama seemed to be happy about it.

She felt like she was finally home. One of the first signs Bonnie had taught her was 'sister.' Ella knew that Bonnie had always called her Sissy. Ella knew that Bonnie had always hoped they could someday be real sisters.

She loved George because he was her brother but she didn't like him. He was just a whiny little brat. She also resented that Suellen loved him so much more than her. After Daddy had died Ella had gotten the room that used to be Daddy's room. Ella had at first thought it was unfair because it was the smallest room in the house. She had thought she was older than George so she should have gotten the larger room. After she had moved into the room, she noticed it smelled like Daddy and that had made her happy. After a while it had no longer smelled like Daddy but she was still happy with her room because it had been Daddy's room.

After Aunt PittyPat died Suellen got mean and ugly. She would drink something that she had called her joy juice. She would be happy when she drank her first glass but the more, she drank of her joy juice the meaner she got. When Suellen had started slurring her words that was when Ella would be sure to go to her room and stay there for the rest of the night even if they hadn't had supper already. Ella always kept some fruit or vegetables or hardtack in her room. Dilcey had taught her and Bonnie to make hardtack one time. Dilcey had said she made it to keep the worms out of the flour. Ella had made it every time Aunt India had been out of the house visiting people. The cook had helped her. The cook liked her so she never asked any questions or told anyone. Ella had learned to stay out of Suellen's way.

She had wondered, "Why does my mother no longer love me? Did mother love George so much that she doesn't have any love left for me? Had she done something to lose her mother's love?' Those thoughts had gone round and round in her head. She had decided that the reason her mother no longer loved her was because she wasn't her real mother. Aunt Scarlett was her real mother. That was why she looked so much like her Aunt Scarlett. Ella was proud of herself for having solved the mystery.

Mama and Papa had always made her feel loved and special. She would never have to call them anything else ever again. She remembered all the outrageous gifts they had sent her over the years. She had always felt loved by them. Even in her darkest moments with Suellen, not going to ever call her Mother again, she remembered the love her now parents had for her. She would tell herself, 'That woman isn't my mother. My mother's name is Scarlett. Soon she and Papa were going to come and get her.' She never lost faith that someday they would be together.

She would spend a lot of time in Daddy's room. She was safe in his room. Suellen never said anything mean to her in front of Daddy. She said mean things about Daddy to his face though. Daddy had always called her his little princess and had told her how special she was and how much he loved her. Daddy kept getting sicker and sicker but he didn't go to the doctor. He said his hot toddies would fix him right up. They hadn't. He had died.

This last year Suellen had just gotten more and more bitter. She was drinking a lot of her joy juice but it didn't seem to make her joyous. She seemed to take all her frustrations out on Ella. She said some cruel, mean, spiteful things to Ella. Luckily, Suellen had never hit her. Ella knew that when Suellen looked at her she reminded Suellen too much of her Daddy and Mama. Suellen had hated Daddy by the time he had died. She had heard Suellen tell him so. She knew she reminded Suellen of her sister because Suellen had called her Scarlett on more than one occasion.

It seemed that as she was getting older, she was looking more and more like Mama. Ella had learned to never smile when Suellen was around. She tried to keep her eyes downcast also. Just seeing her eyes could set Suellen off.

The words didn't bother her because Suellen wasn't her mother. Her Mama and Papa thought she was wonderful and they told her so in every letter. Ella had managed to always get the post before anyone else got it. That was the only way Ella knew for sure she would get her letters. Before Daddy had died, he had read the letters to her. He would read and reread them every time Ella asked him to. She had learned the words in the letters and after Daddy was gone, she had been able to read them to herself. On the train ride to Hartford when Ella had tried to explain to Mama why she had never written back Mama had just hugged her and said, "It doesn't matter now. You are mine again now." That hadn't made sense to Ella but then she knew she had been right. She was really Mama's daughter. Mama was smiling and crying all at the same time so Ella just let her hug her and hold her. Ella liked it very much.

Papa had come along and picked her up and hugged her like he was never going to let her go. Yes, she had liked it very much. He had danced with her and he didn't put her down when Bonnie wanted him to pick her up. He had signed and said to Bonnie, "It is Ella's turn. When Ella's turn is over, I will pick you up and dance with you."

Bonnie's expression was her mad face and she was saying 'no' but Papa had just kept dancing with her. Bonnie sat down on one of the sofa's and pouted. Papa still didn't stop dancing with her. After a few minutes Papa had sat Ella down on the sofa and signed and said, "Thank you for the dance." Then he had bowed. He turned to Bonnie and ask her if she wanted to dance and she had said, "No." When Papa turned to walk away Bonnie jumped up and let him know she had changed her mind. Papa had danced with her too. He had put her down on the sofa and bowed. He had thanked her for the dance. At the same time Mama had danced with Wade and Alex. Aunt Melanie and Beau had dance too. Wade had danced with Aunt Melly. Beau had danced with her. Bonnie had danced with Alex. Papa had then asked Mama to dance. She had smiled and started singing. They danced for the entire song. Everyone sat down and watched Mama and Papa dance. They danced so beautifully together. It was a wonderful memory. She had so many already.

Ella had on several occasion snuck out of bed to listen to India, not going to call her Aunt ever again, and Suellen talk and they were always complaining about how life wasn't fair. She had sometimes had trouble understanding them because they both had been slurring their words. Ella didn't understand it but both women seemed to think it was Mama's fault that they had miserable lives. Ella really didn't understand that because Mama was always so sweet and nice to Ella but besides that Mama hadn't lived in Atlanta for over three years. Ella had learned that Mama had stolen India's beau before the war but how could that have ruined India's life. That had been so long ago. Ella had no idea how Mama had ruin Suellen's life and Suellen never explain. Ella finally decided that it was that Mama had everything Suellen had ever wanted and somehow it was Mama's fault that Suellen didn't have it. That was what she didn't understand. How was it Mama's fault?

Ella didn't think she would ever understand it. Maybe she would talk to Aunt Melly about it all. Aunt Melly was another person who had always been so sweet and nice. She remembered the shrews bad mouthing Aunt Melly also. She would talk to Aunt Melly. For now, she would enjoy being a princess and having two loving parents. She was also going to have another bowl of ice cream if there was any left.

When Ella talked to Aunt Melanie the next week, she told Ella that there were mean spirited people in the world and that their mean spiritedness skewed their perception of life. She told Ella, "When you meet these people tried to stay as far away from them as possible. They will try to steal your joy of living for no reason but so you are as unhappy as they are. They are unhappy with their lives and instead of taking responsibility for their choices they want to blame somebody else."

Ella had asked her, "Why do people become so unhappy they become mean?"

"I don't know exactly but sometimes people get mean when their life doesn't go the way they think it should. They are mad because they don't think there is anything they can do to make their life better. It happened to me when my husband died. I was angry and mad because my husband had been killed but your Aunt no your Mama took me in and made me feel needed and wanted."

Ella felt better after talking to Aunt Melly. She knew she would never understand why Suellen had gotten so mean. She was never going to think about Suellen and India again but if she did, she was only going to think about Suellen before George had been born. She was never going to think about India she had always been mean.

Author's Notes: Hardtack is a simple type of biscuit or cracker made from flour, water and salt. It is a nonperishable food. It is as hard as a rock, until one soaks it in water for ten to twenty minutes. It is commonly used on long sea voyages, land migrations, and military campaigns.