Some notes back that might interest more than just the reviewer

Scarlett and the children: I think that Scarlett was a much different mother before her marriage to Rhett. We see her with Ella in her arms, we see her being concerned with Wade being hungry. She was a more hands on mother before the wealth. In this fic, once she was at Tara and no longer riding out to the mills and to the store, she basically had no choice, but to be a mom (in the novel she would have been a single mom during that year, the sole provider of the family). I think at the end of the book, we see the distance that has formed between Scarlett and her older children that has never been allowed to happen in this story, in the novel we see how deeply Wade cares for his mother at the time of Bonnie's birth. Then it bothers Scarlett to realize how distant Wade is with her and how he may actually be afraid of her. I definitely have Ella in my mind as being this major reminder of Scarlett's great sin, her lies to steal Frank from her sister, marrying a man for his money, taking away someone who would have loved and treated him well, while she'd been mean and possibly created the circumstances that caused his death. Scarlett hates the past, she hates talking about the past, she hides from it, so her circumstances in the novel allowed her to hide from Ella.

Rhett/Scarlett/Those three little words: Rhett is definitely the same as his novel counterpart with this, afraid to show that great weakness to Scarlett and give her the power. Scarlett in her mind does not love Rhett, it is as simple as that. We can definitely spot things in the novel that we perceive as her love for him, but she has not made that connection yet. I mean it took three years in the book for her to regard it in a love manner and even that was tied into thinking about how she'd once thought about having his love to have power over him.

ScarlettGator: Lol. How are you planning a wedding with Mrs. Butler coming in? Haha. I swear I bring up a hasty marriage in case of a baby or a never ending engagement in case there is no baby and you've got them getting a wedding planner.

misscyn: Haha this sounds like a, "Why did I spend my time or calories on this?" It wasn't banana bread, so it definitely gets bonus points for that.

: Ugh they had their moments when they could be nice. Kept away from so many of those outside influences that trigger those cruel reactions. Scarlett loved talking to him, it's brought up multiple times that first year, she enjoyed spending time with him. I mean even that moment year Rhett snaps realizing Wade is an outcast. They are all in the sitting room together. In that giant mansion full of servants, the five of them are in the room together. They started off as friends, then were civil and then the true war came aka Bonnie's 2nd year of life.

Guest: Lol. Rhett definitely has the feminine role with the children. Lol. Keeping Rhett's "special" nature going in this fic.

Guests: Edits made, thanks guys!


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Part Ten

Charleston

Early September 1868

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

She sat with Rhett in the dining car of the train, the trip far better this time than the one she had taken 6 years prior. There was such luxury with Rhett. He had insisted upon booking a sleeper car even though they wouldn't be traveling overnight, he had insisted upon taking Estelle as well as Prissy. The children were truly well in hand and out of their hair, both were napping under the maids' watchful eyes.

He had been insistent on spoiling her since he had placed the ring upon her finger and she had been failing miserably at saying no. He was a clever man, he gifted while others were around and it would look peculiar if she turned down the blue silk that now made up her traveling dress while her sister was next to her, also Suellen would have likely taken the material herself if she had rejected it.

The buggy with the folding top and two beautiful horses to drive it, gifted while Mrs. Tarleton was at Calverton. It was far less cumbersome than their rickety old wagon, the perfect size for her and the two children, although it was rather a tight squeeze with Rhett, herself and the two children. The folding top was a thoughtful touch, keeping the sun off herself and Ella was always such a challenge.

The bonnet, which went perfectly with the new dress she'd created, gifted the day before they were to leave and with Mammy, of all people. She knew that if Mammy watched her turn down a gift she'd know their engagement was a sham.

"You know in the north they have trains with actual dining service."

"We're in the south and we're dining," was the entirety of her comment to him.

"We're eating food they brought in at our last stop. The newer trains have kitchens on the trains."

"Well that would have been nice, I regretted not ordering the shortcake nearly the moment the train pulled out."

"My dear, why didn't you tell me. I would have run out at the stop myself and gotten you some."

"It's fine, I have pie."

