"The course of true love never did run smooth."
– William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night' s Dream.
"Oh, please pull it tighter, Mammy! You know I need a seventeen-inch waist to fit into this gown."
"Alright, alright, hold still," Mammy instructed with a sigh and the girl sucked in her breath obediently as Mammy pulled with all her might.
When Mammy had succeeded in her task, she stepped back and suddenly felt nostalgic, as she remembered how another young girl with a seventeen-inch waist had also once begged Mammy to lace her stays tightly. Like mother, like daughter.
There was a knock on the door. "May I come in now?"
As Scarlett O'Hara Butler entered, her breath was momentarily taken away by the beautiful picture her daughter painted.
Fourteen-year-old Bonnie Blue Butler was tall, slender and mature beyond her years in a simple classic blue silk gown that hugged her curves and brought out the colour of her eyes.
Scarlett was surprised to find herself overwhelmed with a flood of unexpected emotions. It seemed like only yesterday that Bonnie had been a baby, napping peacefully in her bassinet or being rocked in Rhett's arms. Now she was a young woman who was getting ready for her debut ball.
"How do I look, Mother?" Bonnie asked, her eyes glowing with happiness, as she spun and did a twirl in her very first ball gown.
Scarlett smiled with genuine love as she reached out and smoothed an errant strand of Bonnie's silky black hair.
"Beautiful. Just beautiful," she assured her daughter and wrapped her arms around her.
Bonnie tolerated this for a few minutes but soon extricated herself from her mother's embrace to peer anxiously into her bedroom mirror.
"Oh, Mother! I'm as pale as a ghost! Won't you please lend me some of your rouge? All the other girls will be wearing it."
"All the other girls may need face paint but my Bonnie doesn't," Scarlett said firmly. "Because you are lovely enough without it." She carefully avoided looking at Mammy, who seemed to be hiding a smirk.
Bonnie pouted for a few seconds but seemed mollified by Scarlett's compliment. She returned to her reflection and continued primping until Pork announced that Mr Wilkes and Beau had arrived and were ready to escort Bonnie to the ball.
It was then that the beautiful confident young woman looked shy and less sure of herself. She turned to her mother, genuine anxiety in her eyes as she whispered, "Mother, I'm scared. What if I do something wrong and embarrass myself?"
Rhett caught the tail end of his daughter's panicked whisper as he entered. His eyes softened and he smiled as he drew her into a close embrace, one which Bonnie seemed a lot less reluctant to withdraw from.
"You will be the belle of the ball," he declared with confidence. "And mind that you tell Beau Wilkes that if he tries anything with my daughter, he will have to answer to me." He puffed up his chest and showed off his bicep to Bonnie, who giggled in delight and quickly forgot her embarrassment.
As Beau Wilkes offered Bonnie his arm and led her to the carriage where Ashley was waiting, Scarlett turned away and brushed tears from her eyes.
"What's wrong, my pet?" Rhett inquired in concern, noticing Scarlett's tears. "Is something wrong with the baby?"
"Oh, no, the baby is fine," Scarlett murmured but didn't elaborate as she sank onto their living room settee.
Rhett raised an eyebrow. "I once told you that I could tolerate anything from you besides a lie and this still holds true. What's the matter, honey?"
Scarlett looked up at her husband and sighed nostalgically. "Oh, Rhett, I was just thinking that it seems like only yesterday that Bonnie was being rocked in your arms as a newborn baby. And now she's going to her first ball. Time seems to have flown. Our princess has grown up so quickly."
Rhett threw back his head and laughed. "Is that all?"
"It's a very significant moment," Scarlett said defensively, miffed that Rhett didn't seem to be taking her feelings seriously.
Men! Would they ever understand just what mothers went through? It had been heartbreaking enough for her to say goodbye to Wade as he left for college and then to Ella, when she'd married one of the Tarleton nephews. And now she was saying farewell to the little girl who had always secretly remained her favourite child.
Rhett stopped laughing and looked sober, as he realised that Scarlett was in no mood for his humour.
