A/N So sorry for the false new chapter notification! Posting chapters has been messed up. I posted this chapter a few days ago but it never showed up. New chapters haven't been showing up since Saturday. It has been happening to all fic writers. Ugh.

Well, here's half the general's visit; the other half has been a bit of a bear and I have spent hours on it, I promise you.

Lots more story to come folks! Stay tuned!

Chapter 13

Scarlett only worked a half-day in order to prepare for her afternoon caller. Also, Tate had scheduled the staircase demolition after 12 p.m., and for some reason, she didn't want to be present for that.

Before leaving the Peachtree site, she wrote a quick letter to Tom Coddington, esquire of Charleston, giving him her new residential address, assuring him that all Mr. Butler's personal property had been properly situated, and asking that he pass the information on to his client. She thought about letting Ennis King notify Rhett's solicitor, but that seemed rather impersonal. Plus when she'd stopped by Mr. King's office earlier in the week on another matter he appeared to be rather overloaded with work so she decided to just do it herself.

After posting the letter she stopped by Aunt Pitty's a tad earlier than scheduled to pick up Beau on her way home. Her headache was nearly gone, thankfully.

Uncle Henry answered the door, very cordially, with Aunt Pitty in the background.

"Good to see you, Scarlett," he said quietly. "Henry," she said, bussing him on the cheek. She couldn't help but notice he was dressed in a quite dapper manner for him, and Aunt Pitty, standing by Beau, had changed since the morning to her best day dress.

Inwardly she sighed. They wanted an invitation to tea. Well, Charles was their nephew, wasn't he? A blood relative. Scarlett became aware how very little Hamilton family was left, and Wade the only one to carry on the name other than some distant cousins. Charles and Melly had been orphaned young and now they were both gone. Their uncle and the aunt who raised them both wanted to hear about Charles from his commanding officer, as well.

"Why don't you two come along?" she asked. "I am sure General Hampton would like to meet the rest of Charles' family."

"Oh, but are you sure, Scarlett," Pitty tittered. "We wouldn't want to impose … ." Henry merely smiled, albeit a bit hopefully, his permanently red cheeks just a tad darker than normal.

"It will be fine," Scarlett said graciously. "I do want Wade to have some time with him, but I am sure that can be arranged." Suddenly she remembered the conversations with Charles she'd had during their only two weeks together about how Uncle Peter actually raised Melanie and him, and of course, she knew he definitely still ran the house.

'... he was the one who decided I should have a larger allowance when I was fifteen, and he insisted that I should go to Harvard for my senior year, when Uncle Henry wanted me to take my degree at the university. And he decided when Melly was old enough to put up her hair and go to parties. He tells Aunt Pitty when it's too cold or too wet to go calling and when she should wear a shawl … .'

"Have Uncle Peter bring you two a little before four. He is family, and should be included." Well, now, that's half the town when she was trying to keep it to two people. She hoped she hadn't overextended her invitations.

Once at the Inman Park house, Scarlett had to threaten to hog-tie Wade if he didn't settle down. After his studies, he had bathed and dressed as if for church, then proceeded to pace while Beau peppered him with potential questions for their visitor, while Ella, dressed in her Sunday best as well, contented herself to listen. Scarlett soon set her to helping Dilcey prepare food. She wanted a proper tea with the best porcelain and silver sets. On the menu were fig and watercress sandwiches and various confections. She added ham biscuits in case - well the general was such a big man, and might want something beyond watercress, she thought.

General Wade Hampton III appeared promptly at 4 pm. His buggy and apparently a minor liaison waited outside as Scarlett greeted him at the door and invited him in. Even outside of military dress he retained that soldierly air, august and magisterial, combined with the gentility of his breeding. Scarlett, who rarely felt ill at ease around men other than her husband, nearly became overwhelmed by his mere presence in her home. This was a true gentleman of the South, a man who had risked nearly everything, and lost the great majority of it, but refused to be beaten. And here he was, still working for his people.

