Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Sixty-Nine

As the Butlers were leaving Hamilton House, Scarlett hugged PittyPat and Melly. Wade allowed himself to be hugged by Melly and PittyPat. Rhett shook Ashley and Henry's hands. Melly hugged Ella. Ella was alright with being hugged as long as the person didn't try to take her out of Rhett's arms.

As the Butlers left the house there were promises to write. There was no follow-up invitation for the Butlers to come to supper again. Probably because the one meal had stretched the household budget to the maximum.

Scarlett did not invite the families to have supper with her and Rhett in the hotel restaurant. They would not be seen dining with Rhett in public. They had only allowed Rhett into their home because they knew that was the only way they were going to get to see Wade at all.

Rhett and Scarlett went by to see Joe Powe to take care of some legal business. Prissy was at Tara visiting her mother, so they had taken the children with them.

After the family was seated in Joe's office, they found out that Suzanne was expecting another child. After the congratulations were extended, Scarlett said to Joe, "I have two lots that were given to me by my first husband, Charles Hamilton. Henry Hamilton has the deeds. I want to transfer them to Beau Wilkes." Scarlett turned to Rhett and said, "With that income they will not starve."

Joe said, "Not to refuse business, but why don't you get Mr. Hamilton to draw up the transfer paperwork."

"Uncle Henry will try to talk me out of transferring the lots to Beau. He will think I should keep them for Wade's sake. I can see his logic. They were Charlie's lots, and his son should inherit them, but Wade will inherit a sizeable amount from me personally and probably from his stepfather also. He certainly doesn't need the income right now and the Wilkeses do."

Rhett said, "They won't be rich, but they won't starve."

"That is what they want. Just not to starve. They are happy living in genteel poverty with their honor and principals firmly intact."

"Along with all Southern proper society."

Wade said, "What is genteel poverty?

Scarlett looked at Rhett. He said, "Genteel poverty means despite being poor one is still part of a higher social class than would be normal."

Under Scarlett's breath, she said, "You made it sound wonderful."

"No. Noble."

"You are right."

When Rhett smirked, she smiled. He would always be her arrogant husband. She wouldn't want him any other way now.

Wade said, "Is that what we are doing?"

"No. We are living in extreme wealth, because Daddy was incredibly smart and made money off the Civil War."

"Oh."

That was all that was said about genteel poverty. As Wade got older, he would figure the truth out.

Scarlett said to Joe, "Is there any way they cannot accept it."

"Technically they cannot accept it, but it is still theirs none the less. I will get it taken care of sometime this week."

"Don't go see Uncle Henry until we have left town. We will be returning to Boston next Monday."

Rhett said, "What about Hamilton House?"

Scarlett said, "Half of it belongs to Wade, but it is in trust until he reaches his majority." She smiled at her son and continued, "He will have to deal with it then."

"Alright. Anything else, Sweetheart?"

"No."

Joe said, "Let me get the power of attorney form for you to sign."

"Of course. We will wait for you here."

"Yes ma'am."

After the form was signed, Rhett said, "How much?"

"Probably three dollars. I can't see it taking more than an hour."

Rhett took a five-dollar bill from his wallet and handed it to Joe. Rhett said, "Just credit the rest to my account."

"Of course."

Everyone stood up. Scarlett took Ella from Rhett's arms. The little girl went, but it was plain she didn't want to go. Nonetheless, she didn't fight Scarlett taking her out of her Daddy's arms. Scarlett said, "I don't mind you being the favorite. I would just like to be in the running."

"You will. Although I selfishly want to be everyone's favorite."

Wade said, "Mama is my favorite."

"Thank you, Wade."

The family rode around Atlanta in an open carriage on several different days. Rhett and Scarlett talked about the changes to the city since the war started. At times they would get confused between Atlanta in sixty-one, in sixty-eight, and in seventy-three. Fortunately, Wade was only six and didn't notice the discrepancies. The weather was pleasant. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just right. The perfect weather in Georgia.

Will and Careen's wedding was going to be held at two o'clock in the afternoon. That gave the guests plenty of time to get to Tara and plenty of time to get home before it got dark. Scarlett wanted the family to arrive around one, so they had an early dinner then got into the carriage that Rhett had rented for the day.

After the family was settled in the carriage, Scarlett looked at Rhett. She thought, 'He is so handsome.' She smiled. She also thought, 'It is a good thing he is so conceited, for I never give him compliments. He never gives me compliments either, but there is no reason why I can't.'

Scarlett said, "Rhett, you look so handsome today."

"And?"

With a smile, she said, "Just that. I don't tell you enough."

"I don't think you have ever told me."

"That is certainly not enough. Wade, you look handsome also."

"Thank you, Mama."

Everyone was quiet for a few miles until Wade said, "Mama?"

"Yes?"

"After Uncle Will and Aunt Careen get married, what will I call them then?"

Scarlett hid a smile while Rhett didn't bother to hide his smile. She said, "Aunt Careen and Uncle Will."

"When they have children will they be my cousins?"

"They have a child….."

Rhett sharply said, "Yes, they will be your cousins, just like Cassie is your cousin."

"I don't remember Cassie's mother."

"She died of yellow fever shortly after Cassie was born."

"All right."

The conversation was more general until the family got to Tara. After Wade and Ella had run off, Rhett said, "Do you know why I stopped you?"

"Yes, I was about to tell Wade that Will and Careen had a child before they got married."

