Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Twenty-Six

That night at supper, there was plenty of food on the table. There wasn't as much as would have been on the table before the war but there was enough that Rhett didn't hesitate to help himself to a second helping. As everyone was eating, Scarlett said, "Rhett is once again a Butler from Charleston. His brother, Robert, reinstated him back into the family."

Gerald said, "What about that whole scandal with the girl and the broken buggy wheel."

"My brother explained to the good people of Charleston that Langston had been wrong to disown me. That in Robert's opinion I hadn't done anything wrong. It was just a broken buggy wheel. I had even had proof it was a broken buggy wheel. Therefore, he was not going to shun me even if the good people of Charleston chose to shun him and his family. My mother and sister agreed with him, and they would not shun me either. If needed the family would just move to Atlanta.

Careen said, "Who is Langston?"

"Rhett's father. I will explain it all later."

"Alright."

Rhett smiled and said, "Careen, when my father disowned me, I refused to call him or refer to him as Father because he wasn't anymore. I don't know if I will ever be able to call him Father again. He did disown me after all."

Gerald said, "This is good news, indeed. Shouldn't you be wearing black?"

Scarlett said, "I refuse to miss my sister's wedding and I refuse to wear black to my sister's wedding."

Careen said, "Thank you, Scarlett. I don't want anyone wearing black at my wedding."

"Of course not. Weddings are happy occasions."

The next morning, Will, Rhett, and Gerald got in the wagon and drove into Atlanta. As they drove away, Rhett turned to look and see if Scarlett was watching him drive away. She was and she smiled and waved. He smiled and waved back yet he didn't turn back to face forward until Will had driven them around the bend. Scarlett continued to make eye contact with her husband until she couldn't see him anymore.

Scarlett said to Careen, "Hopefully Will will be able to keep them out of trouble."

Careen giggled. She said, "I doubt it but with Will along hopefully it won't be serious trouble."

The women were going to move everyone's clothing. Right now, Will was sleeping in the Overseer's cabin, Gerald was sleeping in the master bedroom, and Careen was sleeping in her old bedroom.

Gerald had said, "Careen, once you and Will are married you will move into the master bedroom while I will sleep in your old bedroom."

Moving the clothing was going to be simple enough. The hard part was cleaning out Ellen O'Hara's belongings. There wasn't any clothing left in the dresser for Gerald had been right – his daughters had needed his wife's clothing.

The first time one of the daughters had needed to get an article of clothing from their mother's dresser had been difficult on everyone in the household. Everyone but Gerald O'Hara. He was in survivor mode; therefore, sentimentality and soft feelings were not allowed. One day over breakfast, Gerald had said to Careen, "Your dress is threadbare. Go get another one out of Mrs. O'Hara's dresser."

"Pa!"

Scarlett said, "I will go with you. Pa is right. We have gotten all the usefulness out of our dresses."

"Thank you, Scarlett."

Suellen said, "I will go with you, too."

Scarlett had just smiled.

The sisters did the easy task first. They moved Careen's clothing and put it where Ellen's clothing had once been. They then moved Gerald's clothing and personal possessions into Careen's old bedroom. That left Gerald's side of the room for Will. The sisters went and got some boxes. They packed all of Ellen O'Hara's personal possessions in the boxes. The items were exactly where Ellen had left them. They even had dust on them, but Gerald couldn't pack them away. Seeing his wife's possessions made him think for a few seconds that she was still alive and would be returning to their room any minute. It had made Gerald happy.

Scarlett and Careen shed a few tears while they were packing up the boxes. When Careen opened their mother's jewelry box there were still a few pieces of jewelry in the box. Careen said, "Look, Scarlett, some jewelry the Yankee's didn't steal."

Scarlett picked up a ring and said, "This was mother's mother's wedding ring. You have to use it for the ceremony."

"I would like to. I'll ask Suellen if she is alright with it."

Scarlett put the ring in Careen's palm and said, "She will never know."

There was a necklace and another ring. Scarlett picked up the necklace. It was the one she had worn to the barbecue. She said, "I am taking this. It was the one that I wore to the Wilkes barbecue the day the war started. The day I met Rhett."

"What happened to your feelings for Ashley? I mean we all knew you were agog over him."

"He married another woman. Nobody throws me over for another woman."

"I guess that is right."

"Careen, he called on me every week for two years and then suddenly he was marrying another woman. It doesn't matter why. He did. What's more he didn't even tell me himself that he was marrying another woman. I had to find out through gossip."

"Ouch. That would hurt."

"Exactly. That leaves the last ring for Suellen."

"Scarlett, I don't know."

"Careen, you know she is going to say she wants the necklace just so I can't have it."

Scarlett stared at Careen until Careen admitted, "Yes, she would."

