Chapter 19 – She Will Be Loved
The air was crisp as Ella, Alice and Sarah took a walk in the garden after class the Tuesday afternoon before Thanksgiving.
"It's been quite around here," Ella mused aloud.
"Yes, Margo has been subdued ever since she woke up to find herself transformed into a chicken," Sarah answered.
The girls giggled lightly as they recalled their devious deed.
"Do you think that will be the end of it?" Alice asked.
Ella shook her head slightly, "I doubt it, Margo isn't going to let me have the last word that easily."
"You think she'll strike again?" Sarah questioned.
"Most likely, It's not going to be over until I'm back in Atlanta," she replied.
"I guess it won't be long until you get to go home," Alice spoke.
Ella smiled lightly, "I can see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Her friends went silent and it dawned on her that when she left school for Christmas she'd be leaving behind two of the best friends she had ever had.
"We'll miss you," Sarah said quietly.
"I'll miss the two of you too but it isn't like were going to stop being friends," Ella replied. "We can write and I'll be back in the summer to visit my grandmother, and maybe you could visit me in Atlanta."
"Don't forget about us," Alice stated simply.
"I won't, I promise," she answered.
Silence fell between them as the leaves crunched beneath their boots.
"I can't believe Mother Superior is making us come back to school Friday when all of the other schools are going to be closed," Sarah complained breaking the quiet and ending the somber feeling they had drifted into.
Ella laughed, "I think it's punishment for the 'incident'."
"Why do you think that?" Alice asked with a grin.
"Because she knows Caroline didn't do it but she can't prove who did, so she's making us all come to school on Friday as a way of punishing us."
Sarah sighed, "Well I guess it's a small price to pay for how well it all turned out."
"Yes that's true," Ella replied. "If that's all the punishment we end up with we should count ourselves lucky."
The next afternoon after classes had been dismissed for the day, Ella climbed into Eleanor's carriage for the journey to her home. It felt good to be getting away from the restrictiveness of school so early in the week and that feeling made her feel light and happy as she hurried inside the house and up to her room to change her dress. Returning downstairs, she joined her grandmother in the parlor. The tea tray was sitting on the coffee table and she poured herself a cup and picked up a cookie from the plate and settled into the comfortable wing back chair basking in the warm sunlight that was pouring through the window.
They heard a knock on the door and looked at each other in confusion.
"I wonder who that can be?" Eleanor stated. "People usually make their calls before now."
"Maybe its Rosemary," Ella suggested as she snatched another cookie from the plate.
Before Eleanor could answer a young, excited voice called, 'Grandma,' and barreled through the room and onto her lap.
"James Alexander Butler, what a pleasant surprise you are," Eleanor told him as she gave him a squeeze.
"Can I have a cookie?" he asked as his eyes spotted the plate on the table.
"Of course you may," she replied as he wiggled out of her embrace.
"Surprise!" Joy yelled as she skipped into the room.
"Hello, Joy," both ladies stated after she greeted them.
"Don't eat all the cookies, James!" Joy exclaimed. "Save some for me!" she told him as she nudged him away from the plate.
Ella looked to Eleanor, "Did you know they were coming?" she whispered.
"My dear, I can honestly say that I had no idea," she answered as she watched her younger grandchildren gobble up the cookies.
"Where are your mother and father?" Eleanor asked.
"Outside," Joy managed to say with her mouth full.
Turning to Ella, Eleanor asked, "Should we greet them, or let them find us?"
"Let them find us," she replied; "Everyone else has."
A few moments later after James had climbed into the chair with Ella, and Joy had plopped down on the sofa beside her grandmother, Rhett and Scarlett made their entrance.
"I hope you don't mind extra company for Thanksgiving, Mother," Rhett stated as he bent and kissed her cheek.
"The more the merrier," she replied; "But why didn't you let me know you were coming?"
"Last minute decision," he told her as he took a seat in the chair next to Ella.
Scarlett kissed Eleanor's cheek and then Ella's.
"You look surprised," she said to her daughter.
"I am, I didn't know you were coming," Ella replied.
"We'll talk about why I'm here later tonight," she told her before moving back to the sofa and taking a seat.
