Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

I will return in three weeks.

Epilogue

Thirty-five years after Rhett and Scarlett met.

Tricia Butler hurried into her home that she shared with her parents. She had seen her sister's car out front. She called out, "Maddy! Maddy!"

An attractive, young woman of twenty-nine walked out of the front room and said, "I'm right here, Dr. Butler."

Tricia ran over to her sister and hugged her. Tricia was attractive also, but while Maddy favored their father Tricia favored their mother. Yet in personality they favored the other parent. Tricia, who took everything literally, said, "I'm not Dr. Butler yet."

"It is just a matter of time."

"Mom didn't say a word about you coming for a visit."

Maddy knew that her sister was as unobservant as their father. She was sure her mother had been talking about her coming for a visit for the last month. Ever since Maddy had confirmed she would be able to get leave to attend her father's retirement party. The girls walked into the front room. Tricia said, "You are here too, Jeff. I didn't see your car in the driveway."

Jeff smiled and said, "It is parked in front of Maddy's." Mockingly he added, "And behind Mom's car. You can't miss it. Well, I guess you can, Trish."

Scarlett said, "Jeff, be nice."

Maddy said, "Jeff and I have been waiting for you to get home. Let's go for a swim in the pool."

That is when Tricia noticed that both Maddy and Jeff had bathing suits on. She said, "Sure, let me change into my bathing suit. I'll meet you at the pool."

Scarlett said, "Wait, Tricia, where is your father?"

"In the car. He is going over his speech to be sure he hasn't left anyone out."

Scarlett sighed. She said, "He is driving himself crazy going over his speech again and again. Go on. Let me go get him."

"Come on, Jeff, let's go get in the water."

"Your dad and I will be out in a minute.

Maddy smiled. Her mother had been taking care of her dad as long as she could remember. Just as she had been taking care of Tricia as long as she could remember. Tricia was the smartest of them, but she was also the most unobservant. All Maddy's life she had been telling Tricia facts that were as plain as the nose on her face.

When Scarlett and Rhett were by the pool with their children, Tricia said, "Is Uncle Miguel and his family going to make it?"

Rhett said, "Miguel said the whole family was coming."

"Are they staying here?"

"No, Miguel said it was easier if they stayed at a hotel."

"Emily loves her room service."

Tricia said, "Who doesn't? Maddy how are things going between you and Captain Farrell?"

"Great. He wanted to come with me, but he couldn't get leave."

Jeff said, "Is he about to pop the question?"

Maddy scowled at her brother. He was always asking inappropriate questions, but unlike her father and Tricia he was doing it on purpose to be annoying. She said, "He already has. I told him yes, but I wanted to wait until I made Captain which I did last week."

"Congratulations, Sweetheart."

"I'm so proud of you, Maddy."

"It won't be official for another couple of months. We plan to marry in a year or so."

"Are you already living together?"

"Of course not. That would be unbecoming of an officer."

"I bet…"

Scarlett said, "Jeffrey Miguel Butler, keep a civil tongue in your mouth. What is your girlfriend of the month's name? Are you bringing her to the party."

Jeff smiled his cocky smile. He was an extremely handsome man with a way with women. He looked very much like his father.

Jeff reminded Scarlett of Miguel when she had first met the artist. Her son said, "I happen to be between girlfriends right now. Maybe I will meet someone at Dad's retirement party."

Rhett looked up from his speech and said, "Stay away from the Bender girls and Helena Carter. I don't want either Miguel or Alex coming after you with a gun. Your mother and I had to work too hard to get you raised for you to get killed now."

"Yes, Dad."

Scarlett said, "I don't want to listen to Emily or Melly telling me what an awful person you are."

"Why do you assume I am going to treat their daughter badly?"

Maddy said, "Because you treat all women badly."

"Not all of them."

At the same time Maddy and Scarlett said, "Every last one of them."

Rhett said, "When are you going to go back to school?"

"Never. I like my job.

"When are you going to get a real job?"

"I have a real job."

"Owning a bar is not a real job."

"Maybe I will run for congress."

"Talk about going from bad to worse."

"Rhett, let him be. He is only twenty-five."

"When I was twenty-five, I was a year away from obtaining my PhD and being named the head of my department. And you were an FBI agent."

"Let him be. He will find his niche."

"Dad, I am happy. I'm sorry it is not cultured enough for you, but I am pulling down a hundred thousand a year."

Rhett sighed and said, "You are right, Jeff. As long as you are happy is what is important. My father wanted me to go to West Point and serve in the army, but my little girl did instead." While looking at Maddy, Rhett said, "Your grandfather would have been proud of you for continuing the tradition of going to West Point."

"It is what I wanted to do."

Tricia said, "Ever since Dr. Hodgins showed us how one could determine how long someone had been dead from bugs, I wanted to become an Etymologist."

