Ninigi: Pretty sure I have never actually seen "It's a Wonderful Life." Only Jimmy Stewart that needs to ever be watched is "The Philadelphia Story" and that is because it stars Cary Grant.
Maybe that scene as a what if is overlooked because there is so little actual interaction between the two characters. There is sooo much dialogue for Ashley's party/staircase/leaving. The scene is so similar to a parent watching their kid go up the slide the wrong way, "No you can't do that. Seriously you can't do that you'd hurt yourself, you've got to be kidding me, fine go ahead, but don't cry to me when you get hurt." Only at the end there is a dead child because out of the million ways the child could have fallen they landed the one wrong way. And maybe that is why people don't use it because the freak accidents are the most horrifying to us. Also I acknowledge all of that was a little dark.
Lol. There are so many wonderful ways to imagine Rhett picking up knitting needles. Dads with daughters...Always sooo cute.
Guest: Now that I think about it, I feel like it would actually be really hard to keep Melly alive. MM seemed to write her from the start to have her die.
Thanks for the reviews guys. Hope you're having an OK weekend!
5. Kitten delays Rhett in Charleston until the late train.
He was doing his best to not be annoyed as Bonnie had undone the latch on the carrier his mother had gotten for her little kitten. Their bags were by the door, the horses hitched to the buggy ready to take them to the station. They still had plenty of time, he just needed to grab the kitten and put it back in the carrier.
Bonnie laughed at him as he was on his stomach in front of the settee, the little tabby just in hand. He Hadn't been prepared for the swipe of its claws and he instinctively drew his hand back and the little kitten darted away.
o-o-o
He was exhausted as he got into the house; it was just into the next day as the train finally pulled in.
They had missed that first train when he'd been unable to catch the little kitten quickly amongst all of his mother's delicate furnishings. Bonnie trying to help, certainly hadn't actually helped.
She'd had no interest in sleeping on the train outside of the third hour when she'd taken a fifteen-minute nap.
Now half a day later, she was as irritable as he was. Angry, cross, whiny, she wanted her mother. She had it in her head that she was seeing her mother for over a day in a half that was entirely too long for a toddler. She had wanted her mother in that moment she was mentioned.
He let her climb up the stairs on her own as he settled their bags down and lit a lamp, watching her little legs pump up those dark stairs. The foyer was dark, but for the gas lighting Scarlett had insisted upon. She had insisted upon every extra he could afford. The gas lights were one of the few he actually approved of.
He wasn't even halfway up the stairs before he heard Bonnie's scream of anger and he sprinted up the stairs. She was standing in front of her mother's room, which was amazing in its own right that she could recall its exact placement after 3 months away.
Her fingers could reach the knob as her arms stretched above her head, but they couldn't turn it.
He opened the door; he'd kill Scarlett if she spoke any harsh or angry words at their child because of the late hour. Although it was always likely she wouldn't even be home yet.
She was struggling in bed, leaning towards her bedside table to light her lamp when the door opened. She couldn't see much more than a glint of his face from the lamp he carried.
She gave up on the lamp as Bonnie ran towards her bed yelling, "Mother."
She spoke her little girl's name as she pulled her up onto the bed, holding her close.
"Grandma gave me a kitten," she shot a look at her father, "where's my kitten?"
"With Prissy, it's asleep as you should be. Hello Scarlett."
"Hello Rhett," she said as he was walking into the room.
"Where's Mammy?" Bonnie demanded.
"Asleep, everyone's asleep," she told her daughter, disappointed when Rhett came to her bedside to light the lamp and not greet her.
"I'm not," Bonnie pointed out.
"No, but you should be." She sighed, "We need to get you out of your traveling clothes and changed for bed. Stay with Mother while Daddy finds Prissy and your kitty." She set about the task of getting her daughter's shoes off.
"Are you ill?" Rhett questioned, nearly wanting to pull Bonnie away from her mother. There were dark circles under Scarlett's eyes, her face appeared gaunt.
She barely looked at him, a quick glance and then back to her task of getting her daughter ready for bed, "Pregnant. Same thing." She looked up again quickly, there was no look of joy across his face, it looked as if he'd taken a blow to the stomach, "Find Prissy, so Bonnie can be settled for bed."
o-o-o
By the time he returned with Prissy, Scarlett and Bonnie were asleep in her large bed. He sent Prissy on her way taking the gown she carried with her for Bonnie. He held it in his hands as he collapsed into the chair by her bedside.
Hours later he finally stood, leaving the gown next to Scarlett and went to his own bed to lay down, leaving the door open should Bonnie need him in the night.
o-o-o
He returned to her room the next morning, Bonnie still sound asleep, nestled against her mother.
He settled into a comfortable wingback chair, his chair. The chair he had read in, relaxed on for a few brief months. A large chair meant to suit his size and did so far more comfortably than the guest room chair that had become his.
Bonnie awoke with far too much energy and Rhett was already on his feet and walking towards the bed. His steps sped up as he watched Scarlett in her chemise and drawers falter as she stood, quickly using his arms and body to brace her.