As everyone made conversation, Ella began to feel nauseated. Had the Mother Superior sent a letter to her mother? Or had Carreen betrayed her after all? It was hard to tell what had brought the family back to Charleston. Surely if it had pertained to the letter she had written home concerning Carreen, her mother would have sent notice that she was coming…wouldn't she? 'Please god, don't let this be about me,' she prayed as she ran her hand over James' soft jet black hair.
She couldn't shake the nervous feeling that gripped her all evening and she found herself counting down the hours until bedtime, when she was sure her Mother would come to her and reveal her motives of being in town. The clock moved slowly but finally she found herself in her room, dressed for bed and waiting for the inevitable visit. She didn't have to wait long, for Scarlett entered the room and closed the door behind her.
"You never mentioned that you were coming back for Thanksgiving," Ella stated as Scarlett perched on the edge of the bed.
"In all honesty we hadn't planned on spending the holiday here, but I received a letter from Carreen and she seemed concerned about you."
Panic fluttered in her heart. "What did she say?" she asked trying hard to keep her voice even.
"She told me that you had received a letter from Johnny."
"Oh," Ella answered as relief spread through her.
Scarlett's assessing gaze bore into her, "Is there something else I should know?"
Ella shook her head "No, Mama."
Scarlett was no fool and she was well aware that Ella was hiding something but she would allow it to pass for now. It couldn't be anything terrible, not with Carreen and Eleanor chaperoning her. Shaking away her thoughts she chose to return to the topic which had brought her to Charleston.
"Carreen implied that Johnny's letter had hurt your feelings quite a bit."
Tears stung her eyes at the memory and she gave a strangled sound. If it had only been her feelings that had been hurt it would all be of little consequence. You could live without feelings, while trying to survive a deep wound to the center of your heart was much more difficult to overcome. She leaned over and pulled open the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out the crumpled missive and handed it to her mother.
Scarlett read the scathing letter and then refolded it and clutched it in her hand. "I'm sorry, Ella," she said quietly.
Ella struggled to hold her tears at bay. "Why? Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Ella, it's true that I felt and still feel that Jonathan Reid is the wrong person for you and I didn't want you to be with him, but that doesn't mean that I wanted him to hurt you like this."
"I was a fool, Mama," she cried her resolve shattering.
Scarlett tugged her into her arms and held her, allowing Ella's tears to soak her shoulder. "We've all been there," she whispered.
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
"I know darling, I know how much it hurts when you realize the person you gave your heart to was just leading you on. I know how it feels, how your heart is crushed and like everyone in the world must be laughing about it."
"I made a mess of everything for nothing," Ella sobbed.
"But you've learned from it," Scarlett told her.
"I thought he loved me! Why did he lie, Mama? Why? Why wasn't I good enough? Is it like he said? Am I too boring? Not pretty enough? Why didn't he love me, Mama? I loved him with all my heart."
"He lied because he is a despicable creature and if anyone wasn't good enough it was him! You are none of the things he said in that dreadful letter. You are a beautiful, interesting, warm loving compassionate person, Ella, and if he couldn't see that than it's his loss. I wish Rhett would've shot him when he had the chance."
"Me too," Ella sniffed causing Scarlett to laugh lightly.
"Somewhere out there is a man waiting just for you, Ella. He's going to love you for whom you are and it won't have anything to do with what's in your bank account."
"How will I know I've found him?"
"You'll just know," she stated. "It will be in the way he looks at you, or in things he does for you without being asked. It will be in the way he gets jealous when another man is around you and then there will be the way you feel about him. It will be some much different from what you felt for Johnny, it will be deeper and stronger and you'll know its right."
"I hope it's like you say. I hope there is someone out there for me when I'm ready to put my heart through this again," Ella told her.
"He's out there darling, I'm sure of it. He'll come along when you least expect it."
"I love you, Mama," Ella whispered as tightened her hold on her mother.
"I love you too."
Tears were still sliding down her cheeks when she pulled away from her and looked her in the eye. "Will Uncle Rhett ever forgive me?"
"Of course he will," she answered. "He loves you, Ella."
"I know but sometimes I just feel like I'm different from the rest and I can't always make that feeling go away."
Scarlett wiped away Ella's tears with her thumb. "It's hard for him to understand that you feel that way, but he's trying and all I can say is that if we ever did anything that made you feel unloved or unwanted, I'm truly sorry because that's never been the case. You and Wade didn't have the best childhood but I did what I could and so did Rhett and we just hope that one day both of you will understand and forgive us."
