Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Four

When Rhett and Scarlett got to the sawmills, they saw Ashley in the yard. He had a shocked look on his face. Rhett got down and helped Scarlett down. He said, "Go meet him and talk to him in the yard where everyone can see you. I will stay right here. I don't need to hear what you two say to each other."

Scarlett turned and looked at Rhett with a shocked look on her face. She said, "Thank you, Rhett."

Scarlett walked across the yard towards Ashley. Ashley said, "Scarlett, after what happened yesterday you shouldn't be out here."

"I came to tell you goodbye for a while, my love."

"What?"

"After yesterday we will never be able to be alone together again therefore, I am going to sell my half of the sawmills."

"No, Scarlett."

"I am going to try to recapture all my ladylike manners and actions."

"You won't be able to living with that man."

"We need to put our feelings on the shelf and forget about them. We can't be together until both Melly and Rhett die."

"Scarlett don't speak that way."

"I have to say it plainly because that's the only way I know how to speak. What I said is true. Rhett has kindly offered to take me away from all the scandal and gossip. We are going to Europe. We won't be back for several months. Another reason to sell my mills. I just wanted you to know that I will always love you, but I have to make the most of the life I have now. Not what might have been or might be in the future."

"Scarlett."

When Ashley reached out for her, Scarlett said sharply, "Don't touch me. Rhett would not tolerate that. He is tolerating a lot right now."

"Does he know about our feelings for each other?"

"He always has. He had been trying to take a nap in the library at Twelve Oaks the day of the barbecue, so he heard everything."

"So that is why you married him. He blackmailed you into it."

Scarlett liked Ashley thinking that about her much more than him knowing she had married Rhett for his money, so she didn't correct him. She simply said, "Goodbye, my love."

On that Scarlett turned around and walked away. She didn't turn around when Ashley called her name. Rhett had his mask on while he was helping her in the buggy. Once he was settled beside her, she said, "Let's go to Uncle Henry's and get this sawmill sold."

"Alright, my pet."

Scarlett scowled at Rhett but didn't say anything. She knew she had pushed him as far as she could push him. She wanted to yell at him and scream at him for being unfaithful to her, but she had already known he had been, so she had already absorbed that hurt. All Rhett did was confirm what she already knew. She needed Rhett too much in this crisis to risk alienating him. She would wait and yell at him later after he had taken her with him. She was afraid he would leave her in Atlanta if she made him mad. She just couldn't risk that.

After Rhett and Scarlett had gone around the bend where Ashley couldn't see them, Scarlett laid her head on Rhett's upper arm. Rhett was barely controlling his temper but nonetheless he didn't shake her off. She left her head on his upper arm, until they got to Uncle Henry's office. Rhett knew she had been crying on the way back from the mill but now there was no trace of tears on her face or sadness in her expression. Rhett just helped her down and they walked into Uncle Henry's office together.

Once Scarlett and Rhett were seated in Uncle Henry's inner office, she said, "Rhett and I are going to travel for a while to get away from the rumors and gossip about both of us. I want you to sell my businesses."

"What about the mansion?"

Scarlett looked at Rhett. He said, "Don't sell the mansion. Sell the horses but not the carriages. Give everyone two weeks' pay except Pork, Dilcey, and Prissy. Leave them as caretakers,"

Rhett looked at Scarlett and she nodded, she said to Rhett, "We will take Mammy with us."

"Yes, of course."

Scarlett turned to Henry and said, "Let me sign the power of attorney. We have things to do."

"What about Ashley?"

"What about Ashley?"

When Henry saw the anger on Scarlett's and Rhett's faces, he quickly said, "What I mean is does he want to sell his half of the sawmill?"

Henry was pleased that the anger disappeared from the couples' faces.

"I don't know. I guess you will have to ask him. I don't have time. In fact, we don't even have time to say goodbye to anyone. I will send Melly a note explaining everything."

Rhett said, "We are leaving tonight at about ten. Come along, Scarlett, we need to go see Mr. Powe."

"Yes, we do, Dear."

After Rhett and Scarlett were in their buggy driving to Mr. Powe's office, she said, "You were right about Ashley and me. Uncle Henry didn't mean what we thought he meant but if anyone ever mentions me and Ashley in the same sentence, I will get mad."

Scarlett slipped her hand into Rhett's hand. It was difficult because he was holding the reins, but he squeezed her hand and said, "Yes, I will too."

On the ride over to Mr. Powe's office, the couple saw Dr. and Mrs. Meade. As they were passing the older couple Rhett said, "Wave and smile like you haven't done anything wrong."

As Scarlett smiled and waved at the couple, she said, "I haven't."

"Then it should be easy for you to behave that way."

"Yes, of course."

Dr. and Mrs. Meade did wave back although they did have puzzled expressions on their faces.

At Mr. Powe's office Rhett told the lawyer, "Sell all my holdings in Atlanta except my part of the bank. You know what they are worth."

"What about your partners?"

"They will have new partners. Just as I have a new partner."

