Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Response to a Nova's guest review. Ashley and Rhett were discussing old books together at a fund raiser, but the men will always hate each other.
They are both past the point they returned in time. Scarlett returned in time in the spring of 74 and Rhett returned in time in June of 73.
This is the final chapter to this ending. Thank you for coming along with me.
There is the alternate ending which is only one chapter. It is a long chapter, but it is less than 5000 words.
Chapter Forty - Six
Two years later, Aunt PittyPat passed away. Uncle Peter remained at the house to take care of Wade although the truth was Wade was taking care of Uncle Peter. The old servant lasted another three months then he too passed away. After Uncle Peter's death Scarlett had wanted Wade to move back in with them.
Instead, Rhett suggested that Beau move in with Wade.
That would give the boys a little bit of freedom while Melanie and Ashley were just through the hedges. They were just down the street a couple of blocks. When Scarlett was still not convinced Mammy offered to live with the boys and take care of them. The boys were not happy with this plan. The parents were all happy with the plan. They all knew Mammy would take good care of their sons. Rhett was the happiest of all. He would not have to see Mammy give him the evil eye every day. Vicky was pretty happy too. She was finally going to have her own room.
In January of eighty-three Uncle Henry passed away in his sleep. Everyone was sorry with his passing, but he had lived a long life. He left a small amount of money to his niece. Scarlett was sad that Melanie was going through all that sorrow, but she was glad that Melanie was alive to go through the sorrow.
That same year in the spring, Suellen Benteen passed away from a fever. Scarlett was sorry Suellen was dead, but she would not mourn the loss awfully long. She and her sister were just polite strangers. She was sorry for Will and his daughters though. At Suellen's funeral, which was attended by everyone in the county, Ella attracted the attention of Joe Fontaine. As soon as the service was over Joe was talking to Ella. Ella was being her normal self. As Scarlett watched this interaction, she wondered how her child could be shy, but her Ella was. Ella kept walking away from Joe. As she was walking away from him again, Scarlett was about to straighten her out. Rhett grabbed her arm and said, "Let her be. Let her be pursued."
"But she might blow this opportunity to make a good match. She's not getting any younger"
"Maybe she doesn't like him. And as far as I am concerned, she can live with us forever."
"Of course, she can. Any of our children can live with us forever but I can tell she likes him. She keeps giving him shy glances."
"Let it be. If the young man wants her enough, he will capture her. Look how long it took me to capture you."
"I don't know if I like the term capture like I am a wild animal."
"You are not a wild animal. A wild animal is a lot tamer than you."
Scarlett huffed and walked away. Rhett followed behind her like he had been for the last twenty years.
Before the Fontaines left, Alex came over and introduced his son to Rhett and Scarlett. Joe said, "May I speak to you privately?"
"Yes."
Rhett looked at Scarlett. She pouted but she walked off to help clear the food. Soon they were on the train to Atlanta. Rhett sat down next to Ella and picked up her hand. He said, "My dear, that young man that was following you around this afternoon…."
"Joe?"
"Yes, Joe. He has asked me for permission to call on you."
"You said yes didn't you. Please say you said yes."
Rhett smiled and said, "I said yes. He is going to have to find a way to get to Atlanta though. I told him he could write you."
"Thank you, Daddy."
"You are welcome, my Ella."
Every chance he got Joe went into Atlanta. Every time her mother went to Tara, Ella went with her. One year later Ella and Joe were married. They had the service at Tara. Ella was a lovely bride. Rhett built Ella her own house, so she didn't have to live with her in-laws. It wasn't a big house, but it was big enough for Ella and Joe.
Kenny was all smiles at the wedding. He was finally going to have his own room. Chris was all smiles also. Kenny wasn't an easy person to share a room with.
A year after the wedding Ella made Scarlett a grandmother. She named him Francis Joseph.
Scarlett told Rhett, "It is awful that I have to be a grandmother at such a young age."
"You look as beautiful as you did at that barbecue all those years ago."
"How you do go on."
Which made Rhett roar with laughter.
Scarlett sponsored Susie and Solange into the Atlanta society. Both girls made decent matches and they were both married in eighty-four and eighty-five, respectively.
Wade had moved to Tara as soon as he graduated from Emory in eighty-four. He had some innovative ideas for the management of Tara. Will helped him and guided him. Will was very fond of the boy.
In eighty-five Wade married a young lady from the county, Jennifer White.
