I own nothing, if I did I'd be on my yacht with a handsome man/boy named Carlos. OLE

Rhett stood in the hall, waiting for Doctor Cross to finish. How could Rosemary ask a Cross into the house to treat Scarlett? The feud between the Cross family and the Butlers was a Charleston legend. For years, the families co-existed within the same town but not without numerous encounters occurring between Cross's and Butlers.

The final event in the long history of altercations between the families was the duel between Jason Cross and Rhett Butler when they were just nineteen. Jason Cross, but not the Jason Cross currently tending his wife. No, the Jason Cross that Rhett had shot and killed was the good Doctor's older brother who bore the same name.

It was over the Jason's younger sister, Virginia. Virginia Cross, the girl that Rhett took buggy riding that fateful day in April 1845 that would lead to him becoming ostracized by every moral, self-righteous family in the antebellum south. His horse had been startled by something in the woods off of the dirt road they were traveling down. The horse bolted, the buggy threw a wheel and by the time Rhett and Virginia reached home, on foot, Virginia's reputation was on the verge of being beyond redemption. Rhett refused to marry her, loudly and in plain words. Virginia was pretty, but nearly witless and Rhett would be damned if he'd be tied for the rest of his life to a little ninny.

The only reason Rhett even took Virginia out for a ride after church that Sunday was because he knew it would annoy his father to have the Butler heir consorting with the enemy. The Butler men had always had a certain affinity for Cross women, but his father would have never had to concern himself on that count. Virginia was lovely to look at, but Rhett had long before decided that he was never going to marry and if he did, it would be to a quiet, well-mannered, genteel southern lady who would one day run the Landing with the same grace his mother did.

Rhett smiled, thinking of the woman he had married. The only time Scarlett was quiet was when she was sleeping and even then, she would often snore lightly. Well-mannered? Certainly, she could be. Scarlett knew how to play by the rules and appear in public as the genteel fragile southern lady, she just often chose not to. If only the young Rhett Butler had known what kind of woman he'd one day marry, thought Rhett chuckling softly. But just what kind of a woman was Scarlett? He couldn't think about that now, if he started to expand on Scarlett's good and bad points, he'd only be even more likely to go back to her.

His mind continued to wander, back in time, back to the duel with Jason Cross. He told the Jason's father that Virginia was a fool and that he'd done nothing to be punished for. When an angry Jason Cross asked him if he considered marrying his sister a punishment, Rhett said as much, enraging her older brother. Virginia's father demanded satisfaction on his daughter's behalf. When Rhett initially refused, Jason wasted no time in demanding either a wedding or a duel. Rhett reiterated his earlier stand. He'd rather kill or be killed then be tied to Virginia Cross.

They met in a field just outside the town limits. Rhett's cousin, Eustace, served as his second and Phillip Dea, a distant cousin of the Cross's several times removed, served as Jason's. Dueling was by that time on the decline in North and South Carolina, but the young men didn't care. Jason would not allow his sister's honor to be besmirched by a man who was thrown out of West Point and Rhett wasn't willing to be forced into a marriage with a girl that he'd only taken for a ride to bedevil his father.

Walking their ten paces, they waited for Eustace's count of three but on the pause between 2 and 3, Jason spun and nearly shot Rhett in the back.

"Rhett," yelled Philip. Philip was a Cross by marriage but, he was also a man of honor, he couldn't let his cousin dishonor the serious nature of a duel.

Rhett spun around and shot Jason before he had a chance to shoot him. Dropping the pistol, Jason sank to his knees, his hand pressed just below his collarbone. Then, as deep gurgling noise came from him before he slumped backward, awkwardly sprawled on the ground.

The other young men present quickly formed a semi-circle around the dying youth. Jason opened his eyes only once after he'd fallen to the ground. His eyes locked with Rhett's and he grinned macabrey, blood running from between his lips. "I'll see you in hell." His eyes closed again and his body went limp.

