Rhett had been amused when she gave her reasons.
"Melly told me there was an election. Though what good that will do, I'm sure I don't know."
"I'm sure the Democrats will thank you for your awareness, if not support."
She shrugged. "I don't care about all that. The point is, I can't marry a man who does business with the Scallywags. Even if you are a Southerner."
He hid his hurt behind a sceptical tone. "Why do you care about all this Scarlett?"
"I don't. I wish I can tell them all to go to Halifax but Wade is a Hamilton and he's already suffered enough."
Now she had his attention. "How has he suffered?"
"It was a few months after Ella was born. Wade came home from school, crying his eyes out. He told me he'd fallen over but I was sure there was more to it than that. I was ready to go and give the old Cats hell but Mammy stopped me. She spoke to Wade and found out he actually had fallen over. In the school yard."
"Then what's the problem?"
"None of the other brats would help him up. Can you imagine?"
He could imagine. Children could be so cruel, especially when the adults in their lives were influencing them.
"What did you do?"
"I waited until I attended the next sewing circle and glared at them. Mrs Merriweather called me out on it and I told them all what had happened. They were so sure it was the Yankee children that pushed him over. You should have seen their faces when I told them that their children watched him suffer."
There was a wicked gleam in her eye that Rhett hated most. He was pleased that she was finally paying heed to her children's needs and while he had already waited a year for the sake of her reputation, he'd give her the extra time, hoping that by then, maybe she'd finally see that he wasn't marrying her solely for her body and that there was more to him than a hefty bank balance.
By the time the announcement was made, Frank Kennedy had been dead eighteen months and whilst the women preached caution, particularly Melly, the only one who openly confronted Scarlett was Mrs Merriweather.
"My dear, I feel I need to talk to you about this. Your poor dear mother is not here to counsel you, so I will in her stead. Are you sure you should be marrying Captain Butler? After all, he is not received."
"Oh Mrs Merriweather, you are so kind to worry about me. It seems strange though. Wasn't he in your parlour during the War?"
She'd unwittingly stricken a nerve but the old dowager pressed on.
"Maybe so, but that was a different time. Besides, he is a scallywag..."
Scarlett felt a smile crawl over her mouth. "I'm not so sure anymore. Poor Rh- that is Captain Butler, says the Republicans are the only ones who will talk to him. Can you imagine how lonely that must be?"
The notion that Captain Butler was lonely was a foreign concept to the dowager.
"I'm sure his friends can satisfy his, er tastes."
It was the first time Scarlett had heard the woman reference Rhett's less salubrious companions and whilst she didn't like it, Mrs Merriweather had given her an advantage. What was it Rhett had called her, the night he proposed? An opportunist?
"Mrs Merriweather, Captain Butler asked me to marry him. He knows I have two children and that if he's serious about matrimony, then he'll need to make a few changes."
"Maybe so..."
"Mrs Merriweather, I think I should tell you that it was Captain Butler that said we should wait to marry. He was anxious for the sake of my reputation." The lady snorted. "But at the same time, he wanted me to promise to marry him."
"Well, I never. The man must really love you then?"
It was Scarlett's turn to be caught short, so she nodded and wished the lady good-bye.