Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Anyone who has ever had to take care of a two-year-old knows it is no easy task. Rhett has found this out also. I also wanted Scarlett to have been more interactive with her children when Rhett was not around. Scarlett would have realized that the only way she was going to be able to have a relationship with Bonnie was when Rhett wasn't there. That way he could not take over the situation.
Chapter Two
Rhett Butler was sitting in his hotel room in San Francisco. He would have like to go out to a saloon. He would like to play poker and have conversations with other men, but he couldn't. There was no one to watch over his daughter. The nursemaid he had hired had only lasted two days before she quit. She had quit this very evening when Bonnie had thrown a temper tantrum over having to take a bath. The longest he had been able to keep a nursemaid was a week. He had not been able to keep a nursemaid because his daughter was uncontrollable.
He was having a cigar and a glass of whiskey on the balcony. His daughter was finally asleep in her bed. It was getting harder and harder to get her to go to sleep. Every night when he put her to bed she would say, "Mama kiss."
When he said, "Your mother isn't here. Go to sleep."
"Go home."
"We aren't going home."
Then the child would start crying and wailing. The only thing that would calm her down is when he said, "We will go home for Ella's birthday."
Rhett had decided that was the excuse he would use to return home before it had been a year.
It had been a terrible time since he had run away from Scarlett in April. Bonnie had been out of control almost from the beginning. Prissy had been absolutely no help. Bonnie had asked for her mother the very first night when he was tucking her in bed. He had understood kiss and Mama, but he had not understood what she wanted. Finally, having tried to get the child to say it clearer repeatedly she had refused to talk to him. He had said, "Your mother is at home. We are going to have a grand adventure just the two of us. You are going to meet my mother, your grandmother."
She had said, "Go home."
Rhett had been tired and worn out from his three-day drinking marathon at Belle's and the train trip that he had snapped at Bonnie. He had said, "Be quiet and go to sleep."
She had turned her back on him and started crying. When he had tried to comfort her and tell her he was sorry for snapping at her, she held herself as stiff as a board and threw herself back onto the mattress repeatedly. He finally left her alone and let her cry herself to sleep.
When he had asked Prissy about it, she had said, "Miss Scarlett gives the children a kiss every night before they go to sleep."
Rhett had calmly said, "No, she doesn't. She never goes in the nursery when they are going to bed. She sure doesn't go in my room." He would have noticed that.
"She kisses the girls when they are taking their baths and Wade goes to see her right before he goes to bed."
Rhett had never noticed. Where was he when all this was happening? Probably smoking his after-supper cigar. After a week of Bonnie crying for her mother every afternoon when it was time to take her nap, Rhett asked Prissy why did Bonnie do that. Prissy informed Rhett that every afternoon after lunch when he left to go to the bank Scarlett had read Ella and Bonnie stories before they took their naps. When they got up from their naps Scarlett shared their snack with the children. She often stayed in the nursery and played dolls with her daughters. When Wade got home from school, she would sit with him while he had a snack. The boy would tell her about his day.
Every week it had gotten worse. His mother had been no help. She had never been an on-hands mother. She had left her children with the Mammy to raise. She would only see her children at supper. Rhett had not known that Bonnie was that attached to her mother. He had finally decided to bring Bonnie back to Scarlett then run away in the night but when they had gotten to the Atlanta station, he just couldn't leave Bonnie. He couldn't face people laughing at him behind his back. He couldn't face being the cuckholded husband. He had known he was leaving her to face the matrons' censure alone. He had once wanted to protect her and take care of her but instead he had abandoned her to their scorn. He also knew that he was behaving very hypocritically considering how much shame he had forced on Scarlett over the last two years, yet he couldn't stop himself from behaving badly.
Over these last four months he had finally begun to appreciate how much work Mammy did in regard to taking care of Bonnie. Since he had left Prissy in Atlanta, he had even begun to miss her. At least she never quit on him. He had known that in the last two years all he had ever done with Bonnie was play with her while it was convenient for him. While he had been spending his nights at Belle's he had never once wondered who was taking care of Bonnie or even if Bonnie was being taken care of. He knew now that Scarlett was right, he needed to start saying 'no' to Bonnie.
What Rhett didn't know was that already at two and a half his daughter was already a manipulative person which is only right because both her parents were manipulative people. She didn't yet have the mental capability to form a full plan, but she did know that when she cried for her mother her Daddy gave her what she wanted, and she wanted to go home. She enjoyed spending time with her Daddy, but she missed Mama, Ella, Wade, Prissy and Mammy.
When Scarlett got to Tara with all her staff and stuff, Suellen asked sarcastically, "Are you moving in?"
Scarlett had simply said, "Yes," She didn't wait for Suellen to respond she just walked to the stairs.
Later that evening over supper while looking at Suellen, Scarlett said, "I'm sorry I married Frank, but you got a better man in Will."
She hadn't meant it, but she was going to live at Tara for the rest of her life, so she had to make peace with her sister.
