Chapter 26: Picture Perfect

Scarlett sat on the front steps enjoying the fresh air after having put Bonnie to bed. She felt like screaming. Everyone was tip toeing around her and speaking to her as if the slightest misstep would send her into a fit of tears. Hadn't she proven that she was strong? Didn't they realize that she would never shed a tear in front of anyone?

Mammy and Melly watched over Bonnie so that Scarlett never heard a peep from the infant. Careen had added Rhett to the list of lost souls she spent every waking moment praying for. Even Suellen didn't dare say a harsh word to her sister.

They seemed afraid that she would be the next one to break down, that she might end up in the same state as Gerald and Scarlett was tiered of everyone thinking she was some weakling. Wasn't she the one who had made it back to Tara after Rhett left her? Hadn't she picked and planted cotton in hopes that the family would have enough to survive? Hadn't everyone looked to her for leadership? For strength? For salvation? Suddenly they thought she would break.

Simply because she spent most of her day in a daze didn't mean she couldn't run Tara. Just because she felt like her limbs weighed a hundred pounds and it was all she could do to get herself out of bed in the morning didn't mean that she couldn't be strong enough for all of them. Just because it hurt so badly whenever she remembered that Rhett wasn't coming home didn't mean that she couldn't get over it.

She returned to the fields because what else was there for her to do? She worshiped her little girl because what else did she have? She would save Tara from the tax collectors because where else did she have to go?

There was a cool breeze stirring up the familiar country air and she unbuttoned the top few buttons on her freshly dyed black dress. It was after eight and well past dark which made it startling when a closed carriage turned up the drive.

Her heart began to pound with dread. Would it be a tax collector? Someone Pork had been caught stealing from? Maybe a Yankee officer to arrest her for murder? Or an ex-Confederate officer finally coming to tell her about Rhett.

She stood and watched from the porch as the carriage came up the drive. Before it had even come to a stop the door swung open and a well dressed man jumped out. He stood at the base of the stairs and gazed up at her for a moment before saying with a wide grin, "I believe you're the most beautiful sight I've ever seen, Mrs. Butler."

Scarlet couldn't believe her eyes and for a moment she stood dazed almost ready to faint. "Rhett!" she squealed.

She was down the steps in an instant and threw herself into his arms. "Oh Rhett!" she buried her face in his clean suit jacket. Thrilled to have his arms around her again she suddenly jerked away and slapped him across the face, but couldn't keep from kissing him in the next instant.

He didn't flinch at her attack because he knew he deserved it and so much more. He kissed her feverishly, happy to have her back in his arms, to see her face, to smell her hair to have his Scarlett back.

"Where have you been?" she asked angrily. "They told me you'd died – oh Rhett, I'd thought I'd lost you."

He held her close and placed a comforting kiss in her hair. "Now who would tell you a tall tale like that?" He whispered, kissing her again, unable to stop himself from touching her. "That's the reason for the widow's weeds, I take it. Well thank goodness I brought you plenty of new dresses! I don't think I could stand another minute seeing my beautiful wife in these black rags."

"Dresses? Is that what took you so long to come home? You were buying dresses?" She pushed against him and looked up at him angrily, but did not leave the circle of his arms. "I can't believe you Rhett Butler! For weeks I've thought you were dead and you were buying dresses?"

"I could have been here three weeks ago, but I would have shown up covered in lice and in desperate need of a shower. I couldn't ruin your gallant vision of your husband returning from war, now could I?"

She shook her head, feeling suddenly faint. "I thought you were dead," was all she could manage.

Rhett studied his wife not recognizing the woman in front of him. He'd been certain that bringing trunks full of dresses, hair ribbons and bonnets would guarantee him forgiveness for leaving her at Rough and Ready, but this was not a reaction he was prepared for. This beautiful woman never ceased to amaze him. She didn't care that he'd brought her a fortune's worth of luxury items, only that they had kept him from her.

He ran a hand over her face and pulled her flush against him, "I'm so sorry darling. I never seem to be here when you need me most. I promise that will change. There's a wagon following a few minutes behind with supplies. You look like you could use a good meal," Rhett said looking her over.

