Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Twenty
As the weeks past, Belle was getting madder and madder at Rhett Butler and her plans going astray. She had been there for him for the last ten years. She had let him use her body free of charge. She had pretended to be in love with him. It had not been hard to make Rhett believe that she loved him because he was so vain that he thought all women loved him. Hardly! She had never gotten offended when he had made mocking comments about her. She never got upset when he had called her stupid. She had never corrected him when he assumed she couldn't read. She had continued to pretend to be a kind-hearted, good-natured soul.
The worst had been when Belle had to listen to him jabber on about Scarlett Hamilton Kennedy until she had wanted to scream. She had been able to stir some trouble in that relationship but nonetheless Rhett had married Scarlett. For that matter she was mad at Scarlett Butler. The woman was not supposed to ever say yes but unbelievably she had. What surprise Belle the most was that Scarlett had not only married Rhett, but she had thrown off all social convention and married the man in less than a week after her husband had been killed. Rhett had always said the Scarlett was just pretending to be a lady and Belle guessed he was right.
What had Belle in a snit today was that she had looked in the mirror this morning and had seen an old woman looking back at her. That made her mad at Rhett Butler. She had wasted the last ten years of her life priming that man to be her benefactor for the rest of her life. Not that she hadn't made money off Rhett. She had certainly made money off the brothel and saloon. As long as she kept the profits pretty muchly the same Rhett had never questioned the books. He thought he was so smart, and she was so stupid that he had never really examined the books. She had deliberately made some mathematical errors so he would catch them. She could tell that had made him feel so superior to her. He also thought she would not be brave enough to cheat him. The worst thing he could do to her is kill her and she had made peace with her maker, so she wasn't afraid of death. Furthermore, he had been gone for months at a time making it fairly easy for her to cheat him.
Belle might have felt guilty for having betrayed Rhett's trust if she didn't know that all he considered her was an uneducated, stupid, whore. Someone for him to use and discard just as he had. As long as Scarlett kept Rhett fairly happy Belle would never cross the man's mind again.
Rhett had always been generous with his gifts. He had given her some awfully expensive pieces of jewelry most of which she planned to sell now.
Belle had no intentions of going to tell Jaffrey that she had lied about the gentlemen being in her saloon that night. That wouldn't hurt him or Scarlett that would just hurt the wives of those stupid pea brains that had made the raid. She would not want to hurt the wives. In Belle's opinion their lot in life was worse than hers. She had sat in this bar too many nights and watched some damn fool of a man spend the rent money buying everyone in the house a drink. She had watched too many men spend their last dollar on a whore. She had watched too many men bet too much money on a lousy hand at the poker table.
Belle had been a wife once. She had never been a lady, but she had a husband once. Greg and she had loved each other. Greg had been a housepainter. They had a nice life. That is until he got tuberculosis. There was no cure and he had slowly died. He had continued to work until he couldn't work anymore. She had been a pretty girl with red hair and blue eyes. A friend of Greg's, Robert, had offered to help her out if she would help him out. She had. It was the only way she could earn money. That arrangement had gone on until Greg died. She hoped that Greg had never known but she was afraid that he had. Nonetheless he never said anything. He would tell her of his love for her all the time. He would tell her how proud he was she was his wife. After Greg died, she had left her son with his grandparents. They could afford to take her son in but not both of them. She had moved with Robert to New Orleans. Robert had set her up as a madame of a brothel. It had been a good enough life for she didn't have to service very many of the customers. In the beginning she had thought she could make enough money to leave the life. That she would be able to return and get her son. They would be able to live together again.
Rhett had been one of the customers she had chosen to service. The man certainly had skills in the bed. Belle had still been with Robert although they were more business partners than lovers. Rhett had continued to return to the brothel and request her services. Belle had thought that meant he cared for her. As she thought about it, it was probably because of the exclusiveness of her services. That Rhett was getting something that most men weren't getting. She wondered if Rhett would be offended that she always thought of Greg when she was with him. Probably, despite the fact that she knew he had always imagined she was Scarlett. Men could be so two-faced that way.
Ten years ago, when she had been thirty-five, Rhett offered to set her up in a sporting house in Atlanta. She had thought that meant he cared more for her than was normal and maybe he had but not as much as he had cared for Scarlett since their first meeting. She had been optimistic that she and Rhett would eventually have a relationship like she and Robert had but it was not to be.
Her son, Tom, was married and lived in California somewhere. Her parents had kept her informed about his life, but they had also told Tom that she was dead. In her heart she knew that Tom's mother was dead. She could never play the role of mother or grandmother again. Her father and mother were both dead now so there was no one to keep her informed about Tom's life. It was just as well.
