Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Note: As always, all reviews and inputs are appreciated.

I enjoyed writing the scene with Bonnie, Wade and Ella. I just know that Wade had to feel some resentment toward Bonnie.

Scarlett has also figured out there is more than one way of achieving her goals. Instead of using brute force she will use subtle coercion on Rhett.

Chapter Seven

Dolly Merriwether was a nosy woman. She wanted to know everything about everyone. She really wanted to know the truth behind the mill incident. When it had first happened, she was sure that Scarlett had behaved inappropriately as usual but the aftermath of the incident had Dolly confused. Scarlett was behaving like Mr. Wilkes's arm being around her was an innocent hug between old friends. She had never acted guilty the entire six months since the incident.

Captain Butler had proclaimed her innocence to anyone who would listen. Everyone knew that Captain Butler was not Scarlett's strongest advocate. Didn't he make jokes at her expense all the time?

Melanie Wilkes had proclaimed both her husband's and Scarlett's innocence. Melanie was so convinced of their innocence that she had caused a rift not only with her friends and the matrons but within her family also. Every person had to choose a side. Melly had decreed there would be no neutral parties. If one didn't choose her side then by default, they had chosen India's side. The only person that Melanie had not made choose a side was her Aunt PittyPat. Melly knew the poor dear would never be able to choose between Melanie who she thought of as a daughter and India who was living with her and keeping bad men away.

It was Mr. Wilkes that had Dolly confused and the other matrons. The matrons had always thought Scarlett a little too fond of Mr. Wilkes but maybe they had gotten it backwards. Maybe Mr. Wilkes was the one that was a little too fond of Scarlett. Maybe Scarlett's flirting with Mr. Wilkes had just been Scarlett being Scarlett. Scarlett did tend to flirt with any attractive man. They were basing this assumption on the fact that Mr. Wilkes had acted guilty from the beginning. He had acted ashamed and embarrassed at his party which was understandable but he had also acted guilty. Very guilty. Scarlett had never acted ashamed. Anyone could tell that Scarlett was fuming at Mr. Wilkes. Everyone could tell that Scarlett was getting more and more outraged at Mr. Wilkes. It was Mr. Wilkes that had looked ashamed not Scarlett. Mr. Wilkes's behavior had led Dolly and most of the matrons to believe Mr. Wilkes's behavior was not innocent. She and her friend Emma Jackson were going to get to the bottom of this incident. Dolly and Emma were going to call on Scarlett Butler and if Scarlett answered her questions correctly Dolly was going to throw her considerable amount of influence behind Scarlett Butler.

To Scarlett's utter amazement Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Jackson came to call one day after she had been in her confinement for about two weeks. She was even more stunned when she realized that Melly was not with them. Scarlett welcomed them into her parlor and rang for tea. The ladies made small talk while waiting for the tea to be delivered to the parlor.

After the tea had been served Mrs. Merriwether said, "My dear, you have made some missteps in your life. Dancing with Captain Butler while you were still in full mourning."

Scarlett interrupted to say, "I had been out of full mourning for two weeks and that was for the cause."

Mrs. Merriwether smiled and said, "Yes. Your suspiciously quick marriage to your sister's fiancé. Your running of the saw mills and selling to Yankees. Your marriage to Captain Butler although he has reformed and become quite the proper southern gentleman." Scarlett made herself smile at the statement about Rhett. "You spending so much time with the Yankees and the Scalawags. You inviting the Republican governor into your home. And, of course, that whole disaster which got your husband and Tommy Welburn killed."

Scarlett wanted to angrily rant that the disaster with Frank and Tommy was not her fault. She was so tired of being blamed for the men's stupidity. She had never asked them to defend her honor. In fact, if they had asked her, she would have told them that their proposed raid was reckless and foolhardy. She would have told them that they were just going to get themselves killed or worse bring the Yankees down on them. Instead she thought of her unborn child and kept her mouth shut. She couldn't afford to make Mrs. Merriwether mad. She knew that now unlike when she had deliberately infuriated the older woman when she had advised Scarlett against marrying Rhett. Scarlett knew that most people would follow Mrs. Merriwether's lead in regard to whether her baby was Rhett's child or not.

Scarlett said, "I was so foolish to continue to drive myself through Shantytown." It took all of Scarlett's determination to get that statement out of her mouth in a regretful way.

Mrs. Merriwether smiled kindly at Scarlett and said, "We all make mistakes in life." Which stunned Scarlett. "What I need to know is what happened at the mill the afternoon of Ashley's party."

This was the first time anyone had asked for her side of the story. In six months, nobody had wanted to hear her account of what had happened. Her temper immediately flared to life and she wanted to tell these Peahens to go to hell. She wanted to tell them that she didn't need to justify her actions to them. Before she could get the words out of her mouth her child started kicking her. She took a deep breath and placed her hand over the spot that he was kicking and said, "We had been decorating Melly's home for the party and we were running behind. Melly asked me to go out to the mills and delay Ashley from coming home too early. She didn't want him to get a ride home with anyone else. She wanted him to have to wait for India. I went out to the mills and I was going to look over the books. When I got there everyone had already left so I knew that Melly didn't need to worry about Ashley leaving work early. I decided that since I had driven all the way out there, I might as well look over the books." Scarlett remembered Ashley coming out to the yard and helping her out of her buggy. She remembered thinking he looked old. She remembered not feeling anything when Ashley had touched her. She remembered when Ashley had let her know he knew all about the party that she had felt so disappointed for Melly. Melly had gone to so much time and trouble and Ashley was not going to be surprised. Scarlett continued, "I looked at the books and then Ashley and I were talking. Ashley started talking about the last barbeque we had attended. He started talking about all the people who had died in the war. The more he talked the sadder I got until I was crying. Ashley felt bad for making me cry and he put his arm around me to comfort me as any old friend would do. That is when India, Mrs. Elsing and Archie walked in to the office."

