Inspiration for this story:

Me: If Scarlett had ever known how much sexual power she had over Rhett, their life would have been so much better.

MissCyn: Yeah, too bad The Joy of Sex wasn't published for another hundred years.

Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Prologue

April 1868

There was a young woman of about twenty-three sitting outside a shop. Her name was Marie Laveau. She was sitting at a small table. There was a sign that said 'Marie Laveau - Fortunes Told.'

Marie Laveau was not the famous Laveau, but she took advantage of them having the same name. Alright she had changed her last name, so it was the same as the famous Voodoo priestess. She was doing alright with the sidewalk trade. She had the right look. She had blue-eyes and curly red hair. She had a very exotic look about her. Her grandmother and her mother had the second sight but hers had not materialized as of yet. It didn't matter she could con the tourist well enough. She would just tell them how wonderful their future was going to be. She would throw in a few minor tragedies just to make it seem real, like an aunt or an uncle dying.

Marie was sitting in the shade under an awning right outside her shop. The door to the shop was wide open to encourage customers to walk in. She sold jewels and amulets to supposedly ward off evil. It was junk but the tourist loved it. She sold some spices. She saw the couple walking on the sidewalk. They were a handsome couple. The man was a big man with a swarthy complexion and the woman with white magnolia skin looked like a tiny doll next to him. They both had black hair. Their hair was an ebony color it was so dark. Marie could tell the man loved the woman, but the woman was just enjoying the man's attention. They were talking and laughing. They seemed to be loving life and everything it had in store for them. They stopped in front of her shop and the woman laughed and said, "Rhett, let's get our fortune told."

"It is nothing but a bunch of hooey. Made up lies to con the tourist out of their money."

The woman pouted and said, "Please Rhett."

The man smiled an indulgent smile and said, "It is just a bunch of hocus pocus but if you want to waste your time listening to this fraud tell you lies about your future then far be it from me to stop you."

Marie was beginning to be annoyed by the man. He was such a rude, arrogant man. He was so rude he didn't even bother to lower his voice when he insulted her. Marie thought, 'He is probably from that rich Planter's class that thought they were better than anyone else. He must have been smarter than the rest for he acts like he still has a lot of money.'

Marie said, "Pretty lady, step into my shop and I will tell you your future."

The woman looked at the man without speaking and the man said, "Go ahead, Scarlett, and let the talented Marie Laveau tell you your wonderful future."

They walked into the shop and Marie indicated which chair the woman should sit in.

The man gave Marie the money for the session. As he did, he said to Marie, "If I could see into the future, I wouldn't waste my time eking out a living reading people's palms. I would clean up knowing which business deals were going to be successful."

The woman said, "Hush, Rhett, you are ruining the fun of me having my fortune read."

The man had smiled at the woman indulgently and said, "I will be quiet for I would not want to disturb Miss Laveau's talents."

It was hard to miss the sarcasm in his statement but nonetheless the young lady looked so excited when she sat down at Marie's table. Marie took the woman's left hand. Marie looked at the woman's ring for a minute and thought, 'That man is such a peacock that he bought this incredibly large diamond ring so everyone would know how much money he had. Marie shook off those thoughts and was trying to decide what lies she would tell this woman. She finally decided to tell the little woman that her husband dies, and she inherits all his money. That after that tragedy her life is rather good. Marie smiled and turned the woman's hand over. In that moment, Marie knew this woman's future and it was not pretty. Marie had finally received her second sight and she wished she hadn't. Marie finally understood what her mother had meant when she told her the second sight was a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing to see the future and a curse not to be able to change it.

Marie saw everything that was going to happen to this woman. She didn't want to see the ugliness ahead for this lively, happy woman. She saw that this moment was going to be the happiest moment for this woman in front of her for the rest of her life. Tomorrow night her world would be changed forever by a sigh. She didn't want to tell the woman because it was so sad and horrible. The woman in front of her was going to lose everything she valued.

She tried to withdraw and not tell the woman her tragic future. She said, "I don't see anything. I must be having a bad day."

"Rhett"

"I paid you the money. Tell us what her future is."

"No, here is your money back."

"Rhett, make her tell me."

"I will not take my money back. You will tell us what you allegedly saw."

Marie decided she would tell the woman what she had originally planned to tell her that her husband dies. Yet when Marie opened her mouth to speak those were not the words that came out of her mouth. She spoke in a monotone voice. She said, "You will be ostracized by your community because of your husband. You will conceive two children with him, and you will lose both of them. Your best friend will die from a miscarriage before you know she is your truest friend. You will lose your husband's love chasing after a false love. Your husband will leave you at your lowest moment. Your other two children will die in a typhoid epidemic. You will never love again."

"Rhett!"

