Lawrence: Scarlett has no idea whose child he is, just that he's not Rhett's (remember guys, this is my fic, NOT RHETT'S :-P)
St. Bernard's: So they were smaller back then. Still big, but not as big as the pony's they basically are nowadays. Lol. Everything I learn, you guys get to learn (the puppy is waaaay better than the birth control).
Rhett and tattoos: Ugh I don't know about that. If I put it into one of my bigger fics it becomes cannon across my universe. I am NOT a tattoo person. Lol. I may leave that up to the reader.
Love: Scarlett does recall Rhett saying that he loves her, it isn't the first time he has said it, whether she believes it or not...She did not say it after. Scarlett was spent and barely awake. I swear this is a fluffy story she will eventually say it and mean it (not saying these two things happen at the same time), hopefully far faster than she does in the book (lol. It's already written, so it does happen).
Thanks for reading and all the great reviews last time! I feel like I've slacked answering them (seriously my brain is still on vacation 1.5 months after my vacation).
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Part Fourteen
Calverton
Early October
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There was simply such a disconnect as she took the steps of Tara, her own home for the first time in two weeks. For two weeks she had lived a life she had imagined a decade prior. The young bride of an incredibly rich man, for she had finally ascertained the extent of Rhett's wealth over one of their long and drunken nights and the figure was staggering and beyond anything she could have ever dreamed of.
At 23 it was far older than she'd ever planned to marry for the first time for there had been nothing about her that ever suggested she'd be an old maid, but at her age, it was easy for others to assume it was her first marriage. `
There had been something so fresh and freeing getting to play that role. Wiping away the last 8 years of marriage and motherhood. To be a young newlywed. Adored and spoiled. It had been so easy to add on days to their trip. A week before they left had felt far too long, but within days a week felt far too short. The 8 or 9 days Rhett had decided upon before they left was far too easy to stretch into 13.
There had been such a sense of dread since they left New Orleans and the long train ride back to Georgia. The shackles being placed upon her wrists and ankles once more. In the last two weeks, she had experienced a life she'd never known was possible. The depravity of it. The gambling, the drinking, the decadent food. Why even the dancing seemed far more than it had ever been before. Dancing with Rhett was now a prelude for what would follow. Long and exhilarating, sweat-filled nights.
Fun. He'd promised her fun.
He had not disappointed.
There were moments, far too many to count where she had wondered what insanity had overtaken her to refuse his suit after Frank's death. Why she should have married him, left the children with Will and Suellen and gone with him to England.
That young bride was lost though. Just an illusion that was being torn from her with every step they took.
"Mother!" Wade's excited voice greeted her far faster than Mammy's face as the door opened and the young boy swept around Mammy's skirts and dashed onto the porch.
Right behind him, but nowhere near as fast, "Mama, Ed Ed!"
"He's Daddy now," Wade spoke already attached to his mother's waist in a hug. "You were gone so long," Wade's warm brown eyes looked up at his mother.
"I'm sorry, we had a lot of tasks to accomplish in New Orleans," Scarlett said suddenly feeling guilty about all the extra days they had spent there.
"Hello my sweet girl," Rhett said picking up Ella.
She squealed at the kisses he gave her.
Soon Ella's slobbering kisses were upon Scarlett. "Wade go see Estelle, she has mother's gift for you."
"Mother's gift?" Rhett questioned with a raised brow, "I recall paying for it."
"Yes, but I selected it."
"Fine it is your mother's gift, but I paid for it and have been the one caring for it since she selected it," he smiled down at Wade, "go on now. See Estelle."
"Only you could arrive home with such commotion it's like you've been gone for years," Suellen said walking out with Iris on her hip.
"Suellen, I imagine I would question is what have you been doing with the children for the last two weeks that they are this joyful at my return."
Suellen's mouth started to open and she paused looking at Rhett.
"I imagine the children's reaction is more of a sign of how devoted they are to their mother, I hope they weren't too much trouble," Rhett charmed.
"Of course not," Suellen smiled at Rhett. "I imagine you two will be traveling a great deal more now that you're married."
Scarlett scowled in her mind, leaving the smile upon her face. Suellen knew that amongst the many items they had returned home with would be several for her, Iris and Tara. Bolts of fabric, a new soft blue bonnet meant for visiting neighbors. Scarlett instantly regretted the impulse to buy a pair brown kidskin boots for her sister, she hoped they pinched.
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"Rhett," Scarlett spoke with shock as he pulled her closer to him on the sofa. The children on the carpet before them finally playing with the toys that had been purchased for them, rather than the puppy, which Rhett had finally insisted needed to be brought to the kitchen so it could get some rest.
