Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback is always welcome.

Chapter Sixty

Bonnie was doing very well at the school. The first year she mainly learned signs. They were basic signs she needed for her daily life. She had gotten all the spoken words she had known before her illness back. It was mainly everyone's name and simple words like yes and no but it always made everyone feel good to hear her speak. By the time school was let out for the summer Bonnie and everyone else was functionally fluent in Sign Language. Bonnie had stopped getting up in the middle of the night to get in bed with her parents.

Scarlett secretly laughed at Rhett and his vanity. She didn't know what had spurred him into finally truly trying to learn Sign Language but once he decided he would he quickly became an avid student. He even bought some books in order to learn faster. Scarlett knew her husband always had to be the best at everything he did.

Both Beau and Wade had ended up with the highest-grade point average in their classes. They also both won awards for being most congenial. When the principal, Mr. Stewart, gave them the awards he made a joke about the boys being congenial as long as no one said anything unkind about the South around them. Everyone had laughed but their family knew it was true. The boys were proud of being from the South and they would fight to defend it.

Melly laughed with everyone else but she had thought, 'It is more of that damn foolishness that got us involved in that stupid war and destroyed our way of life.' Melanie was bitter about the war and everything it had cost her. Her husband, her brother, all her childhood friends, their way of life and her family. She looked at the Butlers sitting next to her and thought, 'Luckily I have a new family now.' Alex reached for her and she took him. Her heart was happy again.

In June they went to Boston. They went to Harvard to take a tour of the college, the law school, the medical school. Melly got a little sad when they were in Cambridge. It reminded her of when she, Aunt PittyPat and Uncle Henry had come up to visit Charlie one year at Christmas. It had been such a happy visit. Scarlett said, "Then remember the happiness of then and now."

They went to museums and the opera. Paul Revere's home. They ate seafood, clam chowder and baked beans.

It was while they were walking around Boston seeing the sights that Wade discovered that he was as tall as his mother. He was so happy. Rhett smiled and told him congratulations. Then Wade stood next to his Aunt Melly and he was as tall as her also. Which wasn't that amazing because Melly and Scarlett were the same height.

It took all of Scarlett's self-control not to snap at him and tell him to shush. She knew why he was so happy. To him it meant he was soon going to be a man. She knew why she was so irritated. For her it meant he was no longer her little boy. Instead, she took Alex out of Rhett's arms and hugged him tight as they continued walking around Boston.

Rhett looked at Scarlett when she took Alex from him. Alex was almost too big for Scarlett to carry for very long but Rhett had enough sense not to mention that. Instead, he reached down and picked Bonnie up. Within a few minutes Bonnie wanted down. She wanted to walk. She felt she was too big to be carried like a baby.

As they were walking back to the hotel Rhett took Alex back and Scarlett let him. He put his arm around Scarlett's waist.

Scarlett smiled and leaned into him.

In July after Elizabeth arrived, they went to see Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and Washington. They spent all of July traveling. Everyone even Rhett was amazed at the phenomenon that was the falls. All that water rushing over the side of the cliff. Wade said, "Imagine what they could do if someone could figure a way to harness that power."

Rhett replied, "It would be amazing."

Wade, Beau and Rhett talked about that for the next thirty minutes.

In Philadelphia they went to see the Liberty Bell and Philadelphia Hall. They went to the museums and another opera. They went to the parks. When they were at Philadelphia Hall, Wade said to Rhett, "Do you think the men who signed the declaration of independence knew what a change they were making in history?"

"Probably not."

Wade, Beau and Rhett talked about that for the next thirty minutes ignoring everyone else.

While Scarlett was sadly looking at Wade, Rhett and Beau she had two thoughts. 'Where did my little boy go? And 'When did Wade and Rhett get so close?'

Elizabeth linked her arm in Scarlett's and said, "It's the way of life. You are his world for the first twelve years then suddenly you no longer feel important. Honey, you will always be important to him. He is just forming himself into a man."

Scarlett knew it was true. It had happened last time but she had thought he had pulled away from her because of her neglect of him. No, it was because he was at the age to want separation from his mother.

"I don't like it."

"No mother does. When he needs to be loved and pampered, he will come back to you. Even that big, hard-hearted man came to see me when he was feeling sad and discouraged before he married you. Now I have to come see him because you pamper and spoil him so much."

"So, he will no longer be my little boy and someone else will be first in his heart. I don't like it at all."

Elizabeth smiled and said, "I didn't like it when Martha became first in Robert's heart and I didn't like it when you became first in Rhett's heart. It is the way of life," She then gave Scarlett a impish smile and said, "It will happen to Rhett also when Bonnie loves someone more than him. He won't handle it very well. No, not very well at all."

That made Scarlett smile for a minute then even though Scarlett knew she was being childish, she went over and jerked Alex out of Rhett's arms and walked off with him. She left Rhett with a puzzled look on his face but he returned to his conversation with Wade and Beau and forgot about it.

The rest of the trip Scarlett kept Bonnie and Alex close to her. She tried to spend time with Wade and while kind and polite she knew he didn't want to spend time with her. It broke her heart but she knew her son was no longer her little boy.

