@@@@@When she put the coffee spoon down it 635
@@@@@When she put the
coffee spoon down it tapped against the soup spoonI wonder if
Maureen would teach me to play the spoons? The thought caught her
off
guardthat night she dreamed about her fatherShe woke in the
morning with a smile still on her lips, but her cheeks stiff with the
dried streaks of tearsAt the City Market she heard Maureen O'Hara's
distinctive gusty laughter just in time to dart behind one of the thick
brick piers and miss being seenBut she could see Maureen, and
Patricia, looking as big as a house, and a straggle of children behind
them"Your father's the only one of us not in a fever for your uncle
to arrive," she heard Maureen say"He's enjoying the special treats I
fix for supper every night in hopes of Colum I'd like a special
treat myself, Scarlett thought rebelliouslyI'm getting mighty tired
of food soft enough for GrandfatherShe turned on the cook"Get
some chicken, too," she ordered, "and fry up a couple of pieces for my
dinner Her bad mood cleared up long before dinner, howeverWhen
she got back to the house, there was a note from the Mother Superior
The Bishop was going to consider Scarlett's request to allow her to buy
back Carreen's dowryI'm going to get Tara!
So busy was her mind with planning Tara's rebirth that she didn't
notice the time passing at all, nor was she conscious of what was on
her plate at mealtimeShe could see it so clearly in her mind
The house, gleaming fresh white on top of the hill; the clipped lawn
green, so green, and thick with clover; the pasture, shimmering green
with its deep satiny grass bending before the breeze, unrolling like a
carpet down the hill and into the mysterious shadowy dark green of
the
pines that bordered the river and hid it from viewSpring with clouds
of tender dogwood blossoms and the heady scent of wisteria; then
summer, the crisp starched white curtains billowing from the open
windows, the thick sweetness of honeysuckle flowing through them
into
all the rooms, all restored to their dreaming, polished quiet
perfectionYes, summer was the bestThe long, lazy Georgia
summer
when twilight lasted for hours and lightning bugs signalled in the slow
thickening darknessThen the stars, fat and close in the velvet sky,
or a moon round and white, as white as the sleeping house it lit on the
dark, gently rising hillScarlett's eyes widenedThat
was it! Why hadn't she realized it before? Of courseSummer-when
she loved Tara most-summer was when Rhett couldn't go to Dunmore
Landing because of the fever