They had been away for nearly two weeks and Rhett had insisted on bringing the children out to Calverton the moment they returned. Mammy had not been swayed by Rhett's gift of the petticoat to join them out at Calverton and had instead sent Prissy with them.
"Yes, my darling?"
"The children."
"What about them?"
"You're entirely too close."
"Scarlett we will not bring the children up to believe that marriages should be chaste and loveless, especially in the privacy of our own home. We will raise the children to believe affection is a normal part of life."
Her mouth opened to tell him it simply wasn't proper.
"This is non-negotiable." He was silent for a moment and then let out a light breath, "Do you truly want me to remove my arm?"
"Well no," she said getting better situated at his side. He was surprisingly comfortable and worries seemed to fade away when she rested upon the strength of his body.
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Scarlett paused as she watched Mammy walk out of the parlor at Tara. The old woman had tried to take Ella from Rhett as the little girl was growing sleepy on his shoulder. Rhett had refused saying he'd put her down in her old nursery once she was fully asleep. Scarlett had watched the look Will had given Mammy and how she had gone off without a fight.
Mammy very seldomly fought Rhett anymore. She hadn't in quite some time now that Scarlett thought of it. And Will's look. How often had she missed such looks?
There was a slow awareness that passed over her. Will, Suellen, Mammy, Prissy. Their behavior over the last several months, they hadn't been treating Rhett as a guest, but their respect and deference was more like a member of the family, an elder male member of the family. His opinions regarding the children were followed because they all viewed Rhett as the children's father, who had far more right to guide their upbringing and behavior than an aunt or uncle and certainly a nursemaid. Oh Mammy certainly hated every minute of it and Rhett, but she did it.
Rhett was right. Scarlett had been the very last one to realize. He had been her husband, the children's father, a member of the O'Hara family for several months.
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"What had you so deep in thought earlier?" Rhett asked as he drove Scarlett's little buggy back to Calverton, for she did so prefer her buggy to the wagon. Rhett had forbidden her from even entertaining the idea of a steam buggy when she found out his wealth, after all they ran a horse farm. Although they seemed absolutely marvelous. She definitely couldn't quite understand why he forbade the idea of a marvelous closed carriage with a driver, or even just a larger carriage with a driver. Their neighbors knew they were wealthy, why should they deprive themselves of the luxury and convenience so as to not remind their neighbors how poor they, themselves were.
He had at least promised to go into Atlanta and have something created before Lawrence's arrival that was a bit more luxurious than the wagon, but he refused to drive her and the children around as if he were the chauffer as the larger carriages demanded.
"What?"
"In the parlor, you looked as if you were trying to understand Socrates."
"Oh. That was nothing."
"It was certainly not nothing. Is there something in your thoughts you feel the need to hide from your husband."
She turned and gave him a dirty look. "Yes, anything that makes your ego any bigger."
He laughed lightly as he felt the weight lift off his chest, "Well now I must know my dear."
"You were right that everyone around us had been treating you like my husband for some time."
He laughed again. "My dear you at least realized the inevitability of us far faster than I did." He paused, "Do you recall that night on Miss Pitty's porch where-"
She dropped a look down to Wade between them, he was still asleep with his head resting at Rhett's side. "You asked me to be your mistress?"
He laughed again at the annoyance in her voice, "You certainly do since that was your first memory and not the many other times we talked upon that porch."
"Is there a point to this?"
"If I had asked you to marry that day. Would you have said yes?"
"Well I-" she paused, "I don't know."
"What were you thinking when you thought I was proposing marriage?"
"Finally," she answered quickly then looked startled by her words.
"Finally," he drawled, his eyes practically sparkling.
"Well you were certainly my most reluctant of suitors."
"And you thought you had finally broken me?"
"Possibly," she shrugged.
"Do you think that you've broken me now?"
"Hardly. Why I'm the one that got married when they didn't want to. I left Tara. I agreed to another child," she looked displeased by it all.
He laughed again. "I moved to the country."
"Rhett Butler, you spent the entire summer playing like a boy with the children. For all you complain about the country, you certainly seem to enjoy it."
He laughed again, "You're right. I certainly don't dislike it as much as I thought I would."
She huffed.
"Do you dislike being married again as much as you thought you would?"
She gave him another dirty look, "You know I don't. Don't you dare look smug over that. I promise you I will be absolutely miserable in several years when we have a baby."
"Oh, but my dear you forget the fun we'll get to have before that."
The tone of his voice did such things to her, made her forget herself, certainly the toddler she had sleeping in her arms and the small boy between them. It flashed her back to that night in New Orleans when they had forgone all preventative measures.
