Sweetest readers, I've had some trying weeks, trying to get to the end of this one… It's almost here.

"Dearest Scarlett

I knew it was a matter of time. I knew you two were meant to be - from the moment I saw you with him, perhaps before, when I told you how you remind me of him. Make no mistake, my sweet girl, he will not let you remain free as you are. He will love you and care for you with ferocity, but he will possessiveness too. He does not see you as his equal. He sees you as his. He is A MAN.

You have my blessing.

You have my affections and admiration. Unlike myself, you will never be able to claim that you haven't contemplated the merits of solitude. If love had won you over, so be it and may the Lord keep you safe.

Cora."

ARRIVING WITH THE 4 PM TRAIN STOP WAIT IN THE STATION STOP KENNY

She wondered what made him use that other name of his. But she and Wade were there. Waiting. The train was late. It entered the station at 5:30 p.m.

She saw him from afar. She let her sorrows show as she ran, holding Wade in her arms to his open arms. He enfolded the two of them for some long moments.

"I missed you so much" he muttered quietly, "we have to stop this, there is no reason for you two to be apart from me."

She inhaled him and whispered "All right, Rhett. We won't be apart."

He didn't ask her what she meant, and she wondered if he heard her.

The same night of his arrival he claimed to have been invited to a gathering with a cotton specialist on the other side of town. To her amazement they indeed left for such a meeting. The meeting lasted an hour and so.

"If we implement half of those ideas, we won't need even half of the working hands we need today for the same amount of land. Perhaps even more!" she was excited at the thought.

"Does that fascinate you?" he asked.

"Ever since I started managing my monetary affairs these matters have been on my mind." She turned to him and smiled "I was surprised we actually came to a lecture."

"We can't use up lies. A fragment of truth is always better than a full lie." he gave her a shining smile.

They took a cab to his hotel and came from the back, hidden by the darkness that came down on them.

"How much time do we have?" she asked,

"With dinner I'd say two hours at most to be back at the Hamilton residence."

She seemed confused. He wasted no time and began kissing her with hunger. He didn't bother undressing her, he turned her to the table and had her from behind, with her cleavage undone and his hand on her breasts. The release was nearly painful. He stopped after a while and sat himself on a chair and only then put on his sheath - he was throbbing "I wanted to feel you without anything. I was careful."

She seemed scared for a moment, but as his hand began rubbing her bud again, not too gently, she was clay in his hands to mold. He could do anything he wanted with her and she wouldn't say no. This time he too came but at the end of it he did not leave her and she felt him grow smaller inside her.

Afterwards he cradled her in his arms and both kept quiet till they had to go.

At her doorstep she lingered holding his hand.

He sighed " None of us desire this parting you inflict on us."

She took his hand and entered the house with him. She saw the disapproving eyes of Uncle Peter when she asked for spirits for Captain Butler. She ignored him but did leave the door of the parlor open to avoid a scandal. Her eyes were nearly closing when he took off and promised to return the following day.

On the following day he took her and Wade on a picnic. They went unchaperoned. Somehow she decided it no longer mattered. When Uncle Peter began to question whether Prissy was coming, Scarlett barked at him "Uncle Peter, do remember that I am a widow and a mother, and I do not need a girl to come with me for a trip designed to show my son some trees and running water."

He took them to the same woods and pond. It was late May. She watched the water longingly, when she felt his arms around her breasts coming from behind, she leaned to him and smiled "I wish we were in Tara. I'd swim with you."

They fed Wade together with some porridge she brought, and at the end of it when he became restless, Rhett smiled and offered "Feed him, Scarlet. In a year or so you won't be able to give him this comfort. There is plenty of shade here, you'll be fine."

Wade was trying out his speech skills "Want mama." He looked at Rhett and mumbled "Papapa"

Rhett smiled smugly "That's a smart boy. Now all you have to do is repeat that in public, and your mother will have no choice but to make me your official father, son."

"How you do go on?" she laughed, "There's no need for public exclamations. I just might wish to have you as his father it regardless of any scandal you wish to force on us."

His hand reached for her cheek and she nodded as she smiled "I can't fall asleep without you, I've grown addicted. That week was a really bad idea." Suddenly she sighed "It's true. I thought it would be exciting, but it's not. After you left last night I was fully awake for hours." Wade wasn't so patient and his whines made her pick him up and begin to nurse.

