Here's a warning if you are an Ashley fan this might not be the chapter for you. It's a long one but I got on a roll and didn't want to stop.
Much to Scarlett's relief the daughter she gave birth to was an exact copy of her. From the black hair to the sparkling green eyes. Frank and Scarlett decided to name their daughter Ella Lorena. Scarlett constantly studied her daughter looking for any resemblance to Frank or Rhett. Thankfully there was no trace of either man in her daughter. Scarlett knew that some people would take her daughter's black hair as proof of her infidelity but why shouldn't Scarlett have a black haired child?
Scarlett wanted to laugh at the looks of disappointment clearly written on the ladies of the Old Guard faces when there was no clear proof of Ella's paternity. She knew everyone was hoping that she would give birth to a child just as swarthy as Rhett. When Mrs. Elsing and Mrs. Merriwether paid their call on Scarlett and the new baby they informed her that Rhett had gone out of town a few weeks ago. Scarlett was disappointed. He had promised her that he wouldn't leave until he knew that she and the baby were safe.
"I heard that he met a beautiful heiress in New York and that they are to be married sometime next year," Mrs. Merriwether said. Scarlett tried desperately to cling to her composure. She wouldn't allow herself to believe that it was true. She did her best to paste a bright smile on her face.
"I'm glad. He was a good friend to Melly and I during the war. I hope he finds happiness."
"Good friend indeed!" Mrs. Merriwether thought to herself. She didn't believe a word Scarlett Kennedy had to say.
"What does that man need to marry an heiress for? He already has more money than God," Mrs. Elsing said. Scarlett gritted her teeth and hoped that the two women would leave her house soon.
Rhett hated that business had called him away from Atlanta after he had promised Scarlett that he wouldn't leave. He was happy that he was finally on his way back to her. He wondered if she had had a boy or a girl. He wondered if the baby resembled him or her. He wouldn't allow himself to think that the baby could possibly be Frank's and not his.
When he got to Atlanta he went directly to Scarlett's house on Peachtree Street. He was happy to find Scarlett on her porch alone with her baby. She looked so becoming in her green dress. He could tell by looking her over that her body was just as slim as it was before. If he hadn't known that she was with child before he left, her new baby would have given him quite a shock.
"Mrs. Kennedy! Congratulations! May I?" Scarlett handed over blanket wrapped bundle.
Rhett pulled back the blankets and stared at the most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen. Of course she was stunning; she was an exact match of her mother. Rhett's eyes silently questioned Scarlett's. He knew he couldn't ask aloud if she knew who the father was; one never knew where Mammy was lurking. A profound look of sadness came into Scarlett's eyes. She simply shrugged her shoulders because she couldn't tell who the father was either. Rhett didn't really need her answer, deep in his soul he was positive that this was his child and nothing would ever change that for him.
Scarlett felt tears welling up in her eyes as she watched Rhett holding what could very well be their daughter in his arms. She had missed him desperately since he helped her escape from Atlanta. The few bits of time she had seen him since didn't seem to count. She missed being able to see him on a daily basis. If the rumors she heard were true, in a few months he would be married and she would probably never see him again.
"Did you enjoy New York, Rhett?" She noticed that Rhett seemed somewhat embarrassed by her question. She wondered if it was because he would have to tell her about his fiancé.
"Checking up on me, Mrs. Kennedy?"
"Don't be absurd, Rhett. I simply heard a rumor that you were in New York. For whatever reason, people always seem to feel the need to tell me about your whereabouts." Rhett threw his head back and laughed.
"They are hoping that you slip up and reveal our dirty little secret. That's not a very interesting rumor, by the way, who cares that I was in New York?"
"That wasn't the entire rumor, Rhett." Rhett noticed that Scarlett would no longer make eye contact with him. He wondered what anyone could have possibly told her that made her so upset. He had barely socialized the entire time he was gone. He had wanted to get back to Atlanta as quickly as he could. He had escorted the daughter of one of his business partners to the opera but that hadn't been anything romantic.
"Well, aren't you going to tell me what Atlanta's been saying about me now?"
"Everyone is saying that you are getting married sometime next year." Rhett was about to laugh, until he saw the despair in her eyes.
"Scarlett, I've told you many times I'm not a marrying man. Besides, I meant what I told you that day on the road to the mill." He gave Scarlett a meaningful look, hoping she caught his meaning. When he saw happiness and love light up her eyes, he knew she had understood. She nodded her head as if to say she still felt the same way too. He couldn't believe that their lives had come to this. They were in love with each other, both willing to admit it at the same time and yet they still couldn't be together. He vaguely wondered if he would be able to convince Scarlett to run away with him. He could afford to pay Frank off handsomely. Rhett knew he had lingered at Scarlett's longer than was proper, so he handed their daughter back to her and walked away.
