Author's Note: I am spoiling you all. Here is another chapter, it isn't a terribly long chapter, but the next one is longer - almost double this one. But the real reason I'm posting this is for Sara Muir. Today was Sara's birthday. She was one of my favorite encouragers, and almost always the first person to read anything GWTW I've written. I miss her terribly, not just for proofing and encouraging my writing, but also for her friendship and advice and wisdom. It is amazing how much impact a person you've never met can have on your life just through their online friendship. I wanted to post this chapter in her honor. Happy Birthday, Sara!

Thank you all for reading. Sometimes I forget what a difference it makes to have the creative and emotional outlet that I find in fanfiction. Thank you for all of the other writers that share your stories. I appreciate all of your time and talents, even if I'm so engrossed in a story that I forget to encourage other writers like I should! Even if you don't love the story, thank you for reading. I'm glad there are so many opinions out there, because it is through all of these different perspectives that we get to see os many different stories.

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

6/22/23

Rhett used the time after his conversation with Wade to unpack and tidy his things. No matter how well the servants did, he had always found satisfaction in knowing exactly how his things were laid out. He dressed with care for the meal, not wanting anyone to know the discomfort that he felt at trying to break down the walls that he had been the one to construct or at very least he was the reason that the walls existed in the first place. Finally he had delayed long enough and ventured down to join the rest of the family for dinner.

He expected their meal to be a cold, uncomfortable affair, after his conversation with Wade. But the opposite was true. When he walked into the room, he found that Wade was already seated close to Scarlett, opposite from Ella. They made a cozy tableau of a mother and her grown children. Wade was teasing Scarlett good naturedly, and Ella was giggling as she beamed at her older brother. Scarlett's gaze was filled with mirth and pride at her children that he had never seen before. He was momentarily angry at the scene, angry that it was a closeness that Bonnie had never shared with Scarlett. Jealousy clouding his vision,but that wasn't even fair because he had seen many moments of Scarlett's pride at their daughter. And it made him feet like a voyeur just watching someone else's family interacting so amiably together. They had not shared a closeness like this when he had been in their lives. He had never shared a closeness like this with anyone in his own family, whether the family he had formed with Scarlett or his family of origin. His mother had been loving but distant to the point of coldness. He and his father had never seen eye to eye. His brother had been his adversary and rival, not a friend and companion, and Rosemary and he had been separated so early in her life that they were not connected at all. This was the relationship that he wished that he had enjoyed with his children.

Scarlett's beaming smile did not waver as she looked up at him as he took his seat. He had assumed that with Wade clearly having taken over the role of the man of the house, that he would have taken the spot at the head of the table. But instead Wade, Ella, and Scarlett seemed more concerned with enjoying their time together.

Wade barely spared him a glance before continuing on with the story about an adventure that he had taken. "Oh mother, they are strange about how they do things and how they talk. Even after all of this time, I'm still not used to listening to their nasal speech. And in the winter it is so cold. Nothing down here prepares you for that. The wind just goes straight through you, no matter the number of layers I've dressed in. So I was all bundled up in my coat and boots and scarf, and Chad decided that we should take a buggy down to the Charles River, and the idiot tried to get me to swim with him. He had to hack a hole in the ice to even enter the water. but he hadn't more than stepped into the water when he chickened out. I just laughed at him for being an utter fool."

The maid entered carrying in the dishes and setting them on the table in front of Scarlett. Wade dipped out some potatoes, carrots, and chicken, before taking a large slice of ham. Ella also quickly dished out her own food, and then waited for her mother. Scarlett, to Rhett's frustration, took only minute portions onto her plate. And Rhett realized that he was too far away for them to pass the dishes to him, so he awkwardly rose to dish himself food, as Wade continued the story.

"Now Chad is from Vermont, and he is always bragging about how he can stand the cold, and how I'm such a weakling because I prefer the Georgia heat. But as he was trying to climb back up the bank of the river, he started slipping and sliding around. And pretty soon he lost his battle and he fell backwards into the river that was so cold that he broke through more of the ice when he fell. It took him a bit, but then stumbled out of that water like a zombie from the grave, and I had to help him up the bank and into the carriage. I tucked all of those extra robes around him. I couldn't help but think that I'd much rather deal with a Georgia summer than a Massachusetts winter. I guess he'd had a little too much liquid courage, and so he was swearing up a storm through chattering teeth. But I got the last laugh. There I was perfectly fine, and he was freezing his rear off."

Ella giggled with her brother. "Oh, I'm so glad I'm not up there with those northern snobs!" She poked at her plate, "But after all those stories, Mother, I do wish you'd take me to Saratoga, like you used to do when you were younger, before the war."

Scarlett smiled at Ella. "I think we can at least find somewhere to take a nice trip to this summer. We'll have to get you a new ball gown made. It would be nice to get out of town."

"Uncle Rhett said that he would take us on a European trip. It would so be lovely to see Paris or Rome or London." she crowed dreamily.

