I hope you like it!
Thank you Cynthia! You were wonderful correcting my many mistakes!
I own nothing! All characters belong to Margaret Mitchell.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 1: At the National
Sitting on his bed, Rhett Butler felt as if a year had passed and not only three hours. From the moment he heard Captain Jones describing the way Mrs. Kennedy had been attacked until the moment he sat on his bed, he experienced more emotions than in his entire life. At first, he was murderously angry. He had to control himself to not storm out of the saloon and go kill the bastard that had dared touch his Scarlett. His, because in his torturous mind she belonged to him even if Frank Kennedy has been the one sharing her life. The blood flushing in his head almost prevented him from hearing that she was unharmed, and that her husband was being watched. Rhett new Frank Kennedy was a Klansman, he knew this attack was the perfect justification to one of the amounting murder cases of blacks in Atlanta's shantytowns. He felt ashamed because it was not him to be the one defending her honor, it was not him taking care of her. He had missed the opportunity when he didn't help her when she asked for help at the jail. And then when he realized she was still in danger he felt panic rising inside of him. Frank was being watched, they would find him, they would arrest him and she would have to deal with it alone.
He excused himself as fast as he could and went to Mrs. Wilkes. Of course, Ashley Wilkes was involved. The bastard had a pearl of wife but couldn't avoid lusting over Scarlett. His Scarlett. He convinced Melanie to tell him where the group would meet. He was too late. The men were fleeing when he arrived. He found Wilkes, with the Doctor at the meeting point. Ashley was wounded. Hugh Elsing, Henry Hamilton and the old man Merriweather were also there. They were trying to carry a body. Frank's body. He helped to hide Frank's body in a dark corner of the old Sullivan's property were another man's body was already disposed. The other man was Tommy Wellburn, Miss Fanny's husband. He didn't really care. He guided them through the dark alleys to Belle's. It was the only place they could go to regroup and think. He was as afraid as he had ever been in his life. Why was he risking his life for those stupid men? The only one he needed to protect for Scarlett's sake was Frank, and he was dead. He was dead. Dead! Looking back, it was a sinister feeling… Rhett Butler was overjoyed! Scarlett was a widow again. His Scarlett. He had dreamed so many times that Scarlett would be free of Frank Kennedy… He planned his murder in innumerable ways… And now, Frank was dead. What a lucky day! He was planning on ditching the unfortunate group as soon as they arrived at Belle's but the goodhearted prostitute convinced him otherwise. "Mrs. Wilkes doesn't deserve this fate… You need to help them". And he did help. With Belle's help, he invented the democrat Wednesday's party… Archie would move the bodies, Ashley Wilkes will appear in the Captain's office and Belle will lie her ass off to the Capitan in the morning….
An evening that started so bad ended very well! Rhett rested his body in the bed and planned the next days.
"the police will find Frank tomorrow… I can't be around… It will increase the captain's suspicions" he thought. "I might as well go to London as I planned…"
The trip to London was planned three months before, when Ella Lorena Kennedy was born. It was so devastating seeing Scarlett with Frank's daughter that he needed to leave She should be his daughter. The trip would help with his business and would keep him away from the nightmare his life had become the day Scarlett visited him in jail almost two years ago. If he could go back, he would pretend he believed in her… He would help her… He would never let her leave that jail without knowing that she would not marry the first idiot she could snare $300 from. He dreamed so many times how it should have happened... But his dreams were always cut by the realization that she would never be his while Frank Kennedy had a breath in his body, and the old man was in seemingly good health. After his release from jail, Rhett made sure she was well provided for, he gave her the money she wanted for the mills and he followed her throughout the city. Sometimes he would let her see him, sometimes he would observe from afar. Now he could put an end on it. She was free again and he would not waste another opportunity. He would propose and leave for London. Eight months would be a long enough mourning period. "What if she refuses?" a part of his mind asked, but he laughed off this thought. "I can get a 'yes' from her", he said out loud, as if to convince himself. And then, he slept.