Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Note: As always, all reviews and inputs are appreciated.
Chapter Three
The next several days Rhett was treading gently around Scarlett. He was suspicious of her and her actions. She was being kind and loving to him. She was behaving the way he had always wanted her to behave towards him and that was what made him very suspicious. He knew he was a cynical man but he had been fooled before. In fact, he had been fooled before by this very woman so he was going to be wary.
When Scarlett would get back from visiting the other ladies, she would always be so mad and frustrated. Rhett let her rant and rave to him and refrained from making mocking comments at her expense. He did make mocking comments about the other ladies which made Scarlett laugh and she was soon feeling better. The fourth day after the party Scarlett informed Rhett, she needed him to go out to Ashley's mill with her. If he couldn't go, she could ask Melly to go with her but she would like a break from Melly. Rhett was happy to go. He wanted to see the interaction between the two erstwhile lovers. As they drove out to the mill Rhett and Scarlett were chatting quite happily with Rhett occasionally making teasing comments to which Scarlett would look at him and smile. As soon as they walked into the office of the mill Rhett could feel the tension between Ashley and Scarlett. Ashley would not look either Rhett or Scarlett in the eye. Scarlett greeted him coldly and didn't provide any explanation of why Rhett was with her. She sat at the desk and opened the ledger and sighed.
She said, "Ashley you have barely made a profit this month again."
Ashley said, "Scarlett, not as many people are buying lumber these days. The building boom is almost over."
"That is ridiculous. I see new construction everywhere."
"That may be but they have already purchased their lumber."
"Ashley you have to go out and sell the lumber. They are not going to come to you."
"I have tried to find people to buy the lumber but everyone building anything is a Yankee."
"They are the ones with the money."
"I refuse to do business with the very people who are subjugating us."
Scarlett was mad. She was mad at the way Ashley was acting. He was acting guilty and he would not look her in the face. Also, his honor was once again getting in the way of them making a profit. She stood up and said, "Because of the gossip and the lies being told about me Rhett thinks I should sell my part of the mills," Ashley turned to look at Rhett with guilt and shame on his face. "I am going to take his advice and sell my part. Do you want to sell your part also?"
Ashley finally looked Scarlett in the face and he saw how angry she was and Ashley knew it wasn't because he hadn't made a profit in the last month. Ashley said, "Scarlett can we speak privately?"
Scarlett said, "Are you crazy? I will never be alone with you again. Do you want to sell your part?"
Ashley looked hurt by what Scarlett had said. He said, "Yes, I think that is best that I sell my part too."
Rhett, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up and said, "I know someone who wants to buy these mills. I will contact you when it is arranged. Scarlett." She walked rapidly over to where Rhett was waiting for her and tucked her hand in his arm and they left the shack with a bewildered Ashley left behind wondering what had just happened.
Scarlett ranted and raved about Ashley and how he was making her look worse by his guilty behavior. She ranted about him having the gall to ask to speak to her alone like things weren't bad enough. She ranted about how insulting that was to Rhett. By the time Rhett had gotten them home she had run out of steam. The trip to the mills had been very educational for Rhett. He knew what his plan of attack was going to be. Ashley's behavior was making Scarlett mad so he needed to continue to bring them in contact with each other. He would be on his best behavior and take on the air of the long-suffering husband. He would defend her and protect her from the dowagers. He would declare her innocence to anyone who would listen. He hoped that the contrast between him and Mr. Wilkes would have Scarlett seeing him in a better light than Mr. Wilkes. He was going to try to get Scarlett to think of Mr. Wilkes as the man who had caused all her troubles and have her think of him as her rescuer. It was almost the opposite of how she normally thought of him and Mr. Wilkes.
The next week when Rhett reminded her of the Bonner's musical soiree that evening, she told him she didn't want to go. He coaxed her into going by reminding her she didn't have anything to be ashamed of and that he would stand by her side the entire time if she wanted him to. When she joined him in the parlor to go to the Bonner's home, she was wearing a dowdy dress that Rhett wondered where she had found. It was not anything that she would have picked out for herself. Rhett said, "Wearing that dress is admitting that you did something wrong. Let's go back upstairs and find something much more becoming."
Scarlett smiled at him and let him lead her back upstairs. They found a lovely yellow dress that flattered her figure but wasn't that low cut. It was probably not something she would have chosen to wear to a party a month ago but she did look very attractive in the dress. They had a fine time at the soiree even though the musical performances were awful. They shared secret smiles during the horrid playing of the piano and cello. Scarlett stuck to Rhett while they were talking to other people but Rhett kept moving them into the vicinity of Ashley and bless his little heart, he kept acting guilty. Rhett could feel Scarlett getting madder and madder at her former beau. Over the next couple of months Rhett made sure to attend every event that the Wilkes were attending and Mr. Wilkes never failed to look and act guilty and Scarlett never failed to be infuriated by his behavior.