Suellen's youngest, Lucy, married a man from the county, Peter Carter, when she was just fourteen. Scarlett thought it was too early, but Lucy was determined to marry Peter. Will gave his permission, and she was married December of eighty-five.
Will told Rhett at Lucy's wedding, "I have taken care of everything I need to take care of. All my girls have someone to take care of them and Tara has someone to take care of her. I trust if I have forgotten anything you will take care of it for me. Sue could be a shrew at times, but I miss her."
Rhett replied, "I will make sure no harm comes to your girls or to Tara."
"Thanks."
As Rhett watched the man walk away, he wondered how much longer Will was going to be among the living. In January of eighty-six Will joined his wife in the hereafter.
Vicky met Fanny's son Louis Welburn and they were attracted to each other immediately. They were married in eighty-six. Louis was a wonderful man who still remembered going to bed hungry after his father had foolishly got himself killed in a clan raid. His mother had tried to make it seem noble, but Louis had never thought there was anything noble about getting killed for honor. If his father had been honorable, he would have kept himself alive instead of leaving behind a wife and child to starve. Louis was blown away by Vicky. By her beauty and her intelligence. Nonetheless it had made Scarlett happy that Louis would inherit all of Tom Bradley's fortune. Strangely Tom and Fanny had never had any children.
Tory was not a beauty, but she did catch the eye of Beau Wilkes. Beau was bewitched by her. She was well-read and intelligent like both of their mothers. They were married in eighty-six also.
Charlotte was the quietest of Scarlett and Rhett's children, but she was also the most stubborn. She met a man when she was fifteen that she fell in love with and was determined to wed. There was something about him that Scarlett didn't like. Rhett said, "It is because he is too charming, but I believe he loves our Charlotte, so I have said yes." Even after all their years together Scarlett hated it when Rhett made a decision without her input. She pouted for the next several days. Rhett let her pout. She soon forgot all about pouting as she and Charlotte started planning the wedding. In May of eighty-nine Charlotte married Herman Mode. Scarlett never did warm up to Herman, but she could tell that Charlotte was happy and she knew that was all that mattered.
In nineteen ninety when Faith had turned twelve, Rebecca retired. She had spent almost seventeen years in the Butlers employment. She and her mother bought a little house and watched their pennies. Rebecca and her mother were happy. Rebecca had enjoyed working for Mrs. Butler. Both her mother and Rebecca were appreciative for Mrs. Butler's kindness. Occasionally Rebecca took a tutoring job but only for a year commitment. She wanted to enjoy the rest of her life. She lived with her mother and saw her daughter and grandchildren daily. It was a good life. Occasionally she would have a gentleman caller but there were so few men in her age group that she usually didn't keep them very long before they were stolen away from her. She didn't care. She would never trust a man again except maybe Mr. Butler.
Rebecca had made a bad decision when she was sixteen. She had believed a man when he said he loved her and wanted to marry her. She was eternally grateful to the woman who rescued her from a life of shame and humiliation. To the woman who had always treated her with respect and high regard. They were included in polite society because of that woman. The woman who had sponsored Tory into genteel society. The woman who had almost treated Tory as one of her own children. Rebecca had been pleased when Tory followed her suggestion to name her first daughter Scarlett Rebecca. Mrs. Butler had looked so very pleased. Rebecca had not understood why Mr. Butler had scowled when he heard the name which had made Mrs. Butler giggle.
Kenny didn't want to go to a University. Rhett didn't make him go. Rhett knew that Kenny didn't need any more education. Kenny went into the shipping business and included over land shipping. Kenny's company was a success which didn't surprise either of his parents.
Kenny married Mrs. Merriwether's granddaughter, Bridget in ninety-two when Kenny was just twenty years old. Rene and Maybelle approved of the union because they knew Kenny was going to be a success. Kenny and his wife loved each other and that was all that matter to Scarlett. Rhett was not sure he wanted his son to marry Mrs. Merriwether's granddaughter. Not that Rhett could have stopped his son. When Kenny was bound and determined to do something he did it.
Kenny invested money in the Picard's Bakery then he reorganized it. He brought in much needed new equipment. He slashed items from the menu that were not profitable even customer favorites. He made it much more lucrative. Soon they had two more locations at which the other Picard children worked at.
