Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Thirty-Five

Careen walked over to stand by Scarlett but first she reached down and picked Susie up. Susie was alert and interactive. Careen said, "I have found something out since I have been here."

"What?"

"I want to have children."

"If you want to have children you will have to get married."

"Or just take Susie."

"Will might have something to say about that."

With a blush, Careen said, "Maybe I will take him too."

"I like this idea, but Will will not be available for at least a year.. well eleven months."

"That is good. I need the time to get through my ordeal."

"Have you told anyone?"

"No, not yet. Of course, Mammy knows. Big Sam told her so she could fix me up. I think one of the things she thinks she needs to do is fatten me up."

"Remember you don't have to tell anyone although you have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Thanks, Scarlett."

"You look a lot better than last week."

"Thanks. Come show me how to balance the accounts. We can't be waiting on you to have time to come down here."

"Indeed, you can't. Wade, stay here with Ella and Susie."

"I want to stay with you."

"Not right now."

Scarlett smiled when Wade pushed out his bottom lip. In her first timeline she probably wouldn't have noticed Wade's actions. If she had she would have yelled at the little boy. The little boy whose only sin was wanting to spend time with his mother.

Scarlett smiled and said, "You can push that lip right back in. It isn't going to do any good. We will have dinner and then you, Ella, Prissy, Joyce, and I will return to Atlanta."

Careen said, "So soon."

"Yes, so soon. Sorry. The store is doing alright but I am afraid to leave it untended for more than a day."

"Alright. Show me how to do the books."

After Scarlett had shown Careen how to do the books, the younger woman said, "That is easy."

"Yet Suellen could never manage to do it correctly."

"It was beneath her. She was a lady after all."

"Mother did the books."

"I didn't say it made sense. I am just explaining Suellen's thought process."

"Alright. Although in our new world I have met a lot of people who feel like an honest day's worth of work is beneath them. They think they're like should still be one of privilege."

"I guess you aren't just talking about our aunts."

Scarlett laughed. She said, "Our aunts are in the majority as far as that thinking is concerned."

Scarlett moved to stand up. Careen put her hand on her sister's arm and said, "Before you get up."

"Yes."

"I am sleeping in your room."

At first, Scarlett wanted to scream that nobody slept in her room but her. When she looked at her sister, who just then again looked small and defenseless, Scarlett knew this was not a preference but a necessity. Scarlett didn't know what peace and comfort Careen received by sleeping in Scarlett's bedroom, but Scarlett knew she needed it. She said, "No problem. Just keep the cat out."

Careen laughed and said, "I'm not Suellen. The cat belongs in the barn to capture mice."

"True, remember when Bonbon kept leaving us presents on the porch."

"I don't see how dead mice could be considered a present but then again I am not a cat."

"I'm just glad we had a slave to clean all that up."

"Scarlett, were we spoiled rotten brats?"

"Of course, we were but we certainly aren't any more."

"No, we aren't. Let me go help finish dinner."

"I will come help you."

When Scarlett got to the kitchen, she found Dilcey and Liberty already getting dinner ready. Liberty seemed to be all smiles. Scarlett smiled. Hopefully, Liberty and Big Sam would get together in this timeline also. She hoped she hadn't messed that up. Liberty and Big Sam had seemed happy together.

The aunts joined everyone for dinner. Eulalie said, "Scarlett, Careen is making us clean the house like we were common slaves."

"Aunt Eulalie, I know she is not making you clean the house like common slaves. Maybe like ungrateful poor relations but not slaves for I know our former slaves would have done a better job than you are doing."

"Scarlett!"

Scarlett took a deep breath. She said, "First, I am no longer in charge of Tara. Careen is in charge. She will be running it with Will's help until further notice. Careen and Will own two thirds of Tara therefore even if I didn't agree I would be out voted. Second, Aunt Pauline and Aunt Eulalie you need to get it into your heads that you are no longer rich, important Charleston widows. Instead, you are ungrateful, unwanted, poor relations. In fact, if Careen and Will wanted to kick you off the plantation there is nothing, I could do to stop them. I would protest, of course. I would say no, don't, you can't, well if you insist. I guess you could write to Mrs. Butler and see if she could take you in."

The aunts did not talk the rest of the meal. Careen, Will, and Scarlett talked about their plans for the future of Tara. Despite Scarlett's words to the contrary Will and Careen wouldn't do anything that Scarlett was opposed to.

On her way back to Atlanta Scarlett once again found herself thinking of Patrick. Yes, she and Patrick had fought from time to time, but he had usually given in to her. The only difference between Patrick and Frank was that she respected Patrick. That wasn't it. Patrick had been her friend. She had wanted him to be happy. Yes, she had wanted him to be happy but not if she was going to be unhappy. She hadn't been above bullying him from time to time in order to get her way. Rhett was the only man who had not let her bully him.

