"A cigar would have made this complete" Rhett remarked.

"Is that so?" Scarlett smiled as she glimpsed at his face, raising herself to her elbows to get a better look of his face.

The cloth of her dress served as a temporary blanket they were resting on.

She felt as happy as a hummingbird on the first day of spring and it was evident in the softness of her expression. She searched his eyes, but to her dismay she did not find the same light that sparkled in them since early morning. He seemed aloof. She started panicking, could it be that he had his way and would now be detached from her? She caught her senses fast enough remembering her mother explaining to her that each man had to feel that a lady was beyond his reach. She scolded herself silently for giving away her joy. No, she should make him struggle for her appreciation.

"You'd better get up. I don't want to reach home after sunset. I want to make sure no catastrophe occurred thus. Besides, I don't want to miss my tea-time with Melly."

He saw her stand and with move around the small cabin with supple movements as she gathered the pieces of clothing that were scattered.

There you are Rhett Butler, see if I care that you are not smiling at me – she thought, and hid the hint of a smile that started appearing in her face when the disappointment was evident on his face.

"Dear God, my dress is so dusty. " she stated with no apparent annoyance, "Well, it's just as well, we couldn't have used Pa's white shirt." She shook the dress vigorously creating a small cloud of dust that made her sneeze. She laughed dismissingly as she started pulling the strings of her bodice.

"Allow me" he offered.

"I don't mind if you do." She uttered the words in an arrogant tone, rather comic and not fitting the circumstances, as if she had bestowed a huge favor upon him. Nude or not, she was going to demonstrate her most ladylike act. She went on trying to find her hair pins in the ground, and arranged herself quite properly humming a tune.

His eyes peered at her face, and a hint of admiration appeared. She was not embarrassed; she was the fearless girl who had swept his heart to an unknown territory.

~~~~~~~~Milady~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After arriving at the mansion Scarlett tried excusing herself on the pretext of checking on the field work, but Rhett accompanied her. He watched her as she did some physical strenuous chores. She was quiet and fast. She was surprised as he moved her aside and took the heavy sack of seeds off her hands.

"We have been doing everything by ourselves, I'm still hoping that some of the field workers will return home" She said apologetically.

"It is highly unlikely that it would happen, Scarlett, but no doubt people will be in need of a decent work. How would you like to come to Atlanta with me for a few days? You can use the time to find some field workers."

"How could I leave here? Besides, we aren't, well, we aren't ..."

He smiled, taking her in an embrace "When would you like to be married? Tomorrow seems like a fine day, or would you rather wait for me to arrange things so that we could do it more elegantly as a grand celebration?"

"I had a huge party once, all things considered, I think I shall let you decide on it this time. Though it may be advisable to do it soon, even if not tomorrow. When you left for the war, it took two weeks for me to calm down from the possibility of being, well, you know."

" I am not a country-boy or a school boy, my dear. You were not impregnated then, and I would be surprised if you were now."

"Oh. " She was not used to talk so freely of such subjects, and her face was as hot as fire. "But how…" She stopped herself. She did not dare look him in the eye. Sensing her embarrassment, he chuckled –

"Come, I am quite proud of you for being honest. If a man has enough will power and self-restraint, the chances of pregnancy are rather low. Tell me, do you really want matrimony, or is it of fear from that condition?"

So, he had been self-restraint. A sting of disappointment struck her.

"Well, I'm not going to please your vanity stating that I am madly in love with you, if that is what you are asking for, I think you've had more than enough entertainment for one afternoon".

"Why not. You have once, remember?"

She realized what he was referring to and became angry - "Jealous, are we? That is not becoming of you Rhett. Won't you please forget that encounter or at least stop waving it above my head? Dear God in Heaven, it's been years ago. Besides, that scene has caused me nothing but trouble and disgrace, giving you plenty of opportunities to mock me. Besides, it's of irrelevance now, isn't it?"

Rhett examined her eyes, she pulled away from the warm embrace, regretting the hastiness of her action as she had moved, nonetheless lifting her chin and saying in a toneless voice "Come, it will be dark soon. No one will try to make you marry me if you don't want to, but I would rather be home before darkness."

"Scarlett, wait. I have been asking you repeatedly what it is that you want. Yes, you wanted us in a most pleasurable form, but do you want to form a new family? I want to know if it is your wish to marry, with all that it entails."

She paused, struck by the question. She hadn't thought of it in this form. She felt weak. Was this his way of backing out from his proposal?

"You know, Rhett, you more than anyone know that when I decided to marry Charlie I had no idea that it would entail having a family. These are the sort of things that I don't think of them until they happen." She shrugged and with showing effort she continued "However, your proposal meant the world to me, it means the world to me. I was simply content with you coming here and being alive. It was your proposal, Rhett." She paused, and with a forced smile she continued -

"There is this old Irish song that Pa would sing, well, when he would drink too much about this man who never would marry, and the girl who loves him drowns herself with grief in the sea. My eyes are green, not blue. If you want to remain single…"

Once again he embraced her in his arms, this time with steel hands and kissed her forcefully, parting her lips, tasting her, squeezing her breasts till it hurt and she whimpered.

"I take it your proposal still stands?" She smiled.

"You will sing to me that Irish song of yours, for I have no intention of not marrying you, and though I haven't the slightest clue how the color of your eyes is of relevance, I am sure I will figure it out."

