Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Chapter Thirty-Two

As Rhett and Scarlett approached the house, they saw Ashley Wilkes walking up the steps. Rhett said, "That's Mr. Wilkes, isn't it?"

"Yes, I wonder what he is doing here. I am sure Melanie didn't invite him."

"I'm sure we will soon find out."

Rhett and Scarlett watched as Ashley entered the home without permission. They heard a man say, "Mr. Ashley, you are not welcome here."

The couple entered the home through the open door. They saw the butler trying to grab Ashley's arm, but Ashley got around him. Ashley entered one of the rooms.

Rhett and Scarlett followed him. When a young man approached Ashley, she whispered, "That is Charlie Hamilton, Melanie's brother."

Charlie said, "Ashley, leave! You are not wanted here. Melanie is marrying someone else today. You lost your chance with her by calling on another woman while you were engaged to her."

Ashley said, "No! I refuse to accept that. I will have Melanie as my wife."

"No, she is marrying Matty."

By this time there was a crowd of people in the parlor and the foyer. A middle-aged woman cried out, "I'm going to faint."

Nobody paid her the least little bit of attention.

Ashley cried out, "Melanie! Melanie! Give me one more chance. Don't marry another man."

Melanie came to the head of the stairs. With a hard face and a cold voice, she said, "How obstinate can you be? You refuse to accept what I have been telling you for the last year. Once I broke off our engagement, I was finished with you. Leave my house and my life."

Ashley tried to go up the stairs, but Charlie grabbed him and stopped him. Ashley was still making headway towards the stairs. There was a middle-aged man hurriedly walking down the stairs to prevent Ashley from coming up the stairs. The butler grabbed Ashley's other arm. The two men were pulling Ashley towards the front door. Everyone was getting out of their way. The entire time Ashley was repeatedly crying out, "I love you, Melanie."

The butler and Charlie got Ashley out of the house and off the porch. They shoved him to the ground. Charlie said, "Ashley, get this through your thick head, she doesn't want you. She is in love with another man. If you darken our door again, I will kill you."

"Charlie, I am your cousin."

"No, we have disowned you. You are the man that cheated on my sister. You are the man that can't take no for an answer. Go away and never come back."

Finally, Ashley stood up. With stooped shoulders, he turned and walked away. For the next ten minutes until the service began all the guests were talking about Ashley Wilkes' actions. When Scarlett saw Matty she whispered, "He is cute."

"Cuter than me."

"Nobody could be cuter than you."

The service went off without a hitch after Ashley's departure. The butler was by the locked front door and Charlie was by the door to the parlor. They were going to do whatever they had to do to make sure Melly's wedding was without any more disruption.

At the reception, Rhett and Scarlett talked with Melanie and Matty. Scarlett to Melanie said, "Good choice."

"I think so."

Matty said, "It is nice to know I am number one."

"You are the only one."

"Where are you going on your honeymoon?"

"Nowhere."

Matty said, "I can't afford to be away because I don't have any help at the bookstore. If I am gone, I have to close the store."

Rhett said, "Maybe you can go on a trip later."

"Maybe."

"Mr. Perry, do you have a home?"

"Make it Matty. No, I have been living in a room behind my store."

Melanie said, "We are going to live here. After all the house is half mine anyway. It belonged to my father. He left it in trust to Charlie and me. Charlie had to turn twenty-one to get his half and I had to get married to get my half."

"Nice."

Melanie said, "Do you two have a home?"

"No, we live with Rhett's family. It is easier. My mother-in-law runs the household, so I don't have to."

"My father pays all the bills, so I don't have to."

Rhett made his statement like he was making a joke. Scarlett noticed he did that a lot. She thought, 'That is kind of amazing that I had noticed that since I am an unobservant person.'

The two couples talked for a few more minutes, until Melanie and Matty got called away.

Rhett got him and Scarlett some punch and a couple of small sandwiches. After eating his sandwich, he said, "We certainly don't need the recipe for those sandwiches."

"It wasn't bad."

"But it wasn't good either."

"You are spoilt between your mother's sandwiches and Mrs. Moon's sandwiches you have an extremely high bar for a sandwich to be considered good in your opinion."

"True. Do you know anybody here?"

"No."

"Let's make up some stories."

Scarlett laughed and said, "Alright. You go first."

For the next hour, the couple made up amusing stories about the other guests at the reception.

Rhett said, "Are you ready to go?"

"We aren't supposed to leave before the bridal couple."

"But we have to leave to get back to Tara before it gets dark. How are we getting from the train station to the plantation?"

"Mr. Price the owner of the feed store has a young man who will drive us out to Tara for a fee. It is easier than trying to get in touch with Pa or having Seth wait in Jonesboro all day."

"True. Do I have to pay the fee?"

"Yes."

As Rhett and Scarlett sat on the train, she said, "I think Melanie is going to be happy. All afternoon I kept hearing her laughter."

"She had firmly placed Mr. Wilkes in the past."

"Which is good."

"Yes, it is."

That night over supper Scarlett told her family about Ashley causing a scene at Melanie's wedding. Ellen said, "I can hardly believe that Ashley would behave so badly. I hope his fiancé doesn't hear about it."

"I hope she doesn't hear about it either."

