Sorry this took so long for me to update, but soccer season is upon us and I have children to taxi around. A big Thank You to Dreamy for helping me on this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gone with the Wind, if I did, I would have Corrin Or Alica write the sequels, not the two idiots that were allowed to write their drivel.

Chapter 7

Scarlett was relieved when they had finally reached Savannah. Four days locked in a train with two children was enough to drive her mad. During the endless ride, Ella asked question after question, which at first Scarlett didn't mind, but then she kept on asking the same ones over and over again.

Finally, Scarlett put a stop to all of the incessant questioning when Ella asked, "Do you think that Uncle Rhett would be able to meet us in Savannah?" Scarlett looked at Ella as if she had two heads. She had thought that Ella had understood that Rhett was not going to come back, so when she asked this last question, Scarlett's mind reeled. When Scarlett finally answered the unwanted question her voice came out low and slow as if she was having difficulty breathing.

"No. He is not going to meet us in Savannah."

Ella looked at her mother with curiosity, wondering why her mother looked as though she had just swallowed bees. "Well, then will he pick us up at the train station in Atlanta when we go home?"

"Hush Ella!" Wade harshly whispered. He saw the furrowed brow of his mother and the reluctance in her eyes about speaking of the future or of speaking about anything that pertained to Rhett. Scarlett didn't know what the future was going to hold, all she knew was that one day she would receive divorce papers from Rhett and then her life would be over, or at least life as she knew it. In order to ease this lasting discomfort from her daughter's words, Scarlett decided to try and steer Ella into some more pleasant conversation. "So honey, what do you want to do while we are in Savannah?" Scarlett said with all the sweetness that she could muster.

"Oh Mother, I want to see the ocean." Ella said with a hopeful note.

Scarlett smiled at her and answered, "I'm sure that can be arranged. How about you Wade? What do you want to do while we're there?"

Wade looked at her thoughtfully and said quite shyly, "I would like to go to the museum and the public library."

"The library? Why in heaven's name would you want to do a thing like that?" Scarlett answered incredulously. She was not a person who liked to read and thought that it was a silly way to pass time.

Wade just lowered his head into his chest and said in a whisper, "I don't know."

Realizing too late that she had hurt Wade's feelings, Scarlett tried to correct her mistake. "Oh Wade honey, instead of the library, why don't I take you to a book store and you can buy any book that pleases you."

Looking up hopefully and with a very wide grin he replied, "Oh Mother, could we? I mean…thank you Mother, I would like that."

Happy that she could bring back Wade's smile, Scarlett turned her head to look out of the train's window and watched the scenery float by. Both children then began talking about what they would do while in Savannah. As they happily chattered, Scarlett let her mind take a walk in the past. She was remembering her trips to Savannah with her mother and father. They were such happy times, they would all wander down to the shoreline and Scarlett would run into the water at a breakneck speed while her mother would call to her to be careful. Gerald would jump into the ocean and he and Scarlett would play like young seals, while Suellen would just stay at the edge of the water and barely get her feet wet, while baby Carreen would stay at her mother's side. Those were such happy times and Scarlett missed them terribly, but just as soon as the melancholy would begin to cloud her mind, she would quickly shake it away. She was not going to live in the past. She was here to start memories for her children to look back upon with fondness.

Stepping off of the train, Scarlett felt relief. No one in Savannah knew her so there would be no awkward moments of explaining why she was in town without her husband. She hailed a cab and asked the driver to take them to the hotel district. There had been no time to find a decent hotel when she left Tara since she had been in too much of a hurry to escape from Suellen's constant complaining and bad humor, so she had asked the driver to recommend a nice hotel. He took her to the Marshall House Hotel- it was the oldest hotel in Savannah and had been refurbished after the war. It was said that Sherman used it as a hospital for the Union soldiers. Stopping in front of the hotel, Scarlett looked at it's battered façade and thought that's what I feel like—battered. But she decided that this was good enough to house her and her children for the up-coming weeks. The driver alighted from his seat and gently handed her out of the carriage, much to Wade's chagrin, for he had wanted to be the one to help his mother exit the carriage, after all it is his job as the man of the house to take care of the women in his family and he took his job quite seriously.

