Mr. Butler,
Let me introduce myself, my name is Colum O'Hara. A cousin of your former wife. We have learned of her divorce and while it angers me to know what you did to her, I must say I need to take the matter into my own hand. For Scarlett's happiness and nothing else.
I understand you must have thought the decision through and my cousin Scarlett is not entirely innocent in this. It takes two people to make a marriage work, so does destroying it. Pardon me if I'm out of line, but I need you to take this into your consideration, that Scarlett is currently carrying your child.
She forbids me to tell you this, for she is afraid you will take the baby away from her, but Scarlett don't always think things through. She is angry, but most of all, she is hurt. She asks me to take her away to Ireland with me and I can't say no.
I hope this letter finds you before we depart, and you could work on your problems with Scarlett. My cousin is not a saint, but she and her baby don't deserve to be treated this way. The baby has as many rights to know you as you have to know her.
My regards,
Colum O'Hara
Savannah. How could he never thought she would choose this particular city to hide, with her O'Hara kin no less. While her aunt from the Robillard side is constantly asking for money, the O'Hara never once tried to communicate with Scarlett.
He knocked on the door impatiently. Who would have thought he would be meeting her family from the O'Hara side. He must have been foolish enough to consider a divorce paper could get him rid of Scarlett. Even a divorce won't stop him from aching for her presence.
"May I help you, sir?" A woman answered to the door. She gave him a smile with a dimple that reminds him so much of Scarlett.
"I'm here to meet my wife, Mrs. Butler, ma'am." He could see her gasp. She must have heard the news of her divorce.
"I'm sorry, but there is no Mrs. Butler here." She gave him a remark which once again reminds him of his wife. She must have got her strength from her father's side of the family.
"Scarlett O'Hara Butler, ma'am. I assume she is here?" The woman before him grew silent. He sighed, this woman is just as stubborn as his wife, or his former wife to be exact. If he knows one thing about Scarlett, is that she won't back down easily, but he is not going to give up.
"I will be waiting until Scarlett is ready to see me." He put a pause on his words, "Even if I have to wait in front of this door all day and night until she is ready."
She stepped back from the door, pure hatred is shown on her face. The woman in front of him must have wondered how their dear Scarlett could end up with a scoundrel like him. As if he would know how to answer that. He and Scarlett, while so similar has led a very different life. While he wandered around the world, Scarlett was kept on that little plantation of hers.
"He is gone, isn't he?" He could hear her sweet voice ringing from the parlor, "I have no idea how he finds out where I am or why is he even here. I suppose it is a good thing to move away from South after all."
There she was, his sweet Scarlett. Sitting by the fireplace, how could she look remarkably beautiful even from the back is beyond him. Her hair is not made, that long hair of hers is hanging on her head. Her shoulder is wrapped by a warm blanket.
"Hello, Scarlett." He drawls.
It was a split second when she looked over her shoulder and he could see the panic in her eyes. Panic and fear. But Scarlett is not Scarlett if she can't put on her brave face. Her green eyes are covered with coldness he had never seen before.
"What are you doing here?"
"To take you back home, my pet."
"You no longer have any rights to take me anywhere!" She stands up from the chair. Her eyes are searching for a way out of the parlor without having to confront him. "You should have considered that before you divorce me!"
"Let's not make it any harder than it already is, don't you think? We could go back to Charleston and talk things over."
While he hates Scarlett for what she has done to break his heart, he could make a truce for the sake of the baby in her belly. Another baby would be a blessing for the both of them. It won't replace Bonnie, no one could replace her in his heart but another baby, a living baby!
"Talk?" She spats, "When was the last time we ever talk, Rhett Butler? I won't talk here, or Charleston, or anywhere! I would leave and I suggest you leave this house!"
"You and I will make a truce for the baby, Scarlett! Even if I have to force you to it!"
For a second, Scarlett felt the fear she has never feel for a long time. Her hand reach to her still-flat abdomen in which would grow in a few months. However could Rhett knew about the baby, no one but her O'Hara side of family knew. And no one wanted Scarlett to meet him. They hated him as much as she does for what he did.
"Leave, will you? I have nothing left to say to you. You've divorced me and this baby belongs to me and only me! You won't get your hand on my baby! I will leave this country for good!" Scarlett throws her blanket back to the armchair and makes her way out of the parlor.
