A.N Yes, my girlies! I was SOO pleased and generally feeling quite chuffed with myself that O'Hara's Legacy has already gained the results that it has, THIS quickly!
Therefore, as a personal treat from this here Lady Zee, here is what chappie 2 should be like, but mind you, come looking back, because it may well change.
Enjoy, and keep the reviews coming!
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Chapter 2
GERALD'S WAY
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I inform you that this is not a story about how beautiful baby Scarlett was, and how much their parents loved her; for, although she was, and however much they did, there would be no story to tell, if that were the case.
Gerald O'Hara could be described as many things by all who knew him, and some of them weren't necessarily what one would describe as flattering.But not a soul could deny that the new father was shatteringly ecstatic about his baby girl.
With her fair complexion and her dark hair, she looked like a whey child come out of fairy tales.This tiny little creature, who certainly had her tantrums and could be shamefully authoritative already, was quite simply adorable, and fascinated the whole county.There wasn't a child to be seen in three counties as charming as the new baby O'Hara.
She was christened three days after her birth on a beautifully dawning Tara. Katie Scarlett, they called her.
And that day would be remembered as a joyful one, where the babe was shown off with pride and exuberance by a couple who, though not in the deepest of love with one another, couldn't be anything but happy.
Of course, Katie Scarlett wasn't to be her name at all, if Ellen Robilliard had anything to do with it – which, as was the case, she hadn't.They argued about it in an easy-going manner, as was wont to do, but Ellen's firm pushing couldn't hold a candle to Gerald's Irish stubbornness.His Irish baby was to be named after his own mother; he'd not allow his beautiful daughter to be called anything else, especially not some inappropriate little French name that would belie her beauty.
His daughter, his choice, so it was.
Ellen and Mammy shared an exasperated look, but where Ellen complied and smiled in spite of her growing irritation, Mammy certainly had no qualms to let Mr. O'Hara know exactly what she thought of his unfitting choice for a name.
Mammy done diapered her lamb and bathed her of the remains of Miz Ellen's womb, and her lamb didn't look anything like a Katie Scarlett.She could be seen muttering, her mouth getting thinner and thinner at the mere sight of Gerald in the next few weeks.If there was anything to Mammy, it was that she simply could not forget things and she certainly had no intention of letting her grudging feelings go as easy as her mistress did.
However there was nothing to be done about it, because once Gerald O'Hara made up his mind, even Miss Ellen couldn't make him change it.
Father and daughter were inseparable.This was what eventually cooled Mammy down – Gerald was simply crazy about his Katie Scarlett, even if all she did at the moment was eat, cry and sleep.
Ellen was very proud of how healthy and how beautiful her baby daughter was, but there were early signs that she shared her father's rather unfortunate Irish temper and pig-headedness, traits she simply must attempt to stamp out of her daughter.It simply wouldn't do for a future lady, who wished to be proper, to have a hot temper and to be stubborn – no Ellen Robilliard girl would ever be anything but a proper southern lady.The first thing Ellen would teach her daughter was how to sit up straight, once she had the ability.
On the other hand, Gerald argued that Katie Scarlett would learn how to ride a horse before she could walk and talk.Mammy was not of either mind, for her lamb would first learn how to talk and all the rest would come later.
Katie Scarlett was a very vivacious baby, who soon liked the idea of weaning.Her little podgy hands were firmly and punctually mucking about in every single plate that was placed in front of her.
She liked to feel the texture and smell the food that she was expected to place in her mouth; she was also very bright, and soon recognised that some foods she could throw better than others, a discovery she put to good use from the off, to the exasperation of both Mammy and Cookie.
Tara's kitchen looked like that of white trash once Scarlett was done with her breakfast, lunch and usually supper.Ellen tried to manner her daughter into not throwing her food around the place before she decided she wanted it after all, but it wasn't an easy task, because Scarlett could not talk yet.
Gerald never tried to change his girl's mannerisms, whether they were out riding, at a friend's plantation, or around the table.
He loved his precious Katie Scarlett just the way she was, bright and funny, and vivacious, and no mistake about it!
His own daughter so she was, and how could she be anything different?
Despite his love for Ellen, her views for Scarlett's education were not shared and therefore not approved.
This caused a quantity of tensions around the O'Hara plantation, quite often because when Scarlett did something she wasn't supposed to be doing (as Cookie forcefully reminded Mammy as she mopped up the floor of the remains of Scarlett's dinner), Ellen would usually scold the child in her gentle manner, which promptly got a rise out of Gerald, because his Katie Scarlett was just funning.
As Katie Scarlett got older, she was assigned to the constant care wand watchful eye of Mammy, who, despite all her grumbling and muttering, loved her honey chile a great deal.It was lucky, some servants said, that Mammy rose every day so early, when it was still dark.
Katie Scarlett O'Hara rose very early, and as she got older, she decided she didn't like to wait for her morning vittles – in fact, she expected them ready the very moment she opened her eyes.Her tantrums were to be heard a long way away from the house, to the great consternation of her parents and the household workers, who seemed to lack the enthusiasm they had for their new mistress when she was born.
Life went on as usual at Tara, beautiful and bountiful and busy as always, but it couldn't be denied that Katie Scarlett filled everyone's lives with her boisterous character and vivacious manners.
Her bright eyes took in every little detail that surrounded her, and to both her parents' great pride, was quite a precocious child.