"I understand," she replied; "And I've always known that you love me, even when things were hard I never doubted that."
"I think in some ways that losing Bonnie has made Rhett feel as though he has to be strict with you as a way of keeping you safe, and if you think about it hard enough you'll see that Joy is treated the same way. He doesn't want to curb your spirit or her's but I think somewhere deep inside he's afraid of losing one of you like he lost her, so he holds onto to you a little tighter than he should. He'll never admit to that being the reason, but I see it."
"I'll try to keep that in mind," Ella said quietly as she regained her composure.
Scarlett nodded, "Perhaps if the two of you learn to understand each others feelings, you'll get along better."
"Maybe," Ella replied before changing the subject. "Did you get my letter?"
"Yes, that's the other reason I'm here. It's time Carreen and I had a talk."
"I hope she won't be angry with me. Aunt Carreen has been good to me and I only want to help her."
"She'll understand," Scarlett promised.
"She's so sad," Ella replied.
Scarlett smiled and patted her hand, "Hopefully, after I speak to her she'll agree to come home and then she can be happy with us."
"I hope so."
"Me too, don't tell her I'm in town. I want to catch her by surprise," she replied before kissing Ella's forehead and rising from her seat. "Now it's time for you to go to bed."
Ella nodded and pulled back the blankets on the bed.
"I'm taking this atrocious letter with me, there's no sense in you torturing yourself with it," Scarlett stated.
Ella bit her lip and contemplated asking for it back, but she saw her Mother's point and nodded her consent.
"Goodnight, Ella."
"Goodnight, Mama."
The holiday passed with an easy contentment among the crowd of family members gathered around Eleanor Butler's dining room table. Rosemary and her husband and son joined them along with Pauline and Eulalie. The conversation stayed in peaceful territories and laughter often rang out among them. Ella was relaxed and contented, even managing to converse with her step-father without argument and she even found herself favoring him with a smile now and then. They all lingered in the parlor until late into the evening, reluctant to leave the cozy atmosphere. Ella dreaded to return to school the next day but she soothed her thoughts with the knowledge that she'd be returning to the house for the weekend.
It seemed that Mother Superior's punishment of calling the students back to class the day after Thanksgiving backfired, for no one wasted their energies concentrating on their work and the nuns found it hard to keep order among the girls who were restless and anxious to return to their holiday. Finally they were dismissed and Ella fled the building. Scarlett was standing outside of the carriage as she approached.
"Did you come to pick me up?" Ella asked.
Scarlett smiled "Not exactly, I figured this would be a good time to speak to your aunt."
"Oh, do you want me to wait here for you?"
"No, you go on back to Eleanor's and send the carriage back for me."
"Alright," she answered as she opened the door and tossed her books inside.
"Where can I find Carreen?" Scarlett asked her before she climbed in the carriage.
"Go straight down the hallway past the office and it's the third classroom on the left."
"Thank you."
"Mother..."
"Yes?"
"If you can, talk to her outside of the school, the walls have ears," Ella told her.
Scarlett smiled and waved her off before turning and entering the school. The rustle of her skirts was the only sound to be heard as she sought out the classroom Carreen was in. Upon finding it she knocked softly on the door which was slightly ajar.
"Come in," Carreen's voice called.
"Carreen," Scarlett stated softly capturing her sister's attention and causing her to raise her eyes to hers.
"Scarlett! What a surprise. Ella didn't mention that you were in town."
"I asked her not to," she replied.
Confusion filled Carreen's eyes, "Why?"
"I thought it better that way."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," she answered.
"It's complicated in a way," Scarlett began. "You see I received two letters on the same day and each one beckoned me to Charleston. One was from you telling me of Ella's heartbreak, and I thank you for telling me because she certainly didn't. The second letter was from my daughter, telling me her concerns for her aunt who recently confessed her unhappiness."
Carreen lowered her eyes momentarily but brought them back to Scarlett's face and said nothing.
"Don't be angry with her," Scarlett said gently. "She only wants to help you the way she says you've helped her."
"I'm not angry with her," Carreen answered as she swallowed hard.
