Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Thirty-Three
In her fifth month Melanie suffered a miscarriage but she survived. She had been near death a couple of times, but she managed to pull through.
Scarlett was over at the Wilkes all the time for the next month. She brought food for the family and different soups for Melanie. She had one of her maids clean the house once a week and her laundry women continued to come over every Monday.
Scarlett would smile when she saw Ashley fussing over Melanie. He really did love her so much. She knew that she would never have to worry about Melanie getting with child again. Ashley wasn't going to take any chances no matter what Melly said.
After a month, Melanie had recovered. She had recovered enough to ban Scarlett's employees from her house. She said to Scarlett, "If you bring your servants over to my house again, I will not let you in."
"Alright, Dear."
"I guess Dr. Meade was right."
"Yes, he was, Dear. Remember Beau and Ashley need you so very much. Not to mention me."
Melanie was pleased with Scarlett's statement. It was so rare that her sister-in-law showed her any signs of affection. Melly knew that Scarlett was a woman of action and she had showed her love by practically moving in ever since she learned Melly was with child. Melly would not admit it but her not having to do her chores these last few months had been wonderful. It had made her feel like she had before the war. A lady of great wealth.
Ashley's job as a law clerk was a better fit for the man. Although Scarlett would not say he had blossomed, he was doing a lot better. Ashley was alone in his office with the law books researching past case histories. The only people Ashley had to talk to where the lawyers he worked for. She would not say Ashley was happy in his job because he still thought working was beneath him but being a law clerk was a much better fit than managing a sawmill. Ashley was good enough at his job that he had gotten several pay raises and he could finally afford to support his family. Melanie and everyone else were finally getting enough to eat. That was probably what had saved Melly's life when she had the miscarriage. Her being in relatively good health.
After Melanie had made a full recovery Scarlett said, "Luckily Melanie was healthy enough to survive."
"Which is thanks to you getting Mr. Wilkes that better paying job."
Scarlett smiled and thought, 'Melanie was saved because of my first wish. My truly knowing Ashley thus getting him a job that he was good at.'
A couple of weeks later, Rhett casually said, "What did you use your wishes for?"
"To have the gift of insight and to bring me back to you."
"That is only two."
"That is all you need to know," Scarlett didn't want Rhett to know that she and Ashley had been husband and wife in another timeline. She did not want him to think that she and Ashley had relations even if it was just once and they had technically been husband and wife." She continued, "Do not badger me. I can be pretty closed mouthed too."
"Occasionally."
"What did you mean to bring you back to me?"
"I went to another timeline."
"Let me get this straight you went from this timeline to another timeline and then you came back."
"No, that's not right. I went from one timeline to another timeline and then to this timeline where we made better choices."
"This is difficult for me to wrap my brain around the concept of different timelines."
"It is more of a case of making different choices. Like if you had married the girl in the buggy incident, you wouldn't be who you are today."
"That is true. Just tell me when you left and when you return to."
"I cannot tell you when I left because our life did not repeat itself, but I returned the day of Frank's funeral."
Rhett teased, "Do you mean you could have saved Frank's life?"
"I guess so. I never thought of that. I just knew when I wanted us to start our life together."
After a few minutes, Rhett said, "Now things make sense. After we got married you were more aware of other people. Me especially."
"I'm glad you noticed. I also realized that you were a very guarded, closed-mouth man. That you were never going to be as easy to read as a book."
Scarlett didn't add that she knew he freely lied to her. He would just lie and say that wasn't true.
Rhett just smiled. He knew he was an extremely cautious, private man. He didn't argue with his wife. He said,
"What happened to make you not care about your reputation?"
"No! You did things. I did things. I don't want you to know what you did or what I did. It was awful. We were awful."
Scarlett looked like she was going to burst into tears. When she looked like that it always moved him more than he would ever have thought possible. He was moved to protect her even from himself. Rhett didn't ask any more questions. He knew that her first wish had involved Mr. Wilkes. She had probably wished to be married to the man which may have been the best thing that ever happened to Rhett. Only the harsh reality of truth would have ever shown her that Mr. Wilkes was not the man she thought he had been. Rhett was curious what they had done but he decided that just like with Genie's death only one of them needed to have nightmares about the events. Rhett was not going to consider that if Scarlett had been Mr. Wilkes' wife that they had probably had relations. He was just going to tell himself that they hadn't.
Thank God or whoever that they had found a real magical lamp. Rhett knew deep in his soul that they had driven each other straight into the bowels of hell.