"It's significant, certainly," he assured hastily. "I don't wish to debate that with you, at all. I am in complete agreement. But Scarlett, you are talking as though this was the end of our life as parents, when it is still very much only the beginning. Or have you forgotten this little one?"
He reached for her and drew her close, caressing her swollen belly lovingly. "Who knew that Scarlett O'Hara would turn out to have maternal instincts, after all?"
Scarlett swatted him playfully on the arm but contemplated what he had said. Yes, she decided. Rhett was right. It wasn't the end for them – it was only the beginning.
All the same, when Bonnie arrived home after her first ball, Scarlett was waiting for her daughter, eager to hear all about it.
"So how was it, darling? Did you dance with lots of beaux? Did they behave like gentlemen?"
"Yes and yes," Bonnie confirmed, a dazzling smile lighting up her lovely face. "Oh, Mother, I couldn't believe it – they were all fighting for the right to dance with me!"
Scarlett bent her head to hide a smile, remembering her own days as the belle of the county and feeling almost proud that her daughter seemed to be following in her footsteps.
"But they did behave like gentlemen," Bonnie added hastily, as though afraid Scarlett might pounce if she ignored that question.
"I'm glad to hear it," Scarlett replied, her fears of what might have gone wrong during the ball alleviated at last.
"And...did you meet anyone special?"
Scarlett asked this question with apprehension, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
Bonnie bit her lip and hesitated. "I don't know. Oh, Mother, how do you ever really know? Do you believe in love at first sight? Is that how it happened with Daddy?"
This was not what Scarlett had been expecting to hear. She was flustered by her daughter's barrage of questions and wished she had not prompted them in the first place.
"Love at first sight? Oh, well..."
"And when did you first meet?" Bonnie demanded enthusiastically.
"We met at a barbecue at Twelve Oaks. I was sixteen at the time..."
"Was this the pre-ball barbecue when Uncle Ashley and Aunty Melly announced their engagement?"
Scarlett smiled a bittersweet smile as she reflected upon that day. "Yes, darling. That was the one."
"Oh, I can picture it now," Bonnie breathed rapturously as she closed her eyes. "You and Daddy's eyes meeting across the room and sparks flying. Him looking at you and you knowing that you would love him forever."
"Well..."
Scarlett wasn't quite sure how to tell her fanciful daughter that that wasn't what had really happened at all.
How could she explain that she had considered herself in love with Ashley Wilkes, decided to entice him into breaking off his engagement, imagined eloping with him and thrown a china bowl at his head, all before she'd had her first conversation with Rhett? How she could tell Bonnie that she had married two men that she didn't love, borne their children and did her best to freeze out the one person who truly understood her? How she could talk about how she had brutally rejected Rhett's love over and over, until he had finally claimed his love had worn out? How could she elaborate on how she had worked to win him back, finally chasing him to Charleston and making him admit his feelings for her? How?
"Well, there are my girls," Rhett said with a pleased smile as he came in and kissed his wife and daughter. His brow furrowed as he saw the earnest expression on Bonnie's face and the terrified expression on Scarlett's.
"What have I missed out on?"
"Oh, Daddy, you're just in time!" Bonnie said excitedly. "Mother was about to tell me about how you met and fell in love." She frowned. "Only I think Mother must have forgotten some details. So maybe you could tell me!"
Rhett's eyebrows shot up quizzically and he turned to Scarlett, who shot him a pleading look out of the corner of her eye. He shot an amused grin back.
"Well, Bonnie Blue, it is a very interesting story," he said slowly, pulling a cigar out of his shirt pocket and lighting it.
"Good because that's what I want to hear," Bonnie answered, leaning back on Scarlett's pillows and gazing at her father.
For a moment, it was as though they had moved through time and returned to the past – with two parents watching over a precious and much-loved child who lay in their bed.
"The story," Bonnie pressed, as Rhett paused and smoked, thinking.
"What has your mother told you so far?"
"Only that you met at Twelve Oaks, around the time that Aunty Melly and Uncle Ashley got engaged."
"Well, that's the gist of it, really," Scarlett said quickly, wanting to wrap up the conversation. "Shall I help you undress, Bonnie?"