"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" Scarlett asked. "I've been told that the walls here have ears."
"I suppose we could walk in the gardens if you find mind the chill in the air."
"I don't mind," she answered as she motioned toward the door. "I believe we have a long over due discussion to have."
They walked in silence until reaching the far edge of the school's gardens where benches sat along the high brick wall that kept prying eyes at bay. They sat together on the bench and Scarlett turned to her youngest sister with an inquiring gaze.
"Why didn't you come to me, Carreen?"
"Everyone's unhappy sometimes, Scarlett," she answered in attempt to brush off the question.
"You know that it's more than that. Ella told me about how you want to come home, and have wanted to come home for a long time, so why, Carreen? Why didn't you confide in me or Sue? Why have you never said anything about how you feel? I come to see you every time I'm in Charleston, we write to each other. I thought we had grown closer over the years, that the past had been laid to rest and that I had been forgiven for anything you might be holding against me."
"I've never held anything against you, Scarlett. I understand how things were at Tara; I know how much pressure you were under. There's nothing to forgive, you did everything you could to take care of me."
"Then why couldn't you confide in me!" she demanded to know. "I've told you all of my secrets, why couldn't you trust me with yours?"
"Why didn't you trust me enough to tell me about Mother's diary?" Carreen questioned her voice tense.
Surprise flashed across Scarlett's face. "How do you know about that?"
"Ella let that little secret slip," she replied.
"She neglected to inform me of that," Scarlett muttered.
"Why wasn't I told?" Carreen asked.
"Because Suellen and I thought it was best not to. We didn't want to upset you."
"That wasn't your choice to make," she stated firmly.
"Carreen, that book reveals a side of Mother we didn't even know existed. There's barely a kind word contained in its pages and if you could be spared of the reality of that then we figured you were better off not knowing."
"That isn't fair, Scarlett! She was my Mother too and I should've been told."
"What did you want me to do, Carreen? Send you a letter telling you about the children and the gossip and then add in 'oh by the way, we found Mother's diary and she wrote all about how I would never be a good wife or mother and that Suellen is a nuisance and whiner and you were weak willed and spineless, and to top it all off she spent most of her time wishing we didn't belong to Gerald O'Hara while she used our dead brothers as a guise to mourn her precious Philippe. Is that what you would have preferred, Carreen?"
Tears glistened in Carreen's eyes, "Is it really as bad as all that?"
"In some passages it's worse than that," Scarlett answered. "We weren't trying to hurt you, Carreen; we just thought that since you weren't there you would be better off not knowing. Suellen and I wish to god we hadn't found it and read it."
"Where is it?" Carreen asked.
"It's in Atlanta, Suellen didn't want it at Tara, in fact she wanted to burn it but I couldn't go through with it."
"I want to read it," she demanded, a slight edge in her voice.
Scarlett nodded, "I'll give it to you."
"Thank you."
"Mother's diary isn't what I'm here to discuss," she spoke once the discussion seemed to come to an end.
"I know."
"Are you going to talk to me about it?"
"There isn't anything to talk about," Carreen replied.
Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "You know that's not true, Carreen. I want you to be happy, I want to help you but there isn't anything I can do if you won't talk to me."
A tear slid down Carreen's cheek, "There isn't anything you can do."
"I don't believe that," Scarlett answered
"I made a mistake, Scarlett," she whispered.
"Tell me," she prodded gently.
"I thought joining the convent was the answer to my grief and for awhile it was."
"And now?"
"Now I feel like I cheated myself out of life. As the years passed by and I grew older I began to feel differently. I felt like the ice around my heart and my feelings began to thaw and I wanted to live again. I loved Brent and when he died I wouldn't even consider the thought of ever loving anyone else again and then mother died and it was all too much to handle. I'm not like you, Scarlett. I'm not strong I just wanted to fade away and this was the best option," she stated quietly a sob choking her.
Scarlett took her hand and held it tightly, "Go on,"
"I suppose I finally let him go and mother too and I let my heart heal and I began to feel again, but that came at a cost. You and Suellen were both married and having babies and I have nothing. I don't mean that to sound as if I'm not happy for the two of you because I am, Scarlett; but I just felt so left behind, so empty inside. My arms ache for a baby of my own, for a husband to love me like Rhett loves you. I'm so lonely sometimes that I could scream. I miss you and Suellen. I've missed out on watching my nieces and nephews grow up. I haven't been apart of my family in so long and it hurts, Scarlett; it's too late," she cried.