She still hadn't felt at ease with her exposing herself in front of him, but she did it anyhow. He refrained from touching her while she fed her child, and merely took his sleeping form, and put him gently on the blanket he had brought, covering him with a softness she couldn't tire from. She was gaping at him, so when he turned to her she was not quite done with her blouse.

He smiled a happy carefree smile when he took her hands and reopened her blouse, he kissed her and touched her in a form that was so thrilling. She never quite understood how but it took very little time before she found herself sprawled half naked on the other side of the blanket with him inside her. She knew he had no preventatives there, but she didn't care, to her surprise he made himself leave before. After a rather haste coupling he took his time to engage in activities that made her throat horace from the screams he invoked. She found herself on top of him moving up and down on his length with vigor she didn't imagine she'd possess. He had the palms of his hands on her rear, she felt his nails leaving marks and a small, yet delightful sting. When he tried to pick her up and remove himself she moved his hands and kept on until they both broke.

When they were done, panic attacked her "What shall I do?" her eyes were torn with fear all of a sudden, "It took less than three times with Wade. Probably happened during the first time with all my fidgeting and crying in the following nights-". She blushed

Her words made him serene "I'm sorry it was so horrible. You are correct. It takes once. " He took from his pocket a ring box and opened it. To make his words more alive his hand went down to her core rubbing her roughly "I want to touch you there and make you sweat with ecstasy as you are now." She leaned to him and whimpered, he kept on rubbing her for long minutes till she became desperate again.

"Lie down." he ordered her "Open your legs to me."

"Dear God. What are you going to do to me?" she asked breathlessly. She knew it would take him some more time to be able, but he did not bother explaining.

"Hold the ring box, and don't you dare open it until I say so." he ordered half smiling.

She did as he desired. What could she do? She'd have jumped to stormy waters had he told her to do so. For the first time he gave her pleasure with his mouth. She held his shoulders and cried with the releaf he gave her a third time that same noon. She heard Wade make a sound and shrieked, but he held her to her place and said, 'wait, he's still asleep." she kept biting her lower lips and he tortured her to hights she did not imagine.

"Say yes" he said as he came on top of her and began nibbling her ear, "say it, or I'll keep you here till after dark just to make sure you can't refuse me. You know I can, and you'll never protest. And what will you say when we return, and this bliss radiates from you as it will anyhow, I will even tear your dress, if need be. Make sure you can't even walk from all of that." he was only half kidding and she knew it. He opened his front and entered her again and whispered "Say yes, Scarlett, I will spill myself inside you anyhow, you might as well say yes before."

In a moment of clarity she realized he was right. She wanted him to want her this way.

She was panting and his rhythm was getting wilder, but she managed to whisper "I love you, yes, I'll be your wife, I am yours as it is." He didn't stop and she felt his movement grow even stronger. When he felt his height coming his possessiveness radiated from the way he held her and looked at her. It was sealed.

After he caught his breath his mouth found its way to her breast and she felt the milk flow in his mouth. If at other times he stopped shortly thereafter, this time he lingered on it. She felt herself respond in a different way than her body would. He sighed after a while "I'll give you the world, but you'll never have a wet nurse. Blame it on me. They can all nurse as long as they wish."

She was still holding the closed ring box. He smiled "Open it, my love."

She found three rings inside, one with a sole diamond and small sapphires to surround it, and two matching golden wedding bands.

She lifted her head and asked "Sapphires?"

"It was my grandmother's. Mother gave it to me ages ago, it was one of the few things she could give me when I was disowned because it was her mother's. I didn't have the heart to sell it, even when I had no food. When I offered it back to her she refused. I kept it in a safe box in a bank in Charleston for ages. Never thought I'd need it."

She smiled a wide smile while touching the ring with the tip of her fingers "What will your mother say?"

"What will your mother say?" he answered back with a grin.

"Oh, I don't know, that you aren't a proper gentleman? Or maybe that you are too old for me? Yet Pa is much older than herself, and he was an Irish peasant as her sisters tend to say. It doesn't matter. Wouldn't Cora be dissapointed?"

"Not if we are happy. Not if you are happy. And you can always lie and say you wanted another baby. She would like to be a grandmother." He became serious. "I want a child, maybe children with you."

She thought of it and answered "I hate babies. I love Wade because he is mine. If it were ours I'd love it, but I don't love babies and for sure I hated being pregnant."

"And yet, you allowed me to do something that will give you a child, if not today, tomorrow."

"Carry died." She choked "I want to have your child, it is something that I need to have." He understood.