Scarlett was at Ashley's mill. She was standing at her desk in the small office trying to hurry up and finish going over the books. Ever since she had returned to work after having Ella, she noticed that Ashley's eyes seemed to follow her everywhere with the oddest burning glow to them. After the first time she saw the look, she made it a point to go to his mill first so that they would never be there together alone. But today there had been an emergency at Johnny Gallagher's mill, so she had to go there first. Scarlett kept making mistakes in her ledger because she was trying to rush. When she noticed that Ashley was dismissing the men for the day she knew she needed to get out of the mill.
She was correcting yet another mistake when she felt Ashley's hands on her shoulders. Scarlett jumped and tried to break out of his grasp. Trying to get out of his grasp, only seemed to make Ashley hold on to her tighter. Fear started to pool in the bottom of Scarlett's stomach. The only other time in her life that she had ever been this scared was when the Yankee deserter had come in to Tara when she and Melly were alone.
Ashley didn't know what was coming over him. All he could think about since he came back from the war was why didn't Scarlett feel the same way about him anymore. The thoughts had been consuming for him for months now. Then he heard the rumors about her and that vile Butler bastard. At first he laughed the rumors away. She was too fine a person to get involved with the likes of him. After he saw her child for the first time he had been convinced that the rumors were true, she had indeed been with Butler. The child was a spitting image of Scarlett, but somehow he knew who the child's father was.
An all-consuming hatred had swallowed Ashley whole after Scarlett had her baby. He was ten times the gentleman than Rhett would ever be. Yet, when he had tried to kiss her at Tara she had acted like it was the worst thing in the world. Ashley couldn't believe that she would allow Rhett to touch her fine skin with his soiled hands. Ashley would have gladly taken her up as his mistress, especially now that he and Melanie were not allowed to be together as husband and wife. How could she prefer that man and his boorish ways, when he was available for the taking? He didn't know what twist of fate had brought her to the mill this late in the afternoon. She usually came to his mill first thing in the morning. He decided to take advantage of having her alone and dismissed the workers a little early this evening.
Ashley felt all sense of reason and decency fleeing him as his continued to tighten his hold on her. He was only vaguely aware of her struggling and her begging him to let her go. Ashley felt himself getting aroused by having her in his arms. He began to rub his arousal against her backside. He heard her gasp and begin to struggle even harder. The anger and hatred that he had been harboring for months led him to take actions that he would have thought himself too honorable to do. He lifted Scarlett's dress up and struggled to pull her under garments down while still pinning her to the desk. After pulling her garments down he worked on his own, but he was having difficulty keeping her pinned and lowering his. He could barely hear her now. He caught bits and pieces of the things she was saying. He heard Melanie and Beau's names and once or twice he heard her telling him to stop. Ashley couldn't bring himself to stop, he was lost to the madness.
"You like it when that Butler man touches you like this! Why can he touch you and I can't?!" He shouted at her.
Suddenly, there was a pounding on the mill door. Ashley had locked the door behind the workers as they had left. A sense of reality came over Ashley and he was at a loss for what to do. If he ignored the door, whoever it was would surely hear Scarlett. If he answered the door, Scarlett would escape and tell whoever was behind the door what had just transpired. He put his hand over Scarlett's mouth as he contemplated what to do next. He was fully aware of Scarlett's tears and incoherent mumbling. Shock and shame finally started flowing through Ashley.
India Wilkes looked over at Scarlett's buggy with distaste. It was the only one at the mill, meaning that she and Ashley were in there alone. Now, that she found the door locked India knew what the two were up to in there. She knew that Scarlett had always been infatuated with her brother but she thought her brother had enough honor in himself to stay out of her clutches. It was bad enough that Scarlett had conducted an extra marital affair with Rhett Butler but now she was going to drag her brother into the gutter as well. India pounded on the door again.
"Ashley!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She pounded on the door again. She was determined to break up whatever they had going on in there.
"Ashley! Open this door right now!" Several minutes later, Ashley finally threw the door open.
"What is it, India?" India was taken aback, not only by her brother's cold, flat tone but also by his disheveled appearance and the odd, burning glow in his eyes.
"You told me to pick you up at five thirty, remember?"
"Oh, yes. Let's go." He grabbed India by the elbow and tried to forcefully move her towards their buggy.
"Shouldn't you let Scarlett know you are leaving?"
"She's busy. She'll figure it out." Now that the door was open, India could hear Scarlett sobbing in earnest. Between her brother's odd behavior and Scarlett's wailing, India felt that whatever she had just interrupted, it wasn't romantic. India made a move towards the mill again.
"She sounds hurt. Maybe I should go check on her." Ashley grabbed her by the upper arm and practically dragged her to the buggy. India was frightened. She had never seen her brother behave this way. She allowed him to lead her to the buggy; she didn't know what he was capable of when he was like this.