She thought about selling out but what would she do with her time. She certainly didn't want to be the widow woman down the street and live a boring life. Besides, Rhett would be incredibly involved with his wife and children for at least the next few years. She could continue skimming money off the top. Maybe she would look for another benefactor amongst all these rich Republicans and Scallawags. She had over five thousand dollars in a strong box in her bedroom, but a girl can always use more money.
After The Butlers had arrived in London, they checked into a suite at the Savoy Hotel. That night after they had gotten in the bed, Scarlett said, "I know it isn't as fun as you promised when you promised me fun, but I am having fun when we….."
"When we make love?"
Scarlett blushed and nodded. She said, "I just wanted you to know."
"I am glad you are enjoying our time together, but I still want so much more for you."
"I am trying but…."
"No, don't try just enjoy and let me bring you pleasure."
That night Rhett was able to orally stimulate Scarlett to orgasm. He quickly entered her hoping that the sensation would carry her through to more orgasms. While in the moment, she had been completely involved in the act. Afterwards, she had burst out crying. The only thing Rhett had understood was baser nature and bad girl, but he had understood what she had meant.
Rhett held her until she stopped crying. Once she had stopped crying, Rhett got out of the bed and got his handkerchief. He held the handkerchief and placed it against her nose and said, "Blow." Which she had. He then blotted the tears off her cheeks.
He took her back in his arms and said, "All women have that baser nature. All women can experience pleasure in their marital bed. All women should experience pleasure in their marital bed. You are not a bad girl for enjoying the gift that God gave you."
"You don't believe in God."
"Nonetheless, it is a gift that someone gave you. You know I don't think you are a lady but not because of your behavior in our bed but because you are willing to throw a vase when you get mad, because you are willing to argue with me if you think I am wrong, because you are willing to single-handedly built a sawmill empire, because you were willing to marry me less than a week after Old Frank's death, because you don't care what people say about you. You have told me that when you behaved like a lady in your marital bed it was awful, right?" He felt her head move but she didn't speak, he continued, "I don't want you to dread our time together. I don't want it to be awful. You know what the saddest part of this ladies don't enjoy sex is?"
Rhett waited until she answered him. At last, she said in a quiet voice, a voice so unlike his Scarlett's normal voice, she said, "What?"
"Men don't want their wives to lie there like a sack of potatoes. I'm pretty sure that isn't any fun for the man either. But that is unimportant. I know I don't want my wife to lay there and let me use her body. I want it to be fun for both of us. Did you enjoy that feeling?"
Scarlett blushed and she whispered, "It was pretty wonderful."
"Then promise me you will let me give you that feeling again."
When Scarlett didn't answer him, he said, "Promise me."
"I promise you."
Rhett and Scarlett went to sleep with Rhett smoking his cigar and telling her stories of his life. As she laid there safe and secure Scarlett knew she had been such a nincompoop in their first timeline when she had let him leave her bed for any reason. She certainly wasn't going to make that mistake again.
Later when Rhett was woken up by Scarlett having a nightmare. She was calling for him. Rhett decided that she knew what she was looking for now. Him. He woke her up and comforted her. When she was calm Rhett got out of the bed and got a brown bag out of his trunk. He gave the bag to Scarlett.
Scarlett looked at him quizzically. Rhett got in the bed. He said, "Look inside."
After she did, she said, "It is a bunch of pecans."
"I know it is not fine dining, but you will not starve if you have pecans to eat. You told me that when you have your nightmare, you often must get up and check to make sure there is food in the house. While we are staying in hotels that would be very inconvenient. So, I got you a bag of pecans to hold and look at after your nightmare."
"Do you have a nutcracker?
Rhett handed her the nutcracker. She smiled. He said, "I told you I was going to take care of you and protect you."
"Thank you, Rhett."
"Do you think you can go back to sleep? Or do you want to eat a couple of pecans?"
She smiled at him and said, "Yes, I think I can go back to sleep. but can we leave the lamp lit."
"Yes, we can. At least until you fall asleep."
"Alright. Just don't leave me."
"I will never leave you."
Soon Scarlett was asleep again. She didn't know if it was the lit lamp, the pecans, Rhett's presence, or Rhett's words but she felt safer than she had since before the war. Rhett soon was asleep also.
Author's Notes: In the canon it is stated that Scarlett could only sleep if it was completely dark in the room. I find it hard to believe that a woman who had just woken up from a nightmare would not want a lamp lit afterwards. But then again there are some many parts of the canon that make no sense to me.