Donald Hedgecock wasn't exactly in the time of his life that one would call the "prime." He was beyond that stage in life. He was getting old, and he needed a wife. He had found one. Everyone would be happy in the situation. Donald didn't really love her; he didn't think that she loved him that deeply.

Donald knew that she had a lot of money, and that would be always helpful. He heard that in a letter that he received from his brother, who was a lawyer in Atlanta. He got it just after he wrote that he was courting a woman named Ella Kennedy. He also noticed that she wasn't really observant. He could tell that she was rich concluding from her spending habits, he had followed her around New Orleans; he was somewhat worried that she would notice him, but she never did.

She wasn't beautiful, anyone could tell that. However, as the masquerade ball proved, she could be really beautiful. He wanted a wife like that, one who wouldn't wander or look at any other men, or that other men would look at. But one who would loyal and faithful to him and only him, but could make him the envy of New Orleans, as she positively stunning in her dress at the ball.

He needed an heir. That was a given, she could probably provide him a household of children. She also had no parents, they were both dead, as she said, and that meant that he had no pesky mother-in-law to deal with. That was a relief. It always seemed that mothers were much more protective of their daughters than their sons. It always seemed that way to him, anyway. His mother was an example of that.

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Ella sighed. It was three weeks since Donald proposed to her, and she had written a short letter to Tara informing them of her engagement. She expected a short letter from Suellen congratulating her on her engagement, but that was far from it.

In her letter, Suellen began by chewing out Ella. "You really shouldn't make a point of not contacting us, Ella; it's just in bad taste. After all I thought I taught you better than that-" Ella skipped over the next paragraph which was about the bad taste of poor correspondents. "On a lighter note, I am very pleased to hear of your engagement. Will we be meeting Mr. Hedgecock? Where is he from? Does he have any family in the area?" Ella read on. "Also, on a much lighter note, I am pleased to tell you that you will be an aunt before too long. Anne is pregnant, and she is quite ecstatic over this." Wow, she was going to be an aunt, that was interesting. Ella read on. "Unfortunately, we seem to be in a middle of a draught here in Georgia, and the crops aren't growing as well as they could be. Your Uncle Will has been working endlessly, even though I keep telling him he needs to relax and think of his health, he just won't listen. Honestly, that man is so stubborn at times."

Ella thought that was odd. Uncle Will working himself hard in the fields wasn't anything new or unusual. Why would Aunt Suellen be concerned about his health? She privately wondered.

She read on. "Joe and Susie are doing well, and Susie seems to being doing well with the Fontaine's. She and Joe come to dinner on Sunday's. Martha and Jane are also well. Jane, interestingly enough, seems to becoming about more and deeper in her religion. She is beginning to remind me of Carreen."

"Also, I had the pleasure of seeing Beau and Ashley for the first time I don't know how many years. I heard that you had met Beau when you were in Atlanta. So, what did you think of him? I thought he seemed like a very nice young man. I also must add that he is now married! Did he mention that at all when you visited with him? He is married to a very nice and respectable young woman. Her name is Melinda, and her maiden name is Houston. She is from Atlanta, even though her family is from Savannah originally. She was very sweet, and she looked very frail, and almost like a child. She was very charming, and I liked her a great deal." Ella didn't know why, but for some reason, it disturbed her that Beau had married.

Ella read the rest of the letter, nothing else of interest was in it. Beau had gotten married, for whatever reason this had upset Ella a great deal. She only had dinner with him, and it disturbed her for whatever reason.

Ella got up and decided that she should be getting some things for the wedding. It had already been planned that she and Donald would have a small wedding here in New Orleans, as neither of them had anyone really to invite to come such a long way to New Orleans from Georgia and Virginia. They would be getting married in front of priest. Ella had been raised Catholic at Tara, and hadn't gone to Mass since coming to New Orleans. She went to Mass at Aunt Carreen's church, but that was about it. As it turned out, Donald had been raised Catholic also, so it worked out for him, also.

Ella put the letter on a small table that worked well for writing, and decided that she would write a response to Aunt Suellen in a short while, and she decided to write to some other people, also.

She left the room, and decided to go out and visit Donald at work; he owned a small business that wasn't too far away from the hotel. Ella thought it was somewhat odd that Donald never seemed to kiss her, or never seemed to want to kiss her. For whatever reason, she thought about that as she was leaving. She concluded that he was probably just shy.

After that train of thought, for whatever reason, Ella's thoughts shifted once again to Beau Wilkes.