It was hard not to study him as he looked around her new house with keen, sparkling pale blue eyes that missed nothing about his surroundings. Hair only beginning to gray, his age only made him more stately and imposing. He radiated a profound intelligence and compassion, suffering etched in the deep lines around his mouth. His presence, distinguished before his war successes, humbled everyone around him.

Scarlett made the introductions to Aunt Pitty and Henry, as well as Uncle Peter, who ostensibly stayed in the parlor to take care of the tea service; Scarlett deliberately assigned him the task so he would be able to hear anything he might find meaningful. She could tell by the way the general shook Uncle Peter's hand that he knew exactly how important a role the man had played in Charles' upbringing.

Finally, he turned to Wade.

"I am very pleased to meet you, young man," he said, looking Wade in the face and smiling in a friendly manner despite his rather imposing air. Wade blushed and stammered, but only for a moment. Ella smiled prettily, introduced her doll, and tried her best not to look dumbstruck. Overall Scarlett found herself very pleased with her daughter's conduct.

"Do you have any questions for me?" Wade opened his mouth, then shut it, obviously taken aback.

"Is it true you turned your legion's very first battle at Bull Run around?" he managed to ask as he found his voice.

"And you had no military training before the war?" Beau jumped in.

"Did you actually stop shooting to allow a 14-year-old Northern boy to reload his gun, and then just disabled him by shooting his wrist?" Wade asked.

"Were you wounded five times as they say?"

"Have you really killed eighty bears?" Ella squeaked out.

The battles, not only Manassas, but Gettysburg and so many others - oh, they had all spoken with soldiers, and read the newspaper accounts but having this man here himself - such a momentous occasion!

The boys continued to avalanche questions with a few interspersed by Pitty and Henry. The general answered each one patiently and with good humor. As the excitement wore down, he turned to Wade again.

"Now I want to tell you about your father," he said as he began a preambled discourse, and Scarlett could not help but admire his cultured, even voice, with that same Charlestonian drawl as Rhett's but then again, different. Less the sarcasm and bitter, cutting wit. Well modulated, rich, and ultimately kind, without effort.

"You knew your father contracted measles and then pneumonia before he died, correct?" Wade nodded. "Did you know he was handling legal correspondence and issues for injured soldiers and that is how he first became ill?"

Then the general explained how, in the short time before Charles died, he had handled all his written correspondence as well as that of several other commanding officers, and had crafted letters of fine merit for all. He'd caught measles when he was helping soldiers in the infirmary get their business correspondence as well as personal letters composed and mailed.

"He'd also help soldiers with minor legal questions, of which there were plenty because so many had left running businesses and farms to go to war. Several dozen were able to get out detailed directives for their families due to his efforts, and he even helped draw up legal wills for many men who would not have had them otherwise.

"He was a fine soldier, to the end. He would not ask for anything more than water when he was suffering and refused to go down to the infirmary for his own treatment, and he continued to complete needed legal paperwork until he was too sick to get out of bed."

General Hampton's voice warmed as he continued to speak of Charles. "Your father had an exceptional legal mind. He certainly belonged at Harvard, and I am thankful he went before the war." His eyes went to Peter again, who gave a slight nod. So Charles had confided that Peter was the reason he'd attended a northern school.

"For several weeks before he took ill we discoursed on the law and he demonstrated a sharp understanding. I have no doubt he would have become a distinguished representative."

Both Uncle Peter and Uncle Henry beamed with pride. Aunt Pitty looked quite overcome while Ella and Scarlett sat on the parlor sofa and absorbed it all. Scarlett felt the pain of remorse as an acid taste filled her mouth and her stomach clenched.

He was as much a gentleman as Melly was a lady, and I never knew or appreciated it until this moment. I only thought of him as a calf-eyed dolt who fell all too easily for my feminine wiles.

"So you see, young man, he really did serve and die in the war."

Wade looked at his mother and waited for a nod before retrieving the sword from a cupboard.

She was only half listening as Wade spoke of his reverence for his father's sword, and missed the swift glance the general gave her as Wade explained how she demanded it be returned from the Yankee soldiers.

