Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Five
In July when Melly went on complete bed rest, Rhett stopped by frequently and he and Scarlett visited on the porch in full view of everyone. At the end of July while they were sitting on the porch in the shadows, Rhett said, "I can take you away from all this. We could be in Mexico before Sherman is in Atlanta?"
Scarlett smiled a triumphant smile and said, "Are you asking me to marry you?"
"No, I am asking you to be my mistress without seducing you first."
Scarlett immediately knew how to play this scene. Moral outrage. She said, "What will I get out of that but a passel of brats? No! Get off my porch and don't ever come back."
"Scarlett…."
"Get! Get! Get!"
"I'm leaving but I will be back."
"I will not receive you. Leave."
Rhett did leave. He knew he would be able to worm his way back into Scarlett's good graces. He would give her time and buy her a present.
Rhett stayed away for the entire month of August. He would occasionally see Scarlett around town. He would always speak to her. She would always ignore him.
Scarlett had decided that she had to bring Rhett to heel. She had to make him understand that she could not be had cheaply. He would have to marry her then when he died, she would have all his money.
On August thirty-first Melanie went into labor, Scarlett knew it was going to be a difficult delivery. She sent Prissy to get a doctor. An hour later, the teenager returned alone. Scarlett said, "Where is the doctor?"
"They is all down at the train depot."
"Why didn't you go down there?"
"There are people dying down there."
"There is going to be a young girl dying right here if you don't get down there and get the doctor."
The girls heard the sound of a cannon ball destroying something awfully close and Prissy screamed. Scarlett saw that Prissy was going to be no help. She said, "Stay with Melly."
Scarlett got her hat and went down to the train depot. There were thousands of wounded lying on the ground. Finally, Scarlett found Dr. Meade. She said, "You have to come. Melly is having her baby."
"Good God, woman. I can't leave all these injured men to help one woman have a baby. Get Mrs. Meade to help you."
Scarlett left and went to the Meade's home. Scarlett saw Mrs. Meade sitting on the front porch in a swing. Scarlett said, "You have to come help me deliver Melly's baby."
The older woman didn't look at Scarlett. She just said, "My baby is dead. Both my babies are dead."
Scarlett muttered, "I'm sorry."
She left the porch. Mrs. Meade was not going to be alright for a while. Maybe never. She would not be able to help Scarlett deliver Melanie's baby. She was of no use to Scarlett.
That afternoon, somehow Scarlett, Prissy, and Melanie delivered the baby. Afterwards, Melanie was so weak that Scarlett was worried she was going to die. Melanie could not die. She needed Melanie to vouch for her and defend her to everyone. Scarlett decided she needed to get out of Atlanta. She had to get Melanie to Mammy and her mother for them to nurse her back to health. Her mother was always nursing everyone else in Clayton County. She could nurse Melanie back to health.
Damn! She didn't have a way out of Atlanta. She didn't have a horse or a buggy. Rhett did. Rhett had a horse and buggy. He could get them out of Atlanta. He would come running when she called him back.
Scarlett sent Prissy to find Rhett. She said, "Look for him at the National Hotel. If he isn't there look for him at The Painted Lady."
"No, Miss Scarlett. My mama would skin me alive if I went into a place like that."
"Then don't go in. Yell for him in the street. Go!"
Prissy did find Rhett at The Painted Lady. Prissy did call for him out in the street. A man walked into the saloon and said to Rhett, "Butler, there is a darkie calling for you in the street."
"I wonder what this is about."
Rhett finished the hand. He collected his winnings and strolled out of the establishment. His face broke into a big grin when he saw that the girl was Prissy. That meant Scarlett needed him and was willing to let him back in her life. That was all he needed. She would eventually forgive him.
Rhett said, "What do you need, Prissy?"
"Captain Butler, Miss Scarlett sent me to fetch you."
"Did she now?"
"Mrs. Wilkes had her baby."
"Let us go to see what Miss Scarlett wants."
When they got to Hamilton House, Scarlett ran out to greet them. She said, "Where is your buggy and your horse?"
"The Confederate army confiscated that two weeks ago."
"Go! You are no good to me."
"Tell me what you want to do."
"I want to go to Tara."
"You can't go to Tara. Both armies are fighting south of Atlanta."
"As I said, 'Go! You are no good to me.'
"Scarlett why do you want to get to Tara so badly?"
She had to get this man to help her. She had to invoke a little sympathy. She said, "I want my mother! I want to be at Tara where my parents will take care of me."
She then started crying. She could always make herself cry by thinking of the dreadful day that she was going to look old. It always made her cry because there wasn't anything she could do about it.
Rhett had missed Scarlett. So thoroughly had her rebuffing him been that after a month he had been a little afraid she was never going to forgive him for asking her to be his mistress. Next time he would just have to seduce her first. He would have to get her out of Atlanta to get back in her good graces.