When they entered the hotel, they looked around and noticed that the inside didn't look as battered at the outside. Again, Scarlett felt a little kinship with the building, but in her case she was battered on the inside and her exterior looked remarkably well. She walked up to the service desk and asked for two rooms which adjoin each other, she was quickly given two keys and the porter then helped her and the children upstairs with their luggage. Their rooms were done very tastefully. There was dark oak furniture and each room had two large beds. They were decorated in very soothing colors, and the couches that were in each room were of a moss green while the large beds were covered with ivory coverlets. There was also a cozy fireplace with a brick mantel and there were doors leading out to the balcony, which overlooked the courtyard. All in all, it suited Scarlett's purpose for a cozy and homey place for her and her children to stay while they were in Savannah. The children were happy that they were to share their own room. They didn't want to stay with Scarlett because they knew that she usually had nightmares and knowing how loud and violent they can get, they were relieved to find that they would not be subject to the frightening sounds.

The three of them were exhausted so they napped the morning away and part of the afternoon. They finally woke up and freshened up so that they could go down to the dining room and have a late lunch. All three ate as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. Each looking up at each other, their collective faces became a light shade of red. Wade and Ella were embarrassed by their lack of manners, but Scarlett just smiled at her two hungry children, and with awe and happiness, they both dug into their food.

Scarlett enjoyed the time she had with her children. She had taken them to the beach quite a few times and also had taken them to go sight-seeing through-out the city. Wade was the best tour giver that Scarlett had ever known. After buying him a book on the history of Savannah, they rode about town in a carriage and when they would stop at Wade's request, he would go into an oratory about the importance of the building or park that they were visiting. Their beach excursions always brought back happy memories for Scarlett. While watching her children frolic in the ocean, she smiled as she remembered Mammy scolding her for having fun. "Miz Scarlett, you gits over hyah and stop runnin' aroun' like a wile injun. You needs to behave like lil Mis Carreen hyah." Little Scarlett would just look and Mammy and stick out her tongue and run down to the shoreline and jump right back into the water. Of course, after all of the sun that she had taken in, Mammy would scrub her with buttermilk until she was a shining red color. Scarlett huffed out a small breath and donned a bittersweet smile. now understanding why Ashley would always become melancholy when he reminisced about the past. She pushed back all thoughts of Ashley, as she always pushed back unpleasant thoughts. Ashley was now forever linked with all of her mistakes and misfortunes.

The small family thrived with their time together and Scarlett was pleasantly surprised when she discovered that Ella had an eye for colors and style. As they were looking at the new styles of dresses for the next season and when Scarlett tried on a dress, Ella would look at it with a critical eye and answer in either the affirmative or negative, and Scarlett would then put the dress to the side for consideration or ask the salesclerk for a new dress to try on. She actually had fun on these sprees; it was so nice to have something in common her daughter, since she didn't have much in common with Wade. He was quiet and shy and loved to read-something that Scarlett took no pleasure in doing—even when she was a young girl in school.

While Scarlett and Ella had decided that they were tired of shopping and wanted to go back to their hotel so that they could have a nap, they walked by other store fronts to go and find Wade at the nearest book shop, walking past a small general store that caught Scarlett's eye on their way there. It was much smaller than her store in Atlanta, but there was something quaint about it that made her want to visit it. As she walked in, with Ella in tow, she noticed how clean and uncluttered it looked. There was a small area for customers to sit and have a cup of coffee and visit with other customers, stacks of dress fabrics were at the back of the store along with other accoutrement for sewing. Household goods were in neatly arranged shelves and there was a small area for kitchen supplies, such as dishes and silverware. Scarlett was impressed by the neatness of the place, and she wanted to ask the manager how they kept the dust off of everything. Walking up to a tall man that had his back to her, she lightly tapped on his shoulder.

"Excuse me," she quietly said. The man turned to look at who was tapping on his shoulder, and as he spun around, he was surprised to see a petite young woman holding a small child's hand.

With a jovial smile and laughing blue eyes he answered her back, "Yes, may I be of service to you?"

"Um..yes, I would like to talk to the owner of this fine store and ask him a few questions. Could you please point him out to me?"

