Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the many reviews and the feedback.
I am titling this chapter
Rhett's Comeuppance.
Chapter Forty-Four
On Wade's eighteenth birthday the Butlers had a large party. They probably invited everyone in Sydney. Ella who was thirteen asked, "Are you going to have this big of a party for my eighteenth birthday?"
Rhett had said, "If you don't get married first."
"Daddy, you know I want to go to the University before I even think about getting married."
Scarlett said, "You are not doing anything of the sort, young lady."
Rhett said, "If you want to go, I will pay for it."
"Rhett, I don't want her to become a bluestocking and not be able to get married."
"My lady, Ella is far too beautiful and charming to not be able to find a husband. In fact, the problem will not be her finding a husband, it will be her finding one good enough for her. Furthermore, if she wants to live with us the rest of her life, I am alright with that."
Genie who was almost eleven said, "Can I go too, Daddy?"
"Of course, pumpkin. Everyone can go. Even your mother if she wanted to go."
The expression on Scarlett's face was one of sheer horror that he would even joke about her doing something so unfeminine. She said, "I have to go check on the children."
Rhett took her arm and made her walk with him. He said, "No, you don't. Paddy and Daniel are on the lawn playing with the other children. That means it is just Gabriel and Mammy in the nursery and you know they are both taking a nap."
Scarlett smiled and said, "I know. I just worry about her she isn't getting any younger."
"That is why we pay Edith to help her. You know she will never quit or retire. She would feel like she was shirking her duty. Let's enjoy ourselves at our party. You know I was just teasing you about going to the University," Scarlett waited for Rhett's follow-up zinger. He continued, "You would have to read lots and lots of books in order to graduate. We both know you aren't going to do that."
Scarlett smiled at him and said, "It is nice that all our children so far have inherited your love of reading."
"Did you let the girls pick out their own outfits?"
"Yes, why?"
"Judging by their outfits they have inherited your horrible taste in clothing."
"They look beautiful."
"Yes, they do," Rhett smiled and continued, "As do you."
There was a long pause while Scarlett waited for the zinger, but one never came. Scarlett looked at Rhett and he said, "You are beautiful. I don't tell you often enough."
"Thank you, Rhett. You are very handsome."
Scarlett smiled as her husband preened. They continued walking around talking to their guests.
Towards the end of the afternoon, Wade had said to Rhett, "Let's go sailing, just the two of us."
Rhett had said, "I would like that."
Wade and Rhett had gone out the next day. They were chatting amiably, and Rhett was making some mocking comments about their guest the day before and Wade was making mocking comments at those same people. Rhett had thought Wade had wanted them to go sailing so Wade could convince Rhett to not make him go to the University of Sydney.
When they were far away from shore Wade had asked, "Am I your biological child?"
Rhett was stunned and instantly filled with shame. He had looked away and refused to meet Wade's eyes. It was the first time Wade had ever seen his father ill at ease. Wade watched as the flushed stained his father's cheeks and Wade knew his father was extremely embarrassed. Wade just stood there and waited.
Finally, Rhett made up his mind. He had looked Wade in the eye and said, "I will be completely honest with you. You may ask me all your questions but when we get back to shore, we will never speak of this again. I don't want your siblings to know of this and I don't want your mother to know that you know. She would be mortified to know that you know. But yes, you are my biological son. To my shame I took advantage of your mother when she was naïve and innocent. I was an amoral bastard at the time."
"And Ella?"
"Yes, I was that same amoral bastard."
"And?"
"And what?"
"How did you get Mother to marry you?"
Rhett looked away and his face became flush again. Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "I threatened to tell everyone about you and Ella if she didn't marry me. I did love her, though."
"Yeah, right. You really were an amoral bastard."
"Yes, I was. Your mother has made me a better man."
"It wouldn't take much to make you a better man."
"No, it wouldn't have. I am a much better man because of you, Ella and your mother."
"After doing all that to her how in the world did you not only get her to forgive you but fall in love with you?"
"By some miracle. Although I have worked extremely hard to atone for my actions, I know that I got a miracle when she told me she loved me. I have never forgotten that I did get a miracle. I have tried awfully hard to ensure she never regretted the decision to marry me. I hope you will forgive me also."
"Did you really love her?"
"I have loved her since I first saw her at that barbecue, we met at but not like I love her now. At the time I really didn't know what love was. It wasn't until after your mother married me that I learned how to love someone. She loved Mammy, she loved you, she loved Ella, and she loved Melanie Wilkes. Her parents had loved her, and she had known without a doubt that they had loved her. Your mother fortunately for me had a happy childhood filled with love and security. Therefore, she knew how to give love and receive love. I was an amoral bastard raised by an amoral bastard who had been raised by an amoral bastard."
"What about your mother? She seemed to love you."
"I guess she did but not like I needed to be loved. She turned her back on me over and over again. The only person I knew that loved me before you and your sister was my Mammy. I loved her too."
