Chapter Three

by Saber Girl Leia

2/25/06

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This chapter is dedicated to the awesomest woman (womyn:) ) ever (except when she's being a jerk and refusing to upload a document for me ;) ) Saber Girl AmiVaala, because when my computer refuses to obey me, she (after much prodding and bribery) uploads documents for me.

(PS, AmiDee, if you're reading this, your face is a strange custom.)

Mammy, watching the Butler family, noticed that this supper seemed the most relaxed the couple had shared in a long time. Was it the calm before the storm? With Scarlett's little performance this afternoon, Mammy could not help but worry. That child could be truly sweet, but she could be so hateful too, and that Ashley Wilkes, poor man, was miles away but all too likely near in memory.

Mammy often wondered if he ever had done anything to encourage Scarlett's foolish fancies, or if it truly had been entirely her fault. She had certainly behaved... questionably... towards men before.

But Rhett and Scarlett and Bonnie... their relationship was a puzzle, one that Mammy was at once both inexorably tied up in and unable to influence. And Melanie was not around to smooth everyone's frazzled nerves on this journey.

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"Bonnie's quite the little lady," Rhett commented over supper, wondering again just how long this mood of Scarlett's would hold, and what she was trying to accomplish with it.

"Yes, she is." Bonnie swung her feet happily under the table and nodded in agreement. A dribble of sauce slipped to her chin, and Scarlett's arm shot out with a napkin to wipe it before Rhett had the chance.

That was too fast, she thought. Too unnatural. Convincing men of things was an art, and one that Scarlett took more pride in than anything, excluding perhaps her business skills.

"I suppose she must take after a grandparent on that count," Rhett said. He could not help himself.

Scarlett nodded. "My mother."

Genuinely surprised that his wife had not reacted aggressively, Rhett patted Scarlett's hand on the table. "She takes after you in many ways, too, you know. Good ways."

"She has your eyes." Scarlett smiled. Dazzlingly.

Bonnie furrowed her little brow. She liked being complemented, but the grown-ups were acting silly again. "May I feed the birds, now?"

Scarlett pursed her lips for a second, annoyed at the interruption, then caught herself. "Yes, honey." Pause. "That is, if it's all right with your father?"

"Go ahead, Sweetie."

Bonnie jumped to the deck and ran a few feet away from the table, then bent until her hair dragged the floor and began to seriously and methodically place bread crumbs on the deck. Scarlett became aware, suddenly, of Rhett's hand holding her own. The awareness turned a calm moment into a tense one, and Scarlett mentally scolded herself while trying to hide her sudden change.

He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, almost absentmindedly.

What do I say? thought Rhett, tense himself, though better at hiding it, When do I say it?

Had he ever really told Scarlett that he loved her? He could not recall.

He knew that she had never said it to him.

What is he thinking! Scarlett wondered, the thought growing in her brain until it pushed out all others. What is he thinking! She clenched and unclenched her other hand, hidden in the folds of her white skirt.

"Why, isn't that a lovely sunset, Bonnie, dear?" Scarlett exclaimed, shattering the moment, and leaving Rhett to pull himself back in his composed, hidden, self.

"Yes, Mother. It's mighty pretty."

Rhett dropped Scarlett's hand to go to Bonnie, and a little pin of sadness poked the woman. She tried to brush it off, but unconsciously began to touch her hand as he had.

Rhett lifted Bonnie onto one shoulder and laughed at something she had said. Scarlett had not heard it; the wind had carried it away. She stepped to Rhett's other side and slipped an arm about his waist, hardly thinking her actions through.

His laugh stopped and his smile slipped, a little shocked and little unbelieving and a little mistrusting, but then he grinned and threw his arm around Scarlett's shoulders.

Mammy, passing behind them, thought that they made a pretty, and a proper, family portrait.

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The ship was small, and the only other first class passenger was to be picked up on a stop up North before the boat departed for Europe in earnest. Scarlett and Rhett had avoided the other passengers throughout the day, but Bonnie was curious, and friendly.

A small crowd had gathered on deck to watch the sunset, and Bonnie rocked back and forth on Rhett's shoulder, waving to the people. He removed his arm from around Scarlett and swung the child down. Scarlett stirred, coming back to the moment.

She began to straighten her dress and poof out her sleeves hurriedly, worried that Rhett would see her relaxed and think her vulnerable.

Bonnie tried to run off to greet a little boy in torn knickers who looked to be about her age, but Rhett grabbed her wrist.

"Daddy-"

"Hush, Bonnie, I'll let you go. I just want you to stay with Mammy." He called the older woman over. "Watch her."

Scarlett, eyeing the boy's scabby knees distastefully, started to object, but he waved her to silence. For once, she complied.

Mammy nodded, "Yes, Mr. Rhett," and followed the much faster child off, muttering about the things people expected her to do in her old age.

Rhett turned to Scarlett. It hit her that they were alone now, in their world. She had to tilt her neck back to look into his face, thanks to the large bonnet that adorned her.

"There's no one here to care about her reputation," Rhett offered, presumably as way of explanation for Bonnie's running about. He took Scarlett's hands. His eyes seemed to indicate something of how little their own reputations mattered to him, so long as it did not effect Bonnie.

"There's Mammy."

"You think she'll tell stories?" Rhett raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "About how we're just mules in horses' harnesses?"

"Why, I'd never sell any more lumber if people thought we were asses' children!"

She had meant it as an innocent joke, but he did not take it as one. The mood slipped, and though it was only for a moment, it was enough.

But Rhett was trying hard. After a moment, he moved one hand to her chin and pulled her close. "Forget the lumber mills." He kissed her.

Scarlett was thrilled by the breach of propriety, but... "I will not." She could not let him think that she would give up the-

No. She could most certainly let him think that... for now.

"Actually, Rhett..."

"Stop simpering." Suddenly he could have hit her. He nearly did.

But he held back, displaying only a glower and a firm hold on her chin. "You need a drink."

After a while, when Scarlett was turning tipsy but Rhett was still mostly sober, she kissed him back.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So he drank, and they went back to the cabin.

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Review, review, review! You know the drill! Constructive criticism very much appreciated, as is for that matter anything at'll you have to say.