Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews. I appreciate everyone who took the time to write a review. I appreciate everyone who is following this story. I appreciate everyone who is reading this story. Y'all make my heart sing.
I have tried to portray Scarlett as a good mother and a good grandmother but she is still Scarlett.
FYI: People who have PTSD or deep melancholy are never cured. It just goes into remission.
Epilog.
After the rumor that put all the blame for the Butler's problems on Rhett's shoulders Melanie Hamilton Wilkes was able to work her magic and restore Scarlett's reputation. Well, sort of…. At least she was always received at everyone's home. The other women of polite society still loved to talk bad about her even if they had to bring up things from ten years before. Scarlett knew the dragons were talking about her but she didn't care as long as she and her children were received.
Before they resumed their marital relations Rhett asked Scarlett, "Do you want to use a form of pregnancy prevention?"
Scarlett told him, "I am fine with having more children with you."
The Butlers never used any form of pregnancy prevention for the rest of their marriage but they never conceived another child. Rhett often thought of Jade as a miracle child. Scarlett giving birth to her was the final piece of curing Scarlett.
When Jade was born, Rhett decided to quit smoking. He decided that it couldn't be good for his lungs to keep introducing smoke into them. He wanted to live as long as he could. His family needed him to stay healthy. After two weeks of not smoking he felt a lot better. After two months of not smoking he felt ten years younger. He had a lot more stamina and he was going to need all he could get to keep up with his lovely wife. When she started taking her morning walks again after Jade was born, he started walking with her. Scarlett left him in the dust which was really embarrassing considering she had just had a baby two months before. Although Scarlett never said anything, she was pleased that she was in better physical shape than Rhett. He smiled at her preening over outwalking him. He guessed they would always have a competitive relationship which was alright as long as they didn't take it too far.
Scarlett and Cora May remained close friends for the rest of their lives. They were kindred spirits. They never judged each other. They had already shared all their secrets. Now a days, when one or the other confessed a misdeed most of the time they thought the other had behaved the only way that made sense. When Cora May told Scarlett, she was having another affair Scarlett was happy her friend had found a man to spend time with because Cora May was very lonely. The fact that the man was ten years younger than Cora May made both of them giggle. When Scarlett told Cora May she had deliberately splashed Mrs. Elsing with mud they both giggled. They both agreed that Mrs. Merriwether looked like a giant grape in her purple dress. They laughed about that all the time. Scarlett was so happy she had found a friend like Cora May. She could tell Cora May anything even things she couldn't tell Rhett. She could never tell Rhett about the younger man that had wanted to start calling on her but Cora May and her had enjoyed it immensely. She loved Melanie but she had to be a proper lady with Melanie whereas with Cora May she could be her true self.
Cora May would have Ella come to her home three or four times a month. Franklin began joining them on these visits. Franklin and Cora May were never going to love each other but over time they had become friends. They both enjoyed Ella's visits very much. For those moments they both could pretend they were a happy little family.
Ashley was a born writer. Once he became a reporter, he became excited about life again. Rhett was right. Ashley needed a noble calling and being a newspaper reporter in those turbulent times was perfect for his honorable, self-sacrificing image of himself. He had never realized what a talent he had for writing. He covered all the action taking place at the capital in Atlanta. His editorial pieces were famous throughout the south. Other papers tried to steal him away from the Daily Democrat but they kept raising his pay to keep him working for them. He eventually became the editor of the paper but he still wrote most of the Op-Ed articles.
Beau Wilkes married one of his cousins, Annabelle Burns. He had become a lawyer and taken over Uncle Henry's practice. The couple only had one child, a boy. The gossips wondered if Annabelle had problems conceiving children. She had no problems. Beau wasn't as much of a gentleman as his father. He found a reliable pregnancy prevention method and they used it. He was alright with having another child if they conceived in spite of using a prevention method.
Wade decided that he didn't want to be a lawyer. He wanted to spend his time outdoors. Wade went to the University of Georgia. He lived at the MacIntosh plantation that Rhett had bought in eighteen seventy-two. He helped Will manage Tara and Tara Also. He took over the running of Tara after Will passed away. He joined the lands together and it became just Tara. Wade oversaw the running of the gins if needed. In eighteen eighty-nine he married a lovely girl named Hope who lived in the county. Wade was eleven years her senior. Wade married her as soon as her father, Boyd Tarleton, gave his permission. At the wedding Scarlett told Rhett this would have made her Pa happy. Gerald O'Hara had always wanted to join the O'Haras with the Tarletons. Wade and Hope had five sons together and Beatrice asserted they were a fine strain. The boys did justice to the Hamilton, O'Hara and Tarleton lines.
After Will's death Scarlett bought Suellen out of Tara. Suellen moved to Charleston with her daughters and moved in with their Aunt Eulalie. Scarlett thought they were a perfect match. Scarlett still sent Aunt Eulalie a check monthly but Scarlett didn't give her aunt anymore just because Suellen had moved in with her.
Ella grew into her face and was bewitching. She had her mother's eyes, smile and dimples. Scarlett taught her how to make the most of her assets. In eighteen eighty- two Ella was Scarlett's first child to marry at sixteen. She had ended up making a very good match. She had married into one of the finest families in Atlanta. They ended up having ten children. After child number three in four years Scarlett talked to Ella about pregnancy prevention. Ella had said, "Why would I want to prevent a pregnancy?" Scarlett said, "If you ever want to know ask me."
