Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the many reviews and the feedback.

Chapter Fifteen

When they were an hour away from Atlanta, Jasmine said, "I was able to find out about your mother and sister, Rhett."

"And?"

"When you didn't send your mother her support check in May, she contacted your Atlanta attorney, James Taylor."

"Yes."

"Fortunately, Mr. Taylor had access to your Atlanta bank account, and he was able to send her a check each month for the next two years. Mr. Taylor managed your investments for those two years also. In May of seventy, Mr. Taylor turned your investments over to your mother. She still died in eighty, but I found out she travel quite extensively her last years of her life. When she passed away, she left your fortune to your sister and your brother."

"Did Robert accept it?"

"Yes."

"What a hypocrite! I guess he could accept my tainted money once it had passed through our sainted mother's hands. What happened to them?"

"Your brother continued to live in Charleston for the next ten years until he died. I don't know what happened to his wife. Rosemary lived into her seventies, but she also traveled a lot."

"Rhett, how did Mr. Taylor have your power of attorney? That doesn't sound like something you would give anyone."

"I had forgot about that until right now. It was a fortunate accident. There was a piece of property I was wanting to buy. The seller said he was going to put it on the market on May first. I signed the power of attorney so Mr. Taylor could buy it before anyone else bought it. He had given me the wrong form to sign that gave him complete power of attorney. He sent me a note telling me to come by and sign another form that would give him limited authority. I forgot all about it until right now. Luckily, he had that first power of attorney so he could take care of my mother and sister and dispose of my fortune."

"And Suellen?"

"Nothing changed in her life because you had made arrangements upon your demise."

Rhett started talking about the baby and distracted the women from their conversation. Rhett didn't care how many dirty looks Scarlett gave him over the baby. If this was the only one Scarlett was going to give him, he was going to enjoy every minute of her pregnancy.

When they got to Atlanta it was five o'clock. Jasmine said, "Great! We got caught in rush hour traffic."

Rhett looked at Jasmine and said, "Explain. We aren't rushing anywhere."

Jasmine laughed and said, "The name is a misnomer. It means the main time people are on the freeway. Usually, these people are going to and from work."

Jasmine had wanted to stay near the Atlanta History Center; therefore, she had made a reservation at a Holiday Inn near it. At six they finally got to the hotel. Jasmine checked them in and returned to the car. When she got in, she said, "I only got us one room in order to save money."

Rhett said, "No, Jasmine. You are going to have to get us our own room. I will not sleep in a room with a woman I am not married to."

"Rhett…" Once Jasmine saw Rhett's face, she knew he was adamant on this point. She got out of the car and went back into the hotel lobby.

Once they were alone in the car, Scarlett said, "It's because you don't wear anything to bed isn't it."

Rhett gave her a roguish smile and said, "Yes, and I'm not going to start now."

Soon Jasmine was back in the car. She said, "I was able to get us rooms next door to one another."

"Wonderful."

Jasmine parked the car, and Rhett carried their luggage to their rooms. They dropped their suitcases off and went to get dinner. Jasmine took them to Piccadilly. Her time travelers liked the food. They liked getting to see the food first and then not having to wait for it to be served.

When they got back to the Holiday Inn, Jasmine joined them in their room for a while then she said, "I'm going to call Marshall."

"Alright."

"Let's be ready to leave tomorrow by nine. We will eat breakfast in the cafe downstairs then go to the History Center."

"Sounds good."

The trio was at the History Center the next morning at ten when it opened up. Rhett and Scarlett walked around looking at all the exhibits while Jasmine went to get Fanny's diary. They came upon a painting of Atlanta after Sherman had left. Rhett took Scarlett's hand. Scarlett grasped his hand back.

