The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew Scarlett to her bedroom door. She recognized Mammy's heavy, thudding tread. The whisper of lighter feet was an accompanying echo, another layer of sound and not a distinct step. It was familiar, somehow; which meant it couldn't be any of the guests who filled her parlor.
All those guests! How would she face them in the morning if Rhett made a scene? She would have to talk to him again tonight - he had to see sense. He had to face reality! Bonnie was gone, and she knew it just as cruelly as he did. Her precious, vivacious little girl.
Scarlett pressed her fist against her teeth to stifle a sob. Rhett was just being ridiculous. The dark couldn't bother her brave, dead Bonnie now. The sooner her body was out of this house -
She had hardly slept since Bonnie's death. In her dreams, she leaned over Bonnie's small bed in Rhett's room, smoothing the black curls back from her pale face. And the skin would come away beneath her hand, sloughing off her daughter's face until it was nothing but a skull, and she would scream and pull her close and find herself holding a skeleton.
Bonnie's spirit was gone, and they had to face this loss. They had to bury their daughter. She would just have to make him see sense!
Scarlett cracked open the heavy door, the well-hung hinges making no sound in the still and silent house. To her shock, she heard Melly's quiet voice. "Please let me in, Captain Butler. It's Mrs. Wilkes. I want to see Bonnie." She pushed the door open wider to see Rhett's heavy, unmistakable arm pull Melanie Wilkes into his bedroom. Melly! Whatever would she be doing here? Why would Melanie be going in to Rhett's room? This wasn't any of her business - it was no one's business but Scarlett's and her husband's. Oh, how embarrassing! For Melly of all people to know what a fool Rhett was being, and how Scarlett had failed to bring him to any sort of reason.
This could not, would not be tolerated. The hot rage that had kept her going since Bonnie's death, whose obliterating fire had burned away her grief and given her strength, flared again. Her blood ran hot and she threw open her bedroom door.
Mammy was seated in the hallway. With an agility belied by her ponderous form, she sprung up when she saw Scarlett rushing over with her black skirts rustling madly about her legs like a flock of crows. Blinded by anger, Scarlett smacked away the appeasing hands carelessly and threw open Rhett's bedroom door, stormed into his room, and slammed it again behind her.
At the noisy intrusion, two dark heads turned her way. Melly's face was pale except for two hot coins of color high in her cheeks. Rhett's eyes were bloodshot and sunken. There was something in them she didn't understand, something more than his grief and hurt and loss over Bonnie. It was the look of a wounded animal facing the hunter who has shot it, knowing and fearing and welcoming the death blow to come.
"Scarlett -" began Melanie, in a strained, soothing voice.
"My very own angel of mercy," said Rhett, watching Scarlett.
"Melly," Scarlett said, tearing her gaze with effort from Rhett's compellingly desolate eyes. "Why have you come? You shouldn't be here."
"Scarlett, darling," began Melanie again. "I only came because - you see, Mammy was worried -" Melanie's voice trailed off but her eyes cast themselves to Rhett, tellingly.
Rhett, who had seated himself on the edge of the bed when Melly had arrived, moved now to kneel again beside Bonnie's small bed, turning his back on the women. He covered one of her tiny hands with his own, and stroked the disheveled curls from her forehead with his other hand.
Scarlett scoffed, looking at her husband with a hard glitter in her eyes. "Worried about Rhett? Don't waste your time. Why is everybody worried about Rhett?" Her voice was rising shrilly. "No one worries about me! No one cares that I lost my daughter, too. And he -" Melanie had reached for Scarlett, to pull her close, to comfort her, but Scarlett dodged her and moved to face Rhett over Bonnie's bed. She gripped the headboard tightly with one hand, her knuckles white, and leaned forward until she was but inches from his face.
"You killed her," she said, low and menacing, but her voice rose quickly again. "You killed my baby, and now you are determined to shame us all, carrying on like this, keeping her in here - now everyone knows she slept with you - your mother! Your mother to whom you never even introduced me knows - and she was here in my house while you ran off to Belle Watling - "
Melanie was horrified. Her small hand fluttered at her throat and she could hardly breathe for the shame at being a witness to something so private. She loved Scarlett dearly, more than anyone else in the world - but to hear her take on like this against Captain Butler! Scarlett had always been so spirited - but no woman should talk like this, no wife should say such things to her husband.
