Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter One
It was a Sunday night two weeks after Ashley's birthday party fiasco and Scarlett was tired. She was tired of calling on all the ladies of society with Melly. Tired of forcing them to receive her. Tired of the looks of censor she had gotten.
Scarlett was sitting in the parlor, and she was bored. There was no one to entertain her. Of course, that was normal. Even when Rhett was in town he never stayed home. He spent his nights at Belle's. That wound was still too raw for her to think about Rhett and Belle. She had to think about something else.
Rhett had taken Bonnie and left her. Her reputation was in tatters thanks to this latest scandal. None of this would have happened if she and Ashley were married. If she had been married to Ashley, she would not have married Frank. She would not have bought the sawmills. She would not have had to drive herself through Shantytown. She would not have married Rhett. If she had not married Rhett she would not have consorted with Republicans and Scallawags.
If she had married Ashley, she could have remained that gentle, spirited, proper child she was at the barbecue. Her life would have been perfect for Ashley would have taken care of everything.
Scarlett looked at the objects on the bookshelf that Rhett had bought for her in New Orleans. She saw the Arabian lamp. She remembered when they had bought it. The proprietor of the shop had said, "There is a genie inside all you have to do is rub the lamp."
Rhett had whispered to her, "What a bunch of malarkey!"
Scarlett had flashed him a smile and then said to the proprietor, "It looks more like a gravy bowl than a lamp. How does it work?"
The man had explained. He said, "You put oil inside then a wick in this hole. You light the wick and voila you have light."
"How much?"
"Ten dollars."
"Buy it for me, Rhett, please."
Rhett had gotten the man to sell it to him for eight dollars. She had been so thrilled that her husband was such a brilliant negotiator. He had bought her anything she wanted. Rhett had been so kind on their honeymoon until he had stormed out of their hotel room. She still didn't understand why he was so mad. He had her body and that was what he had wanted. She guessed her body wasn't good enough for a worldly man like Rhett. Or maybe she hadn't been good enough because she hadn't known how to please a man. It was at times like that she wished she was more insightful.
After their night together she now knew there was a lot more to relations than the man putting his member in her. Scarlett briefly wondered why Rhett hadn't tried to teach her what else there was to relations. She remembered. He had but she had refused. She had refused to even talk about it. The one time he had tried to force her to touch his member she had balled her hand up so tight and had gotten so mad that he never tried again.
During their night together Scarlett had known Rhett was mad enough to hurt her if she didn't do what he wanted her to do. In fact, he had hurt her several times.
In passing she wondered if her inability to please him had been the real reason he had accepted separate bedrooms so easily. After he made her feel stupid that is. That made her want to cry.
That had certainly been a bad decision. Nothing had changed with Ashley. There were no innuendos or comments about being chaste for each other. She had felt so stupid when she realized that Ashley hadn't given up anything to be chaste for her. He was already being chaste, because of Melanie's condition.
The worst to Scarlett was that within a month she had lost that extra inch that she had gained with Bonnie. Having children wasn't making her fat.
Scarlett had to think about something else. She stood up and got the lamp down from the shelf. She decided to rub the lamp and see if a genie would come out. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she needed to think about anything else but Rhett, Ashley, or the scandal. She also knew that the maids rubbed the lamp down regularly for there was no dust on it. Yet, she did it anyway.
The lamp started shaking and fell out of her hands onto the carpet. Some bluish-green smoke came out of the opening. That bluish-green smoke formed into a person. It was an unbelievably beautiful woman. She had a blue scarf over her head and face. All Scarlett could see were her brown eyes and her forehead. Scarlett knew the woman had black hair for her eyebrows were black. The woman had a beautiful piece of jewelry that was resting on her upper forehead. She had on a dress that looked like it was made of scarfs.
The woman put her palms together and nodded to Scarlett. She said, "You summon me, Mistress."
"Who are you?"
"Al-jani. It means genie so why don't you call me Genie."
"I would like that. That was supposed to be my daughter's name until Rhett and Melanie changed it to Bonnie. Her name is Eugenia Victoria. She was named for two queens. Nonetheless, they gave her that nickname that reference the flag of the war. That was the last thing I wanted to remember. The war.
The woman smiled and said, "Yes ma'am. The war and the aftermath of the war were hard on you."
"Yes, they were but nobody seems to understand how awful my life was then."
"Let's make your life better. What is your first wish?"
"Is this for real. I get three wishes?"
"Let me explain everything to you. I will grant you three wishes, but they must be granted one week apart. I disappear after I grant each wish. If you want to talk to me, just call my name. I can give you information if you need it. After your three wishes are granted, I will go back into the lamp until my next master or mistress summons me."
"Why did you not come out when the maids cleaned the lamp?"
"Because they were not the owner of the lamp. Only the actual owner of the lamp may summon me. What is your first wish?"