Scarlett had tears in her own eyes as she wrapped her arms around her youngest sister. "It's not too late, Carreen; you can leave the convent. You can home and be with your family. You can have everything you want."
She shook her head, "No I can't."
"Why?"
"Look at me, Scarlett; I'm an old maid. I'm thirty-five years old you know I don't stand a chance at finding a husband or having children."
"Fiddle Dee Dee, who cares if your not sixteen anymore? That doesn't mean that there isn't a man who would want you as a wife. Atlanta is full of bachelors of an appropriate age for you and I'm sure you still have time to have a baby or two, why there are women who have babies well into their forties."
"It's too late, Scarlett; I've wasted too much time."
"No!" Scarlett exclaimed. "It isn't too late, but it will be if you don't do something about it now."
"How can you be sure that its not?" Carreen asked swiping at her tears.
"How can you be sure that it is unless you try?"
"What if I leave and find out I'm right?"
"You'll still be better off, Carreen; you'll be with your family where you belong."
"I don't know what to do, Scarlett," she whispered.
"Carreen, I can tell you from personal experience that lying to yourself and forcing yourself to hide what you feel only make things worse in the long run."
"I'm afraid, Scarlett."
"You don't have to be, I'll support you and so will Sue."
"I don't want to be a burden to you or Suellen."
"You won't be a burden, Carreen."
"I've been here so long, I don't know what to do or how to act outside of this place."
"Ella has already told you what you can do. There are new schools springing up all over Atlanta and I'm sure you'd have no problem getting a teaching position in one of them. I don't doubt for one minute that you'd be able to adapt to living outside these walls. You just have to give yourself a chance. You can live with me, Rhett and I have already discussed it, and you'll always have a home with us, or if you'd rather I'm sure Suellen would be more than happy to have you at Tara."
"I could never live at Tara again," she confessed. "It's to painful to even consider."
"Then you'll live with us," Scarlett stated.
"You and Ella make it all sound so easy," Carreen answered wistfully.
"It is that easy, Carreen; all you have to do is take that silly veil off your head and walk out the door with Ella at the end of the semester."
"I'm not as brave as you, Scarlett."
"You can be if you want it bad enough and I think you do, Carreen. I think you're ready to walk out of here, I think you're ready to live again. I know it's scary, picking up the pieces is never easy but in the end it's worth all of the fear and the tears. You just have to believe. You just have to believe in yourself."
Carreen took a shuddering breath, "I'm trying."
"I know."
"I want to do it, Scarlett; I just can't shake away the worries and the doubts."
"When all of those things come into your mind just brush them away and say you'll think about it tomorrow," she replied with a light laugh.
Carreen smiled ruefully, "It isn't that easy."
"Let's not go through that again," Scarlett replied. "Just say you're coming home."
"I'll think about it," she answered.
"Carreen," Scarlett said exasperation in her voice.
"I'll think about it, Scarlett," she replied, a slight edge in her tone revealing the O'Hara temper that had lain dormant inside her for so long.
Scarlett studied her for a moment and then nodded, "Alright, think about it, whenever you're ready all you have to do is say so."
"You have my word," Carreen promised as she stepped forward to embrace her sister before moving back towards the school.
It wasn't the answer that Scarlett had hoped for but at least she had put the offer on the table. It was up to Carreen to take the next step, and she'd just have to pray that the step she took was in the direction of Atlanta.
Back at Eleanor's, she told Ella of the conversation and instructed her not to hound Carreen about making a decision. Ella agreed reluctantly before turning her gaze back to whatever it was she was reading in the newspaper. Ella was concentrating on an ad she saw and the plan she was forming in relation to her little sister. She'd worry about subtly convincing Carreen to go back to Georgia with them later.
That evening after Joy and James had been tucked into bed for the evening, Ella approached the parlor where her grandmother and her parents had settled for the evening.
"Mother, Uncle Rhett, may we talk?" she asked as she twisted her hands nervously.
"What's on your mind, Ella?" Rhett asked as he sat down his glass of brandy.
