"Just what on earth did you think you were doing, Carreen Benbow, bringing me out here in the middle of nowhere?" Scarlett complained.
"It's been six months since Rhett died, and in all that time, all you've done is mope around the house," Carreen replied. "A trip to New Orleans will do you a world of good."
"Well, we're never going to get to New Orleans with our buggy wheels stuck in the mud," Scarlett pointed out.
"Looks like you ladies could use some help." Scarlett and Carreen looked to see who had spoken. They saw a medium-height, stocky, middle-aged man with wisps of white hair framing his lined face and friendly blue eyes.
"Our buggy's stuck," Carreen told him, embarrassed to be pointing out the obvious.
"Well, now, I reckon I can help you out there."
"Scarlett, he can't push the buggy with you sitting in it!" Carreen whispered fiercely.
"Drat! I hate getting my petticoats dirty," Scarlett grumbled as she climbed down from the buggy.
Together, the three of them managed to somehow push the buggy back onto solid ground.
"Thank you so much, Mr..." Carreen began.
"Thibodeaux. Bertrand Thibodeaux," the man said pleasantly. "This here swamp's my home. I been livin' here all my life."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Thibodeaux," said Carreen. "I'm Carreen Benbow, and this is my sister, Scarlett Butler."
"Please, call me Bertrand." Bertrand peered curiously at Scarlett. "Cat got your tongue?"
Scarlett frowned darkly.
"My sister lost her dear husband just six months ago," Carreen explained.
"My condolences, ma'am." Bertrand bowed slightly to Scarlett. "Say, are you folks hungry? I got me a heap o' crawfish boiled, more than I could possibly eat myself, and it would be a real shame to let crawfish go to waste."
"Oh, no, we couldn't..." Carreen began.
"Oh, yes, we could," Scarlett said firmly.
"You won't regret it, I guar-on-tee," Bertrand told them.
In Georgia, Natalie Wilkes waited eagerly to hear from her new friend, Daniel Butler.
"He promised he'd write," she complained fretfully.
"Well, it hasn't really been that long," Melanie told her daughter. "Just be patient. I'm sure he'll write eventually."
Less than a week later, Natalie eagerly checked the mailbox and found that, sure enough, a letter had arrived for her. She saw the return address and whooped with joy.
"He wrote! He wrote!" she shouted enthusiastically, dashing back inside the house to tell her mother.
"You're doing fine," the midwife told Bonnie. "Just give me one more big push."
Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut and pushed with all her might. She felt something slide from her body and, a moment later, heard the wail of a newborn.
"It's a boy!" the midwife announced.
A son! Bonnie thought excitedly. Beau will be so pleased! She suddenly wanted to see her husband more than anything else in the world.
The baby was cleaned, weighed, measured, wrapped in a blanket, and placed in his mother's arms. Father would have been so happy, Bonnie thought as she looked down into her son's dark blue eyes. A single tear fell onto the blanket in which he was wrapped.
"He's beautiful." Bonnie turned to see Beau smiling down at his wife and son. "You did well, my love."
"I christen thee Rhett Ashley Wilkes," said the priest as he sprinkled water over the top of the baby's head. Beau and Bonnie had decided to name their son after both of their fathers.
After the christening was over, the priest smiled and handed baby Rhett to Bonnie.
"You're such a good boy," Bonnie cooed to her son.
"He hardly cried at all," Beau added.
"I think he's going to be a lot like you," Bonnie told her husband.
"I think he's got a bit of you in him as well," Beau observed with a smile as his son began to wave his arms and whimper hungrily.