Jaded Orbs- Um Scarlett certainly didn't expect to make it either.
AN: Lol. I think I kept most of you after that chapter. Sure I lose a few silent lurkers there. Pork is getting a backstory, so if anyone spots anything that doesn't fit with the minimal amount of information we were provided with. Please scream at me and I will change it.
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Part Seven
Late May 1868
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Odd how things could be so normal with a thrill of excitement coursing through her. How the next morning Rhett took Ella from the wagon, laughed at Wade jumping down and smiled as he extended his hand for Scarlett.
It always sent a thrill through her, but now…but now there was an understanding of what that thrill was. He went off with Wade for his riding lesson, Ella went off with Estelle, Scarlett went to her books and correspondence. Only the numbers and words swirled in her head. Her gaze constantly lifting to the door awaiting a handle to turn or to the clock to see how much longer until a handle turned.
She wondered how long they could have. She would look over at the chaise and then be horrified with herself for even thinking such a thing.
She had worked herself into such a state that she was pacing when he returned. She was ready to run out the door and retrieve Wade and Ella and flee to Tara. She nearly made it to the handle twice upon hearing Rhett and Wade enter the house. Unsure if Rhett was taking far longer than normal to enter the room or if it were in her imagination.
She was noticeably panicked when he finally entered the room, he didn't pause to make any comments, he simply shut the door and swept her up into his arms.
She struggled to not be lost in the moment. "We can't."
"Yes, my dear we can," his hands moved over her body with an ease that was now well practiced.
"It's wrong."
He pulled her tighter, "This is very much right. Just say the word Scarlett and we can erase the only scrap of wrong associated with this."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can my sweet," he said trailing kisses along her neck.
She noticed the fingers at her buttons. "The children."
"I suggested Estelle take them outside to play, it's such a nice day."
"But-"
"Do you really want me to stop Scarlett?" Rhett's head lifted back to look into her eyes.
"No," she admitted.
"Then all the rest we'll talk about later," he said dropping his head for a kiss.
o-o-o
Suellen greeted them at the door with a smile as they arrived at Tara. It was starting to feel as if they were visiting family when they arrived at Tara in the afternoon, rather than Scarlett and her children returning home for the day.
Rhett at Scarlett's side with Ella in his arms, Wade always reaching the porch before them.
"Melly and Beau will be coming to visit next week, we just got word today that she'll be able to come," Suellen announced.
"Why I thought she wasn't coming until June-" Scarlett paused and realized it would be June. She had been awful at keeping up with her letters since Calverton.
"What a delight," Rhett smiled, "Wade, I'm sure you'll have more fun playing with Beau than your sister and I."
"Are they really coming?" The boy's eyes were wide.
"They are, they will be on the train next Tuesday," Suellen smiled. "There's so much to do, we'll need to clean and air the room, wash the bedding-"
"Yes," Scarlett answered with a forced smile upon her face, "we can get started on a list of chores after Captain Butler leaves."
A frown of confusion passed over Suellen and Rhett's face.
"Now I must freshen up before dinner, it's starting to get dreadfully hot don't you think," Scarlett nodded and moved to hurry up the stairs towards the safety of her room.
Oh the shame of having Melly come. What had she been thinking of with Rhett? Not just the last two days, but the months before. The disgrace of it all was suddenly too much. Melly would be able to see. Scarlett's only relief was that Ashley was far too busy with the mill to take any time away. Scarlett would be distraught for him to realize what type of a woman his love had turned into. What not having him had driven her to.
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"How can Miss Melly coming to visit put you in such a state?" Rhett questioned softly while they sat in the parlor, Suellen and Will out of the room.
She flinched as his finger went to trail behind her ear, "Don't touch me." It was all so reprehensible suddenly. Rhett sitting next to her and the children playing on the carpet before her suddenly wasn't nice and easy, but awful. She couldn't even look up at the picture of Paris. Perhaps he was right, perhaps they should marry and flee the county. Perhaps even the entire country.
