It took some time, but this was a fun one to write.
The whole county was in commotion. Tony had left and most people wondered why. Oliver too had disappeared to thin air. She couldn't hold the rumor back since the workers in the mills and the fields were used to the daily encounters with their delicate overseer.
In Jonesboro she had spread a rumor that she expelled Tony from her plantation for good, due to his lack of manners and that she blamed him for Oliver's departure. The cover was nearly complete.
And it worked. Suffering from morning sicknesses as she was, she had become snappish and short-tempered. The employees surrounding her thought it attributed some of it to the love-scandal between herself, Oliver and Tony.
Alex Fontaine had arrived some time afterwards with a letter to her from Tony, stating his wellbeing and his gratitude. He hugged Scarlett quietly – "Scarlett, if you need something, you will ask me?" Scarlett realized that he probably knew more than he let her know.
"If worse comes to worse, I'll find a way, Darling, but you needn't worry. I'm fine."
He looked at her disbelievingly, she reassured him – "Really, and I'm going to be fine, more than fine."
He looked at her sadly -
"I'll miss him so much. It was a miracle he returned from the war home. I owe it to you"
"He may come back some time in the future. His name is intact." She tried to console him, and at his blank gaze she added "Alex, he is taking the route of his life. That's more than most people get to do these days. As soon as they reach wherever they decide to be, I'll do my best to help. Maybe you'll go and visit him. Who knows?"
"And you? Is he coming for you?"
She smiled, "I'm waiting, aren't I? And if I'm waiting for a man it's because there is a good reason."
In two weeks Scarlett had noticed that the workers in the textile mill had become restless. She had come on her own, to find the workers, about sixty women, gathered in the main yard beside the mill.
"What is the matter, ladies?"
"Mrs. Hamilton, we were wondering when Mr. Oliver is due back, and whether he is coming back."
"Mr. Oliver is up north in several business dealings on my behalf. The gentleman, who was supposed to replace him, unfortunately broke his leg, and therefore we are having a void for the time being." The lies came flowing from her mouth; she was smiling at the women, thinking fast "If there is a specific problem I may be able to assist."
And indeed there were. The women working in the place had families and children, several were widows, and had been required to work around the clock in shifts due to the great demand for production. Oliver had managed to spread the shifts in a reasonable manner that lowered the resentment of the ladies to a minimum, but with him gone it was growing. Scarlett noticed that few were at advanced stages of pregnancy. She realized that the mill was earning a great deal and that the fast production was a must -
"Very well, I will not obligate anyone to work night shifts, but those who decide to do it a week every three weeks will be entitled to an hourly pay of 150% per hour for the night shifts."
The women seemed amazed. She looked at a woman who looked in her late thirties; she had managed to bring the issue fluently declaring that she did not have that problem having grown children to help her - "What is your name?" Scarlett asked.
"Ruth Blankly, Ma'am, you're mighty kind"
"Well. Mrs. Blankly, I would like to start a trial of you managing the shift arrangement. I will rule if there are any disputes. You will come to the mansion twice a week to report to me. Please come with a report regarding the sanitary and safety conditions as well, I am not sure I am satisfied with it."
Having said that she turned on her heels climbed her mare.
Careen was practically at her footsteps since around the same time that the telegram had arrived, nonetheless she was thankful. One morning at the end of her first term she looked at Wade she realized her son's life was about to change immensely. She decided to let him know part of the truth -
"Sweetie, Uncle Rhett is soon coming home. Oliver, however, is not going to teach you in the near future, darling. He has gone up north for work, and he might stay there for a while. What were you studying with him?"
"We were observing ants and hummingbirds daily, and I was drawing a diary of my findings" the child explained proudly.
Careen was listening and watching her nephew, with a soft smile "That's lovely, Wade. You should add butterflies to the observation. Draw one first. Here, I'll take my books and sit by you under that tree as you investigate for one."
Scarlett kissed both of them thankfully and looking at Careen she started wondering if the fact that her sister's studies had been disturbed by the war was something to be addressed.
"Careen, would you have liked to study more?"
Careen smiled surprised – "That's what I do when I'm at the… well, conferences with you." She blushed timidly.
"I never liked the school Ma sent me in Fayetteville, but you might benefit from something on the sort. Coming to think of it there is the Wesleyan Female College in Macon, you can even get a degree like a man's."
"I've thought of it, but I didn't think we'd have the money, besides it's Methodist."
Scarlett looked at her sister lengthily - "We have time till fall, just think of it. We have more than enough money."
