| She knew I was there those awful two days
after Melly died, when she needed me to manage thingsThey all did,
even India, bleating like a goat"What shall we do about the
funeral, Scarlett? About the food for the callers? About the coffin?
The pallbearers? The cemetery plot? The inscription on the
headstone?
The notice in the paper? Now they're leaning all over each other,
weeping and wailingWell I won't give them the satisfaction of seeing
me cry all by myself wit nobody to lean onIf I start, I might never be able
to stopWhen I get to Tara, I can cryScarlett lifted her chin, her
teeth clenched to stop their chattering from the cold, to hold back the
choking in her throatThis will be over soon, and then I can go home
to
TaraThe jagged pieces of Scarlett's shattered life were all around
there in Atlanta's Oakland CemeteryA tall spire of granite, gray
stone streaked with gray rain, was somber memorial to the world that
was gone forever, the carefree discounted louis vuitton bags world of her youth before the WarIt
was the Confederate Memorial, symbol of the proud, heedless courage
that had plunged the South with bright banners flying into destruction
It stood for so many lives lost, the friends of her childhood, the
gallants who had begged for waltzes and kisses in the days when she
had
no problems greater than which wide-skirted ballgown to wearIt
stood
for her first husband, Charles Hamilton, Melanie's brotherIt stood
for the sons, brothers, husbands, fathers of all the rain-wet mourners
on the small knoll where Melanie was being buried
There were other graves, other markersFrank Kennedy, Scarlett's
second husband
And the small, terribly small, grave with the headstone that read
EUGENIE VIcToRIA BUTLER, and under it BoNNIEHer last child, and
the
most lovedThe living, as well as the dead, were all round her, but
she stood apartHalf of Atlanta was there, it seemedThe crowd had
overflowed the church and now it spread in a wide, prada black bags uneven dark circle
around the bitter slash of color in the gray rain, the open grave dug
from Georgia's red clay for the body of Melanie WilkesThe front row
of mourners held those who'd been closest to herWhite and black,
their faces all streaked with tears, except Scarlett'sThe old
coachman Uncle Peter stood with Dilcey and Cookie in a protective
black
triangle around Beau, Melanie's bewildered little boyThe older
generation of Atlanta were there, with the tragically few descendants
that remained to themThe Meades, the Whitings, the Merriwethers,
the
Elsings, their daughters and sons-in-law, Hugh Elsing the only living
son; Aunt Pittypat Hamilton and her brother, Uncle Henry Hamilton,
their ages-old feud forgotten in mutual grief for their niece
Younger, but looking as old as the others, India Wilkes sheltered
herself within the group and watched her brother, Ashley, from
griefand
guilt-shadowed eyesHe stood alone, like ScarlettHe was
bare-headed cheap rolex watches in the rain, unaware of the proffered shelter of umbrellas,
unconscious of the cold wetness, unable to accept the finality of the
minister's words or the narrow coffin being lowered into the muddy red
graveTall and thin and colorless, his pale gilt hair now
almost gray, his pale stricken face as empty as his staring, unseeing
gray eyesHe stood erect, his stance a salute, the inheritance of
his ears as a gray-uniformed officer
He stood motionless, without sensation or comprehensionHe
was the center and the symbol of Scarlett's ruined lifeFor love of
him she'd ignored the happiness that had been hers for the taking
She'd turned her back on her husband, not seeing his love for her, not
admitting her love for him, because wanting Ashley was always in the
wayAnd now Rhett was gone, his only presence here a spray of
warm
golden autumn flowers among all the othersShe'd betrayed her only
friend, scorned Melanie's stubborn loyalty and loveAnd now Melanie
was louis vuitton duffle bag goneAnd even Scarlett's love for Ashley was gone, for she'd
realized too late that the habit of loving him had long since replaced
love itselfShe did not love him, and she never would againBut
now, when she didn't want him, Ashley was hers, her legacy from
MelanieShe had promised Melly she'd take care of him and of
their childAshley was the cause of her life's destructionAnd the
only thing left to her from it
Scarlett stood apart and aloneThere was only cold gray space
between
her and the people she knew in Atlanta, space that once Melanie had
filled, keeping her from isolation and ostracismThere was only the
cold wet wind beneath the umbrella in the place where Rhett should
have
been to shelter her with his strong broad shoulders and his loveShe
held her chin high, into the wind, accepting its assault without
feeling itAll her senses were concentrated on the words that were
her strength and her hopeThis will be over soon, and then I can go
home to chanel j12 watches T |