Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Six
Rhett and Scarlett lived their lives and raised their sons while missing their spouse. Although neither would admit they missed their spouse to anyone else.
Both the boys were walking before their first birthday and soon were saying their first words. Gerry's first word was Mama which had thrilled Scarlett to no end. Mammy had coached Gerry to say that word. She had ignored all the other sounds that had come out of his mouth. Despite Rhett's best effort to get Kenny to say Dada his first word had been Mama also, but he had not received any coaching. That was just his first word much to Rhett's unhappiness.
Bonnie's first word had been Dada. That was not exactly true. Some sounds came out of Bonnie's mouth that had a 'd' sound and he had coached the toddler into forming the word Dada then Daddy.
After eighteen months in Cambridge, Rhett was calling on Bridget Bardot. He had been calling on her for almost three months. She was an extremely beautiful woman. She had blonde hair and greenish- brown eyes. She was probably more beautiful than Scarlett, but he still preferred Scarlett's looks.
One night over supper she had asked, "When am I going to meet your son? You have met my son."
"Never."
The woman was stunned. She said, "Why not?"
"Because you will never be part of my son's life."
"What do you mean? I thought we suited very well. I thought you would ask me to marry you. I love you."
"That is your misfortune. I still love my wife."
"But she is dead."
"True. Nonetheless, I will never love or marry another woman."
"What?! You haven't been calling on me all this time?"
"I have been calling on you, but it was without serious intent. This will be the last time we will see each other socially. Go ahead and finish your meal and I will take you home."
Bridget would have liked to storm out of the restaurant, but she needed Rhett to escort her home. It wasn't safe for a woman to be out alone in the city after dark.
Rhett had calmly finished eating his meal while the woman stewed in silence. Rhett couldn't help thinking how Scarlett would have reacted. She would have stormed out of the restaurant despite the danger, or more likely chewed him out for the rest of the meal.
Rhett smiled at the thought and when the woman saw the smile, she knew he was thinking of his dead wife. The man really was still in love with his wife, dead or not.
Soon the boys were two and they still had their green eyes, which actually made both their parents happy. Rhett liked his son's eyes being the same color as Scarlett's eyes. He had always thought she had beautiful eyes. He had never told her that, but that didn't really matter now. Scarlett was happy her son had green eyes like her because at least there was something about his physical features that was definitely her, that and her dimples and her smile. Gerry was not a carbon copy of Rhett, but there was no doubt who Gerry's father was for which Scarlett was eternally grateful.
After Melly's death, Ashley's fall from grace, and Rhett's departure, Scarlett had cherished the only people she had left. Her children and her servants. Every year Mammy had shrunken increasingly. It had only been her strong sense of loyalty to Miss Ellen that had kept her working for Scarlett. It seemed Mammy's final goal was to get Gerry potty trained.
When Gerry was completely potty trained and he was no longer having accidents, Mammy had chosen to move back to Tara. Scarlett had let her go. She could see how much Bonnie's death had taken out of the old woman.
Since Bonnie's death, Mammy was not Scarlett's feisty nursemaid from years gone by. When Scarlett received Yankees in the house, Mammy never said a word. Mammy never said a word about Rhett either. Although to be honest none of the servants had asked about Rhett.
Mammy had been dead in less than six months of moving to Tara. The sisters had buried their faithful servant next to her Miss Ellen.
Soon after Mammy's death Prissy had gotten married and went to work in the household that her husband worked in.
Scarlett sold her mills in the summer of seventy-six. The building boom was over. Even Johnny had been having a hard time making a profit and Ashley was barely covering cost. Several months he hadn't even done that.
Ashley wasn't any better of a manager now than he had been when she had hired him. She hoped the new owners would keep him employed, but she was not going to rescue him ever again. She would make sure the Wilkeses and the Hamiltons didn't starve for a little bit longer, but she had almost been done with that charity work.
After Kenny was finally potty trained and not having any accidents, Rhett took the boy to London with him. Rhett had a couple of investments he was going to sell because it was not easy to travel with Kenny. After firing the last nursemaid, the day before they were scheduled to leave on their trip, Rhett had decided he would just take care of Kenny himself. After being on the ship, Rhett realized that he could not take care of Kenny by himself because he could not take Kenny with him to his business meetings and social activities.
While Rhett was in London, he was going to get a vasectomy done. He could not take the chance of fathering another child. Admittedly his heart was already at risk because of Kenny, but he didn't want to increase his odds of ending up with a broken heart.
As soon as Rhett and Kenny got to London, he hired a nursemaid. Rhett got the procedure done, sold his investments, took in a couple of plays and by the time he had fired the British nursemaid was on the ship for Boston.
Rhett had considered staying in London because it was further away from Scarlett, but he decided that Boston was good enough. Scarlett was never leaving Atlanta and Tara. While on the ship Rhett realized it was October nineteenth, Ella's birthday. He spent the rest of the day thinking about Ella, Wade, and Scarlett. He missed his stepchildren almost as much as he missed his wife. Nonetheless, he could never return to Atlanta because of him having stolen Kenny away from Scarlett and let her believe that her son was dead especially after all this time.
