Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
This story is dedicated to Nova. It was her suggestion. She wrote a review to Chapter Three of Moving On. She said that she thought it would be neat if Ashley went back in time and changed his fate. The idea grabbed me, and my Muse would not leave me alone.
This story is not going to be only about Ashley. Scarlett and Rhett will be involved in most of the story.
We know so little about Charlie Hamilton except that he was a love-sick puppy dog for Scarlett. Later in the canon Rhett and Scarlett speak disparagingly about the man. I do know he had the courage to ask the belle of five counties to be his wife.
Scarlett and Charlie only had two weeks together therefore, we have no idea how Charlie would have acted once he had returned from the war.
The other thing that is ridiculous is that Scarlett and Charlie only had sex twice in two weeks. Please!
Charlie was a young man with his wife. He would have been doing it every night and every morning probably.
Scarlett is not going to grow up immediately, but she is going to grow up.
On with the story.
Chapter One
Ashley laid in his bed dying at Hamilton House. Yesterday he had given Scarlett final instructions on how Melly and he wanted Beau raised. She wouldn't follow those instructions. No, she would do what she thought was right. He had to leave Beau with her because she was the only person, he knew who had enough money to support his son. To give his son the life Beau should have had if they had not gone to war.
Ashley wished he had half the determination that woman had. He smiled. Any other woman would have given up on them being together when he had married another woman. Not Scarlett. She kept believing and she had kept trying to make it happen.
Ashley was alone. He had run everyone else off. The only person he would want with him was Melly, but she was dead. She was dead because he had foolishly believed her when she told him Dr. Meade thought she could bring a baby to term. He truly hadn't cared about that. What he had cared about was being with Melly intimately once again. Something he had selfishly denied Captain Butler. He had known exactly what he was saying when Scarlett had come out to the sawmill that day. He had been afraid she was drifting away from him because of the life Butler was giving her. With a sigh Ashley knew he had helped destroy Scarlett's marriage. Maybe even Scarlett's life.
Ashley would not think about that. No, he would think about his life. He thought about all the things he would do differently if he had the chance. Of course, he would never have the chance. There was no going back and doing things right.
Ashley was once again taking the coward's way out. He was leaving Beau's raising to Scarlett. No, she would not raise him the way Melly and he would have raised him before the war. Yet, Ashley knew Beau would get enough food and a proper education. Scarlett could pay for all of that. With a twist of his lips he thought, 'With Butler's money. I certainly don't have any money. I am too much of a dreamer. Nonetheless, I certainly can't provide for the boy.'
Ashley felt some guilt in regard to Scarlett. He should have told her the truth in the library at that last barbecue but how was he to know she would be so stubbornly devoted to him. How was he to know that sweet, young, girl he had been courting, yes in his final moments he would be honest at least with himself, would be so determined for them to be together.
Ashley had been using Scarlett since his Christmas furlough during the war. He smiled as he thought of how obtuse Scarlett was. She told him she loved him, and he asked her to take care of his wife, which she did, better than he could have. He knew he would never have made it in New York because by that time he had refused to live in the present. The war and Rock Island had broken him. For the next almost ten years he had wallowed in self-pity. He was still wallowing in self-pity because he was choosing to die instead of making a life for him and Beau.
Ashley said out loud to no one, "If I could live my life again, I would do so many things differently. I would be honest with Scarlett. I would be brave. I wouldn't give into my self-pity. I would be determined like Scarlett."
"Alright, Mr. Wilkes, I will give you a chance to change your destiny although you being such a lily-livered man, I don't think it will make any difference. I will send you back in time to the day you started your cowardly decline."
Ashley was confused. Who was speaking? There was no one else in the room. He was too weak to worry about it. He took a breath and fell unconscious.
Ashley woke up. How? He should be dead. He had given up the will to live with Melanie's death. He had cowardly left the raising of Beau to Scarlett. Yet, he was in his bed at Twelve Oaks. He looked around the room. He sat up in the bed. It was just like it had been before the war started. It made him happy.
How had this happened? Ashley remembered a male voice saying that he was going to be sent back in time. Ashley was getting a chance to correct his mistakes.
What day was it? Was it the day Ashley had gone to see Scarlett to tell her he was marrying Melly? Was it the day of the barbecue? Was it after war had been declared? He knew it wasn't after he had married Melly, or she would be in bed with him right now. He knew it was before he had gone off to war. He had never returned to Twelve Oaks once he had left to go to the front.
Ashley got out of his bed. Whichever day it was there were so many mistakes he could make right. He could save Melly's life. He could provide him and Melly with a wonderful life. He could free Scarlett of her obsession of him. And he was going to do all that. He flashed on a memory when he and Scarlett had been in the orchard that cold January day. He remembered what he had said to her, 'If a person has brains and courage, they will survive in our new world quite fine.' He knew he had brains. He would just have to muster up some courage. He would because he wanted a different life from the one, he had just left. He had somehow gotten a second chance and he would not make the same mistakes he had made the first time. The first mistake he was going to correct was Scarlett's infatuation with him. He would just have to make sure Scarlett was no longer carrying a torch for him. Whatever day it was he would make it painfully clear that he didn't love her, and he never would. The second mistake he was going to correct was that he was going to New York instead of going off to war. The third mistake he would correct was that he wouldn't be so damn honorable. The fourth mistake he was going to correct was that he would never get Melly with child. He knew Melly really wanted children but having children would put her life in danger and he wasn't going to do that. He would miss Beau, but he had to do what was right for Melly.