Rhett took out his handkerchief while still holding Scarlett and handed it to her. He said, "Dry your eyes. I will find something to get you out of town in."
"It will have to be a wagon. Melly won't be able to sit up for the entire trip."
"Alright. A wagon. Get together your clothes. I will be back with a wagon.'
While Scarlett and Prissy got their meager assortment of clothing together Rhett stole a rickety wagon and a nag. When he showed up with them, Scarlett looked at them with disgust. He laughed and said, "It is the best available on short notice."
"Alright. Let's go. You must carry Melly down the stairs. She can't walk."
"Alright. Let's go."
Rhett pick Melly up with Beau in her arms. Even as weak as she was, she wouldn't let go of her baby. As Rhett got ready to leave the room, Melly whispered, "Sword."
Scarlett said, "She wants Charlie's sword. It was her grandfather's, her father's, and her brother's. I'll get it."
Scarlett placed the sword on the mattress. She and Prissy picked up the mattress and carried the mattress downstairs. They put it in the back of the wagon. Scarlett was afraid even that weight was going to cause the wagon to break apart, but it didn't. It didn't break apart when Rhett laid Melly and Beau on the mattress or when Prissy climbed in beside Melanie. Scarlett put the sword beside Melly. Rhett and Scarlett sat on the buckboard.
Rhett got them out of Atlanta. As they were leaving, they saw the Confederate army leaving also. Scarlett said, "You must be so proud that you weren't stupid enough to ever sign up to fight. So proud that you made lots of money on the war instead."
After she said that Rhett got very pensive. About fifteen minutes later Rhett said, "Is there a way to get to Tara without taking the main road?"
"Yes, there is a short cut at Rough and Ready, but it is a lot bumpier."
When they got to Rough and Ready, Scarlett said, "Right there is the short cut," Rhett turned onto the lane for it certainly wasn't a road. He stopped the wagon. She said, "Why did you stop?"
"To give the horse a chance to rest and to tell you goodbye."
"What?!"
"Get down."
"No, Rhett, you can't leave me. I need you so much."
He just lifted her off the buckboard and let her slide down his body. He let her feel his need for her. To his happiness she didn't jerk away. She looked up at him with a little bit of desperation and a little bit of desire. He said, "Scarlett, I have waited longer for you than I have any other woman. I love you. I am a damn fool, but I am going to go fight in the war."
"Rhett, this is not the time for one of your jokes."
Rhett wondered if she had heard his declaration of love. He smiled. He said, "I'm not joking."
"You polecat. You skunk. How dare you desert me? If you leave me here, I will never speak to you again."
"I will worry about that if I survive the war. Kiss me."
Rhett was kissing her in a wonderful way. A kiss that Scarlett wished would go on and on. Suddenly it was over. He said, "Do you want to give me a precious memory to take into battle with me?"
Scarlett slapped him mainly because she wanted to hurt him for leaving her in a battlefield but also because it was what a proper young lady would do.
"I take that as a no."
"How dare you even suggest such a thing. Like I am going to have relations with you on the ground like a common whore while my sister-in-law is dying, and my servant is waiting. You are such an ill-mannered uncouth, piece of pooh. You should be horse whipped for what you are doing to me. I will never forgive you for this and for insulting me again. Help me back in the wagon."
Rhett burst out laughing but he did help her in the wagon. He handed her one of his pistols and said, "Wait until the varmint gets really close so you don't miss."
Scarlet snatched the pistol out of his hand without saying a word. She just drove the wagon away without looking back even when Rhett shouted out, "I'll see you in Atlanta after the war is over."
Rhett heard her reply of "Go to Hell, you skunk."
Scarlett oscillated between shock and anger. She cursed him with all the foul words her father had used when he had too much moonshine. He was such a damn bastard.
Rhett Butler was the only man she had not been able to manipulate completely. Even so she had never expected him to leave her in the middle of a battlefield. She was going to accept Rhett as her only failure and write him out of her life. Scarlett fumed all the way to Tara which in a way was good. She was too mad to be scared.
She stopped after twenty minutes to let the horse rest. That was when she and Prissy had found the cow. That was when she and Prissy found out they were both scared of cows. Scarlett had ordered Prissy to put the lasso she had made from her petticoat around the cow's neck. Prissy had absolutely refused. Scarlett knew the girl was really scared when after she had threatened to whip Prissy she had said, "I rather be whipped then get close to a cow."
Scarlett had overcome her fear and put the lasso around the cow's neck. The cow fortunately had been pretty docile probably because she was in a lot of pain. Scarlett found out later the cow hadn't been milked in a couple of days. They had slowly made their way to the main house at Tara. It was close to ten o'clock at night when they finally got there.
Scarlett pulled up to the main house and as she did the horse died. Scarlett didn't know it but that was an omen of what her life was going to be like for the next three years.