"Oh my darling," he said tenderly and turned her face to his. "You must stop this. Put those thoughts of hell and judgement out of your mind. We have done nothing unnatural or wrong."
"How can you say that?"
"Because what lay between us, how natural, good and wonderful it is, may be the best proof of God that I have ever encountered."
"Rhett, don't you dare start spouting off about sunrises or an animal in a field."
"It was a coyote on a hill," he filled in a story he had once told her.
"Stop trying to make me feel better. My self-loathing is well deserved. My mother-"
He smiled, "Would have likely planned us a wedding months ago. You would be living at Calverton instead of forcing me back and forth multiple times a day."
"You can take dinner at home and I can certainly manage Ella-"
"It's non-negotiable Scarlett, this is the path of courting you'll have until you have enough of it and are ready for marriage."
"I'll never be ready for marriage."
He shrugged. "Then we'll do this for decades. Do you snore my dear is that why you are so frantic-"
She elbowed him in the ribs as she heard Will's uneven gait down the hall.
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Early June 1868
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Scarlett simply couldn't understand herself. How her great shame could also please her so much. How happy she was with the image they presented. Rhett had insisted on accompanying her to retrieve Melly and Beau from the station. Ella was walking on a bench with Rhett holding her hands to ensure she didn't crash to the ground below, they were both laughing and having a great time. Wade was practicing with his yo-yo eager to show his cousin the new trick he had learned, the trick being that he had finally started to get the yo-yo to go up and down, instead of its previous path of down and then potentially injuring someone or breaking something nearby as Wade flung it up into the air.
They were such a beautiful sight and Scarlett didn't mind strangers thinking that they were a family. A well off, happy family, so uncommon in this area. Rhett was simply so good with them. No man was ever this good with children that weren't his, she didn't imagine anyone would question for even a moment that Wade and Ella were his, theirs.
Scarlett felt such a damper with Melly's impending visit. Resentful of Melly interrupting the life she had formed. There would be no stolen moments with Rhett, no happy picnics with Rhett and the children.
The day before she had been nearly frantic with the idea of not touching Rhett for a week. She knew he felt it as well. It had been well into the afternoon and nearly time for them to leave when he had swept into the office and closed the door before capturing her in a kiss.
There wasn't time for anything, the minutes were counting down.
He had carried her over to a stool by the bookcase. They were joined fully dressed with her holding her skirts up. She hadn't never even thought of such a thing. There should have been embarrassment afterwards, but instead only relief, satisfaction. Feeling the way they both struggled for breath. The way Rhett's arm had left the leg he'd been holding hooked at his waist and had his hand fell to the bookcase behind them as it held them both up.
He told her he loved her right after they finished.
It wasn't the first time he'd said such a thing. He had said it went he joined up; he had said it when he proposed.
She wondered if he did. If he truly did. He'd had her in the base way he'd always wanted her. He had no need to say the words. She wondered if it were really as good for him as it were for her. That what he had said about other partners were true. Was the satisfaction he found with her really far greater than what he'd found with others?
What would it mean if he loved her? She wondered if she could maybe find happiness with Rhett as Will had suggested. If they could have a good life. The kind of life to make up for what she had done before. Why it would be mean to forsake him if he truly did love her. All those vows she'd have made would mean far less if it meant preventing pain for Rhett. Rhett who had saved her life and Wade's and even Melly and Beau's. Surely her mother would understand that. She could be a good wife, like her mother. She could be a good mother far easier with a father like Rhett, a father like her own. So willing to dote and spoil the children.
She wanted this visit with Melly to be over before it even began so she could find answers. Her foot tapped impatiently as passengers began to depart the train, her eyes scanning the length of the train.