"Mother, are you alright?" Bonnie asked slamming into her mother's legs as she asked.
"She's fine, go find Mammy to get you dressed," he ordered their daughter away.
Her eyes brightened at the thought of the woman and she didn't hesitate to run off.
Scarlett's hands held tightly onto his forearms as her eyes closed as she tried to stabilize herself, "This child is all you. It's impossibly difficult already."
He let out a light laugh.
Her stormy eyes opened.
"You appear to have forgotten to change for bed."
"The baby leaves me so tired I spend half the day in my dressing robe. I at least managed to dress at some point yesterday."
"I can hardly imagine anything so small-"
"He is most certainly not small."
She did the most remarkable thing, she pulled his hand to her stomach. He wasn't quite sure what he was feeling. "May I?" Rhett asked with a flick of her finger at her untucked chemise.
She gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
His breath held as he took in the swell of her stomach.
"Mammy says it's cause he's the fourth so I'm showing faster. I'm of the opinion he's taking everything I eat."
Rhett's eyes looked back up, away from their baby, the sunken look of her eyes, the gauntness of her cheeks, her collarbone seemed more prominent. He agreed with Scarlett's opinion. "What does Dr. Meade say?"
"That it'll get better soon. The worst should be ending."
"You should have written me."
"Why, you didn't write me and you had Bonnie."
"I can handle Bonnie, you clearly can't hand this baby. Have you been riding out to the mills?"
"Not as often," she admitted but didn't admit that was also due to frustration with Ashley and his mismanagement.
"I'll take them over for the time being. I'll ride out today and familiarize myself with them again."
He expected a fight, but instead all he got was an, "Alright."
"What of Kennedy's?"
"It's fine."
Of course, Kennedy's was fine. It was basically Scarlett shopping in town, seeing a need, picking out what she wanted, figuring its location, the only difference was she then priced what she purchased. "Let me know when it's not," he nodded at her.
She nodded.
"How have the children been?"
"Fine. School's out so Wade's bored all the time. Ella won't stop following him around."
"I don't suppose you spent any time with them."
"Of course, I did. I'm their mother," her eyes sparkled with fire.
"Focus on being this one's mother. Go back to bed. I'll have breakfast with the children. I'll find you before I head out to the mills."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
He expected his decision to move back into her room to be met with resistance. After talking to Dr. Meade who had been relieved that Rhett had finally remembered his responsibility as a husband and father and several staff members who confirmed Scarlett hadn't been particularly well with several mentions of near fainting.
Should she be ill or fall during the middle of the night no one would find her for hours. It was his duty as the father of that baby to watch out for it. So he'd moved back in without nary a word from her. Oh she fought him when she thought that he thought that she wasn't doing her best with the baby, but she seemed to stop fighting his fatherly efforts. Often times encouraging them, he was quite sure that was to keep the other children occupied and out of her hair.
He did his best to not fight with his wife with her waning appearance, often times looking as if a strong wind would blow her over. It took every ounce of him to let her get away with a few words that showed she knew what Ashley was costing the mill, there frankly wasn't much savings between paying Ashley to not do his job along with bringing on a competent manager.
It enraged Rhett further to not find any sign of corruption or embezzlement, just consistently reckless poor management. He found himself having to go to the mills every day for the first two weeks to spoon feed Ashley Wilkes his job.
It was easy to put the baby first.
To put the baby's life before his anger with her devotion to Ashley Wilkes.
To put the baby's life before Bonnie's fear of the dark.
To put the baby's life before his desperate need to escape the house and his wife.
It was more than easy; it was a relief.
It was also a relief as the color finally returned to her cheeks and the spark to her eyes.
The malice didn't return with her energy. No cutting or cold worlds. At times they seemed to tease and flirt. A familiar courtship as they took tea, shared meals and ventured around town.
One day as she placed a chaste and docile kiss on the side of his mouth to thank him for the fabric he'd had sent from Charleston, he turned his head towards hers and caught her in a full kiss. "Feel free to thank me properly later," he'd smirked at her.
He didn't think she would, but as he failed yet again to feel the baby moving within her as they were laying in bed. She placed a kiss on his jaw.
His fingers traced along hers.
He turned his body so he could place soft kisses on her lips.
When she whispered, "Please," he deepened it.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Thomas Oliver Butler arrived in the last hours of 1871 with Rhett's mother by her side having come to visit for the holidays. Scarlett's thoughts had been selfish in choosing to endear herself to the mother-in-law she'd practically neglected for nearly four years, but then she saw the expression in the woman's face as her grandson looked so similar to his father as a baby. She regretted every moment the older woman had missed with Bonnie and even Rhett.
His brother, Caden O'Hara Butler arrived on his mother's twenty-eighth birthday with pains that awoke her nearly two hours before she would normally rise, but he didn't greet the world until an hour after her birthday dinner concluded, without her. Of all the indignities she had suffered as a mother that had been the greatest and she made it clear to everyone who would listen. She made it clear throughout the labor that it was the last child she'd ever bear.
