A bit mature stuff in this one. Not too graphic though. No problem if you skip it, if you'd rather. Please R&R.
Rhett had rented a small cottage by the beach on the outskirts of Charleston. It was a simple place that served as a resort house before the war. The family running the place lived close by. He had thought his honey-moon with her would be extravagant, yet the proximity to the war made him rather cautious with money, most of his money was up North and in foreign countries across the Atlantic. Yet Scarlett seemed content and appreciative with everything he had arranged.
The dunes made Scarlett feel as if she had gone to another world, so different from anything she had been to before. Yes, she had been to Charleston in the past, but she was always confined to the city houses at the old Battery, or King Street and the commercial district. Something in the wild view surrounding her reminded her of the red hills of Tara, finally disarming her of the stern look that clung to her features since early that morning.
Scarlett had thought that the early hour of their ceremony would leave them in a quite an awkward situation. She had planned to stay at her aunts, at least for a while. It was out of the question now. However, it seemed that Rhett had it all figured out and planned in advance.
Early in the afternoon they were running down a dune, the chiffon dress flying behind her like a pair of wings or a cloud, her hair turning loose with the cool autumn breeze, and finally falling to her knees laughing beside her son. The words she had told Careen earlier came to her mind once again 'you are just a baby', and realization that she herself had somehow regained the same carefree manner she had had light-years ago.
A cook had been called to attend to their meals twice a day for the coming week. After a hearty late lunch or early dinner they spent the afternoon running around barefoot in the sand, marveling the beautiful birds by the beach, and eventually a marvelous sunset behind the Dunes. As the full moon rose from the ocean Wade was fast asleep in Scarlett's lap. Rhett took him gently to the room he'd share with Careen at the lower story and returned with a bottle of wine.
"I hadn't seen Wade quite so happy since before we left Atlanta. In fact, none of us had been this happy, for the longest while."
"Your sister seemed quite as tired as your son" he laughed "and how are you doing, my dear Mrs. Butler? Tired?"
She glanced up, at the sound of her new name "More awake than I had been in months. I fear if I shut my eyes this dream would fade away, and I'd wake up hungry and shivering as it happened to me so many times."
"I suppose it means you intend to remain awake all night? How ill-mannered of you to discuss such matters"
"You know what I meant and it wasn't that" She surprised him by baldly adding "Though I won't mind to be kept awake all night by you. Who would have thought?"
"Now, why the surprise?"
"I hated it" she answered plainly, casting her eyes in a far-away point "not with you, though, but back then, it was painful. Humiliating. Dreadful."
He knelt beside her and gathered her from behind to lean on him caressing her slowly.
"How come you agreed?" he asked.
"To marry you?" she asked.
"No, though I understand the question, having the past two days in mind" he held her hand warmly, opening her palm and brushing it with his thumb, "how come you agreed to give yourself to me? That is if you hated it so."
"Oh, that." She lingered for a second "The bonnet."
"What?!"
"The green bonnet . That's why."
He turned her to face him and saw the brightness of her mischief staring at him from her eyes – "For a minute I thought you went crazy!"
"If I recall, I didn't even want to kiss you for that bonnet." She laughed.
"You lying vixen!"
"Alright" she giggled "I did want to kiss you and it wasn't the bonnet. It was anything and everything about you. I didn't know it wouldn't hurt, though it didn't; I reckon I wanted to, and as I told you before - I hadn't regretted it once." She answered simply.
The silence was like as smooth as velvet, soft, for a second he felt sorry that she feared pain She heard him holding a laugh and stiffened only for a second though–
"In my wildest dreams I would not imagine you sending Atlanta's precious Dolly Merriwether to Hell, as you apparently did, or my old bat of a father. What exactly did you say to him? "
"I told him that he was being mean and hateful, well not in so many words. Well, yes, in many words, but not these ones" She felt the wine causing her speech to be clumsy.
She was relishing on his warmth, the strong hands moving throughout her form - "Let's not talk of that. I'll tell you anything you want, if you insist, tomorrow - better yet, you can pay him a visit and ask him yourself if you'd like, I'll join you as long as you take no pistol with you." As she looked up she found an easy smile of combined mischief and appreciation in his dark eyes.
"Care to dance?" he asked
"Are you hiding an orchestra in the woods?" She laughed "Along with some more under-garments?"
"We'll have no use for under-garments tonight, I would have thought you'd figure that out by yourself. Besides, if my memory serves me right, you are perfectly capable of humming a tune" he waited no longer before swiping her to her feet and rolling with her on the veranda at the sea side. She laughed so he started humming a tune out of paste and out of key. She kept laughing all the time till she had become quite breathless. Her eyes were bright with liveliness – "Kiss me Rhett. Kiss me till I see nothing but you."
As she felt her knees giving up to gravity they retreated to the second story of the cottage.
He took the longest time removing each and every cloth from her body, all the while smiling at her, until she stood barefoot and nude in front of him. The oddness of the situation made her shiver – there she was fully naked in front of his eyes.
She was aiming to blow the candle when he stopped her – "Don't, I want to see you."
"I am not sure it's proper to be like this" she whispered reaching toward him. He gave her a long look as he started unbuttoning his shirt -
"It's not proper. It's not proper to be so beautiful. It wasn't proper to grant me the heavenly gift you so generously gave me or to send the world to hell as you have. The pleasures we are to have, have nothing to do with propriety ".