Facing the Parents

Rhett Kershaw Butler couldn't believe that he, the man who had chased after the Gold Rush defending his territory with naught but a knife, the man who been more pirate than sailor, the man who owned his own ships, who was a blockade runner, was finally going to settle down and marry a woman, more of a girl really, that passed for a lady. Scarlett O' Hara would see be Scarlett Butler. What was he thinking? What wasn't he thinking? The girl drove him to madness. Rhett wondered what the O'Hara's would think of his marrying their eldest daughter. He had to talk to his mother, how else would the O'Hara's allow him to marry their daughter? The thought hadn't even occurred to him that he would have to convince Scarlett's father that he could make a good husband for his eldest and favorite daughter.

There was only one way Rhett would be able to make Katie Scarlett O'Hara Mrs. Rhett K. Butler. He had to see his mother, which meant visiting his childhood home, which meant possibly seeing her father. Rhett headed back to the hotel and showered, enjoying the feel of the hot water beating on his body. He hastily toweled dry, and began shaving. There was a small feeling of nervousness when he thought of his father. He hadn't seen him in over twenty years; he hadn't been to his father's house in over twenty years, ever since his name had been erased from the Butler family bible. Rhett finished dressing and grabbed a cane and his panama hat as he walked down the street to his parents' home.

The door opened for Rhett before he even turned up the drive, and Rhett could see the old house slave opening the door, surprised written over his ancient features. "Master Rhett?" Hercules asked. "Is that really you?"

Rhett smiled easily, even if the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes, Hercules, it's me."

"Good Lordly, the prodigal son returns," Hercules said, in awe.

"Hardly. Hercules, is my mother at home?"

"Yes, sir, Master Rhett, but I's tole that if ya eva returned here to take ya straight to see Master Langston," Hercules said, and then with a sheepish grin, "I's not supposed to tell ya that Mrs. Eleanor is in the library, I's want to thank you fer what ya did fer my wife, bout doin yer best fer her up to the end, even if it meant goin against Master Langston," Hercules told him, and Rhett patted his shoulder.

"You are a good man, Hercules, and a loyal one," Rhett said as he headed for the library only to be stopped by his sister.

"Rhett, Rhett, is that you? Really you?" Rosemary squealed like a young girl. "I'm so glad your home!" Rosemary threw her arms around her older brother, and heard the low, rumbling laughter of her brother.

"It's good to see you too, Rosemary," he said, kissing the top of her head, before releasing her to look at her. She twirled around at his insistence. "You look beautiful," he told her. "Father is going to have a time fighting to keep the young bucks off of you. Perhaps, when I marry I'll sponsor you."

"When?" Rosemary asked, as she looked into her brother's eyes. "I never thought I would see the day, Rhett Butler, in love. My stars," Rosemary said, stalking around him like a panther, as she took in everything around him, he was happy, so very happy, that it made Rosemary laugh a high tinkling sound.

"When what?" Rhett asked, in a tight voice, trying to hide the truth from her, and as he was doing that his mother came in, to check on the voices outside the library.

"Rhett…I never thought I would see the day that Rhett Butler would grace my door again," she said, drawing him into her embrace. "Rosemary, dear, please keep your voice down," she said, with a smile, flashing perfect white teeth, that both Rhett and Rosemary had inherited. "Come inside, Rhett. Rosemary, go talk to your father dear," Eleanor said as she closed the library door behind her and Rosemary left to discuss politics with her father, even though it wasn't proper to talk politics to a young lady, her father had very few people that would discuss it with him.

Eleanor smiled at her son's worried expression. "I love Ross and Rosemary beyond my own life," Eleanor told him, "But I love you to distraction my son, now tell me why you would brave this home, and how I can help?" she said sitting down while he paced.

"Mother, you know I never wanted to marry."

"Yes, I remember quite well," Eleanor said, humoring him.

"I've asked Scarlett O'Hara to marry me," he hedged.

"Scarlett O'Hara….Scarlett ….Eulalie Ward's niece, the Robbilard. Why I remember when her mother Ellen was born. The grandfather Pierre Robbilard and Solange set off fireworks whenever she had a child, and you were so scared," Eleanor trailed off remembering how her son as a toddler had cried and screamed for safety.

"I need to convince her parents to allow her to marry me?" Rhett explained.

"And Scarlett?"

"She's accepted, Mother."

"Well, who wouldn't want to marry my son?"

"She's no Margaret," Rhett said, referring to his sister-in-law.

"I know, son, I have met the charming vixen, afterall. I will speak with Eulalie and Pauline, and will write a letter to both Pierre and Ellen," Eleanor stated. "You do know that Eulalie nearly married my brother, God rest his soul…" Eleanor said, lost in memories.

"Thank you, Mother. I need to buy her a ring, I will be going overseas for a while. Write me and let me know when the wedding of Charles Hamilton is cancelled," Rhett said, as he stopped pacing.

"Do you love her son?"

"What does that matter, Mother, you know of the betrothals, of the contracts, of how marriage is just a contract?"

"I may have that kind of marriage, but that is not a marriage I want for my children. A mother wants better for her children than for herself," Eleanor attempted to explain. "But you haven't answered my question, son. How do you feel about Scarlett O'Hara?"

"She's like me," Rhett said, pulling out a book and then replacing it while he paced. "We are very much alike, selfish, and greedy, we don't follow the rules of Southern society, and I've never wanted to possess someone as much as I want her."

"Rhett…"

"I know what you are going to say mother, but it's not like that. I can't stand the thought of her being married to another man, I could shoot Charlie now if I thought she would marry him."

Eleanor stood up and hugged her son. "I will do what I can, but I'll make no promises. Go to Europe and find Scarlett a ring, when you get back go visit Gerald O'Hara in Clayton County, I will do what I can."

"That's all I ask," Rhett said as he leaned down and kissed his mother's cheek. Rhett hadn't been able to not notice how shabby the house was, his father was becoming quite closed fist, and that was why he had stuck some money in the book he had pulled out. As Rhett walked out of the library he came face to face with his father. Langston Butler was a thin man, much thinner than his eldest son, and he was clean shaven, not a touch of hair on his face, he was going bald prematurely, and the light in his dark eyes had faded in his overzelousness of his devout religion. Langston's voice shook with power as he asked quietly.

"Have you asked forgiveness for your many sins?" Rhett stared at the old man, his own dark eyes narrowing, as the corner of his lip twitched as they hardened and smoothed, his nose flaring, and that was the only sign of his anger. A stranger wouldn't have known that these two were very angry at one another although they might have remarked on the similarties between the fragile old man and the strong younger man, they shared the same dark hair, the same piercing eyes, and perhaps at one time they had shared many more qualities. While the father believed in his Baptist upbringing the son believed in God and not religion, their differences ran much deeper than that.