Scarlett stared out at the briliantly orange sun setting over the rich, red Georgia hills without seeing any of it. She simply rocked back and forth in her oversized rocking chair on the porch of Tara, lost in her thoughts. Her hair had grayed and her once-hypnotizing face had sagged with wrinkles. Her fiery green eyes had slowly dulled and lost their spark.
Wade and Ella had long since left her here at Tara, preferring the energy of Atlanta to the lazy sophistication of the countryside. Scarlett had gone back and forth for a long time, but had ended up here, where she had started. Each of her children had a family of their own, and they only gathered at Tara for holidays. Rhett had been right. Her grandchildren, who simply called her Grandmother Scarlett not knowing which of her many last names to use, idolized her in a way her children never had. They loved her accounts of the gritty days of the war, while their parents grimaced and shot her glares. She saw them, but she didn't care. None of that mattered now. She lived full-time at Tara with Will and Suellen, whose children had also cleared out. Scarlett couldn't blame them for wanting to be as far away from their mother as possible. She had tried several times herself to entice Suellen to leave Tara, to visit Atlanta or their relatives on the coast, but she had never succeeded. She had grown used to Suellen after a time; there were so many more important things to think about than any annoyance caused by Suellen.
She closed her eyes and inhaled the earthy, raw scent of Tara, the one place that gave her enough strength to go on. She wondered for the millionth time, and last she told herself again firmly, what she could have done. Where she could have prevented things from falling apart. She had made terrible mistakes, and her first was clinging to Ashley. If only she had let him go, and had kept enough sense not to marry Charles Hamilton! But no, that wouldn't fix anything. If she hadn't married Charlie, then she wouldn't have ever gone to Atlanta and would never have really known Melly. If she had never gone to Atlanta, she never would have befriended Rhett. Then surely things would have been fixed if she had never married Frank Kennedy. But then she would have lost Tara because of the ridiculous taxes. If only she hadn't been so stupid! If only she could have realized that Ashley loved Melly and moved on, and told Rhett that she loved him before Bonnie died. If only Bonnie hadn't died. She opened her eyes and gazed over her land, taking in another deep breath. She had been so stupid, so foolish, so naïve, so wrong. Ashley had never loved her, and she had never loved Ashley. She loved Rhett. And she had tried; oh she had tried so hard to get him back. She had been rejected again and again, each time a painful slash to her heart, draining the life out of her bit by bit. But it was too late now. Because Rhett died last week. She had found out in a letter from his sister, explicitly telling her not to come to the funeral. The letter hadn't ended up making any difference; Scarlett hadn't received it until after the funeral. She was sure the gossip was buzzing in both Atlanta and Charleston, but she didn't care. None of that mattered now. She was alone, dreadfully, entirely alone. She felt the breeze drift over her face and took yet another deep breath. She didn't have the strength that she had had when she was younger, and this blow broke her. Scarlett's only purpose for the past few decades had been to get Rhett back. Now he was gone. What would she do now? How would she fill her days? She didn't know, and honestly, she didn't care. The past few days, she had been lying in bed, trying to sleep but being flooded with memories. She might catch a few minutes of slumber here or there, but she would unfailingly awake from her nightmare shrieking for Rhett. She didn't eat. When she wasn't in bed she was here, in her rocking chair, wishing to change the past.
Author's Note: After I read Gone with the Wind, I tried to convince myself that Scarlett and Rhett would get back together, but I felt like I was kidding myself, and I couldn't get this sort of ending out of my head. This is my first Gone with the Wind fanfic, so please tell me what you think! I'm sure there's room for improvement, so any constructive criticism is welcome. Or if you loved it and thought it was perfect, I mean, you can tell me that too, I don't mind…
Disclaimer: I don't own Gone with the Wind. It'd be pretty awesome if I did though, since it's five times as old as me.