This story was inspired by the creativity of this fandom. And by a certain tall, dark and handsome gentleman who understands GWTW and its characters more than any man I've ever met.
If Thy Right Eye Offend Thee
It was on a lovely late morning during the autumn of 1874 that Rhett Butler once again committed the incredible. For during one of Rhett's visits purportedly designed merely to keep gossip at bay, Rhett instead casually dropped a bombshell. But a pleasant one, at that:
"Scarlett," said Rhett, "if you will have me back, I would like to return to our family."
Rhett and Scarlett were sitting on a bench inside a little park near the center of Atlanta. Following breakfast, Rhett had proposed that he and Scarlett take a short walk in order to take advantage of the fine weather, and Scarlett had readily agreed. However, after just a few short blocks, Rhett suggested to Scarlett that they take a bit of a break in order to sit and enjoy the scenery. Scarlett was incredulous that Rhett wanted to stop so soon.
"He couldn't possibly be tired already" Scarlett thought to herself. She would have found that impossible to believe. And in fact, Rhett had seemed…well…almost playful during breakfast. He had been most attentive to everything Wade and Ella had to tell him about what they had been doing over the last several months, and had even wryly commented in a manner worthy of the Rhett she hadn't seen for years when Scarlett opted for a second serving of ham. And now after a walk which wouldn't have tired her sister Suellen at her laziest, he already wanted to sit. Scarlett sighed, assuming that the purpose of this "walk" had really been to assure them some visibility as a couple for the benefit of the prying eyes of the Atlanta natives. With resignation, Scarlett sat, and immediately pretended to become engrossed in the wood grain pattern of the bench. There was simply no way she was going to let Rhett know how frustrating all of this was for her. Though Scarlett was still determined to win Rhett back, she had not, even after a year, decided on the best course of action in order to actually accomplish that goal. Begging was out of the question. She had considered following him to London or Charleston, two places she knew had had visited recently, but had quickly dismissed that notion as too pathetic. And a bit obvious, she had thought. So, instead, she had simply remained in Atlanta with Wade and Ella. Though she found life without Rhett to be difficult, she had kept herself occupied attending to her work, her children, and to herself.
But then, after just a minute or two of gazing about and saying nothing, Rhett staggered her with his unanticipated declaration, which had been delivered with no more affect than if he had been saying he preferred endive over watercress.
Scarlett's head snapped to the right. Staring at him, she stammered, "What? Did you just say what I think you just said?" She then realized her mouth was agape in what she assumed was a rather unattractive fashion, and so she closed it quite quickly.
Rhett smiled. "I'm fairly certain I just did," he replied.
"Oh," muttered Scarlett in a tiny voice. And for the moment, said nothing further. For a woman who typically had no problems speaking her mind, Scarlett could not speak at all, for her mind was busy calibrating itself to meaning of the words Rhett had just uttered. Rhett then broke the silence between them.
"Scarlett, do you have any response whatsoever to what I've just said?" Rhett inquired smoothly. "Yes, no, maybe, go to hell, anything at all?"
Scarlett exhaled, and gave a reply. "Yes," she said. But though she said "yes", she shook her head from side to side as if to instead say "no." Realizing the contradiction between her word and her action, Scarlett repeated herself. "Yes," she said again. "I would love to have you back. We would love to have you back."
Rhett answered evenly, "I'm glad to hear that. That is what I hoped you would say."
Once again Scarlett stared at Rhett, shaking her head. But now her mind was beginning to more fully grasp what had actually been said, and what it meant.
She felt the need to explain herself. "Rhett," Scarlett began, "you have to know, I've rehearsed this moment so many times in my head over this past year. I just didn't expect you to say this so soon, if you were ever going to say it at all. But, rest assured, my answer is most definitely 'yes'".
Rhett smiled again, and touched Scarlett's hand. "That's quite all right Scarlett. It's perfectly acceptable to have a measured reaction to something you weren't expecting. Sometimes a simple "yes" more than suffices."
"His hand still feels so warm," Scarlett thought. After permitting herself an additional moment or two of just enjoying the feel of his hand upon hers, Scarlett felt compelled to inquire: "Can I ask why? Why do you want to return to us? I thought that…" And then she stopped, thinking that perhaps she shouldn't have asked him his reason in the first place, and should have simply quit while she was ahead.
But, strangely enough, Rhett seemed to welcome her inquiry. He nodded his head, and answered: "Why? Because at this late stage of my career, I have absolutely no desire to turn into my Father. I cannot and will not allow that to happen."
"I'm not sure I understand," Scarlett admitted.
"Then allow me to explain," Rhett continued. "Scarlett, what right do I have to pluck anyone out? And yes, I am referring to you, but perhaps even more so, I am referring to Wade and Ella."
"Wade and Ella?"
"Yes. Scarlett, no matter what my reasons or aspirations were when I married you, when I did so, I also took on responsibility for Wade and Ella. And it's a responsibility that I simply cannot fulfill by returning only so often as to keep gossip down. And between the two of us, though we managed to make a mess of things, they have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to warrant being cast aside."
Rhett then paused.
"Being cast aside as your Father did to you," Scarlett interjected. "I think I understand what you mean."
"Yes, that's correct," Rhett nodded. "I may be forty-six Scarlett, but God help me if I become a bitter and punitive old man, yearning for a time long past the way he did. It would appear that my decent into dotage was a bit premature."
"Rhett?"
"Yes, Scarlett?"
