It was addictive, this window to Scarlett's soul. For the first time in his life Rhett didn't have to second-guess himself when it came to Scarlett's inner monologue. The book he held in his hands laid it clearly before him.

He decided to read further, knowing he'd always wonder what he had missed if he didn't.

He smiled mischievously, thumbing the pages forward he came to the last entry, the one he'd found he writing last night. 'Account book indeed,' the memory of how she tilted her chin up, defiant, as though daring him to contradict her; made his lips curve into a smile. And when he had, she immediately assured him that she always corrected the household books.

He is here, here in England! How can this be? Did he know that I was here? I honestly don't think that is the case as he seemed to be surprised by my presence. Where is his mouse of a wife, that's what I'd like to know. I wish I could find the nerve to ask, but I can't bear to her name on his lips. I can't bear to hear him speak of her with love and pride. I wish he'd leave tonight, I hope I never in my life set eyes on him again, I pray I never hear his name spoken in my presence again.

I hope this week never ends.

Why didn't I discover I loved him even a year before I told him? That one year might have been soon enough to save our marriage. Why didn't I just come forward and tell him about the baby, if only I had presented him with the news soon enough we might all be a family now. Ella and Wade and the baby and Rhett and I. If I'd done the right thing Ella and I would have never left America.

Scarlett meant little Bess but there was no way Rhett could have known that. Instead he assumed she meant the baby she miscarried.

Rhett felt tears prick once again at the back of his eyes. Even now she still thought of the baby she'd miscarried, he thought mistakenly. Soon enough wouldn't have mattered; after all he'd been ready to be angry with her when he arrived.

His mind wandered back to his trip abroad with Bonnie. He expected that Bonnie would be so happy with him and never long for her distant mother. Scarlett hardly noticed Bonnie, but it became apparent that Bonnie noticed Scarlett. While they had been in Charleston Bonnie had told her grandmama all about Scarlett. She spent hours detailing how beautiful her mother was, how she always smelled like lavender, how she liked dogs but not cats. It was that piece of information that caused Rhett in a malicious move to buy Bonnie a kitten.

It pained him to know that while Bonnie loved him with all her heart the odds were very much in favor of her defecting to Scarlett if she only showed the child the slightest bit of encouragement. That angered him so much that when he had returned home with Bonnie he wanted to hurt her. There she'd stood at the top of the stairs, brought there by Bonnie's cries of "Mother, Mother we're home."

He was angry that she held Bonnie so tight and cried into her brown curls. He wanted her to barely acknowledge Bonnie. He felt small and mean for wishing such a thing, but he wanted to keep Bonnie's love as his exclusive property. If Scarlett took an interest in the child, it would be temporary. Eventually she'd drift back to those damn mills and her precious Mister Wilkes. Then Bonnie's little heart would be broken and he'd have to pick up the pieces.

She'd been so nervous, as she faced him at the tops of those stairs. Thinking back he remembered how really endless they seemed. Her face was pale, her eyes were almost feverishly bright. He mocked her. He wanted to humble her because he was Rhett Butler. His pride had suffered because of her and he wanted her to share some of his pain.

He didn't stop to consider that he'd left her alone for three months with not a letter or telegram. He didn't stop to consider that maybe she had missed him as much as he ached for her. He could have been polite and their child would have lived. He could have ignored her and simply left for the station, the baby would have been born. He could have chosen his words with far more thought then he had that day. He could have asked her was she happy, sad, angry. No he did none of those things, instead he baited her, and he insulted her. He didn't ask after her health even though she looked like she was slightly fevered. He merely enquired if "there was a rouge shortage." He smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Can this wanness mean you've missed me."

The bright light died in her eyes and they became dead in a way he'd never seen.

Even now several years later he could recall her words. He could her the tension in her voice and how close she was to breaking.

"If I'm pale it's your fault and not because I've missed you, you conceited thing. It's because--" "It's because I'm going to have a baby!"

He sucked in his breath suddenly and his eyes went rapidly over her. He took a quick step toward her as though to put a hand on her arm but she twisted away from him, and before the hate in her eyes his face hardened.

"Indeed!" he said coolly. "Well, who's the happy father? Ashley?" He regretted the words the second they came from his lips and his first instinct was to take them back but her next words drove him past reason.

"Damn you!" she began, her voice shaking with sick rage. "You—you know it's yours. And I don't want it any more than you do. No—no woman would want the children of a cad like you. I wish-- Oh, God, I wish it was anybody's baby but yours!"

He hated her in that instant, hated her so badly that he wanted to reach out and throttle her. But instead he allowed his indifferent expression to take hold of his face. She had hurt him to the center of himself and he wanted to dismiss her from his heart and mind.

"Cheer up," he said, turning from her and starting up the stairs, "Maybe you'll have a miscarriage."

Her told her to "cheer up maybe you'll have a miscarriage and then she did. He had wished it on her and then she fell. She fell to the bottom of the stairs and he could recall running to the bottom taking the stairs two at a time knowing that she was dead, after all how could she survive such a fall. She was dead and he'd caused it. He picked her up, cradling her gently. He saw her chest rise and fall in shuddering gasps and his heart began to beat once more. She was still alive, she might live. If she didn't…that was a thought to horrible to contemplate. His voice was foreign to him as he called for Mammy.

She moaned softly and he begged her to stay still, he told her that Dr. Meade was on his way.

Even now an ocean and a lifetime away he could hear the whispered words that came from her lips as she lost consciousness.

"No don't take my baby."

He only read one more paragraph of her entry before tossing her journal to the ground.

The gossip de jour is that I've born the Prince of Wales a bastard. It's fiercely circulating through all the courts of Europe. People constantly watch me and wonder. Could it be true, is the prince the father to a bastard child. They don't care that I only met the price a little over a year and a half ago. No, they have conveniently worked out scenarios. I love my life here, but no matter where I go scandal follows me like a shadow.