Jasmine came back with a copy of Fanny's diary. Rhett and Scarlett went to an alcove that had a table and sat down. They started reading the diary. They read about Fanny's life in Atlanta during the war and afterwards. Most of it was about the Elsing's struggle to stay alive. Fanny did seem to have quite the crush on Rhett. She was always writing about what he was doing. She did often question what Rhett saw in that cold-hearted Scarlett. It wasn't until after Tommy's death that Fanny seemed to be getting pleasure from Scarlett's missteps. She wrote about Scarlett foolishly marrying Rhett and her vulgar diamond. She mentioned their disappearance from New Orleans. There were a few lines about Henry Hamilton selling the store and the mills. There were some sentences about poor Hugh getting fired from the store for poor performance. Six months later there was a sentence about Ashley getting fired from his job as manager of his sawmill. Fanny wrote about everyone's struggle to survive in the following years. Fanny had slowly stopped writing in her journal. The last entries were about the Typhoid epidemic and all the deaths. The last entry was Fanny stating she knew she was going to die also.

After reading all of the diary, Rhett said, "Because of our disappearance there was nothing for Mrs. Wellburn to write about for we weren't living in Atlanta."

"I had hope to confirm what Jasmine told us."

"I had hoped that Jasmine had exaggerated what Mrs. Welburn had written."

"Let's go. It doesn't matter what she wrote. We aren't in that century anymore and we never will be again."

"Yes, let's go. Let's find Jasmine."

Scarlett nodded her head. Scarlett linked her arm in Rhett's. Rhett was worried that Scarlett would make the connection between his actions and the fact she was stuck in this century. A hundred years away from everything she loved. Scarlett had made the connection but there was no point in saying anything to Rhett. There wasn't anything he could do about it now.

They found Jasmine. He gave her the diary and said, "Mrs. Wellburn recorded our disappearance in New Orleans and that was the last she wrote about us. She did record there was a Typhoid epidemic. We will meet you at the car."

When Jasmine came out ten minutes later, she saw her time travelers locked in an embrace. She had known there would now be nothing in Mrs. Welburn's diary. Just as there was nothing in the encyclopedia after May first eighteen sixty-eight. Rhett and Scarlett no longer existed in the nineteenth century. Jasmine had known that the couple would want to see for themselves.

Jasmine drove them to look at the mansion. When they got to the location, there were a couple of houses on two lots, but neither was Scarlett's mansion.

Scarlett said, "They tore my mansion down after I gave them money to maintain it."

"No, Honey, it was never built. We never came back from New Orleans, so you weren't here to build it."

"Did you go inside when you were here before, Jasmine?"

"Yes."

"Was it gorgeous?"

"It was huge. The style was a in a Swiss Chalet design. You had lawn ornaments. It had porches on the second floor."

"And the inside?"

"You copied a design out of Harper's Bazaar. It had a lot of red and a lot of mirrors."

"I let her do that?"

"It was said that you let her build and design it anyway she wanted."

"Thank you, Rhett."

"You're welcome."

"Let's get something to eat. We can then go to the cemetery and view the gravestones. After that I just want to drive around Atlanta to see how much it has changed in a hundred years."

"Do you want to go to Tara?"

"No, not if it is just a bunch of houses."

"Alright. Let me find us a restaurant."

Jasmine found them a Red Rooster. It served much the same food as a Dairy Queen, but a waitress came to one's table instead of one ordering from the counter. Rhett was happy with this restaurant. So was Scarlett. She didn't care how it was presented just that it was good and there was a lot of it. And that there was dessert, of course. Scarlett had apple pie ala mode. Jasmine was always amazed at how much food Scarlett could eat and never gain weight. Jasmine was pleased with how Rhett always smiled at Scarlett indulgently as she ate her dessert.

When they got to the cemetery, they got a map from the caretaker of the cemetery to the locations of the graves. There was Melanie, Ashley, Beau, Wade and Ella altogether. Melanie's day of death was August twentieth-four eighteen seventy-four. Wade and Ella both died on August twentieth eighteen seventy-four.

As Scarlett stared at the grave markers, she said, "I will miss them always just as I will always miss Tara. I don't understand why she didn't die of a miscarriage. Isn't that what you said she died from?"

Rhett said, "The only thing that explains it is that with Wade and Ella in her life she didn't feel the need to have another child."

"That makes sense."

Rhett said, "No, there is another reason why she may not have tried to have another child. You weren't there to take care of Mr. Wilkes and Beau if something happened to her."