"I won't be home for Joy's birthday," she began as she sat down on the foot stool that sat in front of her grandmother's chair.
"I know, but we can't make another trip to Charleston so soon after this," Rhett replied.
"I understand that," she answered. "I was just wondering if I could take her out tomorrow, just the two of us. I saw an advertisement for a puppet show and I thought that I could take her there and then I could take her to pick out a gift and maybe stop at the café for a piece of cake. That way I could celebrate her birthday with her in some way."
Scarlett and Eleanor shared a smile. "That's a wonderful idea, Ella," Scarlett told her. "I'm sure Joy would love to spend the afternoon with you."
Ella looked to her step-father "Is it alright, Uncle Rhett?"
His features softened and he smiled as he nodded, "Of course it is. It's a very kind gesture towards your sister and I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Just be back in time for dinner."
"Thank you!" she exclaimed her eyes sparkling with happiness.
"I'll give you the money in the morning," he told her.
"Oh, there's no need for that, I have money," she replied.
"You do?" he asked. "How?"
"Well…I…" she stammered with a glance toward her grandmother.
"What I do with my money is my business, Rhett Butler," Eleanor stated giving him a pointed look.
He laughed at her, "I'm not saying a word."
"Good, it's a practice you should consider more often," his mother remarked.
"If I did that then Scarlett would get to talk all the time, and who would want that?" he asked with a wink in Ella's direction.
Scarlett swatted him the society page of the newspaper. "I'll thank you to be civil, Rhett Butler! I have no desire to be thrown out of your mother's house again," she stated, a slight hint of teasing in her tone.
"Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing for me to do, after all it did provide me with another grandchild, and I do love the little rascal even if he is too much like his father for his own good," Eleanor commented, leaving Rhett and Scarlett to stare at her in surprise.
"Oh come now," she chastened. "You didn't really believe that I didn't know did you? I may be old but I'm not stupid, I know how to count and when I count backwards from the date of James birth it confirms what we all already know," she stated a wry smile gracing her lips. "What I was never able to understand, however, was what the fight was all about in the first place."
"We don't discuss that," Rhett stated as he lifted his glass from the table and drank down it's contents, while Scarlett, whose cheek's were stained red with embarrassment looked everywhere but at her husband and mother-in-law.
"Interesting," Eleanor replied as she looked between her son and daughter-in-law.
"Speaking of James," Ella stated turning the conversation back to herself and easing her mother's discomfort. "I don't want him to feel as though I'm leaving him out."
"I'll take him to see the ships, which should ease any disappointment he may have," Rhett told her.
Ella nodded, "I'll bring him back something from the store too."
"That will be fine, Ella. I'm sure James will understand, especially if I tell him the two of you are doing 'girl' things," Scarlett replied.
"Well it looks like everyone has plans but us, Scarlett," Eleanor spoke. "We may as well go shopping."
"That would be lovely," she answered. "Perhaps I'll find a few things to put away for Christmas."
As they discussed their plans it was agreed that Ella and Joy would ride to the theater with Scarlett and Eleanor, and then they would spend the rest of their afternoon on foot until meeting up with their mother and grandmother at the café.
The next morning when Ella explained her plan to Joy, the little girl shrieked with happiness and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck in a choking embrace. The little girl was a bundle of excitement as she fumbled with the buttons of her rose colored coat. Scarlett laughed and leaned down to fasten them for her as Ella fixed the child's matching velvet hat atop her black curls. After an enjoyable ride to the business district of Charleston, Ella and Joy stepped down from the carriage and entered the theater. Ella purchased their tickets and a bag of treats for them to share and then lead Joy to their seats. The puppet show was centered on the fairy tales the Joy was so fond of and as the entertainment progressed, Ella found herself relaxed and enjoying the production as much as her little sister, whose eyes never left the stage. It made her feel good to listen to Joy's giggles and sighs as each tale took it's twists and turns and she hopped that the day they were sharing would help restore their relationship.
After the show, Ella took Joy's small hand in hers and together they walked the fashionable streets of Charleston. She listened intently as Joy chattered about her friends and about school.
"Do you know what happened to me at recess the other day?" Joy asked, outrage splashing across her features at the memory of whatever affront she had taken offense to.
"What happened?" Ella replied with slight amusement at the serious tone her baby sister's voice held.
