Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
This is the last chapter then the epilog
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Melanie passed away from pneumonia a year after Rhett had died. Scarlett and Wade had gone to the funeral. There was a nice turn out although Scarlett didn't recognize very many of the other mourners.
Scarlett spoke to India at the reception. She said, "How are you handling it?"
"Not well but I have to be strong for everyone else. Ashley is falling apart."
"Melly always was his entire world. Her and Beau."
"Yes. Beau became a lawyer by studying with one of Ashley's bosses. He then took over Uncle Henry's practice although Uncle Henry hadn't had much of a practice left by that time. Beau is doing alright for himself. He married his cousin, and they have three little girls. Melly's granddaughters were the apple of Melanie's eye."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Continue living with Ashley and taking care of him."
"Good to speak to you again. Here is my address in New York. Let me know if I can be of any help."
"Of course, thank you, Scarlett. I hated you for so long because of Stuart but after you married Captain Butler you changed. You actually became aware of other people, and you became a nicer person. You stopped mooning over Ashley. What happened?"
Thirty years ago, Scarlett would not have spoken to India as honestly as she was about to, but she said, "After Frank died so suddenly, I realized I was wasting my life on a man that would never love me the way I needed to be loved. Also, that the only way I could have Ashley was for Melly to die and that was the last thing I wanted. I had known Rhett had loved me for a while therefore I accepted his offer and began to live in the moment. After being married to Rhett I knew I loved him also. Rhett made me so happy it was easy to be nice to other people. Good luck, Dear. Let me speak to Ashley then I will take my leave."
Scarlett did speak to Ashley, but it was just to tell him how sorry she was for his loss. Anything she had ever felt for Ashley was gone the minute he slapped her across the face. She walked outside. Soon Wade joined her outside, he said, "I am going to meet Beau at his office tomorrow morning. I will sell him my half of Hamilton House for a dollar. Then we can take the next train to New York."
"No, I must go see Tara. One last time."
"Mother. Are you sure?"
"I know it is going to hurt but I must go see it. We will return to New York on the evening train. Please make the arrangements."
"Of course, Mama."
Wade smiled. His mother had always been a diva and Dad had made it that much worse by pampering her. Yet, Wade couldn't be mad at her because in her way she was kind and considerate. Once one realized she wasn't being the way she was being to be cruel or mean it was easy to forgive her. She just so rarely considered other people's thoughts or feelings. Yet, she was so much better than she had been before she married Dad that Wade couldn't complain. She had been a wonderful mother. Much better than so many of his friends' mothers.
That evening over supper both mother and son were lost in thought. Wade recalled how surprised Beau had been when he offered to sell Beau his half of the house for a dollar. Wade didn't want anything to do with it. The house always churned up bad feelings in him. He had only been five years old when they had moved out of the house, but he still remembered his mother always being mad and unhappy, of Frank making him eat everything on his plate, and of Aunt PittyPat making him nervous with all her vapors.
Scarlett was thinking about when she had sold her third of Tara to Suellen. Suellen had bought Tara almost fifteen years ago. About five years after Eulalie's funeral. After Suellen had written to her informing her of Mammy's death Scarlett had offered to sell her third at an extremely cheap price. By then Scarlett had just wanted to get rid of it. She had stopped taking her share of the profits from Tara after Pork and Dilcey had moved to the plantation. It was what she and Rhett had agreed would be a fair compensation to the Benteens for taking the older couple in. Now Suellen and the Catholic Church were the owners of Tara. Or maybe just Suellen.
Wade had two desserts that night while Scarlett had three. As they were walking up the stairs to their suite Scarlett said, "I shouldn't have had that third dessert."
"Probably not."
"I'm soon going to be as fat as Queen Victoria got after she lost her husband."
"Not you, Mama. You will never get fat."
Scarlett had smiled at her son and said, "Thank you, son. You have always been a good boy."
Mother and son traveled down to Tara. Mr. Price's son was running the feed store now and he gave them a ride out to Tara. As they rode out to the plantation Scarlett said to Mr. Price, "Is Suellen Benteen still alive?"
"Yes ma'am."
"And Will Benteen?"
"Yes ma'am."
As they approached the main house Scarlett said, "Please wait for us. We won't be long."
As they approached the house, an incredibly old woman came out of the house. It took Scarlett a few seconds to realize that this old, fat woman with gray hair was her sister Suellen. Scarlett thought, 'Suellen hasn't fared any better than Tara did.'
Scarlett said, "Hello, Suellen. We came down for Melly's funeral and thought we would stop by to see you."
"You've seen me. Now get out of here."
"Have you stayed in touch with Careen?"
"Careen has been dead for almost ten years. She died in a cholera outbreak in Charleston. Will and I were able to scrape the money together to buy her part of Tara from the Catholic Church."
"Thank you for letting me know my sister had passed away. So, you own all of Tara now. Good for you. Is Big Sam still living?"
"No, he has been dead for at least five years. His wife is dead too. His sons are some of our tenants."
"Are either Pork or Dilcey still living?"
"No, both of them have been dead for years."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I wanted to tell them how wonderful Flynn has turned out. He became an architect. He is married and has two children."
"Who is Flynn?"
"Pork and Dilcey's son."
"How did that little n…."
"Don't say it, Sue. Just don't say it. Mother would die in shame if she heard you use that word."
"Scarlett, Mother has been gone a long time. I haven't been a lady in years. Not since I had to marry a cracker after you stole my fiancé. We are eking out a living. Not living a soft life in New York."
Scarlett looked around at the buildings that all needed a coat of paint. The railings that were broken. The fences that were still not repaired from when the Yankees went through and said, "I like what you have done with the place. Goodbye."
