Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Fifteen

Rhett had taken her to a very exquisite restaurant, and they had a lovely time. They had champagne. They shared a dessert, although Scarlett had not wanted to share. She knew Rhett knew it too, for his eyes would twinkle every time he took a bite of their dessert. She guessed her displeasure was evident on her face. Soon Rhett was taking them home. In the coach he said, "Later in the week we will go dancing. I have waited too long for this moment to wait any longer."

Scarlett had laughed and snuggled into him.

As they were walking up the stairs Scarlett said, "I told the maid to not wait up for me. Can you help me get undressed?"

"Yes, I can."

Rhett did help her get undressed and she had not even bothered with a nightgown. She wasn't a lady so she could be as wanton as she wanted to be.

From the beginning relations with Rhett were fun and enjoyable. Rhett was an incredibly good lover. She was much more of a participant now than she had been the first time. This time she wasn't worried

about not appearing as a lady. After all a lady doesn't live with a man for money. After their first time in this timeline, Rhett had said, "I was not expecting you to be that much of a …. contributor as you were. I expected you to be very shy."

Scarlett had just smiled at him and snuggled into him. She had not felt so safe since the war had broken out. She went to sleep with him telling her stories and smoking his cigar.

After Rhett knew Scarlett was asleep, he thought about their coupling. It had been so much better than he had ever imagine it would be. There was no shyness on Scarlett's part which made him wonder if she was much more experienced than he had ever thought. If she was then the experience had come from Mr. Wilkes. It certainly had not come from Old Frank. Rhett knew Scarlett could hardly stand for Frank to touch her in any way. As he felt his temper beginning to rise, he decided that there was no way Mr. Wilkes had been physically unfaithful to Miss Melly. The truth was she had just acted like she wanted him. She hadn't acted like she was doing her duty. She had been receptive. Maybe she had wanted to be with him. Maybe she knew she didn't have to act like a lady around him. She certainly was not behaving around him the way she had before Frank's death. She was being very considerate of him and actually paying attention to him. She was looking at him the way he had always wanted her to look at him.

He woke her up the next morning with sweet kisses and exciting caresses. They had a lovely time. After Rhett had left the bed to go get ready for the day Scarlett thought, 'I guess I am now no better than Belle Watling. Just a lot more expensive.' She wasn't going to think about that now and she wasn't going to let herself care. With ten thousand dollars she would never have to worry about money again. She would be able to live at Tara the rest of her life. If she invested wisely her future would be secure no matter what dang thing men did.

After breakfast Rhett took her to a modiste shop and helped her select clothing. She had Mammy tie her corset loosely. She wasn't going to be in physical pain to look beautiful again. Her waist measured twenty-four inches. She had all the dresses made with that waist size. She was going to sell all her clothing after her year was up. She got a lot of undergarments also. This time she wasn't surprised when Rhett started offering his opinion on all of her choices including her undergarments. She did blush but she wasn't surprised.

After they left the dress shop Rhett said, "After those dresses are ready, I don't ever want to see you in black again. I will not have you wear black for a man you didn't even like."

"I liked Frank, but I get your point. I don't want to wear widow's weeds ever again."

They went to the hat shop and got several hats to match the dresses they had just ordered. They went to the cobbler and ordered her some shoes.

They went to the bank and Rhett wired ten thousand dollars into her Atlanta bank account.

All in all, it was an exceptionally good morning.

Scarlett had a wonderful time when she was in London. It was like their time in New Orleans without the unfortunate sigh and the name calling. Maybe because Rhett was always referring to her as Mrs. Butler, their living together felt just like it did when they lived together in Atlanta.

As soon as one of her new dresses was ready, she had Rhett take them to the portrait studio and had their picture taken.

During the first week Scarlett told Rhett he wasn't allowed to drink in the house. They had a fight over that. No matter what Rhett said or how Rhett said it. Scarlett would simply reply, "I want you to take care of yourself. Drinking a lot of alcohol is not good for you. I quit drinking and so should you." Every time Rhett brought alcohol into the house, she would just pour it down the drain when Rhett wasn't home. If Rhett had the servants buy it, she would pour it down the drain before Rhett even got home. Scarlett knew that Rhett was a mean drunk and she didn't want to put up with that. At one point Rhett threatened to send her back to Georgia. She claimed that was alright with her, if drinking alcohol was more important than her being with him, she would be glad to go back to Georgia. She didn't want to go back yet because she still wanted to get pregnant with Bonnie, but she would go. She didn't want to live with mean drunk Rhett, and she wasn't going to.

