The Stubborn Miss Butler

12

Supper was called at Tara without much fanfare, despite its irregularity of guests. The new generation of house and keep were trained by Mammy's fair hand and they'd all be damned if it didn't show. The table was modest and the selection limited, but the conversation was what drew its gatherers to the spot.

Beau Wilkes was the sacrificial lamb.

"Beau, why, Scarlett does regale me with every success you've had up North," Careen smiled genially, though Eleanor noticed how grey her hair had turned and how many wrinkles strained for occupancy upon her once-fair features. Careen O'Hara had borne unto Tara seven children, the eldest being a set of twins two years older than Eleanor, James and Geraldine, and the youngest being the infamous four-year-old George, all of which were gathered around the sprawling oak table.

Suellen made her appearance, mighty proud as a peacock of her own flock. "Well, I heard something or other that just can't be true, Beau. Tell me my poor mother and father didn't perish just for one of our own to be defending no Negroe-"

And just like that, the dinner was alight with a fever of opinions, as Vicky looked from Beau and back to her mother for the stand that would surely be made.

But it was Scarlett that opened her mouth before Beau could get a word in edge-wise, as the old rivalries of Tara plantation were revived. "You hush your prune-y old mouth, Suellen. You should be ashamed of yourself for speaking so terribly. Ma and Pa are turning in their grave right this moment and I dare say I won't stand for it. Not when Mammy and their folk have done so much for us."

There was a dwindling silence, made lighter only by the smiles and awed looks of the second generation. Scarlett was calm about her words, though the biting edge while she buttered her biscuit did give some aggression away.

James with his genial little smile, the picture of Irish handsomeness, broke through, being the eldest of the bunch, save for Wade and Ella. "You haven't changed too much to go hanging around the boys here back home, I hope."

Careen frowned delicately. "Now, you know I don't like any of those Blythe boys, Jamie. Been getting you and Beau into trouble since before you could walk."

"Are they so different there, up North I mean?" Geraldine was beautiful and petite. Her softness was always charming and for a moment, Eleanor thought she might exist as the only Southern belle left in all of the American South.

"I think you'd like it, and I don't think Eleanor would mind in the slightest for you to come visit, Gigi." Beau was always soft on her and Eleanor never understood why. She loved Geraldine as much as the next O'Hara but she often got on her nerves for her fragility.

She suspected that Gigi reminded him of his mother, and that made everything alright. "Our apartment gets rather empty," Eleanor agreed, to which Victoria preened, "Maybe then, she'd finally find a beau to marry her. Anyone appealing, Ellie?"

She was generally discomforted by the nickname unless it was from Beau's own lips, and it showed in Eleanor's scowl. "I wouldn't think to marry a Northerner myself, and if I had half as many beaus as Geraldine I think I might take my pick here. Wouldn't you? Unless, of course, there aren't any offers."

Rhett and Beau smiled ever so slightly at her bluntness, and since she was a babe, this family had grown increasingly enraged at what escaped Eleanor's lips, but there wasn't any trace of regret on her part.

"My, aren't we confident." Suellen's tone was condescending. "I remember having three marriage offers when I was your age."

"Right," the youngest O'Hara sister mumbled, "there was one of the Tarleton boys and..."

"Well, luckily I have more than enough options to bide my time deciding."