Being with Rhett with the rubber barrier between had been far greater than anything she had found with her two previous husbands. But he had been right when he said that animal sheath would be far more intimate, but being with Rhett without anything.
It had been more than she could imagine. More than she imagined she could survive on a regular basis. She couldn't imagine being so close to someone it was as if they were the same person at points and she had carried and given birth to two children. She very nearly wished the memory of that night to be stricken from her mind for every time since she would very nearly suggest he not reach for the sheathe, so eager to feel that way again.
She couldn't imagine that night happening every night, couldn't imagine the depths they had reached, the hours where everything else was knocked from her mind. Why she'd likely turn into a silly fool over him and he'd likely return to exactly who he always was the next morning.
No, they'd wait years before repeating that. She'd not give in and suggest it would be fine on occasion. Although she was sure she could compose herself easily enough if it didn't happen too often.
"We'll be home soon."
She startled and was pulled out of her thoughts and turned to her husband, his dark eyes upon her.
"Estelle can settle the children for the night. I'll have Betina leave our supper in the kitchen."
"Rhett, I-" she was about to plead ignorance.
"You're a passionate woman, denying it is a waste of our time."
"Well-" she paused, "well there's hardly anything else to do in the country, certainly not at night."
"So say the word and we'll move. Where shall we go? To New Orleans, buy a house in the French Quarter. Certainly not Charleston or Savannah, not with the watchful eyes of our families. Perhaps London or Paris?"
"I didn't say I wanted to leave the country."
"My dear are you saying you prefer nights spent alone with only me to provide your entertainment than-"
"You're going to wake the children," she said wanting the conversation to end.
"In a half-hour, I'll be saying that very thing to you," he smirked.
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"Barry!" Wade yelled as the puppy began to run off.
Scarlett's jaw twitched at Rhett getting his way at naming the dog.
Scarlett was sitting on the porch with Ella as Rhett and Wade were attempting to train the dog. She gave a look over to the new house, there was still months left of work to be completed. She did so wish she had her beautiful house already done. Rhett didn't let her wander through the work area nearly as often as she wanted demanding she leave the architect and workers in peace and not keep adding on new things she read about.
She couldn't quite be angry though because they had arrived home to a crate of the finest Italian tile, he was having three of the most beautiful bathrooms created with luxurious soaking tubs that had the water always heated and ready to be used. Even the water closets on the main floor were filled with the most refined of details. She had to accept that she had in some ways married a stodgy old man with old man tastes, but he was so wonderful with the luxuries.
Before the hotel, it had been so long since she had taken a bath anywhere aside from next to a kitchen, five years since she had left for Atlanta.
She was astonished to suddenly realize that her dreams of being the mistress of the grandest plantation in all of Clayton County had come true. She had spent so long fighting against the idea of marriage, marriage to Rhett in general that the money aspect had nearly disappeared from her thoughts. It was secondary to the idea of being tied down and bound.
Although she didn't quite feel tied down and bound, not much had changed in her life, although she imagined that would turn once she had the large house and they'd have to get a larger staff to care for it. It was so wonderful to spend her nights away from Suellen's company, to have Rhett throughout the night. He was always so engaging. Their time in bed far more than made up for not having the company of others. She could hardly be mournful about not getting to play charades or whist, when he left it so she could barely think.
She wondered what he felt. She had been sure he would bore of them once they had embarked upon their affair, but he hadn't. They were nearing a month of marriage and his attention hadn't wavered. She was left continuing to wonder what he felt, he had used the word love a time or two during proposals, he called her my love along with his other endearments and that night in New Orleans. He not only said it in that final pinnacle, but she had felt it. So sure they were the only two in the world. In that night, in that bed nothing else existed but them.
Still though she wondered if he meant it or if that night had just been some weird aberration. Not that it mattered. She married Rhett because he was right, they had fun and now that she had experienced it she'd be loathe to stop and he was a wonderful father and provider.
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Scarlett adored the northerners. She hadn't quite been sure what struck her to invite the DeVaughns and their neighbors, the Janssens to Rhett's birthday dinner. Oh they were having a party, a full party on Saturday, but she could hardly let Rhett's actual birthday pass without at least a dinner as well.
The northerners were simply so fun, they never got caught up in talk of the war, they never gave looks when wine glasses got refilled one too many times during the meals. The table was filled with animated conversation, debates and laughter. The children at times could be heard outside having as much as the adults were inside.
It was such a stark contrast to how she had lived the years before. Quiet meals, curt conversations.
It was a good life, their new life, just as Rhett had promised her it would be.
Thanks for reading!
