AN: Dear beta DragonladySage has kindly offered her help to edit all first 18 chapters! So I repost the first 18 chapters again. LadySage has been so very generous with her talent and time. Thank you so much, dear LadySage! I am in deep debt with your kindness, and hope in some way, my story has provided a little bit entertainment to you and others, so all your efforts are not in vain.
Chapter 1: Prodigal Son Returned
Rhett – September 1873 to April 1874, Charleston
He drew a short breath and said lightly but softly:
"My dear, I don't give a damn."
...
The next morning Captain Butler quietly left the monstrous house he built for his wife Scarlett. He left without a backward glance like a thief left the crime scene after stealing the precious valuables.
What a mess it was, he left his wife who just lost her sister-in-law, he also left his final remaining honor in that house. Done with the life where Scarlett was the center of the twelve-year chase, he was exhausted. His remaining strength would keep him going on in a life without his dear Bonnie. Scarlett would survive no matter what burden life threw at her, he was sure about it. He didn't know what her life would be like if he was not in it. He could not think about it now, or he could not give a damn.
...
Arriving at his mother's house in Charleston, he kept to himself with no explanation why he was back or when he would leave. He stayed in his room and drank himself to oblivion the first two weeks; he cried for his Bonnie and maybe his lost marriage. In his hallucination, Bonnie sweetly called him Daddy one moment and disappeared the next. When he cried out for Bonnie, Scarlett appeared crying and blaming him for his daughter's death. Sometimes he saw Scarlett smile and flash her green eyes at him, running after him as he tried to run away. Other times he felt Scarlett was in his arms, whispering, again and again, she loved him, pleading with him to stay. Then in his horror, Scarlett would break out of his hold and run towards a vague male silhouette he knew was his nemesis, Ashley.
After he drank every bottle of liquor in the house, his mother supplied no more. Eventually, he stopped and rested in his room. A week later, he came out of his room, had dinner with his mother and sister, carrying on a light conversation of no significance, as if nothing of importance had happened.
His mother, Mrs. Eleanor Butler, and his younger sister, Mrs. Rosemary Butler Woodward, did not question him. They knew of his loss and his pain, and they suffered with him. Miss Eleanor had endured enough through her life; a heart-wrenching expulsion of her oldest son after several horrifying events, the eventual death of her long-suffering husband, the untimely dismiss of her younger son following a bizarre accident and the tragic losses of her two granddaughters. Along with all the tragedies was the loss and regaining of the Butler family fortune. She had had a tough life and only hoped her children would have a more peaceful life than she had. But for now, all seemed elusive.
His sister Rosemary married once but lost her husband and infant daughter during the war. After the war, she moved back to Charleston staying with her mother. Rosemary never met Bonnie when Rhett brought her back to Charleston two years ago as she was visiting her husband's family, but she knew the pain Rhett was suffering after Bonnie's death; a constant hopelessness and helplessness as it could be, the loss of a beloved daughter was a stubborn heartache that would never go away.
...
After his recovery, Rhett started his expedition as he set out for his return, making peace with his people. He went around Charleston and visited his old friends and acquaintances, trying to re-establish his position as the head of the esteemed Butler family. His younger brother, the official heir of his father's preference, died three years ago after drinking and fighting in a bar somewhere on the shady side of Charleston.
With a large donation of money that Captain Butler threw at various social committees and charities, the old society of Charleston was still far less forgiving than the Old Guards in Atlanta. For them it was still too much of a tragedy to be forgotten even twenty-five years had gone by; the honor of a young girl from a prominent family of Charleston had been tarnished and a promising young life of her brother had been shortened, all by the reckless and inexcusable Rhett Butler in his youth. What's more, his dishonorable discharge from West Point before the calamity and his unsavory business during the war thereafter did not leave much sympathy even for an old respected family name like the Butlers that had been carried on since his grandfather. Though Rhett did get along well with a few gentlemen around the town, his invitations to social events mostly only came along with the invitations to his mother and his sister.
Captain Butler was infamously rich, everyone in Charleston knew, and obviously, he had been supporting both his mother and his sister since his father's death. But the house he had bought for his mother and sister six years ago was still claimed for being bought with his father's life insurance money as if his money was shameful and ill-gotten. And as if it was of no importance, the claim was never corrected by his mother or anyone else. While he knew it was his father's legacy his mother preferred to preserve, he was not pleased by this while could do nothing about it.
Two years ago when he visited Charleston with Bonnie, his charming daughter had helped him to open a few doors and gain respect in the old society. Now he had no daughter, and no real job or establishment to intermingle with others. His businesses were mostly conducted elsewhere, Atlanta, New Orleans, the West, the North, the South, and even Europe. Not like when he was in Atlanta, he didn't even have an office in the bank to go to every day. As restless as he was to find something to distract his thoughts from his dear daughter or his lost marriage, he still was not quite interested in the gossip topics of his mother's sewing circle or the ridiculous romantic literature arguments of his sister's elite lady friends.