Laughing lightly he smiled wide and said with unabashed pride, "I am the owner of this fine establishment. Thomas Gerald O'Hara at your service."

With her eyes wide and her mouth open Scarlett haltingly sputtered, "O'Hara? You said that your name is O'Hara?"

"Yes, that is what I said. Thomas Gerald O'Hara." The man confirmed.

Ella looked up at her mother with an incredulous look, "Mother, his name is just like Grandfather O'Hara's!"

Scarlett was shocked for a moment, but then her face lit up with recognition. She suddenly remembered her father telling her about living in Savannah when he first came to America from Ireland, that he had had brothers that lived here. This Thomas O'Hara might be kin to her and more importantly, to her beloved father. Her eyes became glittery and turned a deep green, then with a growing smile she asked him, "Sir, by any chance are you related to a Gerald O'Hara from County Meath Ireland?"

With a great big grin, Thomas answered with joviality, "Why yes ma'am, he was my uncle, and my favorite one at that! Why is it you ask? Did you know him?"

"Yes, I am his eldest daughter. I am Katie Scarlett O'Hara Butler."

"Well I'll be. Little Katie Scarlett! I haven't seen you since you were knee high to a grass hopper. My you sure grew up to be a beauty." Thomas stuck his hand out, grabbed Scarlett by her hand, pulled her towards him, and then wrapped his arms around her in a friendly hug.

Scarlett froze in his arms. After the debacle at the mill with Ashley all those years ago, she felt uncomfortable whenever anybody hugged her. The only person she would happily allow to hug her was no longer available and God knows where he could be.

Startled by this genuine show of familiarity, Scarlett reluctantly put her arms around him and hesitantly patted his back then quickly backed up out of his arms.

"Well Katie Scarlett, what may I help you with? You were asking for the manager, and here I am."

Shaking her head to clear her mind from the whirlwind greeting, she shyly smiled, "I just…um, I was just admiring your store. It's so clean and well organized, I myself have a general store in Atlanta and well, it is very difficult keeping it so clean and uncluttered. I was just wondering how you keep it so…well, so spotless."

With a chuckle Thomas scoffed, "It's not that clean, but I use a lot of elbow grease and prodding. Well in all actuality I hire a little negro boy for a dollar a day and he dusts the shelves and sweeps the whole store."

Scarlett spent the rest of the afternoon talking shop with Thomas much to Ella's chagrin. Wade had grown bored of waiting at the bookstore and went to find them and found Ella sitting outside of the store humming to herself. She passed on the information that their mother had discovered the store and in going inside also discovered that she was kin to the man that ran the store. Wade was excited with that bit of information. He didn't know a lot about his O'Hara family like he did about his Hamilton lineage. Melanie had made sure to tell him all that she remembered of her parents and of Wade's father Charles. He hoped that he could meet this man so that he could question him about his grandfather.

Wade's wishes were granted because when Scarlett finally came out of the store she told both of her children that they were all invited to Sunday dinner with Thomas and his family. Thomas wanted to introduce Scarlett to her O'Hara kin. She didn't like to acknowledge the family on her mother's side because they had never approved of Gerald and of her. Yes she helped to support her mother's sisters, but they lived in Charleston and she knew that she would never set foot in that town as long as Rhett was there, she didn't want to have to explain why she was no longer his wife. She found Thomas to be a friendly boisterous man just like her beloved Pa. She was perfectly happy in knowing that she was going to meet someone that knew her Pa before the war.

Before she knew it, Sunday arrived and Thomas was there at the hotel with his carriage to pick up his new O'Hara relatives. He was so excited about introducing Scarlett and the children to their cousins. He hadn't told everybody in his family that he was bringing Gerald's oldest daughter since he wanted to surprise them. The carriage pulled up to a two-story brick house adorned with two staircases on either side of the porch, it was rather quaint, and Scarlett immediately liked it because it looked like a home, not like her architectural disaster in Atlanta which she had to admit did look like a mausoleum. Thomas jumped down from his seat and handed Scarlett out then he assisted Ella, Wade jumped out on his own. As he walked up the staircase he turned around and put his finger up to his lips and whispered to his guests "Shh, I want to surprise the family." Scarlett looked up at him, stunned, "They don't know that we're coming!" He smiled back, "My wife does, but no one else."

