Chapter 37
Scarlett stood on the Porch watching as the sun rose over the horizon. The pale pink spread in streaks across the sky like ribbons of finest stain on dark velvet. Slowly the stray ribbons turned the sky into pale lavender. Then the sun rose higher turning the cloudless sky into a placid blue. The air held a chill in the early June light. Soon all of the coolness of this moment would be replaced by the intense heat of a Georgia summer's day. She turned her head as she heard the noise of a carriage making its way up the pine bordered road to Tara at this early hour. Something fluttered in her heart as she saw who was driving.
"Ashley Wilkes!" she exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing out this early?" The flutter she had felt earlier disappeared quickly, as if it had taken her a moment to realize that he wasn't the one she loved. But sometimes it is difficult to break old habits. And for so long her heart had beat faster at his arrival. So now it had done the same for a moment before remembering all that had transpired and her realizations about who he was.
"Beau and I are staying in the ruins of Twelve Oaks and sadly I didn't think to bring out provisions, so we came over to offer our services in exchange for food." Ashley smiled his old smile at his confession as if it were the most natural thing for him to offer. No other person could ever cause him to blurt out the things that Scarlett could unwittingly pry from him.
"Oh, Ashley… You don't need to work to enjoy Tara's hospitality. But you and Wade are always welcome here." Scarlett was pleased to see that a light seemed to have come back to life in his eyes. The time away from Atlanta seemed to bring him back from the state of living death that he had been walking in since Melanie's passing.
"I'm just so glad to be home, even if my home is nothing but a charred pile of rubble. My father always said that Twelve Oaks would always be the cornerstone for everything we needed. I'm thankful that he never saw his home and this land destroyed." Beau had already clambered out of the carriage sleepily and was making his way inside.
"Beau still seems to know his way around here even if he hasn't been out here since before his second birthday." Scarlett smiled at the door where the child had just disappeared. For a moment she thought of how amazing it was that they had all managed to survive that time, that desperate starving time after fall of Atlanta and after the war. It was now as if it were a badge of honor to held in her heart. It seemed to declare that Scarlett O'Hara Butler was a survivor, and she would always be a survivor.
"Yes Scarlett, Tara seems to be in his blood. He must have inherited a little of your love for this land. And honestly I love this land too. Tara seems untouched by the war. Standing here I remember coming here after getting back from my grand tour. Tara looks as lovely now as she did then. And I can honestly say Scarlett; you look as lovely now too." Ashley's smile reached his eyes for the first time in such a long time.
Scarlett smiled at the memory of that day, she too remembered it vividly. And she ushered Ashley inside to the dining room where breakfast would be served in short time. Once they were seated Scarlett excused herself to rush up the stairs and find her husband. Seeing Ashley now did nothing but make her remember how much she truly loved Rhett.
Scarlett grinned as she crept into Carreen's room bearing a breakfast tray overflowing with food that she knew Carreen loved. Tara was overflowing with workers, and this removed Suellen from kitchen duty which was one of the few things that she didn't complain about. And thus there was a great improvement in the quantity and quality of food served.
Scarlett expected to find her sister still sleeping, but instead she saw Carreen silhouetted against the morning light kneeling quietly, her head bent in pray. Tears of joy streamed down her face as her lips formed prayers of thanksgiving. God had sustained her and given her back a gift priceless beyond measure. But the sound of Scarlett's soft footfalls alerted her to her older sister's entrance, and so within a few moments she turned and lifted her sparkling tear-filled eyes.
"Are you ready for your wedding, Baby? Are you as excited as I am?" Scarlett grinned as she spoke, unable to contain the excitement for the day ahead.
Carreen's face glowed. "Oh, sister, I was just thanking God for his blessings. He is such a wonderful Father."
Scarlett carried the tray across the room and sat it on the table beside the bed. "You need to make sure and eat this. I don't want you getting sick from not eating enough. Mammy will have my head if I don't make sure that you eat." Scarlett chuckled, "Why I remember how she fussed at me about eating before the Barbeque at Twelve Oaks." A wistful smile momentarily crossed Scarlett's face, but then she quickly returned to the present matters at hand.
Carreen's eyes held a look of nervousness that she had not possessed before. "Scarlett, I'm scared. I'm scared about…. Tonight." The words were very hushed in a whisper meant for no one else to possibly hear. Her cheeks blushed crimson at the very thought of questioning such a thing.
Scarlett paused and stared at her sister. And she understood. She had been terrified in her own right on her wedding night to Charles, but she hadn't loved Charles which only made it more awkward. But with Rhett it was different, and she could use this knowledge to soothe her little sister. "It's really not as bad as they make it out to be. Just tell him that you are scared, and I'm sure Brent will try to make it easier."
Carreen's face was still aflame. "Scarlett, I shouldn't have asked. It's not proper for me to think such things…"
"Baby, I'm sure that every girl thinks about these things on their wedding day. Just remember that Brent loves you… and I know that you love him." They looked at each other and then Careen glanced away. "I'll be up later to help you get in your dress. I wish mother was here, but I want to stand in her place for you."
Careen nodded happily to her, and so Scarlett left her sister to her thoughts and slipped out of the room to finish making preparations for the day to come.
Scarlett had insisted that Ashley and Beau were welcome to eat with them at any time. She insisted that they come back for all meals until Twelve Oaks was capable of sustaining them. She still rigidly held onto the belief that had been commonplace before the war. And Scarlett was able to share in abundance. And so Ashley returned to his home without his son who had begged to stay with Wade and Ella.
He slowly wandered through the charred and crumbling ruins that had once been his home. There were no tears left for Twelve Oaks. They had already been spent years past. He thought as he wandered of the future he had imagined that was now as surely in state of ruination so complete that it was nearly unrecognizable. Some parts of the house still held traces of the life before, while weeds and dirt covered some parts so completely that he felt as if he were in a foreign land. Bees and Wasps buzzed about the remaining ceilings undeterred by the devastation.
The air still held the faint scent of char that clung to the walls and every surface. It was as if he were a trespasser in an alien land as he found his way through the more crumbled sections of the house. Finally he climbed his way out of the wreckage and began wandering around the exterior. At times he was forced to cut away vegetation that had grown up in the ten years since it had burned. Finally he found the cornerstone that his father had set to begin construction of the house. He bent and brushed the dirt from the words. "Intus silex , Hic commorari acervus". "Herein lies the treasure, Herein lies the treasure" Ashley murmured with a look of confusion on his face.
And slowly his father's words returned to him, "Twelve Oaks will always be the cornerstone for everything you need." Ashley ran his hands through his once golden hair. With a certainty that amazed him he knew that there must be something within this stone that would be of great importance. His father had insight much greater than the majority of other Southerners of his age. He had believed in the South, but he had believed in providing for his family more. He had been a practical man, aware of the limitations of the agrarian Southland.
And so he slowly turned and walked as a dream walker to the charred remains of where the tool building had once stood a lifetime ago. It took him a long time, too long he was certain, digging through burned timbers and the brittle choking weeds of the summer before to find the pick axe. But then he carried it back to the corner of the house. With all of his strength he raised his axe and swung it, sending chips of stone flying. This stone was meant to last forever, but Ashley was determined. He continued his attack on the weathered rock until finally there was a crack revealing a cavity within the stone. Ashley continued to pick at it until there was an opening large enough for him to reach a hand inside. And he bent slowly and peered into the opening as sweat glistened in the hot sun beating down on his back. He reached his hand into the cold depths and felt around. His hand touched a cold metal box which he slowly withdrew through the broken opening. He began to fiddle with the latch that held the lid in place. And he slowly opened it to see what the box contained.