Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
The italicized words are from the canon. I have changed some of Scarlett's responses.
It frustrates me when I read encounters between Ashley and Scarlett. She immediately turns into a lovesick sixteen-year-old submissive puppy dog. Furthermore, I truly do not believe that the vain, self-centered, egotistical young girl would ever have accepted a man, any man, dumping her for another woman for any reason. I think all her feelings of love would have immediately turned to hate. Of course, it would have been an entirely different novel if Scarlett had realized earlier that Ashley was not the man she thought he was.
Chapter Twenty
Soon Genie was six weeks old, and the trunks were packed. Everyone was ready to leave England and return home except Rhett. Rhett would like to live in Europe for two reasons. It was an ocean away from the Wilkeses and he found it a much more pleasurable place to live than Atlanta, Georgia.
Rhett had fired the last nursemaid the week before and Scarlett had said, "We won't hire another one. We will just hire a nursemaid when we get to Atlanta."
"Alright."
The family made great time on the trip across the Atlantic. They had docked in the early hours of March twentieth. Rhett took the entire family to the train station. He got them a private car. The train to Atlanta was leaving in less than an hour. Rhett sent his mother a note telling her – We won't be able to meet with you this time. I have a daughter and her name is Eugenia Victoria nickname Bonnie. There was no reply from Rhett's mother. He knew there wouldn't be.
While traveling to Charleston, every time Scarlett had nursed Genie, she had banished Rhett from their room. While in the private car, Rhett refused to leave the room. Scarlett didn't want Rhett to leave because she didn't want him to see her breasts, she wanted him to leave so she could think about whatever she wanted to think about while Genie nursed. Nothing she said would get him to change his mind, so she finally said, "Entertain me then. Read me a story."
"How about I read you some poetry?"
"Is it romantic poetry?"
"No."
"Then yes. That would have just been awkward you reading me romantic poetry when we don't feel that way about each other."
Rhett smiled and said, "True."
Rhett thought, 'No she won't see anything unless I point it out to her."
For the rest of the trip whenever Scarlett would nurse Genie, Rhett would read her poetry. Rhett read her some poems from Edgar Allen Poe.
Scarlett said, "I like his work. It has an otherworldly aspect to it."
"Yes, it does. He was an American. He is dead now. He died in forty-seven. He lived in Baltimore. He was kicked out of West Point also."
"Did you ever want to be a poet?"
"No, but at one time I wanted to be an actor."
"I might actually read his work. It has a mysterious air to it.
"Yes, it does. Is she finished? I will put her in her bassinet."
"Thank you."
Scarlett liked this Rhett very much. He had started speaking to her in a language she could understand. He had stopped quoting ancient tomes. She was going to enjoy her life with him.
The family arrived in Atlanta at almost eight o'clock at night. Rhett got them a couple of cabs and they went home. They left their trunks in the foyer. They could unpack tomorrow. Soon everyone in the house was in their beds and asleep.
The next morning, Rhett was up early as usual. He laid in the bed and wondered what the outcome of today would be. This would be the day that Wilkes would try to draw Scarlett back into his web. One thing for sure, he would not lose his temper and he would not move out of the master bedroom. Rhett got up and got cleaned up. At least she knew now that he had a way to prevent her from getting with child.
Surprising to Rhett, Scarlett had not rushed out to check on her businesses. She had been performing her role as mistress of the house. She was making sure the family was getting settled in. When she came to get Genie, who now everyone, but her mother called Bonnie, for her morning feeding, Rhett followed behind her.
As Scarlett got herself settled, she took her breast out and let the baby latch on then put a receiving blanket over herself. She said, "I don't see a book. What are you going to read to me?"
"I can go get a book in a minute. I wanted to talk to you. Go on and check on your businesses. I can get everyone settled in the house. In fact, everyone is already pretty much settled."
"I'm scared to go out there. I'm scared it is going to be just as bad as you said it was going to be."
"You won't know until you go."
"True. I will go after I finish nursing Genie. The employment agency is sending over staff. If we don't like them, we can fire them and hire someone else."
"Alright, let me go get the book of poetry I was reading to you yesterday."
"Alright."
As Scarlett left the mansion to check the books at the store, she was seriously thinking of selling her businesses. At least, her mills for sure. She didn't need the money and Rhett had said she could help him with his investment so she could make sure he didn't squander away his money. Yes, it would mean the end of her weekly contact with Ashley, but she was now beginning to think that would be for the best. He was married to another woman. She was married to another man. They could not be together in a meaningful way not until Rhett and Melly were dead. That thought brought tears to her eyes. She didn't want Rhett or Melly to die. Scarlett shook off those thoughts and decided that she would make her decision after she looked at the books today.
As Scarlett drove up to Ashley's mills there was a sense of pride that she had accomplished all this against the odds. No, she couldn't sell her sawmills. She had worked incredibly hard, and nobody had given her credit for it. Not even Rhett. Although Rhett had given her a lot of practical advice to build her businesses.
Since Rhett and Scarlett had gotten back from their honeymoon, he had never once said she wasn't a lady. He hadn't even made any unkind comments about Ashley. He had even explained why Ashley was a bad businessman. Ashley wasn't any good because he was still thinking of himself as the heir to Twelve Oaks. What was it Rhett had said? He had an entitlement attitude. What else had Rhett said? He had said that Mr. Wilkes was a fine Southern gentleman but the world we were living in didn't need Southern gentleman. Scarlett had a thought, 'He is too honorable to be a success at managing a sawmill. In these times to be successful, one can't be honorable. What was it Ashley had said that day in the orchard. Now I remember – people with courage and brains will make it in these times and the rest would be something. She didn't remember – what but whatever it was it wasn't going to happen to her.'