That night while getting ready for bed, Scarlett said, "We have to go visit Cathy while I am here."

"Of course, we do. How else are you going to get it spread all over the county what Mr. Wilkes did this afternoon."

Scarlett burst out laughing, but she didn't act ashamed. After she was naked in the bed, she said, "Exactly."

Rhett knew Scarlett was a vindictive woman. Only a vindictive woman would give a book to her sister who was not a reader. He said, "Why did you send Suellen a rabbit fur muff?"

"Because I thought it would be a nice present for her."

"No, you didn't. It was too old for an eleven-year-old. Furthermore, she would have nowhere to wear it to for at least four to five years."

Scarlett told Rhett what Suellen had done to her rabbit fur muff. Scarlett said, "Pa and Mother bought me another one which I loved, but Suellen took some of the joy out of my gift. I hid it from her after that."

"Where is it now?"

"In our room at the townhouse. Don't you remember? I used it last winter."

"I remember now."

"I wonder where the rabbit fur muff is that I sent for Christmas two years ago. I will ask over dinner."

"Of course you will. In front of everyone."

"Yes."

Rhett thought, 'Rhett, my boy, you need to keep this woman happy with you. There is no telling what she would do to get back at you.'

The next day at dinner, Scarlett said, "Suellen, have you gotten to wear that rabbit fur muff I gave you last year for Christmas?"

"No, Mother took it away. She has stored it somewhere."

Ellen said, "Scarlett, you are being unkind to keep sending Suellen gifts you know she can't use."

"Yes, ma'am. You are right. I will do better in the future."

Rhett knew what she meant was she would be more subtle in the future. He said, "Did you hear back from your friend?"

"Yes, she will be expecting us this afternoon. Pa, can Rhett and I use the carriage this afternoon?"

"I don't think anyone else was planning on using it this afternoon." Gerald looked at Ellen. She shook her head no. He continued, "Just tell Seth after dinner is over."

"Thank you, Pa."

While Rhett and Scarlett were in Georgia, the rest of the Butlers went to Middleton Acres. Robert had invited both Daphne and her parents, but only Daphne accepted the invitation. Warren couldn't be away from the textile mill for a week.

Mabel had chosen to stay at the townhouse. She claimed that she had some committee work she needed to attend to. Beth knew it was a lie, but she didn't call her mother on her statement. In truth, she was happy her mother wasn't going with the family.

Beth and Mabel's relationship had gotten worse since the day Beth had confronted her mother about her father's gambling problem. No matter how hard Beth tried to put all that behind her, she couldn't. She had a great deal of resentment towards her parents. They had been the biggest hypocrites in Charleston. Always lecturing her on proper behavior while they themselves were behaving badly.

The trip to the plantation was nice. The conversation was pleasant. Beth said, "After the wedding, you will move in with us, Dear."

Daphne looked at Robert then back at Beth and said, "Of course."

Daphne didn't want to live with Robert's parents. If they had to live with someone else, then she would prefer living with her parents. The Bulter household was pretty full and at her parents' home there would just be her parents, Robert, and herself.

After the family had arrived at Middleton Acres, Beth showed Daphne to one of the rooms. As Beth opened the door, "This is Rhett's room. Everything is in pristine condition because he so rarely comes to the plantation. That is why he was willing to let Robert have the plantation."

"It was still nice of him."

"Yes, it was. George will bring up your trunk. Robert and Percy have some plantation business to take care of therefore, we will not see them again until supper."

"They are going to skip dinner?"

"No. They will eat in the overseer's office."

"After you get freshened up, I will take you on a tour of the estate."

"Thank you, ma'am."

While Daphne had been on the tour of the plantation, she had been horrified. She was a seventeen-year-old young lady who had led an extremely sheltered life. She had never seen the nastier side of life. Now she had been hit in the face with it. She had known the Butlers own slaves, but she had never really thought about what that meant. As she looked at the sea of people working in the fields, she felt sick. There were men, women and even children out there in the hot sun. Their clothes were tattered and not a one of them had shoes on. It was that day that she began to question if it was truly right for one man to own another man because they were men and women. Not some subhuman life form.

That night as Robert and Daphne were sitting on the porch she said, "I don't know if it is right for a man to own another man."

"I don't know either, but without the extremely cheap labor there would be no way for us to make huge profits. That is why it is called our necessary evil."

"Do you have to make huge profits?"

"In order for us to afford all the things we want, we do, but don't worry you about it. You have more important things to think about like our wedding."

Robert's statement made Daphne think about what his mother had said earlier about where they were going to live. She said, "Do we have to live with your parents? Could we live with my parents? There would be so much more room."

Robert didn't know if he wanted to live with his in-laws, but he wanted to make his fiancé happy so he said, "I guess we can. As long as we don't have to pay for anything because if we live with my parents, we wouldn't have to pay for anything."

"I'm sure we wouldn't. Let me talk to my parents about it."

On the carriage ride back to Charleston, Daphne thought about living in the country. She didn't think she would like it, but she would do it because Robert had to manage the plantation and a wife's place was beside her husband. At least they weren't going to be living in the country all the time.

In the end Warren and Felicia were excited about their daughter and son-in-law living with them. No, the young couple wouldn't have to pay for anything.