She saw the flash of blonde far faster than she saw Melly. Ashley as he placed a hat upon the gleaming strands of pale gold. Ashley back home. Back home where he had loved her. Where she'd thought they would marry and be happy together. Ashley, who had returned home and had slowly driven all the other boys out of her mind with the easy manner they'd had together. Then one day out of nowhere after months of devotion, it had simply passed for him. Suddenly she wasn't enough, but she was too much at the same time. He'd loved her though. Even as he said those words. Even as he watched her marry Charles. Even as he married Melly. He'd loved her. He was too much of a coward to take her on, but he had loved her. If only she had tried harder to be the type of woman her mother wanted her to be. Maybe-
"Scarlett."
Scarlett's eyes shot up to Rhett. "Do behave yourself. He is her husband."
Oh the shame. The shame that she thought could grow no greater, certainly could.
"I see them!" Wade yelled.
"Go to them my boy, but don't get in anyone's way. Your mother and I will follow directly behind." His voice was light, but firm with Wade. Then his attention returned to her, "Do recall whose name you cry out, whose body you want pressed against yours," Rhett said in a low voice. The coldness in his eyes and voice, so long gone had returned.
"We should go greet them," she smiled. "Oh my they brought Pork and Dilcey and their children. Mammy's going to be furious that Dilcey's here. And Pork, that traitor choosing to be in Atlanta when he'd been with my father since '31." She looked back up at Rhett, "You know he stole food from us, while we were all starving."
"It will be nice for Mammy to be angry with someone that isn't me," he said with a smile, his earlier mood completely erased.
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"Your scent is different," Melanie said with a thoughtful look as if she finally realized the difference in Scarlett.
"My scent?" Scarlett worried the woman could smell Rhett on her even though they hadn't touched in two days. Had she somehow changed? Were the physical longings that now coursed through her apparent to others?
"It was some type of a musk wasn't it?"
Her fragrance, Melly was discussing the fragrance she wore, relief washed over her."Musk with nutmeg and cloves," a luxury she could no longer indulge in.
"Lemon verbena?" Melly asked about her current scent.
Scarlett nodded. She had avoided the scent while she was married to Frank, as the months wore on what had once been a comforting smell made her want to dash out of Kennedy's when she caught a whiff of it.
"It's lovely," Melly smiled.
"It was my mother's favorite scent," Scarlett nodded. She kept the scent on her to remind her what she needed to do, who she needed to be. There were moments it was as good as her mother being there to stop her from being reckless, to force her to be kind.
"Aunt Pitty used to smell of lemon and bergamot," Melly smiled, "do you recall how sad she was that her plants died? I think she expected us to flee Atlanta with them. It was ever so kind of you when you replaced the bergamot."
It had taken a lot of effort on her part to not have Aunt Pitty replace the lemon. "I'll have to send you home with cuttings of the lemon," Scarlett smiled, feeling guilty of how she had kept such a small pleasure from the older woman while she spent money on an expensive oil they hadn't even kept stocked in the store the demand for it was so low.
"That would just delight her," Melly smiled, "how kind of you."
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The next day Scarlett took a wagon full of people to Calverton for Suellen had refused to be left behind when there was socializing to be done. It would have been exhausting if she weren't so proud and excited to show off what she and Rhett had done.
The house had been polished as best it could. The siding repaired and a fresh coat of white paint on it. The windows gleamed and tulips lined the front of the house. The old stable was in the process of being torn down so another could be built in its place. A round pen already completely, work on the arena was due to start in a matter of days. Then bunkhouse was done and they were nearly done with the second cabin. Rhett planned to get a cook the next time he went to New Orleans, but the first cabin held Estelle and two maids, who tended to the house and the garden. Rhett's kitchen garden was already more plentiful than Tara's and he was often arriving at the house with a basket of produce.
Why Rhett's garden, the chicken coop and the three milk cows had more than ingratiated him to the neighbors with the surplus. He had started to plant an orchard as well. The land could give back, he could be self-sufficient on the land. He had listened to every word of Will and Scarlett's regarding it. He had drawn the line at raising pigs for slaughter stating that he had seen enough blood firsthand. That itself ingratiated him to others who would be dependent on their rich neighbor being able to afford meat when so many struggled to. It was such a comfort to see the property with so much. It could easily support those at Calverton and Tara.