Rhett smiled at Scarlett, and she smiled back at him. She didn't know why but she was so very hopeful that all this was real. She remembered Rhett telling her he loved her. She didn't know why but she truly hoped that was true. Although she was afraid it was an elaborate trick by Rhett but for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from hoping that she and Rhett could be happy. The last twenty-four hours had been a hurricane for Scarlett but at the moment Rhett was acting like he was a safe haven. She so hoped he was. She so needed someone to take care of her.

Scarlett had also spent a lot of the day thinking about how she could use Rhett's love to get what she wanted. She wasn't going to do any of that for a while. Not until she was completely convinced Rhett really did love her. Rhett could be very cruel when he wanted to be.

A few times during the day Ashley had popped into her head but she banished him from her thoughts. It just hurt too much to think about him. She was going to make herself not think of Ashley until they could finally be together.

That night after supper, Rhett kissed Scarlett with his special kiss. He whispered, "Trust me one more time, please. I am going to tell that creature goodbye and that I will never see her again. I will be home within thirty minutes."

Scarlett wanted to scream, "No if you leave me to go to her, I will never trust you again. I will never forgive you for this." But the face looking at her was so open, so full of remorse, and hope she had to let him do this. Rhett had let her tell Ashley goodbye therefore she would let Rhett tell his friend goodbye. She nodded her head and whispered, "Just one more time."

"It is something I have to do."

"Alright. Go."

"I will let you yell at me the entire trip to Charleston and never try to defend myself," Scarlett gave Rhett a reluctant smile and he smile back. He said, "I will be right back."

As Rhett walked to The Painted Lady, he decided that Scarlett knowing all about his investments was a good thing. She was going to have to run his financial empire after he was dead and gone.

That thought made him mad. He didn't know how many years Belle's traitorous actions had cost him, but he speculated that her actions probably cost his sweet Scarlett at least ten years of her life but probably more. He had to serve up justice to that bitch Belle. He accepted responsibility for his actions. He was a forty-two-year-old man who let his jealousy and his temper influence him in the wrong direction, and that bitch had taken advantage of him every time he stumbled. The worst part was that she had given him syphilis. He knew it was her because she was the only woman he had been intimate with since he married Scarlett. He had been intimate with Belle because he had thought she cared about him. He would never know if she did care about him or saw him as her meal ticket, her retirement plan. He knew the truth. She had not cared about him even as a friend. She had not taken him in while he was dying.

Rhett had accepted that he was infected. He was beginning to accept the blame for infecting Scarlett. Not just actually giving her the disease but by being unfaithful to her thus giving Belle the opportunity to infect him. He was beginning to come to terms with the fact he and Scarlett would never be able to have any more children. That he would be putting her life in danger every time he accidentally got her with child again.

Rhett had snuck in the back door of The Painted Lady and found Belle in her office. He knew that every night at seven she ate her supper in the privacy of her office. She had given her staff strict instructions to never disturb her no matter what.

Belle smiled as Rhett slipped inside her office. She said, "You are early tonight. I had expected you back last night after you told your wife about our relationship."

"We don't have a relationship. You are a cunt I have used to relieve my sexual urges, make money for me, and hurt my wife."

"Rhett! How can you talk to me that way?!"

"Why not? You are nothing to me. Why would I care about your feelings? Did you knowingly give me syphilis?"

Belle quickly looked away before replying, "I don't have syphilis."

Rhett knew in that moment that Belle had intentionally given him the disease. Probably so they would be bound together for ever. She had coaxed him into not using a sheath by telling him that she was safe. He had because when he was with Scarlett, he had never used a sheath. By not using protection he could further create the fantasy that he was with Scarlett. Yet he had known better. He had been so stupid so many times but, in this matter, especially. She was an old whore who had probably been intimate with more men than she could remember so she wasn't clean. No, only Scarlett was clean until he had soiled her. He knew not just her body but also her mind and her soul.

Rhett was going to be bound to Scarlett forever not this lying bitch, he said, "Yes, you did, and I know you let me use your body so I would catch the disease also. Thanks to you I gave it to my wife also."

Belle burst out laughing. She said, "She deserves to get it."

"No, of the three of us she is the only one who doesn't deserve to get it. She may have strayed with her mind, but I knew she thought herself in love with Wilkes from the first day I met her," With a smile of remembrance Rhett continued, "That is how I got her to let me an unreceived, amoral bastard without proper intentions into her life."

"Nonetheless, unfaithful is unfaithful."

"What the hell do you know about anything?

Rhett had taken off his jacket while he and Belle had been talking. With his last statement, Rhett walked behind Belle and took the knife out of his boot. He slit Belle's throat. She was dead before her body hit the ground. As Rhett looked down at the woman, he said, "Did you really think I would let you live after you hurt my sweet Scarlett? If I could I would kill myself also but I know she needs me to take care of her and protect her. Something she has needed for a long time."

Rhett went upstairs at The Painted Lady and changed his shirt and put his jacket back on. He gathered up all his belongings. He exited out the front door. There were a couple of people who saw him, but they didn't pay him any attention. Rhett was such a fixture of The Painted Lady that nobody paid him any mind. Besides, Rhett knew the police would not spend much time investigating the death of an old whore.