"We won many battles, and we wouldn't give up. Time and time again, we pushed the Union forces back, even outnumbered, outgunned, with little food and supplies. Our men wouldn't give up. The North could see that, and so they turned to burning and looting, which was our ultimate downfall. Our men could not take what was happening to their families and homes; it is what broke our collective spirit.

"I fought a newspaper letter battle with Sherman over his definition of 'foraging', which is what he called it when his soldiers burned homes and crops and stole food, valuables and supplies."

Scarlett's mind went back to that day when she almost died after putting out that soldier-set kitchen fire. Foraging? Foraging is hunting hickory nuts and squirrels for dinner when there is nothing else. Foraging is when she raided her neighbors' abandoned gardens and found that single, shriveled, rotten radish. The one that in so many ways defined her destiny.

No, foraging is not what the Union soldiers did to her home, her people.

So lost in thought was she the next words were almost missed as well.

"He didn't know you were expected, but he did love your mother. He called her Sunshine. Said she was full of fire and mischief, just like he had always wanted.

"Somehow he'd managed to snag the most desirable girl in Georgia and he couldn't believe his luck. Even when he was sick, he did try to get well so he could come home to her.

"Some days he'd get a look on his face and look a million miles away, and when I questioned him he'd say 'I was just thinking about my Sunshine.' He'd asked me to be godfather to his child if he ever had one. I have been eager to meet you ever since I learned he had a son."

Scarlett made a sound despite herself and Ella patted her hand. She looked up to see Pitty watching her and she smiled a bit weakly. What is wrong with me? I'm too young to be going through the change, she thought irritably.

"He'd often spoken of his beloved uncle who bestowed the love of the law upon him, his dear, sweet Aunt Pitty, and Uncle Peter, who he said owned his family, not the other way around."

Uncle Peter nodded in response from the corner he'd taken proud residence in, standing tall with his hands clasped behind his back.

More conversation followed, much in the same vein. As the late afternoon gave way to evening, General Hampton stood to take his leave, despite being invited to stay for supper. As everyone else left the room, he stayed behind with Peter. Looking through the parlor door, Scarlett saw him lay a hand on the dignified servant's arm and speak lowly for several minutes, Peter speaking back in a muted voice. At the end she heard the general express a quiet thanks, and Peter, obviously moved, merely nodded. She thought the light might have caught a bit of dampness in his eyes before he looked away.

"I was wondering if I could have a few moments to speak with Mrs. Butler," General Hampton said as he strode toward the front door, his eyes going to Henry and Pitty as if for permission.

"Perhaps she and I could take a stroll around the garden while the rest of you good folks enjoy the sunset and cooler air on the porch."

OOOOooooOOOOoooo

Chapter 14 will be up - in the next few days. I am working hard, I assure you, it's just been quite painstaking for some reason. The general has a few extremely interesting points IMHO to discuss with Scarlett, ahem. And I felt Charles and Uncle Peter merited their own moments.

As a side note - one very kind Guest reviewer politely sought to correct my Republican and Democrat references in Chapter Twelve. Although you are technically correct as far as I know, that the klan was an outreach of the Democratic party after the war, in Chapter 58 of Gone with the Wind Mitchell writes Rhett telling Scarlett that there hadn't been a klan in Atlanta, perhaps in Georgia, since he had switched from the Republican party to the Democratic. He says, in this passage, that the Democrats had decided that the klan was doing too much harm to the party and it was giving the Republicans and the Federal government too much ammunition.

We all know that there was klan long after the 1870s and I am not saying that this happened in real life; but it is what is stated in the book, and what I am paraphrasing here. I have read the entire book twice at least, parts of it more than twice, and I also keep an e-pub version of the book open on my laptop as I write and I try to verify and research along the way even though this story takes place after the book ends and the characters are off-canon. I do want to keep the events of the book straight, so thank you for pointing that out.

I also want to thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Your feedback is vital to the development of this story. It does mean the world to me :)