"Goodbye Miss High and Mighty. If you step on Tara property again, I will get my gun and shoot you."
Scarlett didn't say another word. Wade and Scarlett walked back to Mr. Price's wagon. He helped his mother into the wagon. After they were seated on the buckboard, Wade put his arm around his mother. He didn't say a word as he felt her crying. He just took his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. She didn't speak the entire time back to Jonesboro. When they got to Jonesboro, Wade paid Mr. Price for his time. Wade never said a word about his mother's tear-stained face or Tara.
Wade bought their tickets to Atlanta. They didn't speak on the train ride to Atlanta. Wade actually couldn't speak. His emotions were too close to the surface when he thought about in what terrible shape Tara was in. He, of course, didn't remember what Tara looked like before the war but his mother had often told him and his siblings about Tara before the war.
In Atlanta Wade got them a private car. Rhett had long ago taught him how to do all that. Dad might claim not to be a gentleman, but he had taught Wade and Gerry how to be a gentleman.
As Wade and Scarlett returned to New York in their private car, Wade knew better than to try to talk to his mother about what she was feeling. The only person who had ever been able to get Wade's mother to be open about her feelings was Dad and he was gone.
Instead, Wade said, "Did I tell you that I used one of my wishes last summer?"
"When Katie got scarlet fever?"
"Yes, it saved her life."
"I'm so glad you had the wish."
"You aren't mad that I didn't save Dad, are you? I never asked you."
"No, Rhett had convinced me that was what he wanted. If you had saved him when he didn't want to be saved, he would have come back and made both of our lives hell until he died."
Wade laughed and said, "Surely not Dad."
They both laughed because they both knew that was exactly what Rhett Butler would have done.
Wade said, "You told me a long time ago that you married Dad despite the fact he was unreceived because you loved him. You said you would tell me more in ten years. I think it has been twenty years since that day. Now is a perfect time to tell me all."
"Indeed, it is.
Over the next two days Scarlett told Wade about her first life with Rhett. She omitted the part about him using whores. Wade didn't need to know about that. She did tell him about her crush on another man.
Wade said, "Was it Uncle Ashley?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"The way Dad behaved when Uncle Ashley was around. The way Uncle Ashley behaved when he was around you. And the way Aunt Melly behaved when you and Uncle Ashley were together. The only person who behaved normally was you."
Scarlett laughed. She said, "I was the only person who knew that things had changed."
Scarlett told him about how she had used her wishes and what her life was like when she was married to Ashley. She told him with her gift of perception she could finally see everything Rhett was trying to hide. She told him about Rhett saving Genie's life and about Rhett saving her life. She didn't tell him about what Rhett had used one of his wishes for. And Wade with insight that Scarlett could have only dreamed about before she got her gift knew not to ask.
Scarlett was as honest as she could be. She said, "I never loved your father. I only married him because everyone else was getting married and I didn't want to be left out."
"I know, Mother. I'm still glad you did for I wouldn't be here if you hadn't."
"How did you know?"
Wade smiled and said, "The same way I know you never loved Uncle Frank. You never ever talk about your first two husbands."
Scarlett actually told Wade all about her life from that barbecue onward. Wade asked a lot of questions, and she tried her best to answer them.
By the time Wade and Scarlett reached New York Grand Central Station, Wade Butler had a much better understanding of his mother. He also knew that they would never talk about anything they had discussed on the train ride ever again.
Except that one-time Scarlett never talked to Wade about the Arabian lamp. Wade was a wise young man. After Rhett gave the lamp to Wade Scarlett started visiting with Al-jani again. When Scarlett had summoned Al-jani after Wade became the owner, Al-jani said, "I had no way to contact you to let you know I was back in the bottle again."
"Of course, Rhett would never tell me until he had to that he had used his other two wishes."
"The man did like his secrets."
"Yes, he did,"
Scarlett proceeded to tell Al-jani all about her life from her death. The genie knew about her life for she now knew all about Wade's life, but she let Scarlett tell her of the events from her point of view. Al-jani was fascinated by knowing the difference between these three people's perception of events.
When Scarlett looked at Wade, she now happily remembered her first husband. They would have had a good life if he had survived the war. She now remembered Charlie fondly. Whenever she thought the word 'fondly' she smiled. Rhett had always hated that word even though they had not had the same conversation after Frank's death.
Scarlett lived until nineteen fifteen. Almost sixteen years after Rhett's death. She enjoyed the rest of her life. She was grateful for the happy years with Rhett. She missed him, of course, but she went on with her life. She became quite the philanthropic woman.
Normally Al-jani didn't spend enough time with her Master or Mistress to develop feelings for them but she had spent almost fifty years with Scarlett, and she truly had enjoyed watching the young, obtuse, child develop into an astute, well-rounded woman. When Al-Jani had first met Scarlett, she was surprised that the woman truly didn't know how horrible her life was. She was so happy to help her change her life for the better.
Al-jani had been there when Scarlett had breathed her last breath. She had seen Rhett's spirit impatiently waiting for her to cross over. Al-jani had laughed when after Scarlett gasped another breath she heard, Rhett say, "Damn it, Scarlett. Just let go. You are still such a stubborn woman."
It had made Al-jani smile at the looks of pure joy on their faces when Scarlett finally crossed over. They had disappeared quickly. Al-jani did not know where they had gone. She could only see spirits if they were on earth.
Al-jani had smiled sadly as she attended Scarlett's funeral. She was going to miss the lively young woman who had never lost her joy of living even after Rhett's death. Scarlett had just kept on living. She had known no other way. She had just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Al-jani really like this family and was glad she was going to be spending a lot more time with them.