When Christmas came, the first without his Bonnie, it was too raw a wound for him that he couldn't face his wife and step-children. How Bonnie loved Christmas, loved new dolls and toys, loved fighting with her brother and sister for gifts. He could not even stand going to a toy store to buy Christmas gifts for his step-children whereas he knew Wade and Ella would be utterly disappointed with his unkind absence and silence. How Scarlett felt he could not much care.
...
For New Year's Eve, his mother held a small party in her house, only invited a few close friends who knew Rhett well or would care enough not to mention his lost daughter or his absent wife. Scarlett's aunts, Miss Eulalie and Miss Pauline, dear friends of Miss Eleanor, had offered their excuses. Both aunts had gone back to Savannah to spend the holidays with their father. Rhett was relieved to avoid Scarlett's aunts, while he was happy with the guest list. He couldn't deal with Scarlett or anyone associated with her right now, he wanted to spend time with his family and his friends in Charleston. He would not and could not look back at what he had lost from his life in the last six years.
When the New Year's fever passed, the charm of Charleston high society gradually lost its allure as Rhett still could not find a purpose for whatever he was searching. The formality of the old society was formidable suffocating, this life was far a cry different from any of his previous lives. If he determined to never change his spots he might not endure for long.
Much more against his nature that he had cultivated in his roaming wildlife of many years was that he couldn't dare to frequent the saloons or sporting houses in Charleston as much as he had in Atlanta. An imaginary glimpse of apprehension from his mother or sister would stop his foot track to that direction or nip the bud of his thought. He didn't want his mother and sister humiliated if he was found drunk on a gambling table or disinhibited inside a whore house, or worst of all died as his younger brother in a bar that would finally break his mother's heart. He couldn't dare to let his mother know he owned a whore house in Atlanta, somewhat one of the many reasons he had never invited his mother and his sister to visit Atlanta, in addition to his disastrous marriage. In Charleston, he was under his mother's and sister's mercy to endure the old society though they had been cared for by his fortune. No matter what, he could not afford to lose their moral charity again.
For all his forty-five years of age, he felt much more restrained in Charleston in the last few months than he had ever endured in his whole adult life, even worse than his last several years in Atlanta. A full circle he had made in his life, how ridiculous it had been; a rebellion against his father in his youth, a free-will blockade runner around the world, a jealous husband juggling between his home and a sporting house, to this dreary middle-aged man under his mother's roof without children (children!) and wife, except with more money under his belt but nowhere to spend on and no one to spend for. The respectability and the charming dignity of the genteel folks he had been searching for didn't come to him as easily as he thought at the time he had left his life and his wife in Atlanta.
What a pity life his life was now, the outer semblance of the utter boredom, but not as dignified as he had striven for. There were times he was even thinking it might not have been too terrible to return to Atlanta or to drift to somewhere else.
...
Sometime after the New Year, his family plantation Dunmore Landing was up to tax sale again, almost eight years after his family had lost it. Rhett bought it on the spot and moved himself to the plantation once the transaction was complete. He was looking for a change again. This time, he would do it by himself in a place where he grew up.
To rebuild the plantation mansion and clear the rice fields, he hired help and labored himself. He was busy and exhausted most of the time for he was not accustomed to the harsh labor for years. His outdoor laboring caused him to lose much of his bloated midriff. He became leaner and more muscular. His face was swarthier and lost the pallor and puffiness from the uninhibited drinking and nightlife of the last few years in Atlanta.
During the day he didn't have much time to think about his prior life in Atlanta, his dear Bonnie, and his lost marriage, or his frustrating life of the last few months in Charleston. While in the lonely nights, the dreams of his life in Atlanta always came to haunt him. All the resolutions he had held in the last few months were gone again, Bonnie and Scarlett appeared in his dreams sometimes separately or together. A pair of bright blue eyes would flash at him brightly, and then a pair of emerald green eyes would gaudily stare at him. Finally, he would be watching helplessly as the black woven haired girl rode on horseback and rushed into the dense mist, lost to him forever. He would wake up in the middle of the night many times in a cold sweat, then he would close his eyes again, trying in vain to hold onto his daughter's or his wife's image longer.
By the morning when he fully woke up, he would push those thoughts and images aside. As determined as he could be, he wanted a content life to live out his remaining days. He didn't want to go back to the life of the last twelve years of all those heartbreaking tragedies.
He still vividly remembered that gloomy September night when Scarlett declared her love for him, but he couldn't rid of the memory when that same Scarlett declared her eternal love to Ashley thirteen springs ago. He didn't know if Scarlett still loved him or if her declaration of her love was just a fleeting affection that had changed since his leaving, or even if Scarlett had gone back to Ashley as she had always wanted to during her three marriages. He didn't dare to find out the truth; instead, he remained in the plantation by himself, rejecting his mother's plea of either going back to Charleston or returning to Atlanta.
