I'm not totally finished with this chapter but I wanted to at least post some of it for you guys. It's hard to believe that I have been working on this for so long. I can't begin to express how much I love your comments and feedback on my modern adaptation of Scarlett. I wish you all the very best this Christmas and new year! And send me some comments! I live for them !
"Damn, lady. This is a really nice car."
Scarlett watched as the young boy ran his hand along the side of her silver Bentley. Back when she was driving her old, beat up Toyota, she would say that luxury cars were a waste of money. Even when she and Frank began doing well with the store and the lumber business and she bought herself a shiny new Lexus, she deemed the people who sauntered their Porches and Lamborghini's along the roads of Atlanta as compensating for something. Why would anyone spend over 100,00.00 on a car? Now, millions of dollars later, she couldn't imagine driving anything else than her Bentley Mulsanne. It was like your first time tasting caviar or French champagne and wondering how on earth you ever lived without it.
She eyed the boy suspiciously as she shuffled Cat quickly out of the car and grabbed the bag of groceries she brought with her. The Old Fourth Ward was becoming a nexus for trendy shops and bars, but it was a far cry from her home in Buckhead. Whenever she visited Archie she drove one of the other, less-expensive, cars. Mercedes and BMWs were safe here. A car that that cost over a quarter of a million dollars was not. She made a show of pushing the button on her ignition remote to signal a loud BEEP that she hoped indicated that the car was locked and protected by an expensive alarm system.
She didn't bother using the buzzer and pushed in the code to enter the old warehouse that was re purposed as senior living apartment building. Cat went in first and let the door slam shut behind her causing Scarlett to shift the bag she was holding under her forearm and tried to maneuver her hand in a way that would allow her to punch in the code again and open the door at the same time. She'd have to address the common curtesy of holding the door open for the person entering a building directly following you with Cat later. The doorman, Seamus, saw her struggle and pushed open the heavy glass door for her. "Thanks, Seamus", she said in a huff of exasperation. He greeted her in his usual friendly demeanor as she opened Archie's mailbox and pulled out a week's worth of mail. She shuffled through the envelopes, stuffing the bills into her purse and tossing the junk mail into the trash. Archie was a scraggly old curmudgeon that Scarlett had inherited when Melanie died.
Melanie rescued people the same way other rescued stray animals. She saw Archie one day on her way to work and decided to adopt him as her new pet project. He was obviously homeless and from the looks of him, sick and hungry too. She began bringing him food, which he refused out of pride, then blankets and socks, which he refused to wear. One afternoon, after about a month of him refusing her kindness, she sat down on a bench next to him and pulled a sandwich from Subway out of bag and began to eat. As Archie was silently trying to figure out this obviously insane woman, she pulled out another sub and offered it to him. " A gentleman would make sure a lady doesn't eat alone." She asked him why he refused the food, blankets, and clothes. He snarled and said something about "no charity" as he took a huge bite of the sandwich offered to him. She told him that it wasn't charity and that it was simple human decency. He replied that he hadn't seen much human decency in the world. Melanie held out her hand to him. He tentatively placed his callused and dirty hand into hers. "My name is Melanie. Allow me to be your introduction to human decency."
Archie still refused to accept what he considered to be her "acts of charity". After that sandwich, he refused to accept any more handouts from Melanie Wilkes and would earn whatever it was that she gave him. Melanie respected his wishes and gave him small jobs to do around her house at first. He'd take out her garbage or clean her gutter cans in return for hot meals and new clothes. She got him a bed at a halfway house and made him promise to go there. She made sure he went to all his appointments at the V.A. and was up to date of his medications. She gave him books to read and encouraged his discovery into the written word. She took in a bum, off the dirty streets of Atlanta, and treated him like a human being. His devotion to her was immovable. Except when it came to Scarlett. Their mutual dislike of one another was no secret. Scarlett called him a lunatic vagrant and he called her a painted up hussy. On more than one occasion the two of them engaged in verbal battle that bordered on becoming physical and necessitating that Melanie step in between them.
