Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Fifty-Two

In the summer of seventy, Coco informed Scarlett, "Gabrielle has a caller. He is twenty and is apprenticing with a cabinet maker. It will be at least three to four years before he can take a wife."

"That will be good for us. That means we can continue employing Gabrielle for the next three to four years. What about Antoinette?"

"She is too young to receive gentleman callers."

"Keep them young as long as you can. My life has worked out because I was fortunate to meet an honest woman but if you had been a sinister person, you could have taken advantage of me."

"I could have tried, but you were already too jaded to trust anyone."

"I trust you Coco."

"You do now. I trust you now also but when we first became partners, we truly didn't trust each other. That is one of the reasons we never took a day off."

Scarlett smiled sadly and said, "I guess you are right."

"It took me almost a year to truly trust Pierre."

"I made myself trust Rhett after we had been married a couple of months. I knew if I didn't make myself do it I never would. Enough about all that. What about Claude?"

"He has just turned twelve. When he turns sixteen Pierre plans for him to start apprenticing with him at the telegraph office. Until then we want him to enjoy his life which he certainly gets to do when he gets to spend the day with Mr. Butler."

In August, the Wilkeses had a party for Beau's sixth birthday. They had spent a little bit of money, but it was not going to put their budget in a bind. They would also send Beau to the same school Wade was attending. With the royalties from Ashley's book, he could afford to send his son to school.

That was one of the nice parts about this lifetime. Ashley was a success. He would never have been a success in his old life because he was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Like he wasn't one of hundreds, no one of thousands, who had lost everything because of the war.

Because Ashley had gotten the chance of a redo of his life, he had not let it go to waste. It was his one opportunity for him and Melanie to be truly happy. In making himself happy, he had ended up making Scarlett happy. Happier than she would have ever been with him.

Ashley looked over at three-year-old Martha, she was having so much fun at the party. She was so cute. She was such a miracle. He looked over at Melly. She was so alive. So healthy. So wonderful.

Ina May had said there was no reason why Melly couldn't carry another child to term but starting January first of seventy-three he was not going to take any chances. He and Melly would not have relations until the first of seventy-four. If Genie lived, Ashley would feel more confident that Melly was going to survive. But he wasn't going to worry about it today. He knew now that he would not need to worry until seventy-three.

The Wilkeses attended Gerry's fifth birthday party while Rhett carried Genie around like she was a queen and an empress all rolled up into one. Ashley smiled. The man truly did love his offspring. Ashley wished he could show his love so openly as Rhett did. Not just for his offspring but for his wife also. Although when Ashley looked at Melly, she was looking at him like he had hung the moon and he saw all her love showing in her eyes. He smiled at her, and although he didn't know it all his love was showing on his face also.

That year on their sixth anniversary Rhett and Scarlett had supper out and went dancing again. The couple never got tired of dancing together.

Rhett gave Scarlett a sapphire parure. It had a necklace, a bracelet, earbobs, and Scarlett's favorite, a tiara. She gave him a new suit she had made herself. She also gave him sapphire cufflinks. They went home and made love. In her excitement, Scarlett forgot to put the sponge in. Afterwards, as they were lying in the bed, she was praying she would not have to pay the price for her negligence. Although she had already decided to stop using the sponge when Genie turned two in a few weeks.

For Christmas that year, Wade had given Scarlett a pencil drawing. It was of their family. It was a copy of a photograph they had taken on Rhett and Scarlett's fifth wedding anniversary last year. Although Rhett had pictures taken for everyone's birthdays for some reason the pictures taken on their anniversary always seemed to be special. It was of the entire family. Scarlett stared at the picture, then she stared at her son. She said, "Wade, this is beautiful. Did anyone help you with this drawing?"

"Mammy. She kept telling me how good it looked, and she hid the drawing in her room so neither you nor Dad would see it ahead of time. She had Mr. Pennyworth go buy me some special pencils. She said they were artist pencils."

"It is amazing. Rhett, look at this drawing Wade did."

Rhett took the drawing from Scarlett. After looking it over, he said, "I believe we need to get our son some art lessons."

"Yes, we do."

When Melly saw the picture, she said, "Your real father had a talent for drawing also."

Wade looked totally confused but Scarlett quickly and quietly said, "We will talk later."

"Alright."

Although Melanie knew that Scarlett was not happy about her referring to Charles as Wade's real father, Charlie was, nonetheless. Melly was not going to let her brother be completely forgotten by his only offspring.

Scarlett looked at Rhett. He had heard the exchange. He said, "We will talk to the boy later." As he looked at Melly, he continued, "Wade is old enough to understand. We will tell him everything."

Melly looked pleased with that information. Ashley had heard the exchange also. He wondered if Melly had damaged the Butlers relationship also so that she could pretend that Charlie was Scarlett's great love. He decided that she had. Melly had tacitly approved of his and Scarlett's relationship by never calling them on their overfamiliarity when interacting. By standing completely behind them after the incident at the sawmill. Melly knew that Ashley would never have been physically unfaithful to her. Melly also knew that he would sink if Scarlett wasn't keeping him afloat. It seemed Melly had played her part in the destruction of their lives. If she and Scarlett had let him fail, he would have grown up sooner. Melly was not so innocent nor so self-sacrificing.

