Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of Margaret Mitchell, her heirs, and their assigns.
Warning, There's still a little alcohol abuse here, and questionable consent.
From the outset, the number of roads Rhett was told to follow was dizzying, but if he simply followed the directions signpost by signpost, it turned out they were just right. He presently came up to a gate with TARA FARM-1874 worked in iron across the top. He turned up the lane and came upon a few men and two small boys. They appeared to be inspecting and mending the fence.
He pulled up and dismounted. One of the men came toward him, and the two boys followed him. Rhett took off his hat. "I'm not sure if this is the right place. I'm looking for Scarlett O'Hara."
"This is the place," said the other man. There was something in the way he said it. Rhett wasn't sure whether to like him. He was easily as tall as Rhett, and as muscular. He took off his hat and showed hair of a tawny golden color, and his eyes were a clear blue. His skin was already somewhat tanned from the April sunshine. Rhett suddenly thought of his own somewhat less healthy form and the fact he hadn't been out of the house much in five years.
One of the little boys piped up. "You must be Cap'n Rhett Butler."
Rhett took a step back and looked at the youngster. "Indeed I am. How do you know?"
The other one nodded. "You look like us, just like Ma said." The youngster's hat tipped off.
Rhett looked again and saw two boys, perhaps five years old, with his black hair and olive complexion and, worst of all, his annoying grin. They had their mother's startling green eyes. He remembered the night he'd forced her to sign the papers and what else happened that night in a rush. He had wondered from time to time, but surely Scarlett would have said something. Apparently, she wouldn't.
"I—" What could one say when faced with this situation? He looked at the boys again. They were the right age, of course, and now they were poking at each other and starting to wrestle. They seemed like perfectly normal, active little boys. Rhett felt his eyes start to water with a particular sort of pride he'd never hoped to have again. Damn Scarlett for keeping this from him.
He looked up the lane and then back toward town. He'd waited five years to find her, and he'd come this far. This was the place, and the woman who'd been part of every waking thought for the past nineteen years was just down this lane. He swallowed the sudden anger that was fighting with everything else in his mind and heart. He'd simply add this to the reasons he needed to see her, the sooner the better.
"Perhaps I should see you to the house," said the man. "Kate figured you'd be here eventually once she sent that telegram. I'm Ewan McLure." He held his hand over the fence to shake.
They boys stopped playing long enough to come to the fence, too. "I'm Bud!" said the youngster who still had his hat on.
"I'm Jerry!" the other one said, tipping his brother's hat off.
Rhett shook hands with the boys and looked at Ewan again as he absorbed all of this. "I take it that you're the source of her new name?" Although blond, he didn't seem very much like Ashley Wilkes. If he were forced into a description, he'd say the man was almost like a blond version of himself, but half a dozen, maybe ten years younger.
"I take it that you're the source of her two previous name changes." The other man jumped over the fence and patted Rhett's horse. "They gave you the best of the lot. Ginger's quite a mare."
"I can see that."
"The house is just behind those trees. Won't take us ten minutes to walk it. We can take care of Ginger and then you can meet with Kate." He whistled loudly then. "Hey, Herman! Watch the boys!"
The presumable Herman shouted back and waved.
Rhett asked himself how it could have happened and how Scarlett could have avoided telling him this for five years. Neither question was particularly difficult to answer. He knew himself, knew Scarlett, and well remembered the last night of their marriage.
He had wondered from time to time. He wasn't stupid and babies seemed to happen so easily with her. He had considered asking, in all the letters he sent to Henry demanding her location. He sighed. He didn't ask because she would have answered truthfully, and if he'd known, what would he have done? What could he possibly have done? Caroline will explode over this, he thought to himself with a grin.
July 1875
Rhett had very carefully not touched Scarlett very much from the time he'd gotten into the house until now, knowing it would be his undoing. He hoped he could get her into her own bed and then go to the hotel. He got as far as the landing with his arm around her, smelling her soft scent, feeling her soft form against himself. The resolve he'd been carefully holding broke.
He stopped and turned so that they were facing each other. "My love," he whispered. With the brandy bottle still in his left hand, he bent her over that arm and kissed her until neither of them could breathe.
"I knew you didn't mean it," she said. "I knew you still love me."
"I never stopped," he answered, truthfully. He lifted her and carried her the rest of the way up to his bedroom. "We're still married," he thought aloud. "The judge hasn't signed it."
He set the brandy aside and kissed her as he unfastened the back of her dress. It fell to the floor and he lifted her out of it. He turned her to loosen her corset only to discover she wasn't wearing one. He could feel her ribs through her chemise. "Poor darling, you haven't been eating," he observed.
"I've missed you so, and for so long I've missed this. Rhett, I love you." She helped him unbutton his vest and shirt. She sent his tie across the room and soon they were on the bed, tearing at each other's underclothes.
"Sweet," he mumbled as he touched her. His hand trailed down to her navel and he repeated it. "Sweet." In the back of his mind he told himself he had to remember every second of this.
She was murmuring something unintelligible as her body urged him on. Every so often he made out his name and "Yes!" or "Please!"
When it was over, she lay beneath him, still holding him to her. "I knew it was a mistake. I knew it was all wrong. You wouldn't really do that to me, would you Rhett? Not if you can make me feel like this, right?"
He leaned above her, holding her beneath him. "My love," was the only answer he could give. He kissed her eyes, her nose, her forehead and cheeks and finally her lips in delight that she was his very own. "My love."
They cooled and he shifted to his side. She lay on her back pressed up against him, the top of her head tucked under his chin. She folded into him in that way she had; he would have to remember it in the cold bed of his future.