"That mean ole Mary Jane Higgins was picking on me," she stated.
"What for?" Ella demanded to know as a surge of protectiveness washed over her.
"For being short," Joy answered. "She keeps calling me 'shorty' and then she said I looked like the leprechaun in her picture book."
"How dare that little twit!" Ella exclaimed.
"And then she pushed me down," Joy told her, a frown on her lips.
"I hope you told on her."
"No, I kicked her in the knee instead."
"Then what happened?"
"She kicked me back."
"Let me guess, you kicked her again," Ella stated.
"Nope, I pinched her arm really, really hard."
Ella laughed lightly, "Did she pinch you back?"
"No, she pulled my hair," Joy replied.
"My goodness, it sounds like you had a hard day," Ella answered.
"I'm not finished," Joy told her.
"There's more?" Ella asked, wondering where the teacher had been while her baby sister was being abused.
"Uh huh, I grabbed both of her braids and pulled as hard as I could, and I didn't let go until she screamed."
She chuckled as she imagined the scene, "Did Mary Jane leave you alone after that?"
"No, she started crying, because she's a big cry baby and then she went and told Miss Winters on me and she made me stand in the corner when we went inside."
"What about Mary Jane?"
"She had to stand in the other corner."
"Good, that's what she gets! She's just as bad as her sister Sally Mae."
"Then she called me 'hoity toity Joy'."
"When did she do that?"
"While we were standing in the corner and Miss Winters had her back turned."
"What did you do?"
"I called her 'piggy higgy'," Joy replied, a satisfied smile on her face.
Ella burst into laughter drawing the attention of people around them. Joy giggled along with her, too young to care about the stares they were getting.
"Did you get in more trouble?"
"Miss Winters wrote a note to Mama and Mrs. Higgins and pinned them on our dresses."
"Oh my, I bet Mama wasn't happy about that."
"She sure wasn't," Joy agreed. "I had to sit in my room and think about what I did, even though Mary Jane started it and I didn't even get any dessert!"
"That's terrible," Ella replied.
"Mama said I have to stay away from Mary Jane."
"Mary Jane should keep her mouth shut and stay away from you."
"Mary Jane said she'll get Sally Mae to come after me."
"Well you tell Mary Jane, that Sally Mae with have to deal with me before she gets to you!" Ella exclaimed.
As they strolled along the street, peering into the windows of the shops in search of a gift, Joy's eyes spied a pair of glossy black boots, decorated with a bow and having a slightly higher heel than the ones she wore.
"Look Ella! Those boots would make me as tall as Mary Jane!" she exclaimed.
Ella took in the hopeful look on her sister's face and remembered the hurtful things that she had said Mary Jane had called her. The sign said $3.50, an expensive sum for a pair of boots for a child, but Ella knew what it was like to be bullied, thanks to Margo, and if she could spare her sister the torment with a pair of boots so be it, she'd dip into her stash of money and give them to her as her early birthday gift.
"Let's go in and see if they have a pair in your size," she told Joy as she pushed open the door of the shop.
The storekeeper lifted the pair of boots from the window and showed Joy to a chair where she was able to try on the boots. Ella inspected the fit and told Joy to try them out. The little girl beamed as she stood from the chair and walked a few steps through the store.
"Do I look taller?" Joy asked, her face giving away the fact that she felt they did.
"Yes, they do. I think if you have those boots, Mary Jane will have nothing to say to you."
"Do you think I can have them?" Joy asked. "Mama just bought me those ones when school started," she said pointing at her boots lying next to the chair.
"Of course you can have them, they're your birthday present from me," Ella replied as she opened her reticule and counted out the money.
"Can I wear them home?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course," Ella answered.
"I'll put her other shoes in a box for you, Miss," the storekeeper said as he picked up Joy's discarded shoes.
Ella nodded her thanks and then turned to her sister who had thrown her arms around her waist.
"I love you, Ella" she exclaimed.
"I love you too."
"You're the best sister ever," Joy told her. "Mary Jane thinks her sister is but she's wrong."
"You be sure to tell her that," Ella replied with a laugh as they entered a store to buy James a small gift.
They then made their way to the café and joined Eleanor and Scarlett for cake and lemonade. Once they were finished they lingered on the sidewalk, looking in the shop windows.
