1Now this story takes place after Rhett sends his lawyer in search of Scarlett. It's sad at first and everything not as it seems.
Rhett was sitting in the parlor wait for word from the lawyer he had sent to Atlanta to find where Scarlett had wonder off too. He couldn't believe that she had just left and hadn't informed anyone where she was headed. She hadn't even told his mother that she was leaving. When he received word that she didn't return to Atlanta that first thing that had filled his heart was fear and then anger. Then he heard a knock at the door.
"Good evening, Captain Butler."
It was his lawyer, Rhett motioned for him to come in. "We'll go into the parlor." He lead the way and sat down in a chair by the fire. "Well, where is she? Will she take the divorce?" He said this as he lite his cigar.
"Captain Butler, you heard about that steamship that sank the other day, did you not?"
"Yes, everyone knows about it. It's all that anyone talks about. What does that have to do with what I asked you?" Rhett inhaled deeply when he finished.
"I'd like you to look at this, I brought this morning but I didn't get a look at it until I was on my way back here." His lawyer handed him a newspaper and on it were the names of the people who were believed dead or who were missing form the steamship incident.
It was a list of all those who had died in the ship rack. Rhett's eyes scrolled down the paper and then the stopped, there half way down the list was a name that made Rhett's face drain of all color, his heart fell and broke into a million little pieces. It read Scarlett O'Hare — Dead. Rhett started to have trouble breathing, he couldn't handle this, he didn't want to.
"Get out!" He looked up at his lawyer, "Get the hell out!" He didn't want to have anything to do with the person who had brought him this information. He watched as his lawyer left the room, Rhett didn't bother seeing him to the door. He didn't know how long he sat there looking at the name on the paper. Scarlett was dead. He had lost her forever. He had wanted to hurt her for leaving him and now she was gone forever. He had tried so hard to shield himself from her, to get away from her and now she was gone. He couldn't go back to her, he couldn't go help her if she needed it, he wouldn't hear word of her from his friends in Atlanta. She was gone and she wasn't coming back, he couldn't try to win her heart again. He would never be able to wiggle his way back into her life. She was dead, she had left out of anger at him and now because of him she was dead. Rhett couldn't get these thoughts out of his head.
He didn't know how long he sat there but it was morning when his mother came to see him sitting there looking at the paper. "Rhett, what are you doing?"
He jumped when he heard his mother's voice, "Mama?" He looked down at the floor and his whole body started to shake, "She's dead. She's really gone this time." He started to cry and at first his mother didn't understand why then it hit her, and it hit her hard. Scarlett was dead. The one person that her son had ever truly loved was dead.
A Week Later
It was a rainy, dark, cold day they buried the empty caustic into the ground. Rhett stood alone; like a wall. He didn't show any emotions at all; he was like a rock. His sister Rosemary noticed that he had grown hard and cold in less then a week. And deep down she was filled with guilt because she had burnt Scarlett's note. Maybe if she hadn't Rhett would have gone after her and she wouldn't have died. She just couldn't understand it. He had told her that he didn't love the women that she was nothing but a burden to him. Now he acts as if he was afraid to love her or to stay with her. He seemed to be destroyed and she couldn't understand why.
Rhett had made the decision to have Scarlett's gravestone next to their daughter, Bonnie's. He had sold the house and all of the belonging two days after he had found out that she was gone. He made a promise to himself to never fall in love again; to never marry again. He shut himself down and he wasn't sure that he could build himself up again. Long after the ceremony he stood there looking at the name on the stone. Scarlett O'Hara Butler, he didn't want to put all her other names on the stone, she had been his and he wanted it to stay that way. He just couldn't believe that she was gone.
As the months past Rhett slowly slipped away from his family and one day he just left. He didn't want to deal with it anymore, so he left not knowing where he would go or what he was looking for but he knew that he needed to find something, he just had no idea what he would find.
He ended up traveling to New Orleans, where he thought that he could forget about the fact that she was gone. But of course as soon as he got there all he could think about where the few weeks that they had spent there together on their honeymoon. He remembered shopping with her, picking out her dresses; fighting about getting something for Mammy. But she was always thinking about Ashley, he was all she ever thought about. Rhett Butler always got what he wanted but for once in his life he realized that the only thing that he ever wanted he never could get. And now he would never get her.
He was walking down the street when, "Rhett Butler!" Someone yelled from behind him. Rhett spun around to see who had called him. It was Christian, an old friend and a follow blockader.
"Christian! How are you doing old buddy?" Rhett tried to act happy but it was no use and when he saw that his old friend give him a look of concern he knew that he shouldn't have come.
"So, pal, what's wrong?"
Rhett looked at the ground knowing that he couldn't avoid it any longer. "She's dead, my wife, the only person I loved is dead." He didn't look up at his friend knowing what would come next.
"Come on, let's go talk. It seems that you need to."