Her first morning at Tara Scarlett had to loosen her corset and she thought, 'I got out of Atlanta just in time.' No one in Atlanta could ever know about her baby. If anyone found out, then everyone would find out including Belle. If Belle knew sooner or later, she would tell Rhett. Rhett would be so mad if he found out that way. He would think it was Ashley's child. He might be mad enough to ride down to Tara to confront her. It would be the first time he had ever visited the place.
Scarlett didn't think Suellen would tell anyone. She didn't know anyone that Sue corresponded with regularly for her to tell. Sue hated writing letters to anyone. Even though Will went every month to get the supplies she knew he would never tell anyone. She smiled as she thought, 'Will is certainly not a blabber mouth.' She had almost laughed.
She looked at her children while they were on the train and knew without a doubt that despite her neglect of them, they loved her more than any other person on this earth. Mammy and Melanie were the only other people who loved her. With an earth-shattering clarity she knew that none of her beaus or husbands had loved her as much as Wade, Ella, and Mammy. Ashley didn't even love her as much as her children and she had sacrificed so much for him. With that thought there was a large crack in her perfect image of Ashley. When she had told Wade and Ella, they were going to Tara for the summer. Only Ella had questioned the decision and not really. Ella had said, "I hope Bonnie is back when we return."
The strangest thing happened when she was at Tara. She became stronger. She became more like herself before the war ended. No more like herself before she started her quest to find the perfect husband. No, not the perfect husband, not the best husband but the most socially prominent man in the county. If not the state. Her quest had been to marry someone rich and prominent in the county so she could be someone important. The Wilkes had been the richest family in the county. Ashley had been very handsome. They had also had a lot of social status. They had been the cream of society. She guessed they still were. She remembered every one of the matrons had been shocked that Charles Hamilton had married her. She had never taken the time to wonder why because she had thought she was the best of the best. She had felt Charles was lucky she had married him since he was so socially inept. She had certainly married better than those shrews at La Fayette Academy probably did. Definitely her first marriage and probably her third marriage. Rhett was one of the richest men in Georgia.
When she was at La Fayette Academy, she found out that being half Irish was not something to be proud of. The other girls had ridiculed her and made fun of her Irish side. She found out that her aunts were not the only people who looked down on the Irish. The other girls had hurt her deeply with their comments about her being Irish. She was proud of being Irish and she was proud of her Pa. They never stopped making unkind comments to her and about her. That was the first-time people had talked about her behind her back. That is when the other girls started becoming just the competition. They weren't her friends. No, they were just the competition just like the other sawmill owners had been just the competition. By the time she had graduated from La Fayette Academy her heart had hardened and she had stopped caring about other young ladies. She had lost all compassion for other women.
As she reflected on her time at La Fayette Academy, it was there that she began to dislike Suellen. Even though Suellen was her sister no one teased her about being half Irish or if they did it wasn't in a mean way. All the girls had like Suellen. Suellen and she had shared a room and Scarlett knew that the girls invited Suellen to attend events just so they could be sure Scarlett knew she was not being included. Scarlett knew that if Suellen reflected on her time she probably remembered it as a happy memory.
As Scarlett was sitting in the swing, she remembered how happy she had been when she had gone to La Fayette Academy. Before then she had always been liked by all the other girls. At that time even India and Honey had been her friends. More Honey than India for India was five years older than her. She remembered Melly coming to visit during the summer. Melly had been sickly and had not been able to run and play. The girls had to stay at the house instead of being outside. She had never liked to stay inside in the summertime so she would stay at Tara when Melanie and Charles visited. She and Suellen had walked over to Twelve Oaks a couple of times so Sue could play with the Wilkes girls and their cousin. Scarlett smiled when she thought, 'I went with Sue just to make her happy because Mother wouldn't let Sue go by herself.' She smiled and also thought, 'Ashley had just been a shadowy figure then. Just an annoying older brother.' She remembered thinking how lucky she was that she didn't have an older brother.
When she went to La Fayette Academy, she had been so excited. She and Honey had chattered like magpie birds all the way there. She and Honey had shared a room that first year. The first month at La Fayette had been fun and the other girls had been nice to her. She and Honey had gone home after a month. Mr. Wilkes had picked them up and her Pa had dropped them off. When Pa had dropped her and Honey off, he had said something in that way he had of speaking that let the world know he was Irish. She had seen Abigail Newman look at her and Honey with a mean little smile. As Scarlett thought about it, she decided that Abigail who hadn't been very bright had not realized that O'Hara was an Irish surname.
After that Abigail started making unkind comments about her including her being half-Irish. She would never know what she had done to make Abigail dislike her. Maybe nothing. Abigail had been a pretty blue-eyed blonde who had taken a dislike to Scarlett probably for the same reason most women disliked her. It was her that never let the talk die down. It was her that made sure Scarlett was not included in events. It was her who made unkind comments about Scarlett all the time. It was her that all the other girls had sided with including Suellen because none of them wanted Abigail disliking them.
Author's Notes: MM who I believe was of Irish descent herself never mentions how much prejudism there was in 19th century America against the Irish and the Catholics which I believe is a real oversight by her.
There would be signs in store windows that stated: Hiring. Irish need not apply.
