Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews. I appreciate every review, every person following my story and every person reading my story.

A while ago I was asked, "What about Rhett's ward?" It took me a while but I have managed to work him into the story. It will be another moment when we see Scarlett's growth as an adult.

Chapter Nineteen

In December they started receiving Christmas cards. Scarlett had sent Christmas cards to all the gentry. When the cards started coming in the mail Scarlett told the staff to put the Christmas cards on her desk because she wanted to open them herself. They had received a lot of cards the first two weeks in December from members of Polite Society. This was a mark of their success. Most of them were addressed to Captain and Mrs. Butler but some of them were addressed to just Scarlett which always made her giggle at the antics of the old guard.

On December 14th in her pile of Christmas cards was one address to Captain Rhett Butler from New Orleans. She was thinking that someone had failed to add the 'and Mrs.' and ripped it open anyway. It was a card with a lovely note inside from a Joshua Brock. After reading the note Scarlett knew Joshua Brock had known Rhett a long time. It had an almost son to father air about it. The note told of his studying at St. Matthews Preparatory School, his wanting to go to Tulane and when was Rhett going to see him again. Who was this young man? Was this Rhett's son? Was this Belle Watlings' son? Melly had told her that Belle had a son. Oh God no! He couldn't have a son with that creature. It would be too much to bear even if nobody else ever found out. She would just ask him. No Rhett was always so private with his correspondence. He would be so angry she had opened the letter. What was she going to do? Things had been going so well. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Rhett was at least fifteen years older than she. As long as the boy was older than Wade, she would bear it. It hurt so bad to think of Rhett having a child with another woman. She took a deep breath. She loved him so much and he said he loved her. She had to be an adult about this. She would just accept this and be supportive of her husband as long as the child was older than Wade. She had two children by two different men and Rhett had not only accepted it but he had been a great father to them. She had never really thought about how wonderful that was of Rhett to treat her children by other men as his own. She would have to be just as mature. She wouldn't be a child about this. She sat there for a long time then got up and went to their bedroom. The joy of opening Christmas cards was gone. In fact, she was so sad she wanted to cry.

Scarlett tried to be happy at supper or at least fake it. At supper that night Rhett was thankful of his gift. When Scarlett looked at him her thought was, 'Who is Joshua? Please don't let him be Rhett's son. If he is, I will accept it and act like an adult.' When Rhett tried to engage Scarlett in conversation, she tried to be pleasant and engaging in the conversation but her heart wasn't in it. A year ago, he would have been cruel and mocking. He would have tried to make her mad to bring some life to her. Worst of all he would have been sure her unhappiness was because of Mr. Wilkes. Now he knew what she was thinking and feeling and he would talk with her when they retired for the evening. It actually pleased him that she was this unhappy about Joshua possibly being his son.

When they got into bed Rhett said, "What is the matter, baby?"

"Nothing."

Rhett smiled and said, "Call me clairvoyant but I can tell something is wrong?"

"What does that word mean? Why do you do that to me? You do that to make me feel stupid?"

"I should have used the word psychic. You are not going to sidestep the issue. Tell me what is wrong? You can tell me anything, you know that." He just let her anger roll off his back. They both use fighting as a way of not answering the question.

She thought, 'Not this.'

Rhett said, "Please trust me. Remember I love you."

"Who is Joshua Brock? He sent you a Christmas card and I accidently opened it."

"He is my ward. Do you remember me telling you about him during the war? He lives in New Orleans."

"Why didn't you introduce me to him when we were there on our honeymoon."

"Because I was too busy having fun with you to worry about anyone else."

"Oh."