Unfortunately for Mammy and Ellen, if Scarlett decided she wasn't going to talk, then not a proper word was heard from her gurgling mouth.
No matter how much Mammy and Ellen laboured with the child, she always had a mind of her own, something she didn't neglect to put to use in many situations.
Such as whether she'd be allowed or not on Pa's white stallion with him when he was out riding over Tara's fields.Despite his early boasting about how quick a horsewoman she'd be, Gerald was not exactly happy at the thought of his Katie Scarlett on that wild beast he called horse; especially since the beast was so huge and his child so precious and so small.
Then again, Scarlett proved to be a delight to take riding, which gave Gerald some more leeway to have his way about how the little missy was going to be educated.Despite the thorough cajoling on both Mammy and Ellen's parts, Scarlett was to go out riding with her Pa at least twice a week.
Scarlett soon understood the difference between her three parent figures – which, along with everything else, she always used to her advantage.
Ellen was the one to go crying to when Mammy was trying to force her to do something; there was always comfort to be found in mother's arms.
Mammy was generally around her all the time, scolding her and addressing her to sit up properly, and no, honey chile, doan you go getting uppity about your ma leaving, she done gone to nurse the white trash but she'd be back 'fore supper.
Gerald was the one Scarlett would always run to whenever both Mammy and Ellen would not let her have her way.
This, again, as soon as she could both walk and talk, was something the household servants saw regularly, and though outwardly disapproved, inwardly expected and enjoyed immensely.
Mammy came to call Scarlett her 'honey chile' by the way Scarlett ate the honey that was grown on a plantation a little way from Tara.
Scarlett adored the sticky substance that made a mess of her hands and face and dress, and couldn't get enough of the taste of it, as it flowed gently over her eager tongue.
One morning, as she ate her breakfast, Scarlett decided to have a more thorough exploration of the delicious food on her plate.The honey that didn't go on her tongue found its way on her hands, and consecutively on her face, her hair and most of all, her pretty little yellow dress.
Needless to say, Cookie was not impressed when she saw the young mistress playing around with her food again.
As the numerous memories of her lovely prize-winning kitchen devastated by food crashed on her mind, she hurriedly scooped up her broom and cleaning cloth, then took her battling position behind the door, scowl firmly in place.
Mammy on the other hand, exploded in fits at the sight of the honeyed mess that was Scarlett O'Hara.
"Look what you be doing to yoself Miz Scarlett, afta I done laboured with you this moarnin' to put that dress on ya, and comb yo' hair."
But, as would be the case for the next thirty years or so, Mammy found that the sight of said honeyed Scarlett would be firmly planted in her heart till her dying day.Despite the fact that her efforts came to nought, Mammy found Scarlett to look absolutely adorable with all that honey sticking to her.
And Scarlett's delighted smile as she shovelled more honey in her eager mouth could never be ignored; it lit up the room and Mammy's own mood, the latter of which was not easy.
When Scarlett took ill with her very first childhood ailment, the Tara household was hushed and grim as they'd seldom been.
It was a very quiet house that greeted Gerald when he came back home that night, inebriated with Irish songs and a very fine whiskey.Pork helped him to his usual chair in the parlour, then hurriedly fetched him something to clear his head and inform Mammy that Mr. Gerald was home.
When Gerald went upstairs and headed towards the nursery, the silence that greeted him was rather surprising, considering that Scarlett refused to go to bed until her father returned for her bed-time story, and always made her point by very loud means, regardless of Mammy's scowls and Ellen's gentle cajoling.
Steppingthrough the door, he found his daughter fast asleep, with a doll clutched in her little hand.
He halted next to her bed and stared at her sleeping form for several minutes, before bending down to brush a stray lock of hair from the lovely face and sweep a light kiss on her forehead.
When he noticed how hot it felt, Gerald straightened to gaze at Scarlett in perplexity, then quickly headed out to inform Mrs. O'Hara of the fact.
When he was informed that the doctor had already seen her and that it was just a touch of a normal illness infants always caught, he breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it was with a heavy head that he went to bed that night, which wasn't necessarily to be completely blamed by the amount of spirit he'd drank earlier.
It wasn't long before Scarlett recovered, given the fact that she was a strong child of good health, and had the best of Cookie's broth in her stomach every day and Mammy's and Ellen's fussing to help along.
Which also meant that she soon grew bored and frustrated that she had to stay in bed and couldn't go out riding with Pa like usual.Any other time Gerald would have gone, regardless of what had struck the household, but this was his Katie Scarlett being ill this time, and he found he simply couldn't enjoy his ride like he usually did.
A few minutes later, it was the delighted squeals of laughter and excitement that rang from the nursery that made Mammy halt in her tracks, then quickly hide a smile as the Irish brogue floated towards her.
Ellen was going to her daughter to see how she was feeling this morning and make sure she'd eaten a fair amount of her breakfast, but paused when she heard those excited squeals and the soft voice of her husband ringing from the other side of the door.
With a serene smile, she turned around and went into her study to supervise Tara's accounts.
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A.N there you have it then, Chapter 2,I hope you liked it and that you will send me many reviews in turn for this generous act from me! Thank you very much for your support, it means a lot to me, and come back tomorrow, I think I might just send through a new chapter once I get around to writing it.
Lady Zee
A great thanks to Raicheal, Mrs.ScarlettButler, ColorofAngels and llrummy88!
Hope you like this chapter as much as the rather short, first one.