Rhett grabbed her by the arm and pulls her closer. Her pain is shown in her eyes and his heart is aching with pain. He has ever seen those look a couple of times, still it hits him severely. When he married her, he wanted to lavish her with goods and love, but every time she puts that look, he couldn't bear but think that he has failed.
"Stop it, Scarlett!" He drawled dangerously, "You will go to Charleston and we will have our talk in my mother's home."
She stood still, her face is putting the stubborn face she has inherited to Bonnie, "You are welcomed to go back to your mother's house but I will not be joining you."
"Oh, but you will Scarlett, whether by your own leg or mine. Your choice."
She stood stubbornly in front of him. Her eyes are gleaming wild with a mix of pain and disbelieve. He picked her like a sack on his shoulder and starts to walk out of the house, ignoring the pain of her little hand's punch.
"Put me down! I will walk! Rhett!"
"My pleasure."
His ride back from Savannah is the most unpleasant moment in the train he could ever think. Scarlett refused to see or talk to him, and there is no need for him to confront her on a train. They would arrive in his mother soon, and they will talk.
"I can't come in, your mother has banned me from her house."
That much he already knew, his mother is one of those people who told him Scarlett's latest scandal. Why she did what she did, he has no idea. Perhaps Ashley Wilkes has never been out of that greedy little heart of hers.
"The deed is in my name and I invite you to come." Even after he said that Scarlett stood freeze in front of his mother's porch, he needs to pull her into his room, which will be theirs.
She stood by the door once he closed it, "Will you stop being difficult?"
"You brought me here against my will and you call me difficult?"
"I will bring you to shop for some frocks this afternoon if you stop being irrational, now sit by the bed so we could talk things through." He eyed the bed with the corner of his eyes.
"But I don't want to talk or new frocks! I want to go home to Tara to take my children and leave as far away from you as possible!"
"And where do you think you will go?"
"Ireland!"
"If I didn't get you in Savannah, will you deny me my rights to know my own daughter?"
"How do you know it's yours? You seem to believe those rumors about Ashley and me! Why don't you think it was his? You have done so with my other baby!"
"Careful, Scarlett." He drawls.
"I don't want to be here in this dreadful and boring city! I want to leave! I want to see my children and leave. Don't you dare try to stop me!"
"I won't if you're not carrying my baby. Damn it, Scarlett I have every right to know my child!"
"You lose every right once you divorced its mother! How could you do something so dreadful to me! I hate you! And I will hate you until I die."
"Very well, then."
Scarlett eyed him warily while he smoothly pushes her aside from the door and leaves. She took a deep breath to calm herself, why Rhett being so nasty to her? She might have done her fair share of stupid things, but she didn't deserve to be treated this way.
He divorced her. Of all the dreadful things he had ever done, he chose to finally put an end on their relationship. Without so much of a glance on how the divorce would meant to her and her children, in which have been under his care for years.
She gave him her heart on a golden platter and begged him to believe and throw it away. He won't even spare a minute for her if he had no idea about a baby. After years of loving her, perhaps that's what is left of her for him.
A woman who gives him babies.
He came back with an envelope on his right hand. The anger in his face matches hers when he closed the door and threw the envelope on the bed. "Read it!"
She took the envelope slowly, her head wonders a lot of things that could come with it. Why can't he just open it and read it to her? Slowly, she rips the opening of it and finds a pile of papers out of it.
"Annulment of divorce." She looks at him with disbelieve, "How?"
"The divorce was made when I wasn't aware of the baby, it is easy to get the annulment out." He explains.
"Yes, the baby." She whispers loud enough for him to hear. "Why else would you annul the divorce if not for the baby. Are you afraid I won't be good enough to take care of Rhett Butler's baby? What is it you used to tell me? Even a cat is a better mother than me?"
"Don't start, Scarlett. I will make a truce if you do. We will do this for the baby in your belly, it deserves to get every affection from both of its parents."
"You can make a truce with yourself Rhett Butler, I'm leaving. I could no longer bear being in the same room with you!" She sighed deeply before spatting out, "You divorce me without a word! And then you take me back solemnly for the baby, I'm not your doll or pet for the matter! I have my own wish and what I wish is for my children and me to be away from you!"
She grips her dress, ready to get out of the door when he grabs her arm harshly, "Very well, Scarlett. You left me with no choice. I'm offering you another deal."
(Author Note) I just watched Scarlett mini series and find it worth watching. Have you watched it? In the movie Rhett divorce Scarlett because she gets into Ashley's hotel room in Charleston when he visits and I think it's a better reason than Rosemary burned her letter.