Before Melanie died she made Scarlett promise to look after Archie. Initially, Archie refused her help, saying that he didn't want anything that came from her tainted hands. Scarlett wasn't Melanie by any means and replied that she was fine with that and didn't care if he starved to death. Slowly…very slowly.. the two formed an unlikely pair over the years. And as much as Archie hated to think ungenerously of Melanie, he noticed that while Melanie had always treated him with kindness, it was with always a semi-detached sense of kindness that made him sure of his position. While Scarlett, who frequently challenged him and told him exactly what she thought about him- good or bad, made him feel comfortable and loved. She was more likely to scream at him to 'Fuck off' or to ' Eat shit and die' than she was to bestow the hugs and kisses that Melanie gave him, but to her, he wasn't her inferior. To her, he was part of the family.
Eventually, Archie's foul moods and even fouler language got him evicted from the half-way house. Without Melanie there to vouch for him, they seemed to be looking for a way to get rid of him. Scarlett was not about to put Archie in another half-way house and instead found a nice senior living apartment that he would willingly accept as his new home. She knew he had very little money and would refuse her footing the cost of the rent, so Scarlett being Scarlett, decided to stretch the truth a little. She told Archie that she had been in contact with the V.A. and that they had found a glitch in the system where Archie was concerned. It seemed that he was owed a good deal of money. Since the V.A. was insufficiently funded, for restitution they would provide him with a permanent residence at little to no cost. In reality though, Scarlett not only bought the apartment, she bought the entire building. Archie, however, knew none of this and believed that his roomy and bright, one-bedroom, ground floor apartment (fully furnished no less) cost him one hundred dollars a month. Each month he would proudly hand over a hundred dollars to Scarlett to mail to the V.A. and each month she would redeposit it into his account. She did the same thing with his groceries. As far as Archie was concerned, he was finally getting his due after the years he spent serving our country. Even until his dying day, Archie would never discover that it was not the United States government who took care of him and that it was a woman, one he had once told " just needed killing", that rescued him.
As Scarlett walked down the first floor hallway with Cat silently trudging behind her, she could smell the delicious aroma of curry. Mrs. Jarzin was cooking her delicious chicken curry. Mrs. Jarzin was a beautiful Indian- American widow with a smile so infectious that Scarlett was convinced she could easily orchestrate world peace in a matter of hours. Just thinking about the savory sauce filled with tantalizing spices made her mouth start to water. " Doesn't that smell good, Cat?" She asked her stern-faced daughter.
Cat had been morose for a couple of days now. Scarlett had been trying to nudge her out of it but trying to get a clear answer out of Cat, especially when feelings are involved, was about as easy as trying to decipher one of the drunken texts she had sent her sisters after learning that she was going to be a grandmother.
Cannot you belief's though Ella is Paraguay ? Imitation no grandmother !
If Scarlett could have one wish granted it would be that she could really communicate with Cat. Sometimes her own child seemed like a stranger to her. She rarely knew what Cat was thinking or how she felt. Most of the time, Scarlett couldn't even touch her. She remembers complaining about the endless questions and interruptions she'd get from Ella and the outrageous tantrums Bonnie threw when they were her age. What wouldn't she give to get them from Cat ?
She knocked as she opened Archie's front door with her key. "Archie, it's me. I have Cat with me so put some pants on." Archie was no fan of the "restriction " of pants and relished walking around his apartment in his briefs. Seeing him in them was a sight Scarlett would never forget. She didn't want her daughter traumatized too.
Archie appeared in the doorway still pushing fistfuls of his shirt into his jeans. His old, weathered face was clean shaven and it looked like he had just had his hair cut. Cat's face instantly lit up. Archie was her favorite person in the world. Even as an infant she'd prefer to be held by Archie rather than by anyone else. Her own mother included. She walked over to him and shoved him gently with her shoulder. It was their own special greeting.