"But you want shortcake. I'll let the porter know to wire for it at the next stop-"

"Truly Rhett, I'm fine with pie."

He gave her a look, he had a way of breaking her with a look as if he could see straight through her fibs.

"Perhaps the children would like shortcake, not now though, but in several hours."

He let out a laugh. "Then I will get shortcake for myself, the children, Estelle and Prissy and you may watch us eat it."

She pouted, "If you do that I've never forgive you, Rhett Butler."

"Then tell me you want shortcake."

"Fine I want shortcake, although I only want shortcake if you're all going to eat it. I certainly don't need it otherwise."

"My dear," he said lifting the bottle of wine to refill her glass, "when will you embrace the perks of being engaged to a very wealthy man."

"We're not going to be married," she informed him.

"Have you begun your-"

Her eyes widened, "No!" she snapped. She continued on before he could, "And I shouldn't have yet."

"I'm sure you will," he smiled. "The architect's rough sketch of your ballroom will likely take ages along with the house."

"You don't need to build that," she loathed forcing the words to emerge from her mouth.

"Even if we don't marry for some time, it'll be good to host the neighbors."

"Is this the one year or ten comment again?"

"If anything Scarlett I'd hope you'd have heart and stop forcing me to take supper with your sister every day. She's a lovely woman, but in small doses and my cook is far better than what your sister, Mammy and Prissy can piece together. For the sake of our stomachs Scarlett we should marry."

She said nothing.

"My dear, have you finally seen the errors of your ways?"

"I admit," she hesitated, "I had not thought of it in such a way."

He laughed, "Shall we marry upon our return?"

"No, but I'll admit, it's certainly tempting."

He laughed so that several tables turned to him.

"Will you change the subject or the children and I will get off at the next stop."

"No you won't, but I'll humor you. Any business with the ranch I should know about, we've been rather busy these last few days."

"No, although I feel as if mail has been rather slow this summer. It feels as if no one wants to work."

"I completely understand them."

"You're rich," she rolled her eyes. Rhett had spent large portions of the summer much like a wealthy teen boy before university. "I would like to discuss Calverton though."

"What about it my dear?" he asked before going to take a bite of the food they were both half neglecting, too caught up in their conversation.

"I was talking to Mr. Tarleton and he said a ranch is for cattle."

"Cattle has been primary use in the States and Mexico, but a rancho could be any type of livestock, sheep, goats-"

"Animals meant for slaughter," she finished.

"I believe they're most often just raised there and slaughtered elsewhere."

"I don't believe our horses should be associated with slaughter."

"We'll start a new trend my dear. In a decade no one will recall it started with cattle. Don't you want to be the first?"

"The first to make money breeding horses in our area, yes. The one to remove the idea of slaughter and ranch hardly serves a purpose."

"I suppose you want to call it a plantation, we can hardly just call it The Calverton Farm, while it's better than Pine Bloom, it's not by much."

"We can just call it Calverton, didn't you want it to be so grand it could be its own town?"

"I suppose we could call it an estate if anyone asked, the finest stables were on estates in England."

"That certainly sounds magnificent," she smiled.

"I believe the county will say we're putting on airs."

"Well if I live there it seems only fair that an Irish girl should get to live on an estate when her family used to be tenants."

"Huh," Rhett said and paused for a moment before continuing on, "that is certainly a change of events, I don't suppose I ever thought of your father in such a way."

"In what way?" she questioned.

"Do you imagine Prissy's children will have the big house in fifty years with a score of lives dependent on them?"

Scarlett paused, recalling her father's drunken outrage in her youth as he would rail upon the wealthy landowners turning out their starving tenants during the famine. More than a few had ended up visitors in their house as they made their way west. "We'll simply call it Calverton and when they ask we'll call it exactly what it is, a stud farm." She picked up her fork and regarded him with a frown.

"Shall I get Prissy and Estelle shortcake with ours?"