Furthermore, Ashley knew for damn sure that India was telling Melly all the inappropriate things Scarlett was doing in regard to him. He smiled. The games they had all played to avoid growing up. Thank God he got this chance to do it over.

Christmas dinner was at the Butlers as usual. All the guests they usually invited came. Rhett through Ashley had extended an invitation to Paul Newman. Rhett had seen him at a business meeting and had decided the man look extremely old so it would be alright for Scarlett to see him once again. Paul had turned him down.

The Butlers had a goose and all the usual sides. They had pecan pie and buttermilk pie. Melly said, "I haven't had buttermilk pie since we left Georgia."

"Dilcey made it. It is so good."

"It is."

Scarlett was happy. She was not with child. When she had realized it, she thanked God for his protection. She decided that was divine intervention. She wouldn't mind another child but not until Genie was at least two. Admittedly that was only two months away, but she wanted to wait. If she conceived right away it would be almost three years between the baby and Genie. That is a good amount of time between the children. It was almost the amount of time between all of her children. She smiled at her husband. Yes, when Genie turned two, she would stop using the sponge for a while.

Rhett didn't know why his wife was smiling at him like she was so pleased with herself, but he would just smile back like he always did.

After Scarlett had escorted Gerry and Genie to the nursery to turn over to Mammy, she said to the older woman, "I will reimburse you for how much you spent on the pencils for Wade."

Scarlett still was not an extremely observant person, but she would have to have been deaf, dumb, and blind not to have noticed she had offended Mammy. Scarlett realized that it had been with a lot of pride that Mammy had been able to buy the pencils with her own money.

Scarlett immediately said, "I have offended you. I am sorry. I will just thank you for providing Wade with the pencils he needed to complete the drawing and for your encouraging words to the boy. Please, forgive me for misspeaking."

Stiffly Mammy had said, "You are forgiven, Miss Scarlett."

It might take a few days, but Scarlett knew that Mammy would eventually forgive her for her faux pas. They were all getting used to this new world they were living in.

Later that afternoon, Rhett, Scarlett, and Wade were in the parlor. Wade's brother and sister were taking their naps, so it was the perfect time to talk to Wade about his fathers. Before Wade got to the parlor, Scarlett had Hazel bring her a lemonade for Wade and a pot of tea. While Wade was still not in the room, Scarlett poured whiskey in one of the cups and brandy in the other. This was going to be a tough discussion but more than anything, no matter what Wade said they could not lose their tempers. Scarlett's temper was close to the surface because she was mad at Melly for bringing Charlie up. If Scarlett had her way, Charlie Hamilton would never be mentioned again. She sighed. They would tell Wade about his biological father, but Rhett was Wade's real father.

After everyone was settled in the parlor, Scarlett sipped her brandy, but Rhett had knocked his back. He then without any pretense walked to the whiskey decanter and poured himself another shot. While looking at Wade, Scarlett said, "Son, I was married before Dad."

Wade's eyes got big, and he said, "Really?!"

"Yes, my first husband's name was Charles Hamilton, and everyone called him Charlie. He was Aunt Melly's brother. He died six months after we were married but not before leaving you with me. He died in a carriage accident. He had severe internal injuries. The doctors could do nothing to save him."

Scarlett had paused there to get herself together. Talking about Charlie had brought back the horrid memories of when she was alone in the world and nine months with child. And the horrible six months after Wade was born when she was so scared the dress shop was not going to make it.

"Scarlett, go on."

"Yes, Dear." Scarlett looked at Rhett and he was pouring himself another drink. She continued, "I married Dad the December right before you turned three. He has been your father ever since. Although you don't share the same bloodline you share something much more important. You share love. Nobody could love you more than Rhett does."

"I love Daddy, too."

"I didn't like your Aunt Melly referring to Charlie Hamilton as your real father. Rhett is your real father."

"How is Aunt Melly related to me again?"

"She is Charlie's sister."

"Is Claude related to me?"

"No, he is just a friend."

"But I want him to be my brother."

"How about we say that Claude is your brother of the heart just as Dad is your father of the heart?"

"Yes, I like that. What about Beau?"

"Beau is actually your cousin."

"Alright. What is my last name?"

"Butler."

"I like that. I want my last name to be the same as everyone else's."

"Then it is. Just don't say anything to your Aunt Melly. She wouldn't understand."

"I won't Mommy."

"Now come here and hug Dad and me."

"Of course."

Wade scooted off the couch and hugged his mother then his father. Rhett hugged the boy hard, and Wade did not complain.

Later in Rhett and Scarlett's bedroom, he said, "He is my son, damnit."

"Yes, he is, Dear."