Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
This story is dedicated to Christag. It was her suggestion.
It has been almost three weeks since I have published. I have gone through some hard times. My father passed away on Jan. 27th. He had lived a good life. He was ninety-four at his death.
After the memorial service I found out that my brothers and I were written out of his will. He left everything he owned to his later children by another woman. That is his option. That is his choice. Nonetheless, I am hurt. I feel like I have been disowned. Up until his death he was calling me all the time telling me how much he loved me.
I am not looking for sympathy. I am just letting you know why it has been so long since I have published.
There is something wonderful about being able to create a happy ending for Rhett and Scarlett. Although at times I don't think either one deserves a happy ending. Nonetheless, I want them to have one.
Chapter One
Scarlett was sitting at the supper table with Beau, Wade, Ella, and Rhett. It was the anniversary of Melly's death although nobody said anything about it. Beau had not mentioned it and neither had Scarlett. She knew that neither she nor Beau had the strength to mention it.
Not after the last year they had. Actually, the last fifteen months. Not since the morning Bonnie had died. The time had been hell. It had been all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of another.
Rhett was drunk as usual. In the last year she had not seen him sober except maybe the night of Melanie's death. Scarlett looked at her husband and saw the pathetic man he had become. She could still remember the arrogant man she had met at the Wilkes Barbecue. Just as Ashley had said he had been as arrogant as one of the Borgia. She had not understood what Ashley had meant at the time, but she certainly did now. That man had been young, handsome, and lean. The man in front of her was at least twenty pounds overweight. He was no longer young. In fact, he looked much older than his forty-six years. And his features that had been sharp and defined were now soft and non-descript.
It wasn't just that Rhett was a drunk, but he had given up all hope. He was a shell of the man he had once been. Certainly, a shell of the man he had been at that barbecue that they met at. A shell of the man he had been when they had gotten married. She sighed. She had destroyed him. No, she had not destroyed him. His insane obsession with a woman who loved another man was what destroyed him.
Scarlett had to admit she had destroyed Ashley. No, the war destroyed Ashley. True. Yet Scarlett was the one that kicked the legs out from under his wobbly table by making him stay in Atlanta. She had destroyed the last vestiges of his self-worth by not letting him go to New York. Sink or swim in New York Ashley would have been on his own. She vaguely remembered her telling him in her mother's office that he would be better off in Atlanta because she would forgive him his mistakes. She, of course, had not understood his response. His response of 'I don't want my mistakes forgiven.' She understood it now. She understood so much now.
Scarlett knew now that she should have let him go to New York. Maybe he could have been successful in New York but either way he would have been his own man. She knew now that by making Ashley stay in the South, she had broken something in him. Maybe the last of his inner strength.
Rhett had returned from time to time in the last year. The first time was in November. Scarlett had been glad that he had not come for Ella's birthday. He had brought the child presents, of course. The one thing Rhett could freely give was presents or actually his money.
The visit had set the tone for all future visits. Rhett had behaved as he had their second and third years of their marriage. Gone was the polite stranger. No, the cruel, bitter, mocking man was back. As he was leaving, he had not stated when he would return, and Scarlett had not cared enough to ask. It was at that visit that she finally realized what a cruel, selfish, bitter man Rhett was. What a cruel, selfish, bitter man he had always been. During the war, he had been able to hide it better. During her marriage to Frank, he had been able to hide it better. During their marriage, he had stopped trying to hide it. She knew now that Rhett had punished her for loving Ashley and not him. That was when she knew that she not only didn't love Rhett she never had. She had hoped he never returned.
Rhett seemed to have been hell bent on destroying any goodwill that anyone felt toward him. Scarlett had heard about it later from India and Ashley. If one of the good people of Atlanta asked him, "How are you doing?"
Rhett would snarl at them and say, "Are you brain dead? I just lost my daughter. My reason for living. I am in extreme pain. Would you like to ask any more stupid questions? Or maybe you would like to talk about the good old days before the war which weren't particularly good days for me. You know ever since I got kicked out on the street with just the clothes on my back and the money in my pocket."
Scarlett had been sad that Rhett was continuing to destroy his life, but she was beginning to think she had to rid herself of him before he pulled her down also. She had hoped that if he did return it was after Bonnie's birthday. She did not want to celebrate Christmas or Bonnie's birthday with Rhett. Fortunately, Rhett had not been there for Christmas or anyone's birthdays.
Scarlett had invited the Wilkeses and the Hamiltons to Christmas dinner. When she had welcomed her guests into her home she said, "Melly and Bonnie loved Christmas. They would not want us to be mournful and unhappy. I will miss them for the rest of my life, but I am going to honor them by being happy on this special day. I asked India to make the raisin bread that Melly made every year, and we are going to enjoy it as much as we have every year."
India said, "Unless I messed the recipe up, then we will throw it out."