"Hiya, Punk. I missed ya. I got a whole lotta new buttons that need seperatin' ."
Cat grinned and went to the spot where Archie kept the button box ( which was really an old cookie tin filled with buttons of every shape, size, and color imaginable). The old ladies in the building were an endless supplier of old buttons. Ever since Archie had asked if they had any to spare for his granddaughter to play with, Cat was assured to never be bored with the contents of the "button box". He had tried to tell her that the button box was magic and that it was filled with a new assortment of buttons by fairies in the middle of the night. To which Cat's reply was, "Then, I think you need a better security system if fairies are breaking into your house at night."
Leaving Cat to enjoy separating the buttons according to size and color, Archie joined Scarlett in the kitchen where she unpacking the grocery bags.
"I hope you got the good mayo this time. That last one you brought tasted like a whore's ass."
"I trust you to know exactly what that tastes like", she said as she placed the items on the table.
"You look nice today. Quite dapper, if I say so myself. You have a hot date with Mrs. Jarzin later? I smelled her cooking chicken curry."
Archie rummaged through the bags looking for the bag of iced animal cookies his doctor had told him not to have and Scarlett bought anyway. It was fortunate for Archie that Scarlett was as hard-headed as he was. Melanie would have made sure he followed the doctor's orders to the letter.
"Jarzin is a terrorist."
"She's not a terrorist. Quit saying that."
"Well she ain't American!"
Scarlett placed both her hands on the table, palms down. "She's as much of a terrorist as Dr. Nguyen is a member of the Vietcong." Poor Dr. Nguyen. It was a miracle that he even agreed to keep seeing Archie as a patient after he insulted the man to his face by calling him "Charlie" and accusing him and "his people" (he was born in San Diego) for killing his brothers in the jungles of Vietnam. Scarlett had to personally go to his office and apologize and say that she feared that Archie was suffering from the early stages of dementia.
"Now you better be nice to her or I'll put salt in your jug of sweet tea and you know I will."
Archie conceded defeat. Scarlett would most certainly put salt in his sweet tea and he'd be forced to drink that ' high – falutin' bottled water she brought him until he apologized.
"Ella's pregnant", Scarlett said as she opened the freezer and placed the pre-packaged meals inside.
Archie had already opened the bag of iced animal cookies and was busy shoveling them into his mouth. "Good for her", he said as he shifted the half chewed cookie in his mouth to the one side.
"Well, I don't happen to think that this is particularly good for her. I mean, she just got married."
"And."
"And she's only eighteen."
"And."
"And a baby changes everything."
"And."
"And now she'll probably never go to college."
"And."
"And I'm too young to be a damn grandmother ! I'm still in my thirties! "
Archie winked at her and pointed his finger at her as if to say, "BINGO!"
Scarlett slammed the freezer door shut and flopped into the hard green plastic covered kitchen chairs. She slumped back a little and let out a long breath of despair. " I'm trying to be positive with her, Archie. I really am. I said all the right things when she told me. I pretended that I was excited about being a grandmother and talked about baby names and strollers and diapers and all that other shit. And all the while, I'm devasted. All of her plans for the future are over now. Once this baby comes it'll be her whole world. All her dreams, all her aspirations - they'll evaporate behind the baby's needs. And when the baby is older and she feels that she can now take time for herself and maybe achieve something separate from the baby, she'll pop up pregnant again and the whole cycle with start over again."
"You sure you talkin' bout Ella?"
"What? Of course I'm talking about Ella." She rose from her chair and pulled out the green plastic lunch tray from Archie's bottom pantry and began filling each of the separate compartments with food that Cat was willing to eat. She punctured the stiff yellow straw into the juice box and placed them both on the table. She then removed the plastic top from the chicken enchilada dinner and placed it into the microwave for Archie. This was the extent of her cooking abilities.
