Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the many reviews and the feedback.

Chapter Seventeen

The next day on April the 15th Rhett and Scarlett were married in a civil service at the courthouse. Rhett had chosen the date because it was the date they had met. The date that a green-eyed vixen had stolen his heart.

There were only five other people there. Wade, Ella, Mammy, Melanie and Beau. PittyPat had refuse to attend the ceremony.

Rhett had invited his mother to the service, but she had chosen not to attend. Rhett knew his mother was ashamed of him. She had not agreed with his decision to not marry Sarah, the girl involved in the buggy incident. Yes, she had snuck around to see him when his father was alive. Yes, she welcomed him into her home, but he felt that was because he was paying all the bills. She would never be seen out in public with him. It hurt but it was a consequence of his decision all those years ago. Did he have regrets? Of course. Especially after he found out that Sarah had died from cholera six months later. Nonetheless if he could go back and marry Sarah he wouldn't.

When it was over Scarlett said, "I would have like to be married in the church but can't because you aren't a Catholic."

"Maybe someday I will convert to make you happy."

Scarlett just sighed.

When they left the courthouse Rhett and Scarlett had gone to the photographer's studio then onto the National Hotel and Melanie, Mammy and the children had gone back to Melanie's house. The children would be staying with Melanie the three weeks the couple were out of town. They were going to New Orleans on their honeymoon.

Rhett had gotten them the honeymoon suite at the National Hotel. Although to Rhett it didn't look any different than any other suite, he had ever been in. They were staying the night then they were going to New Orleans. He got champagne and chocolates.

When supper was served in their room, Scarlett's eyes got wide. She had never known that one could have food delivered to one's room in a hotel. Rhett smiled at her expression. He said, "My dear, how many hotels have you stayed in?"

"One when we were in Saratoga Springs."

"For a significant amount of more money one can have their supper delivered to one's room. I have ordered pheasant under glass with green beans and mashed potatoes. I know you are not particularly fond of fowl, but I think you will like this. The next three weeks I am going to introduce you to a lot of gastronomical, delightful food," Rhett smiled at Scarlett's blank expression. He continued, "Delightfully good food."

After supper Rhett had given her a ring box. He thought the ring was just like Scarlett. Just this side of tasteful with almost too much flashiness. In that moment Rhett with all his Charleston proper breeding realized that he like that about Scarlett very much. He wanted her to be ostentatious and outrageous. He would not want her to be tasteful and proper. If she was tasteful and proper, she would be just like every other woman in the South. Boring. If he had not wanted to marry her, he would have made other arrangements to be part of his children's lives. In that moment he knew that he had used the children as a cover so she wouldn't know how much he had wanted to marry her.

Rhett had been so happy to see her at the courthouse that morning. She, in fact, had been there before him. He had been so happy he had let her see how happy he was. When he had reached her, he had said, "Thank you. I promise you won't regret your decision."

She had replied, "We will see."

Scarlett opened the box and looked at the ring. It was a three-carat diamond with tiny emeralds surrounding it.

She said, "How many carats is it?"

"My dear, you are supposed to say, 'thank you' first."

"Thank you, how many?"

"Three."

"It is probably too big, but I love it. Put it on."

"Of course."

After Rhett had placed the ring on her finger, Scarlett just stared at it. It looked even larger on her small hand. The stone was cut in marquise style and the stone reached her knuckle. She loved it. She thought it looked beautiful on her hand although she wouldn't have been unhappy if it had been a little bit bigger.

Yes, all the matrons were going to criticize her diamond for being too big, yet it wasn't. It was just big enough based on Rhett's wealth. Yes, they would criticize her for flaunting Rhett's wealth. Nonetheless she was going to enjoy Rhett's wealth to the nth degree. After all it was part of the reason, she had married him.

The course of her life had been set the night of the hospital bazaar when they had met again. She was going to make the most of what fate had given her. She was going to follow Mammy's advice and put all of Rhett's less than honorable actions towards her behind her and enjoy the rest of her life. She would try to be a good wife to Rhett. After all she was stuck with him now until he died. She was going to put her less than honorable acts behind her and enjoy her life.

She had decided that one of the perks to being married to Rhett was the way he made her feel when they were intimate. She was going to enjoy that part of her life even if she hated him. She was going to use him just like he was using her.

Scarlett ate the chocolates and drank the champagne. He soon led her to their bedroom. He helped her undressed and when she wanted to put her nightgown on, Rhett said, "After we are finished. Go get in the bed while I get undressed."

She stared at him the entire time he was getting undressed, and she fleetingly thought, 'A lady wouldn't stare at a man while he was naked, but she had left being a lady in her marital bed behind her a long time ago.' She was not unhappy when Rhett slipped into the bed. He said, "I am going to introduce you to the sensuous pleasures that can be had in one's marital bed." He started kissing her. She hadn't even cared that he left the lamp lit.