It was almost as though Scarlett and Wade had forgotten about Rhett's presence. Scarlett looked up at him, staring at him down the length of the dining table, while Wade glared. "Perhaps, darling" Scarlett soothed, without making any promises. "We will have to see."

But Wade's response to him was less than benevolent. His glare was openly hostile. They maintained eye contact for a moment, and Wade refused to look away. But as soon as Rhett did, Wade returned to the conversation and began another story about picking apples and trying to shoot them off of each other's head. "Mother, I swear none of us got hurt, but I don't know whose idea it was to pretend that we were William Tell. That was one of the more idiotic things that I did after a night of drinking with my friends."

Rhett expected Scarlett to chastise him, after all it was a stupid thing to have tried, but instead Scarlett laughed. "That sounds like something I can imagine Brent or Stuart doing to impress me. I can almost hear them now," she offered nostalgically.

"I feel like I know them, mother, after all of the stories from when you were growing up. Aunt Sue can't say much nice about them. I think she was jealous, and maybe a bit mad about when you and the twins put spiders on her head." Ella chimed in.

"Oh, I don't doubt that Suellen was jealous. I think she always wished she could have caught Stuart's eye. Careen just adored Brent." Scarlett mused. "Life would have been so different if the war hadn't come."

"Mother, may I be excused?" Wade requested. "I'd like to go set up a chess game for Ella and I to play. I hope that she's improved since Christmas."

"Wade Hampton, I'll have you know that I am a wonderful chess player. Mother, I'm going to join him, if that is all right with you."

Scarlett quickly assured her children that she would join them shortly. Then she looked down at her plate, and continued to move the contents to the sides.

"Have you even taken a bite?" Rhett finally quizzed after watching her play with her food. It was such a stark contrast to the Scarlett he remembered from their honeymoon, who he had to admonish to not scrape her plate. He had teased her about a divorce if she kept eating like that and got fat. Now he wished more than anything for her to do anything with the passion that she had once possessed.

She looked up at him, surprised at his observation. "I'm just not very hungry."

"Scarlett, you've lost a considerable amount of weight, and I know you're lying if you try to tell me that you haven't. You are wasting away, and I hate seeing you so listless"

"You aren't privy to how I look underneath my clothes." Scarlett returned angrily.

"You're deflecting. That isn't an answer, and you know that I'm right!" He argued.

She glared at him and bit off a chunk of a cornbread muffin and chewed it aggressively. "There! does that make you happy?" She said through a mouth full of food. "You didn't care for ten years, and now I'm supposed to listen to your concerns."

She tried to take another bite, and choked on it. Rhett rushed from his seat to her side and began patting her on the back as tears streamed down her face. Once she seemed to be swallowing and breathing normally, he took a napkin and reached to wipe the tears from her face, but his hand was pulled back by an angry Wade.

"Is it possible for you to be here and not make my mother cry. Can you possibly just leave her alone. Just leave us all. We were better off without you."

Scarlett waved him off, "Wade, I tried to eat too much too quickly. It wasn't Rhett's doing."

But Wade was not dissuaded, "It never is his intention, but it always happens when he is near. Something always happens to put you in distress. Mother you deserve to be treated better than this. Anyone deserves to be treated better than this. Aunt Melly must have seen something in him, but I think she was just too kind for this world. I think she saw who he might have been, and never who he really was. I only want to see the back of him as he leaves this house, never to return." Wade's eyes burned with fire. "Perhaps moving to Aunt Pitty's House would be wise. Then if he wants to stay here, he is welcome to as he owns it, but the other is my house now that I've come of age."

"Wade, I'm fine. I'll join you momentarily." Wade stepped back and reluctantly left the room, a chilling glare cast at Rhett before he closed the door.

"I don't think that I'm ever going to win him over. He's too angry at me." Rhett stated.

Scarlett patted his arm, "I don't know that you can. He's been such a good boy, and he has tried so hard to become a good man. I think that he had to grow up too quickly. Being a small child through the war and everything that came after, it would be impossible to not leave a mark." She nibbled on a biscuit. "He didn't get to have much of a childhood. Melanie tried to protect him as much as she could, but I was so busy trying to just survive."

"And it is because of you that he did survive and that she lived as long as she did. You carried the burden of all of them." Rhett nodded, "let's give the children a bit of time together. We could go for a drive, and you could show me what has changed since I left."

Scarlett shrugged her shoulders. "I thought that I might play some games with the children, but if they've already started a game of chess, it will be a long time before they are paying any attention to me. Wade doesn't know it yet, but Ella has been working on improving her game while he's been away. He might be in for a surprise. She is awfully smart." She said with evident pride in her children.

Rhett grabbed a couple of the biscuit and wrapped them in a napkin. "I'm bringing these in case you decide you're hungry."

"I won't be. My stomach burns a great deal of the time. Doctor Meade suggested that it was an ulcer, that I've been dealing with too much stress. I don't know what to tell him. I can't escape it."

"Hopefully, I'll be able to take some of that stress off of your shoulders. You've carried a man's burden for far too long. And for much of that weight was mine to bear, and I've left it all on your shoulders. For that and so many other things, I am sorry, Scarlett."