Rhett said, "Since I was eighteen, I wanted to become a forensic anthropologist. Jeff, if you are not going back to college, you might as well get married."

Jeff burst out laughing and said, "Dad, you didn't marry Mom until you were forty. I still have a lot of time to play by that standard."

"I wasn't playing…"

Scarlett said over Rhett, "Yes, Jeff, you have a lot of time to play. Rhett!"

"You are right. You have plenty of time but stay away from the Bender girls and Helena."

Jeff smiled and said, "Yes, Dad."

Jeff knew his father wanted him to be happy. The problem was his father couldn't understand how anyone could be happy living his lifestyle. He liked being around people. He loved talking to people, and that was why his bar was successful. Like his mother he was a people person.

Jeff was smarter than the average man true enough, but he had dyslexia which made studying and learning hard for him. If he hadn't been as smart as he was, he probably wouldn't have finished high school much less two years of college. He couldn't read very fast, but he was a wiz with numbers. Just like his mother. He turned to his mother and said, "How do you like your retirement, Mom?"

"I don't. I enjoyed my work, and it wasn't physically demanding of me. Nonetheless, I was required to retire when I turned sixty-five. I convinced your dad to retire so we could travel more extensively. We are talking about taking a trip to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. It will be a cruise."

"That sounds nice, Mom. Tricia, what is going on between you and Beau? You two can sit there and talk about bugs and slime all night long?"

"Nothing. He is just my colleague and friend. I told you. He is like a brother to me. He is leaving soon anyway. He got another position in Atlanta. He wanted to live closer to his grandparents so he could keep an eye on them. They are all in their eighties.

"Melly isn't happy about him moving away, but she is happy there will be someone in Atlanta to keep an eye on her parents and Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes. He is the only grandchild on both sides."

Maddy said, "What happened to his father?"

Rhett said, "Still eking out a living playing Don Quixote."

Scarlett smiled and said, "Admittedly what Ashley has done is a noble quest. He has devoted his entire life to saving wrongly convicted people. Sadly, it cost him a wife, a son, and a slew of girlfriends. And maybe his parents. His father always thought he was wasting his life.

Jeff said, "Beau leaving clears the way for you, Tricia, to become head of the department."

"Probably if Dr. Hodgins ever retires. For now I am happy being his assistant."

Maddy said, "Who is taking your place, Dad?"

"My assistant, Kathy Reichs. She is brilliant. Maybe even smarter than me. Yet, she has no people skills."

Scarlett with a straight face said, "That is a shame."

Earlier Scarlett had told Maddy, "I have invited a young man to the retirement party. He works for the FBI. He works with your dad. I know he likes Tricia. I need you to play matchmaker."

"What is his name?"

"Ted Williams."

"The Ted Williams?"

"If you mean the man that was a baseball star at Georgetown? Yes, that Ted Williams."

"Does Tricia know who he is?"

"Does she know that he is an FBI agent that works with your dad? Yes. Does she know that he was a superstar at Georgetown? I don't know. I would say no. I do know he is interested in Tricia."

Maddy smiled and said, "How?"

Scarlett smiled and said, "Your dad is always complaining about the fact that Ted keeps asking him questions about Tricia instead of keeping his mind on the case."

Maddy laughed. She said, "How do they get from point A to point B?"

"I know how Tricia does. She gets in her father's car. I don't know how Rhett does."

"Of course, we have never lived more than five miles away from Rosie's so he can use the diner as a homing beacon."

"I have heard that Albert Einstein's wife had to pin their home address onto his shirt to make sure he could get home every night."

Both women laughed.

Scarlett said, "Rosie finally retired. Her daughter, Cindy, is running the diner."

"Does she have Miss Rosie's gift for picking the perfect meal for a person?"

Scarlett smiled and said, "Yes, she does."

"I will do what I can, but Tricia can be so … so…"

"Obtuse. The word you are looking for is obtuse."

"But I love her dearly."

"As do I. Just be sure she knows he is interested in her. Her social skills are pretty good once she is aware of the situation. That was the hardest part of my relationship with your father when we first started dating. Stating the obvious."

"Mom.."

"Yes, Dear?"

Scarlett had been sure Maddy was going to ask her an awkward question about Rhett, but instead her daughter shocked her by saying, "Was Aunt Melly always different?"

Scarlett smiled and said, "I wouldn't say different. I would say gentle and kind. She never stood up for herself until she did."

"It is clear she loves Mr. Carter, Helena, and Beau to the moon and back."

"Melly and Alex are a good match. She loved Helena from the first moment they met, and Helena loved her back. Helena's own mother had only been dead a year and she needed a mother. Eliza had died in a car accident. It was so sudden and so tragic. Melly was happy to be her mother. She was hurting because of her previous relationship. She and the guy got along famously but his two oldest children hated her. The hated her because they saw her as a woman trying to replace their mother. It wasn't really Melly they hated, but the idea of anyone replacing their mother. Melly and her gentle soul couldn't live in that environment. She also didn't want Beau to have to live in that environment either."