Everyone laughed. It had been a forced laughter, but it had been laughter. The conversation had been upbeat. Scarlett had told some stories of hers and Melly's time during the war and while they were at Tara after the war. Ashley had told some stories of his time with Melly before the war. He also talked about his time with Charlie. Unbeknownst to Scarlett Charlie had been Ashley's best friend. India told some stories of her parents and her childhood. Henry and PittyPat had told stories from when Charlie and Melanie were children.
It couldn't be qualified as a time full of merriment, but nobody was close to tears. As Ashley was leaving, he said, "This is the most fun I have had in a long time."
"Me too."
India said, "Me too. Not since Mother was still alive."
Rhett was not in Atlanta for Wade's birthday either. That fact had made her hopeful that Rhett would not return until after Bonnie's birthday. The atmosphere at Wade's party was light-hearted and happy. They had Wade's favorite foods fried fish and French fries. They had banana pudding for dessert which was Wade's favorite.
Scarlett and the children had celebrated Bonnie's birthday with a supper and a small cake. She had invited PittyPat, Henry, Ashley, India, and Beau. Everyone had been bright and cheerful. She had told everyone that she would miss her daughter the rest of her life, but she wanted to remember all the joyous occasions of Bonnie's life. Nothing had been more joyous than Bonnie's birth. Scarlett had felt some guilt over that statement. For far too long she had not considered Bonnie's birth a joyous occasion. At the time of Bonnie's birth, she had just been worrying about getting her shape back, checking on her businesses, and as always getting to see Ashley.
Scarlett knew the matrons had heard about the party but by then they had been looking at her with sympathy and shame. Sympathy for her awful life and shame for the horrible way they had treated her ever since Rhett had pushed her in the dirt to get received.
Rhett had returned in March but had left before Scarlett's birthday which she was thankful for. Ella had baked Scarlett a birthday cake with the help of the cook. When Angie, the serving girl, had brought the cake to the dining room with all the candles lit, Scarlett had been stunned. When seven-year-old Ella had said, 'I baked it with Mrs. Cloud's help.', Scarlett had started crying. When a tearful Ella had said, 'You don't like it.' Scarlett had stretched out her arms and said, 'Baby, sometimes things can make a person so happy they cry. I am that happy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.'
Scarlett had already known by that time that her children had been her greatest gifts that God had given her. They loved her unconditionally. They loved her the way she had always thought Ashley had loved her. They wanted nothing from her but her love. As much love as she was willing to give.
Scarlett knew in that moment that Bonnie had loved her unconditionally. Well, as much as Bonnie could love anyone but herself. Rhett had already turned her into a selfish, self-centered brat. Bonnie had wanted her to watch her make that great jump. Bonnie had wanted her mother to be proud of her. Maybe Bonnie had loved Rhett more than Scarlett, but Bonnie had loved her mother very strongly.
On the one-year anniversary of her daughter's death, she and the children had a small memorial service for Bonnie by the child's grave. She smiled at the number of people who expressed their sympathy towards her on that day and the weeks afterwards. They had finally been giving her the sympathy she had deserved right after her daughter had died. The sympathy she was finally willing to accept.
Scarlett had been so glad that Rhett had not been there. He had not returned until July. Then he had left within a week, he stated that it was too damn hot to be in the South in the summertime. When he did come for a visit, he usually stayed about two weeks but not that time. When he visited it was hell. He sat there at the dining room table and made snide, mocking, cruel comment after snide, mocking, cruel comment.
As Scarlett sat there at the supper table that night on the anniversary of her best friend's death, she sat there and smiled at him. She thought once again, 'I would like to see some of the pity and kindness you allegedly feel for me. It was as false as your alleged love for me.'
After supper was over, he would go out and spend all night somewhere. She knew where. With Belle. The woman that he had preferred to her. The woman who he had held up to her as a better woman than her. Yet she knew what he honestly thought about Belle. That had been revealed that night when he had called Belle just an illiterate whore.
Scarlett knew now that all he had wanted was her body. That was what he had always told her, but she had been too vain to believe him, but it had been true. Once he had her body then he had been deeply disappointed because she had not behaved like a whore. She had behaved like a lady. He had felt like he had been hoodwinked. That night of the hospital bazaar Rhett had been determined to make her fall in love with him so he would be the man that brought Scarlett O'Hara to her knees. She became his own personal Great White Whale
Scarlett didn't care. In fact, she wished he would walk out the door and never stop walking. Of course, leave his money behind or at least a sizable amount of it. One thing she knew for sure, she didn't love him and probably never had. She knew she never would.
Rhett, with all his intelligence, had forgotten an amazingly simple principle. The heart wants what the heart wants. A person can't make themselves love another person any more than a person can stop themselves from loving another person.
As Scarlett sat at the supper table, she let her mind drift for she had no need to listen. All his talk was the ramblings of a drunken man. She thought about Steven and his sister, Arritta. Thinking of them made her smile. Steven Cavalier was Scarlett's new attorney. He was from the North. He and his sister had moved down here after the war to start a new life. Everyone they were related to in New Hampshire was dead, so they decided to leave Concord. They were both so extremely glad they had. So was Scarlett.