"That is easy. I wish I was married to Ashley Wilkes."
"When you wake up you will be Mrs. Ashley Wilkes."
Poof Genie was gone. Scarlett laughed. She helped herself to another glass of brandy. The lamp was back on the shelf. What had happened? Could it be real? Probably not but if she was married to Ashley all her troubles would be over. She would behave and maintain her reputation.
When she woke up in the morning, she was in her room at the Hamilton House. She turned over and there was Ashley. She was in bed with Ashley. It had worked. She was Mrs. Ashley Wilkes. Scarlett reached out her hand to touch Ashley's face.
When Scarlett had caressed his face, Ashley had woken up. Scarlett said, "Good morning, Darling."
"Why did you wake me up? I could have slept for fifteen more minutes."
Ashley closed his eyes and turned over.
Scarlett heard a baby crying. She just laid there. With his back still turned to her, Ashley said, "Scarlett you better go get Melanie. She isn't going to feed herself. When you get finish feeding Melanie, don't dawdle in the nursery. You need to quickly fix my breakfast. I don't want to be late again. Captain Butler is not a nice boss. The man has it out for me which is because he is jealous of me being married to you. Another of the benefits of being married to you. Wake me up in fifteen minutes. I'm going back to sleep.
"We don't have a wet nurse."
"Of course, we don't have a wet nurse. We can barely feed ourselves much less hire someone. If Mammy, Cookie, and Uncle Peter hadn't been willing to work for just room and board, we would not be able to afford them. I might as well get up. You are not going to let me go back to sleep with all your silly talking. Really, Dear, you need to grow up. You are such a child. While your silly, ignorant, childish behavior was understandable when you were sixteen, you are a grown woman of twenty-six with three children." Ashley put on his robe and walked out of the bedroom.
Scarlett was so confused and hurt by Ashley's words. She guessed the first thing she needed to do was feed her daughter. The entire process of feeding the child was awful. It took so long and was so boring.
After feeding the baby, who looked a lot like Ashley with blond hair and green eyes, she gave the child to Mammy. She cheered herself up by thinking Ashley must not be a morning person. She went to the kitchen and scrambled all ten of the eggs they had. She also made some toast. There was not very much food in the kitchen. She hoped Cookie would go shopping today and buy some more groceries.
Ashley came in the kitchen and sat down at the little table there. Scarlett served him his food and he said, "Where is my coffee?"
"Oh, I forgot to make some."
"Never mind, I don't have time to wait. Bring me some water."
"Of course."
Scarlett brought Ashley his water and then got her plate of food and sat down. As they were eating, India came in. She looked at Scarlett but didn't say anything. She didn't even glare at Scarlett. She just fixed her plate and sat down to eat. Soon her Pa came into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Ashley and India looked expectantly at Scarlett. Suddenly she realized she had to fix Pa's breakfast plate which she hurriedly did.
There was no conversation while everyone was eating. After Ashley finished eating without speaking anymore, he stood up and said, "Where is my dinner?"
Scarlett said, "Your dinner?"
"Scarlett, you know that I take my dinner to work every day. The sawmill is past Shantytown on Decatur Rd. There is nothing out there. I must go. I guess I will just starve today."
Scarlett could not understand why Ashley was talking to her in the tone that he was talking to her in. He wasn't speaking to her rudely exactly, but he certainly wasn't speaking to her politely. Always before he had been full of flowery phrases and kind words. Judging by the fact that India was not acting like anything strange was going on this must be the way Ashley always talked to her.
India got up and took hers and Ashley's plates to the sink. She said, "I am going to go get dressed. By the time I get back your father and the boys should be finished eating. I will wash the breakfast plates then."
"Why did Cookie not fix breakfast?"
"Scarlett, you know why."
"Tell me again."
With a confused look on her face India said, "Since she just works for room and board, she sets her own hours. She wants to sleep late."
"Understandable. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
India left the room. There was no anger or hostility from India. Scarlett was so confused. She just sat there in her confusion.
Soon Mammy was leading the boys into the kitchen where there was a table. Mammy fixed four plates with what was left over from the scrambled eggs. She put the plates in front of the boys and another she left on the table. Mammy left the room to go eat her breakfast. Gerald said, "I am going to go find Mrs. O'Hara."
"Don't leave the house, Pa."
Scarlett had not known why she had said that, but she knew it was something she had needed to say to her father. When Aunt PittyPat entered the room, Scarlett knew who the last plate was for.
When Wade had finished all the food on his plate, he said, "Is there anything else to eat?"
Beau had looked up questioningly also.
Scarlett knew the boys were not getting enough to eat. She would have to do something about getting them more food. But for now, she sadly shook her head.
Beau said, "Can we go to the park this morning?"
"Why not? I don't have to go to work. Let me get dressed."
Both boys looked at their mother strangely but didn't comment. She was taking them to the park.