"I think that would be very kind of you and I'd appreciate it if we never spoke of this again."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Scarlett stood in the guest room at her aunts'. It was the same room she had stayed in years prior and it showed the same wear that Tara had suffered. The house had been spared the major damage that Tara had inflicted upon her, there had been no fire, furniture hadn't been cobbled back together by clever hands. But the wallpaper and paint throughout was old. The wood hadn't been stained in ages. The upholstery was starting to wear thin on well-loved furniture. Walls were bare where once great paintings had been hung.

Scarlett recalled how her father had promised her a trip to Charleston to get her mind off Ashley Wilkes. Charleston had been such a delight and dream when she was young. The streets filled with fine ladies so like her mother. There had been such a sense of class and refinement on the streets. She had instantly felt grown up well before she was a grown-up when she walked the streets at her Aunt Eulalie side.

The trip that had followed had been the opposite of the trip she had dreamed of.

This trip now. Knowing the room she was in had likely been her Aunt Pauline's for some time. Scarlett knew her aunt was now in her cousins' room, the boys who had gone off and never returned.

Her Aunt Pauline's beautiful plantation was gone, along with her husband and two of her children. Scarlett recalled them from her last visit, so miserable with Wade. How Matilda kept trying to play with her and the baby. How Christopher kept trying to draw her into conversation, the boy had been obsessed with the war and that obsession had cost him his life, that and his foolish father who had been far too old to ride out when the war had arrived at their doorstep and her cousin far too young to be caught up in a war that belonged to the old and foolish men.

Scarlett had only been in Charleston an hour and already she knew it would be far worse than the ghosts that haunted the county. Charleston was full of dreams and a life that would never be. Tara was at least filled with comfortable and happy memories. Dreams didn't haunt her there; she could hide in the warm cloak of what had once been. Safe from the cloying thoughts of everything she would never be or have.

Her Aunt Eulalie's little girl was now a young woman, who looked upon Scarlett as she had once looked upon all of the old matrons.

Her aunt's son was no longer a little boy kept tucked away in a nursery, but a boy on the verge of becoming a young man. Wade was nearly the age he'd been when they'd last visited.

So much time had passed. It was such a cruel thing to see them. To see them and recall how things had once been. How things should have been.

The once great fortune of the Robillard family. Three daughters from a great family. The land and the fortune they'd acquired through marriage and time. All lost. Stripped down to two houses and a two-mule farm.

Scarlett very nearly wished she'd pilfered a bottle of brandy from Rhett's house to survive this trip. Rhett had been wrong, the ghosts in Charleston were just as loud as they were in Atlanta, only they weren't quite hers. So many were the ghosts of her family.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Your Captain Butler is certainly devoted to you," Eulalie said sitting on the sofa, just as straight backed as her sister had always been, the fabric of her dress and the tapestry on the sofa's back never daring to touch.

"Captain Butler is a good man," Scarlett replied calmly. She had been preparing for this.

"The stud farm is certainly a clever investment," Pauline smiled from her spot next to her sister.

"Captain Butler is a clever man, it's a shame we all didn't have his foresight with the war," Scarlett would match her aunts' comments with crass ones of her own until she silenced them. She wanted to silence them with words that she and Rhett would never marry and his money would never be his unless they degraded themselves to ask his mother for help.

Her aunt nodded in agreement shocking Scarlett with the act.

"His mother is pleased you came to visit with the children, she's been eager to meet you. She regretted being away the last time you were here."

"The last time? Why whatever for?"

"Because you are my niece and she is one of my dearest friends," Eulalie gave her a look. "And now you'll be her daughter. Whoever would have thought several years ago you would be Elizabeth Butler's daughter-in-law."

"Almost makes you believe in fate," Pauline smiled.

The idea of everything being preordained suggested to Scarlett that God was a sadist. She thought about mentioning that to her aunts. She instead simply smiled and took in a deep breath of lemon verbena. She would do better this visit. She had learned the harsh realities of being an impetuous girl. She was perhaps still learning as she felt the urge to drop a hand to her stomach.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sitting in Elizabeth Butler's parlor was torture. Scarlett not only had to remember her manners, the polite conversation one adhered to, she had to forbid her eyes from revealing her true nature. From scanning over every detail of the room.