She stood staring as the food turned slowly with her back turned to Archie. " I know what you're getting at, Archie. And I'm not projecting my fears onto her. It's just that I don't want her to make the same mistakes I made. I want so much more for her. For all of them."
"I take it then that you think ya life was filled with mistakes", he said as he placed three placemats on the Formica tabletop.
The microwave buzzer upset Cat so she made sure to take out the meal before the timer ended. She transferred the cheese covered enchiladas onto a plate and placed it in front of Archie. "Cat, baby. Come eat", she called out to her daughter.
"I could have made things much easier for myself if I'd done a lot of things differently, Archie"
Archie poured himself a large glass of sweet tea as Cat took her place at the table.
"Listen, the same thing could be said 'bout anyone. Evry'body I know wants to go back in time and change things. Ella's a sweet kid. But it aint gonna matter what you do or say, she's gonna make her own mistakes an there aint nothin' you can do to stop it. Besides, it evr' occur to you that your mistakes might not be seen as mistakes to her? She aint you, Girl."
"No, she isn't", she said longingly, thinking about her sweet Ella. She let out a sniff of frustrated laughter. "The one who is like me has gotten herself into some deep trouble and is well on her way to making a massive mistake. That one", she said as she rolled her eyes "…don't even get me started."
Archie looked at the empty place setting in front of Scarlett. "You not eatin? If anybody needs a good meal it's you. You almost skin an bone."
Scarlett ignored that comment and watched as Cat held her fork out towards Archie. He raised his own fork and clicked it against hers.
" No, I'm really not hungry. Actually I have some errands to run. Is it okay if Cat stays here with you for a couple of hours ? I have to handle something at the office today with Beau. "
"Why aint she in school?" Archie looked over towards Cat. " What'd you do, Punk? Get kicked out again?"
Cat gave Archie a sideways glance as a smirk formed on her face. Scarlett felt a pang of jealously. She wished she could get Cat to respond the way Archie did.
"Christmas is in three days. She's on break. They all are."
Scarlett could have easily left Cat at home today. There were more than enough people to look after her, but she knew how much Cat and Archie loved spending time together. Plus, Scarlett missed spending time with her and coerced her daughter to spending the morning together by promising to eat lunch with Archie in the afternoon. Cat had happily spent two hours with her mother in the planetarium at Fernbank but she hadn't been too pleased about being drug around the grocery store and made her displeasure known. Even a store as aesthetically pleasing as Whole Foods caused her anxiety. It was the number of people, the bright lights overhead, the pungent smells of patchouli and lavender, the overall stimuli that did her in. Cat bravely held one hand on the green basket handle as her mother pushed the cart around the store, focusing instead on the fact that she was going to visit. Before entering the store she had asked Scarlett how many items they would be getting. Scarlett knew better than to estimate with Cat and had made a detailed list of what she needed to buy and told her the exact number.
"You can do this, Kitty Cat. I know you can."
More than anything, Scarlett feared Cat's inability to function in the real world as an adult. Little steps like walking around a grocery store would hopefully lesson the anxiety for her daughter, eventually leading to her being able to walk through the aisles and select the items she needed for herself. It would be a slow moving, gradual process that Scarlett would walk Cat through as often as her daughter could tolerate.
They needed twenty five items. Cat counted them down one by one.
Twenty four more items and then we go see Papa Archie.
Twenty three more items and then we go see Papa Archie.
Twenty two more items and then we go see Papa Archie.
" I thought you two could spend some time together. But it's no big deal if you can't, Archie. I'll just bring her with me."
"Who said I can't keep an eye on her?" He said as he gently shoved Cat's shoulder with his hand. "How 'bout it, Punk? You wanna stay here ?" Cat nodded a fervent yes .
"Thanks, Archie." Scarlett kissed him on his scruffy cheek and held out her hand to her daughter.
"Shake hands?"