"I don't think forty-six is all that old. My Father wasn't much younger than that when he married my Mother. And, until Mother died, he always seemed young-hearted to me."
"Well, Scarlett," Rhett said amusedly. "Thank you for saying so, my lovely young wife," adding emphasis to the word 'young'.
Scarlett laughed.
Rhett leaned towards her. "Scarlett, did I ever tell you about what I said to Wade the day Bonnie was born?"
"No, I don't think you did."
"Well, to say the very least, you were otherwise occupied at the moment, but on that day, I looked into Wade's eyes, and told him he was my son. I told him he was boy enough for me, and assured him that I didn't want another little boy because I already had him. If I turn my back on him now, I am no better than my Father. In fact, perhaps worse, because I have experienced what having your Father turn your back on you can do to you. And so, while it might be easier in the short term to simply walk away from the broken fragments that we made, I'd rather take the route that we seem to be taking now. It's one that I can live with, and one that I can be proud of. And no man who has taken on a wife and children can ever live utterly as he pleases."
"Broken fragments," Scarlett parroted, with some pain in her voice. She remembered the first time she had heard Rhett use that phrase. It was the night that Melly died, and her world had fallen apart. And then a look of inquisitiveness came into her eyes.
"Isn't that saying the same thing twice?"
"I'm not sure I'm following you," Rhett said, shaking his head.
"Well, Rhett, it's just that you always speak with such….", and Scarlett paused searching for exactly the right word to use to describe Rhett's utterly unique pattern of speech.
"Eloquence?" Rhett offered.
"Yes, Rhett", said Scarlett, smiling. "Eloquence. But what I mean to say is, if something is already a fragment, doesn't that already mean that it's been broken off from something else? Wouldn't saying 'fragments' by itself be sufficient?
With one eyebrow aloft, Rhett asked, "So, are you trying to suggest that I was being redundant?"
Scarlett did not want to admit that she did not know what that word meant. So, she hedged. "Perhaps I am. But, I'm also saying that you didn't have to add that extra word in."
"I see," said Rhett, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Why are you smiling?"
"No matter." Rhett cast his eyes downward. But then he looked up at her again.
"No, I'm wrong. It does matter. Scarlett, you were exactly right. The word 'redundant' means being needlessly repetitive."
"I didn't know that," replied Scarlett. "You know Rhett; you are more well-read than I am." Scarlett paused, and then smiled. "To be honest, most people are more well-read than I am. But you are more than welcome to teach me new things, if you are of a mind to. I sometimes like to learn new things."
Rhett glanced into Scarlett's eyes. He then nodded his head slightly and added with a twisty smile, "Scarlett, I may remind you that you said that sometime."
Scarlett responded blankly, "That's fine Rhett. I don't mind if you remind me." And then it occurred to her that Rhett might be ascribing a different meaning to those words, other than what was blatantly obvious. She looked into Rhett's dark eyes, and the way he was looking back at her confirmed her instincts.
"You can remind me anytime you like," Scarlett said shyly, a faint blush creeping into her cheeks.
Rhett took Scarlett's hand in his, and for several minutes, they just sat, while a comfortable silence descended upon them.
As the minutes went by, Scarlett began to feel an almost irresistible urge to ask him more. She wanted to ask him about the nature of his current feelings about her, and about them. But then Scarlett sighed heavily, and rejected the notion of doing so. For now, there was much more than bland indifference between them. They were talking, they were smiling…they were even flirting. And though Rhett did not seem besotted with love for her, he did seem, well...there was no other way of putting it. He seemed extremely fond of her. For now, Scarlett told herself, that would be enough.
But though she resisted the urge to ask Rhett any more about his feelings for her, she was not able to stifle her inquisitiveness concering a different subject.
"Rhett, you've told me how you feel about Wade. But what about Ella?"
Rhett's jaw clenched. He said nothing for a moment, and then began:
"Scarlett, I know, and I know this deep within my heart, that Ella is just a sweet little girl who needs both of us. And because Frank died so soon after she was born, I'm also aware that I'm the only Father she has ever really known. But, having said that, I will be honest enough to admit to you that I sometimes still have a difficult time looking at her, and not being able to see Bonnie alongside of her. But though I admit that to you, I also assure you that I will do everything within my power to make sure that Ella knows that I love her too."
When Rhett stopped speaking, he looked away from Scarlett, and coughed once. And then he looked downward. But even though his gaze was cast away from her, Scarlett could see that his dark eyes were misting. To someone who did not know him very well, they might not have noticed anything amiss with him at all. But Scarlett knew better.
Rhett had been correct the previous year when he had said that Scarlett wasn't very soothing. But that was a year ago. And as Scarlett observed Rhett carefully in the late morning sun, she knew that she wanted to do something to comfort him. She wanted to let him know that that she still recognized and shared his pain over the loss of Bonnie. But what would be the correct thing to do or say under their newly harmonious circumstances? And then it dawned on her. She knew exactly what she should do. It was a gesture that might go to his heart, more than any words she could possibly say. Scarlett let go of Rhett's hand, and reached into the pocket of her dress. She then extended her hand, and offered it to Rhett once again.
Inside of her hand was her handkerchief.
A/N: The quote "no man who has taken a wife and child can ever live utterly as he pleases" is taken from a letter by Margaret Mitchell to Edwin Granberry, dated July 8, 1936. The letter references the scene between Rhett and Wade where Rhett shows Wade the "war wound" on his stomach. MM goes on to express her belief that this scene was one of her favorites, and was "the turning point of the book, or at least of Rhett's character."