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Part Sixteen

Late July 1872

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"You look beautiful," Bonnie said looking up at her mother as she prepared for an evening out.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Scarlett informed her daughter, who was already dressed for bed. It was a red dress. She wondered if Rhett would understand the meaning of it simply by the color.

Dr. Meade had seen her earlier and informed her that she and Rhett could try for another baby.

She had so missed Rhett's arm around her, the heat of him under her as she slept, the scent of him….Oh dear how she had missed the scent of him.

She often found herself sitting next to him and wanting to burrow into his chest. That scent wasn't the same though, not the same that she was used to in bed after they had been intimate.

She couldn't wait to smell that on her husband again. If he ever returned home with that scent, she'd likely kill him on the spot.

She would have to get Rhett to remain in her bed after she conceived this time.

"I was thinking that we could make you new bedding for your bed in the nursery," she informed her daughter as Prissy did her hair.

"Blue!"

"Of course it can be blue, maybe tomorrow we can look at fabrics. We could even make Ella something new so it matches yours."

"What about Honey and Whiskers?"

"We can make them matching bedding as well," luckily for Ella there was no chance either cat would sleep in it. They had both made themselves kitchen cats and no amount of screaming from Bonnie could change that. "I bet you'll be so cozy in it that you'll want to sleep there at night too."

"No."

"Bonnie, you should be sleeping with your sister. Don't you remember how much fun Ella had sharing with your cousins?"

"Mother, I sleep in Daddy's room."

She gave her daughter an appraising look. Bonnie could have Rhett's room, but she would have Rhett.

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"You cannot possibly mean what you said to the Sextons," Rhett spoke as soon as he was alone with his wife in the carriage after an evening out at a friends' house.

"About what Rhett? It's nearly midnight we were there for four hours," Scarlett questioned. She had planned to tell her husband that Dr. Meade had cleared them to try for another baby, but she suspected she would wait until tomorrow. She wasn't quite sure how her old life took so much out of her nowadays. She'd nearly wanted to hug the Sextons' little terriers, her arms had felt so empty without Nicky.

"That you plan on Ella continuing to receive instruction through a governess and not attend school."

"Ella's had a governess for nearly a year and a half, did you just notice that?"

"I had been under the impression that it was because she would be too young when the school year started." Before that he'd assumed Ella got underfoot too often and needed someone more reliable than Prissy to watch her during the day.

"She is excitable and easily distracted, she needs one on one instruction."

"Were you planning on Bonnie joining Ella, locked up in the attic?"

"She's hardly locked in the attic, Rhett. I'm ensuring my child receives a good education."

"What about companionship?"

"She has Wade," Scarlett quickly defended, "she'll have Bonnie when she's older." She would. Scarlett had decided that her daughters simply needed more time to become friends. Wade had certainly not liked Ella when she was born. She wasn't quite sure when her son had made the transition from tolerating Ella to loving her, but she was sure he did now.

"I will not have Ella hidden away because of you find fault with the girl being a normal child. Children should hardly be quiet and docile like Wade. You bullied the spirit out of him, I will not allow you to do it to Ella and Bonnie."

"I most definitely did not bully my son, I parented Rhett, I can hardly be to blame that he took instruction significantly better than anyone else in our family. Blame the Hamiltons for that, it certainly didn't come from me. I have been significantly nicer with him than my mother and Mammy were with me. I'm nicer with him than Mammy still is to me."

He let out an unexpected laugh.

"If you wanted Ella to attend school, you could have shown the slightest interest in it before tonight," she looked at her husband in annoyance.

"I apologize for assuming it had been the plan, since Wade was sent to school," he pointed out, it was illogical to assume the children would be treated differently in such a general area.

"I will give notice to the governess so she can find another position, unless you think Bonnie-"

"She is three, Scarlett," he reminded his wife.

"Fine. I will let her go."

"How was your visit with Dr. Meade?"

"He said we may try for another child. Not tonight, I am going straight to bed," she paused and looked at her husband, "alone."

He laughed lightly, "I noticed that yawn you tried to stifle."

"You only noticed one, there were at least a half dozen. Quite frankly Rhett, I'm not sure how it's possible that I somehow feel older than you."

He laughed, "Likely because you've been going to bed with the children for over a year."

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She gave him a look as he entered her room in a robe, she was only midway through her hair and ready to give up on the act. "Absolutely not Rhett."

"Tonight we rest, tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning, what?"

"We take a late breakfast in bed and blame it on our night out."

Her expression told him that she didn't like that plan and she wanted to sleep alone without her husband's wandering hands.

"I am merely here to sleep," he removed his robe, "until the sun rises that is."

"Don't you dare wake me with the sun, Rhett."

He chuckled slightly, "I will remain perfectly chaste until you begin to rise."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you are often a very clever woman, put the brush down Scarlett and come to bed before you fall into your perfumes and powders."

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August 1872

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He smiled as he noticed the latest floral addition to his bedroom. Slowly the room was being overtaken by feminine items. Items meant to suit their daughter.

Scarlett had begun by keeping a robe and nightshirt in her room for him, but as time had progressed a few outfits had made their way into his old wardrobe.

When she did wifely things like have a bath drawn for him because he'd been caught in the rain, she'd had it done in the chambers attached to her room, which had once been their bath, but had quickly become only hers.

She was slowly moving him back into her room, oh she'd make him ask for it still, but there was no doubt that was what she was doing. He didn't question that within a few weeks, he'd start to find Bonnie's clothing in his wardrobe as well.

Even when they were first trying, most nights he spent the entire night in her room, unless Bonnie awoke in the middle of the night. He'd lasted three days only doing his duty, redressing and leaving her and that had all been torturous to complete. The moment he'd leave her, he wanted her again. At least if they shared a bed, he could actually sleep.

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