Scarlett was rushing through a small market by the fisherman's wharf to buy some supplies for the ride back home. Rhett had taken them to see it, since they had some spare time before they should embark the train. He and Wade were giving the seagulls crumbs and throwing pebbles. It was his way of easing the separation from Careen who had married early in the morning and bade her farewell from them with the early boat down the Ashley River with her husband, promising to visit Tara in a fortnight so as to introduce her husband to her other sister and bid her father farewell.

Her face was still marked from the morning storm of tears caused by the sorrowful thought of Gerald's condition and her mother's premature death, thoughts inevitable as she gave her sister to her husband in the church in her parent's stand.

As she entered the bakery she noticed an argument by the cashier between an elderly customer and the baker. She only gathered parts of the words; however, she realized that the baker was refusing to put the man's bread on the tab. Without much thought she advanced and quietly told the baker that she was her aunt Eulalie's niece, and smiled at the elderly man saying that her aunt was most obliged to return his generosity and that it wouldn't have been a better moment to retaliate by covering the tab and the cost of the loaf he desired. The baker was about to retort something nasty when Scarlett took two golden coins from her purse asking with a flatter of her eyelashes "Would that be enough? This gentleman is owed more but that is all we can spare right now"

The baker seemed embarrassed, "No, it's much less, ma'am"

"Well, then put the rest for my aunt's tab. She does have one here, doesn't she?"

"Yes, why of course. Send her my warm regards."

Was it his white hair, so much like her father's or the fact that she had been crying her mother's early death since morning repeatedly, no matter how sweet her husband and son had been to her? She couldn't quite figure what had possessed her to help a complete stranger. The elderly person blinked a few times, realizing that she was keeping his pride intact he smiled gratefully uttering nothing. She realized that even if her mother was rolling in her grave due to her choice of husband, this action could be for her memory's sake.

As she was getting ready to step out of the place she heard a call "Ms. O'Hara."

She turned to see a tall man with features resembling as her husband's looking at her.

"That was mighty kind and considerate of you, in there."

"It's Mrs. Butler, sir, and it's nothing to write home about." After a pause she measured the man in front of her and asked "Could you be Rhett's brother?"

The man smiled and looked afar.

"Rhett is down at the wharf with my son."

"I'm afraid your husband will not be so keen to see me, Mrs. Butler."

Scarlet considered a thought as a picture of Suellen's face came to her mind –

"Your father tried to dissuade me from marrying your brother. Your mother was at our wedding for only a short while and your sister came for a brief visit during this week, a visit my husband cherished. He wouldn't let me criticize her for her fear from your father. " She saw his eyes lowered down, and she realized he might know all these facts, maybe more, so she added softly "He was probably right about it. But do you really think he embraces the role of the outcast your father has turned him to? Even after two decades?"

"I heard you saw all the possible goodness in my brother. But I am afraid I must insist. Not for my own good, but for his. I do not wish to burden his happiness with my unwelcomed presence."

"Dear Mother of God!" she whispered "You are his brother, for you are as dense as he can be at times! Do you really think that whatever happened or not happen a thousand years ago would matter? Do you really think he would hold a grudge? God's nightgown! A whole war had passed. It is a miracle that both of you are alive. Most families don't have that much for them."

A soft chuckle came from aside – they both turned to see Rhett with Wade happily on his shoulders "I believe my wife is right, Robert."

"At what?" asked Scarlett "That is, at what am I right? You surly aren't confessing to your brain's density, my love! Are you?"

Rhett's eyes shone with feeling as he looked at his brother but his wife's jest kept a smile at all faces "You are right that I won't hold a grudge to Robert for not disobeying our father. And yes, you are right that the Butler's are stubborn, a quality I would not call density considering it's one of your many lovely traits, my pet."

She frowned at the new form of endearment he had chosen but he drew her closer to him. Robert blinked, than, remembering himself he held out his hand. The two siblings did not talk, nor did they embrace each other. The hand-shake and the long look seemed more then each could hope for. Robert turned to Scarlett "I am glad to have met you, Mrs. Butler. I welcome you as my sister." With those simple words he let her feel a flood of emotion hidden within.

She couldn't help notice though that they were being watched, and she realized that these few actions and words may cost Robert reputation and standing. She wondered if he had what it took to stand the treatment she received during the war, while Rhett was not received in Atlanta and she along his side, being his friend.

"I never had a brother" She smiled, "I'll be proud to call you my brother."

With a tip of a hat he left. She embraced Rhett's arm, feeling his strained muscles.

Later in the train he was silent and aloof.

"Oh, Rhett, so many people are starving! Proud fools like your father and my silly aunt. Perhaps, I should have visited her after all."

He embraced her closely "I'm not sure she would accept you, my love. You see, you made a hell of choice in marrying me, as far as Charleston is concerned. Being married is one thing, demonstrating your happiness is unforgivable."

"Oh, I don't care. I have had enough! I won't pretend to care that you came back after dark more than a decade ago, or, as you so brilliantly said the day we first met, that you had the capacity to outdo her stupid brother in a duel you never initiated instead of letting him kill you. It's nonsense. Why, once I sprained my ankle and …" She stopped realizing her mistake.

"I heard you tell that story to Mrs. Wilkes. The picture of it was not a pleasant one."

"Would you add to the picture the fact that I was barely fourteen?"

The train was riding fast at that moment and she suddenly felt her fatigue. She leaned on him and whispered "You will have to keep me near you at all times, Rhett Butler, just in case I sprain my ankle again, for no one else will ever carry me again."

"How will you endure Atlanta, Scarlett?" His voice was low and he wouldn't let her doze off as she expected him to "I will have to travel up north pretty soon, and you will not come with me. It's going to be difficult. I will be able to take you with me to England in a few months, but at first you'll have to stay."

"For how long, will you be gone?"

"A month at first. After that, perhaps two or three weeks again."

She started arguing to no avail. After a while she turned her head and sulked.

"Could you do your business in Atlanta and come to Tara at the end of the week at least? I'll stay in Tara while you are away. In Atlanta I'll have Melly, but I'd hate to have to face that old witch Dolly Merriweather on a daily basis."

"You may stay in Tara while I travel. But once I'm through, you'll join me in Atlanta and will have to accept or shall I say adjust. I don't mind visits to the country, but our home will be in town."

The firmness of his tone surprised and scared her. She expected him to consider her more than that, but she held her tongue.

This time they had a private compartment and the train was direct to Atlanta with only a few stops on the way. Their compartment was small, but it held a bed and a small couch in which Wade was sleeping comfortably. Rhett thought her asleep when he drew the lines of her figure with his fingers thinking of his young brave wife and of the time it would take her to accept her difference from the surrounding society. It was at the same time that his wife wondered how he survived his solitude and how she would survive the same.

***Milady***

I know that we all wanted them as happy as possible, but Rhett did work with the Yankees right after the war, and he was the most famous social outcast during the end of the war. Besides he was always very decisive and not too considerate regarding the macro management of their lives…

This social out-casting, is something I wish to explore a bit further.

As for the first part – she is supposed to be selfish, I know, but she did feed loads of soldiers, and even the convicts (in the book), so I suppose that it is likely for her to be kind to an old man resembling her father.