Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews. I have gotten over a hundred reviews. Thank you so very much. When I read a review and someone makes a suggestion, I often use that thought. These ideas always seem to make my stories better. Thank you for the suggestions.
Scarlett is trying to redeem her reputation with society. We will see how Rhett's loving care has made her a better person.
Chapter Eighteen
In September, Scarlett had started attending some sewing bees and committees with Melanie in order to ingratiate herself with the matrons. Rhett had even given her some money to donate to their favorite causes. She was ready to scream at these meetings when they went down memory lane but she kept a smile on her face and nodded. She wanted to scream when almost every woman looked at her with pity. Mrs. Merriwether was the worst. Her expression was part pity and part sanctimonious. When India asked her about her Scalawag friends she pretended to cry and said, "I knew better than to let Rhett talk me into associating with them." When Mrs. Mead made a snide comment about her inviting Governor Bullock into her home. She looked embarrassed and said, "I was such a dumb bunny. I didn't know it would offend everyone. Rhett asked me to invite him and I did. I just thought he was someone Rhett did business with. I would die of shame if my mother was still alive." She got a lot of looks that told her the ladies were doubting the truth of her statements but no one out and out challenged her. At another sewing bee they started talking about the men getting the vote back and she ask, "Why is it so important that the men get the vote back?" Mrs. Elsing had tried to explain it to her but Scarlett really didn't understand why it was that important which made a lot of ladies begin to believe her statements about the governor and her hanging out with the Scalawag wives. Mrs. Jackson was rude enough to say, "Your just plain stupid, aren't you?" which really infuriated Scarlett but she choked back her anger and she said, "I don't think I'm stupid. Maybe naïve but not stupid." A lot of the ladies were thinking she was naïve and stupid. When Fanny Elsing had made a snide comment about her foolishness in driving herself through Shantytown the absurdity of the whole situation hit her and she almost burst out laughing. Instead she said, "I was so stupid!" and hid her face in Melly's lap until she stopped laughing. Melly kept stroking Scarlett's head and saying, "There, there. I'm sure nobody blames you for what happened." To all the other ladies Scarlett looked like she was crying. She had laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes when she finally got control of herself. Mrs. Merriwether had questioned Scarlett about the Butlers frequent trips to Clayton County. She had told her that Rhett had bought a gin and they were going to check on it. She said as little as possible on that subject. Some of the ladies were warming up to her. As October came to a close and November arrived the ladies were becoming less and less hostile to her.
Rhett didn't need to listen to her thoughts on the Peahens she was quite willing to share every little detail of her encounters with them. She would share every detail of an encounter with him and then at the end ask him what he thought she should do.
One time he had made the mistake of saying, "I'm sorry. I wasn't listening."
She had replied, "I'm going through all of this pain and suffering and you can't even be bother to listen when I need your advice. I thought we were doing this together for our children." Then she had started crying. It wasn't fake crying either. She had put up with the pitying looks, she had put up with the snide comments, she had smiled and played dumb until she wanted to scream. She had stuffed down every smart retort and Rhett not listening had just been the final straw to the misery she had been going through this last month and a half. She had cried hard with heartbreaking sobs. It took him some time and a diamond bracelet to appease her after that faux pas. All her thoughts told him was that she was really hurt he hadn't paid attention to her. The thought she kept repeatedly thinking was, 'This is just like when I gave birth to Bonnie. I'm in pain and suffering and he is just sitting around smoking cigars and drinking whiskey.' He was never going to make that mistake again which meant he had to listen to everything she said about the Peahens no matter how boring it was. No matter how often she repeated herself.
So far India Wilkes had not looked at her with pity. She had only looked at her with pure hate which had worked in a wonderful, serendipitous way. Scarlett knew India didn't want her to be received back into the bosom of polite society so now she was determined to be received just to spite India. She was now using every bit of her charm on those old Peahens. It had given her more resolve to continue with repairing her reputation. It was still hard on Scarlett and somedays, she was so worn out from dealing with the Old Guard that she would just go to bed and have supper in her room. When Scarlett came home after telling Mrs. Merriwether she was right about Rhett Butler she was ready to break something preferably Rhett's head. He had sympathized, groveled, and begged her to let him make it up to her in some way. He would never have done any of those things if he hadn't been able to hear her thoughts and know how humiliated she had been to admit to Mrs. Merriwether that she had been right about Rhett. She was so hurt and humiliated she hadn't even taken advantage of the situation and extracted another incentive out of Rhett. In the end all she had wanted was for him to hold her and tell her how wonderful she was for doing this for their children. Nonetheless he had bought her the new buggy she had been wanting but hadn't asked him for yet as a thank you gift. It had made her so happy that Rhett had known exactly what she had wanted without her having to tell him. Maybe he really did love her.