"I already told you, she's busy." He more or less pushed her into the buggy and then climbed in beside her. As he drove them home, India looked back at the mill. She didn't know what had happened back there but she knew it wasn't good.
After Ashley had rushed off to answer the door Scarlett slid to the floor of her small office with her knickers still around her ankles. She didn't think she had ever been thankful for India Wilkes's existence before today. She didn't want to think about what would have happened to her if India hadn't shown up. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach. She crawled over to the small window in the office and retched out of it.
After the war was over and the threat of the Yankees having free reign to do whatever they pleased was gone, Scarlett thought that something like this would never happen to her again. Why did it have to be Ashley of all people? She needed to talk to someone about it but she couldn't. Frank or mostly definitely Rhett would call him out and kill him. She couldn't tell Melanie because this would obviously break her heart. Scarlett didn't know what to do. If it wasn't for Melanie she would go to police but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Scarlett wasn't sure how long she sat on the floor of the office and cried before she stood up, pulled her knickers up and went home.
Rhett whistled as he made his way to Scarlett's front door. He knew he called on the Kennedy/Hamilton household far more often than was proper, but Frank was such a weak willed man he never found the gumption to tell him to stop. Of course, Rhett pretended that he was calling on Pittypat and not Scarlett and Ella. He wasn't sure why Frank and Pitty went along with the ruse but he was grateful that they did.
As Rhett sat in the parlor with Scarlett and her family, he noticed that she was very subdued. She didn't have two words to say all evening. She was very pale and looked as if she was on the verge of tears. He could tell that everyone was worried about her mood, so he knew that whatever it was she was keeping to herself. He figured that if he could get her alone, she would tell him what was wrong. He considered finding a way to invite her to his hotel room but he knew she would take that as an invitation for other activities. Rhett had vowed to himself that they would not be doing that again until she was a free woman again. Watching her walk away the last time had torn him into pieces. Rhett decided that he would find a way to catch her on her way to the mills tomorrow.
The thought of returning to Ashley's mill ever again made Scarlett want to burn it to the ground first. She knew she couldn't fire him or she would have to explain to everyone why. She knew that Frank was still bitter about the fact that she bought the mills and that she was still working even after having Ella but she wondered if she could get him to take over managing Ashley's mill. That night as they lay in bed, she decided to ask him.
"Frank darling, would you mind taking over Ashley's mill?"
"Sugar, those are your mills. You have made that painfully clear to me." Scarlett wanted to scream at his term of endearment. She hated when he called her that.
"Oh, Frank I know. But between Ella and the two mills, I'm feeling overwhelmed. Please, darling." Real tears came to her eyes. She couldn't go back there, she just couldn't. Uncomfortable with her tears, Frank began to awkwardly pat her.
"Okay, sugar, don't cry. I'll take over Ashley's mill for you." He made attempts to caress Scarlett's body. She stiffened up, she didn't want to have relations with Frank on a normal night, and she certainly didn't want to have them tonight. She threw his hand off of her.
"Not tonight, Frank." She could hear him mumbling and fussing about husbandly rights quietly to himself.
The next morning Rhett was surprised when he saw Scarlett and her children at the park. He had heard that she had gone back to work at the mills. He wondered why she wasn't there now. She was sitting on a bench staring off into space. He could tell that the subdued mood that she had been in yesterday had not lifted.
"My dear Mrs. Kennedy," he said as he sat himself next to her.
"Captain Butler," she said with a slight nod.
Rhett glanced around the park and noticed that they were virtually alone except for Mammy who was chasing Wade around.
"What's wrong, Scarlett?" He whispered into her ear. He saw her jump slightly.
"Nothing. What do you mean?"
"Don't lie. You know I always know when you lie." When she refused to answer him, he changed tactics.
"Why aren't you at the mills?"
"I'm taking the day off. And Frank agreed to take over managing Ashley's mill so now I'll have more free time."
"Why?" She hesitated and he knew that she was wondering if she should try lying to him again.
"I am feeling over whelmed with both mills and Ella." That was a lie; there wasn't anything in the world this amazing woman couldn't handle.
"Why Ashley's mill and not the other one?" He saw her go rigid and knew he was getting closer to the real reason for her mood.
"I asked him to take over one and that's the one we agreed upon."
Rhett felt secure in the fact that she loved him and not Ashley but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a reason she didn't want to go to Ashley's mill in particular.
"Something happen at Ashley's mill, Scarlett?" He saw her trying to discreetly wipe a tear away from her eye.
"Rhett, I'll tell you one day. But not now. Not at the park when my children and Mammy are right here." With that she stood up and informed Wade and Mammy that they were going back home. Wade was disappointed and Mammy was confused they hadn't been there for very long. Mammy glared at Rhett, she suspected that he was the reason that they were departing so quickly.
