This is my first attempt at a fan fiction. Gone with the wind is one of my favorite books. This is my version of what I think happened after the night that Rhett left Scarlett. I'm not quite sure if I like this story but here goes nothing.
I don't own any of the characters in this story they belong to Margaret Mitchell.
A Second WindStarting Over
Scarlett lay on the stairs for hours after Rhett had left. All she could think was she wanted to go home. She laid there as servants moved around downstairs. They saw Scarlett laying on the stairs they were too afraid of her sharp tongue to ask if she was all right. Mammy was the only one who could approach Scarlett and she was at Tara. She was sent there with Wade and Ella not long after Bonnie's death.
It was well into the night when Scarlett climbed the red-carpeted stairs to go to her room. When she reached the top of the staircase she looked down at them. Memories came flooding back to her. The one night when Rhett had carried her up these stairs and into her room…that was the night she conceived… "These are also the stairs that took that baby away from Rhett and I" Scarlett muttered to herself as she gripped the banister. In barely a whisper and with tear stained cheeks she said, "then I lost Bonnie and now I've lost Melly and Rhett." Scarlett crept down the dark cool hall and into her room. She climbed into her bed still wearing her dress and exhaustion took over and she fell asleep.
Scarlett didn't leave the safety of her home until Melly's funeral. If she needed something from town the servants went for her. She didn't even make trips to the store. Scarlett was building a wall around her and the rest of the people in Atlanta. She knew they were already talking about how she would be going after Ashley now that Melanie was out of the picture. The day of Melanie's funeral was a gloomy day. Scarlett ordered the servants to bring the carriage around as she took one last glimpse in the mirror. She thought to herself I'm so pale. I still haven't gotten any color back. Or maybe it is because of all the black I've had to wear. At that thought Scarlett scalded herself "how could I think such a thing! I lost my Bonnie and my best friend I should have to wear black the rest of my life." With that Scarlett walked out of her room. At the front door she met with her servants.
"You have had my bags sent to the station?" Scarlett inquired.
"Yes ma'am"
"After the funeral I'm going straight to the station. I don't know when I'll return (or if she thought to herself). You are to keep up the house, and I would like you to help out at the Wilkes' home as well. Oh and Maggie I will met you at the station." Scarlett said to the staff with some authority. Maggie was Scarlett's personal servant. As Scarlett was walking out the door she turned and said, "if Rhett asks where I am tell him I went home." Then she turned around and walked out.
The ride to the graveyard seemed to take forever. It had started to rain the klop; klop of the horses' hooves was now more of a sp-klop, sp-klop. It seemed to Scarlett that everyone in Atlanta was here for Melly's funeral to show their respect for her. "Everyone really did love her," she said as she stepped out of the carriage and right into a puddle. But she paid no attention to that as she walked up to the funeral proceedings. She meant to stay towards the back of the crowd as to keep down on the gossip. But Scarlett couldn't do that after all Melly was her best friend, more than that they were sisters, and she did promise to take care of Ashley. So Scarlett marched through the crowd, and as she did the people started to whisper among themselves, but that didn't stop her. She didn't stop until she was right between India Wilkes and Ashley. The look India gave Scarlett could have turned anyone into stone, but Scarlett paid her no heed. She stood there as quiet as a mouse and didn't move. The rain had stopped by the time they were lowering Melly into the ground. It was as if Melly was telling them all that everything will be fine. Scarlett glanced at the shell of a man that stood beside her. He was so pale even Scarlett looked fairly tan compared to him. He was so thin and his blue eyes seemed so pale to Scarlett. In his eyes she could see so much hurt. He had lost his one true love. She was his strength Scarlett could finally see this now. As people started to leave they paid their respects to Aunt Pity, India, and Ashley. However Ashley didn't move he just looked down to where the body of his wife lay.
Scarlett knew she had to go but before she did she had to speak with Ashley. "Ashley," she spoke quietly to him. "I'm so sorry she was a great woman, but you know that. We are going to miss her. You have to be strong now, for yourself and for Beau. Oh Ashley, I'm leaving for Tara. I'm going home. Be strong Ashley and take care of Beau." Then Scarlett did something that the folks of Atlanta would be talking about for weeks after she was gone. She hugged Ashley right there in front of everyone. "Good-bye" she whispered, and she walked away. Ashley turned back around to face his wife's grave and he stood there until late in the afternoon. He would of stayed there all night but India dragged him away.
As Scarlett walked back to her carriage she looked in the direction of Bonnie's grave. New tears filled her eyes. "Bonnie" she whispered and she got into her carriage. She wanted to visit Bonnie's grave but she knew if she did she would never make her train.
At the train station people were coming and going. Scarlett found a seat and sat down and closed her eyes. Maggie was somewhere in the back Scarlett wasn't worried about where. As the train pulled out Scarlett's heart sank. She was leaving her Peachtree Street house, the home she made with Rhett, the home Bonnie was born in, the house she lost Bonnie, and the house that Rhett walked out on her in. She was leaving it all but for how long she wasn't sure. As the train moved onward she thought: this is a new beginning for me. I can start over and the first thing is to get Rhett back! Her eyes opened and her green eyes sparkled for the first time in months.