"Why it's so different," Melly said with wide eyes as she took Ashley's hand out of the wagon as Rhett had already taken Ella from Scarlett.
"Wade why don't you go show Beau your pony while your mother and I show your aunts and uncle around," Rhett told Wade as he helped Scarlett out of the wagon.
"Don't go into the stall until Captain Butler comes," Scarlett added.
"The stable boy is there, he knows the boys are coming." Rhett easily allayed her concerns, he turned his attention back to the boys, "Ford will help you boys take Scout out. Listen to his every word as if it were mine."
"Yes sir," the boys chimed in unison raced off towards the stables.
"Well you're certainly good with him," Melly smiled.
"He's a wonderful boy."
"There's so much of his father in him," Melly smiled still looking after the boys.
"He must have been a great man."
"Oh he was and simply the best brother just as Wade is to Ella," Melly turned her attention to the little girl in Rhett's arms.
"Captain Butler," Estelle said walking out, "should I take Miss Ella up to the nursery?"
"Yes, thank you. I do believe she could use to be on her feet for awhile, unless-" he turned to Scarlett.
"The day has barely started she's not ruining her dress before noon," Scarlett replied wanting her daughter inside, the baby got far too much color as it was, it was such a challenge to keep a child as fair and curious as Ella in the shade.
"Thank you, Estelle," Rhett said handing off the toddler.
"The children have a nursery here?" Melly questioned.
"Of course, Scarlett has an office here and has to be on the grounds to oversee the planning and construction."
"Oh," Melly nodded, "yes that makes sense."
"Do you mind if I walk the grounds?" Ashley asked.
"I was just about to give you a tour," Rhett smiled.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to say goodbye first," Ashley nodded, "To take a minute and-"
"Of course, I'll take the ladies around myself, I'll get Miss Melly's opinion on the house Scarlett thinks I should build."
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Scarlett wished more than anything she could put the memories of the past away. She wished she could forget Ashley and everything Ashley had once been to her. How he had sat in the parlor with her before, how he had sat courting her. It was so different now than it was after he came home from the war. The house now so greatly repaired it didn't seem quite so unlike the time before only it was.
A few moments had occurred where things had seemed nice and she could enjoy herself, but mostly Scarlett found the situation uncomfortable and she suspected it had to do with Rhett Butler himself. It was hard to enjoy herself with her family knowing what she had done with him only days prior and worse what she still wished to do.
"She's certainly more responsive with her mother around," Scarlett remarked as Prissy left the room with Ella. Scarlett would normally have to hunt the girl down to take care of the toddler.
"Are you still mad Dilcey and Pork chose to stay in Atlanta with us?" Melanie questioned.
Scarlett looked offput by the suggestion and didn't dare look around to see if anyone believed it. "I was hardly mad. Frankly, the only thing I remain mad at is getting my father to buy Dilcey. I'd certainly never have suggested it if I thought he'd bring home Prissy as well."
Ashley smiled as if let in on a joke only he and Scarlett knew. Rhett wanted to punch him in his very handsome face.
"I imagine there's a story here," Rhett supplied. "Is Prissy not Pork's blood?"
Scarlett looked to Ashley.
Ashley began his remembrance, "John, he was a field hand, he died in an accident just before I left for school."
Sullen took a turn to chime in, "Pork fell in love with Dilcey and Scarlett insisted our Pa buy her."
"I would say he wasted good money on her, but the money means nothing now," Scarlett shook her head, still peeved by her father's lack of business acumen.
"Scarlett," Rhett said with a studious look at her, "what an incredibly kind gesture."
"It wasn't anything," Scarlett brushed it off.
"Scarlett was a romantic before she was a business woman," Sullen commented.
Scarlett saw Rhett's mouth opening and knew she had to stop it, "Pork had been with our family for thirty years. For all he did for Pa, he certainly deserved some happiness."
"What is he? 50?" Rhett questioned.
"Likely closer to 60. Pa got him in '31, he was 19 or twenty."
