Notes Back:
Guest: I loved Rom-Coms in my youth, so The Philadelphia Story and His Girl Friday were some of my favorites. I'd likely slap Cary Grant's character through the screen now that I'm older. :-P
Sarah: I vote you write that! Lol. Mine is already done for this series (um Rhett chats about the children in town for awhile). I actually want to do a scene where he hears her crying after, I read that part of the scene last night. I love fandom group prompts.
Ninigi: Lol. Is Turner Movie Classics not in Europe? You're right, I have no idea where old movies are online.
Guest: Haha. I totally believe that Scarlett did a dozen different things in the house for Rhett and the children. I BELIEVE in my girl shopping and spending money.
Guest: Lol. I don't know. I didn't think about them after 1874. I imagine more. They were a hot couple.
Moon FireStar: I just kept Melly alive for you in one of them. The fic totally diverged from what I thought it would be (Melly wasn't even in the original idea), when I got to the end I thought of you (lol and it made sense that she would still be alive based on the circumstances). Also OMG that is a line in Bear to Love. The Rhett/baby thing does come up.
AN: Lol. If anyone ever wonders why Rhett and Scarlett end up with so many kids in my fics, it is literally because I believe in their chemistry as a couple. There is a really great episode of "Call the Midwife" S.2 E.5 that deals with a fertile couple in a time before the pill.
Onto the lumber office, which is really one of the worst spots in the book because Scarlett was starting to have a different mindset and BOOM. Damn India Wilkes.
Thanks for reading and ALL the amazing reviews. It's really funny, I've realized I have no idea what you guys actually like. Whenever I think you'll comment you don't, whenever I think you'll hate/be bored by something you enjoy it.
4. India Wilkes delayed at the mill, does not see Scarlett and Ashley
Archie sighed as India Wilkes paused to say something to Mrs. Elsing. She had seemed like she was going to continue walking to continue the conversation, but instead she turned and paused to give the topic her complete attention.
Archie held in a sigh. The things he did for Melanie Wilkes.
o-o-o
Scarlett stayed in the office after separating from their hug wondering where had the passion gone. There had been such great passion, she recalled him some more upon his horse, his hair glinting in the sun. Looking at him now, he was dulled. Like a gemstone yet to be cut and polished, only he had been once, oh he had shined so brightly.
She didn't mean to look at the ring on her hand, it was vulgar to pay notice to her wealth. To Rhett's wealth, to the great man he had pulled himself into being without anyone. Cast out and left on his own at 21. She recalled the desperate pressure of what one would do to survive at 21. She remembered the taxes, she recalled how he laughed at her. She recalled that decision to go after Frank.
How quickly she had been pulled from the happy memories of her childhood to all the awful years after.
She gave another look at Ashley, annoyed at him for all of his talk of slow glamor and whatnot.
Her annoyance quickly grew as the office door opened and the voices of Archie, Mrs. Elsing and India Wilkes filled the room. Recalling how Melanie hadn't invited her to be in the receiving line. She quickly excused herself, suddenly desperate to get home to her glorious house.
These times were better, most certainly. They were so exciting. She couldn't wait to show off her new dress, scarlet of course, they would never overlook her, even if she didn't receive with the family.
o-o-o
Scarlett sat in the nursery rocking Bonnie. She felt horrible that Mammy had been having such issues with her baby since Bonnie's return from New Orleans the little girl was likely more willful than she, herself had been growing up. She should be firmer with her, but it made Bonnie so sad when she was. She didn't easily accept it like Wade and Ella. Bonnie broke her heart every time she told her baby no.
She loved moments like this with her precious girl. She loved the weight of her, the warmth of her, the little sounds she made when falling asleep.
Quiet moments, slow moments.
She caught sight of Rhett in the doorway watching them, such a look on his face she wasn't sure what it was. It passed into a tender smile for their sweet little girl.
She was suddenly reminded of how Ashley spoke of how he and Rhett were similar. What a bizarre thought. Rhett could likely carry the weight of the world on his broad shoulders and Ashley was crushed by a few old dreams. Rhett had built himself up to be a wealthy and a powerful man. He threw himself into life, always quick to laugh with her, although sometimes it was at her, she did not enjoy those times.
He was a man of great planning and instinct. Not just for the wealth that built this house, but the wealth far greater in her arms. Bonnie was far more than her house or her jewels and even the parties. Granted she'd had to do all the work for Bonnie, but he had stopped her. Stopped her from making a far greater mistake than Charles or Frank or hiring Ashley as a mill manager.
He'd forced her to have Bonnie.
She could have lost her life to not have what she would willingly give her life for.
