A pretty gown and a frilly bonnet were enough to get Rhett back, she was sure. Rhett hated despair, hated rags, hated dirt- if she dressed in a pretty, bright dress with sparkling jewels and used plenty of rouge to cover her pale skin, she was sure to get him back. He was just annoyed with her, he was just teaching her lesson, she was sure. Rhett was never serious about anything, he just wanted to scare her.

She hadn't heard from him in a month, since he left for Charleston with that woman. She had written to him a dozen times, only for her letters to be ignored. At first she pleaded with him to come home and when that didn't work she wrote him telling him about her day, where she had bee, whom she had conversed with. It was strange that that hadn't worked either, for every plan Scarlett had usually came into place. She was used to simply calling and him being there and he hadn't even replied. It did bother her, it did make her wonder whether Rhett would come at all but she never thought about it too much- he was coming home and all she had to do was wait for him.

She hadn't been home to Tara, lest she missed his visit, for she was sure that if he came to Atlanta he wouldn't travel to Tara if he didn't find her there. He would simply come and leave, leaving no trace and she would probably never know that he had been; so she stayed in the mansion in Atlanta, even if her and her children only used four rooms of it.

It was on a cold, October day that Wade came running into her office, his face flush. It was a round face, most people said like Charles' but Scarlett could hardly remember him. All Scarlett saw in Wade was her own square chin and the mouth of Ellen. "Mother! Mother, you have a visitor!" He cried excitedly. "It's Uncle Rhett!"

Scarlett smiled triumphantly. He's coming back to me, she thought. She'd done it, she wasn't quite sure how, but she's done it. He was home- well that didn't last too long and she quite relieved. She rose with her head held high, lifted her green skirts so that she shouldn't trip over them and followed Wade, who practically ran into the parlour, where Rhett was sat with a beaming Ella on his knee. Scarlett stood in the doorway, her face passive and waited for Rhett to speak. He hardly moved his head, except when Wade asked him to look at his new toy sword he had acquired but he completely ignored Scarlett, who didn't move from the doorway.

"Children, run along upstairs will you, while I talk to Uncle Rhett?" She said, keeping her green eyes on Rhett.

Silently the two children ran from the room- they could always tell when there was going to be an argument and they quickly ran from the firing line, leaving Scarlett starring at Rhett and Rhett gazing at the floor. "Well, Rhett, are you going to speak?" Scarlett said icily.

"I was waiting for you, Scarlett, you usually have a lot to say."

"Oh, Rhett, I've been waiting for you, even just a reply to my letters but I'm so glad your home," Scarlett cried.

"Save your breathe, wife," Rhett said darkly. "I've not come home. I've come to explain."

"Explain why you left me?"

"Yes, that," Rhett said slowly. "And to explain why I'm divorcing you."

Scarlett laughed. "You'll never divorce me, you can't... can you?"

Rhett laughed. "You still think that nobody would dare divorce Scarlett O'Hara! That I'm lucky to have you, well, my dear, your not the belle of the ball anymore and I've come to tell you that I'm divorcing you. You can have the house, and whatever money you might want, the only think I ask is that my visits with the children continue. They might not be mine but I do love them," he said.

Scarlett couldn't speak. He was being serious, she could tell for their was no mocking in his eyes. He looked at her straight on and she knew that he was going to divorce her. She couldn't breathe. A divorce! Oh the shame of it- Ellen wouldn't have been able to look at her if she was alive and Mammy! A divorce, Oh God... it was so final. Rhett was going to leave her, forever. She would only see him around the children, she wouldn't be alone with him again- he didn't believe that she loved him!

"Oh, Rhett, why can't we make it work, I love you so!"

"My dear, there is nothing left. Bonnie took it all and now your conscience has died who knows when you may fall into temptation?"

"If this is about Ashley, I feel nothing for him, it's you I love Rhett, not Ashley Wilkes!"

"You said you loved him for thirteen years, pray, where has that love suddenly disappeared to? It matters not, anyway, whether you love him or me, for I don't love you. I'm going to marry again."

Scarlett choked. Her throat seized and she couldn't make her chest move to breathe. She leaned against the doorframe as her heart beat faster and her stomach churned. Oh my God, I'm going to be sick, she thought, and in front of Rhett! The thought of that made her throat open and she engulfed all of the air that she could. "You can't be serious?" Her green eyes flashed with fear as Rhett's mouth twisted into a smile.

"Oh, Scarlett, your not scared because your losing me, your scared because you don't want a divorce, you don't want the shame, what will old Mrs Merriwether think?" He said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"You've got it all wrong!" She wailed. "I just want you, you can't get married again not when I love you-"

Rhett raised his head. "Scarlett, please, leave yourself with some pride when I walk out of here. You'll regret it if you don't."

Suddenly, Scarlett wanted to scream. He was mocking her as her heart was breaking! He was going to leave her and her children and marry somebody else! He couldn't do that to her, he just couldn't, she wasn't going to let him. "Rhett, I'm not going to let you go, I won't sign those damn papers!"

He laughed. "There she is! The cat is out! Oh, my pet, you might not sign those papers but it matters little- I'm the husband remember? I know it's easy to forget, after all, sometimes it seems that you are master but to the eyes of the world, I am the male party. If I sign you have no choice."

"And whose going to marry you after how you have treated me?" Scarlett asked haughtily.

The chuckle that came from Rhett made Scarlett's blonde run cold. He stood slowly, still with the thin smile on his face and put his grey hat on his head. He stood near Scarlett, so near that she could smell him and she wanted to faint into his arms. But he didn't come near her, he simply patted her shoulder and said: "I'm going to marry an old friend." Then he left, leaving her alone again.

His words whirled through her mind, over and over. Divorce, marriage, friends- he had finally left her. She wasn't going to be able to win him back, he was never coming back to her, he was going to go home to marry someone else- and she would be a divorced woman.

"I's heard every word Miss Scarlett," Mammy said out of no where. Scarlett jumped as Mammy waddled in. "Ah always hear every word and I's tellin you dat he lost his mine. It's a shame ter be a divorced woman, Miss Ellen, she be turning in her grabe-"

"Mammy I know that! But what choice do I have? He doesn't want me."

"You'll jest have to find a new husband," Mammy said simply. "If Cap'ain Butler is goin' to marry dat Belle den you is going to have to find a new husband."

"What did you say? He's going to marry Belle?"

Mammy looked confused. "He say he going to marry a friend, ah only knows Rhett to have one friend and dat be Belle Watling."

Scarlett fainted.