Securing her bright orange Hermes bag in the crook of her arm she bent down to be eye level with her little girl. " I won't be gone long. I shouldn't be more than 120 minutes, okay? And make sure that you remind Papa Archie that Ella's picking him up Christmas morning and bringing him to the house." She said the last part loud enough for Archie to hear. He had wiggled his way out of Thanksgiving by claiming that he had terrible diarrhea. There was no way she was going to let him miss what just might be the most dysfunctional Christmas ever. "Plus, you'll finally get to meet Phillipe", she called out to Archie. "And be nice to Mrs. Jarzin. I mean it !"
She started to walk towards the door when she felt a pair of little arms wrap themselves around her middle. She turned around as tears began to immediately flood her eyes at the realization that Cat had hugged her for the very first time in her life. For a brief, fleeting moment, her baby girl had hugged her. Cat stood back as Scarlett sank to her knees and grabbed both of her daughter's little hands.
"Oh, Kitty Cat. I love you to the moon and back. You just made Mommy very happy."
Cat furrowed her brow at her mother's confusing display of emotion.
" I know. I love you too. I just thought that you needed to feel it right now ."
STW
The clang-clang of Scarlett's heels brought everyone in the lumber office to attention. Desks were haphazardly tidied and people hurried into offices or out into the mills. Now that she was here, the lazier-faire atmosphere changed into a productive working environment.
"Beau, I need to see you in my office right now", Scarlett called to her nephew from the main hallway. "Hugh, hold all my calls."
Hugh didn't seem to hear her demands as he watched Beau nervously shuffle out of his office to follow his aunt into hers. He jumped as Scarlett pounded her palm down onto the top of his desk. " Hugh! I need you to give me verbal confirmation that you understood what I just said. No calls! You do not forward any calls to me!" Hugh took directions about as well as her dog. She had already planned out in detail what she was going to say to Beau. She couldn't let a string of interrupting phone calls distract her. "Direct all calls to Ashley or take a message."
Hugh looked confused. "What if it's the government? What if the President calls? Do you still not want to forward the call to you?" She knew that Hugh wasn't being flip with her. He really was just this stupid.
"I doubt it'll be the President", Scarlett said through her gritted teeth.
"But what if it is ?"
Scarlett removed her sunglasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. " IF, for some reason the President calls, you can forward the call to me. IF it's a life or death emergency, you can forward the call to me. But those are the only two circumstances! End of conversation, Hugh !" She began to walk away, Beau right on her heels. "If I talk to you for even a second longer I am going to be forced to pour bleach in your coffee!"
"But I don't drink coff…"
He could hear her yell as she walked into her office and slammed the door shut. "SHUT UP, HUGH!"
"You. Sit", she demanded Beau and pointed to a chair across from her desk.
"Are you going to fire me, Aunt Scarlett?" He hated how shaky his voice sounded.
"No Beau. I'm not going to fire you. If I haven't fired that idiot out there by now, it's safe to say that you have good job security."
Beau smiled at the thought of his aunt's frustrating inane interactions with Hugh. He then noticed her rigid posture and the tell-tale arch of her right eyebrow. Gone was his beloved aunt Scarlett; the one that threw Nerf balls at his head to get his attention and blew raspberry kisses on his cheeks. Before him now was instead THE Scarlett O'Hara. She folded her hands together in a serious gesture as she spoke in a calm and collected manner.
"However, as your employer, I am telling you that if you ever bring any woman, including my daughter, back to this office to fool around, you will be fired."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry I disappointed you, Aunt Scarlett."
Beau looked down at his feet. Scarlett's heart ached for her sweet nephew and the sincere nature he had inherited from his mother. Her voice took on a softer tone as she relaxed her shoulders and discarded her mask of superiority. " As your aunt , I'm thrilled that you've fallen in love. Truly, I am. Any woman would be lucky to have you."
Beau was mid smile when she continued. "But as Bonnie's mother, you must know that I cannot condone this relationship."