"If that is true why is Ashley looking and acting so guilty?"

Scarlett kept her temper in check and said, "That is an utter mystery to me. I asked Rhett about it and Rhett thinks that Ashley may have had some ungentlemanly thoughts about me." And she blushed and looked at the floor. She made herself blush by thinking about a part of Rhett's anatomy.

There was silence. Then Mrs. Jackson looked pointedly at Scarlett's baby bump and bluntly said, "I thought you and Captain Butler had separate bedrooms."

Scarlett blushed crimson and whispered, "Not all the time."

Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Jackson both blushed also. The two older women looked at each other and Mrs. Jackson nodded. Mrs. Merriwether kindly said, "This will all blow over in no time. Captain Butler must be so very excited about having another child."

Scarlett smiled and said happily, "He really is. He must be the most baby crazy man in the state if not in the south. If he had his way, we would have twenty children. Can you imagine?"

Amazingly both of the dowagers giggled at the thought of Captain Butler and his baby crazy ways. They left shortly thereafter. Scarlett was exhausted after the encounter with the matrons but she felt like she had passed some test. She stood by the door after seeing the ladies out just rubbing her baby bump. That is where Rhett found her when he returned home. He said, "What are you doing just standing here in the foyer?"

"I just finished showing Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Jackson out. They came to visit me. They have after six months wanted to know my side of the story about the incident at the mills. When Mrs. Merriwether left, she said, 'This will all blow over in no time.' What do you think she meant?"

"I think that Mrs. Merriwether is taking your side in this awful event which is very good news for our baby. I don't think she will treat you any warmer than she had before but I think she will defend our daughter's paternity."

"You think I will still be received?"

"Even without me or Miss Melly being with you."

That made Scarlett happy. That was all she wanted. She didn't want to join their committees or attend their sewing bees. She just wanted to be received by the majority of polite society. She was thankful again that Rhett had stood by her through this entire disaster. The smile she gave Rhett made his heart skip a beat and made him look at her with that expectant look on his face. It still baffled Scarlett but she put her arm in his and they walked to the parlor. They sat on their favorite piece of furniture – that ugly divan.

Rhett's assessment of the situation was correct. Scarlett would be received by most of polite society she just wouldn't be embraced. What Scarlett didn't know was what had made the biggest impression on the matrons was the way Scarlett had spoken Rhett's name. She had spoken it like he was the most wonderful man in the world. That and the way she had spat Ashley's name out like even his name was a vile thing. She also didn't know that every time she had said Rhett's name, she had rubbed her baby bump.

With time on her hands Scarlett started spending time with her children. She would go to the nursery in the morning while Rhett was there. Rhett would always make sure she was involved in any activity that was going on. The children were overjoyed to have her in the nursery. If they went to the park she wouldn't go, of course, but she urged them to go anyway. At nap time Scarlett would sit in the rocking chair and read stories then sing songs to her daughters until they fell asleep. Once they fell asleep, she would go and talk with Wade until the girls woke up. She did like talking to Wade. He was already a well-read young man. She started looking forward to those conversations. He explained everything to her without ever talking down to her or acting like she was stupid for not knowing this already. He actually acted eager to teach her new things.

One night after the children were in bed Rhett and Scarlett were playing Beggar My Neighbor. Scarlett was winning and Rhett had to distract her from the game. He said, "The décor of this monstrosity must be growing on me. I don't feel like vomiting when I look around the room anymore."

Scarlett never looked up. She said, "Put yourself where your mouth is and help me redecorate the house. I have two and a half more months of confinement. It will be a nice way to pass the time."

She looked up at him and smiled innocently then said, "Or never say another ugly comment about the décor."

Rhett grinned back and said, "With that kind of ultimatum I will have to rise to the challenge and help you redecorate this house of horrors."

To that Scarlett scowled but she was secretly pleased that Rhett was going to help her redecorate. All the mirrors and all the red were beginning to get on her nerves. She wished she could change the outside. She was no longer enchanted by the swiss chalet design. She would have to figure out how she could get Rhett to suggest changing the outside and she would go along just to make him happy.

That night after they retired for the evening Rhett was acting rather smug like he had achieved a major victory in their personal rivalry. Scarlett wondered if it would always be that way with them. She decided probably because she and Rhett were just too competitive and they both enjoyed being the victor. She made sure to keep the smugness off her face. She just let him see her happiness at having won their card game.

The next day Rhett had all the mirrors in the house taken down. He then declared that all the red wallpaper would be stripped from the walls. Scarlett asked, "Are you planning on discussing your decorating plans with me?"

"Yes, but those things were not negotiable. I can't live with the mirrors and the red wallpaper anymore."

Neither could Scarlett but she sighed and said, "Alright but you owe me for not throwing a fit. I was rather fond of the red wallpaper and the mirrors."

Again, Rhett looked like he had won in their personal battle and Scarlett had to work to keep the unhappy expression on her face.