This is a pretty short chapter. My ideal chapter length is 4000-6000 words, but I just can't do that right now. My last one was only about 2000. On the bright side, shorter chapters mean I can get them out faster. But yeah. I'm incredibly busy and low on ideas. All my productive thoughts go into analyzing literature and trying to get an A in my various classes. My classes are also all super demanding because I just take everything. I don't really feel stress, so I just take everything I want to and then run out of time in the days to take care of myself, work, and do things for fun. So I usually sacrifice sleep and keep going. I'm seriously only a couple of weeks into my current classes and everyone's already having crises. Fun. Don't expect frequent updates from me, even though I never really had them. I honestly don't even have time to proofread this because I've got a test and a lab due tomorrow and two tests the day after. I'd apologize for my bad writing, but I think it's always bad and that you guys are just choosing to torture yourselves. Switching topics, which Disney/later acquired by Disney princess do you like the best? Anastasia and Dimitri are honestly so amazing. And Vlad is great. Check out the 1997 film if you can. That's all beside the point, sorry. This is just a long rant.
Read on. À bientôt.
"You didn't need to have tea made, it's not like I'm some business associate."
"Nonetheless, I'd be remiss if I kept you parched and hungry during our time together."
"Fine then."
"Scarlett." He paused to eye her for a moment before broaching the topic. "Have you decided on what you want to do?"
"I get a choice," she asked, her features schooled in an expression of pleasant surprise that she undoubtedly used on her beaus. "Why, you flatter me, Captain Butler."
Rhett made a small noise of discontent. "Charming. Did that one work on the Texan boys?"
She shot him a cool glance but remained largely undisturbed. "Of course. But that's not the issue. I was thinking about what I should do."
When he kept quiet, refusing to throw out a predictable barb, Scarlett continued. "I was thinking that…" It was so much harder to give in than to keep fighting. Admitting that he was more important to and loved by her children was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was the truth. And she was determined to resolve the issue in the best way for Wade and Ella. "I mean, the children love you. More than they've ever loved me. You're the only father figure they've ever really known. And it's not fair of me to take you away from them. So I guess I'm saying that…" She pauses for another breath. A moment to gather herself and her reluctant thoughts.
Was she giving too much away by agreeing to live with him? But this wasn't a matter she would be selfish in. Her children really did love him. If she had to brave the pain so that Wade and Ella would be happier, so be it.
"I've decided it would be best for us to stay together," she said in a rush. "But not here. Or Atlanta or Charleston."
"Why not?"
"I can't stand these places," she said breezily. "Too many gossips."
Too many gossips. Too much stigma. Too many awful memories of death and destruction.
"I'm fine with moving somewhere else. How would you like to go to Louisiana?"
"Why? So you can sleep around and rub your whores in my face? Or to taint the one good time in our marriage?" The rather cool and calm expression had vanished, replaced by a bitter sneer.
"Fine, then," he ground out. "South Carolina?"
"Charleston is the last place I'd ever want to go."
"Can you at least attempt not to be so combative? At least consider some of these places. We could avoid all our relatives and go to Columbia."
"Why would I want to go to Columbia?"
"I was under the impression you wanted to stay in the South while simultaneously avoiding our extensive family trees. Do you have somewhere else in mind, Scarlett? You're rather quick to shoot down all my suggestions."
"What about Augusta, Georgia?"
"What's in Augusta?"
"Nothing important to me, but it's a big city and I've always preferred Georgia."
"I see. Well, I'm sure it's a suitable place. That's settled, then?"
Scarlett gave him a curt nod and stood to leave. She had to get out of the building. She could feel the dread coiled in her stomach, and the warm air was stifling.
"Wait, Scarlett." He caught her arm and rose to meet her. "I appreciate the consideration of Wade and Ella. It's a nice change of pace."
She bristled at his comment. Though not targeted, it had hit a very sore spot.
Cursing himself for the blunder, Rhett tried to push past it as quickly as possible. "I was thinking of leaving tomorrow evening. My business in this town is finished, and I'm sure you weren't intending to stay very long as I ran into you at the depot. Should the children and I come by in the afternoon?"
"No, I'll come here."
"It's not an issue, Scarlett."
"I'll come over. I insist. You've got the children, it makes more sense for me to come by my lonesome."
"And, Scarlett, I…" There was an unnatural pause in his sentence. It looked like he was physically struggling to finish the comment. "I'm proud of you. I know you don't really want to talk to me, but I'm impressed."
"How so?"
How to describe it? She'd been gone for over a year, and somehow in that time, she'd gone from spoiled child to considerate woman. Granted, she was not that amiable, but she had made great strides from the last time they'd seen each other. She might have been caustic, but she was displaying a sense of compassion he hadn't seen before.
"You've grown up. You're finally putting others first, seeing things from their points of view."
Ice took over her face once again, the almost-smile falling into a near-scowl. "While I appreciate that you see a quality in me, I've done nothing differently. I starved myself for Wade in the war, would you call that selfish? I've always sacrificed my needs for theirs. Maybe I wasn't very kind, and I might have left them with you, but that was what was best for them. They love you more anyway. So I've always put them first, and really you just didn't know me."
"I-"
He would have argued the point, but a light knock sounded at the door.
"Wait here," he ordered.
It was a cruel game of fate's indeed when Belle Watling's smiling face appeared on the other side of the door.
"Rhett, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in near a month and heard you were in town, so I decided to drop on by."
"I see. I was just having a conversation with Scarlett, so if you could come back another time-"
"No, no. Don't mind me. I was just leaving." Her words had a levity that belied the tenseness of her shoulders.
Calm, she told herself. Rhett had divorced her. He had every right to see Belle Watling, no matter how much it stung her pride and cut her heart.
"Darling, I just wanted to check on you and the children, but I can get out of your way. Give them my hellos, alright? I think I better get going."
Oh, so Belle Watling had been to see her children? Scarlett was on the verge of exploding. Rhett had not only been associating with Belle while claiming to miss her- she would have been able to handle that- but he'd also been taking her children to meet with the disgraced madam of a whorehouse. The woman he had cheated on her with. Absolutely not.
Rhett cut in before Scarlett could begin a tirade, and quickly dismissed Belle. He turned towards his wife. A simmering rage emanated from her small frame. The fury was clear in her mien.
"No need to worry about me. I'm leaving, Rhett." She brushed past him and flung open the recently closed door.
"Wait. Scarlett, you'll come by tomorrow afternoon, right?"
She paused, one foot out the door, her back as straight as an iron rod. The pause only bred the uncertainty plaguing him.
"Yes," she bit out tersely. Scarlett swept out as grandly as her rather plain dress would allow and disappeared down the hall.
"She said we could all go together?"
"Yes, Wade."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, Wade."
"You're sure, right? She's going to come over?"
"Yes, Wade."
"Why didn't she come see us earlier?"
"I don't know," he spat out. "Why don't you go play with Ella?" The incessant questions were too much for Rhett. He could handle his fair share of questions, but there was a point where one couldn't stand having their accuracy and sincerity scrutinized anymore.
Wade's excited and anxious air morphed into anger, and he shut down his features. "Fine, Rhett."
Rhett threw back his head and sighed as Wade stormed out of the room. The boy's moods were so volatile. He used to be a gentle and kind person, but Scarlett's disappearance had taken a toll on his good nature.
Thank God she had accepted his travel offer. It had been a mere stroke of luck by which he had run into her at the train station. And, with her back in their lives, surely everything would work out in the end.
He heard the faint slamming of a door from across the suite. Wade would need some time, but maybe, just maybe, they could become a family again.