Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character's from Gone with the Wind they belong to Margaret Mitchell.

Prologue – Please Come Home for Christmas

Late November 1874

Rhett sat silently in the dark paneled library of his mother's comfortable Charleston home. The only noise to be heard was the popping of the flames in the fireplace that had been lit to ward off the chill of late November. He stared into the flames as he picked up the crystal glass and drank allowing the amber colored brandy to course through him as his mind contemplated the letter lying on the side table next to his chair. He had hesitated opening it at first once he had recognized Scarlett's smooth flowing handwriting. It had been a long time since Scarlett had written him. She had seemed to get the point that he wanted nothing to do with her when he sent her letters back unopened and attached to divorce papers with a terse note telling her that the only correspondence he wished to have with her would deal with the dissolution of their marriage. That had been four months after he had left her and he hadn't heard a word from her in all that time nor had she signed the divorce papers and mailed them back.

He hadn't kept his promise to her. He hadn't once set foot in Atlanta to keep the gossip down. A surge of guilt nagged him briefly but he chased it away with another sip of alcohol. Surely it hadn't been easy for her but then again why should he feel bad about that when she had never made anything easy for him. Rhett ran a hand through his dark hair and picked up the letter to read once again.

Dear Rhett

I can only hope that the fact that I've given you the peace you sought after and left you alone all this time will assure me that you will open and read this one letter. I wouldn't bother sending it if I didn't have to for I know chances are you will send it back unopened and everything will be ruined once again. What I'm about to ask you is not for me Rhett, I want to get that point across right now. I'm asking you to come home for Christmas, for Wade and Ella. Especially for Wade. Please Rhett come home for the holidays for them. They want you here so badly and I promised them I'd try. I also promise you that if you do this one thing for me I'll return the favor. I'll give you what you want most from me. I'll leave you alone. I won't bother you while you're here. I won't make a fool of myself by telling you that I love you even though it's true because I know you don't want to hear it and that you no longer hold such feelings for me. You don't have to worry about me throwing myself at you or crying and begging you to stay once New Years is over. If you come home and spend Christmas with Wade and Ella I'll sign the papers Rhett. I swear I will if that's what you want; it will be my way of returning the favor you'll be doing me by not making me break a promise to the children. This is important to me, I want so much to make this Christmas a happy one for Wade and Ella especially after last Christmas was so miserable for all of us, and by us I include you too for I know it was especially hard for you even though I didn't see you although we kept hoping you'd appear.

We are both business minded people and so I will give this matter a businesslike approach that might appeal to you. The deal I'm offering is that you come home for the holidays and at it's conclusion I'll sign the papers and set you free. If you do not I will not sign and you'll be legally chained to me for life and I know how you feel about the prospect of that. If you come home you must stay through New Years, if you don't, I won't sign. If I break my end of the deal by making unwanted advances or declarations of love that you don't want I'll sign and you may leave whenever you want. That's my offer Rhett but please remember that this isn't about me. It's about Wade and Ella and surely we can put aside our differences to give them a nice Christmas…at least I'm willing to try and I hope you are too. I hope to see you in Atlanta but if not I'll understand. I just hope the children will. No matter what you chose to do we hope you'll have a happy holiday.

- Scarlett

Rhett smiled he had to hand it to Scarlett she knew all the right buttons to push and how to pour on the guilt. So she was blackmailing him for Christmas, what a lovely gift for a wife to give a husband he thought with amusement as he chuckled quietly. Placing the letter back on the stand he thought over the words she had written him. He was somewhat bothered that she seemed sincere in her quest to bring him home for the sake of the children and going as far as to offer her signature on divorce papers to seal the deal.

"When did she turn into a loving mother?" he said aloud to the fire that once again captivated his gaze.

Her skills as a mother weren't really bothering him though if he were to be honest He was more bothered about the actual prospect of divorcing Scarlett. He laid his head back against the soft brown material of the arm chair and closed his eyes. As he figured Scarlett's face flashed in his mind and he found himself overwhelmed with the urge to see her again. An urge he had been fighting for over a year. He wasn't even sure he wanted to divorce Scarlett anymore. Foolishly he had thought that time away from her would erase her from his mind and his heart but it hadn't. All that it had done was engrain her deeper into his soul. After the numbness wore off from the loss of Bonnie he found that there was still love for Scarlett left inside him but Rhett wanted those emotions to remain there hidden until they evaporated like puddles after a rain storm. He was torn when it came to his wife.

Did he keep running from her and protecting himself from her and whatever her brand of love may be? Or did he go home to her and try to pick up the shards of glass that was their life and try to make it work? He squeezed the arm of the chair in aggravation he didn't want to get caught up in Scarlett's web again and yet he couldn't help but feel it pulling him like a moth to a flame. Then there was the matter of the children. He had to admit that he hadn't given them any thought when he had left Scarlett. He had thought of them after the fact wondering how they had coped with the loss of Melly and her motherly affection and with his own absence. He could imagine how they most likely were suffering being abandoned with Scarlett. His mind was intrigued with the way she had written 'especially for Wade' in her letter. Was there something wrong with the boy or was it a ploy of Scarlett's to bring him home by using her children and their vulnerability as bait. It seemed as though she had realized the desperate sound of her missive spurning her to take on the business like tone half way through it. He didn't know if he should trust the sincerity of her letter or be suspicious.

Christmas in Atlanta hadn't been something he had thought of or wanted but on the other hand spending another Christmas in Charleston didn't exactly appeal to him either. He was beginning to feel restless in his hometown with its rigid society that was worse than the old cats of Atlanta. Going abroad and up North had done nothing to lessen the feeling. Another strike against Charleston as the ideal place to celebrate the holiday was the disapproving look of his mother. She had quietly bereted him last year for not being with his wife and her children for Christmas or at least sending for them to join him here. "What a pain holidays can be" he said aloud as he pondered his options. It was going to be a difficult choice to make. Christmas in Charleston with its boredom and his mother's disapproval or Christmas in Atlanta protecting his fragile heart and the unpredictability of life with Scarlett and her little deal she was offering him. He raised his glass to his lips and took a long swallow finishing his drink and laughed as Scarlett's favorite mantra "I'll think about it tomorrow" slipped from his lips.