"You aren't particularly good at this. You are supposed to tell her how wonderful her life will be. You are nothing but a charlatan and a cheat. You have upset my wife for no reason. We will not give you any more money," The man reached in his pocket and gave his wife a handkerchief. "We will not buy anything else to ward off this horrible fate. My wife is so upset by your words, I need to get her back to the hotel."

As they walked out of the shop the man said, "Baby, it is just a bunch of hooey. None of it is true. She just thought she could get more money out of me. She is a fraud and worse. She is a destroyer of dreams. She is an unscrupulous woman intent on making you unhappy so you will buy something in her store to counteract your bad fortune. It was all lies."

As Marie watched them walk out of her shop, she noticed that the woman had left the man's handkerchief on her table. Marie knew what she was going to do. She had seen the spell in her grandmother's book. She was going to send that arrogant bastard one hundred years into the future.

Marie closed up her shop. Her mother, Winifred, had been training her for years on how to be a Sorceress. There was an oath that she would have to take to do no harm, but she had not completed her training, so she was not bound by that oath. Besides that, the arrogant man deserved what she was going to do to him. He would harm his wife much more than Marie would harm him. Marie had not shared everything that was going to happen to the woman. The woman was going to make a simple mistake and it was going to destroy her life. The pretty lady was going to sigh. With that sigh the woman was going to destroy her future with that man. The man was going to jump to a conclusion. His anger and resentment were going to fester inside him until it ate away at all his love for the pretty woman. Marie had seen so much when she had held the pretty lady's hand.

For a minute Marie had second thoughts about what she was going to do. Then she decided the woman would be better off without the man in her life. Afterall he couldn't hurt her if he was never in her life. No this was best. She was not with child yet. In a week that would no longer be true. Besides if the man was one hundred years in the future the pretty woman would have access to all his money.

Marie closed her shop early. She would go to her mother's house and just get the book on incantations. It had been her grandmother's book. Her grandmother had always told her to be careful with the book for it had some powerful magic in it. Her grandmother was dead now. Her mother would not care what Marie did. Winifred was rarely sober these days. She could not handle seeing people's futures and not being able to help them. Winifred never touched anyone any more for if she did unbidden the visions popped into her head. Marie knew now what a burden that was. She wished she could unsee that pretty woman's future, but she couldn't so instead she was going to fix the woman's future.

Marie walked to her mother's house. She supposed she should live with her mother to take care of her, but she just couldn't. When Winifred got drunk, she would start talking about all her lovers. That was too much for Marie. She had not known her father. Marie knew that her conception was the result of a one-time encounter. She really didn't want to know how many times her mother had sold herself for money.

When Marie got to her mother's house, her mother was still sober. Marie fixed her some dinner and served it to her mother. After Winifred had eaten enough Marie gave her back her glass of liquor. Marie's mother no longer fought Marie about eating or really anything else as long as Marie gave her back her glass of liquor when they were done with whatever Marie wanted Winifred to do. As long as Marie kept bringing her bottles of whiskey. Around eight she put her mother to bed. Her mother was soon asleep. Maybe passed out was a more accurate statement. Soon after that she walked out of her mother's house with her grandmother's book of incantations.

As soon as she got home Marie thumbed through the book. The book was old, and the pages were brittle. Marie took great care leafing through the book until she found the spell she wanted. The spell was to send a person into the future a hundred years. It would be perfect. The little lady would be safe from the man if he was a hundred years away. He wouldn't be so arrogant if he was in a world he didn't understand.

Marie followed the instructions to the letter. There were notes to the side. They were instructions on how to make the spell do something, but Marie could not make out any of the words except two. She could make out the words burn it, so she decided that she had to burn the handkerchief after she was finished.

Marie had mixed up the brew and with great confidence she had placed the man's handkerchief in the brew and let it boil. She was to let it boil for an hour then rinse it out. Marie wondered how exact that hour had to be. She set a timer and made herself a chicken salad. She ate then she had a glass of wine and sat in a chair and relaxed. She spent the hour reading the book of incantations. There were some remarkably interesting spells in the book. She would get her mother to tell her what the notes meant. The timer went off and she rinsed the handkerchief out. As she was rinsing the handkerchief, she chanted the phrase in the spell book. 'Hax Pax Max Deus adimax' repeatedly. Marie was happy. Within twenty-four hours the man would be in nineteen sixty-eight and the sweet lady would be still here in eighteen sixty-eight.

Marie washed up and she burned the handkerchief. Marie didn't know it, but she was sending both the man and the woman into the future for they had both left parts of themselves on the handkerchief therefore both of them were going to travel through time.

Marie should have worked harder at deciphering the note. It said: Return in six months - burn the object. Stay permanently - bury the object. Although she was sending the mocking man and the pretty lady one hundred years into the future, they were only going to stay there for six months.