"How did they meet?"

"Alex had brought Helena to the library to pick out a book. Melly helped with the process. I think Melly and Helena fell in love first and Alex just went along for the ride."

"I will do what I can for Tricia, Mom."

"That is all I can ask. Let's talk about your wedding plans."

As Scarlett was getting ready for Rhett's retirement party, she thought about their life since Jeff's birth. She had been willing to drive a minivan. A Mercedes Benz minivan, but a minivan nonetheless. It was just easier for all the children to have their own space. They bought a five-bedroom house with a lawn. She had taken over one of the bedrooms to be her office. She let Rhett build his models in the room. His models had to be kept away from tiny hands that could be extremely destructive.

Scarlett remembered when Maddy destroyed Rhett's model of The Constitution, she thought he was going to cry. She said, "Buttercup, go buy another one while Maddy and I clean up this mess. I will explain to her why what she has done is wrong."

Rhett had gone out and bought another model. By the time he got home he had his equilibrium back. Although, he did lecture the four-year-old about not ever touching Daddy's things again. When he saw tears in Maddy's eyes, he said, "It is alright. Daddy will always love you."

Scarlett remembered their conversation that night as Rhett and she laid in bed, he said, "Maddy reminds me so much of Bonnie."

"Did Bonnie look like you too?"

"No, she looked like Heather although she had one or two of my features."

"With all the children, they all reminded me of Wade until they were a year old. The whole nursing thing."

"I will get through it with your help."

"I will always be standing beside you."

"Thank you, my love. Neither one of us could have done this without the other's complete support."

"No, we couldn't. Want to play?"

"With you? Always."

Alice had known someone who owned a lawn service, and their lawn was taken care of. Alice also had known a woman who would be happy to cook their meals. Although the family still went to Rosie's once or twice a week. Scarlett also hired a young woman to help Alice.

After Olivia had graduated from college, Scarlett had hired another college student to take care of the children while she worked. Her name was Sophia. It wasn't an easy job. She had to keep the children entertained without the help of TV. Rhett only let the children watch TV for an hour a day.

When Maddy had turned three, Scarlett sent her to Mother's Day Out five days a week. It was not to educate her but to socialize her. She did fairly well. In personality she was her mother's daughter. Maddy continued going until she went to kindergarten. When Tricia started going it was a difficult time for her, but she was learning how to interact with other children. When Jeff started at preschool he had no problems with the other children. He was a quite charming extrovert.

Scarlett recalled that when Jeff turned five, Rhett finally let the family get a swimming pool. If the children were in the pool, either Scarlett or Rhett were outside watching them. Most times both of them. Which was fine, the couple still enjoyed being in each other's company.

Scarlett remembered being so surprised at Rhett skill with a gun and a rifle. She had finally gotten him to the shooting range. It turns out he had some natural talent also. It became one of the things they did on date night. Of course, Rhett being Rhett then became an expert on guns and rifles.

The couple had relaxed about one of their children dying, but they were not completely unconcerned. They had still taken the children to Melly's when they went out at night. Melly loved having the children over.

Scarlett knew that Melly had no regrets about getting her tubes tied, but that didn't mean she had lost her desire to have more children. That was one of the positives of her having married Alex. She got a daughter in the bargain. A daughter who loved her to the moon and back.

All the Butler children were smart but none of them were as smart as Rhett except maybe Tricia. All their children were athletically talented. None of them were superstars, but they were never picked last when teams were being chosen.

Scarlett smiled as she remembered the night that Rhett had said, "How can my children be athletically talented. She had smiled and said, "Because they are my children also. I was a track star, a basketball star, and a baseball star."

"I thought you were a cheerleader."

"I was until I got voted off the squad by a bunch of jealous bitches. That was when I began to realize I would always have to take care of myself. I couldn't rely on anyone else.

Rhett had a confused look on his face, and he said, "I take care of you. You can rely on me."

"Yes, I can. You will always be there for me."

Silently Scarlett added, 'Once I point out how much I need you, my love, I take care of you much more than you take care of me. It is one of those obvious truths that you just don't see.'

Scarlett had made the family go on vacation at least twice a year. On their big vacation, which was always in the summertime, they usually went on a cruise. They had gone to Alaska, the Caribbeans, the Pacific coast, the Bahamas, and they had gone on the Disney cruise several times. The children had really liked that one.

Rhett continued to call Miguel at least once a week. He never texted. He always called. He had enough trouble with the spoken word, much less a written message.

For the family's second vacation of the year Scarlett made Rhett fly out to visit the Benders for a week. She had wanted to keep the connection strong. The families were close. They didn't stay with the Benders, but instead got an Airbnb. It was just easier.

