Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Ten

On the first anniversary of Bonnie's death, Scarlett had gone to the park for Bonnie had so loved going to the park. She had been sitting on a park bench alone. Wade and Ella had gone with her, yet they were off playing. Scarlett was happy for them.

There had been some boys at the park playing baseball. They had asked Wade to join them to even up the teams. They all lived in the neighborhood. They soon all became friends with Wade.

There were a couple of girls at the park also. Ella had just walked up and joined them in their play. They had let her. They too lived in the neighborhood. They too became friends.

She had not known she was crying until a man with a kind face had offered her his handkerchief. It had been Patrick.

The man had said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Scarlett had looked at the man. He was in his late thirties with blonde hair and gray eyes. He was not as handsome as Ashley, but he had reminded her of Ashley. Not the Ashley that now lived in Atlanta but the Ashley that still lived in her memories. That made her cry more. She hadn't spoken but she had nodded her head. After he sat down, she sobbed out, "Today is the first anniversary of my daughter's death."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. The two hardest days are their birthday and their death day. I know. I lost my son on September the fifteenth six years ago. He was three years old. He died in a trolley accident. He ran out in front of it."

"My daughter too died in a tragic accident. She was only four. It has been a very hard year for me. I lost my daughter, then my best friend, then my husband."

"So many deaths in one year. How awful."

With Patrick's words she knew what he had thought. She was still wearing black. She knew that her mourning period was over for Bonnie and Melanie, but she could not bring herself to wear anything but black. She had continued to use the last name Butler. She had not been able to go back to O'Hara. She had felt that to use O'Hara would be denying Bonnie's existence.

"Thank you. I lost my wife over four years ago on January twenty-third. Alice never forgave herself for the death of our son. She had not been paying attention when he had run out in front of the trolley. No matter how many times I told her it was an accident she still carried the guilt. She just got sadder and sadder. When she got sick with pneumonia, she didn't have the will to live. She loved to come to the park."

"So did my daughter."

"I come to the park most every day," Patrick had stood up and said, "Maybe I will see you again."

"What is your name?"

"Patrick Green."

"Scarlett Butler."

Scarlett and Patrick had run into each other at the park often. They would always have long conversations. It was plain to see that Patrick was interested in Scarlett. What Scarlett didn't know was that it was also plain to see that she was interested in Patrick.

Scarlett's divorce had been final in July which Scarlett thought was funny for it was in July that she had danced with Rhett at the Hospital Bazaar. As soon as her divorce was final Henry Hamilton had sold all her possessions in Atlanta except for the store. She had given that to Hugh. Not because of her part in Tommy's death but because despite his faults, Hugh had been a good, loyal, and honest employee. In addition to all that he had managed the store by himself for the last four months. He deserved something good to happen to him.

When all the sales were finished, Scarlett and the children had traveled to Atlanta in August to get her monies. She had cashed Rhett's settlement check. She had bought more gold and gems with all her money. Rhett had taught her that gold and gems were easier to transport.

Scarlett, Wade, and Ella had stayed with Aunt PittyPat. She hadn't cared that Ashley and Beau were living there. For the first time she and Ashley had talked as friends. Even India had treated her kindly. She knew it was because she was no longer Scarlett O'Hara, belle of five counties but instead Scarlett Butler, a woman who had made so many terrible mistakes and had suffered some tremendous losses.

While in Atlanta Scarlett had made arrangements with Uncle Henry, Aunt PittyPat, and Beau to come visit at Christmas and stay until Wade's birthday. It had become an annual thing. It had been nice to have them here last Christmas because of Patrick's death. Scarlett wondered how Ashley could let Beau spend every Christmas with her. She finally decided that Ashley's Christmas would be pitiful in comparison to hers. By sending his son away, Ashley never really had to admit to Beau how poor they really were. Sadly, Scarlett knew that Beau knew the truth.

While Scarlett was in Atlanta, she, Wade, and Ella had gone to the storage room where Bonnie's things were at. Scarlett had slowly and gently started taking items out of the first box. There were dresses that had never been worn and she put them in one pile. Sue could use those. Bonnie's christening gown, a necklace with a cross on it, her first shoes, her first rag doll, and some favorite dresses had been placed in one pile. Scarlett would have liked to have had Bonnie's riding habit, but Rhett had buried Bonnie with it on. Scarlett had not objected. Not that it would have mattered if she had. Rhett had never listened to her in regard to their daughter. Probably because Rhett had not thought of Bonnie as their daughter but his daughter. There were a lot of toys that had not even been taken out of the box, those went with the dresses that had never been worn. There was a hairbrush with some of Bonnie's hair still in it. There was a hat that Bonnie had always been losing.

Wade said, "Mother…."

"Mama."

"What?"

"Call me Mama."

"Mama don't do this to yourself. Take the stuff in this pile and send the rest to Aunt Suellen."