"He is not my child. He is not Belle's child. He is the child of a lovely young lady that ended up some where she should never have been. Come lay on my chest and I will tell you all about Joshua." She gladly went into his embrace. She was so happy the boy wasn't Rhett or Belle's. Rhett told her of meeting Bertha Williams when he got to New Orleans after his father kicked him out. She was working as a bartender at a saloon and brothel. She was attractive with blonde hair and blue eyes. She didn't service male customers. She just worked the bar. Rhett had walked in the saloon and won some money at the poker table. He offered to take her out for a late supper. She had just smiled at him with a smile that the jaded give the innocent. He had already had several drinks and he could not hold his liquor then as he could now. She took him home and made him sleep in the spare bedroom. She took his winnings and bought groceries with them. For the next four years he lived with her. They became friends. As Rhett told the story he smiled and thought maybe I had at least one friend since West Point. After four years he went to California. When he got back from California Bertha had given birth to a son. He was two years old. Bertha never told Rhett who the father was. He had stayed with her when he moved back to New Orleans. She had contracted yellow fever that summer. She made him promise he would make sure Joshua was taken care of. Rhett was thirty at the time. Bertha's next-door neighbors were a childless couple who took Joshua in. Rhett is legally his guardian but the Smiths were his parents. He paid for Joshua's education and clothes. The boy was four when his mother died and he is sixteen now. He wants to go to Tulane and then medical school. I usually visit him when I go to New Orleans on business. We are not good correspondence. We are fond of each other but the Smiths are the people he loves.

Scarlett was so happy with this news that she kissed Rhett and initiated relations between them. She was rather demonstrative and forceful which Rhett enjoyed immensely. She got on top and took control of their activities. He had never let a woman control the activity. Rhett loved it and hated it. He hated being out of control but he loved Scarlett dominating him. At one point he looked at her on top of him in all her nakedness and abandon and thought she had never looked more beautiful. She had thought, 'I love him so much,' several times. It was a night Rhett would never forget. He would gladly relinquish control any time she wanted it.

The next day Scarlett was happily opening Christmas cards again. Almost everyone in Polite Society had sent her a Christmas card.

Rhett was able to monitor Scarlett's success by listening to the ladies at the park. At first, they were even more hostile toward him if that was possible but slowly, they were becoming less antagonistic toward him. They weren't smiling at him but they had stopped giving him ugly looks.

Rhett was able to monitor his progress with Scarlett by the household staff's opinion of him. They were no longer thinking of him as 'that arrogant, rich, bastard.' They never thought any happy thoughts about him but they weren't disparaging his character either. One thing that most of them thought was 'He has started making Mrs. Butler happy. I hope he doesn't turn mean once more.' He took that as a success.

The acid test of how he was doing with Scarlett was Mammy's thoughts. Nowadays she was thinking pleasant thoughts about him so he decided he was doing alright with his quest to make Scarlett happy.

Rhett and Scarlett still quarreled but they were more spats than the blood baths they were before. Mostly because Rhett was no longer trying to inflict pain upon Scarlett. They were more bickering. They each were trying to change the mind of the other. Rhett was stunned at how many time Scarlett had known he was right but would not admit it because of her pride. At this point he would just walk away from the argument. She would never admit he was right but she usually abandoned her plans. When they were fighting and Rhett would realize that Scarlett was right, he would patronizingly tell her she was right. It was an empty victory for Scarlett. If Scarlett started calling him names, he would tell her, "I will not tolerate you calling me names." Then he would leave the room. Despite the fact that he knew she didn't mean what she was saying being called ugly names by the woman one loved hurt nonetheless. Rhett no longer made mocking comments. He would explain to Scarlett what she was doing that was wrong and why. He did it in a teasing way but he made sure she understood what he meant by what he was saying. Neither one was as brutal as they had been before because now, they really didn't want to win the argument by hurting the other.