Philip looked at Rhett who continued to stare down at the rapidly cooling body of Jason Cross. "Rhett, you did what you did because Jason nearly shot you in the back. That wouldn't have been a duel; it would have been murder. We'll have to let the family know that he tried to fire before the call. You had to shoot first whether you had the right to or not."

Rhett shook his head. This was his chance, perhaps his only chance to escape the rigid mold that his father hoped to force him into. He would have to be sent away, to family perhaps, or even a university somewhere. It never occurred to the impetuous young man that his father would forever banish him. He only saw a chance for freedom, and he meant to seize it. "No, bad enough his sister's ruined, I'll be damned if they find out their family champion was a coward and a cheat."

Eustace, who saw his uncle clearer than Rhett did immediately tried to reason with his cousin. "Your father will disown you. Rhett, for the love of God Almighty, you'll be cut off from everything good and decent in the south. You have to tell the truth"

Eustace's desperate pleading fell on deaf ears. It was no good; his mind was made up. Charleston believed that Rhett killed a family enemy after dishonoring Virginia Cross. Rhett's father ordered him from the house telling him that he was no longer his son. His name was stricken from the family bible and his name was to never be mentioned again in his father's hearing.

Years later, during his visit to Charleston with Bonnie, Rhett learned that Adele Cross, Jason and Virginia's mother had given birth to a child ten months after the infamous duel, she named the newborn Jason to honor the brother he would never know.

What Rhett couldn't know because it wasn't common knowledge was that Virginia, a spinster, spent years filling the second Jason's ears with tales of the man who had shot and killed their brave older brother.

Adele Cross died just after her son's birth. It was Virginia that took over all the duties of a mother. She fed and bathed him, teaching him his ABC's and numbers. At night she told him bedtime stories about princesses in towers that needed to be rescued and about the man that had dishonored her and then murdered her brother, the first Jason As the years passed, her tales became more embellished until the truth of the duel in which Jason had died was buried beneath layer upon layer of out and out lies.

In Scarlett's room, Jason Cross continued his examination. "Now, Mrs. Butler…" Both Scarlett and Miss Eleanor looked at Doctor Cross. He let out a short bark of laughter, "For the time being, I am going to call you Scarlett as it is bound to become confusing very quickly what with so many Mrs. Butler's in Charleston."

Miss Eleanor didn't appreciate Doctor Cross being so familiar with Scarlett but she would let it go, for the present. What could Rosemary have been thinking in bringing Jason Cross into the house? Sometimes she thought Rosemary acted completely without judgment or consideration of consequences. "Doctor Cross, Scarlett's come down with a cold, is there anything you can give her?"

Doctor Cross nodded "I do have some lozenges that will help her sore throat but your head cold isn't the main issue, is it Scarlett?"

"No, it's not. I can't entirely feel my legs; I can't stand even though I could feel how cold the floor was through the bottoms of my stockings. The doctor who saw me at Fort McHenry thinks that the paralysis is temporary, but I wanted a second opinion."

Doctor Cross looked at her for a moment before bending down and laying his hand on the floorboards. "Are you cold, in general I mean?"

"Not anymore, I feel very warm now."

Doctor Cross walked to the foot of the bed and cradled Scarlett's stocking foot in his hand. Pressing his thumb against her heel, he asked, "Can you feel any sort of pressure?"

"A little."

Doctor Cross increased the pressure against Scarlett's heel, digging into her soft flesh. "Does that hurt?"

"It doesn't feel any different, Doctor Cross what's wrong with me? Please, if you know then just tell me."

He continued to probe her foot, hoping to incite some sort of reaction, but there was little response from Scarlett. She could only feel a gentle pressure on her heel and again on the ball of her foot. Doctor Cross was becoming grim as he failed to get more of a response.

Her voice rose. "I can tell by your face, what's wrong," she cried out.

R.

D 2

T 18

Y 75