Scarlett smiled when she had caught Maddy trying to sneak out of the house. They had nailed her window shut also. Once was enough for Maddy. She smiled bigger as she thought of all the times, she had caught Jeff sneaking in and out of the house. He certainly had been a trial to raise. That was all behind them now. The children were all on their own. All she could say was luckily they had just been adventurous and had not gotten hooked on drugs or alcohol.

Scarlett stopped thinking about the past and finished getting ready. They couldn't be late. She could no longer fit into the dress she wore when she had met Rhett, but she looked pretty damn hot in the dress she was in the night of Rhett's retirement party. She thought Rhett looked as handsome as he had the day they had first met even if his hair was all gray now. Once again, she didn't understand anything he was saying, but she didn't care. She loved him so very much.

With Maddy's help Ted understood that Tricia just didn't understand he was flirting with her. Therefore, he boldly asked her out. She shyly accepted. Maddy's advice to Ted was – Don't assume she sees anything. No matter how obvious it is to you or me.

Ted and Tricia were married two years later. At the wedding when Rhett said to Scarlett, "When I was working with Ted, I didn't know he liked Tricia."

With a straight face, Scarlett said, "He probably kept it hid from you because he didn't want to appear unprofessional."

"That makes sense."

Jeff met his match in a beautiful college student who didn't have time for fun and games. Savannah didn't give him the time of day. Not only was she a busy woman, but he was her boss. She needed the job. The tips were great. She was putting herself through school on student loans, grants and two part-time jobs.

Once Savannah shut Jeff down, he promoted her to bartender. He told her, "Your base pay is higher, and you can wear comfortable shoes." The real reason was because he would have more opportunities to engage her in conversation. She was the first woman he had really wanted to get to know. He had tried to forget about her, but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried.

Savannah's degree was in business. Therefore, Jeff spent a lot of time talking to her about his business plan. At first, just to engage her in conversation, then later when she shared her ideas with him, he knew she had some really good ideas. She had so many ways to make his profits better. He soon figured out she was smarter than him, but it didn't matter to him. Everyone in his family was smarter than he was except maybe his mom, but he wasn't betting the farm on that belief. His mom was a very smart woman.

Savannah helped Jeff change his business model, so he was making twice as much. After she had obtained her MBA, she and Jeff had been working together for over five years. She received a great job offer and she accepted it. She had given him her resignation and cleaned out her locker. As he was walking her out, he said, "Don't be a stranger. You can now be a customer."

Savannah handed Jeff a piece of paper and said, "That is my address. Pick me up at seven on Saturday."

Savannah turned and walked out of the bar. Jeff, while smiling broadly, said, "You bet. I will see you at seven, if not before."

Six months later Jeff and Savannah were married. Their courtship had been while fixing drinks and going over his business plan.

At Jeff and Savannah's wedding, Rhett begrudgingly admitted to his son, "You made the right choices for you."

"Thanks, Dad. Savannah is a wonderful woman."

"Yes, she is, but I meant your career choice was the right one for you. I am proud of you."

Tears sprang into Jeff's eyes. His father was not one to say things like that. His mother yes, but not his father. To cover up his embarrassment, Jeff said, "We are opening up a third bar this summer. We are going to start working on it when we get back from our honeymoon."

"I know it will be a success also. You have chosen the right path for you."

"Thank you, Dad."

The men hugged. In discomfort Rhett said, "Let me find your mother."

Jeff who knew his mother was his father's anchor said, "She is over there by the refreshment table. She looks like she is about to chew someone out."

"Yes, she does. Probably someone forgot the meatballs. I will save some fool by getting my wife out on the dance floor."

Jeff watched his father walk away towards his mother and thought, 'That is a good idea. I will get my wife out on the dance floor, also.' Jeff smiled. He had always believed in a God. He knew that God had a hand in his life from his conception. He was a miracle baby. He had heard the stories. He was conceived after his father had a vasectomy.

When Rhett had given Jeff the sex talk, he had not just explained how babies were made. He had explained about condoms and sexually transmitted diseases. Jeff had bravely asked, "If you had a vasectomy, how was I conceived?"

Dryly his father had said, "The condom box was empty."

Jeff figured out his father hadn't waited long enough to not use protection. Often when Jeff would empty a box of condoms he would think of his father's statement and laugh out loud.

Jeff found Savannah and led her out to the dance floor. The dance floor his mother had insisted on. Neither Jeff nor Savannah had objected. Scarlett and Rhett had paid for the entire wedding. They had made all Savannah's dreams come true. As Savannah danced with her husband she thought, 'It was so kind of Dr. and Mrs. Butler to pay for everything, including clothing for my entire family. Jeff's parents are so sweet.'

Savannah would soon find out that her in-laws were not sweet people, but they were pretty awesome people.