A new facet of his talent was that he could hear Bonnie's thoughts. Ella's thoughts were like a whirlwind and when he knew he was going to be around her he had to brace himself. He guessed he loved her because he could hear all of her thoughts. Interestingly enough Bonnie's thoughts came to him more as pictures. He would see Scarlett, himself, Ella, Wade, Joyce; her nursemaid, food, Mammy, her blanket and the rag doll that Scarlett had bought her. Much to his surprise Scarlett popped into her head more than anyone else. He had not lied to Scarlett when he had told her he was possessive of his stuff which included his wife and daughter therefore he was a little jealous that Bonnie thought of her mother more than him. He realized that he was with Bonnie a lot more than Scarlett so it would be reasonable that she would think of her mother more than him. In his more honest moments, he knew it was hogwash but he continued to tell himself that anyway.

He wondered why he could only hear Mammy and Miss Melly's first thoughts and he decided that as much as he admired and respected these women, he didn't love them.

The Butlers had a lovely Christmas with Rhett buying everyone too many presents. They had lunch with Aunt PittyPat, the Wilkes and Uncle Henry. Rhett was not surprised at the bitterness of India's thoughts or the chaos of Aunt PittyPat's.

At the end of December, he had been attending the Democratic political meetings every week. He wanted to scream every time they went down memory lane and talked about their lives before the war and during the war. He was actually enjoying talking to the men on a variety of subjects. He had broached the subject of the clan and asked if they didn't think it was doing more harm than good. There was a lively discussion on the issue. Surprisingly he and Mr. Wilkes thought the same about the clan. It was doing more harm than good.

When Bonnie took her first step Scarlett was not there and Rhett made Mammy and Joyce promise not to tell Scarlett. A few days later when Scarlett was there and Bonnie took another step, they all acted like it was the first time. It made Scarlett so happy to have been there and that they got to see it together. Rhett was happy that Scarlett loved Bonnie as much as he did. He was happy she was becoming a decent mother to Wade and Ella.

After the first of the year the Pickerton Agency had news for Rhett. They had found a Tobias Butler and he was living in New Orleans. He owned a Smithy. They gave Rhett all the information he needed. He went to the store and found her in her office going over the books. He told Scarlett he was going to New Orleans and why. He was leaving the next day.

She got up and closed the door to her office and said, "I can't go tomorrow. What about the day after?"

"I wasn't planning on you going."

"There's been a change of plans. You aren't going without me."

"I'm just going to go see if it is the Tobias who was my friend."

"Let's be spontaneous! This is a perfect opportunity for us to go away together. Now that I am not running the mills it is easier for me to get away. Melly would love to watch the children and with Mammy and Joyce's help they shouldn't be any problem. Mr. Elsing can manage the store and if there are any problems Uncle Henry can handle them. Besides I will only be a telegram away. I want to meet your friend and your ward. And if you don't take me with you, I will just go by myself and you know I will get into all kinds of trouble if I try to do that." Her thought was, 'Rhett is not going without me. This is going to be emotionally hard for him and he will need someone to be with him.'

Once he heard that he decided that she was right and furthermore it was a situation for him to give her trust and take trust from her. He also recognized that she was using the same words he had used when he was trying to convince her to go to Charleston. He decided that he would take her with him because trust was something they were both still struggling with. He was going to give her trust and take trust from her. Rhett smiled at her and said, "I guess you will want to eat at Café Du Monde, Tujague's, and Antoine's."

"Of course, darling. We might as well since we will be there anyway."

"I will take you with me as long as Miss Melly can watch the children for ten days. We will leave tomorrow night on the evening train."

"Of course, darling, whatever you want."

Rhett heard her think, 'I don't want him to be alone if this turns out badly. I have to be there for him.'

Scarlett told Mr. Elsing that she was going out of town and would not be in for the next two weeks. Rhett was smiling as he and Scarlett left to make all the arrangements. This made him very happy for Scarlett to force him into taking her with him. This was like a dream come true for him. She wanted to come with him to be with him to provide him comfort if he got bad news. He felt loved. If this worked out maybe she could travel with him on business more often.

Melly was more than happy to watch the children for ten days so they were off to New Orleans.