~~~~~~~~Milady~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they arrived back at the house, Suellen approached her "Scarlett, Mr. Kennedy is here. He came by this afternoon. Can he stay in-doors?" Her eyes were lowered.

A flash of generosity came over her, and she answered with a smile and a pat on her sister's cheek "Why, I wouldn't dare think it could be differently. Go tell Dilcey we are celebrating this evening. Have you asked Pork to tend to him?"

"No, Mammy humiliated him in her usual manner. I should have thought of that."

"Poor man, he must be mortified."

Suellen took a glimpse at Rhett who was standing at the foyer a few steps away –

"Don't be jealous, I feared for Mammy, not for Rhett".

Her sister laughed and hugged her impulsively, "I've let him in on Ma's study, he wishes to talk to you." She rushed upstairs leaving Scarlett smiling at Rhett.

Scarlett looked puzzled as her sister withdrew quick enough from the foyer, she turned to Rhett "Will you come with me?"

"No, I believe your sister's beau wishes to ask for her hand from you. He was the one who invited me to Twelve-Oaks back then, and he did mention that he wanted to marry her after the 'situation' of war dissolves. It wouldn't be fitting if I were to accompany you. I shall go freshen up before dinner. And Scarlett.."

"What?"

"I will marry you first thing tomorrow morning."

"What?"

"I'll be damned if I spend more than one night in the company of Mr. Kennedy."

She approached his ears and giggling she whispered "I thought of giving you the guest room at the end of the hall upstairs, in fact I had it prepared, but I'm rather tempted not to."

~~~~~~~~Milady~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dawn came. The only light in the sky was of the Aurora. Scarlett steered all night in her bed. Rhett had announced of their coming matrimony, and Melanie showered her with affection all evening. Her sister Suellen announced her own engagement with her old whiskered beau.

Scarlett surprised everyone by singing and generating a fete. After singing a few appropriate tunes she had sang in the past she smiled at her father and started singing Irish tunes. To everyone's amazement Gerald seemed to awake from his everlasting haze and joined her. After Danny Boy came I Never Will Marry, and she couldn't help but send a mischievous look at Rhett from a far.

Yes, all were happy but one. Careen, her baby sister who had only recently turned eighteen. At breakfast, she showed liveliness that she had been absent with the entire year. As the excitement, due to the announcements of the evening, subsided, she took the time to notice her younger's sister's grieving face.

Scarlett cursed herself for singing the Irish folk song regarding broken hearted maiden. It was meant as a private joke directed at her future husband. She thought of her baby-sister's grief in the past year. She knew Careen grieved for Brent Tarleton and her mother, but up until that evening she hadn't realized the depth of her agony.

She found that sleep was not coming easily, and so, with her shawl and this time with a wrapper, she slipped from her room to the dark hallway. Her feet took her to his room. She peeked quietly, and found that he was sound asleep. Hesitant for a moment she entered his room and straightened the covers, planting a small kiss on his forehead. She strolled further to her sister's room. She found Careen kneeling on the side of her bed, weeping silently as she held her bible and her praying beads. She approached her and took her in her arms.

"I know I should be happy. I feel so wicked" she cried helplessly.

"Hush Darling, you are not wicked. Life is wicked, dearest."

Swaying her slowly, she muttered incoherent syllables in a comforting tone.

After a while she signaled Careen to follow her and leave the sleeping Suellen behind. They came to Scarlett's room.

"I don't want to talk, Scarlett" Careen muttered desperately.

"Why is it that everyone around me think that I enjoy talking? I don't believe in talking. We both need sleep. Come, sleep with me sweetheart." And she held her sister in her arms until she felt her breathing ease.

~~~~~~~~Milady~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The song I am referring to is "I never will marry". I bumped into it the other evening and it seem perfect for the theme:

I never will marry
I'll be no man's wife
I intend to stay single
For the rest of my life

One day as I wandered
Down by the seashore
The wind it did whistle
And the waters did roar

I heard a poor maiden
Make a pitiful cry
She sounded so lonesome
At the waters nearby

"I never will marry
I'll be no man's wife
I intend to stay single
For the rest of my life

"My love's gone and left me
He's the one I adore
I never will see him
No never no more

"The shells in the ocean
Will be my deathbed
And the fish in the waters
Swim over my head"

She plunged her fair body
In the waters so deep
She closed her pretty blue eyes
In the waters to sleep

I never will marry
I'll be no man's wife
I intend to stay single
For the rest of my life