When Wade turned fourteen, Scarlett sent him to Estes Preparatory School in Boston the next September. He would be a boarder. It had been Charlie's alma mater. Henry and PittyPat had told the boy about the school during one of the Sunday dinners he was forced to attend.
After Wade had learned the school was in Boston, he had asked his mother to send him there. Scarlett knew that although Wade had wanted to go to his father's alma mater the main reason he had wanted to go was to get away from Atlanta.
Atlanta was not a happy place to Wade. Everything reminded him of his Aunt Melly, Bonnie, and his Uncle Rhett. Even though his Uncle Rhett could be mean at times, that six months after Bonnie's death Wade had seen a broken man. A man Wade had compassion for.
Wade didn't have any Southern friends except Beau. In truth, Beau wasn't his friend, but his cousin. A cousin he had nothing in common with.
Wade had lots of friends, but they were all sons of parents who had moved to Atlanta from the North. When Wade had asked his mother to send him to Estes one of the things he had said was, "All my friends are Yankees any way."
Sadly, in the summer of seventy-seven PittyPat Hamilton died in her sleep. Peter was beside himself with grief. Nobody else's grief was anything to take note of.
After Peter had cleaned out PittyPat's room at Hamilton House, he asked if he could quit working. Henry said yes and gave the man thirty dollars to live on for the rest of his life. It was more than enough. Peter was dead within two months. Scarlett believed like PittyPat he had lost the will to live.
With Henry's sister's death, he had moved into Hamilton House. He had taken over PittyPat's room. He had not changed anything about the room. He had told Ashley and India, "We can't afford to spend money on furnishings."
The statement was true, but Ashley and India thought him not changing the furnishings had more to do with wanting to remember his sister than it had with saving money.
When Gerry was four, he had asked Scarlett, "Why don't we have a father?"
Because Scarlett knew Rhett was never coming back, she felt safe lying to the little boy. She said, "He is dead. Let me show you his picture."
"Is it the picture you have on your night side table?"
"Yes, it is our wedding picture." Wistfully Scarlett added, "He was so handsome that day. I wish I had appreciated it."
Gerry didn't know what appreciated meant so he ignored his mother's comment. He didn't know what dead meant either, so he asked, "What does dead mean?"
"It means that he has gone to heaven. He was a wonderful man and I miss him very much. You should be proud he was your father. I am so lucky I have you to remember him by. I have been married three times and each time I was lucky to have gotten with child. I am also lucky that all of my children look just like their father. They were all good men, and it is nice that part of them is living on.
Gerry didn't know where heaven was, but he was alright with his mother's explanation. It meant he was just like Wade and Ella so that was alright. He also liked the idea that he looked just like his father.
As Scarlett watched Gerry walk away, she once again wondered what Rhett had done with the other baby's body. She had occasionally thought about having Mr. Powe ask him, but she was really afraid of the answer.
After Scarlett's discussion with Gerry the next time the family was in Boston to visit Wade, she had told Wade and Ella what she had told Gerry about Rhett.
Wade had said, "To all extents and purposes he is except for your monthly support check."
"True."
Ella said, "That should make Gerry happy. That makes him just like Wade and me."
Although Scarlett really didn't know what Ella meant she said, "Yes, Dear."
Scarlett watched her children grow. As she did, she would see expressions on their faces that reminded her of their fathers. With Wade, she actually saw expressions on his face that reminded her of Melanie. When Gerry looked like Rhett, or Ella looked like Frank, or Wade looked like Melly it would make her happy and sad all at the same time. With Gerry especially because if Rhett would come back, he could love his son as much as he had loved Bonnie and get as much love as he got from Bonnie back from Gerry.
Rhett had continued to send a support check every month via Mr. Powe. When Scarlett would get her support check, she would think, 'I earned every penny by living with that man for five years.' Then she would think, 'I wish he would just come home. I miss him so much.' She would shake that thought off and take her check to the bank. She was always sad after she had picked up her check.
Scarlett would think about sending Rhett a letter asking him to come home, but he had made it extremely clear that he no longer loved her. He had made it plain that he no longer wanted to live with her or even still be married to her. She would just have to make herself be happy that she had his son.
Scarlett had stopped having her nightmare in the fall of seventy-three. Once Melly had died, Ashley had revealed his true self, and she guessed Rhett had revealed his true self. There was no point in her running through the fog looking for help. There was nobody out there to help her. The only person who would help her was herself. If anything was going to get done, she would have to do it her damn self.
Scarlett spent her time running the store, socializing with Yankees, visiting Wade in Boston, visiting Tara, and being with Ella and Gerry. Those days she took Ella and Gerry with her almost everywhere she went. She was spending almost every day at the store. She had started doing so during the panic. She had set up a room behind the store for her children to stay in while they were at the store. It had toys, books, a table, and chairs. It even had a mattress for Gerry to take a nap on. Ella would often lay down with her little brother until he went to sleep. Ella would often take a nap too. Scarlett had quickly bought another pillow for Ella. Scarlett was so grateful she had Ella to take care of Gerry. She had been Gerry's primary caregiver since she was ten years old. She was a natural mother, unlike Scarlett who was the opposite of a natural mother whatever that was.