The house was new to them, newer to them than Calverton was to Rhett. They had moved in at the start of the summer and it was clear that the walls, floors, ceiling and moldings had all undergone a recent refresh. The furniture and décor was of good quality, but sparse and simple.

Scarlett could recall that fear, the moment when money was finally in hand again, the fear of it once more being gone. Scarlett wanted to inspect every purchase, she wanted to wanted to see the number of staff in the kitchen and inspect their pantry.

Scarlett wished she was sitting as bored in the nursery at her Aunts' as Wade was. At least there she would be able to move, be able to speak without pausing first to make sure she didn't sound like a crass country girl.

As if she wanted Rhett's mother to like her, it would certainly be better if she embarrassed herself quite spectacularly in front of Elizabeth Butler, banish Rhett's foolish idea of marriage.

She could hardly do that now that, not if there could be a baby. Oh that would be a great mess if Rhett's mother hated her and they were forced to marry if there were a baby.

Rhett would still marry her, she was sure of that. That was a comfort at least.

She should have never come. Never come and be forced to endure the endless waiting until they found a fault in her.

"I look forward to meeting the children and any future children."

Scarlett just barely stopped the 'What?!' from rolling off her tongue.

"I think you'll find Wade and Ella to be more than enough," Rhett quickly replied.

"Of course, but now that you'll be married, surely there will be more children," his mother countered.

"The possibility of more exists, but it's hardly a concern seeing as Scarlett already has two."

"Oh." The sound came out of the two Robillard sisters in unison.

Eyes turned to Scarlett and she was grateful, she hadn't smirked at the uncouth manner of her aunts.

"Two healthy children are a blessing," Scarlett kept her response brief and pious.

"A boy and a girl, what more could we ask for?" Rhett added.

"Hopefully God will bless you with several more." Pauline commented.

Scarlett forced her mouth to remain shut.

"Seeing as I've been a bachelor for two decades, I think God would be wiser to bless at least a few of those several children to another couple."

The small burst of laughter that escaped Scarlett's lips failed to be captured in time by her hand flying up to it and all eyes turned to her.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Why ever did you make me see her?" Scarlett questioned as she sat next to Rhett on a bench after taking the children to see Careen.

"Because she's your sister."

"Will we be going to see your brother?" she harshly questioned as Wade and Ella played in the grass.

"My brother disowned me decades ago."

"Careen disowned everything including her name," Scarlett was still simply so angry with Careen and for Brent for filling a silly girl's head with ideas so silly she'd throw away her entire life. What words could he have had said to her? He'd hardly ever had the ability to string much together. He hadn't been educated or clever. Oh Scarlett had loved him once, once before he stole her sister from her. She had mourned him, ached for him, but that was before she knew what he had done to Careen. Not that she had any idea what exactly he had done with Careen. What could he have done with her? The idea of that bothered her more than she could imagine. Anyone, but her sister, or rather anyone, but the sister she preferred.

"My dear she joined a convent, while it's hardly something I understand, I imagine it's something we should respect."

Scarlett turned to Rhett, "She gave up on life and our family at 18."

"Should I remind you that you ran away from Atlanta not even two years ago?"

She turned with a scowl. "I retired Rhett. The thing Uncle Henry refuses to do. I have married twice, run two businesses, saved Tara at least twice. Unlike some I don't always need to be in search of the next thing, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor, while I am still young enough to do so."

"My dear, I do so wish the children were not with us for there are so many remarks I wish to make, only explaining to the children why you slapped me are not amongst them."

She sighed loudly.

"Come now my sweet, let's return with the children to my mother's, there is a peach cordial in the kitchen that I know from experience goes wonderfully with brandy."

o-o-o

"May I join you?" Rosemary said catching Scarlett off guard as she'd been watching from the back porch as Rhett played with the children.

"Please," Scarlett nodded and hoped that how many cordials she'd had weren't noticeable to Rhett's sister.

"I was wondering why Rhett came home with quoits," Rosemary referred to the game of pitching rubber rings at two stakes.

"We play with horseshoes at home."

"You play?"

Scarlett startled, worried she'd revealed her provincial nature. "Your brother insisted."