He spoke softly as he approached Scarlett in the rocking chair with a sleeping Bonnie, "I'd hoped to take her outside for a bit."
"Mammy couldn't get her down for her nap," Scarlett explained the change in their daughter's schedule.
"I'll go-" he said adapting his evening plans.
"Take tea with me?" Scarlett suddenly asked. Her conversation with Ashley had left her so unsettled. She could use some of the reassuring brevity a conversation with her husband offered her.
"Of course," he nodded. "Shall I take Bonnie?"
She shot him a look as she stood with their toddler, "You'd likely wake her."
He smiled unapologetically.
o-o-o
She was blaming Ashley for the perverse thoughts running through her head. Thoughts regarding her husband. She was suddenly wondering what it would feel like to have his arms around her. He'd often had the ability to make her lose the ability to think.
He'd made her feel wanton and depraved.
They were all rather lovely feelings.
Unsettling, but lovely.
As if she weren't in control of her life and she hadn't been. His kiss had destroyed all of her plans for the future after Frank.
Of course, this was better than a quiet life with Wade and Ella at Tara.
The parties, the clothing, the jewels.
The very often angry retorts of her husband.
Although he hadn't made any of that this afternoon. He was also sober, which was nice. His retorts were always so quick and biting when he drank. Only Rhett would get sharper when he drank.
He hadn't held her in so long, he hadn't kissed her in so long.
She suddenly nearly wanted to squirm in her seat thinking about it. She wouldn't mind if he joined her in bed again. She truthfully wouldn't even mind another baby.
A few months away from the parties didn't seem too awful.
She certainly would rather be tucked away in her parlor than attending Ashley's birthday. She'd rather be tucked away with Rhett than attending Ashley's birthday.
She was horrified by the thought again. It wasn't Rhett, it was Ashley she loved.
Suddenly she took in the sight of her husband, the strength of his body not able to be hidden by the cut of his suit. He was wide and tall and she recalled his chest and arms filled with muscles, no soft flesh.
Odd, how hard and strong it was, but so comforting and reassuring to lay her head on.
She had always slept better with him as her pillow than ones filled with the finest of feathers.
"Will you be home for supper?"
"I planned to have supper with Bonnie-"
She frowned unexpectedly. It had been so much easier when Bonnie was a baby and never present at the table, she couldn't understand why Rhett insisted on having the baby still eating off his plate at the table with them.
"Did you want to take a late supper?"
She gave a dismissive head shake, "I suppose all of Melanie's talk of the party has me in a mood to-"
"Has you in a mood to do what?"
"My dress is so beautiful, feels a shame to only wear it for a few hours."
He gave a quick laugh, "My pet with all you spend on your attire, I can confirm it is a shame you only wear them for a few hours. I imagine you'd need to sleep in them for them to be worth their cost."
It took her a moment to compose a retort as she was caught by the thought of going to bed in her stunning red gown with her husband.
o-o-o
He of course took the meal with Bonnie in his arms. It was eight o'clock and the child should be tucked into her little bed, but she was wide awake from the nap she'd taken shortly before her supper. The nap however had been crucial to the survival of everyone's ears, the child had been so fussy and agitated.
She smiled thinking of what a handsome pair they made and Rhett was certainly nicer when their daughter was in the room.
Conversation easily switched from their daughter, to her business, to his investments, to comments about the townsfolk, there was hardly a moment of silence. She couldn't recall the last evening she'd had so much fun. She almost regretted that they would have to go out to a party rather than retire to the parlor.
o-o-o
"You aren't tired are you?" Scarlett found herself asking her husband as they returned in the early morning hours from Ashley's birthday.
There was a devilish gleam in his eye as he regarded her, she was bubbling from all she had drank at the party, it had been fun, so much fun. She couldn't recall when she'd last had such a nice night, Rhett had stayed by her side throughout it or perhaps she had stayed by his.
"What did you have in mind?" He questioned.
"Brandy," she gave him a smirk and headed towards the dining room.
He let out a low laugh as he followed her.
o-o-o
Hours passed as the decanter steadily decreased. Nothing was truly said, but the conversation never stopped, the laughter never stopped. At points Scarlett worried she would break a rib laughing in her stays.
She was standing to mess with her husband's still perfectly coiffed hair, she had made a remark about it and it had suddenly bothered her that the sun would likely be rising soon and he looked as if he could go out and face the day.
One moment her hands were in his hair and the next he had pulled her into his lap.
She found herself being overwhelmed, inhaled, consumed.
She didn't whisper of a single word of complaint as he stood with her in his arms and slowly carried her through the house towards her room. Carrying her off to bed in her beautiful scarlet dress.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The next morning she would have likely blushed when she'd awoken to recall everything she had done with her husband hours prior, only she was already flushed from how he had awoken her.