Sometime later that noon she headed toward the stables. She would usually ride her calm mare, only this day her mare was out on the pastures with her stable boy so she took one of the stallions that she had brought in Kentucky.
"My, you are a tall one, aren't you?" she spoke to the horse distractedly "I am not sure that you are such a good idea for me."
She was patting him as she heard her father call her from behind –
"Katie Scarlett, I don't like you riding this horse in your condition."
Her back shivered. She was startled. She still thought no one knew, let alone her dazed father. She turned slowly bracing herself –
"Pa, I'm sure I don't know what you mean, and I have to go down to…"
"Your husband should be mighty upset, Katie Scarlett".
"Oh, but you do know what he means, my dear." She heard the familiar Charlestonian drawl coming from the shadows of the stables, "And I agree with your father, I'll be mighty upset if you climb a horse, let alone of that magnitude in your condition."
She was speechless, but that did not seem to bother any of the two men standing in front of her. With lucid eyes, her father caressed her cheek saying -
"Captain Butler, You should do a better job taking care of my puss" he turned and limped out of the stables.
She couldn't surpass her laughter, watching Rhett's amazed gaze at her father's remark – "I had no idea he knew my name" he said with awe.
"As always, you get the better deal"
"Oh?" he said catching her form into his arms while gazing down her bright green eyes.
"I had no idea we're married or that my father knows of my condition."
He looked at her, and in an instant she was in his arms kissing him passionately, probing his mouth with her tongue, inhaling him. His hands closed on her back as he drew her to him -
"I have some papers stating that we've been secretly married for a year and so. Since New York. You sister Careen is signed as a witness, and she's the one who must have told your father of your martial status"
Her heart was going faster than a train – "You ARE a magician! I tried not to think of the child's reputation even if you did marry me now being, well, three months ahead. But Careen?"
"Though you never spoke of it, I saw her several times with you in Augusta. I gather she was supposed to be chaperoning us, or you? I have taken the liberty of informing her of our pregnancy before embarking the ship, and made sure that she signed the relevant papers with my lawyers regarding our lost certificate."
"She has been different, only I never thought. Well, Tony did say that I'm obtuse. I suppose he's right."
He looked at her irritated "How is the honorable Mr. Fontaine? Will he be congratulating us?"
"Stop it Rhett" she caressed his cheek "Don't you dare stop kissing me, you've been gone so long. Tony left the county for the time being but he made his brother agree to marry me for his sake if worse came to worse."
"His brother?!" he looked at her confused "why would he?"
"It's a long, very long story. Tony and I are, we've been, friends forever. He knew of you, he was the first to know of the baby. He urged me to let you know and refrain from any foolishness. He was even willing to marry me if you didn't, but he was sure you would. Somehow he was more sure of your intentions than I was. But he had to leave."
She enfolded the tale as she walked with him to the house, never letting his hand loose. He swallowed hard when she finished
"I'm an idiot"
"If I'd see you with a lady or hear you talk of a lady-friend, I'd die! No, I take it back, I'd kill you first and then die." she smiled and kissed him again "You're entitled to your own foolishness as long as you marry me, or renew your vows to me. But are you sure? Didn't you say…"
He caught her hands roughly drawing her to his chest again "I said too many damn things I shouldn't have said. I've been cursing myself this past year constantly for not marrying you in the first place, when you still wanted me to."
She held out her hands on the sides of his temples – "What makes you think that ever changed? I was, or am, yours in any way you'd have me. Yes, you taught me I can love and be loved without matrimony, but I would love to be yours in the eyes of God. Especially now, that I am better off financially and you know it's you, only you, in my mind and heart" The simplicity in her declaration made him blink. But he had to know -
"Aren't you mad at me for this situation? Would you have consented to marry me if it weren't for this? Or perhaps preferred that it weren't under these circumstances?"
"You are a fool, Rhett Butler." She whispered "Has it ever occurred to you that I did all that's in my power to make you lose your resolve with me? Sure, I did not plan to become pregnant, but it's as much my responsibility. I'll tell you this once, and if you repeat it to anyone I'll deny saying it - I love the thought that you planted a child in me"
He looked touched at her last words by Careen and Wade interrupted them that minute. Wade practically leaped to Rhett's embrace, Careen smiled at Scarlett with shining eyes. Scarlett hugged her without words, as she heard her sister giggle.
Scarlett gave her a baffled look and she timidly explained-
"Oh, I simply recalled Frank and Sue's face when I accidently told them of your secret wedding the other day. I could have sworn Frank wanted, maybe even needed, my smelling salts as badly as Sue."