Cora May and Ella continued their relationship the rest of Cora May's life. Cora May was like a favorite aunt to Ella. Franklin had also enjoyed spending time with Ella when she was visiting Cora May. They became almost like grandparents to Ella's children. Scarlett was a good mother and she loved her grandchildren but when they came to visit, they disrupted her calm, orderly life. There were too many of them for Scarlett to deal with. Scarlett could never understand why anyone would want that many children. When Ella brought them all to the house at once it was a bit overwhelming for Scarlett. Finally, Scarlett made Ella schedule her visits so Rhett, Cora May and Franklin could be there to help with the children. They were so noisy and chaotic she usually retired to her room with a sick headache before they had left.
After Ella had child number five, Scarlett made Ella host any family gatherings. Besides Wade and Bonnie's families Ella invited The Bakers and The Wilkes. It was definitely a full house. Scarlett would go home with a sick headache when the noise and the chaos got to be too much for her. Rhett would always offer to go home with her and she would refuse because he really did like all that noise and chaos. He really would have been happy having twenty children. Jade would tell her father she would go home with her mother and take care of her. Jade was like her mother, not a maternal woman, so she had to get away from all those children also. Truth was when they got home, they went to their separate bedrooms. Scarlett would get in her bed with a pot of tea, read her latest book and enjoy the quiet.
Bonnie was the belle of Atlanta. Bonnie was so much like her mother. Sometimes when Rhett would watch her being carefree and flirtatious at the social functions, he would think of Scarlett at the Wilkes barbeque. He was happy that Bonnie would never have to know the pain that Scarlett had endured. Bonnie married the love of her life. A young man who came from a fine family from Vicksburg. Both Rhett and Scarlett were happy for her. She had three children in ten years. When Scarlett approached Bonnie about pregnancy prevention, Bonnie was very interested.
Jade was also the belle of Atlanta but after her second season she stopped attending social functions anymore. One of Jade's suitors managed to get her into a compromising situation. They went on an afternoon buggy ride. He intentionally kept her out after dark. When Jade finally got home her parents met her in the foyer. She stomped by them and said, "No! Absolutely not."
Rhett went up to talk to her. She told her father, "I don't care if it ruins me. I will not marry him. He is a ninny. I refuse to spend my life with a man who isn't smarter than me."
Rhett told Jade, "I don't blame you. I didn't want to marry a ninny either."
Scarlett was a lot less accepting of Jade's refusal to marry. Rhett asked her, "Would you condemn her to a love less marriage?"
Scarlett looked at him and shook her head. She said, "I just know the Peahens are going to blame this all on me. Because I ran a business instead of taking care of her is why she is such a renegade." To which Rhett laughed.
After a while she said, "Maybe she will find someone who loves her enough to marry her even without a reputation."
Rhett replied, "I did. She was the love of my life."
Jade convinced her father to let her help him run his financial empire. After working with Jade for a year Rhett sent her to Wesleyan College in Macon. She got a degree in economics and came back home. She planned to live with Daddy and Mother the rest of her life. When Jade was twenty-three Scarlett asked her about getting married. Jade said, "I am happy not being married. I have never wanted children. Thanks to Daddy's fortune I don't have to marry. You and Daddy let me do whatever I want. Thanks to you and Daddy I can be a maverick and not have to submit to social pressures."
When Jade was twenty-six, she met a man who she fell in love with and he loved her and didn't care about her reputation. He was a man of thirty who had grown up in Savannah. He was from one of the finest families of Savannah. He wasn't rich but he was comfortable. He was a widower with two children; a boy and a girl. Once her engagement was announced, she started receiving invitations to social functions which made her laugh at the antics of the Old Guard. It wasn't the same Old Guard that had been the bane of her mother's life but they had the same attitude. She knew they were after her money. She was definitely her father's daughter. Rhett had the young man investigated and was satisfied that the young man was not after Jade's fortune. He did appear to be in love with her. A week before the wedding Jade asked her mother if she knew of a way to prevent pregnancies. Scarlett said, "Yes. I do. After you discuss this with your husband, I will tell you. Be careful and not make any ultimatums." Jade knew there was a story behind that statement but her mother could be very closed mouth about somethings and relations was one of those things.
Rhett thought himself fortunate to still be alive and in good health when Jade got married. He was able to walk all three of his daughters down the aisle.
The day after the wedding Rhett and Scarlett were getting ready to go sailing in their sailboat. About ten years ago he had hired a man to help him work the sails. He just couldn't do it alone anymore and Scarlett absolutely refused to do any manual labor. She was such a diva sometimes. He also thought himself lucky she had agreed to carry the picnic basket to the boat while he carried everything else. She probably only agreed to carry that because she was afraid he would leave it in their motor vehicle and she was already hungry. He looked at her sitting there as prim and proper as she had been thirty-nine years ago and he felt all the love he had felt that day he had met her. She turned to him and smiled at him and said, "Stop daydreaming Rhett and let's go."
Rhett said, "I'm shoving off right now, my pet." He got the expected scowl in return and he laughed as he had that day in the library at Twelve Oaks.
Author's Notes: I couldn't stop myself from making Jade's life be eerily similar to Rhett's life.
I believe this is the best story I have written because of everyone's reviews and input. I did rewrite several parts of the story thanks to y'all my readers. Thank you.