Author's Note: Enjoy another chapter! Thank you for the reviews. I apologize for the delay, although one chapter a week is probably more workable of a schedule. Stay safe everyone!

Disclaimer I own none of the characters and I am making no profit from this.

edited 6/22/23

Rhett, choosing to allow mother and son to spend some time together without his presence, ventured down to the study in the back of the house, which he had once used as his office. The room was furnished in heavy dark wood furniture, with well oiled leather covering the seats. It was one of the few rooms that he had insisted on furnishing, and even after all of the time away, it still smelled like he had just left. The wood shone with the lemon polish that Scarlett favored.

Wade's arrival did not bode well for his mission, but it did not deter him. Perhaps the best thing that he could do was just to spend time with his family, and eventually his presence would once again be just part of the daily routine. Wade might never forgive him, largely for the hurt he had caused to his mother and sister. Wade might have been afraid of his mother as a small child, but the thing he feared more than her was to lose her.

Rhett recalled a young Wade terrified when Scarlett was giving birth to Bonnie. He had worried that his mother would die, And if Rhett was honest with himself, it was no wonder that Scarlett's death was his greatest fear. Almost every person that Wade had loved or counted on had passed during his childhood. He probably had little to no memory of Scarlett's mother Ellen and only a few memories of her Pa. And those memories would only be of a man broken in spirit and mind by the loss of his wife. Suellen was still present, but she had always been terrible to Scarlett's children, though better to Wade than Ella who was an ever present reminder of Scarlett's crimes in stealing Frank Kennedy. Careen was living in a convent in Charleston as far as Rhett was aware. And he supposed it wasn't completely fair to say that Rhett and Ashley were Wade's only examples, because Scarlett did seem to like and appreciate Suellen's cracker husband Will, but Will despite all of the years with the family would always be tainted by his poor upbringing. Melanie and Bonnie had died far too close together. And now apparently Aunt Pitty Pat had also slipped away. Of those who had not passed, Scarlett and Ella were the only constants. Ashley and Beau he was sure would be in some contact with Wade, as the closest members of his family apart from Scarlett. Even most of the loyal servants had abandoned him as the years passed and they moved on to their own lives separate from their former mistress and her children. He rubbed at his temple. He had known that this would not be an easy mission, and that every day that he had delayed had made it that much harder. He wished for years back, but he stopped his musing, knowing that wishing for years back would only bring more pain. He needed to be present for his family now.

Finally he rose from the desk, stretching his legs before venturing forth in search of Scarlett and Wade, although he would not be heartbroken if he learned that Wade would be dining with friends instead of joining them for a quiet supper at home.

After a lengthy search, he found Scarlett on the back veranda sipping on an iced tea. He knew that if he were to take a sip of the brown water in her glass that it would be overly sweetened. "Where has Wade gone so quickly after returning home?" Rhett prodded.

"He went to visit several of his friends and to check at Uncle Henry's office. He is taking it over soon, since he is nearly finished with his studies at Harvard. He is going to study law more with Uncle Henry…." She blanched at the rage simmering in Rhett's usually veiled eyes.

"So Wade is the one who has been refusing to update me on how you were?" His voice tremored with restrained anger.

Scarlett nodded reluctantly, "I hadn't thought about it, but he has been starting to take over and advising his clerks on how to handle issues that have arisen as Uncle Henry isn't as able to manage things as he once was."

"So Wade is furious at me for not checking up on you when he is the one who blocked me from being able to check on you?" Rhett glowered at the thought, pacing along the edge of the porch.

Scarlett snapped back at him, "It isn't as though you couldn't have come to Atlanta at some point over the years to check yourself. You did promise when you were leaving to visit to keep down the gossip, and you never managed a single one. You can't rest all of the blame of this situation on him, Rhett. You really did this to yourself." She sighed and took another long drag of the drink. "And you have to admit you probably would have reacted similarly if you had been the one in his position."She drew in the moisture that had gathered on the glass. "He may not be your child, but there are so many things that he learned from you. He is more your son than he will ever be Charles's, to his chagrin, and sometimes to mine."

"Well he wants nothing to do with me. I don't know how to fix things." Rhett groaned.