"Not a good message to send to the boy."

"No, it's not. Come along. Let me introduce you to everyone."

"I hope nobody remembers me from the barbecue."

"Everyone will remember you from the barbecue."

The ceremony was nice. The couple was married by the Baptist minister from Jonesboro Baptist Church. It seemed the couple were going to start attending that church. Will would not say he was any religion and Careen, while claiming not to hold the Catholic church responsible for what happened to her decided to give the Baptist religion a try. After all, it was convenient. It being in Jonesboro and all.

Scarlett looked around at everyone at the ceremony. She recognized almost everyone. She felt compassion for them all. This was basically the same group that was at the Wilkes' barbecue the day the war started. As a group these people were a beat-down crowd. Scarlett turned to Rhett and said, "You did good by getting Ashley that teaching job."

"Thank you."

"He got to try making it in New York. When he returned you found him a job that was perfect for him. You are such a good judge of character. That was an amazing thing you did considering how much you hate him."

"I don't hate him anymore. He was just a man trying to make sense out of a world he didn't understand while trying to live by a set a rules that no longer applied."

Scarlett stared at Rhett. She said, "That is what you said that night Melly died. I guess you really believed that."

"Yes, I did."

Rhett felt no guilt at taking all the credit for his angel's idea. Clarence, who was still keeping an eye on the man, simply smiled. The man was still an arrogant man. Clarence was just lucky enough to get Rhett to humble himself enough to win Scarlett's trust. Clarence saw Rhett's new demon. The demon was almost as old as God. It was Mephistopheles.

Clarence said, "What happened to Marvin?"

"He has been reassigned."

"Are you going to bring Rhett grief?"

"There is no point. He only had two true weaknesses. Scarlett and Elizabeth. You have shored those up so well they are no longer weaknesses."

"What are you doing here then?"

"Finishing out the last of my active duty. I have been assigned to watch Rhett and Scarlett to make sure they don't slip and fall. Although it is kind of pointless. Together they are unbeatable. It is fine. I am retiring in two hundred years. Just counting down the years."

"What are you going to do when you retire?"

"Become one of those grouchy old men that seem to be everywhere. You know the ones. The men that always think they are right no matter what the facts say. The ones that frustrate everyone."

"I think the humans find them very annoying."

"Exactly what I want to do. Be a mildly annoying old human man."

Clarence shook his head. He said, "I got to go The Man has another assignment for me."

"Congratulations on getting your wings on your first try. Fortunately, not very many angels accomplish that."

"See you around. I will continue to check on Rhett. He's my buddy."

"We can never forget our first one. Goodbye, Clarence. See you."

Marvin had not been a demon assigned to bring ruin to humans for an exceptionally long time. He had been one for only a thousand years. He had not been a demon for extraordinarily long, only about five thousand years. He had been considered a Wonderkid. Great things had been expected of him. He had been the youngest demon to have been assigned to the Destruction of Humans Team. It was the best assignment in the dark realm. His success rate before Rhett Butler had been at seventy percent. An outstanding success rate.

Marvin losing Rhett's soul was galling enough, but to Goof body of all angels was almost too much to bear. The worst part was because of Marvin messing up that easy assignment he had been reassigned to cleaning up the latrines. Cleaning up the latrines! That was a new arrival assignment. Marvin suspected that Peggy had complained about him sexually harassing her. The upper echelon took those accusations extremely seriously. The upper echelon's attitude was that – There are far too many demons ready to have all types of sex that to harass a demon about saying no was unacceptable. Marvin knew that several demons had also complained about him giving them advice on how to capture souls. He knew he had gotten too big for his britches. He had even given advice to demons with five and six thousand years of experience.

Marvin had heard that Rhett and Scarlett Butler had been turned over to Non-Collectables. They would have a demon, who was two to three hundred years away from retirement, watch them hoping they would make a mistake, but it was highly unlikely because the two of them were so strong together.

Marvin was frustrated because Rhett Butler was supposed to be an easy assignment. He had Butler in the bag. If he had just let the man die, he could have collected his soul. The man didn't believe there was a God and the man had committed quite a few sins in his lifetime. If he had just let Rhett die it would have been another success in his column. Instead, Marvin had decided to torture the man by giving him hope, not hope in going to heaven, but hope that he could win Scarlett's heart. Marvin had thought there was no way he could have won Scarlett's heart back because of everything Rhett had done in their first timeline. Not to mention that Scarlett had loved another man.

To add to Marvin's disgrace, he had been deemed responsible for them losing Scarlett O'Hara's soul also. Although Scarlett's soul had not been a sure thing, she also had committed a few sins in her lifetime that she felt no remorse for having committed.

Marvin had heard from one of his coworkers that Rhett and Scarlett Butler were almost guaranteed to get into heaven. They had confessed their sins and had started living a good life. They even went to church every Sunday. The Episcopal church because Rhett thought they had better music.

Everyone in the dark realm knew of Marvin's downfall. He was the laughingstock of the entire domain. In fact, he had heard that when someone made a mistake it was called doing a marvin now. He knew of several other demons who had gone by the name Marvin who were now going by another name.

Marvin's blunder was the most talked about item in the dark realm. It had even pushed the Master's disaster with that young man Johnny in Georgia out of everyone's mind. That was so amazing Charlie Daniels had even written a song about it. It was called The Devil went down to Georgia.

Nonetheless, that was not as humiliating as losing to Clarence Odbody.