Later he was inside of her when he spoke as she was begging for more, he held the power and he knew it. "Should I withdraw? Leave you in your chaste bed? Has that power satisfied you?"
"Rhett," she desperately murmured trying to buck her hips against him. He was too strong, his hips held hers in place.
"What do you want Scarlett?"
"Please," she desperately pleaded, it was torture having him inside her so achingly still.
"What do you want Scarlett?" He repeated.
"You, please Rhett, I want you."
He rewarded her with a slow movement. "Just for a night, some bi-yearly event?"
The thought of her cold and empty bed filled her with dread.
"Or can you finally embrace the life you have?"
His words didn't make any sense to her. It was their life. He moved tortuously slow within her and she found her nails digging into his back. "Rhett please."
"This is your life Scarlett, we could be happy if you'd just stop your mooning." He began to move more, began to build her back up, "This is your life," he repeated.
o-o-o
"Will you be home for supper?" Scarlett asked as they took the afternoon meal with all three children.
"Early or late?" He questioned. They had missed breakfast entirely and he'd taken tea with the children in order to last until dinner.
"Late, I was thinking about what you said regarding my formalwear. You're quite right, they certainly don't get enough use."
"Have I been a poor husband, not taking you out on the town often enough?" His sardonic loll. "Are you asking me to remedy that?"
"Our house is nicer than the town," she shrugged.
"I will dress for the meal," he nodded at her.
o-o-o
She smirked as he stood from the supper table after their wine had been poured, he took the brandy off the sideboard and two glasses, pouring them each a generous amount of the amber liquor.
He left the brandy on the table as he sat back down to their meal.
It was absolutely crass and showed such poor manners. She adored it.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"You need to see Dr. Meade," Rhett said as he stood by her bedside as she was burrowed into a pillow.
"Because you're exhausting me?" She looked up at him with a slight smirk. He'd barely left the house at night in the last month unless she was with him.
"You're normally a healthy young woman, you should be able to recover from a few hours of activity with eight hours of sleep." The last few mornings she'd awoken more exhausted than when she went bed.
"Perhaps if you slept throughout the night," she offered. She frequently awoke to Rhett's hands moving over her.
"I am perfectly rested, my sweet," he said dropping a kiss to her head, like the petulant child she was behaving as, "and many years older than you. You need to see Dr. Meade."
She grumbled.
"I will send word to him. Rest. If you do have something, I'd rather you'd not give it to the children."
o-o-o
He smiled in the doorway of the nursery as Scarlett was in the rocker with Bonnie. Ella already down for her nap. The two girls appeared to be growing so fast until they were down for their naps like the little girls they still were.
She gave him an accusing look and he stayed in the doorway rather than risk waking Bonnie. Several minutes passed until Scarlett was sure the little girl was asleep and she carried her to her bed.
Bonnie had been sleeping in it at night as well ever since a terror had awoken her two weeks ago and she'd been alone in her father's room. Wade and Ella had thankfully been falling asleep fine with Bonnie's little candle.
"You're home early," she spoke softly as she exited the room.
"I wanted to see how your visit with Dr. Meade went. You're obviously not ill if you're caring for the children. Let me guess some country air and clean living?"
"More like 8 months and confinement."
"You're expecting?" Rhett paused in the hallways puzzled by that. "But we-" He had been diligent about using rubbers with his wife, they had agreed 3 children were enough.
"Apparently it was like closing the barn door after the horses were already out," she informed him. That first night had been only them, only gloriously them.
"It was one night," he pointed out.
She laughed, "It was a very active night and apparently rather productive," she laid a hand on her stomach.
"I'm sorry, I know I-"
"I think it'll be nice to have a baby in the house again. A little boy. Two boys, two girls."
"Are you sure?" Rhett hated himself for even asking that.
She shrugged, "It's done. There's no undoing it." She smiled at him, "The more I think about it, the more I think I might actually like it."
"It does hold a certain amount of appeal."
"According to Dr. Meade, I'm also allowed to sleep as much as I want, as often as I want."
"Are you requesting I return to my room?"
"I am requesting you stop with the commentary every morning when you awake and let me sleep."
He laughed unexpectedly and pulled her in close to him. "You may sleep in, you may nap, you may go to bed at the hour of our children if you want. Anything else?"
"You could handle the mills for me, just until this exhaustion passes. It's such a long drive through the woods."
"Of course," he dropped a kiss on her lips.
"Thank you, Rhett."
"Anything else?"
"You could join me in bed."
"To nap?"