Scarlett recalled when Patrick told her that Alice was the love of his life, she hadn't been mad or angry. That was amazing that Scarlett O'Hara had accepted being second best in Patrick's heart. She had been more mature then but the real reason she accepted it was because she knew that Patrick was not number one in her heart either. Rhett Butler was her one true love, but she still believed they had a toxic love. So that didn't matter.

Scarlett wondered if instead of saving Patrick's life, she could save his son from being kill by the trolley. And if she could, would she full well knowing that if Noah lived Alice probably wouldn't die. If Alice didn't die, she would never have met Patrick in the park. Or if they did meet, they would not have gotten involved because he would be a married man. Could she give up her happiness for Patrick's happiness? For Patrick to never have felt the pain of losing a child or a spouse. But even if Scarlett did save Alice and Noah, could she save Patrick from getting hit by lightning? She had no idea how she would save anyone's life.

Scarlett thought about her daughters, Melanie, and Tricia. She missed them both so much. Could she give up Melanie and Tricia? Yet, she missed Bonnie so much also. She didn't miss the lost baby because she had not known him, but she did miss the idea of him.

Scarlett had an idea busing around in her head. If she thought of some way to save Noah, then she would commit to saving the boy and Alice. If she managed to save both Noah and Alice, then she would find a way to save Patrick even if she had to tie him up, so he didn't go outside that day in April. If she couldn't save Noah, she would go to Boston in seventy-four and meet Patrick.

A thought popped into her head. Could she do it? Rhett would certainly welcome her in his bed. After all he wasn't that discerning in that respect. She knew when they had made Bonnie, true enough, but what she wasn't sure she could do was take Rhett's child away from him. If he ever saw the child, he would know that was his Bonnie no matter what name Scarlett gave her. He would be so devastated that she had done that to him. She just realized she would never get away with it. It didn't matter if she ran away, Rhett would find her somehow, someway. He was now determined that they would spend the rest of their lives together. She knew now that if she farted, he would know about it.

Scarlett giggled at her thought and decided to stop thinking about such serious stuff just for a little while.

On the way back to Atlanta, Wade had insisted on sitting in Scarlett's lap. About halfway home, Scarlett had said to Wade, "It is Ella's turn to sit in my lap."

Although Wade had said, "Alright." He had not moved.

Scarlett said, "Alone."

When Wade's eyes had swelled up with tears, Scarlett had sighed and said, "Maybe I can fit both of you in my lap."

Wade smiled and said, "Let's try."

Scarlett was able to fit both of her children in her lap. She briefly thought what her reaction would have been to seeing tears in Wade's eyes last time. She would have been disgusted that a little boy was about to cry about anything. Now she was thrilled that she was that important to Wade. That Wade had missed her as much as she had missed him. That is how they rode back to Atlanta despite at times it being uncomfortable for Scarlett, especially when both children had fallen asleep upon her. Although when Prissy had offered to take the children off her hands, Scarlett had shook her head. Scarlett knew that all too soon both of them would be living lives of their own.

Scarlett thought back to the earlier timeline, Wade had been about to graduate from Harvard with plans to go to Harvard Law. Ella was sixteen and she had been receiving gentlemen callers for a while. There wasn't anyone special, yet. Ella had stopped receiving callers while she was in mourning for Patrick. Scarlett wasn't sure she would have willingly done that when she was sixteen. Certainly not for her stepfather. In truth she hadn't wanted to do it for her husband.

Scarlett thought, 'Wade and Ella were on the cusp of starting their own lives. They had turned out to be such wonderful children despite her marriage to Rhett. Despite her neglect of them. It was true if Wade and Ella had not had Mammy and Melly in their lives, they would not have known what love was. Bonnie too. Rhett was obsessed with the child, and she had ignored the child for the most part. She was now willing to admit that she had been a bad mother to all her children. Yet, she had gotten a chance to make it right and by God she would.

Scarlett was pleased with Prissy. She seemed to have settled down since they had left Atlanta that August night. Scarlett guessed the war and their time at Tara had caused Prissy to mature also. The girl was a good nursemaid. Not as good as Mammy but she also wasn't as old as Mammy or set in her ways as Mammy was. Also, Scarlett and Prissy had more of a boss/employee relationship. Prissy would never tell Scarlett she was acting improperly. Scarlett missed Mammy but she was glad the woman was at Tara. She knew she was going to behave improperly in regard to her relationship with Rhett. Why bother to act properly? The matrons were blaming her for Frank running away. Furthermore, in April of seventy-four she would leave the South forever and move to Boston. She would start her life with Patrick again. Patrick, Melanie, and Tricia.

Wednesday Rhett came to the store. He had come to see Scarlett – yes but also to shut Clarence up. The man … the ghost…. No, the angel would not shut up about Rhett talking to Scarlett about her mother or what Mrs. Merriwether had said to her before she married him in the first timeline.