Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
I wrote the first chapter as a short story. It has a bittersweet ending. Then I decided that I didn't like that ending. Well, I did, and I didn't. I then wrote three more endings that are happy. Therefore, this fanfic is only four chapters long. After I publish this story, I will take two weeks off to rest and rejuvenate.
Chapter One
July 1888
As Rhett was walking to the bar, he saw Scarlett. His brain had started buzzing. "How did she get here?" This was the last place he thought she would turn up. Scarlett was not that sophisticated. Yet the woman across the room was. She was still so very striking and judging by the action in his nether regions still extremely sexually attractive to him. That was his problem with her. She had been everything he had ever wanted in a woman, but he had not been everything she had ever wanted in a man.
Scarlett was with a handsome man. Rhett guessed his age to be in his mid- fifties. The man had brown hair and a mustache. The man didn't look like him but fortunately he also didn't look like Wilkes.
How old was Scarlett now? She had been twenty-eight when Bonnie had died so she would be forty-three now. She looked incredibly good for a woman in her forties.
Rhett Butler was at the La Scala Opera House with his friend, Joan Crawford. Some people would call her his mistress, but he would never use that sordid of a term to refer to Joan. She was his friend, his bed partner, but not his legal wife although Rhett always introduced her as his wife. The problem was that he was still married to Scarlett, although he hadn't seen her in at least ten years. It had probably been almost thirteen years. It was after she moved to Boston.
When Wade had turned fourteen, Scarlett had moved herself and her children out of the South during the summer of seventy-six. She had sold the mansion and all her interest in Atlanta. She had signed her part of Tara over to her sister Suellen. He had wondered what they had done about the other sister's share but not enough to remember to ask. She had mailed his attorney all the paperwork for him to sign and he had promptly signed it and mailed it back. When she and the children had settled down in Boston, she had mailed his attorney her address.
Rhett had come to visit and at the time he had assured her his support checks would continue being issued. He had set it up where her support checks were raised every other year. He guessed they were still being issued to her. His attorney in New York, Ben Matlock, handled all that.
When Rhett had come to visit, she had said, "I moved so Wade could get a good education. He certainly can't get it in those backward schools in Atlanta. He is going to go to Estes Preparatory School for boys. It was Charlie's alma mater."
After Scarlett had given him a tour of the house, he had thought, 'The décor is as ugly as the mansion.' He had not voiced his opinion.
She said, "Do you want to stay here, or have you already gotten a hotel room?"
"I will stay here."
The room Scarlett had given Rhett had been as tastefully decorated as any home in Charleston. It had pleased him. He knew she had decorated it with him in mind.
Rhett had stayed for a week. It had been a wonderful week.
Rhett had visited with the children, and they had updated him on their lives. He could tell that Scarlett had finally started being a mother to them. He was glad at the time. They needed a mother.
When Rhett had asked, "Are you going to start another business?"
"I don't need to. My husband sends me a nice support check."
"Quite the man that husband of yours."
"Yes, he is."
The way Scarlett had smiled after she said it, Rhett knew she really felt that way.
Rhett and Scarlett had talked every evening about their lives and what they were doing. He had teased and she had laughed. A few times they had talked and laughed about their shared memories, but none from after they had gotten married. They didn't talk about Bonnie. They had never talked about their daughter.
Before Scarlett had moved, she had gotten some letters of introduction from some of her friends who had friends and relatives in the Boston area. From one of her new friends, she had found out the name of a restaurant that also had a dance floor. She and Rhett had gone to supper at the restaurant. They had danced. They then talked about the hospital bazaar.
Scarlett said. "We should have gone dancing a lot more than we did."
"Considering we didn't go dancing at all, one time would have been more."
Rhett had made some jokes, and Scarlett had laughed.
When Rhett had inadvertently mentioned Joan, she had smiled and said, "I'm glad you found someone who appreciates what a wonderful man you are."
At the end of the week, Rhett had said, "Do you want me to come back?"
"You are always welcome."
"That isn't what I asked. Do you want me to come back?"
"If you want to."
"Again, that isn't what I asked."
"Rhett, you are always welcome. If you want to come to visit you will always be received in my home. Yet, there is no need anymore. The reason you were coming to visit was to keep the gossip down. There is no gossip about us here in Boston."
"I guess that is a no."
Scarlett looked at the floor and then looked at Rhett. She said, "I love you and you love me. Yet to change Ashley's words slightly from that day so long-ago love isn't enough for two people as much alike as you and I are. We are both selfish, self-centered, arrogant, and prideful. We both need someone who is altruistic, gentle, and long suffering. Someone who will continue to extend the olive branch no matter how many times it has been rejected. Someone who doesn't have the pride we do."