"I don't know that you can fix things. I don't know that what has been broken can be mended. You told me that once, didn't you?" Scarlett offered.

"Sometimes I wish your damned memory didn't work so well. I've said many things that I shouldn't have, and now I have to give an accounting for all of them. Do you have book where you've written them all down and perhaps allowed your children to read them and recite them like they are scripture?"

Scarlett set her now empty glass down, "it would be impossible for me to forget the last words you ever said to me. I had ten years to mull over them. And you didn't seem to care much when you left. You flat out told me that you didn't give a damn." Scarlett was angry and dejected. And she looked like he had finally defeated her.

This was not what he was trying to do. He was trying to find a way to fix things, not make them worse. Everything he did seemed to exacerbate the situation. "I've learned a great deal over the years, and some of it has taught me just how wrong I was. I'm not going to insult you and act like we can just pick things up as they were before I left. Things were awful then. There is a reason that I left. But I was always the reason. I was drowning in grief, and every time I looked at you, I saw Bonnie and I was reminded again and again what I had done to Bonnie and what I had robbed you of. I robbed you of time with Bonnie, not just from her death but in the time we did have with her, and I robbed you of another child. I was the poison. I was poisoning myself. And if I hadn't woken up to find you gone at Marietta with the children, maybe I wouldn't have even survived to the end of the year. I was drinking myself into an early grave to numb the pain of losing Bonnie. But when you weren't there, when I didn't see someone who was the spitting image of the child that I killed, I sobered up and realized what I was doing. I knew that I had to get away to save myself." He sighed, sitting down on the chair opposite Scarlett. "I was wrong to leave and stay away for as long as I did. But I wasn't wrong to leave for a little while. If I hadn't, you would have soon been planning my funeral as well."

"But we are still broken. What was once broken cannot be unbroken, can it?" Scarlett quizzed.

"No, I can't undo the damage, but I did learn something in my travels." He rose again and resumed pacing, glancing at Scarlett as he spoke. "When you are throwing a pot or making something from clay, it doesn't matter if it is ruined, until you fire the piece in the kiln, you always have a chance to start over. You can take the broken pieces and crumble them into dust, and then you can add water, and allow for the clay to become doable again. And then you can start over. You can build something new 1,000 times if need be, because it can be remade infinitely until it goes through the firing process. We have a chance to start over and make this something new and beautiful again. That is what I am hopeful for. I know that I cannot undo the past, but I do have the hope for a new and brighter future."

"You've become quite the poetic optimist over the years. It was a lovely speech, but I don't know if I can trust it. I do have to consider the children. Wade is grown, but Ella is still unmarried, and she hasn't really narrowed down her suitors to think that it will happen soon. Maybe the right young gentleman will soon appear and sweep her off of her feet…." Scarlett contemplated.

"I wouldn't count on that. I think I damaged her ideal of the perfect husband. She said she wasn't sure that she would ever marry, that I was worse than Ashley Wilkes."

Scarlett chuckled at this admission, her lips pursed in amusement. "Well that had to sting. You do hate to be compared to Ashley."

He smiled wryly, "I cannot say that the comparison was to my liking, but Ella has the right to be angry. I really didn't consider anyone but myself when I left like I did."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that point, but I think one of the greatest lessons that I have learned in the meantime is that I need to give myself a little grace. I cannot nor will not be perfect all of the time. Mistakes are inevitable, and once I realized that, life became much easier."

Rhett pulled one of her hands into his and brushed a kiss against the skin. "You really are like fine wine. You're grown much better with age. But it was one of those things where I tried to rush you on your journey, and I think I only delayed your progress." He rose and then pulled her up to him, "Can I just have one sip of that wine? I'm certain it has been worth the wait." And with that he dropped his lips to hers and slowly began working over them. And this time Scarlett did not resist, and soon he found that she was not only allowing the kisses, but she was returning them hungrily. She certainly had aged well, even though he always enjoyed pulling kisses from her. These were more intoxicating than ever, and he could feel himself growing heedy from the moment. He finally pulled himself together and pulled himself away.

They stood there staring at each other for what seemed to be an eternity until the clearing of a throat caused him to turn his head to the sound to find Wade watching them reproachfully.