When they got to Gettysburg, they toured the battlefield. They saw the house where Lee had been headquartered. They saw where Pickett's charge failed. Melanie and Scarlett were getting emotional just being at the battlefield. It made them both think of that awful weekend in July of sixty-three. They chose to go back to the hotel. Rhett offered to keep Bonnie and Alex and Scarlett looked offended and snapped, "No!"

Rhett wondered what was going on and decided that he was going to have to figure out what was bothering Scarlett but not right now. All Rhett said, "Would you send the carriage back?"

"Of course."

Elizabeth said, "I'm going to go with them."

Rhett felt like all the women knew something and that all of them were disappointed he hadn't figured it out. Almost like they thought it was as plain as the nose on his face. Rhett smiled at his mother and said, "Thank you."

He thought he heard his mother say, "You, doofus." But surely not.

When Prissy grabbed up her children and they went back with the ladies to the hotel, he was really baffled and knew he was missing something obvious. Obvious at least to the women.

Wade and Beau were pretending to be Lee and Stuart on the field. After Esau returned, he came and stood beside Rhett not talking and not looking at him. Rhett said, "Do you know what I am missing?"

Esau said, "I wouldn't if Prissy hadn't told me."

"What?"

"Mr. Wade is wanting to spend all his time with you and while polite to Miss Scarlett he is distancing himself from her."

"Aww. That is the way it happens. He is just separating from his mother. It is normal."

"I know Mr. Rhett but that doesn't mean it don't hurt Miss Scarlett. You know she and Mr. Wade are very close or at least they were. You know how possessive of her children she is."

Rhett sighed and said, "There is nothing I can do about it."

"No, Mr. Rhett there isn't except be aware of what she is going through."

"Thank you."

When the ladies got back to the hotel Scarlett ordered some tea and lemonade for everyone. She also ordered scones, cookies and sandwiches. After everyone was served and had eaten, Elizabeth and Prissy took the children to their rooms. They could see that Scarlett needed to talk to Melanie about what was bothering her. Scarlett said, "What is it honey? Is it about Ashley?"

Melanie nodded.

"What?"

"Do you remember how happy I was when we found out Ashley was alive in sixty-three?"

"Yes, I remember." She also remembered how horrible she had felt when she had found out so many boys from Clayton County had died there.

"I foolishly thought, 'Ashley is safe. Nothing bad will happen to him. He is safe.' But he wasn't. He was never safe again. Something awful happened to him at Rock Island while he was in the Yankee prison. The war and Rock Island changed him. After he got back all he had was honor and his past dreams. His dreams of sitting in a library reading poetry at Twelve Oaks."

"He was a shell of a man after he came back."

"Yes. He wasn't getting any better, was he?"

"No, Melly, he wasn't."

"Do you think he is happier not living in the world we are living in today?"

"I don't know. It all depends on what is on the other side."

They were quiet for a while with Scarlett holding Melly's hand.

Scarlett said, "I know he loved you and Beau very much. I know he was proud of being a gentleman. That's all I know."

"That's all I know too. He was so very fond of you."

"And I was of him."

They just sat there for a long time until they heard Alex calling out Mama. Scarlett said, "I better go get a bushel of hugs before they are all gone."

Melanie said, "It's so hard to let them go. Let them become men. We are lucky they have such a good example in Rhett."

Scarlett smiled and said, "Yes we are. He is a good man and a good example." Then she heard Mama again and left the sitting room.

Later that night as she was brushing her hair its one hundred strokes, she looked at Rhett in the mirror and she saw he was looking at her. She smiled and said, "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Rhett didn't know what had happened but he knew she was no longer irritated at him over Wade preferring him to her. He would still need to be aware of her and Wade's relationship for a little while. He knew it would kill him when Bonnie preferred another man to him even though he knew it was the way it should be.

They went on to Washington DC the next day as planned. They saw the Capitol Dome, the White House, what was going to be the Washington Monument, and The Smithsonian. Scarlett was very disappointed when she found out The Smithsonian was a bunch of museums. They had a great deal of fun and Rhett worked to have his conversations with Wade and Beau when Melly and Scarlett were otherwise involved but he couldn't stop the inevitable.

Scarlett knew this rite of passage couldn't be stopped. Wade would soon no longer be her little boy and she didn't want him to remain her little boy. She wanted him to grow up and become a man. Tomorrow. She wanted it to happen tomorrow. At least for a little while she still had Bonnie and Alex.

They returned to Hartford at the beginning of August. The day they arrived back in Hartford Scarlett banished Rhett from the house. She said, "You will just get in the way of us unpacking and getting the house ready to live in again."

Rhett smiled and said, "Thank you, my dear."

"I'm sure The Katie missed you as much as you missed her."

Rhett smiled again and went and got his captain's hat. He was gone within five minutes.

Scarlett said to Elizabeth, "I would be jealous if she was a real woman. Well, maybe I am a little jealous."

Elizabeth laughed.

Author's Notes: Personal Factoid. I can still remember vividly the day my son didn't want to be seen in public with me and how much it hurt. I knew while it was happening, that it was him trying to become a man but it still hurt. That was over twenty-five years ago. I remember the day I realized another woman was more important to him than me. That hurt too. She became his wife and I love her dearly. I have a close relationship with my son these days so all is good but it is the way of life.