@@@@@So small and so perfect and so helplessLook
@@@@@So small and so perfect and so helplessLook at
the skin, like rose petals, like cream-no, she's browner than cream,
the rose is only a hint of roseShe looks sun-browned, like She looks exactly like Rhett! Rhett! Why aren't you
here to see your baby? Your beautiful dark babyMy beautiful dark
babyScarlett felt a strange and frightening
weakness, a warmth that washed through her body like a strong, low,
enveloping wave of painless burningThe baby opened her eyes
They
stared directly into Scarlett'sAnd Scarlett felt loveWithout
conditions, without demands, without reasons, without questions,
without bounds, without reserve, without self"Hey, little baby," she
said"Now drink your medicine," said ColumThe tiny dark face was
gone"No!
No, I want my babyWhere is she?" "You'll have her next time you
wake upOpen your mouth, Scarlett darling
"I won't," she tried to say, but the drops were on her tongue, and in a
moment the darkness closed over herShe slept, smiling, a glow of
life under her deathly palenessPerhaps it was because the baby
looked like Rhett; perhaps it was because Scarlett always valued most
what she fought hardest for; or perhaps it was because she'd had so
many months with the Irish, who adored childrenMore likely it was
one of úthe wonders that life gives for no cause at allWhatever the
origin, pure consuming love had come to Scarlett O'Hara after a
lifetime of emptiness, not knowing what she lackedScarlett refused
to take any more pain-killerThe long red scar on her body was like a
streak of white-hot steel, but it was forgotten in the overwhelming joy
she felt whenever she touched her baby or even looked at her"Send
her away!" Scarlett said when the healthy young wet nurse was
brought
in"Time after time I had to bind my breasts and suffer agonies while
the milk dried up, all to be a lady and keep my fi