"Who's that girl that keeps staring at you?" Joy asked.
Ella looked up to see Margo standing a few feet away, her narrowed gaze trained on them.
"No one worth knowing," she told Joy hoping her voice had been loud enough to be heard.
Margo moved towards them and Ella guided Joy towards the carriage in hopes of avoiding a confrontation with the girl in front of her family.
"You stick out like a sore thumb among your family, with that ghastly red hair of yours," Margo remarked quietly.
Scarlett overheard the remark and stepped forward."Excuse me?" she said sharply. "Do you have something to say about my family? If so please say it to me."
"I was just joking with, Ella," Margo lied. "We're friends at school."
"Is that true, Ella?" Scarlett asked as she kept her piercing gaze glued to Margo, causing the girl to squirm slightly.
"No, Mother, that's not true at all. Margo is just being her usual self. She always has something to say about the color of my hair."
"Do you have a problem with my daughter, Margo?" she asked her eyes glittering with temper.
"No ma'am," Margo answered snottily as she looked Scarlett up and down as if she were beneath her notice.
"Margo believes people from Georgia are heathens and country bumpkins," Ella stated.
"Is that so? Tell me Margo, what Yankee infested state do you hail from?"
Margo raised her chin regally, "New York."
Scarlett laughed merrily as Ella watched with glee. "New York? Land of the lying, cheating, scalawags. You must be so proud."
The girls eyes widened with anger. "New York has class!" she exclaimed.
Scarlett gave her an assessing gaze, "It's a shame none of that class has rubbed off on you dear, you could desperately use some."
Margo stared at her in outrage, her mouth opening and closing without a sound coming from her lips.
"Cat got your tongue?" Scarlett asked. "Or are you trying to decide if you should break that rule about disrespecting your elders?"
"I don't have to respect the likes of you," Margo spat.
"And we don't have to respect you."
Margo turned on her heel to go but Scarlett's voice stopped her. "Just so you know, Margo; Ella's hair color comes from her father, not that it's any of your business. As for her sticking out like a sore thumb perhaps you should look again now that you've had a good look at my face and the face of her sister, you'll see plenty of family resemblance looking back at you."
Margo's jaw tightened in anger but before she could say a word the nasally voice of Maureen Sinclair called out, "Come along Margo, we don't associate with those kinds of people."
Margo stalked away with her nose in the air as Scarlett turned to Eleanor.
"Those kinds of people?" she stated as they began piling into the carriage.
"They think they're above us dear," Eleanor answered.
"Does that girl give you trouble, Ella?" Scarlett asked as the carriage began to move.
"Nothing I can't handle," Ella replied.
"Are you sure?" Because it wouldn't be any trouble for me to speak to the Mother Superior about her."
"No!" Ella exclaimed. "Don't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because there is no need for it, and besides there are only a few weeks left…unless of course I have to stay here until the end of the school year."
"You're coming home to stay at Christmas," Scarlett told her.
"Then please don't go to the school, everything is fine. Margo is just a bully like the Higgins girls but I don't run from her. I can handle her for a few more weeks."
"Alright Ella, I'll trust your judgment."
Ella breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"If Mary Jane is mean to me again I'm gonna bop her on the nose," Joy stated.
"No you will not!" Scarlett admonished as she eyed her youngest daughter. "If you have any more trouble with Mary Jane, you come to me and I'll take care of it."
"I'd rather bop her on the nose," Joy stated as she nestled into Ella's side.
"A lady doesn't go around hitting people," Scarlett told her seriously.
"I'm not a lady," Joy stated, her chin raised and her green eyes slightly narrowed, looking every bit like her mother.
"God's nightgown!" Scarlett exclaimed. "You're going to be a lady some day and you need to start learning how to be a proper one."
Joy fell silent but look up at Ella, who squeezed her shoulder and said, "I know how you feel; there are a few people I'd like to bop on the nose too."
Silence fell around them until Scarlett muttered, "Those kinds of people indeed."
"What kind of people are we, Mama?" Joy asked.
Scarlett thought for a moment as she studied each occupant of the carriage. "The finest kind darling, the finest kind."
As the carriage rounded the final turn Ella looked at her mother and thought to herself that truer words had never been spoken.