She'd demanded Rhett be in the room with her as her birthday meal began for the children, insisting that he should suffer with her, by the time the meal concluded, no one had thought to force him to leave. He'd been dumbstruck and would have likely allowed her to name their son, Katie if he'd been asked.
The summer of '73 was exhausting with five children in the house, especially since the youngest didn't sleep through the night.
There were walks to feed the birds at the pond, there were carriage rides to open fields where they could fly kites, there were ponies, there was getting one child to stop recoiling in fear over the ponies. There was a toddler still learning to walk insisting on running everywhere. There was a green eyed baby who was miserable unless he was being carried.
Scarlett wondered if that was how she missed the change in Melly. She wondered if it was Rhett's near constant issues with Ashley. They had been at Tara when they got the telegram. Mrs. Wilkes wasn't sick or ill. She was dead.
October 25th 1873
"Remind me," Rhett said walking into the room, "are we going out or staying in?"
"We're staying in Captain Butler," Scarlett answered from her vanity where she was fixing her hair, already dressed, "did you not notice my dress?" She was offended he overlooked her low cut plum dress, the dress had been significantly less scandalous last year when she was pregnant instead of nursing.
"The town does not expect you to wear black for six months for your friend," he said as he began to change to take the evening meal.
"She was my sister."
"No one would have worn color for the last decade if people still followed all of those antiquated rules."
"Melly doesn't deserve to be forgotten," she said simply.
"No she does not," he sighed and took a moment to remember her. "I must admit I am more than relieved to be staying in tonight. I did not recall how much energy it takes to play as a young boy."
She laughed lightly recalling Rhett from earlier in the day running around with Wade and Beau. "I would prefer it if you didn't encourage the girls to play-"
He finished for her, "Exactly as you played as a young girl."
She smirked, "Mammy is also older now. It's hardly fair to her." Mammy was constantly after Ella and Bonnie to behave as young ladies.
"I must confess I worry about Tommy and Harry when they're Wade's age. I'll be fifty-five, if this is what I feel like at forty-five."
"Perhaps you'll behave like a normal father and not spend 3 hours running around the house engaging in surprise attacks. I lost a teacup because of you today." She stood and wrapped her arms around his bare waist, it was lean, but not thin, there was nothing thin about her husband, he was as strong as could be. "You'll be the same age as my pa and there was nothing he couldn't do. If you want to worry about our sons, worry about them in school with you as their role model."
He let out a laugh as he held his wife close to him.
October 25th 1874
"How are you feeling my sweet?" he asked walking into their room and finding her on the chaise.
"Pregnant," she shot him a dirty look.
"Glad the baby is doing well," he retorted.
"Don't bring the baby into this. I'm not mad at the baby. I'm mad at you for making me pregnant again when I said I didn't want anymore."
They were just over a day into her discovery of the pregnancy; she had fought with Dr. Meade about it for several minutes because it couldn't be possible because they had done everything, but the most important one, in order to prevent making another child.
"I was hardly alone in the act," he retorted. He'd once played this game, but there were soon to be seven children in the house since Beau had joined them last year after Scarlett had talked Ashley into not taking Beau out of school to visit family and the man hadn't returned for more than a single fleeting visit. Rhett was done playing this game. She was nearing 30, he was nearing 50, the children were nearing 7 and he wasn't sure they wouldn't be nearing 10 by the time he reached 50.
"You could at least feel guilty."
"For our child?"
She was enraged, "For making me pregnant again!" It was the third broken promise of no more children.
"You do understand that the baby and you being pregnant are intrinsically linked, do you not?"
"Do not talk to me like I'm a simpleton like Dr. Meade!"
"Would you like me to remove myself from our bed again?" He asked with tempers high.
"I just want you to feel bad like I do. I want you to feel sick and tired and have to deliver this baby."
"Do you not want the baby?" He asked bluntly.
"Of course, I want the baby," her hands covered her stomach protectively.
He loudly sighed, unable to help it, frustrated beyond words with his wife. "I will not ever feel guilty about any of our children."
"I want you to feel guilty for lying to me!"
"I am not God. The only way I can truly prevent the act of conception is to remove myself from your room." He did his best to keep his voice low, but the anger remained in his words.
"That only worked for six months longer than this! You chased me down like I was a rabbit on the track."
They both cracked at the same time hearing what she said, unexpected cracks of laughter.
With his voice significantly lighter and calmer, "I'd likely do it again even faster my dear. I'd prefer if we didn't go that route."
She let out a soft sigh. "I want this baby, but I don't want to still be having children when I'm your age."
"Quite frankly my dear, neither do I." He sat down, "While you've been upstairs sulking the last two days, I've been with six children."
"They can be so exhausting."
"I feel as if I'm 90."
She let out a short laugh.
"You have to eventually get less fertile."
"I'm nearly 30."
He sighed, "You're not even 30."
She whimpered and walked over to him, dropping down to his lap.
He placed a hand over her stomach. He wanted this one just like he wanted all the rest before. Just like he would end up wanting all of the rest after.
Thanks for reading!