Scarlett looked at Rhett and said, "I guess I was her truest friend too."

"I believe you were."

Jasmine, do you know what happened to Mammy."

"Mammy?"

"Yes, my mammy."

"There was no record of your mammy."

"I guess the historians didn't think she was important because she was….. black."

"Unfortunately, I think that is entirely correct."

Rhett said, "What happened to Henry Hamilton and," He looked at Scarlett and said, "What was Aunt PittyPat's real name?"

"Sarah Jane Hamilton."

Jasmine said, "I don't know. Let's see where they are buried," In a few minutes Jasmine said, "They are buried over there. Let's walk over there."

The trio walked to where the Hamiltons were buried. When they got there Scarlett said, "They are buried in the Hamilton plot. There is Charlie's headstone."

Rhett said, "Judging by the dates of their deaths, they died in the epidemic also."

Scarlett stared at the headstones and finally said, "Do you think they gave up?"

Rhett replied, "Yes, everything and everyone they had was gone."

"They only had each other, and they didn't like each other."

"True, Let's go, Baby. We can drive around and make fun of the matrons."

Scarlett gave Rhett a sad smile and said, "Sounds like fun."

They did drive around the rest of the afternoon. The couple talked about the changes in Atlanta. Nobody talked about Rhett and Scarlett's past or future. For this afternoon they were going to live in the now.

Jasmine took the couple to an Italian restaurant, and everyone had an enjoyable time. They even had wine with their meal.

The next morning, they were on the road by nine much to Scarlett's displeasure. On the way back, Scarlett said, "Jasmine, do you have the second sight?"

Jasmine was startled by the question, but she said, "Not like my grandmother or my great, great grandmother. My grandmother said it was weakened by my father since he wasn't a female. Although I know things without knowing how I know them."

"Like you knew Rhett and I were the real Rhett and Scarlett Butler."

"Exactly. Like I knew Marshall was my true love the first time I touched him which is strange because I was only twenty when I met him."

"Why is that strange?"

"I wasn't supposed to get my talent until my twenty-third year."

"Oh."

They were quiet for a while then Scarlett said, "Did you know we were going to the library to check out our history in the encyclopedia that day we did?"

"Yes, I let you go because Marshall had already gone to the library to see what it said about y'all. We knew you wouldn't find out anything from that source."

They were quiet again for a while longer then, Rhett said, "Did you know we wouldn't find out anything by going to Atlanta?"

"Yes."

"Why did you take us?"

"So, you knew there wasn't any information to be found there."

On the way back to New Orleans, they stopped at a Hires Root Beer Restaurant. Although, very muchly like Dairy Queen Rhett liked it a lot more. After they got back in the car, Rhett praised the Mama Burger.

Scarlett said, "I liked the root beer float."

Rhett smiled and said, "You can have as many of those as you want, my pregnant wife."

Which earned him a frown. Rhett didn't care.

When they got to the Wilsons's home Rhett said, "Thank you for taking us, Jasmine. The trip was a bust as far as us finding out anything useful about our past future but I'm still glad we went."

"Yes, thank you, Jasmine. Seeing Wade and Ella's tombstones made everything a reality. Let's have beef stroganoff for dinner."

Jasmine smiled and said, "Yes, let's. We will have to go to the store."

"We can just send Rhett."

"Great idea."

Rhett shook his head and carried their suitcases into the house. Rhett did go to the store. Jasmine had taken them shopping with her therefore Rhett knew what to expect. Rhett smiled when he thought, 'I certainly didn't expect to be running errands for my wife. If we were in eighteen sixty-eight, I would have just sent a footman. It is actually kind of nice to be working together.'

Marshall was home for dinner. Rhett said, "How is the case going?"

"I am ninety-five percent sure who did the murders. I just have to find him. I have patrol looking for him. I don't want to talk about that. Tell me about your trip."

Jasmine, Rhett, and Scarlett did just that. They told everything in a happy tone, but Marshall could tell that nonetheless it had been a disappointment to Rhett and Scarlett.