"He insisted?"

"I suppose one has to be creative in the country for entertainment. Quite often it is just the four of us and the children."

"Tell me, do you play Battledore and Shuttlecock?"

"We do."

"I did love that as a girl. Do you play with my brother?"

"A man of Rhett's size should not be as graceful as he is."

At that moment Rhett turned and greeted his sister.

Rosemary returned it. "Is he? I confess I imagine you know a great deal more of my brother than I."

"You must have been quite young when he left."

"Ten."

"What was he like?" Scarlett questioned. In his early thirties, Rhett had been dressed like a dandy and could certainly behave as one, but he'd always been so far from one.

"Fun, charming, not unlike what he is now. He was less serious, less thoughtful. He was reckless and temperamental. He's larger now," Rosemary looked surprised that she'd said such a thing, "I'm fairly certain compared to me, he's stayed the same size, only I've grown a great deal in the passing years."

"Broader, more of a man and less of a boy," Scarlett supplied from her memories of watching boys several years older than her mature.

"Yes," Rosemary nodded, "these sharp angles," her hand went along her jawline. "He always looked so slender compared to my father. He was so dashing though; he was always going out. He was only home a handful of hours even when school wasn't in session."

"School?"

"College. I was far too young to recall Rhett in school before that."

"Rhett attended college?"

"Not willingly. At least not willingly here. Father wouldn't let him leave to attend anywhere else."

"He graduated the College of Charleston?"

"Father withdrew his funds before he graduated."

"What a horrible thing to do," Scarlett looked on in shock.

"I believe Rhett told him to. The moment my father was done with Rhett, Rhett was done with my father. They were both rather stubborn. Cutting off the nose to spite the face, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I do hope he matured more than Father."

"Are you warning me off?" Scarlett questioned suddenly, realizing all the family secrets Rosemary had just revealed to her. Had she done something to offend the woman so Rosemary didn't want her marrying into the family.

The other woman startled, suddenly realizing how dependent their lives were upon Rhett, as dependent as their lives had once been upon Eulalie, as dependent their lives had once been upon her father. "You hardly seem to be the type of woman to be scared off by a simple warning. Although I am sure you are more than familiar with the behaviors and attitudes of my brother, certainly more than I am. I'm sure these are all details Rhett would willingly share if you asked, certainly a facet of my brother you are capable of handling." The panic didn't show in her voice as she looked out upon Rhett, squatting low to the ground, helping Ella throw the rubber ring. His devotion to Scarlett and her children obvious to all around him. Sometimes he would appear aloof and disinterested, but in the next moment, he would be devoted.

Scarlett sat wondering what the other woman said about Rhett being stubborn. He had opinions that was for certain, but to be so stubborn he would hurt himself at the sake of hurting someone else. Why she was the only thing she could truly think of Rhett being stubborn with. For three years, once it was proper he had no interest in marrying her and then the last year and a half he'd been determined to marry her. Why if she thought about it, she was sure it was more likely the last two and a half years. How he'd drive with her to the mills, that slip of the tongue about their grandchildren. For ages she'd been convinced she read too much, saw too much in that comment, but when he turned up on her doorstep while Frank's body was still in the house…When he turned up a year later in the country and then stayed.

Oh she did so wish he'd been like this before Frank. She imagined all the fun she could have had with him in Atlanta before the south fell. To have that type of power over a smug man like Rhett. But no, she wasn't that person anymore, she was very nearly tempted to crush the satchel of lemon verbena hidden within the folds of her dress.

What if Rhett had offered marriage in the jail cell and he'd ended up with Frank's awful fate?

She crushed the satchel as the image of Rhett's still and bloated body crossed through her mind.

No, she'd not hold Rhett's stubbornness over her over him. He gave her practically everything anyway. She did wish she knew if he loved her though, the curiosity of that, especially when she'd just spent the last few days with her aunts who repeatedly spoke of Rhett's love and devotion. She supposed it didn't quite matter if it were love or stubbornness. The results were just the same, she imagined stubbornness might prove more lasting in a man like Rhett than love.


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