He and Bonnie had both said that they didn't care about what people would say about them. They were in love, what did matter what anyone else thought? Yet, the heavy weight of despair that Beau felt at his aunt's rejection of him dating her daughter was suffocating. He cared very much what she thought after all. "So you're saying that we can't see each other anymore?"
"No, I'm not."
"You're not ?"
"No. You are an adult, Beau. I can't tell you what to do. And I know my daughter and I know if I tell her that she can no longer see you, it'll only make her want to see you more. But what I am doing is asking you to seriously consider this relationship and ask yourself if it's fair to her."
Beau met her eyes with his. A look of confusion spread across his handsome face. " What do you mean, fair to her?"
"There's no doubt in my mind that she's madly in love with you too. I don't, for one second, question the sincerity of either of your feelings. But she has so much of life left to live. She's so young, Beau. She should be looking forward to high school parties, prom, college, traveling the world. Instead she has her head in the clouds planning a perfect future for the two of you. She wanted to spend a semester abroad studying in France. She had dreams of trying out for the summer Olympics in equestrian. She won't do either of those things now because it will mean having to be far away from you. Do you see what I mean?"
"So you want me to end it, to save her from being tied down to me." He said it in a flippant tone that his aunt had never heard him use before. Bonnie was already rubbing off on him. Soon, he's be calling her the Tyrant, she thought.
"Once again, you misinterpret what I'm saying. What I want is for you to be the adult here. I want you to make decisions that she is too immature to make. You know all about your father and me, Beau. Do you think he was necessarily fair to me in his actions? I was the same age as Bonnie when he married your mother. He should have been the adult and told me it was completely over between the two of us instead of dangling me along for years with promises he never intended to keep."
Beau thought about what his father had told him about the adulterous relationship he had with his aunt. After the feelings of shock and anger had subsided, he could clearly see that his father had led his aunt Scarlett on. For years he confused her with declarations of his love and promises to leave his wife. Beau's aunt Honey had once let it slip that his father was as good as engaged to aunt Scarlett before he left for college and that a stern "talking to" by Beau's grandfather cleared his head and made him set his sights solely on Melanie. "Even Father knew what trash she was back then and she was only a teenager!" He remembered her saying.
His grandfather had been sold on Melanie Hamilton and the European-style dowry that came with her. Her blue blood was favored exponentially over Scarlett's Irish working class lineage. John Wilkes had encouraged the sudden engagement and early marriage of his eighteen year old son and the meek, doe -eyed daughter of Charles Hamilton Sr. He knew his son had doubts and that he still had feelings for the fiery sixteen year old that was Scarlett O' Hara. Beau winced when his father recalled the advice his father had given him on the eve of his wedding to his mother. "Marry Melanie first, then you can have Scarlett. Girls like her are made to be mistresses, not wives."
Beau glanced up to his aunt and felt remorse for his father's actions. " No, Aunt Scarlett. He wasn't at all fair to you."
Scarlett looked at her crest fallen nephew, the little boy she helped bring into the world, and felt horrible for him. She moved to his side and ran her hand through his blond hair. "Look at me, Beauregard", she commanded. Melanie's big brown eyes looked back at her. " I couldn't have picked a better man for my daughter. I love you as if you were my own and I know you'd do anything and everything to make Bonnie happy. I'd be so proud to have you for a son- in -law. But please, let her grow up first."
STW
Rhett texted Scarlett to let her know that he was outside. He didn't want to knock on the door and wake up the kids. They agreed to spend Christmas together as a family and that they would both be there on Christmas morning when the kids opened their presents. He could hear her struggling to open the heavy front door along with the jingle of Forest's collar. He could picture her trying to shove the massive St. Bernard out of the way. She opened the door with her left leg splayed across the door frame to prevent Forest from getting out. "Hurry and get in before this asshole runs out", she said with a smile.
