Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Soon Melly's room was filled with women. There was Mammy, Dilcey, Ellen, and Scarlett. Mammy said to Scarlett, "You have to go take care of Master Wade. I needs to be here with Miss Melly."

"Yes, of course."

"He is almost completely potty trained but don't forget to ask him every thirty minutes."

"Of course."

Scarlett had not wanted to leave but she had no experience helping to deliver babies. She had just delivered Wade and that had been pretty easy according to Mammy except for the excruciating pain, of course. She knew Melanie's delivery was not going to be easy, therefore maybe it would be best if she was down the hall. She would be too emotional if she was in the room.

It was a long day for everyone involved. Dilcey would come out every now and then and tell Scarlett that Miss Melly was progressing nicely. Rhett came to the nursery and told Scarlett to go with him while he took Wade on his horse ride. Scarlett had said, "I want to be right here. In case…."

"I wasn't asking Scarlett." Judging by the look on Rhett's face he was going to make her go with him no matter what. Therefore, she simply said, "Of course, my love. Let me take him to the privy first."

"Of course, I will meet you in the foyer."

Scarlett had been glad she had taken Wade to the privy because he had needed to go.

Soon Scarlett and Wade were in the foyer. Rhett took Wade from Scarlett which Wade was much more amendable to these days. Wade said, "Dada."

"Yes, Son."

Rhett smiled. He guessed Wade had inherited Scarlett's stubbornness. The boy had decided that Dada was Rhett's name not Daddy. Rhett smiled again when he thought, 'I guess that is alright. I will gladly answer to it. This being part of a family is hard. One has to take other people's wishes into account. He did wonder, if being called Dada would sound sweeter if it was by his own child. He didn't think so.

Scarlett enjoyed the next thirty minutes, as usual Rhett was entertaining and amusing. He was even entertaining when she had heard the stories before. He hadn't made her forget about Melly, but he had eased her tension. He had even made her laugh a few times. The family had stayed outside long after the horse ride was over.

As Scarlett watch Rhett interact with Wade, she knew that a stranger would never know that Rhett wasn't Wade's father. She stopped that thought. She then thought, 'No, Rhett is Wade's father. Charlie was just the seed donor.'

Soon it was time for lunch which Careen, Suellen, and Liberty had prepared. It was chicken soup. It was more vegetables than chicken but there was chicken in it. It was good. Liberty may not be as talented as Naomi on fixing vegetables, but she was quite talented too.

Over dinner Rhett said to Suellen, "Do you know if Liberty can fix a tomato and cucumber salad?"

"I will ask her after dinner."

"That would be great. Dr. Harper's cook fixed it, and it was quite delightful."

"Of course. We can try."

The conversation was stilted between the dinner participants because everyone was very aware of what was going on upstairs. Everyone liked Melly and everyone was worried about her. Gerald said, "Don't you think we should send Ashley a note telling him his wife is in labor."

"No, Sir. He doesn't want to know until it is all over. Once we know something I will go over to Twelve Oaks and give him the news."

Nobody said it but everyone knew why Ashley didn't want to know until it was all over. Until he would know for certain whether his wife and child survived.

Gerald said, "All the field hands have run off. I will be surprised if we have a slave left on the plantation before sunset."

Suellen said, "I guess Careen and I will work on that cucumber and tomato salad."

Which made everyone laugh. It was more out of nervous energy than it was that the statement was really that funny.

At three o'clock when Rhett heard a wagon pulling up, he went to see who their visitor was. It was Ashley, Honey, and Albert. As Rhett walked out of the house Gerald was right behind him. Ashley said as way of greeting, "We are all that is left at Twelve Oaks. We brought all our food supplies and hoped you would take us in. I am abandoning the plantation for now. We have brought all our clothes and valuables. I think there is more safety in numbers."

Gerald said, "Did you bring your guns?"

"Yes, Sir. And all my gold and silver."

Rhett said to Ashley, "Let's go ahead and put Miss Wilkes on the train to Macon. At least, she can be out of danger."

Ashley looked at Rhett for a long time, then he said, "Yes, I will ride with you into Jonesboro."

Honey said, "I don't want to go to Macon."

Ashley said, "It is what is best for you. You can come back after the war is over. Whether you like it or not you are going to Macon where you will be safe."

In Ashley's brain, he added, 'And out of my hair.'

The men unloaded the wagon except for Honey's trunk, then Rhett, Ashley, and Honey were on the road to Jonesboro. On the way into town, Rhett told Honey, "You have to go now, or you may not get to go at all. Right now, the trains are still moving through Atlanta. As soon as Sherman takes the town that will no longer be true."

Ashley said, "That's true. You must go now."

"Alright Ashley."

Rhett said, "Just look at the bright side. You will be miles and miles away from Scarlett."

"This trip to Macon is sounding better and better."

Rhett just smiled. He already knew that Honey was just a pampered, spoiled belle or in other words, dead weight. They were already going to have enough ladies on the trip. Scarlett was the only one who would throw off her ladylike ways when the situation demanded it of her. He was so proud of her.

Rhett loaned Ashley twenty dollars. Ashley promised to pay him back. Ashley bought the train ticket and sent the telegram. Ashley gave Honey a dollar and told her to telegraph them when she made it to Macon safely. By four o'clock, Honey was on the train to Macon.

As they climbed back on the buckboard, Rhett said, "I get feelings too like Scarlett and Melly."

"Me too."

"Just not as frequently."

"Me either."