"Oh my goodness I hope that they don't mind the intrusion," Scarlett whispered back.

"Nah, it'll be all right."

Scarlett held onto Ella's hand and whispered for her and Wade to be quiet. They stood silently behind Thomas and waited for him to open the front door. As the door swung open, Thomas called out in his boisterous voice, "I'm home!"

All of a sudden, Scarlett heard some squeals and giggles and a small herd of children came rushing to the door and quickly jumped at Thomas. "Daddy! Uncle!" came a chorus of voices. Then almost at the same time the young voices continued, "Who is that?"

"Now don't be rude children. This is Cousin Scarlett and her children, Wade and Ella. They are from your Great Uncle Gerald's family. You remember, I told you all about him. Now off with the lot of you."

Scarlett couldn't believe her eyes. She had thought that it was going to be a small family dinner, but instead she was greeted with a houseful of happy chatting people. There must have been at least thirty people crowded into the house, and Thomas introduced her to every single one of them, and she was related in some way to each and every one of them. She met his wife Margaret, but known as Maggie she then met his five children whose ages ranged from 20 to 8 years of age. There were his brother and sister and their respective families. She was sure that she would not remember them all. Thomas told her that it was just a fraction of all of the family after all they are Irish Catholics and it's a rule to have big families andthen he gave her a quick wink. Everywhere she turned there was someone to smile at her or give her a great big hug. She had never felt so loved and that was something that she needed at this time in her life. She learned that Thomas was the youngest son of Gerald's brother Andrew and that he still lived in Savannah and would be coming over to visit when Thomas's oldest brother comes over.

Wade and Ella were in awe at all of the family that they were meeting, they had no idea that they had such a warm, loving and very large extended family. Ella was happily playing and chatting with her new cousins while Wade stood by shyly and watched over her. Even though they were among family, Wade took it upon himself to make sure that Ella was safe and happy. They spent the rest of the afternoon and a good portion of the evening at the brick house and were very reluctant to leave because it was the most fun that they have ever had.

As they were getting ready to leave, there came a knock at the front door and as Thomas opened it, in walked a very tall man, with black wavy hair and even though it was neatly combed, dangling on his forehead was one long stray black lock, he was broad of shoulder and slim of waist and for one split second Scarlett was startled but then realized that it was not whom she first thought it was. Thomas quickly introduced them. "Liam Kelly, this is my dear cousin Scarlett Butler."

With a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face this handsome stranger bent over and kissed her hand "It's a pleasure to meet you …uh…Miss…Mrs…"

"Scarlett will do just fine," Scarlett quickly finished for him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Scarlett," Liam said while staring directly into her eyes.

For a brief moment Scarlett was taken in by his deep blue eyes and strong jaw with perfectly shaped lips, which was graced with a crooked smile and for a fleeting instant she thought of Rhett with his dark eyes and smirking mouth and how he had once looked at her. Swiftly she turned her face away and looked down as tears began to sting her eyes. She'd be damned if she let some stranger see her in a moment of weakness, so she blinked her eyes hard a few times to remove any tears then steeled herself to look up at him and smiled, "Are you another cousin?" she asked.

"Oh no, he's my wife's sister's husband's sister's son. So he is family in a round about way."

Scarlett had a confused look-as if she was trying to decipher how Liam was or was not related—"Well Mr. Kelly, it's a pleasure to meet you how ever it is we're related." She sweetly smiled. "Thomas, I thinks its best if me and the children get back to the hotel now."

Scarlett and her children made it a point to visit Thomas and his family at least twice each week while they were there in Savannah. It was so nice for her to be around people that did not disapprove of her and that actually loved her for who she was. Wade and Ella also took quite nicely to the family, so much so that they started to come out of their shells and showed that they each had a bit of O'Hara spunk. But as the season progressed, Scarlett knew that the time was coming when they would have to get back to Atlanta, so when she received a telegram from Henry Hamilton, she knew the time had come.

I hope you liked this chapter. Please tell me what you thought of it. =)