"Eventually," she smirked.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
1872
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Are you admiring your perfectly balanced family?" Rhett said walking into the parlor to see Scarlett looking at the photograph they'd just sat for.
"Admiring my exceptionally beautiful family, it looks just perfect doesn't it?" The portrait had Rhett standing in the background, while she sat with Teddy in his white gown. Hers and Bonnie's chairs angled towards each other, Ella stood next to her mother and Wade next to Bonnie.
"It does," his arms wrapped around her, "we have a lovely family."
She leaned back into her husband's strong embrace. He loved her; he would do anything for her.
How quickly those words of love had returned while she was carrying Teddy. That little boy had been such a blessing for their family.
The coolness of her husband had disappeared, replaced by passion and fire.
She felt alive for the first time.
She'd once imagined she would hold the whip over him once she held his love, not realizing she'd already held his love.
He would do anything for her. He would die for her.
It empowered her.
Not in the way she had foolishly thought. It allowed her to surrender. To give herself over freely. To be happy in the moment. In all of their gloriously small perfect and imperfect moments.
"Maybe one more," she said aloud what she had been thinking when viewing the photo.
"Hmm?"
"For the center, one more child. Not now, maybe another year or two when Bonnie's in school."
"I recall you having enough children when I proposed."
"I hardly knew what a wonderful father you'd be when you proposed. Certainly not what beautiful children we'd make. Do recall when you proposed Ella still looked like Frank."
He let out an unexpected laugh that startled her. "I could have told you that she'd turn into a beauty with you as her mother."
"You could have said it, I certainly wouldn't have believed you."
"You didn't believe a great deal what I said when I proposed. Why did you marry me?"
"I'd like to say it was solely for your money, but quite frankly I'm relatively certain I would have agreed to anything when you kissed me."
He laughed as he dropped a kiss to her neck.
October 25th 1873
"Are you certain you feel up for this?" Rhett took in the sight of Scarlett heavily pregnant in a red evening gown, seated at her vanity applying a touch of rouge to her cheeks. It was the touch of rouge that gave him pause, her cheeks were often flushed with color quite naturally from the baby, the fact that she needed to add some…
"I feel fine, Dr. Meade doesn't expect the baby for weeks more."
"I would feel better if Mammy were here," he said thinking of the old servant who had left them shortly after Teddy's birth, choosing to spend her final years at Tara.
"So would I, but she's too old to be chasing after the children. She's happier at Tara."
"I hardly feel as if you should be hosting-"
"It's Melly and Ashley," she shook off his concern, "they're my dearest and oldest friends. We're having supper, we're hardly going to dancing a reel." She wanted to stretch on the bench to try to alleviate the backache that had been plaguing her for hours, but she was sure if she did so her husband would call off the night. After a moment she put up her hand to him and he helped her off the seat.
"I would feel better if you were in bed."
"I would feel better if I were eating," she smiled.
"You could do that in bed," he pointed out.
"Captain Butler what I have in mind for us later in that bed has nothing to do with eating."
"We could-"
"After our visitors," she added.
"I'll give them two hours."
"Four," she countered.
"3, Miss Melly would never impose longer than that while you're expecting."
"Fair," she said lifting up to place a kiss on his jaw. "Let's go wait downstairs for our guests."
October 25th 1874
"Did Melly seem unnaturally happy, even for her?" Scarlett questioned as they sat in the parlor, alone for the first time since the morning.
"It is Lydia's first birthday, of course she was happy," Rhett remarked barely looking up from the book he was reading.
"I'm happy we get to have an event every year on this day when you tried to cancel mine last year."
"Are you referring to the event where instead of retiring to the parlor, you had to retire upstairs and deliver our daughter."
"We had a lovely supper before that," she remarked.
He let out a brief smile and put the book down. "It was certainly an inventive way for you to get Miss Melly to stay for four hours instead of three."
"I always get my way, you should know that about me," she smirked.
"Would you like to get your way with me, Mrs. Butler," he said getting off the armchair he'd been sitting in and going towards hers.
She laughed, "You don't actually expect me to feel amorous after the mention of delivering our daughter do you."
He tugged her up into his arms, "That wasn't even two hours, trust me Scarlett, I can make the pleasure last well longer than the pain." His lips dipped to her collarbone.
She laughed, "There were nine months prior to that. I threw up on your shoes at one point."
He frowned at the memory and pulled back, "Quite right, five is enough."
She laughed, "More than enough."
He smiled again, "We could practice though, in case we change our minds later, wouldn't want the skill to get rusty."
"After we say goodnight to the children," she informed him.
"Shall we go up to the ballroom, put the music box on, take a turn about the room?" He said not wanting to let her out of his arms.
"That sounds lovely."
Thanks for reading!