At the end of October Rhett began to feel restless and he wondered why. It wasn't the restlessness that made him want to run away. It was more of a boredom. When he stopped and thought about it, he realized that since they had gotten back from Charleston, he rarely spoke to anyone but Scarlett, the children, the staff, and occasionally Mr. Hughes. He was used to socializing with a lot of people. Admittedly they were whores and other card players but it was conversations with different people. He didn't want to talk with the whores or other card players though. He wanted to talk to someone who was his intellectual equal. If his darling ever read a book she could become his intellectual equal but he was pretty sure the second coming would happen before she ever read a book by choice. Mr. Wilkes and he could have intelligent conversation but hell would freeze over before he ever voluntarily spoke with Mr. Wilkes. Then he knew where he could find lots of men to converse with, he would join the Democratic Party. He could kill two birds with one stone. One – Start working on getting accepted again and Two – intelligent conversation. They would welcome him for two reasons: his money and the fact he saved several of their lives. Perfect. Three – He would be doing his part to restore their reputations for the children. He laughed when he thought, 'I will still be sitting around just smoking cigars and drinking whiskey nonetheless.'
On November 7th, when they went to the dance for the Beautification of Confederate Graves Rhett acted like a man in love with his wife. He acted like a man given a second chance. He was concerned and solicitous. Most of the ladies still looked at Scarlett like she was a fool but she wasn't paying them any attention. She was having too good a time with her remorseful husband. He was still a bastard as far as most of the good ladies of society were concerned but he had been behaving himself ever since Scarlett had taken him back. The matrons also decided that Scarlett loved him so there must be something redeemable about him and he was such a good father. There were rumors that he had stopped associating with the Republicans and the Scallawags. Rhett and Scarlett had sat with four other couples that they didn't know very well but one of them was Samuel and Ada Cooper. Samuel was one of the men Rhett had saved the night of the ill-fated raid. In the course of the evening Rhett asked Mr. Cooper how things were going with the Democratic Party. Mr. Cooper had said it was best if he just attended a meeting to find out what was happening with the party. He invited Rhett to attend one of the meetings. Rhett smiled and said, "I would love to attend a meeting and see what I think about it. When is it?" Mr. Cooper gave Rhett all the details. As they were riding home in their carriage, Rhett said, "I know. Not the clan. Not to worry I don't agree with the activities of the clan."
Scarlett smiled up at him and said, "Thank you."
Needless to say, the gossip went wild when they found out that Rhett Butler had attended a Democratic political meeting.
In November Scarlett had a success. Wade was invited to a birthday party given by the younger Mrs. Bonner for her son. It was the first birthday party Wade had ever been invited to. Scarlett had begged Rhett to go with her but he had patiently explained that his presence would ruin all of her hard work. He had needed to explain it to her three times before she would accept it as true.
Prissy had told Scarlett that she and Elijah were getting married. Scarlett hugged Prissy and told her congratulations. Scarlett had been so happy for Prissy. Elijah was a good man and Prissy was lucky to get him and Scarlett thought Elijah is lucky to get Prissy.
At the end of November, the Pickerton Agency contacted Rhett about their search for a slave named Tobias. They did not have very good news. All three of the Tobias that went to the Delta were dead. One had been killed while trying to escape, one had died from typhoid fever, and one had died in an accident at the plantation. They had some good news about the one that went to the sugar plantation. As of the start of the war he was alive. He had been trained as a blacksmith by his owner. After the Yankees captured New Orleans most of the slaves left the plantations. They had not found any records of a Tobias Whitney. Whitney was his last owner's last name. Rhett said quietly, "Look under Tobias Butler. Did he have a wife or children?"
The agent said, "There was a wife. She seems to be still living too. Her name was Bessie. There's no record of children."
Rhett stood up and said, "I'll authorize another hundred dollars. He probably stayed in Louisiana."
When Rhett got home and Scarlett saw him, she said, "What is the matter? You look so sad."
It made him happy that Scarlett was becoming attuned to his moods and that she was wanting him to be happy. She was treating him like someone she loved.
Rhett said, "I found out some news about my friend, Tobias."
She walked with him into the dining room and waited while he poured himself a drink then he told her everything the Pickerton Agency had found out. When he was finished, she patted his hand and said, "There's still hope."
He smiled at her and said, "Yes. There is."
After Scarlett had signed the papers for her trust fund, she had slowly started spending less time at the store. Between sewing bees, committee meetings, trips to Clayton County with Rhett and just wanting to stay home and play with Bonnie she just didn't have time to go to the store. She made a point of going once a week to check the books but often that was all she did. She checked the books and left because she had plans for the rest of the day. In spending time with Bonnie, she was spending time with Wade and Ella. She slowly was becoming a mother to them. She was not the best mother but a better mother than she had been a year ago.