She surprised him with the briefest of kiss on the lips and told him Merry Christmas. She was dressed in black yoga pants and long sleeved raglan T – shirt that read: Santa's favorite Ho. Obviously a gift from her friend Cathleen. Every Christmas the lifelong friends tried to outdo the other with ridiculous gifts.
"It's outside ?" She asked.
"Yes, and I won't begin to tell you about the looks I got driving it over here."
She moved across him to get a better look at Bonnie's Christmas present. The hot pink Mercedes G class sparkled in the early morning sunlight. They had both chosen this particular vehicle for its safety and durability; not to mention that it had a state of the art tracking system that would not only indicate the location of the car, but the miles driven and how long it stayed in a location. Granted it wouldn't tell them if Bonnie drove the car to a friend's house and took off in another vehicle. But Scarlett didn't worry. She had a secret tracking device on Bonnie's phone for situations like that.
"She's going to love it."
"You think?"
"Oh yes. You can buy this girl with presents, Rhett. And you can't go wrong with big, shiny items."
"Sounds like someone I know."
"I bet you had no idea the trouble you were getting yourself into when you bought me that green hat", she laughed. "They're all still asleep, come inside and have some coffee with me until they wake up."
Once Inside, she held out a large mug of coffee and snuggled up amongst the pillows and blankets on the plush sofa in the family room. Rhett sat beside her, sipping his coffee, and try to act as normal as possible. He took long glances at his wife when she wasn't looking and noticed her garnet stud earrings. He always bought her diamonds or emeralds and the earrings were far too plain for her to have bought them for herself. He fought the fire of jealously that burned within him as he realized that they were more than likely a present from Richard. Where was the English fuck anyway? He swallowed down his anger, reminding himself of Dilcey's advice not to bait her into an argument. He shifted the conversation into safer waters.
"Wade said that he and Aimee were spending Christmas in New York with her parents."
Scarlett's lips contorted into a small snarl of disgust. " Unfortunately. I suppose I have to share him now with those jerk- offs ; not that they deserve him…..or her for that matter." She turned toward Rhett and placed her hand on top of his. The diamond on her engagement ring sparkled in the early morning sunlight. She was still wearing it; always a good sign. "I'm so glad you two settled things. Between you and me, he's started seeing Dilcey. His anger towards you is unhealthy."
"He has a right to be angry, Scarlett."
"Yes. But he doesn't have the right to almost beat you to death. His anger is not healthy."
Rhett felt a tiny pain at the blow to his masculinity. The same little boy he taught to pee standing up had properly kicked his ass.
"So I'm assuming that you sent a gift with our son to give to the delightful Ed and Cindy?"
"Of course. We're Southerners, after all. We pride ourselves on our good manners."
A smile spread across his face." I'm afraid to ask what we sent."
Scarlett took a giant gulp of her coffee and said, " We sent them matching MAGA hats and shirts that say TRUMP 2020."
Rhett almost spit out his coffee in laughter." You didn't !"
"What ? You don't think they'll like them?" she said in mock indignation. "After the huge emphasis they placed on being related to the Kennedy's and the huge financial support they give to the Democratic party I thought they'd enjoy a gift that represents our executive branch of government." Scarlett bit her bottom lip in a devious smile as she played the innocent. They both laughed at this. Scarlett gave a little snort and that made him laugh even harder.
"I see that there's a few extra stockings hung on the mantle this year", he said nodding towards the fireplace.
"And next year there'll be one more. I can't believe that we're going to be grandparents."
He snaked his arm around her waist. "You'll be the hottest grandma ever." He felt her take a deep breath in and hold it. She had been tight lipped about her impending grandchild since learning of its existence.
"Do you know what India told me ? She called and said that she's going to have the baby call her 'Mimi'. As if the baby would call her anything! I told her that if the baby calls her anything, it'll be India. And Belle agrees with me! Mimi…..seriously…."
"She could argue that the baby should call me Rhett then."