"I just felt like that if we didn't get Miss Wilkes on the train immediately, she would have been stuck here with us."

"She would have been. I love Honey, but she would have been nothing but dead weight. We have brought a Gotterdammerung upon ourselves."

"That is appropriate. Death of the Gods. We Southern gentlemen did think we were gods."

"Only those with brains and courage will survive all of this."

"And the rest of them will be winnowed out."

After a few more miles, Ashley said, "You, Melly, and I have the brains and Scarlett has the cleverness."

Rhett smiled and said, "Yes, she does. She got mad at me when I called her devious."

Ashley laughed and said, "But she is. I suppose you are devious also?"

"Yes, I am but we are all courageous."

"We will all do what we have to do but don't tell the ladies that. It makes them sound ruthless which is not a feminine trait."

"True but it is a trait we all need to have in the next several months if not years."

"What is the plan?"

"What do you mean Mr. Wilkes?"

"First off let's make it Ashley and Rhett. Now that you are married to Scarlett, we are going to be spending the rest of our lives together. The women will not be happy, if they cannot see each other frequently."

"I have realized that also."

"I have listened to Melly talk about you and I know you always have a plan."

"Yes, I do. Although, I might add that things don't always go according to plan. Here is the plan. By the way, Miss Melly is in labor."

"Make it Melly." With trepidation Ashley said, "That is great. I'm glad I let her go to Tara."

"She is going to make it." With pride in his voice, Rhett continued, "Scarlett would never let her die."

Ashley laughed out loud. The first time he had laughed since his father's death. When he sobered, he said, "True."

"Here is the plan. We are going to abandon the plantations for now and somehow get ourselves to New Orleans."

"Who is us?"

"The Wilkeses, the Butlers, and the O'Haras. And any slave that wants to go with us."

"Agreed."

"In New Orleans I can access my money. That is just a temporary stop. We are going there because we can live out the rest of the war in relative comfort. Scarlett has some money she can use to support her family."

"Melly has some money she can use to support us. I'm on board. Right now, we have to survive until the war is over. Where we end up living, we can decide later. I want to become a lawyer or maybe a teacher."

"Go with being a lawyer every gentleman in the South will not have any other skill but his education."

"Good point."

"You don't want to save Twelve Oaks?"

"Twelve Oaks cannot be saved. Without the use of slave labor, it will not be profitable to manage it. I think slavery is going to be illegal in the near future."

Rhett laughed. He said, "I agree. Now we just have to convince Mr. O'Hara."

With a smile Ashley said, "No, Mrs. O'Hara."

Both men laughed. They talked about their plan of attack in convincing Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara to flee with them to New Orleans.

When the men got back to the main house at Tara, Scarlett ran down the stairs with Wade in her arms to greet them. She said in way of greeting, "Both Melly and the baby are alive and well. She had a boy. The room is all cleaned up. Let me show you the way."

"Of course."

Scarlett handed Wade to Rhett then said, "Take care of him. Take him to the privy. Come on, Ashley."

Before Rhett could say a word, Scarlett and Ashley were gone. Rhett said to Wade, "I shall take you to the privy."

Wade smiled at Rhett and said, "Poo."

Once again, Rhett reflected that his single self would never have believed the things he was doing to make his wife happy. He laughed out loud when he thought, 'And it has nothing to do with my sexual skills or my wallet.'

Rhett did take Wade to the privy. After the boy had taken care of his business, Rhett wiped his bottom. Rhett laughed. He thought, "No, it has nothing to do with my sexual skills or my wallet.'

The man carried the boy back into the house. Rhett took Wade to the nursery. They would play together until Scarlett came looking for him. As Rhett sat there playing with the boy, he knew that the boy would always think of him as his father. Rhett also knew that Melly would share information about Charles Hamilton, but Rhett also knew that Charles Hamilton would just be a shadowy figure in Wade's life. At least, until he and the boy started fighting over what each one thought was best for Wade's life. Maybe that would be more Scarlett and Wade. No, it would be him and Wade. It was just the way the world worked. Most males wanted to be in the dominant position. Rhett smiled. That was the problem he had with his father. His father had wanted to dominate him, and he had refused to be dominated.

For a moment Rhett wondered if that was why he didn't like Ashley. Probably. He knew they were going to have a power struggle on this trip to New Orleans because both of them would want to be the one in charge.

Author's Notes:

In the canon, Rhett never gave Scarlett anything but his checkbook. He didn't even give her his sexual skills. He held himself back. He was mean to her from the very day they had returned from New Orleans and she had no idea why he was being so mean.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad Recipe

You can use any kind of tomatoes or cucumbers. The ones I specify are the ones I think are better.

Ingredients
Grape Tomatoes – cut in half – one cup
English Cucumber – one half – sliced (I use English cucumbers because they don't have seeds.)
Medium red onion – one half - thinly sliced (I don't add this because I don't like onions.)

Dressing
Olive Oil – one half cup
Vinegar – one fourth cup
Sugar – 1 teaspoon
Minced garlic – 1 tablespoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Lemon juice – 1 Tablespoon
Italian Seasoning – 1 teaspoon
Pepper – one half teaspoon.

Make dressing and pour on top of vegetables. Stir. Store in refrigerator. It lasts about two days.
I usually just make half the dressing which to me seems to be more than enough.
Instead of using sugar I use Lankanto Monkfruit sweetener which can be bought at Walmart. By using Monkfruit the recipe is Keto friendly. While I am not on a Keto diet my daughter and son-in-law are.