When Ashley was at Yale, he had heard a couple of ways to prevent getting a woman with child. Two men had been talking about it and he had stood there and listened to their entire conversation. Of course, neither action was honorable, eavesdropping or listening to a conversation about that subject. Melly who knew nothing about relations would never know that what he was doing wasn't normal.
Ashley knew he had done Scarlett so wrong for so long. He should have never started calling on her but her worshipping him had been such an ego boost that he couldn't stop. She had been worshipping him for a long time now. He would see her looking at him adoringly at all the social functions. He had started calling on her mainly because he was bored on the plantation but also because what man wouldn't want to be adored by Scarlett O'Hara. The addiction was so strong that even after what Scarlett had done to India, he couldn't help himself. The addiction was so strong that even after he had married Melly, he couldn't help himself. He had been such a weak man but not anymore.
Ashley knew he should have told Scarlett he was marrying Melly when he visited her two weeks before the barbecue but being the coward that he was at the time, he hadn't. He should have told her in the library that he didn't love her, and he never would but he had been trying to spare her feelings. He should have known better. She never realized anything if she wasn't hit over the head with it. Except he hadn't truly known that at the time. At the time he had thought of her as an attractive, empty-headed belle who would accept his rejection, but she hadn't. Her ego and her vanity could not accept that a man didn't want her or love her. No, she had to be hit in the head with the truth like being hit in the head with a frying pan. Whatever day it was he would eradicate all of her feelings for him.
Ashley knew Scarlett had finally seen the truth when Melly had died. In that moment even obtuse Scarlett had seen how much he loved Melly. He felt so guilty for stringing her along for so long, but he had needed her so. He would make that right this afternoon. He would not postpone or procrastinate. He would just do it. By the time he was finished speaking with Scarlett, she would not think herself in love with him. In fact, she would probably hate him, but he could live with that. He and Melly would be far, far away from Scarlett and the South. Furthermore, Scarlett would not marry Charlie thus Melly would not be related to her therefore he would never have to see Scarlett again.
After Ashley had gotten dressed, he wrote a letter to his friend in New York, John Robinson. He had told his friend that he did not want to remain in Georgia during the war. Would his friend be able to get him a job in his father's bank? He left his room and took the letter to his manservant, Moses. Ashley said to Moses, "Take this letter into Jonesboro and mail it. Here is a penny for the stamp."
"Yes, sir. I will go right now."
"Thank you."
Ashley then went to the dining room. When he got there, he saw Charlie, Melly, India, Honey, and his father sitting at the table. If Charlie and Melly were here, then Ashley knew it was the day of the barbecue. Fleetingly, Ashley thought about how healthy Melly looked. She hadn't looked that healthy probably since the war began. Ashley wondered if he could prevent Charlie from dying from measles. He would think about that later. Right now, the only way he could think to prevent Charlie from dying was to convince him to not join Wade Hampton.
As per her plan Scarlett got all the men to eat barbecue with her. All except Ashley. He was busy eating barbecue with his cousin. His cousin! Scarlett thought, 'How could he prefer her to me. I am much prettier than her.'
As the mealtime progressed most of the men wandered off when they realize they were just one of many. They would find a woman who would give them all of her attention. Nonetheless at the end of the meal Charles Hamilton and the Tarleton twins were still by Scarlett's side. She frowned. Ashley wasn't paying any attention to her. Scarlett thought, 'Men are so silly sometimes. He thinks he doesn't have a chance with me. That is why he is settling for that plain woman. My ploy to make him jealous worked too well. I will just tell him that I love him. Once he knows that he will ask me to marry him. No, he will demand that I marry him. We can elope.'
A man brought up the possibility of war. There was a lot of discussion about the issue. Finally, that man from Charleston, made a statement and he ended it by saying, "All the South has is cotton, slaves, and…. Arrogance."
That made everyone mad. It looked like Stuart was about to call the man out, but India somehow stopped him from doing it. For a moment, Scarlett saw the love on India's face for Stuart. She had a moment of guilt for having stolen the man away from India. She quickly pushed it out of her mind by saying to herself, 'If a woman can't keep her man, she deserves to lose him.'
Charles had not left Scarlett's side through the entire discussion. That man from Charleston had not stopped looking at her all day long. Ashley joined them. Ashley had a thoughtful and amused smile on his face. He said to Charlie, "That Butler fellow is an arrogant devil, isn't he? He looks like one of the Borgias.
Scarlett had said, "I don't know them. Do they live in the county? Is he kin to them? Who are they?"
An odd look had come over Charles' face, incredulity and shame struggling with love. Love had triumphed. He had said, "The Borgias were Italians."
"Oh foreigners."
Scarlett had turned her prettiest smile on Ashley, but he had not been looking at her. He had been looking at Charles.
Ashley was thinking, 'Charlie really was a lovesick puppy over Scarlett. Maybe it was best that he never knew the real Scarlett. He went to his grave happy with his life. Happy that the fabulous Scarlett O'Hara was his wife.
Soon all the ladies were going inside to take a nap while the men were going into the parlor to smoke cigars and drink whiskey.