After a month of all this Rhett just quit bringing alcohol home or ordering the servants to buy it. He never acknowledged her victory though. When they went out in the evening for social gatherings, Rhett at first made a point of having four or five drinks. When he would, Scarlett would think, 'It is just like Mammy said Rhett has to be the victor in any conflict even if he ends up hurting himself with that victory.' By Christmas Rhett was rarely drinking.

Once she got Rhett to stop drinking in the house, she started trying to get him to smoke less. She knew all those cigars were not good for his health either. She knew she couldn't get him to quit smoking, but she hoped she could get him to smoke less. She was hoping they would be together for the rest of their lives and if so, she wanted Rhett to live a long time. When Scarlett first asked him, "Please don't smoke it's not good for you."

Rhett had replied, "I will send you back to Georgia before I quit smoking."

"Just try to not smoke as much. I want you to live for a very long time."

He had stared at her and lit a cigar. She had just smiled and said, "Please try."

She never said another word about it, but she would give him a disapproving look every time he lit another cigar. He never quit completely but he did cut down considerably.

She now knew that Rhett would never do anything or stop doing anything just because she had asked him not to. She also knew that she could coerce him into doing things for her. She was behaving like Melanie. She wasn't attacking the obstacle straight on. She was finding a way around it.

Scarlett knew that she was never going to win a verbal battle with Rhett. He was just too much smarter than her or maybe he was better educated than she was or maybe because he was so much older than her. Furthermore, he would do or say whatever he thought he needed to say to win the argument. She knew he would be ruthless in his endeavor to be the victor. In the earlier timeline she had been determined to win the argument also even though she was clearly out matched. She would just stop talking and leave the room when he started being mocking and sarcastic.

She now knew from their previous history that when Rhett's random comments or mockery turned hateful there was something bothering him. She would badger him until he told her what the actual problem was. For the most part they were happy together in London. They were talking more openly than they ever had before. She made a point of paying attention to what Rhett wanted or needed because he didn't verbalize his wants and needs very well.

If she did something, she thought was wrong, she would quickly apologize. That was so extremely hard at first, but she made herself do it. She worked awfully hard to not lose her temper with Rhett. She failed more times than she liked but she was getting better at controlling her temper.

She was going to be a better person no matter what kind of person Rhett chose to be. Scarlett thought she had achieved a major victory when Rhett apologized for a rude comment he had made at her expense. She accepted his apology and made sure to never smirk. Rhett still didn't apologize very often but every time he did it made Scarlett so very happy. That was more than he had done their entire marriage.

Rhett bought her dresses all that year. He would often come home with a dress box or a jewelry box or a hat box. Scarlett was always appreciative of these gifts. He bought her home books also. They were, 'those horrible dime novels' that she liked, and he abhorred. He would also give her better literature at the same time. He would bring four or five of the dime novels home to her and one book of good literature. She would try to read them all. Some of those she liked as well but she like the dime novels best of all.

She spent a lot of time with her children. She tried very hard not to snap or yell at them. She failed more times than she wanted to admit but she kept trying. She read to them. She took them to the park. She made herself get up and have breakfast with Wade every morning. Most of the time Rhett was there too which was fine. She was excited when Ella met all her markers. She was so glad to get this opportunity to spend time with her children. She had missed so much the first time by her single-minded pursuit of money and Ashley. She had long conversations with Wade. Now that he was relaxed in her company, he was quite the chatterbox. She wasn't looking forward to going through Ella's endless questions phase again, but she would. If things didn't work out like she hoped, then she hoped Wade really didn't remember much about this year. She didn't have any memories from when she was six so hopefully the same will be true for Wade also. Scarlett knew Ella wasn't going to remember any of their time in London. Rhett spent as much time with the children as he had in the earlier timeline.

She was always making him take her to get their picture taken in London and wherever they traveled to. On one rare occasion she allowed a picture to be taken of all four of them.

After they had been living together for two months Scarlett told Rhett she loved him while they were out for supper. He was happy but he didn't tell her he loved her. She didn't know if he didn't trust her, or he didn't love her. She didn't care. The day after she told him she loved him he brought her home a ring. It was a beautiful emerald surrounded by diamonds.

About two weeks after her declaration of love he asked her about her feelings for Mr. Wilkes. She said, "Just something I couldn't have. He is better suited to Melly than to me." Rhett smiled really big and hurried her up the stairs but there was no declaration of love, but he did give her the vulgar diamond the next day.

It was then that Scarlett knew that Rhett wasn't just trying to buy her love. He was also trying to tell her of his love. That was nice but he was going to have to say the words, or she would go back to Georgia at the end of their year.