Epilogue

The twins were born in the first week of June, a girl and a boy.

Scarlett had gone to him one windy afternoon in November, telling him she was pregnant, and that she wanted them to try again. Leaving most of her illusions and girlish hopes behind her, and bringing her losses and her gains. "I want you to know that I would have made the same decision regardless, even without the baby. It would have been easy to pretend otherwise, to save my pride. But we said no more lies." And he had nodded, with grave humility, and thanked her.

And somehow, the world was turning again after being arrested in space.

And so as fall turned into winter they went bravely about the business of reconstructing their marriage out of nothing but shards, determination and gritty will, and a commitment, not precisely to each other, but to the truth. It was both harder and easier than Scarlett had expected. He took a fierce interest in her pregnancy, and told her of his fears for this child, for Garreth, and Ella. She told him she was afraid he would betray her again, now that she would have not one, but two children to tie her down. And still they went on. Rhett discovered that she could bear even his darkest emotions, his deepest shame without breaking, and she learned, as winter turned into spring, that their bodies could reveal and work out what their words could not, even her fury and pain. They both could not have said if this harsh honesty could be called love, or if it even mattered. But when Scarlett, at the peak of summer, brought the babies out to the orchard for the first time, and Rhett held his new-born daughter in the shade of the old apple tree, noting her eyes were round and blue, they both felt the strange sense of someone who had been running without knowing where, and then found they had unexpectedly arrived at a place where they could rest for a while. And Ella, laughing, swung her new brother around and around until he meowed in protest.

And Pan, god of the herds and flocks, sat on the fence and watched them flute in one hand, his trusted horses standing patiently by his side, the July sun scattering rich gold over his hair. And they neighed and nickered softly to each other; perhaps agreeing it had been a long, but a good, year's work.

Disclaimer: I do not own them, they belong to MM

So there it is. Thank you for reading, and the reviews. Not too long ago I would have agreed with those of you that said, run, Scarlett, and don't look back. But now, I am no longer sure how to weigh everything and how the loss of Bonnie would have cast a shadow over everything including his sense of morality, until he realized even grief is no longer an excuse for his actions. His main mistake may have been coming back too quickly and not allowing himself to grieve properly, but in a twisted way he told he was doing everybody a favor, and his return did allow the children to prosper. After his revelation, with three children by Rhett, Scarlett's only option in that society would have been to live out her life alone, comfortable perhaps, because he would have supported them, but alone, and she would still have to deal with him on some level because of the children. So when she says "this is my choice," she takes back power over her life. Oh, and one more thing that indeed wasn't clear except in my own mind- he wasn't running after they had the discussion. She kicked him out that time. As in "go away, you bastard, and take the kids until I call for you, if I ever do. I need time to think." Let's also not forget that a man's infidelity wasn't viewed in quite the same way back then as we view it today, although it still would have hurt her greatly.

In my mind, he is at the very least, truly remorseful, and has stopped running, and rejected the easiest choice, which was to keep lying. And then there is life, and choices. And we make them, imperfectly, and some are made for us, by our circumstances or by our times, and we try to live with them. And try to atone for our mistakes, as best we can. And I firmly believe the Gods or the Universe sometimes allow for the weight of a feather to atone for our sins, if there is true remorse. And maybe sometimes even, briefly, find something like grace. And here, Garreth is the "divine grace", that bit of good luck we don't at all deserve, but which sometimes comes into our lives nonetheless, the water that runs through the crack in the stones until everything bursts open and can start anew.

Thank you for the discussion, it's really interesting to hear what everyone thinks!