Bonnie's black brows slanted and even though she looked so elegant and was so beautifully dressed, she briefly resembled Gerald O'Hara about to lose his temper.
"No, Mother. I want to hear the story."
Rhett sighed and put out his cigar. He leaned closer to the bed and stroked his daughter's silky hair tenderly.
"I was never the type to believe in love at first sight, Bonnie. But one glance at your mother and I was instantly enraptured. She won't admit it now but she was carried away by my charms too. We had to overcome many obstacles before we could eventually be together. But I never truly stopped loving your mother through any of them. I can safely tell you that we have the relationship and romance that every person dreams of. If your love story is one-tenth as good as your mother's and mine, I'll be happy."
Bonnie's eyes sparkled upon hearing her father's declaration.
"That's what I want one day," she whispered softly. She looked at Scarlett. "I want someone to love me the same way that Daddy loves you."
"And you will, Princess. You will," Scarlett promised.
Alone at last in their room that night, Scarlett tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Rhett finally groaned, sat up and switched on the lamp.
"I feel as though an elephant is tap dancing in our bed," he complained. "What's wrong, Scarlett? Is the baby making you feel uncomfortable?"
"No, again, it's not the baby," Scarlett sighed. "It's the mixed-up mother, that's what."
Rhett patiently waited for her to continue.
"Why did you have to tell Bonnie all those lies, Rhett?" she burst out finally. "You made our relationship sound so perfect. It's not! We didn't fall in love at first sight. I didn't know I loved you for years! I married two other men before I even considered you! Is this like when you lied to Wade about your goldfield scar being a wound from the Confederacy? Do you only say things to please other people?"
The grip on her arm was strong. The voice was calm.
"My pet, surely you of all people should know that I rarely say things to please others."
"Well, then why did you say it, Rhett? I didn't want to tell her about Ashley and Charles and Frank..but...God's nightgown! Maybe I should have. Maybe then I wouldn't feel so guilty. Our daughter thinks we have the perfect love story...but that's not true at all!"
Rhett wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close as she sobbed against his shoulder.
"It wasn't a lie, Scarlett, nor was it told strictly for the purpose of pleasing Bonnie. Darling, did you not even consider that I was telling the truth?"
The truth?
"No matter what you think, I did fall in love with you that day at Twelve Oaks, Scarlett. I'll admit that I first dismissed as you as another pretty coquette but you mustn't forget that was also the day that I saw the type of person that you were. Brave, strong, spirited, unafraid of standing up for herself. I had never met someone like you before and to this day, I never have.
Throughout the war, I never stopped thinking about you. Wondering where you were, if you were alright, if you ever gave me a second thought.
Oh, I will admit that I tried to forget you. Several times, in fact, and with several other women. But truth be told, it was a redundant task for I never managed to wipe you out of my mind.
I loved you, Scarlett O'Hara, from our first auspicious encounter at Twelve Oaks , as a courageous unique beauty and I love you, Scarlett Butler, as my wife and the mother of my children."
He smiled. "Love isn't all rose petals and sunshine, Scarlett. You have to go through difficulties before you can get the fairytale ending. But we survived those, darling.
I didn't tell our daughter any lies. I truly believe what you and I have is something special."
Contemplating Rhett's words, Scarlett felt her lips curve into a smile. Yes, Rhett was right, as he almost always was.
For a long time, she'd envisioned the course of true love as being smooth and perfect, without any complications or difficulties. This was why she had never truly grasped the beauty of her relationship with Rhett. When they both came with so much emotional baggage and scars, how could they possibly have the kind of relationship that other people envied and strove for?
But perhaps the absence of complications and difficulties wasn't the foundation for true romance. Perhaps, just perhaps – the best kind of love story was rife with hardship and calamities but featured two people who were willing to overcome it all...together.
Author's Note – I know that many readers are waiting for me to update The Tables Are Turned but I couldn't resist writing a 'love story' for Valentine's Day. =)
This may be a oneshot, but I would still like to know what you thought of it. It feels a bit strange for me to be writing mushy Rhett and Scarlett when they've been behaving like stubborn mules in The Tables Are Turned. Please review and share your thoughts!