She worried that he would be injured on his patrol. Their home was as far from the South as could be and baring Mammy, they had no servant to rely on. Her boys were too small to be of any real help to her, but they were all the family she had near-by.
After the War ended, she had been hopeful that she would make Tara profitable again but Jonas Wilkerson had put a stop to all that. He had insisted to his Yankee friends that the O'Haras were deficit in their taxes by a mere $300. In another life, that would have been a minor payment but since the Confederates lost the War of the States, the former proud landowners and their kin were reduced to penury.
No-one had the money and therefore, Tara was lost.
Suellen married her long-time beau, Frank Kennedy. He was so far beneath her in gumption and practicality that Scarlett had resorted to denying her consent if he didn't marry her in January. Frank had wanted to wait until Spring when he could be comfortably situated but had been told that Suellen would be in Savannah by then, with the O'Hara clan, along with Gerald and Careen.
The Wilkes returned to Atlanta to take up home with Aunt Pitty and Scarlett's husband had taken his family far away, to join the Mexican Army. Mammy insisted on accompanying Scarlett, while Pork joined his former Master in Savannah, his wife and child and step-daughter relocating to Atlanta.
Scarlett's mind and will which had been so strong up until now, slowly began to break as the loss of her home hit her. Her husband found them a small patch of land and tried to make her see that it could be a new Tara. Scarlett refused. This empty plot would never replace her Tara and a part of her died inside.
She resigned herself to the care of her two small boys and the new one she carried. She worked the land, clothed her children and gave them what education she could.
In time she gave birth to a third son and named him Clayton. Her other sons, William and Richard were subconsciously named for the places they had been conceived in, during the War that had held such hope at the start and ruined so many lives by the end.
And now, she waited for her husband's return, her hand cradling the swell of her fourth child within. Maybe this one will be a girl, was her idle thought. It would be good to have a daughter as a change from all the boys. She wished she hadn't been so fertile. As much as she loved the boys, the constant child-birth and rearing was wearing her down. She wanted so much for them to have a better life and to enjoy the benefit of her family's company.
Letters from home were scarce and she often went for months before she heard from the family. There were no neighbours around to spend the evening with. No-one to call on and commiserate their turn of lives.
There was a small settlement where she could obtain the necessaries but her husband didn't make enough for the luxuries, she once took for granted. Not that it mattered now. There was no-one to compete with. No-one to judge or be judged by. The land and the boys needed her by day and her husband took from her at night. He worked long hours to provide them a living and saw no reason to help out with the household or the children.
The boys did their best to be quiet in his presence for the one time he had had to dish out discipline, William couldn't sit for a week. His mother saw no reason to repeat the incident and her punishments consisted of sending them to bed early or giving them more chores. She would never deny them dinner, only dessert if the crime warranted it and they actually had dessert.
They had a lodger of sorts, who helped work the land in exchange for bed and board. He refused any small amount of money Scarlett had offered, knowing how meanly her husband kept her in his control and where the rest of the money went.
It was well known in the settlement that the Great Gentleman had a thing for the women of the town. That his current favourite matched his wife's description was eerie and as such, the lodger had quickly taken over the task of picking up supplies, meaning less exposure to town-gossip and gossipmongers for Scarlett.
The people of the settlement knew exactly when the wife was in a fix, due to the Gentleman's tongue becoming loosened by liquor and it said a lot that the prostitutes felt pity on the wife. The Gentleman had specific tastes and his favourite hated his visits with a passion. She had struck a cord with the lodger and they took a vow to ensure the wife remained ignorant of the Gentleman's tastes.
The favourite was a young woman who had been sold into prostitution by her father when she reached adolescence. She knew how to handle men's little fetish's and was fascinated by the lodger's protective instincts to the wife. The code of conduct that Gentlemen bore their ladies was unheard of in the West and she envied the young wife.
She found herself drawn to the lodger and longed for his visits. He was a real gentleman, unlike the rest of his sex and she found the line between passion and business blurring. Not that it mattered. The lodger was head over heels in love with the Gentleman's wife and would never see her as more than a commodity. Instead, she agreed to keep the lodger informed of the Gentleman's antics.
The scheme proved successful and continued during the months of Scarlett's pregnancies. The Gentleman was more demanding of his favourite and the lodger was sympathetic. Meanwhile, the wife was too busy with her family and found that since they arrived at the new place, any feelings of amour Scarlett held for her husband had vanished. He was a man who worshipped order and would not be denied. He knew his husbandly rights and as soon as she was fit from childbirth, he was ready to exert them.
The lodger took pains to encourage the children not to fear him and to let their little hearts be able to trust a man such as he. The boys were quick to learn from him and during the day, could believe that this man, who knew their mother from her childhood home, was their father.
That all changed when their real father returned from duty. Any sign of merriment was hidden and the boys held their breath, so as not to cause offence in any way.
Their father took their presence for granted and demanded an early bed-time, so that he could monopolise his wife's attention. The lodger always made his escape after dinner, greeting exchanges in a gruff and brief manner.
He'd learned not to antagonise the man, for fear all would be worse for Scarlett, despite the fact it went against all his former teachings.
There was another matter to consider.
Should the husband feel the urge, he could report the lodger's presence to the officers, after all, there was still a warrant out for his arrest after shooting that damn overseer in the Jonesboro bar. So, for now, they kept things simple and played the game, unaware how little time they had.