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Chapter Nine
Kay and Reese sat together backstage before the performance.
Kay was in-between his legs, and his arms were wrapped around her waist. Both were fully dressed in their first
costumes and patiently awaiting for the show to begin. Every so often one of them would say something and get kissed
by the other. It was during one of these public displays of affection that Jessica, Kay’s younger sister and make-up
artist, walked by.
"If either of you screw up the other’s make-up I’ll tear you apart. It takes to long to put all of it on,
and we have a big cast to do it to." Jessica warned.
"Alright sister dear. We won’t mess up our make-up." Kay giggled.
"Yeah. Sorry." Reese muttered.
"You two, how are you ever going to do the last scene?" Jessica pondered aloud as she walked away.
"They’ll all see. It’ll rival the original." Kay said, turning around to look into Reese’s eyes.
"You got that right." Reese stated. He glanced down the hall before leaning over and kissing her.
"I saw that!" Jessica yelled from down the hall. Kay and Reese both blushed, and looked down at her.
Shrugging, Kay turned around and kissed Reese.
"Rhett....Rhett....Rhett!" Kay yelled as she ran across stage. It was the last scene, and Kay had just
come from Melanie’s death scene. Forced tears were in her eyes as she ran through the stage. Finally she came upon
Reese, sitting in the front of stage right.
"Sit down." Reese invited. Kay crossed over to the seat next to him and sat.
"Oh Rhett."
"Melanie, she’s..." Kay nodded her head in answer to his question. "Well, God rest her. She was
the only completely kind person I ever knew. A great lady. A very great lady. So she’s dead. That makes it nice
for you, doesn’t it?" Reese asked, looking at Kay.
"Oh how can you say such a thing. You know how I loved her, really." Kay stated.
"No I don’t know that I do. But at least it’s to your credit that you could appreciate her, at the end."
"Of course I appreciate her. She thought of everyone but herself. Why her last words were about you."
"What’d she say?"
"She said, be kind to Capt. Butler, he loves you so."
"She say anything else?" Reese asked, getting up from the chair and staring of stage.
"She said, she, she asked me to look after Ashley too." Kay admitted.
"It’s convenient to have the first wife’s permission, isn’t it?" Reese asked, looking at her before
moving over to where a dresser was placed.
"What do you mean?" Kay asked, crossing over to him. Reese started to place clothes in a travel bag.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m leaving you my dear. All you need now is a divorce, and your dreams of Ashley can come true."
"Oh! Oh no, you’re wrong. Terribly wrong. I don’t want a divorce. When I knew tonight. When I knew I loved
you I ran home to tell you. Oh darling, darling."
"Look, please don’t go on with this. Please leave us some dignity left in our marriage. Spare us this last."
"This last? Oh Rhett please listen to me. I must have loved you years, only I was such a fool I didn’t know
it. Please believe me, you must care. Melly said you did."
"I believe you, and what about Ashley Wilkes?"
"I, I never really loved Ashley."
"You certainly gave a good imitation of it up ‘til this morning. No Scarlett, I tried everything. If you’d
only met me half way. Even when I came back from London."
"I was so glad to see you, I really was. But, but you were so nasty."
"And then when you were sick. And it was all my fault. I hoped against hope that you’d call for me. But you
didn’t."
"I wanted you, I wanted you desperately, but I didn’t think you wanted me." Kay said, real tears starting
to come to her eyes.
"It seems we’ve been acrossed perfectly. But it’s no use now. As long as there was Bonnie there was a chance
we might be happy. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again. Before the war and poverty had done
things to you. She was so like you. And I could pet her and spoiler her, as I wanted to pet and spoil you. But
when she went, she took everything."
"Oh Rhett. Please don’t say that. I’m so sorry, so sorry for everything."
"Darling, you’re such a child. You think that by saying ‘I’m sorry’ all the past can be corrected. Here,
take my handkerchief. Never in any crises in your life have I known you to have a handkerchief." Reese began
to move away from her, and Kay soon followed, tears flowing freely.
"Rhett, where are you going?"
"I’m going to Charleston, where I belong."
"Rhett please, please take me with you."
"No, I’m through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn’t something left
of charm and grace. Do you know what I’m talking about?"
"No, I only know that I love you."
"That’s your misfortune." Reese said, crossing the stage. Kay paused for a moment, sobbing openly, before
rushing across stage, saying his name.
"Rhett, if you go, where shall I go, what shall I do?"
"Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn." Reese stated, and exited the stage.
"I can’t let him go, I can’t. There must be some way to bring him back." Kay said, looking out into
the audience. "Oh, I can’t think about that now. I’ll go crazy if I do. I’ll think about that tomorrow."
Kay backed away from stage right and moved towards center stage. "But I must think about it. I must. What
is there to do? What is there that matters?"
Faintly, from side stage, the voices of Reese, Matt, and Miguel could be heard whispering their lines about Tara.
Softly they began, and gradually increased in volume. Each voice said ‘Tara’ twice loudly before Kay looked up
and out into the audience.
"Tara. Home. I’ll go home, and I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day."
The curtain closed quickly, and Kay ran off stage. She changed into her first dress and let her hair down, as
the curtain call began. Patiently she waited on stage right for her entrance, across from Reese, who waited on
stage left. Miguel and Charity walked out, linked arms, and went up to front stage, each taking a bow. Kay sighed
heavily and put on her biggest smile. It increase three times when her and Reese linked arms and repeated the bow
Charity and Miguel just finished. Kay looked up into the crowd, all standing and clapping. Together, her and Reese
backed up and linked arms with the rest of their cast mates. The entire group stepped forward and bowed. They had
finished the assignment.
Kay gathered her things from backstage and began stuffing them in her bag. Almost everyone had left, and Kay
surely didn’t want to be the last one there. Checking around the dressing room one last time, she noticed one
of her shirts, and quickly stuffed it in her bag. Sighing, she exited the room and entered the backstage hall.
Slowly she walked down the hall until she reached the lobby.
As she was about to exit, she heard her name being called. Turning around, she practically ran into Reese, who
was behind her. A warm smile came over her face as she looked up into his emerald green eyes.
"Hi." She meekly said.
"Hi. You did great."
"As did you."
"They were real tears."
"They were. You left me." Kay stated.
"I won’t again. I have something for you." Reese said, reaching into his backpack. He pulled out a book
and placed it in her hands.
"The lady at the store said Scarlett gets a happy ending in it." Reese whispered. Kay looked down at
the book in her hands and read the title aloud.
"Scarlett"
Looking away from the book, she looked up into Reese’s eyes again. Something flickered in his eyes, and a content
sigh emerged from her mouth as his arms enclosed her body.
"You’ll get a happy ending too, Kay." Reese said, before he engulfed her into a wild, passionate, kiss. |
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THE END
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