A month later Rhett called Al-jani. When the genie appeared she said, "Yes, Master. Are you ready to make another wish?"
"No, I have a question for you."
"Go ahead."
"Can you make it where I am received in Charleston?"
"Yes, but there will be consequences to me doing that."
"What will the consequences be?"
"I cannot say but your life took a certain path because of your choice."
"I would like to be received in Charleston but not at the cost of losing Scarlett."
"Which you probably would?"
"What do you mean?"
"You only met Scarlett because you were at that barbecue. You were only at that barbecue because you and Frank were doing something questionable regarding the cotton. You would have been at Middleton Acres managing the plantation."
"True."
"What did Scarlett and I do to each other in our other timeline?"
"Rhett, you don't want to know. You and Scarlett were slowly destroying each other."
"Alright. I guess I don't want to know what happened when Scarlett was married to Mr. Wilkes."
"You certainly don't."
Rhett smiled and said, "Thank you. You may go."
After the Democrats were voted back into office in the election of November of seventy-two, the couple had been talking more often about where they wanted to move to. They had pretty muchly settled on New York. They like Boston but they like New York better. It was an urbane, sophisticated, modern city. It was one of the cultural centers of the world. It was close to Tara, Atlanta, and Charleston. Scarlett would have been happy living in London for she had been welcomed and received by the women there.
The few times that Rhett had taken Scarlett with him to New York on business, she had enjoyed the people and the attractions. She didn't like the opera as much as Rhett did, but she did like it. Mostly she was settling on New York because the women there liked her. Not every one of them, of course, but enough where she would finally belong amongst a group of women. She kept up a correspondence with several of them.
Rhett wanted to live in New York or Boston in order to be days away from his family instead of weeks. When Rhett said things like that, she knew he regretted his decision to not marry the girl in the buggy incident. Nonetheless, she knew her Rhett would have been miserable trying to live the proper lifestyle. Much like she had been miserable trying to live the proper lifestyle with Ashley.
Wade's eleventh birthday supper was celebrated at Hamilton House. It was much the same as the other birthday suppers from previous years. The food was much the same. They had ham, greens, mashed potatoes, salad, and Aunt PittyPat's favorite - yams. They had a chocolate cake for dessert. As they were leaving Scarlett smiled when she saw that Wade had left his yams untouched on his plate.
The next day, Wade said to his Mama, "Why do they persist in talking about the past?"
"Because they have no future. There best days are behind them."
"Why can't they forget about the past and look forward to the future?"
"Most of them cannot get over what they have lost. They continue to look back to the days before the war which now they see as perfect."
"I feel like I don't belong."
"No, my son, you don't. Your parents are people who are always looking forward. Yes, we have regrets, but we don't get bogged down into what could have been."
"Why have you never let me play with Southerners?"
"Because the good people of Atlanta do not approve of Dad's and my actions, and they would not let their children play with you in order to punish Dad and me."
"Like what?"
"Me running a sawmill."
"Weren't you feeding everyone at Tara with the money? Not to mention Aunt Melly, Uncle Ashley, and Beau."
"My aunts in Charleston too."
"What else?"
"They don't approve of how fast Dad and I got married, but it would have just been silly to wait. He would have been lonely in London, and I would have been lonely in Atlanta. No, for us it was better to be together despite the censure and it was."
"Did Dad really ruin a girl by refusing to marry her?"
"Yes. In your dad's defense. He took a girl on a buggy ride, the wheel broke, they got back after dark, therefore he had to marry the girl. Your dad refused to marry her because he hadn't done anything wrong. He in fact had the broken wheel as evidence of what had happened. He also didn't kill her brother in a duel. If he wasn't going to marry a girl for honor, he certainly wasn't going to kill someone over honor."
"Why did you marry him if he was unreceived?"
"That question my son I will answer in about ten years, but the simple answer is I love him."
Wade smiled. He said, "No one would doubt that statement."
"No, they wouldn't."
Rhett and Scarlett had a first birthday party for Gerry. Rhett was so excited. He was going to get his wife and her body completely back. Scarlett was going to wean Gerry after his afternoon feeding.
The couple went out for supper, and dancing. It was a magical night for the pair. Rhett had ordered them a bottle of champagne. The champagne went straight to Scarlett's head after having not drunk practically anything in the last two years. She giggled and laughed at almost anything Rhett said. When he made some suggestions all she did was smile at him and flutter her eyelashes. Soon they were returning to the mansion. Even though they had both drunk more than they had in a long time, Rhett did what he had to do at the end of their love making session.