The pounding on his door was so fierce he thought it would come off the hinges.

He steeled himself to tell her the truth. He had her journal and yes he'd read some of it, but not maliciously. Simply to understand her better.

He opened the door to find Scarlett looking disheveled and panicked. She pushed past him to stride to the center of his room.

"Do come in Mrs. Butler. I trust this is an impulsive visit," he teased gently.

"Rhett I need to talk to you, it's important that you…"

"I have to tell you something, something that you should hear from me and not some gossipmonger, sometimes things grow out of our control whether we want them to or not," her pace was so rapid that many of her words were a jumble.

"Scarlett," he wanted to put her at ease, whatever it was obviously tearing her apart. It had to be about the rumor about her having had the prince's child. She was obviously worried that he'd hear it and be angry. That coupled with the missing journal must be what was on her mind. "This is about what you wanted to tell me before is that it.

She nodded, her face pale and her eyes feverish. He knew that he would have to be gentle with her. He would introduce the topic for her so she'd know that he knew it was all rubbish.

"It's about the baby that you've supposedly had with the Prince isn't it?"

"Yes," her tone was leaden and resigned. Now was the time to face up to the crimes she'd committed no matter how right she'd thought she'd been at the time. "Yes it's about my baby."

"With the Prince of Wales," Rhett chuckled, "Poor Scarlett always the subject of the most delicious gossip. And just how did the gossips decide the Prince would have found the time to impregnate you."

"Where there's a will there's a way I suppose. They worked out an acceptable timeline of events."

"People usually do."

"I really did have a baby, Rhett."

For a moment he was sure he'd heard her wrong. He clung to that instant of disbelief for nearly a minute. Her face was solemn and then Rhett's face abruptly lost its expression of mirth. "I beg your pardon?"

"I had a baby Rhett, nearly nine months ago, a beautiful baby girl."

She told him that she hadn't known a man since him; obviously that was a lie, just one more lie from her beautiful lips.

"And just who is the father of this beautiful baby girl?"

He was so cold; he wasn't even going to give her a chance to explain. He had already condemned her. "What business is that of yours?"

Rhett smirked "Well if I am going to be stepfather to your baby don't you think I've the right to know who her father is?"

"You wouldn't be her stepfather." She looked him square in the eye, standing her ground, ready to defend her actions to the grave.

Rhett's mouth turned dry and he could feel his pulse quickening. "Precisely what is it you are trying to tell me?"

Still maybe she could explain, maybe she could reach out to him. "I did what I did because I was afraid of you."

Rhett looked at her incredulously. "Afraid of me, that's ridiculous, what have I ever done to frighten you."

"You took Bonnie away from me, you didn't care that it would hurt you did it any way..."

"You weren't much of a mother to her, truthfully I didn't think you'd notice all that much."

"I loved her."

Rhett turned his back on her and walked to the window. "Scarlett I think you should just take a deep breath and tell me whatever it is you're leading up to."

"Rhett the baby is yours, you're her father."

He turned to face her, the midmorning sun streaming in from the window behind him formed a halo, making him appear as though he were an avenging angel stepped straight from the window of a gothic cathedral.

"We have a child together, you and I?"

"Yes."

"A child that you've been hiding from me."

"Yes."

"She's here, right now in England?"

"Yes."

"For the love of Christ Scarlett, of all the insane things you've ever done this is truly the most reprehensible. How could you keep my own flesh and blood from me? I've always know you had a streak of cruelty, I've just accepted it as a part of you but..."

"Who are you to lecture me you callous bastard. You took Bonnie away from me from the second she was born."

He forgot his earlier resolve to be gentle, forgot the lessons the past had taught him, he wanted to hurt her as she had once again hurt him. "You wanted to rip her out of your wo..."

She slapped him, as hard as she could the sound echoing in the room long after the action had been completed. Rhett rubbed his cheek. "True what they say isn't it Pet, the truth hurts."

"Damn you to hell, I'll give you the truth, I don't need you and neither does Bess. We were fine before you came to Havenhurst and we will be fine long after you leave."

"You think I'll walk away from my daughter just like that."

"I think you'll take whatever way is easiest for Rhett Butler and let me assure you the easiest way is for you to leave, now."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her close resting his free hand on her stomach. "And nine months from now Pet, what if I've left you something else to remember me by? Will you telegraph me to inform me of our blessed event."

"Don't touch me." She struggled in his iron grasp, trying desperately to get away.

"Scarlett, you are still my wife and the law says I can deal with you accordingly. If I feel the need to touch you I'll do it, if I feel you are an unfit mother I'll act on it with the full support of the law."

Scarlett began to laugh hysterically in spite of her situation. "What law, we're in England, the royal family is the law. My baby's godparents are the future King of England and Queen Victoria. Most of this country believes me to be the Prince of Wales mistress and those that pride themselves on being "in the know" know for a fact that I bore the Prince a charming bastard daughter a little over a year ago at Hampton Court. You'll never be able to take me from this house and no court in their right mind would award you the daughter of their future sovereign, no matter what claim you feel you have on either of us."

"I want my daughter."

"And I want you to leave, regretfully only one of us will get what they want, you're a gambler Rhett, care to place a wager on who?"

"This isn't over Scarlett, not by a long shot."

Scarlett wrenched her wrist away from Rhett's grip, he let her go and they stood facing one another. From lovers to adversaries once again. "Spoken like the defeated party."

She spun on heel and fled the room before Rhett could stop her.

Rhett stared at the door for a moment willing her to come back and tell him that she'd been playing out some sort of elaborate hoax, but knowing deep down that she wasn't. The fragile peace he hoped they'd built lay at his feet in ruins.