Scarlett had gone to the store and Mr. Elsing had made a decent profit, then to Johnny's mill and he had made a large profit. She had saved Ashley's sawmill for last. She saw him walking across the yard to help her out of her buggy. He certainly no longer looked like that man at the barbecue. Because it had been so long since she had seen him, it was like she was seeing him again for the first time. He now had a little grey at his temples and where was the jauntiness of his step. He looked like a man beat down by life. She realized that it was the same look he had been wearing when he had returned from the war.
As Ashley was helping Scarlett down, he said, "Scarlett, Melly didn't tell me you were back."
"We got back last night?"
"You look wonderful. How was your time abroad? What did you have a boy or a girl?"
"A girl. Her name is Eugenia Victoria, but silly Rhett has decided to call her Bonnie because her blue eyes remind him of the Bonnie Blue Flag."
With derision Ashley said, "That is silly."
Scarlett didn't like Ashley talking that way about Rhett, but she ignored his tone and with a smile said, "He is the silliest man over that child."
Ashley and Scarlett had been walking as they were talking. When she walked into the office, she got out the books. As she looked at the pages two thoughts raced through her head. Her first thought had been Rhett had been right. Johnny made a huge profit, Hugh had made a decent profit, and Ashley had barely covered expenses. Her second thought, as she looked at Ashley, he really isn't adjusting to this world.
Ashley said, "Scarlett, I'm sorry. All I can say is that I wish you'd let me hire freemen instead of using convicts. I believe I could do better."
"Freedmen! Why, their pay would break us. Convicts are dirt cheap. If Johnnie can make this much with them—"
Ashley's eyes went over her shoulder, looking at something she could not see, and the glad light went out of his eyes. "I can't work convicts like Johnnie Gallagher. I can't drive men."
Scarlett thought, 'Why is it alright to drive slaves but not convicts? Probably because it wasn't Ashley the heir to Twelve Oaks but the overseer who was driving the slaves. Ashley probably has no idea what the overseer did to the slaves.' She said, "God's nightgown! Johnnie's a wonder at it. Ashley, you are just too soft-hearted. You ought to get more work out of them. Johnnie told me that any time a malingerer wanted to get out of work he told you he was sick, and you gave him a day off. Good Lord, Ashley! That's no way to make money."
"Scarlett! Scarlett! Stop! I can't bear to hear you talk that way,' cried Ashley, his eyes coming back to her with a fierceness that stopped her short. 'Don't you realize that they are men—some of them sick, underfed, miserable and—Oh, my dear, I can't bear to see the way he has brutalized you, you who were always so sweet—"
"Who has whatted me?"
"I've got to say it and I haven't any right. But I've got to say it. Your—Rhett Butler. Everything he touches he poisons. And he has taken you who were so sweet and generous and gentle, for all your spirited ways, and he has done this to you—hardened you, brutalized you by his contact."
"No, Ashley it was the war that changed me, not Rhett. It was starving for eighteen months that changed me, not Rhett. It was having so many people depending on me that changed me. My aunts, Wade, my sisters, Pa, Will, Melly, Beau, and even you. No! It was not Rhett. Rhett is the one that loaned me the money to start the sawmill. Rhett is the one that gave me practical advice.
Ashley went on like Scarlett hadn't spoken, he said, "If it were any other man in the world, I wouldn't care so much—but Rhett Butler! I've seen what he's done to you. Without you realizing it, he's twisted your thoughts into the same hard path his own run in. Oh, yes, I know I shouldn't say this—He saved my life, and I am grateful, but I wish to God it had been any man but him! And I haven't the right to talk to you like—"
"It doesn't sound like you are grateful. Don't forget it was Rhett that got your wife and child out of Atlanta before it fell to Sherman. And what do you mean I wish to God it had been any man but him. I love you, Ashley, but I will not allow you to talk about Rhett that way. Rhett is my husband and my best friend. Rhett took me all the way to London to have my baby just so I wouldn't have to go into confinement. It worked out for the best because the medical care is better there. Rhett who has given me anything I want. Rhett who takes care of me. No, you will not speak badly about Rhett."
"I tell you I can't bear it, seeing your fineness coarsened by him, knowing that your beauty and your charm are in the keeping of a man who—When I think of him touching you, I—
"Why are you thinking of Rhett holding me? That is normal between a husband and a wife. I am sorry you and Melly can't have a normal relationship, but Rhett and I do like hundreds of other people. Stop thinking about us. It will only cause you pain."
"I apologize most humbly, Scarlett. I—I've been insinuating that your husband is not a gentleman and my own words have proved that I'm not one. No one has a right to criticize a husband to a wife. I haven't any excuse except—except—" he faltered, and his face twisted. She waited. "I haven't any excuse at all."
"No, you do not. Rhett is my husband," Then words came out of Scarlett's mouth she couldn't believe she was saying. She said, "You are married to Melly. I am married to Rhett. Maybe someday we can be together but not until we have both lost our spouses. We must put our feelings behind a closed door and not speak of them again. It is just torture to think about what could be when it can't be. This is wrong. We have no right to ask anything from the other person. We are being disloyal to our spouses. Rhett is a fine husband and you said Melly was the best wife in the South that day in the orchard. We must act and behave as friends until we can openly be something else. In fact, this is so much torture that I think I am going to sell my part of the sawmills. Good day, Ashley."
