Chapter Two: Attraction
Ella was woken to the sound of her bedroom door banging against the wall. With weary sleep filled eyes she looked towards the door to see Mammy walk in carrying a breakfast tray.
"Miss Ella it's time for you get up and get ready for the barbeque."
Ella stretched out her stiff limbs before reluctantly getting out of bed to let Mammy dress her. No matter how much she didn't want to go today, getting on the wrong side of Mammy was a very bad idea.
"Here Miss Ella, I won't have you stuffing your face at the barbeque, so you eat up everything on that tray while I go see to Miss Scarlett."
Mammy left the breakfast tray on Ella's bed and left the room.
After putting her hair into a simple chignon, Ella approached her bed and sat on the edge next to the tray and did as her Mammy demanded and ate her breakfast.
Well I won't be eating anything at the barbeque after such a considerable breakfast, she thought.
"Mammy I just need to check on Ella first…"
Ella heard Scarlett before her door opened and her twin entered, not yet dressed.
Scarlett looked at Ella with a disapproving expression on her face.
"For goodness sake Ella, have you seen the state of your hair!"
Scarlett forced her sister into a chair and proceeded to twist her hair into a more elaborate and complementing style. Scarlett observed her sister's appearance with a sense of accomplishment.
"Much better. You want to be able to catch the eye of any men which are attending today, don't you Ella."
Ella rolled her eyes at her sister's teasing.
"Shouldn't you be getting dressed Scarlett?"
Ella watched as her sister rushed out of her room calling for Mammy to help her dress. Ella picked up her bonnet and parasol from her dresser, put on the bonnet carefully so not to disrupt Scarlett's work, and made her way downstairs to join her family.
Downstairs she found her younger sisters, Suellen and Carreen, waiting in her carriage and her father Gerald already on his horse and Ella made her way to join them.
"Where's mother?"
"Your mother won't be joining us today. Mr Wilkerson has been dismissed."
Ella didn't need her father to discuss the matter any further. He may be the man of the house, but her mother was the one in charge, of everything. She had a slight feeling of pity for her mother, who she knew would have been looking forward to a day away from Tara and the strain of her duties, but it was what a woman signed up for when she married. Ella only saw that as another reason not to marry.
"Katie Scarlett O'Hara, if you're not in the carriage by the time I count to ten we'll leave without you! One! Two!"
At her father's shout Scarlett leaned out of her bedroom window and shouted back that she was on her way down.
"Three! Four! Five!"
Scarlett came rushing out of the house and joined her sisters in the carriage. She was wearing her green muslin dress, which had a low bust, too low to be worn before three in the afternoon. Ella looked at her twin with raised eyebrows.
"How on earth did you get Mammy to let you wear that?"
"I refused to eat."
Ella laughed, Scarlett O'Hara always got what she wanted.
With all the O'Hara sisters finally ready, they left for Twelve Oaks, the Wilkes' plantation.
Ella felt her nerves began to rise, she felt so out of place at these social events. She never knew what to say as her mind would go blank when her nerves took over. Of course, Scarlett had no problems making conversation, but she got a lot of practice entertaining all her beaux.
The steps of Twelve Oaks were active with the arrival of guests. The O'Hara sisters made their way to the top to be greeted by the Host. Mr John Wilkes and Miss India Wilkes were standing by the door to greet all their guests as they arrived.
"Miss Ella, Miss Scarlett a pleasure as always."
"Ella. Scarlett."
Mr Wilkes welcomed the twins with a kiss on the back of their hands. Whereas India gave Ella a smile and Scarlett a glare.
"India, how elegant you look in that dress!"
"Why thank you Ella, you look especially pretty yourself today."
"Yes, well I've been working my magic on my twin this morning, India, so you better hold on to your beaux, if you have any that is."
Ella gave Scarlett a firm, but discrete nudge with her elbow and kept smiling at India.
"We won't keep you from the rest of your guests any longer, India. I'm sure we'll have a better chance to catch up later."
With that said, Ella took Scarlett by the elbow and they entered the house before Scarlett could get herself into any more trouble.
"Do you really have to taunt her Scarlett?"
"She's just jealous Stuart prefers my company to hers, not that I can blame him."
"But there's no reason to rub it in her face!"
Scarlett smirked at her sister and shrugged with indifference. She didn't care if India Wilkes liked her, she had plenty of beaux to keep her entertained. She spotted Cathleen Calvert over by the grand staircase and unlinked her arm from her sisters and went to join her friend.
"Cathleen!"
"Scarlett!"
Ella watched as her sister chatted away to Cathleen, the only girl here who could be classed as Scarlett's friend, probably because she had the second most beaux in the county after Scarlett.
"Miss O'Hara?"
Ella turned to see a vaguely familiar petite girl with a childlike face approach her.
"Miss Hamilton?"
"Oh, I'm so pleased you remember me Miss O'Hara and please do call me Melly."
"Miss Melly, it is wonderful to see you again, it must be while since your last visit and must call me Ella."
"Yes, I can hardly remember the last time I was here. Are you still as fond of reading as you were Ella?"
"Very much so Melly. I'm currently reading about Europe, it's such a fascinating place and I do hope I will be given the opportunity to visit there one day."
"Ashley's been to Europe, I'm sure he could tell you all about his personal experiences. Why don't you join us later for barbeque?"
Ella could see Melly becoming a great friend and eagerly agreed to join her and Ashley for barbeque later. Melly rested her small hand on Ella's arm with a gentle smile.
"Wonderful. I was looking for Ashley, so I'll see you later Ella."
Alone Ella looked towards the stairs for her sister. Scarlett was making her way upstairs with Cathleen; both girls kept glancing down the stairs behind them and Cathleen was enthusiastically whispering something to Scarlett. Following their glances Ella saw a man leaning on the banister at the bottom of the stairs clearly focused on something.
Ella observed the man. He was certainly without a doubt a man. He towered over all the other guests even though he wasn't standing completely up straight. His shoulders seemed twice the width of any male Ella had ever seen. He looked strong and Ella was sure that if he didn't have his jacket on she would be able to clearly see his muscles under his shirt. It was unseemly for a gentleman to have such a build, and Ella wondered who this man could be and what he was doing here.
Ella couldn't help but walk closer to the staircase, she wanted to see his face. She made her way to the other side of the staircase to him, so she could see his face without being in his line of sight.
His face was swarthy, it had a look she could only compare to the description of the pirates she had read about. He must spend a lot of time outside, maybe even at sea, Ella thought. His hair was black and slicked back neatly across his head, a small tidy moustache framed his upper lip, which was curled up in a smirk. His eyes were dark as night and seemed to be burning with desire. Ella's racing heart suddenly started to ache, as she noticed the object of that desire was, of course, her sister Scarlett.
Ella inwardly sighed. Her shy and gentle nature often left her feeling invisible. On the odd occasion she was grateful for this, but at this moment she wished, as she often did, that she wasn't so… herself. A man like that would never notice me, Ella thought, they'll always want Scarlett. Ella looked away, unable to bare the reminder of a life that, she believed, would always remain just a dream to her.
However, whilst Ella was lost in her thoughts, she did not notice that the strange man's gaze had moved. He was now watching Ella, noticing that although this girl was almost an exact replica of the girl he was just admiring on the stairs, this girl held herself very differently. Whilst the girl who was obviously her twin showed herself off, this girl was hidden within herself. Surely, she was too young to feel so disheartened by life, he thought and for some reason the man was intrigued by Ella.
This barbeque may turn out to be more interesting than he anticipated.