He was the worst person in the world. He knew how this had to end, and he knew how he would look to her forever afterward. Yet he couldn't help wanting it anyway. He felt her doze off and got out of the bed. Somewhere in this room there were glasses. He found two and poured brandy in each. Scarlett stirred and sat up, smiling shyly. "Hello," she said.
"Good evening, Mrs. Butler."
Scarlett didn't know what to ask or what to think. She just knew that Rhett was back and that their marriage would be everything it ought to be from now on. She took the glass Rhett handed her and sipped from it. She knew all of the adoration she'd once wasted on Ashley, that she'd actually felt for Rhett, was on her face, and she had no desire to hide it.
"What will we do next, Rhett? How will we show everyone that we're back together?"
"Let's talk about that another time. For now, I want to relearn your entire body."
He set both their glasses aside and started kissing and caressing her shoulders. She kissed him and her back arched, pressing herself into his body, and his hands. She loved the way she felt when he touched her, when he moved over her, and those moments she surrounded him with her arms and her legs and her very self. She was safe now. He would take care of her.
He made love to her several times that night, enjoying the feel of her pleasure in his arms, knowing that he was stealing from both their futures. He couldn't seem to help himself. He knew he was making the memories that would keep him warm for the years ahead, when unhappiness would greet him from every nook and cranny of Charleston.
Scarlett finally fell asleep a little after dawn, confident in his love. It was all a mistake. It had to be. He couldn't whisper that she was his love if he meant to divorce her. They would get up in a few hours and burn those horrible papers and… Scarlett didn't need to worry about what would happen after that. Whatever Rhett planned would be just right, but for now she just needed a few minutes of rest…
He looked at his watch. He had time to clean up a bit and shave before any of the offices he needed to visit would be open, and hopefully he could get out of the house before she would wake. He could finish his business and be on the ten-thirty train that would eventually lead to Charleston. He rang for water and put on his robe, laying out the items he would need. Pork offered him breakfast, but he demurred, not wanting to waste a minute.
As he shaved, he watched her sleep. One whole side of her body had slipped out from the sheet, not that it mattered. The July morning was already getting warm. He dressed quickly and pondered dropping one last kiss on her cheek. He decided against it. He even said, "Good-bye, my love," silently. An instant later, he was shutting the door behind him.
Scarlett heard the door click and stretched luxuriously. Rhett was back and everything would be the way it always should have been. The world had finally righted itself and they would be so very happy.
"Rhett, what shall we do first today?"
No one answered.
"Rhett?" She got up and put on his robe, which was the easiest thing at hand. "Rhett?" She tiptoed out of the room and into her own. He wasn't there. "Rhett?"
She felt, more than heard, the heavy front door open. "No! No no no no no no no!" The door shut.
She looked over the railing and saw that his bag had been taken from where he left it on the end table in the hallway. A hole opened in her gut and grew. It had all been a lie. He had gotten her signature, and then he had gotten her body. He had finally made good on his desire to have her without marriage.
Someone was screaming and shrieking. It made Scarlett's head pound. She went back into his bedroom. There must be some indication that he was coming back. "Rhett! Rhett!" The shrieking started again. They brought her to her own room, got her own nightgown on her. At some point a merciful silence descended, and then she knew nothing.
"Katie, darlin'."
She stirred and came back to herself. Ewan was pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. "I must have dozed off."
His thumb wiped a tear off her cheek. "You were having the dream again?"
She could only nod. "It never changes. He leaves, every single time. It's been so much worse since I sent the telegram. I know I'm just dreading the inevitable."
"Oh, honey..." His voice was so soothing. He held her close. "I'm not going anywhere, and I love you."
"You know I love you. Ewan, you are the best man I've ever known. I don't deserve you."
"Don't forget it." He kissed her and cuddled her for a moment, then remembered the reason he came into her study. "Kate, he's here, and he's already met them."
"The boys?" He nodded. "I'm guessing he knows?"
"They pointed out the similarities as soon as they saw him."
"They're too much like him not to comment about it." She took a deep breath. "He's going to come in here like Sherman into Atlanta, and I've been having nightmares on the study sofa." She stood up and peered into a looking glass hung near the corner. It was as she might have expected. There were tear streaks running in all directions, and the embroidered pillow had left a mark. She pinched her cheeks and looked again. It was a little better.
Damn the man for always finding her at her worst. He would come exactly when she was weepy and ugly from having a bad dream. She sat back down in the desk chair and straightened her spine. "We knew this day would come, but I had to send that telegram. He won't hurt the twins, and Wade needed it. The rest of us will have to take our chances." She took out a handkerchief and quickly wiped her eyes and nose. "Do I look all right?"
He looked her up and down and sighed longingly. "You're my Georgia peach, darlin'." He leaned down and spent several minutes convincing her that he found her quite attractive.
When he finally released her, he saw a reluctant dimple. "I declare you turn my head, Mr. McLure." She nodded and straightened herself and the desk chair, which faced the doorway. The desk would be between herself and Rhett. "Very well, Ewan, send him in."
Ewan smiled at her and warmed the whole room. She couldn't help smiling back. "You'll be fine, darlin', and I'll be right out here if you need me." he said as he turned and walked out. She wondered if he knew how good he looked as he went.
A/N: I'm guessing by the reviews previous to this chapter that out of the two or three reveals herein, most of you already saw them coming. C'est la fanfic.
The title of this chapter is a song written by Clyde Lovern Otis and Murray Stein, and sung by Sade. Has my mix started to get a little eclectic? Yeah, it does that.
Thanks so much for all the love you gave me in the last chapter! I'm quite spoiled by all my FFN friends, including WhitmanFrostFiend, gumper, Romabeachgirl1981, beautifulliar326, Lov, gabyhyatt, COCO B, Guest 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5, Truckee Gal, gogomohamad229, annaPanag, pro patria mori, Phantom710, and TheFauxGinge.