"I agree with you. Come, let me kiss you goodbye. I will be leaving early in the morning. My train leaves at seven."
"Good night, Rhett."
Rhett kissed her like he had kissed her at Rough and Ready, like he had when he asked her to marry him, like he had the night he had carried her up the stairs. She kissed him back as passionately as he had ever dreamed she would. When they stopped kissing, he said, "I love you."
"I love you, too. If I wasn't afraid of getting with child, I would invite you to spend the night with me one last time."
"If I wasn't afraid of getting you with child, I would be carrying you up the stairs right now."
Rhett and Scarlett had walked up the stairs together arm and arm. At her door, he said, "I know a way to prevent you from getting with child."
"One hundred percent."
"Not quite."
Scarlett kissed Rhett and whispered, "Let's take our chances."
There was no more conversation. That night had been everything either one had ever wanted in a sexual nature. There were so many I love you said it was amazing. In the middle of the night Rhett had intentionally not done what he had needed to do. Scarlett had said, "Yes." She had tightened her legs around his waist.
The next morning at five o'clock, Rhett had woken Scarlett up and they had made love again. Again, I love you was uttered time after time. Again, he had not removed himself at the critical moment. He hadn't thought he could anyway with as tight as her legs had been around his waist.
As Rhett and Scarlett laid there afterwards both people were willing the other person to ask. Yet, he couldn't ask her to let him stay and sadly she couldn't ask him to stay. Both parties were too afraid of rejection. There were no words of goodbye. Rhett had simply gotten out of the bed and put his clothes back on.
Scarlett had laid in the bed listening to the sounds of the house. She heard Rhett's door close when he returned to his bedroom. She heard his door open and close awhile later. At last, she heard the front door open and close. That was when she let the tears fall that she had been holding at bay for the last thirty minutes.
Later that morning on the train to New York, Rhett thought, 'Scarlett is the most fertile woman in the world. Surely, we made a child. Last night was the best sexual experience in my life bar none. What will I do about Joan? I will worry about that when I need to worry about it.'
When Scarlett got up, she thought, 'Having another child at my age? No thank you. But it will be worth it because Rhett will come back. I won't have to humble myself and ask him. When was my last monthly? This is why Mother always said to write down when you have your monthly, so you know when you are late. I haven't been doing it because there was no way I was with child.'
A month later Rhett received a letter from Scarlett through his New York attorney. It was a cheerful letter. She told him about herself, Wade, and Ella. At the end of the letter she had written, 'It appears you didn't leave anything behind. I will always love you.' Rhett said to the thin air, "And I you, my love. He folded up the letter and put it back into the envelope. As silly as he felt, he hid the envelope in his sock drawer under his thirty pairs of socks. Through the years he had often taken the letter out and reread it. Every time he read it, he hoped there was a different ending. Amazingly, the entire time they had been separated that was the only correspondence either one had ever sent.
Rhett would have been pleased to know that Scarlett had been a little sad for several weeks after she had gotten her monthly that month. Scarlett would have been thrilled to know that Rhett was wistful for almost a month after receiving her letter. Over the years they had both spent time thinking about what might have been if they had made different choices.
Rhett had forced himself to stop looking at Scarlett. He had quickly made his way to the bar. He got a couple of glasses of wine for Joan and himself. Wine always made him think pleasantly of Bonnie. He rarely drank these days and when he did it was only wine.
As Rhett made his way back to Joan, he looked for Scarlett. He hoped she didn't see him. No, he hoped she saw him. No, he hoped she spoke to him. No, he hoped she didn't talk to him. He was so confused. Just like he had been their entire lives in Atlanta.
Rhett loved Joan, but his love for her was a tepid imitation of what he felt for Scarlett. That was part of the problem. Everything had mattered with her. It had mattered to the nth degree. His emotions for Scarlet were too strong and he had felt out of control most of the time. And because he had felt out of control, he had lashed out at Scarlett time after time.
Rhett found Joan in the crowd. She was a woman in her late forties. She had blonde hair with blue eyes. He thought she looked good for her age. She was what Scarlett had said he needed easy going, generous, always offering the olive branch, humble and smart. He knew she had been an old maid because she was too smart for a woman. She liked to read like him, and it made him happy when she understood all his off-hand remarks.
When Rhett was in his thirties, he wouldn't have given her the time of day. Yet in his forties after the death of his daughter she was exactly what he had needed. She probably still was.