There were several other changes in the Butler household but most significant was that Rhett and Scarlett were sharing a bedroom. Bonnie was very happy to be sleeping in the room with both of her parents. She was so happy that Rhett began wondering how he was ever going to convince Bonnie to move back in the nursery. Rhett knew in that moment that he had encouraged Bonnie's dependence on him for two reasons. One so he felt loved and two to thwart Scarlett from having a relationship with her child. Now that he wanted to have a fuller relationship with Scarlett, he knew he had created a monster and he didn't know what he was going to do about it. He wasn't ready to admit the truth to Scarlett or answer all the questions that would arise from that admission. Scarlett solved the problem for him. She told him, "I know you have a problem saying 'no' to Bonnie and I am not going to ask that of you but when Mammy and I say no to her would you back us up."
Because Rhett was still playing the part of the loving, supportive husband he said, "I will try." And he did manage to never override one of Scarlett or Mammy's decisions. After a month of Bonnie being told 'no' by Mammy and Scarlett she started behaving a lot better. Rhett even lied to the child a time or two and told her that she couldn't have something because her mother had said, 'no.' Of course, with Bonnie only being two-and-a half it wasn't like she was going to confirm these statements with her mother. If Scarlett ever wondered why Bonnie was scowling at her she never asked her why. Probably because Scarlett couldn't understand most of what Bonnie said.
Another change was Scarlett's attitude toward Rhett. She was spending a lot of time thinking about him but in an entirely new light. She was thinking about him and his actions through the filter of a man in love. A man in love who was afraid of the woman he loved finding out that he loved her. She was embarrassed for not having seen that Rhett loved her no matter what he said. He spent way too much time in Atlanta during the war for him to have not been coming to Atlanta for a specific reason. Especially when you consider he was a blockade runner. When she thought about all the time he had spent at her home when she was married to Frank, she was even more embarrassed. There was no other reason for him to be spending so much time at the Hamilton House than to spend time with her. She knew he didn't like Aunt PittyPat and she knew he had thought Frank a bore. She really was as obtuse as he said she was but not anymore, she was working at being more observant.
She had thought about all the things, she could make him do now that she knew this secret but strangely, she didn't want to hurt him. She thought about how she had the power in the relationship but knew that Rhett would never do anything he didn't want to do no matter what. She also realized that if she asked Rhett for something, he usually would give it to her. He was being so helpful with this scandal that she was facing. He wasn't just standing beside her; he was defending her also. He was being her friend again; her best friend. He wasn't going out at night anymore. He would occasionally stop at Belle's for a drink on his way home from the bank but that was to find out the latest gossip. He would tell her what Belle had said when he would get home. She wasn't ever going to say anything about his activities of the last two years. She didn't know what he had done and she didn't want to know. He couldn't undo it anyway.
Scarlett's attitude toward Ashley was changing. In the midst of everything going on he was not walking around with his head held high like he hadn't done anything wrong. He was walking around acting guilty. He especially acted guilty when she was around. Ashley's actions were really irritating her which made her think about them much more than she normally would have and she decided that Ashley was feeling guilty because he was ashamed of his feelings for her. When that thought crossed her brain everything exploded in her mind. She thought, 'He at best is a coward for not telling me the truth that he didn't love me and at worst is a two-timer without the courage to complete the act. He just wants my body and my admiration. He doesn't love me. Not the way I need to be loved. He would never have endured what Rhett has endured to be with me for all these years.' He is spiteful too. He didn't want me but he said those ugly things about Rhett and implied that he still loved me so Rhett couldn't have me either. That thought really made her mad at Ashley Wilkes. Ashley doing that caused her to lose two years of Rhett's friendship. Rhett who was doing everything in his power to help her out of the scandal that Ashley had caused.
Another change was that Rhett was being kinder to Scarlett. Scarlett didn't know why cruel, mean, mocking Rhett wasn't around but it made her very happy. Rhett was being kinder partly so he looked good compared to Mr. Wilkes but also because Scarlett was being a lot nicer to him. She was paying him a lot of attention. Not just when they went out together but even when they were alone. And not the southern belle attention but real attention like she was interested in what he had to say or what he was doing. She had been giving him what he could only call a sweet smile. Rhett was still teasing and infuriating but that was just who he was. It was alright when he was teasing. It only hurt when he became mocking.
Wade, Mammy and the rest of the staff were all holding their breath hoping that Mr. and Mrs. Butler were resolving their problems.