...
He stayed in Dunmore Landing alone for almost three months, refusing any visitors, even his mother and sister. Eventually, his sister Rosemary interjected, bringing her friends along for a visit, or for the reasons of a new business opportunity for him or touring the family plantation by her.
Coming along with her were David and Sally Brewton, Rhett's close friends since childhood; Mr. Stanley MacIntosh, a lawyer in his late thirties, who was a rather reserved widower but quite a confident fellow, and who was a dear friend of Rosemary's late husband, Edward Woodward. And Miss Anne Hampton who was in her early twenties with a gentle face and a pair of observing gray eyes. Rhett met both Mr. MacIntosh and Miss Anne at his mother's party, aware of their relationship with Rosemary. It was not clear whom Mr. MacIntosh might have the intention for marriage, Rosemary or Miss Anne. Rhett also noticed that Anne was a younger friend whom his sister felt being protective of and had taken into her circle as charity.
After finishing the delicious food brought by Rosemary, three gentlemen moved to the garden lighting up cigars, carrying on a discussion of the financial panic a few months ago. Mr. Brewton mentioned that a shipping company based in Charleston was up for sale since the owner was overburdened with other debts. David asked If Rhett was willing to consider they could invest together for this venture. Rhett trusted David's perception on business deals, but he worried that it might take longer for merchandise trading to recover. Mr. MacIntosh explained that local business was not as bad as Wall Street, though he would not name specifically he did have a few business clients starting to expand this year.
Moving some funds to Charleston for a business had been in Rhett's mind for a while, just which one he had not figured out. He used to own four ships during the war running the blockade, but he sold them before the blockade became too risky and he spent more time inland. While he still had friends in the business and connections up in the North, down to the South, and even in Europe.
Rhett decided to take a trip to New York and visit his friends from West Point and his blockade running days. After intense negotiations among several interested parties, in early April, a quite moderate sized shipping company with business both in the North and the South was established. Rhett owned at least a third of this company. There would be offices in New York and Charleston, David would run the daily work in the Charleston office, and Brian Jefferson and Michael Wright, both his friends from West Point, were based in New York.
Of the three good friends during their West Point years, only Brian escaped the punishment of their last dishonorable stunt and eventually graduated from West Point becoming a decorated officer based in New York for many years. From a well-respected family in Boston, he married to Michael's sister after the graduation, the matrimony united by the first love. Both Michael and Rhett still could not believe how Brian changed so substantially compared to his bachelor days.
Michael was a few years younger than Brian and Rhett but never shied away from their exploits. He never married as he mildly claimed that he hadn't found a lady who could capture his mind and heart, and his family had no need for him to pass on the family honors. While matrimony would be damned but female companionship was not, he readily admitted whoever asked. Different from Rhett, he was lucky that after West Point he was forgiven by his wealthy family and went on to complete his education at another university. Only so bored he was after a few years that he went to California with Rhett, and then collaborated with Rhett in blockade running during the war in New York. There had been a few times the two had to call in a favor of Brian Jefferson. Michael remained in the shipping and trading business after the war. Merging his company with the one in Charleston, with further infused funding from both Rhett and Brian, their shipping company was a contender for further expansion. The three good friends were happy that they put their acts together for one more stunt.
...
Rhett was much more excited than he had been in years. He was pleased his life was finally falling into a routine that he might endure for the next several years. He had a great business with his good friends. He would be based in Charleston with his family, and from time to time he could visit the North or go to Europe at his will. While if he needed refuge or distance from others, he could go to Dunmore Landing for solitary. He didn't have to be under the constant scrutiny of the old society of Charleston or the charity of his dear mother and sister. As much of a wanderer as he always was, he could roam into the calm dignity of life in Charleston with an access to the center if he stayed, or glide out with an escape route ready in case he needed stray.
Eventually, he felt he had a control of his life, and decided he was ready to go back to Atlanta, to face Scarlett, either to keep gossip down as he had promised or to dissolve what was left of his marriage if the situation had changed. Whatever it would be, Atlanta was no longer the center nor even a regular stop in his new life. He bought gifts for his stepchildren, but none for Scarlett since he wasn't sure what he could give to her anymore.
The day he boarded the train heading to Atlanta was a warm spring day in the middle of April, six months after he had left that city, and thirteen springs after he had first met Scarlett at Twelve Oaks.
AN: This is my first fanfic. I love the story of GWTW, both book and movie, more because of its unfinished story line of S and R marriage. I have been curious what S and R would be if MM wrote a sequel. I have read almost all the stories on this site and loved some of them with a happy ending, no matter S and R were reunited or separated. So I started imaging my story…..I have all lined up and will keep writing until the end. Please review and comment.