"We will just tell her the ring was all that was left in Mother's jewelry box."

Careen smiled and said, "Alright. I really like the specialness of wearing Grandmere's wedding ring."

"What is that in the bottom. It looks like a letter."

As it turned out there were two letters in the bottom of the box. One was from someone named Phillipe and the other was a letter their mother had written to their Grandpere. They read the letter from Phillipe first.

My Dearest Ellen,

I hope this finds you well and not too terribly heartbroken. Let me assure you that I still love you. I took the money from your pere in order to have a stake. I needed a stake in order to turn it into a fortune. Do not despair I will return to you. When I return, I will be a very wealthy man, and nobody will be able to accuse me of being a fortune hunter. I just ask that you wait for me.

The rest of the letter was about Phillipe's undying love for Ellen, where he was, and how he planned to make a fortune playing poker. He had signed it – Your one true love, Phillipe

Scarlett and Careen looked at each other. Scarlett said, "Let's read the other letter then if we need to, we can ask Mammy for more details."

Dear Pere,

Eulalie and Pauline were already married with lives of their own before you married my mother therefore it was just you and me after Mother died. I know you loved her so very much. Did you feel guilty that she had died in childbirth? Probably. You ended up drinking too much. Most of the time during my childhood Mammy was the only parent I had. Your response to anything I wanted was to give it to me because you didn't want to deal with disciplining your child.

When you finally decided to be a parent to me, I was so spoiled and headstrong that my reaction to you saying no was a very natural reaction. Maybe Phillipe was a fortune hunter but nonetheless I loved him so.

It is ironic that you wouldn't let me marry Phillipe with his fine breeding because you thought he was a fortune hunter but, in the end, you allowed me to marry an Irish man of no account. Did you finally agree to my marrying Gerald to get me and the scandal out of Savannah. Probably. You always did care overly much about your good name.

The reason I am writing you is that Eulalie wrote and told me that you are extremely sick and for me to come visit with you before you die. I will not. I haven't spoken to you since I left Savannah, and I will not speak to you now. Confess your sins to your God and I will confess mine to my God, but I will never forgive you for sending Phillipe away. Fortune hunter or not I still believe that Phillipe and I could have had a good life. You could have controlled Phillipe by controlling the money.

I do not regret marrying Gerald. He is a fine man and I have never been ashamed to be his wife. He has been good to me. He has even ensured we didn't have any more children after we lost our three sons. The pain was just too great to keep doing that again and again. He has given me a good life. He has treated me like a queen. I have grown to love him. It is not the wildly passionate love I had for Phillipe, but it is a warm and comforting love. Gerald has always made me feel loved and secure.

I have three lovely daughters. Scarlett who is too spirited for her own good who all the men love probably because of that spirit. Suellen who is too proper for her own good. Unfortunately, she is not a likeable person probably because of her need to always be proper and also because she is always tattling on the other children. Careen who is a wonderful combination of the two. She is spirited enough but also proper enough. Once she is outside of Scarlett's shadow, she will be extremely popular also.

Goodbye Pere. May you burn in hell.

Your daughter,

Ellen.

Careen said, "Wow! I never knew all that."

"Nor did I. I guess she never sent the letter."

"I wonder why? Do you think Grand Pere died before she could mail it?"

"No, I think Mother was still too proper to send such a letter. Not that she didn't want to, but it wouldn't be the proper thing to do."

"What do you think about what she said about us?"

"It is the truth. I am too spirited for my own good. Suellen would be so much more fun if she wasn't always acting like the proper lady. She acted that way even when she was a kid. And you are a good combination of the two of us. You are a proper lady but not above doing what you have to do to succeed. Just like you marrying Will. I know he isn't the man of your dreams…" When Careen tried to protest. Scarlett went on, "You are going to because he is right for Tara, and he is a good man. You will have a good life."

Careen smiled and said, "I agree. What should we do with the letters?"

"Burn them. Nobody else can ever see them. I don't know if it would hurt Pa's feelings for him to find out about Phillipe, but I know it would hurt Suellen's feelings for her to know her own Mother didn't like her."

"I agree with you. I am surprised you can show Suellen such compassion."

In typical Scarlett fashion she put her hard shell back on and said, "It isn't compassion, it is pity."

Careen smiled at her older sister. That was typical of Scarlett. She would rarely let anyone see her in a weak position although in Careen's opinion showing someone compassion would not be a weak position. Nonetheless Careen knew her older sister would think so.

Scarlett said, "I just have one question – Why didn't Mother wait for Phillipe to return?"

"We will ask Mammy and when I say we that means I will be standing next to you when you browbeat Mammy into telling us."

Scarlett laughed and Careen joined her.