Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the many reviews and the feedback.
Chapter Thirteen
Rhett went to Kennedy's and waited for his fiancé to arrive. When Scarlett did appear, she was accompanied by a man in his late twenties who Rhett could tell was a weak man. In that instant Rhett knew how Scarlett planned to avoid marrying him. She was going to entice a third man to the altar. Rhett knew this man was Scarlett's next victim. She was planning on marrying him while Rhett was in London.
This was why he loved that woman. She would always keep fighting no matter what. She would never just give-up and accept the inevitable.
Scarlett had not seen Rhett so engrossed was she with flirting with the man. Rhett said, "My dear." Scarlett's expression of shock was so comical that Rhett laughed.
She scowled and said rather crossly, "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be on your way to London."
"As I thought about it last night, I knew I could not leave you in this sorrowful time. I decided that you were going to need your dearest friend's help and support these next several months."
"Just hush. I will be with you in a minute," She turned to Mr. Elsing and said very sweetly and very flirty, "I am going to make you the manager for now. I will be working with you here at the store."
Mr. Elsing said, "That is very nice of you, Mrs. Kennedy." The man then blushed.
"Mrs. Kennedy, a minute of your time then I will leave you with the training of your new employee."
"What is it, Captain Butler?"
"Please step over here. I don't want anyone to overhear us." Rhett stepped about ten paces away.
When Scarlett got to him, she said sourly, "What do you want?"
"My dear, it always amazes me how you can be so gracious in any situation."
She glared at him and said, "Just get on with it."
"I will put a bullet in his heart if you somehow manage to get him to marry you. I have killed before so I know I can do it. I will not be thwarted in my goal."
She glared at him again and said, "Alright. I won't marry anyone else. You can go to London."
"No, I feel I must stay to be a source of comfort and support to you in this horrible time you are going through."
"You have made your point. Get out of here."
"I will see you tonight to continue discussing the business we have."
"Just leave."
"Expect me before seven."
Scarlett turned and walked toward Mr. Elsing. She was once again the Mrs. Kennedy that Hugh feared. As she walked past him, Scarlett said, "Let's go to the office. We will have to figure out how Frank ran the store."
For right now Scarlett needed Hugh to run the store. She couldn't spend all day every day there. She would tell Uncle Henry that she wanted to sell the mills. She would tell him that she was tired of working that hard. The truth was that she had to sell them so she could run away from Rhett. She would just start a new life somewhere else. If she stayed in Atlanta and didn't marry Rhett, he would ruin her. If she was married to Rhett, she would be ruined.
Scarlett would sell the mills and the property she had first. The last thing she would sell would be the store. As soon as those papers were signed, she and the children would be on the first train out of town. She paused in her plotting and wondered if anyone would tell Rhett what she was doing. She decided that she would just sell to someone from polite society. Nobody from polite society spoke to Rhett. Perfect. It would take longer but she had a year to get away.
That evening after supper Scarlett and PittyPat sat on the porch in full view of everyone. Rhett did come over that night and sat down beside her like a suitor not a business acquaintance.
Rhett said, "Since we are going to be married, don't you think it is time we were on a first name basis?"
"Alright."
"Where would you like to go on our honeymoon?"
"I don't know. I haven't hardly been anywhere."
"Let's go to New Orleans then you won't have to be away from your businesses for long."
Aunt PittyPat was looking at them strangely.
Scarlett didn't care what it looked like to everyone. Everyone already thought she had been unfaithful to Frank with Rhett. Scarlett said, "Auntie you are the first to know Rhett and I are getting married."
Aunt PittyPat's face was one of shock and horror that Scarlett was going to do anything so improper. She had thought Scarlett had reached rock bottom by running a sawmill but no she had moved even further down by behaving inappropriately with Captain Butler. Now she was behaving just like white trash. PittyPat wished she could order Scarlett out of her house, but the truth was that it wasn't her house. It was Wade's and Melanie's house. She was only getting to live her by Scarlett's benevolence. PittyPat nervously said, "Are you all going to live here?"
Rhett laughed and Scarlett smiled. She said, "No, Rhett is going to build me a large house."
PittyPat's look of relief made Rhett laugh.
Rhett asked Scarlett, "How is Mr. Wilkes?"
In a dismissal voice Scarlett said, "Fine, I guess." I've been too busy to check on him."
When Scarlett saw the quizzical look on Rhett's face, Scarlett remembered that she was supposed to still be in love with Ashley. She added, "Yesterday Melly said he was in a lot of pain, so I haven't gone over there to check on him. I didn't want to disturb him. Do you know Auntie?"
"No, I haven't been over there today either. Like you I didn't want to disturb him if he was sleeping."
"Rhett, do you know how the investigation is going?"
Rhett told the ladies what he knew of the investigation. He finished by saying, "Jaffrey doesn't believe Belle but as long as she sticks to the story the gentlemen will be alright."
Rhett came to call three or four times a week in the evening even though it was highly improper, but Scarlett knew better than to try to bar him. He always came by before Wade went to bed so he could play with the boy for a few minutes. Sometimes he read him stories. Scarlett could tell that Rhett already loved Wade very much. It was incredible to her.
Seven weeks after Scarlett put her sawmills on the market, she sold them. She sold them for less than she really wanted to sell them for but only Yankees and Scallawags really had any money. Because the new owner was a gentleman, he would give Ashley more of a chance than a Yankee or Scallawag. She didn't care for Ashley's sake, but she did care for Melanie and Beau's sake.