Rhett had been right about one thing. She was going to have fun in her marital bed. When he touched her down there with his hand, she didn't care about anything else except that he didn't stop doing what he was doing. When he replaced his hand with his mouth, she wasn't thinking at all. She was calling out his name over and over again. When he finally entered her, she experienced waves and waves of pleasure. The next morning when he had taken her hand and placed it around himself. She had liked that a lot. He had whispered, "You can do that any time you want." She had blushed but she hadn't stopped touching him. A few minutes later she had decided that he like that very much.

When they were finished, Rhett said, "I want you to touch me, hold me or kiss me anytime you want. You do not have to wait for me to initiate things. It is very flattering to be wanted that way."

'Yes,' she thought, 'I am going to enjoy myself in my marital bed.'

It was a two-day trip to New Orleans and Rhett had gotten them a private car. Scarlett was lying in the bed as they zoomed through the night. She was mad at this unreceived jackass she was married to. She suspected it would be a constant state for her until he died. She briefly wondered if she could help him to the other side and decided against it. She decided against it because she couldn't stand to be in prison, and she knew she wasn't smart enough to get away with it.

A few minutes ago, he had said, "I want a child I can openly claim. After that child we will wait a while before we have any more. I don't want you to get as fat as the Cuban women."

Scarlett ignored the comment about her getting fat. She said, "I thought you said that one of the perks you got from marrying me was getting access to my body."

"I will still have access to your body. There are things I can do to make it less likely for me to get you with child."

"So, you deliberately left your bastard child with me. Twice."

Rhett laughed and said, "I wouldn't use the word deliberate. I just didn't take the proper precautions I needed to take."

"Because it wasn't your problem."

Rhett ignored her statement and said, "To put it indelicately for me to do what I have to do I have to be on top. If I had moved our body positions, you would have realized what was going on."

"You knew I didn't know what was going on."

Without any shame Rhett said, "Yes, I did. My plan was to seduce you and then make you my mistress."

"That plan failed."

"Yes, you were very smart to marry Charles Hamilton. If you hadn't acted quickly there wouldn't have been any men around for you to trick into marriage. When people found out you were with child you would have been a fallen woman. Now our son is not a bastard."

"He is a bastard. The world just doesn't know it. Which is fine because his father is a bastard also."

"Thank you, my dear."

"Why did you not use these preventatives when we conceived Ella? I knew what we were doing then."

"It is difficult in the position we were using besides, I knew I definitely wanted you as my mistress then, so I was alright with you getting pregnant with my child. It would make it easier to convince you to accept the role of mistress."

"Why did you want me to marry you if all you wanted was for me to be your mistress?"

"By then I knew you would never willingly be my mistress. I knew I would never want to be separated from my children. I never knew I had such strong paternal feelings until I knew Wade was my son. I wanted to have access to your beautiful body."

"You are such a royal bastard."

Rhett smiled really big and said, "Yes, I am."

With those words Scarlett had turned her back on her husband. She heard him laughing his nasty laugh.

He rolled over and wrapped his arms around her even though she made it difficult.

Scarlett laid there and seethe. At least he didn't want them to have a child every year.

Their very first day in New Orleans Rhett called Scarlett 'my lady' and it thrilled Scarlett. He called her that most of the time. Rhett had decided to call her that because he didn't want her to think he didn't think she was a lady. She wasn't by society's standards, but she was as much of a lady as he wanted. Her strict moral upbringing would sooner or later make her feel ashamed of what they were doing in their marital bed therefore by calling her his lady he was fighting against that censure without ever acknowledging it. He wanted her to believe he thought she was a lady no matter what anyone else said or what she did.

The entire time that they had been acquainted he had never said she wasn't a lady except that one time in the library. He had known that would have been a sensitive subject considering what he had seduced her into doing. He also knew she was ashamed of some of the things she had done to survive so he was going to praise her for having survived no matter how she had done it.

Their first night in New Orleans, Rhett had taken her to a very luxurious restaurant. When Scarlett started to scrape her plate, he stayed her hand. He said, "I know you starved the last year of the war and afterwards. I know that it was an unbelievably bad time for you. I will never let you starve again. You are the mother of my children, and I will always make sure you have the basic needs of life, food, water and shelter. I hope to be able to give you more than the basics, but I promise you that you will never need to be in survival mode again."

"Thank you, Rhett but you can't promise that. That is why I am fearful of the future because nobody can promise me a safe future.

"At least you know I wouldn't let morals or honor get in my way of providing for you."

Scarlett smiled and said, "No, you won't. I'll try to relax about where my next meal is coming from."

"For now, I can buy you as many entrees as you want."

"Thanks."

"Do you want something more to eat?"

"Yes, can I have some more of those stuffed mushrooms?"

"Yes, you can have as many as you want."

Rhett quickly got the waiter's attention and ordered the appetizer. He said, "It seems I was hungrier than I thought. Will you bring me another order of those stuffed mushrooms?"

"Yes, sir. It will be just a moment."

Scarlett smiled at him, and his heart did a little flip-flop.