"At least 55 and that boy is his eldest?" Rhett remarked.
"Oh no, he had two wives before Dilcey," Suellen filled in. "Scarlett spent ages trying to figure out what happen to the first wife."
"Consider me intrigued," Rhett said holding his gaze to hers.
"Me as well," Melly added.
Rhett gave a look to Ashley; it was easy to do since he was sitting next to his wife and she had just spoken. It was clear the other man knew the story that Scarlett had just been prompted to tell.
"It's hardly that interesting. Pa won Pork, so Pork came to us and his first wife and their boy remained where they were. Pa tried to buy them a few years later, after he got Tara, but they'd already been sold."
"I assume this is where the second wife came in?"
"Pork married one of the slaves my mother brought with her from Savannah."
"Don't tell me he waited a decade out of respect for his first wife," Rhett remarked with skepticism.
"I imagine he and my Pa were busy, Pa didn't think to take a wife either," Scarlett tossed off the suggestion.
"I do hope the man had some happiness before his next heartache."
"There was a baby, I was far too young to recall anything aside from that, it must have been young. I remember how Pa came into the nursery when it happened, he woke us all up and held us together."
"How tragic," Rhett remarked.
"Hany got pregnant again a few years later, I remember she and my mother were expecting at the same time. Pa remarked how they would both have sons at the same time. I'm fairly certain Pa had it all planned out. The boy would be my brother's companion and then be his valet just as Pork."
"That obviously never came to fruition."
"Hany died and the baby within her," Scarlett spoke without emotion.
"What terrible heartbreak," Will remarked softly breaking the interplay between Scarlett and Rhett.
"Scarlett spent the better part of a year after that trying to find his first family," Suellen remarked.
"My dear, how old were you to undertake such a thing."
"Nine and I hardly did anything aside from force my father to contact the former owners. My mother took care of all of the correspondence."
"I hesitate to ask what was uncovered," Melly spoke with the likely knowledge that was to follow would be tragic.
"The boy died. He'd been dead for ages. The wife remarried had several new children. Her owner offered to sell her to us, but Pork wouldn't let Pa buy her."
"Well I suppose we should all take solace that Pork has been able to persevere and find happiness again," Rhett commented.
"Are we done with the morbid talk?" Scarlett asked Rhett, looking annoyed by the tale he had forced her to recount.
"Anything in particular you'd like to discuss?" Rhett questioned.
"No just enough of Pork, or Prissy or Dilcey and certainly no more of Jackson."
"Georgia's pending readmittance," Ashely said with an easy humor, normally so long gone from him.
Suellen let out a light laugh.
"Certainly not," Scarlett's eyes widened.
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The third afternoon into the Wilkes' visit conversation at the dinner table was centered on Rhett's upcoming trip to New Orleans. He was teasingly proposing to bring back crates of Sauternes, which Scarlett knew would please her sister to no end. Suellen had suggested the other day that they make their mother's blackberry and lemon cordials this summer. Scarlett had thought immediately of the cherry trees at Calverton and how Mrs. Calvert had made a Cherry Bounce that was sweet with just a hint of sour, it had been such a thrill when they'd finally been allowed to try it instead of stealing sips when no one was watching.
The mood was so light and happy, Mammy had one of her rare victories and had gotten Ella out of the room promising to sit in the shade with the little girl. The boys were talking quietly to each other and Scarlett was hoping that whatever they were looking at with their hands hidden just out of her view was not alive.
"Will you be bringing your ward back?" Scarlett questioned suddenly as she saw Wade thriving as he finally had company.
"My ward, no he's quite settled in New Orleans."
"But you have Calverton now and a maid to care for him," Scarlett questioned.
"I am still a bachelor," he reminded her.
"You should at least bring him for a visit."
"I wouldn't know the first thing to do with him."