She was terribly thin in a very unhealthy way that he felt as if he might break her with his enthusiastic touches. She looked so different with her tiny frame and pale skin. Her body had changed in ways that his hands noticed and he couldn't wait to explore more closely. He felt a flood of guilt when he realized how difficult things must have been on her since he'd left. It had taken a lot of time and money for him to locate quality food and it only took one glance at his wife to realize that Tara's provisions were in short supply.

"If you don't start being a more of a glutton, you'll be as skinny as the Yankee girls and then I shall divorce you," he baited her.

Scarlett opened her mouth to give a stinging retort, but was interrupted by Melly.

"Scarlett darling, who are you-" Melly asked as she came out the door. "Oh! Captain Butler! Thank the Lord! We'd been told you were killed!" Melly said coming down the stairs

"Mrs. O'Hara," Rhett said taking Melanie's hand and giving it a respectful kiss. "You're looking much better than the last time I saw you," he said, noticing her pale skin even in the poor light streaming through the front door and how her hand was cold and rough.

"I can't thank you enough Captain Butler for what you did that night."

Rhett smiled at her kindly while Scarlett gazed at him in amazement. It was just as she had pictured it; Rhett had come home and taken her into his arms and suddenly all her problems had disappeared. They would have food and money and she would never go hungry again! She was angry that he had taken his good old time getting there and put her though so much, but she had to admit as she watched the driver unload the trunks from the carriage that she couldn't wait to put on a clean dress. She was sure he'd brought her some of that silk lingerie she loved and Mammy could take apart a dress or two and make little gowns for Bonnie – Scarlett's heart almost stopped at the thought of her little daughter. Rhett's daughter that he knew nothing about. She felt the sting of disappointment when she realized that by delaying his return he'd missed Bonnie's birth. He could have been there when Scarlett had been crying out for him.

Rhett was greeted by the rest of the household as a true returning hero and they had positively worshiped him when the supply wagon appeared later that evening full of fresh meat, cloth, flour, sugar and every other luxury item they had been deprived of during the war.

Pansy and Mammy and the girls were busy in the kitchen whipping up a late dinner when Scarlett took Rhett's hand and rushed him upstairs. When she led him into her bedroom he pulled her into his arms, misunderstanding her purpose, and ran his fingers through her thick hair kissing her with passion that had been restrained for nearly a year.

She pulled away, gasping for air, "Rhett, look." She said leading him over to the wooden cradle at the foot of her bed. Inside lie a tiny baby sleeping peacefully, one hand curled into a fist next to its head.

"Is this Miss Melly's baby?" he asked caressing the back of the baby's tiny fist with one finger.

"No, Rhett," Scarlett whispered. "She's ours."

He turned to face her quickly in astonishment then looked back down at the tiny baby. "Ours? How?"

She giggled happily, waking the baby, "Honestly Rhett, do I have to explain the birds and the bees to you?"

"She's – she's so tiny."

Scarlett moved to pick up the tiny bundle and handed her to Rhett.

He stared down at her in amazement, a thousand questions racing through his mind. "Scarlett, she's perfect. What's her name?" The baby opened her eyes and peered up at her daddy groggily.

"Bonnie Blue Butler," Scarlett said with pride, admiring the perfect picture her husband and baby made. A picture she had once thought would only ever live in her mind. "Melly said her eyes were as blue as the Bonnie Blue Flag."

He chuckled deeply causing Bonnie to stare up at him with great interest. "I think she's wonderful. Scarlett – I had no idea," he looked at his wife in amazement and respect. "I never doubted that you could take care of yourself, but I never should have left you at Rough and Ready." He put a hand on the side of her face and brushed his thumb across her cheek. "I had no idea what you would come home to," he smiled at her proudly. "You're some woman."

Scarlett leaned into Rhett's embrace and took one of Bonnie's tiny hands into hers and looked down at the baby. "When I found out I was pregnant I was so angry at you," she said with a laugh. "But then when I was told you'd died -" she looked up at him with tears brimming in her eyes. "All I could think about was how I had a little piece of you still." She looked at Bonnie adoringly, "I was so upset when she came out as a girl. She looks nothing like you." Scarlett chuckled softly, "Oh, but Rhett -" she swallowed down the lump in her throat and stared up at him, "She gave me the courage to keep going when I thought I'd lost everything. The Yankees may have taken her daddy, but I'd be damned if they were going to take Tara away from her too."

"You never have to worry about that again Scarlett," he said placing a kiss on her lips. "I'm never going to leave you again."