Rhett had met Joan in Charleston. She was in her early thirties at the time. She had seen him at the harbor and started talking to him. She knew who he was. Every proper person in Charleston knew who he was. They had run into each other several more times around town. After a month, Rhett had asked, "Aren't you afraid of being seen with me?"
"Not at all. You are the most excitement I have had in years."
"Really."
"I was a spinster and a blue stocking before the war started. Now that the war is over, I am a poor relation living with my sister and her husband. Her husband is definitely not a gentleman. I figure if she can marry a man that is not a gentleman so can I."
"I am a married man. I have no plans to divorce my wife."
"I am not going to let that stop me from finally having fun."
"I'm thinking of moving to New York."
"I would do just about anything to get to live in New York with the museums, the libraries, the traveling lectures, all the excitement."
"I am probably going to stay here for another three or four months."
"I would like to move with you."
"Are you a virgin?"
Joan blushed and said, "No, I behaved foolishly, but I didn't get caught."
"Good. I have never wanted to deflower any young lady."
Rhett thought, 'Any young lady except Scarlett O'Hara.' Rhett pushed Scarlett from his mind as he had a thousand times before and said, "I will let you know. Let's see if we suit."
"Very well."
For the next three months, Rhett and Joan spent time together. He could not call at her home because her sister would not receive him in her home. A fact that always made the couple laugh at the ridiculousness of the South. The more time Rhett spent with Joan the more he liked her. She must have liked him also for she always seemed to be so happy when she saw him.
Without any commitment to each other Rhett and Joan were on the train to New York on the first of March. Rhett had just returned from Atlanta. He had not been able to spend Christmas or Bonnie's birthday with Scarlett, but he had wanted to keep the rumors down for her sake.
Rhett bought a house in New York, and he and Joan had started living together. They had been together ever since. They were happy. Probably happier than Scarlett and he would ever have been. Yet a small part of him would always wonder. He and Joan had no children. Rhett made sure of that. He would never open himself up to that kind of pain ever again. Except that one time with Scarlett.
Rhett had visited Scarlett every three months in Atlanta. He would send her a telegram to let her know when to expect him. She had told him of her plans to leave Atlanta, but at the time she had not known her final destination.
Rhett pushed Scarlett from his mind one more time and started talking to Joan. They were talking about the opera. She knew as much about it as he did. It was nice.
Scarlett saw Rhett as he was walking towards the bar. He looked good. She wasn't that surprised to see him. He had always enjoyed all that posh, upscale stuff like the opera and museums. It was one of the things she had always wondered about Rhett. How could he love her when she was nothing, but a country bumpkin from Clayton County.
After Scarlett saw Rhett, she watched him go to the bar. She had moved to wait for John to where Rhett could not see her if he casually glanced around the room. She didn't want him to see her.
Rhett looked good. How old was he now? He was forty-five the night Melly died and that was fifteen years ago, so she guessed he was sixty or almost. He looked good for his age. She supposed he had quit smoking and drinking. Wasn't that what he had told her the first time he had visited after Melly's death? Yes. She had to give him credit for continuing to visit while she was still living in Atlanta. She knew that he had not ever wanted to return to Atlanta because the city only represented pain to him. She had given him grace when he was never there for Christmas and all the other special occasions. She knew it was too painful for him. He had not even been able to make it to Atlanta for the first anniversary of Bonnie's death. He had come the next week though. Scarlett had known not to mention Bonnie. They had never talked about Bonnie since Melly's death.
Scarlett saw Rhett join a woman. She could tell they were in a long-term relationship by the casualness they displayed. It was probably his friend, Joan. For some reason, Scarlett didn't want to refer to the woman as Rhett's mistress. It just sounded so sordid.
When Rhett had been visiting Scarlett in Boston and inadvertently mentioned his friend, Scarlett knew it was not just a casual relationship. It was a woman that Rhett could finally be happy with. He would never be happy with her despite the fact they loved each other. They were too much alike. Scarlett smiled. That was why Rhett thought they would make a great couple. No, it was why they would always go down in a blaze of glory. Neither person would ever offer the olive branch. Neither person would ever swallow their pride. Neither one had when he had visited her in Boston and neither one would now. Neither one could ask the other one to take them back, even though they both knew the other one would take them back.
When Rhett asked her if she wanted him to return upon his visit to Boston, she had wanted to say yes! A thousand times yes. She wanted him to return. No, that wasn't right. She never wanted him to leave. Yet, she had been strong and set him free. It was what was best for both of them. But how much she had hoped he had gotten her with child. The only time in her life she had hoped to have gotten with child.