She had told Ashley and Melanie what she was doing one night over supper before Rhett got there.
Scarlett said, "Ashley I have a buyer for the mills, and I am going to sell them. He agreed to keep you if you want to continue working at the mill."
"I think I will continue working out there. I like the job well enough."
"Thank you for coming to my rescue when I needed your help. You are a true gentleman."
Ashley looked so happy with her words, and he said, "Thank you for giving me a job. We are much happier here than in New York."
She hoped Ashley worked out with the new owners. He was her oldest friend, but he was not a particularly good businessman. She had only given him a job to keep Melly in Atlanta. He had done well enough that she hadn't needed to fire him, but she wasn't sure the new owner would feel the same way. He wasn't the same man he had been before the war. That man had been confident and self-assured. The man in front of her was fainthearted and insecure. She didn't respect him. She pitied him for he didn't know how to behave and act in their new world, and he could not adjust with the times. In a rare moment of honesty, she wondered if he would have been able to truly function in the world they had before the war. She didn't think so. Scarlett smiled. It would have been Melly running Twelve Oaks just like it had been her mother running Tara. Like her mother, Melly would have made her husband think he was the one in charge.
Once she had gotten the sawmills sold, she sold the land that the saloon sat on to the owners of the saloon. Her next problem was how to quietly sell the store and her other piece of property. She would leave the Hamilton House in Melly's care.
Aunt PittyPat had been so ashamed of Scarlett's actions that she didn't breathe a word of Scarlett and Rhett's engagement to anyone. Rhett was not so discreet. He was always referring to Scarlett as his fiancé. He didn't give a fig about her reputation except how he could use it to get Scarlett to do what he wanted her to do. Scarlett didn't know it, but Rhett would never tell anyone about his bastard children, but he would still threaten her with telling everyone.
Three months after Frank's death, Rhett Butler walked into The Painted Lady. Rhett waved at Belle and took a seat at the poker table. Johnny Gallagher was already seated at the poker table. Rhett didn't like playing with Johnny for he was a cheat, but he would anyway. He would just watch Johnny closely.
After Rhett sat down, Johnny said, "I'm surprised you were able to convince Mrs. Kennedy to sell her mills. I didn't think anything would convince her to sell after she worked so hard to get them built up."
Rhett burst out laughing. He knew why Scarlett had sold her mills. The only reason she would sell her mills. She was planning on running away with his children before he could force her to marry him. He loved that woman. Every time he thought he had her checkmated she pulled another rabbit out of her hat and escaped his clutches. She may be cornered but she would never quit fighting back. He was so lucky she was his children's mother. He was going to have such a fun, delightful life. She would never be boring. Rhett smiled and said, "I made her a better offer. She is going to become my wife as soon as she is out of deep mourning"
"I heard you guys were getting married. I couldn't believe it."
"It is true."
"Why are you guys abiding by proper etiquette? Everyone knows about you guys."
"She is insisting we wait a year. She says she will not dishonor her late husband's memory."
Johnny looked stunned and amazed. Rhett burst out laughing again. When he sobered, he put his money in his pocket, he had already gotten the greatest piece of luck tonight. He would have to keep a much closer eye on his fiancé.
The day after he had found out Scarlett had sold her mills, Rhett showed up on her doorstep at nine in the morning. When Uncle Peter answered the door he said, "Mrs. Kennedy is at her store." He then shut the door in Rhett's face.
Rhett smiled. Uncle Peter certainly hated him. Soon he wouldn't be Uncle Peter's problem because he would never live at Hamilton House.
He rode his horse to the store. When he walked in the store, Scarlett wanted to groan but instead she said, "What do you want?"
"Is that anyway to talk to your fiancé."
"Ssssh. Stop it."
"My dear would you like to continue this conversation in your office where there are less people listening."
"No, that wouldn't be proper."
Rhett burst out laughing. When Scarlett saw Rhett open his mouth to speak, she quickly said, "We will leave the door open. Come on."
"Whatever makes you happy, my dear."
Scarlett frowned at him and said, "Hurry up. I have things to do."
After they were in Scarlett's office, Rhett said, "My dear, I heard the most amazing thing."
"What?"
"Something I didn't believe was possible."
"What?"
"Although the news did make me very happy."
"Rhett if you don't tell me right now, I will kill you with my bare hands."
"I just couldn't believe after you had worked so hard to make your sawmills profitable that you would sell them."
"Damn it. Who told you? Johnny! That jackass."
Rhett roared with laughter. Scarlett just stared looks of hate at her fiancé. Finally, Rhett sobered and said, "If I didn't know better, I would think you had been planning on running away from me. That cannot be possible. After everything I am doing for you. You know making an honest woman out of you and all."
"Shut up! Just shut up! We haven't done anything wrong."
Rhett leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "We most certainly did, or I wouldn't have the leverage to force you to marry me."
Rhett stepped toward the door. He said, "What time will you be ready to leave your store today? It seems I will have to keep a closer eye on you."
"Be here at eleven. Now just go."
Rhett smiled and said, "Until eleven." With that Rhett walked out of Scarlett's office and the store.
Scarlett slammed the door as soon as Rhett was through the doorway. She was fit to be tied. She should have paid Johnny to keep his mouth shut. No, that would never do. Johnny was so greedy he would have taken her money then sold the information to Rhett.
In hindsight she should have sold the mills last but she had never thought about Rhett and Johnny ever having a conversation although she had known that Johnny played a lot of poker at The Painted Lady. She would have to think of another way to avoid marrying Jackass.