In ninety-three Chris went to West Point. He was home again in six months. All that discipline was not for him. His parents had rules, but they had also encouraged their children to make their own decisions. After that he went to the University of Georgia. After six months there he came home and just worked with his father managing his father's fortune. Chris had been courting a young lady, Louisa Muegge, for less than six months when he asked her to marry him, she accepted. They were married in May of ninety-five.
Grace was a child that sometimes got lost in the crowd. After everyone moved out Grace finally came into her own. She finally had almost all of her parents' attention. She and Faith were best friends and continued to share a room even when they could have had their own. Grace and Faith looked very much alike. People often mistook them for twins. They both had the O'Hara blue eyes. They looked more like their father than their mother, but they did have their mother's smile. When Anthony Robinson met Grace, he lost his heart hook, line and sinker. In ninety-four they were married.
It was ninety-six and Rhett Butler was walking his youngest daughter, Faith, down the aisle. She was marrying Cale Yarbrough. He was one of the richest men in the south. He was not as rich as his soon to be father-in-law but rich enough that Rhett was not worried about Faith's future. Cale had a checkered past and as much as Rhett had not wanted to give his permission for Faith to marry Cale, he couldn't be that big of a hypocrite. It didn't really matter. Faith had already told him that she was marrying Cale whether her father approved or not. Actually, what his sweet Faith had said was, "You can either approve my marrying him or I will just live with him." He had smiled and said, "Under those circumstances, of course, I approve."
He had been such a lucky bastard to get this second chance. He reflected that day had been the most important day of his life. He never really understood why he had been so stubborn about telling Scarlett he loved her. He knew he had not wanted to let her win. The question he often asked himself, 'Win what? A lifetime of happiness with him.' He guessed like his father had said, "He had been too stubborn for his own good." He had gotten better over the years, but he knew he was still too stubborn, fortunately his wife could be just as stubborn. Eventually he usually came around to her way of thinking. Sometimes she came around to his way of thinking like giving him six children mostly girls.
As he walked down the aisle, he saw all his children sitting on the bride's side. Wade, Ella, Vicky, Kenny, Charlotte, Christopher, and Grace. They were sitting next to their spouses with their children around them. It was a beautiful picture. He looked at his wife and he scowled. There sitting beside his wife was Mammy. Why had Scarlett allowed that old battle axe to sit next to her? Because his wife had no backbone where Mammy was concerned. He looked at Mammy and his scowl grew deeper. Mammy was giving him the evil eye. How was that ancient dinosaur still alive? She had to be twice as old as him. He knew she wanted to outlive him just for spite. He saw his wife smiling her mischievous smile and he had to smile back. He was not going to think about that antiquated dragon. He was going to enjoy the day.
As Scarlett watched Rhett and Faith walked down the aisle, she pondered how she had gotten the chance to save Melanie, Vicky, and Kenny's lives and fix her relationship with Rhett. She was so incredibly grateful even if it had cost her a tiny waist, but she loved all her children so very much, so she guessed it was worth it. She knew the instant Rhett saw Mammy. She knew he would be annoyed by her letting Mammy sit next to her during the ceremony but when Mammy had asked to sit next to Scarlett, she had wanted her there. It was like Mammy knew that Scarlett would need her support. In so many ways Mammy was her mother. Yes, she had needed Mammy's support for this would be the first wedding that Elizabeth had not been sitting next to her. They had lost Elizabeth just last year. She secretly enjoyed Mammy annoying Rhett because he enjoyed annoying everyone else so much. As she looked at Rhett with Faith, she wondered how she could ever have not thought him handsome. Even with a head full of gray hair and a few more wrinkles he was still the most handsome man in the world.
Mammy stood there and watched Captain Butler with Miss Faith and she thought, 'He certainly has become a fine man. Maybe even a fine gentleman although she knew he would deny he was a gentleman.' She had begun to like him when Miss Scarlett had been pregnant with Mr. Kenny. No matter how rude and out of sorts Miss Scarlett got Mr. Rhett would just ignore her words and tease her back into a better mood. He would bring her all sorts of little presents just to make her happy even if it was only for a few minutes. Miss Scarlett was not happy when she was pregnant, but Mr. Rhett went out of his way to make her happy and he was never rude, mocking or sarcastic with her when she was pregnant. Mammy smiled. Now a days she just liked to annoy Mr. Rhett because it was fun. She liked him being the one that was annoyed. Afterall he was always annoying everyone else. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.