Ella said, "Looking at all this stuff is going to make you very sad. And there is a lot of stuff."

Scarlett sat there for a few minutes while not speaking. Finally, she said, "I might as well. I will never be able to look at this stuff again anyway. I have the items I really wanted." Scarlett picked up the rag doll and said, "I made this and gave it to her on her first birthday. She slept with it every night until…."

Neither Wade nor Ella spoke. Wade knew what had happened and Ella just knew that Uncle Rhett had done something mean to Mama once again. Finally, Scarlett said with an overly bright voice, "Until Rhett gave her a bigger one that he had a seamstress make for her second birthday. The new one had black hair and blue eyes. She even had a blue dress on. After he gave her that one, she didn't want this one anymore. The other one was so much more beautiful. I guess this one is kind of ugly. I had never made a rag doll before."

Ella had not been offended that her mother had made Bonnie a ragdoll and not her. Ella had always known that her mother loved Bonnie more than either her or Wade.

The children still didn't speak, they just started putting items back in the boxes except the items they knew their mother wanted. Scarlett just sat there in the storage bin, stroking the doll.

Wade and Ella had packed up all the stuff. They were going to send it to Aunt Suellen. Most of the boxes they hadn't even opened. When the children were finished, Wade gently said, "Let's go to the train station. We can ship these boxes to Aunt Suellen and find out when the next train to Boston is leaving."

Wade and Ella stared in amazement as the broken woman in front of them turned into their dynamic, confident mother. That was when they knew that their mother was a lot more fragile than she had ever let anyone else see. They felt honored that their mother had let them see her in a weak moment. Finally, Scarlett said, "Of course. Let me get the porter to help us with the boxes."

Wade and Ella had been right. She would never look at the items again, but she would never leave them behind. They took everything to the train station and sent them to Jonesboro. Scarlett telegraphed Suellen and told her there were six boxes of clothing being shipped to her. Sue needed to go to the Jonesboro train station and pick them up.

As Scarlett left the train station, she felt freer than she had in a long time. She would grieve the loss of her daughter forever, but she was no longer going to feel guilty about not preventing it from happening or for not fighting to be in her daughter's life. Rhett Butler had prevented her from being in her daughter's life and he had not respected her opinion enough to listen to her concerns about Bonnie making that jump. As bad as the relationship was at that time her being against the idea would have made Rhett determined to do it.

The family did not go to the cemetery. Nobody wanted to visit their loved ones' grave. As Wade had said, "Their souls aren't there. Their souls are in heaven. We can speak to them anywhere."

The family did go by the mansion for one more walk through to make sure there wasn't anything there that somebody wanted. As they walked in Scarlett said, "It certainly has been picked over."

"Yes, but there is still a lot of items."

One walk through the house and Scarlett, Wade, and Ella just wanted to leave. There was nothing there for them. It was from a lifetime ago.

Wade, Scarlett, and Ella returned to Boston in a private car. Scarlett was going to enjoy the comforts that Rhett's money was going to buy for her. They arrived in Boston in time to be ready to go to school when it started. Scarlett sent Wade to Estes Preparatory School and Ella to Miss Madison's School for Girls. Despite the name that sounded more like a finishing school than a school of higher education, Miss Madison sent most of her graduates to college. The head mistress taught the girls until they were eighteen and ready to go to college.

Both children were doing extremely well in their studies which made Scarlett happy.

In September while wearing a gray dress, Scarlett had said, "My time of deep mourning is over."

Patrick had said, "With your permission, I would like to start calling on you."

Scarlett had smiled the first happy smile since Melly's death. She had replied, "I would like that a lot."

As Patrick looked at the smiling woman in front of him, he had thought, 'I don't know what your late husband did to hurt you, Scarlett, but I'm just glad you have fallen into my lap. If you weren't wounded, you would never have given me the time of day. If her memories of her dead husband weren't bitter, she would talk about the man more. She talks about her daughter and her friend but not a word about her late husband. I don't even know what his name was. I on the other hand talk too much about Alice and Noah.'

The family wasn't used to the cold, but Patrick had taken them out and showed them how much fun it could be to play in the snow and the ice. The children's friends taught them to ice skate. Soon they were spending all their afternoons at an ice rink. Scarlett would not allow them to skate on a frozen pond. She was too scared of something happening to them.

Wade would often chafe at the restrictions his mother put upon Ella and him, but he would never argue with her about them. He knew his mother was extremely afraid of either Ella or him dying. Wade would often sigh when he thought, 'So this is how it feels to be loved to the moon and back.'

Scarlett would often think about Rhett saying he would not risk his heart again. She would think, 'How can you not risk your heart if you are living a full life. Maybe Rhett too wanted to live a shadow puppet life where he would never have to risk too much.' In Scarlett's opinion that wasn't really living.