Rhett watched as Scarlett and her children walked away. If she wasn't willing to tell him what was going on he would just have to ask the man in question.
Ashley went into a seedy bar in the run down part of town. He needed a drink badly and he figured that even someone as low as Rhett Butler wouldn't frequent a place like this. All day long he waited for Frank, Rhett or the police to come to the mill and call him out for what had happened the day before. When Frank showed up and informed him that Scarlett had told him that she was overwhelmed by everything she had to do now, Ashley knew she hadn't said anything to Frank. He still wondered if she had said anything to Rhett. Ashley knew that it was sick and that it must mean there was something wrong with his mental well-being but he was disappointed that he hadn't been able to complete the act with Scarlett. He figured that had he done it he would finally be able to get her out of his system. He finally would be able to move on with his life. He could finally love his wife fully as he wanted to be able to now. Ashley groaned as he wondered what in the hell was wrong with him. Ashley glanced at the man that sat on the stool next to his. Ashley sucked in a deep breath; he had been dreading this man's presence all day.
"Mr. Wilkes."
Captain Butler." Rhett signaled for the barkeep to bring two more whiskeys over.
"She won't tell me what is that you've done to her but I intend to find out why she has no intention to ever set foot in the mill you run again."
"I haven't done anything to her. She just had a child; she needs to ease her work load. There is nothing unusual about that."
"You and I both know that Scarlett can do anything that she puts her mind to. Nothing could stop her from running two mills and raising her children. Hell, Scarlett could probably run ten mills and raise ten kids at the same time. I can practically read Scarlett's mind. It has something to do with you and your mill."
Ashley flinched. He had no doubt that if anyone could figure out what happened it was Rhett Butler. Ashley didn't know if it was the alcohol, stupidity or this sudden madness he seemed to be lost in but he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"I don't know why it is any of your affair. She may have had your bastard but she isn't your wife." Ashley braced himself for the blow that he was sure to come. But instead Rhett leaned in closer to him.
"Your right, Wilkes. She isn't my wife, yet." Rhett stood up from his stool and threw money on the bar. He leaned down to Ashley's ear again. "For your sake and your wife's you better hope Scarlett can manage to keep this a secret from me. But she's never successful for long."
Ashley watched as Rhett walked back out of the bar. Shivers ran down his spine and he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had just walked over his grave.
Several days after taking over managing Ashley's mill for Scarlett; Frank Kennedy mysteriously disappeared. His sudden disappearance sent the Atlanta rumor mill into over drive. Most people believed that he grew tired of being a cuckold and simply left his wife to live her life in shame. People who didn't believe this theory asked why Frank wouldn't ask for a divorce first. Nothing brought shame upon a person faster than being divorced. Other people thought that Rhett Butler had paid Frank a large sum of money to leave town so that he could have Frank's wife to himself. But again why no divorce? Wouldn't Rhett want to marry her if Frank was gone? But people would point out that Rhett was known to have said on numerous occasions that he had no intention of ever being married. There were others that believed that Scarlett had murdered Frank and buried him out in her flower garden. Most people thought this was absurd. She was a tiny slip of a thing. And how could she manage to kill and bury Frank without her whole household knowing?
A week after his disappearance the bloated, mangled corpse of Frank Kennedy washed up down river from Atlanta. Police concluded from his out turned pockets and the fact that his wedding ring was missing that it was a robbery gone wrong. They figured that Frank struggled with the robber and was shot in the back of his head for his troubles. The citizens of Atlanta did not buy the police's explanation and were disappointed that they seemed reluctant to investigate Frank's murder any further. Everyone thought that Scarlett or Rhett had plenty of motive to want to see poor Frank dead. Nobody thought Frank was the type of person to fight over the meager contents of his wallet or for his wedding ring.
Scarlett was shocked by the death of her husband. She wanted to believe the police when they said that it was a simple robbery gone wrong. They tried to tell her that they saw that type of thing all the time. But deep down Scarlett agreed with the other citizens of Atlanta. Frank would never fight with someone over his wallet. He never carried much cash with him anyway. There is no way he would struggle over the five or maybe ten dollars that he might have had on him.
Scarlett sat in the parlor of her house looking at the spot her husband's casket had occupied earlier that day. She was thankful that because of the condition of his body, they kept the casket closed. She didn't want to look at Frank's face. She thought that Frank's face would have a look of accusation it because Scarlett couldn't shake the feeling that she had been the cause of Frank's death. Scarlett decided to go to her room and seek comfort from the bottle of brandy that she had hidden in there. She swallowed one glass in one gulp. Just as she poured herself a second one, there was a knock at the front door.
A/N: I changed Ella's appearance and Frank's death to fit my story better. I hope none were too offended by the business with Ashley but I couldn't resist making Ashley crazy.