Yet, true to form, the main reason Scarlett could not ask Rhett to stay without the cover of the baby was she would never have been able to handle him saying no. His rejection of her again would have destroyed her.
Scarlett's emotions for him were too strong and they had always been out of control. It had been easier to fool herself into believing she loved weak, pathetic Ashley because she could control those emotions and she had been able to control Ashley. She had never been able to control her emotions regarding Rhett or control the man himself.
While Scarlett had been packing up the mansion, she had asked Ashley, India, and Beau to come over to the mansion. Primarily she had wanted the Wilkeses to go through Rhett's collection of books and see if they wanted anything. Wade had already been through it. He had taken quite a few books, but there were still quite a lot of books still on the shelves.
Ashley had picked up a thin book and handed it to Scarlett. As he did so, he said, "You should read this. It will tell you a lot about human nature."
Scarlett had looked at the book. It was titled Aesop's Fables. For whatever reason she had opened the book. It fell open to the story about the Dog and the Manger. She had read it and spent a lot of time thinking about it. She had read several more then she had read the story about sour grapes and knew why Rhett had humbled himself to get Bonnie received. Because he himself wanted to be received. She decided that he knew he had made a big mistake, but typical Rhett Butler, because of his pride he would never admit it. Through those two stories Scarlett lost a lot of anger at her husband. She knew this was an oversimplification of Rhett Butler, but she now knew he was just a scared little boy who was quite happy to bite the hand that was feeding him.
Scarlett had met several other women in Boston. She had made herself be nice and respectful because she wanted to have friends. She had never had friends really. Before women had always been the competition. She no longer cared about having every man's attention in the room. She could finally be another woman's friend. And she was.
A year after Rhett's last visit Scarlett had met John Grisham. He was one of the vice-presidents at her bank. He was a widow with grown children. John and Scarlett had hit it off immediately. He was what she needed. Sweet, kind, forgiving, and a man who would offer the olive branch. He would not let her bully him, but he did give her just about everything she wanted. Just like Rhett once had and she hadn't appreciated Rhett's gifts. She appreciated John's kindnesses.
John had taken Scarlett to supper. While they were dining, she said, "I'm still married, and we have no plans to divorce."
"I guess I will have to wait until Mr. Butler meets his maker."
"Yes, you will."
After Scarlett and John had been seeing each other for a year, she allowed them to have a physical relationship. Not because she wanted to be physically intimate, but because she had wanted to be intimate physically with someone. They did not have relations very often. It wasn't any better with John than it had been with Frank or Charlie. She had a couple of times tried to pretend that John was Rhett, but John behaved so differently than Rhett did in the bed, especially their last night that Scarlett couldn't make it happen. Furthermore, John had not smelled like Rhett which further destroyed the fantasy.
John and Scarlett did not live together. Their trip to Europe together had been a big commitment for the couple.
Wade was settled in Boston. He was an attorney and worked for a big law firm. He was married with two children. Ella was married to a well-to-do man and was happy raising a house full of children. How many did the girl have? Three or four. Probably four by now.
When Scarlett had told her children she was traveling to Europe, neither child had raised an eyebrow. They had not even asked her who with. Of course, they knew who. Her friend John. John the man who should be her husband, but she was still married to Rhett. The only thing they had wanted to know was how long she was going to be gone.
Since they had been in Europe, John had started introducing Scarlett as his wife. It didn't hurt anything for him to do that. She and Rhett would never get back together.
Later that night as Rhett was getting into bed, he thought, 'I am a better person for having met Scarlett. She is the only woman I will ever marry. Without her I would never have had Bonnie even if it was just for four and a half short years. I really should let Scarlett go so she can marry her friend. I will file for divorce. I will contact my attorney tomorrow.'
As Scarlett was getting into bed she was thinking, 'I will always wonder if Rhett and I had met ten years later without our history and without my obsession with Ashley if we could have been a happy couple. I will never know. I really should let Rhett go so he can marry his friend. I will file for divorce. I will contact my attorney tomorrow.
Scarlett and Rhett both knew they would never be the one to file. They would not contest the divorce if the other person asked for it, but they would never ask for it themselves. Neither one knew why, but they just couldn't break that last thread of connection.
Author's Notes: I think this ending is quite probable with our favorite couple. When I would think about the canon, before I started writing fanfics, I would always think if only he or she had done this or that. But because I do write fanfics, I am going to give them a happy ending, I have written three other endings which are all happy. They will be published over the next three days.