"Well, he could stay here with us," Scarlett found the words emerging from her mouth. Suddenly in her mind the perfect solution. Wade would be occupied. It was certainly something her mother would suggest, after all Rhett was their neighbor in need. The boy had practically been an orphan his whole life, some time in the country would be good for him. She would also finally have it answered if the ward was his or not. She had no idea what she would do if the child showed up with dark hair and eyes.
"I think that's an excellent plan Scarlett," Will added on.
Suellen shot her husband a look.
"Another fieldhand," Will smiled at Wade.
"Two boys will hardly take any more work than one, it's not as if he's a baby," Scarlett pointed out.
"I could have Estelle come up while he's here," Rhett offered.
"That's not necessary," Scarlett was quick to shoot it down, for as much as she wanted that woman out of Rhett's house, she didn't want Calverton's servants talking to Tara's.
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Rhett hosted a barbeque for the Wilkes on the fifth day of their visit. Scarlett had yet again failed at avoiding the kitchen, although it was significantly better when Melly told her what to do than Prissy.
It wasn't a grand party, but a simple one.
Scarlett was more than grateful Rhett had not obtained a piano for Estelle to entertain his guests.
Mrs. Tarleton got to see the two quarter horses that had come in with a trainer only days before and no one interacted with Mrs. Tarleton for the rest of the party unless they went to the round pen or stable.
Wade got to show off his pony.
Their neighbors all got the full tour of the changes that had occurred at Pine Bloom and provide never-ending advice regarding the horses, the garden, the milk cows, the chickens and certainly the servants.
"A gothic revival?" Ashley's voice was low, despite no one being close enough to hear them.
Rhett had invited a newly returned neighbor and his family. The DeVaughns, he was a southerner and had grown up on the opposite side of Jonesboro, she was a northerner and Scarlett was fairly certain they had enough children to double the size of Wade's class. The father and the boys were attempting to teach everyone how to play cricket out on an open stretch of field. Scarlett had no interest in standing in the glaring sun watching the men play with balls and sticks.
"Yes, doesn't it sound lovely?" She remarked.
"Sounds as if it will be a grand and beautiful house."
"It does, doesn't it?" She couldn't help but smile looking over at where the house would be. The architect finally had the drafts done, it looked even more beautiful on paper than it had in her head.
"Ten bedrooms, three parlors."
"Four," she corrected him.
"Four?"
"Family parlor, formal parlor, lady's parlor and gentleman's parlor."
"The bachelor has a need for a family parlor and a lady's parlor."
She hadn't quite thought of it that way when planning it with Rhett and the architect and neither of them had stopped her or made a comment on it. "He has his ward and who knows Rhett's long-term plans."
"I do believe the entire county knows of Captain Butler's long-term plans."
"I don't know what you mean," was her only response. She couldn't talk about Rhett with Ashley.
"I envy the shelter, the beauty of the life you'll lead. The way your children will be raised." He nodded once and then he headed off towards the crowd.
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The day after the BBQ Scarlett set out on the quarter horse Rhett had gifted to her, a beautiful palomino, its pink coat and bright white mane. Mrs. Tarleton hadn't gotten wind of Shimmer, for she did shimmer in the sun, her pearl coat was breathtaking in the right light. She had remarked to Rhett, "Why she's shimmering," as the horse was being ridden by one of the stable hands and the name had stuck.
Scarlett set out towards Rhett, she had agreed to meet him the day before when he had caught her in a rare moment alone. She felt like a girl sneaking out to meet her beau, not a twice-widowed, mother of two. It took everything in her to not race over fields as she had as a girl, but to take them at a slower, safer pace. She kept finding herself speeding up, not sure if it was the exhilaration of riding again after so long or simply the moment she stopped that she would be in his arms.
His dazzling smile looking up at her greeted her as she slowed her horse seeing his tied. The way he took her from her mount as if she weighed no more than Ella.
"One day I imagine we're going to take this slow," he said in between kisses, "I don't think today will be that day."
"One day when you're starting to bore with me?"
"I imagine it will be one day instead of frantic need, one day when I can take the time to savor and linger you, knowing that you'll be there for more than just a few brief moments."
Thanks for reading!