"That's different. You helped raise Ella. She's your daughter as much as mine and Frank's. India has been nothing but terrible to Ella her whole life. She doesn't deserve to be called Mimi."
Rhett saw the inner turmoil in her eyes. She stiffened in his arms and began turning her wedding ring around her finger with her thumb.
"Scarlett. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. It's just that Frank is so thrilled about being a grandfather. He keeps telling Ella all these stories about how it was when I was pregnant with her and I just want to kill him. He paints this lovely little picture of us as a happy family and you know we were anything but. The fucker actually called me the other day when Ella and Taz visited him because he was concerned with Ella's constant puking. He asked if I had had morning sickness as badly as she was having it because he couldn't remember. I told him that I wasn't sure if it was morning sickness that made me throw up so much or if it was the fact that I was married to a rapist."
"Are you thinking of telling her what really happened?"
She looked at him as if he asked her if she wanted to smoke crack." Are you serious? Of course not!"
" In a way, I think she has a right to know. Not now, mind you, but someday. It's just a thought I have. Something to think about…..tomorrow."
She smiled at him with her pink cheeks deepening her dimples.
"This coffee is really good. You sure you made this?" he asked her as he savored the tang of the strong coffee beans.
"Of course I made it. I'm a woman of many talents." She brought up her own mug to her mouth and winked at him. He felt a warmness spreading across his chest. She was flirting with him. He smelled the aroma coming from the hot, black liquid and noticed something different. " Scarlett, what did you put in this coffee? Creamer?"
"As if I'd willingly give you dairy. I'd like you to spend the day with us and not with you holed up in the bathroom making me have to redecorate. That's one thing I most certainly do not miss. Your horrible gas." They both laughed and remembered how Scarlett kept a can of Febreeze next to her beside to spray directly on him when he farted at night. Sometimes it would get so bad that she would kick him in his side and demand that he sleep somewhere else. Much to his wife's delight, he found that avoiding dairy products significantly lessened the potency of his flatulence.
"What do you miss, Scarlett?" He said as he placed his mug next to hers on the table in front of them. "Because I'll tell you what I miss. I miss everything. I miss this. I miss you. I miss our family. I miss…." Before he could continue she pulled him towards her and kissed him. This time is wasn't a brief peck, this time, it was for real. As the kiss lingered, he reached around her waist and pulled her into his lap. They hadn't kissed like this in a long time and its effects were making him want to make love to her right now in front of the Christmas tree and that fucking elf bastard that they always forgot to move each night. She released his lips and kissed the side of his neck. Her scent alone drove him insane. That mixture of lavender and soap that always clung to her hair and body. When it was his weekend with his kids, he'd smell it on their clothes. It made being without her unbearable.
He slid his hand inside her shirt and caressed her beautiful, full breasts causing her to whimper in response. When he licked his lips, he tasted it. Brandy. The coffee was laced with brandy. Hers, probably much more than his. Alcohol, and not love, was why she was acting this way. He was debating if he should peel her away from him when the loud thud of doors opening and closing with the pounding of little feet rushing down the stairs could be heard.
"He came! He came! Thanta came!" Gerry bounded down the stairs, skipping every other step as he led the charge of his siblings in a mad dash to the brightly colored packages lying around the Christmas tree. Scarlett scooped up her baby boy in her arms. "Merry Christmas Tootsie", she said as she nuzzled his sweet scented baby neck.
"Did you see him, Mommy? Did you see Thanta? Did you, Daddy?" He asked.
"We did ! I tried to convince him to take Forest with him but he wouldn't because he doesn't listen. So he agreed to drop off a big bag of his poop for Ella's daddy instead", she said as she tickled his little belly before letting him slide to the floor to open his presents. "Merry Christmas, girls", she called out to her daughters who had already begun tearing open the presents in their stockings. A jumbled " Merry Christmas, Mama" and "Merry Christmas, Daddy" could barely be heard over the sounds of crushing wrapping paper and tearing open boxes.
To be continued...
