Rhett was never quite sure whether Scarlett persuaded Dr Meade to allow him to eat, or whether she just overrode his instructions. Either way, he was extremely grateful when meals started arriving for him. At first he could manage only a little gruel, but it was not long before he was able to manage small servings of solid food as well.

Gradually, he began to improve. Every day Scarlett came to spend time with him, and he found that it was the highlight of his day. He loved to listen to her chatter about the children, the store, and the latest goings on in the community. Sometimes he would prevail upon her to read to him. He even tried to teach her to play poker, but though she quickly grasped the rules she was altogether too easy to read to ever be a worthy opponent. He wondered at her kindness to him. He presumed it was merely because he was unwell, and a part of him dreaded the day when he would be completely well and lose her sympathy.

Though they enjoyed each other's company, both were aware of the fragility of their relationship. There were some topics that they never discussed. Ashley Wilkes was one, Bonnie was another. Their own relationship and past behaviour towards each other was a third.

As the days went by and Rhett continued to improve, Scarlett brought the children in to visit him. Ella brought him a picture she had drawn, of the garden. Rhett was touched and asked her to bring him another picture every day, to brighten up his room. She was happy to oblige, and soon his walls were covered with her childish drawings. One day she brought him a picture of a horse with two riders. The larger rider had an arm around the smaller one in front. 'That's you and Bonnie riding your horse', she explained proudly. Rhett went very still for a moment, then swallowed hard and said 'Thank you Ella, that is beautiful'. And he asked Pork to put it up with the other ones.

Wade, who was a perceptive child of twelve by this time, quickly sensed that his uncle Rhett was bored and frustrated by his confinement. He also became a regular vistor to the sick room, where he spent many contented hours trying to best Rhett at chess. The two developed a warm and close friendship. (Beau had by this time gone to live with his father and Aunt India at the home of his great aunt Pittypat Hamilton.)

Eventually Rhett recovered his strength enough to leave his bed. As he sat with Scarlett on the balcony overlooking the garden one day, smoking a cigar, enjoying the feeling of returning health, he began to feel that he had had enough of their superficial niceness to each other. He wanted to know how things stood between her and Ashley. Besides, it had always amused him to see her with her Irish up, and he reflected that it was far too long since he had seen her lose her temper. One of the things he had always loved about Scarlett was that it was so easy to wind her up. He felt the thrill of anticipation as he began to needle her. Glancing at her sideways, and said calmly, 'Tell me, how is Mr Wilkes these days? Have you been as attentive to him as you have been to me?'

'Ashley is broken hearted', she replied tartly. 'He is being mothered by India and Aunt Pitty and has no need of any mothering from me'.

'No, I can't imagine you mothering', he shot back sarcastically. 'I meant an altogether different kind of attentiveness, of a more, shall we say, intimate kind'.

'How dare you!' she exclaimed angrily, jumping to her feet. 'How can you even think that I would. . I told you, I told you when Melly died that I don't care for Ashley in that way. But you refused to listen. What do I have to do to prove it to you? I have been devoted to you since you got sick. You are the most stubborn, ill bred, impossible man I have ever had the misfortune to know.' Rhett smirked. She took a couple of steps towards the door but then she turned. Fixing her flashing green eyes on him she hurled her parting shot 'And as for my parenting skills, at least I don't kill my children!'

She stormed out then, but her last words had found Rhett's weak spot and suddenly the thrill of seeing her aroused to anger was gone. He knew he had killed his children, Bonnie and the unborn child that Scarlett was carrying when she fell down the stairs. But it hurt him to have her remind him of it. It was his own private grief, his burden to bear. He groaned. The woman was heartless. He had been so close to walking out on her just before his illness. Maybe he still should. Perhaps everything was just too broken to try and fix it. She was a difficult woman to live with. He didn't trust her. Could it be true that she was over her long running infatuation with Ashley Wilkes? And if so, what did that mean for them? He sighed to himself. He had so many painful memories. It was all such a mess.

Three days went by before their paths crossed again. Rhetts health was improving day by day and he was downstairs in the study when Scarlett entered the room, not knowing that he was there.

She stopped still when she saw him. There was a tense silence as they eyed each other up. Scarlett was still mad at him for his derogatory comment about her mothering, and for his insinuation that she had been behaving improperly with Ashley while he was ill. Nothing could be further from the truth, she thought angrily. Rhett meanwhile was nursing his hurt that she had thrown his failings as a father in his face so heartlessly.

'I am sorry, I didn't know you were here', said Scarlett stiffly. Rhett's eyes narrowed. 'Forgive me for being so inconsiderate as to leave my room without your permission', he shot back.

'Don't be a fool, Rhett, you are perfectly entitled to go where you wish,' she answered.

Rhett leaned back in his chair and raised one eyebrow skeptically. 'Am I my dear?'

She hesitated uncertainly. Of course there were certain establishments that she really did not want him going near, and she didn't want him to go off for months without her again either.

'Scarlett', he sighed. 'Please sit down. I think we need to talk'. She perched uneasily on the nearest chair. Since when had they ever really talked? He paused to light a cigar, and inhaled deeply on it a couple of times before continuing.

'Scarlett,' he said again, and she thought that she loved the way he said her name. But his next words jolted her. 'Do you know I was about to leave you when I got ill?'

'Leave me? What do you mean?'

'I think my words are plain enough. I don't generally consider myself a fool but I think I was a fool to marry you. I so wanted to make you happy, but somehow we just seem to end up hurting each other all the time. I think perhaps it would be better if I we separated.'

Scarlett's chest tightened. Her head was spinning. Was this one of his cruel jokes? He couldn't mean it! How could he even say such a thing? Especially when she had been so loving towards him while he was ill. And she had told him that she cared for him. And Melly said he cared for her! She tried to calm her breathing, fighting desperately against the nauseating, lightheaded feeling that engulfed her. Gradually she regained her composure, while Rhett looked on, saying nothing.

When her colour had returned, he said gently 'You seem surprised. But surely you can see that our marriage is a farce. I can't go on, pretending that everything is alright when it is all so, so broken.'

Scarlett stared at him in horror. 'But Rhett,' she burst out, 'I love you. I only just realised when you got sick, and I thought then that I couldn't bear it if you died. Please don't leave me, I need you.'

Rhett inhaled long and slow on his cigar. 'Do you even know what love is, my pet?' he asked. 'Let me try to enlighten you. Love is when you adore someone so much that you prefer their happiness to your own, to the extent that you would do anything for them – lie, steal, cheat, risk imprisonment, build ugly houses, even contemplate murder. When you love someone, you want to be with them, can't keep away from them, even when they hurt you. You want to hold them, protect them, possess them. You want to give them things. You want what is best for them. You don't shut them out, literally or figuratively, and you don't shame them in public. Can you understand what I am saying?'

Scarlett opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. What was he saying? Was he talking about himself or her?

Rhett sighed. 'Never mind,' he said tiredly. 'I see that you don't understand at all.'

'All I understand', she answered, 'is that I love you and that you want to leave me. Please stay Rhett! Please give me a chance to show you that I love you'.

He looked at her, sitting there, so aroused, her emerald eyes wide and pleading, her cheeks flushed, her bosom heaving. This is what he had dreamed of for so long. Scarlett O'Hara passionately wanting him. And despite himself, despite all his misgivings, he wanted to believe her.

'If you love me as you say,' he said slowly, 'prove it to me'.

'What do you mean?' she asked nervously. 'How?'

'Seduce me,' he said, his dark eyes boring into her. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest but he hoped that his demeanor gave nothing away.