"What happened to her?"
"She died several years after I left home."
"Who was Charles Hamilton?"
"A young man who idolized and adored your mother."
"Do you think Mother just married him to give me a name?"
"Yes."
"Who was Frank Kennedy?"
"A man your mother married to give Ella a name. I can assure you he was happy being married to your mother, though"
"How did he die?"
"In a clan raid."
"What is a clan?"
"It is a group of men who have more arrogance and honor than they do brains."
There was no mistaking the contempt in Rhett's voice. Wade smiled and said, "I guess you weren't part of the group."
Rhett laughed and said, "Hardly."
"Why did they go on the raid?"
"To mete out their own form of justice. There was a place called Shantytown where people down on their luck lived. Some of the gentlemen had been robbed while riding through it," There was so much scorn in Dad's voice when he had said the word gentlemen that Wade had to smile. Rhett continued, "So these men took it upon themselves to ride out there at night and inflict punishment on this entire group. This entire group that was already pretty down on their luck. The Yankees somehow heard about the raid. They probably had an informer in the group. They had been waiting for the gentlemen. When the gentlemen started firing randomly into Shantytown the Yankees fired back. Mr. Kennedy and another man were killed, and Mr. Wilkes was injured. They were such damn fools."
"Why did you hate Uncle Ashley so?"
Rhett stared off and looked at the water for a long time. Finally, he said, "Because he pretended to be the epitome of a gentlemen. In truth, he was weak. He was a coward and a hypocrite. He was against the war but instead of saying so he went away to war. He was against what the clan stood for, but he was still a member of the clan," Rhett here paused and looked at his son. Then he decided to go on. He said, "He lusted after my wife while pretending to be a devoted husband. Yet, in the end I pitied him because he wanted so much to return to the world he lived in before the war."
"Do you hold him responsible for Aunt Melly's death?"
"No. He should have said no but he didn't have the strength to say no by that time.
They were quiet for the rest of the afternoon. Wade wanted to hate this man for what he had done to his mother, but he couldn't because his father had been a great father and, after all, his mother, the woman he had actually wronged had forgiven him. Wade had been lost in thought the rest of the time that they were out sailing that day.
Wade had known his mother would never admit the truth which is why he had confronted his father with his questions. He was proud of his father for not trying to dodge the questions and for not trying to rationalize his actions. He had also been a little gleeful at how embarrassed and ashamed his father had been.
By the time they had gotten to shore, Wade had decided to make himself forgive his father and move forward. He had accepted his father's explanation that he was an amoral bastard at the time. He knew his father wasn't the most moral of men now, but he also knew that his father worshipped his mother now.
When they got back to shore Rhett said, "Last chance to ask any questions."
"No more questions."
"I have one last thing to say. I have felt a lot of shame and guilt for what I did to your mother. I know I always will even though she has forgiven me. Yet the shame I felt when you ask me if you were my biological child was ten times worse. I have always wanted you and your brothers and sisters to be proud of me therefore I am going to ask you once again to never discuss any of this with anyone else."
"I won't, Dad. Nobody else needs to know. And with that story Mother tells about how you two met nobody else will ever even question it. In this world we live in I am your biological son, so all is well"
"I have always been so proud of you."
"I can't be proud of you for what you did to my mother, but I can be proud of you for what a good father you are and how well you treat my mother now. I know that today you will move heaven and earth just to make her happy."
That had made Rhett smile and he had started telling Wade a story about his youth in Charleston. It had been the first time that Wade realized that all his father's stories about his youth involved just him or him and his friends. Wade had decided that it probably was true that the first time Dad had really felt loved except by his Mammy was when he and Ella had loved him.
He would never say anything to Ella. In truth, Ella believed she was Dad's biological child especially after his mother had told Ella about how her parents had met and married the day the war started. Ella had never even known she had ever had any other last name but Butler, after all she had only been one and a half when his parents got married. Wade didn't even think that Ella had ever heard the name Frank Kennedy.
Wade at his advance years knew more about his parents' history than his siblings but he would never tell them the details. He would let his parents keep their secrets.
Wade smiled when he thought, 'I guess it is my secret too. I certainly want everyone to believe that Mother and Dad got married the day the war started.'
That night as Rhett and Scarlett got in the bed, she asked, "What did Wade want to talk to you about?"
"He tried to convince me to not make him go to the University of Sydney."
"What did you tell him?"
"That we think this is what is best for him."
"Thank you, Rhett."
"Anything for you, my love."
To Rhett's great relief his wife accepted that story and they talked about other things. She could never know that Wade knew. Her humiliation would be too much for her to bear and Rhett could never allow that. His humiliation was great but he deserved it so he would endure it.
Author's Notes: Y'all didn't think I was not going to punish Rhett, did you? Alas, not as much as he deserves.