Rhett's dark head stayed bent over the bed. A slight tremor ran along his shoulders. His voice was chilling. "Belle has more heart than you've ever had. She knows what it's like to love a child. You've never loved anyone but yourself. And -"
"You killed her," Scarlett spat, and the words were becoming a mantra. When she flung those words at him, she was pressing Bonnie's death from herself. Accusing Rhett pushed her own grief aside for anger, let her set the pain away as there was only room for this burning rage. "I did love her. What would you know about love? You are just a beast - a low, common beast living in dirt, and you had to drag Bonnie down with you! You should be ashamed, you murderer. And now you're bringing that shame on me -"
Melanie wanted to press her hands to her ears. Never in her life had she heard such harsh things. The whole scene now seemed unreal, and certainly incomprehensible; the darkened room, Bonnie's still form, Scarlett's pale and angry face, Rhett's taut, crouching body. There was an animal ferocity in this room that frightened her terribly. To hear Scarlett say such things! Dear, dear Scarlett, the sister of her heart, who had been so utterly caring and self-sacrificing with the difficult birth of her own son and the hard times at Tara - surely this couldn't be that same selfless woman here now. She was ashamed and embarrassed to have intruded on such a private time, unbearably hurt by the things being said, too stunned and frightened to leave.
Rhett's shoulders began to shake, the small tremor rippling and growing until they heaved with sobs. He made no sound. Scarlett was unmoved. Her mouth was white with strain as she continued to hurl insults and accusations at her husband.
Melanie could no longer bear it. How could two people who loved each other, as much as she knew these two people to love each other, hurt each other so? Except in a grief so rapacious that it consumed their very souls and demanded release in vicious rage. She knew they couldn't mean it, none of it, for in Melanie's world these bitter words could never be true, such base sentiments could scarcely be imagined.
"Scarlett!" Melanie suddenly cried out. "Scarlett, darling," she said as she hurried to Scarlett's side and wrapped her thin arms around her sister's tense shoulders. "You must not say such things! Dearest, you are in pain - I know - you grieve - but you must not say such things to Captain Butler. You know you don't mean them."
Scarlett trembled like a leaf in Melanie's arms.
"She means them," said Rhett.
"Oh, no, Captain Butler!" cried Melanie. "You know she doesn't - surely -"
Rhett raised his head, and his eyes glittered strangely in the dim light. "Scarlett means every word she says. And she is right. I ki - I killed my daughter."
Scarlett sagged in Melanie's arms. Melanie had not the strength to hold her as Scarlett's knees folded, until she was crouched beside Bonnie's still bed. Her face was turned toward Rhett but her eyes were wide and unseeing. The animating rage had left her, suddenly, with a forceful rush that left her feeling momentarily empty. It was a blessed, still moment, before the pain she knew would come rushing in, inevitably, without the rage to hold it at bay.
"Our daughter," she whispered.
Rhett's jaw twitched as his teeth clenched. "Yes! God damn you, Scarlett, your daughter, I killed your daughter. I'm a damn murderer as you so rightly said -" As he spoke, Rhett leaned over the bed, leaned over Bonnie's body until his face was inches from Scarlett's. Her clear green eyes looked right through him, and she didn't even flinch.
"Captain Butler!" Melanie cried again, and she sank to her own knees next to Scarlett and reached out to place her hands against his shoulders. Rhett moved back quickly. He covered Bonnie's small hand nearest him with both of his own, and dropped his head on his hands.
Melanie turned back to Scarlett, afraid now of the dead look in her face.
"Scarlett, dearest?" she whispered, touching her cheek softly. Scarlett turned and her eyes came to focus, slowly, on Melanie's own. "Scarlett," Melanie whispered again, "you must stop saying such things. Captain Butler is your husband. He is the father of this dear child, your child. You must - you must go to him, and succor each other in your grief." The color rose steadily in Melanie's cheeks, a bright blush showing her embarrassment to be speaking of such things, even to her own sister-in-law, but especially in the company of Captain Butler himself. But, for as much as she loved Scarlett, she knew her to struggle with blindness when it came to the thoughts and feelings of others. It was obvious to her that Scarlett needed help and guidance now, before she burned the only bridge that could lead her out of her grief.
Melanie pressed her cheek to Scarlett's so she might speak even more softly and not be overheard. "Scarlett, only with your husband will you find comfort for your loss. A child creates a bond - an unbreakable bond between two people. No one else can understand, no, not even I who loves you dearly. No one else can heal you."
Scarlett wanted to cry out. She wanted to push Melanie away, silly, cloying Melly, who was weak and coddled and couldn't understand. But without anger to distract her, to power her, other feelings had swept through her. She was aware of the gnawing, throbbing feeling of grief that ballooned in her chest and left her feeling bleak and empty. Melly was wrong. No one, least of all Rhett, could shine any light in this black world. Melly didn't know that Rhett didn't care about her. Bonnie had been all she had left to show from a time when maybe he had cared, and now Bonnie was gone, and so was her other baby, and there was nothing left in the world but this aching, empty space in her own heart.
Scarlett sat, too stunned to move, as Melanie pulled back and kissed her cheek, the contact making her aware of her own tears streaming freely. She heard Melanie whisper in her ear as if through a thick layer of cotton, "Be kind to Captain Butler, Scarlett. He loves you so." Melanie squeezed her hand gently and gave her a sad yet reassuring smile before she rose to her feet and left the room.
Shutting Rhett's bedroom door behind her, Melanie leaned back against it and pressed a hand to her throat. Her face was pink with embarrassment at having been so forward. Scarlett was her dearest friend, her beloved sister-in-law, but to have said such things - and to have witnessed such a scene - with a man! Especially a man such as Captain Butler. Only her own heartbreak for Scarlett's loss had given her the strength to come through that.
Mammy shuffled forward out of the darkness.
"Miss Melly?"
"Oh - Mammy."
"Dey - dey ain' kilt each other?"
An hysterical giggle bubbled out of Melanie's throat. The strain of the evening fell away from her somewhat, and the tightness in her back loosened. Her shoulders drooped.
"No, Mammy. Of course not. Please - please bring up a pot of coffee, and some sandwiches. Captain Butler hasn't eaten and it will do him good. You can leave it outside the door until he's ready for it."
"Yas'm, Miss Melly."
Melanie sighed and stood straight again. "I should be getting home. Thank you, Mammy, for coming to get me. I hope - I only hope it does some good."
"Lil' Miss? Iz he gwine let us buhy her?"
Melanie's heart sank. She had completely forgotten about that problem in the strain of the moment.
"I don't know, Mammy. I believe that might be in God's hands now. Say a prayer, tonight, for Bonnie, and Scarlett, and Captain Butler, will you? I do believe they need all our prayers."
After such a night, it was a small thing to express such a sentiment. Yes, the Butlers needed all her prayers, and Mammy's, and more besides. She could only hope she and Mammy would be enough.
A/N
I am listening to the audiobook for the first time, and I have been rereading (and rereading) the last chapters of GWTW, really trying to absorb the state of Scarlett and Rhett's characters because I am working on my own post-novel story (doesn't everyone have to tackle that at least once?). I just got through Melanie's passionate defense of Scarlett to the sewing circle after she married Rhett in the audiobook; and I just got through Bonnie's death in print. Juxtaposing these two events left me with some pretty strong feelings. The note I wrote to myself when I had this idea says, "F*** this shit. We know Melly can fight when called for. She needs to take Scarlett to task after Bonnie's death." There might be a second piece to this at some point. I'd like to bring Rhett and Scarlett just a little bit closer, if they will cooperate. I don't think this really gets them anywhere, I just wanted someone to step in when she was so out of line. But maybe, with Melanie putting the thought of Rhett's love before Scarlett just a little bit sooner, their course could change.