Guest: They weren't hosting an event. Neighbors came calling because an O'Hara and her rich man moved to town. :-P

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Part Fifteen

September 1871

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

If Rhett Butler were any other man, he would be embarrassed to admit he enjoyed life in the country, he would quite frankly hide his enjoyment so as to remain correct in his assessment of the country life.

However, Rhett Butler was no such man. He could admit he was wrong, he was open to new ideas and truthfully he had promised Scarlett everything and there was no denying spending time in Clayton Country had given his wife a new passion.

The manager Declan Morris had his hands full answering to his new employer and an even harder time because she was a female. He had repeatedly tried to turn to Rhett, but Rhett always informed the man that Scarlett made the decisions and unless Declan could come up with a new argument for whatever Scarlett rejected or ordered of him, he was to let it go, unless he wanted to be let go.

Oh Rhett drove her around and occasionally discussed various plantation related topics, occasionally even having a good thought or two, but the plantation was hers.

He rode the property with Wade at his side, and occasionally Bonnie on his lap. In those moments Rhett ached for all the years he had missed with Wade due to his own ego. That little boy of his had grown into a young man, filled with zeal as he discussed the serial Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, read in French no less. Rhett found himself wanting to take his boy on an adventure. To put him on a ship and sail down the Florida coast, the Bahamas to Cuba, maybe make port in Mexico. His boy was so young still, there was still so much time for him to figure out who he would be. Scarlett laughed at them passing the book filled magazine clippings between them with cryptic and enthusiastic declarations about the next part.

In the evenings Scarlett would often read to the children from Alice in Wonderland, which captivated all the children even Wade, who had already read it himself. Rhett had heard there would be another publication soon, perhaps already. He found himself writing more correspondence than he normally did in a week in a day in order to track down the new book. Rhett would read, only when forced by his wife, for he was as captivated as the children as he listened to her read.

He was starting to notice, to feel a difference in the house. There was no longer that pull to sequester each other in their bedroom at night after the children had been tucked in. There was a feeling of safety and comfort falling over the rooms even without the children present to fill the void.

This was not to say he did not want to constantly slip into bed with his wife, or perhaps slip into her as they played billiards, but he enjoyed her mind as much as he enjoyed her body.

It was starting to feel safe, familiar. Like she wouldn't turn around and throw it all away one day. He would fight for her now, he knew that. He would fight until his last breath. He had existed in that cold, empty void before, but never again.

He loved his daughter, he loved his children, but dear god he loved her more than life. A torturous, all consuming love.

On one such evening, Rhett found himself reading to his wife from Pygmalion and Galatea, a new play that was being performed over in London.

"Are we ever going to travel again?" Scarlett asked in the library as he smoked and read to her.

"I travel all the time Scarlett," he maintained his normal demeanor.

"You and I, Rhett," that well practiced, nonchalant demeanor continued to make her blood boil.

"I asked you if you wanted to go-" he paused.

"Where Rhett?"

"Greenville," he recalled with a smile, it had been the next trip he had taken with Bonnie after New Orleans.

"You asked me when you were leaving the house with Bonnie," it had not been a pleasant scene as she berated him about how misbehaved Bonnie was upon her last return, he had only asked her as a means of stopping the argument.

"The point is I asked."

"I could not drop everything in my life because you had a whim to take our toddler with you to do what exactly?" She shook her head suddenly, "London, Paris, Barcelona, you used to mention all these places like we would see them together."

Rhett opened his mouth.

"So help me Rhett, if you mention me locking my door again. I said I didn't want babies, you promised me no babies, then the next thing I knew there was a baby in me, it wasn't even a year Rhett."

"I will not apologize for Bonnie," he took a sip of his brandy, the only sign he was potentially put off by their conversation.

"I asked if we were ever going to travel again, not why we didn't. I get why we didn't. We couldn't handle being in Atlanta together, how would we ever have survived a steamer?"

"Truthfully, Scarlett being locked in a cabin with you for weeks could have-" he turned on the charm.

She cut him off, still annoyed with the turn their conversation had taken, "It would have ended up with me pregnant or you overboard."

"I don't imagine there being an or in that, if you ended up pregnant again soon after Bonnie," and she would have if he'd had her trapped on a boat, "I have no doubt my dear, you would have chucked me overboard."

She laughed, the tense mood suddenly broken by Rhett's remarks.

"Where would you like to travel?"

"Anywhere, everywhere."

"What about the store, the mills?" He questioned.

"I don't even know if I care anymore, maybe I'll sell them. Invest the money in something that doesn't need me to watch over it so closely."

"Don't sell them, we'll hire someone to oversee them when we travel."

"We, I thought-"

He silenced her with a look, "That is not investing in your properties, it is making sure they'll be there when we get back."

"I could sell them," she offered again.

"They're good businesses, you say that now, but in a few years you'd be kicking your, you'd be kicking me for letting you sell."

She laughed.

"After you have the baby, we could go to London and see this on stage."

"Leave the baby for months?"

Rhett noted she did not say children. "Travel is much more modern now, while I imagine it wouldn't be like the house in Atlanta, I imagine you would find the comfort level on par with Tara."

"The children obviously have to come with us. I can't even imagine what would happen with their behavior and education if I were gone for months. I imagine the mills would fair better than the children."

Rhett let out a laugh and wasn't even disturbed by her leaving him out of the equation with the children.

"Seems like a big trip with a baby," Scarlett had her hand on her stomach as she contemplated such an undertaking.

"We could start smaller," he offered.

"Like what?"

"I wrote to my mother about the baby, I imagine she would appreciate a visit. Meet you, Wade and Ella."

"Charleston?"

"I'm not saying you have to go, I'm aware you think Charleston is full of-"

"Do you want me to go Rhett?"

It was a simple question and as Rhett was about to weave a response so complex it would leave her mind spinning, Rhett instead answered in kind, "Yes."

"Okay then when the baby is old enough, we'll go."

"My mother will be pleased."

"I look forward to meeting her."

He opened his mouth and then stopped.

"Rhett are you worried about your mother meeting me?"

"Not at all."

Scarlett paused for a moment and then decided to speak, "I loved Charleston when I was a girl. Pa was going to take me and then the war. He was going to take me to Charleston to make me happy, but then the next time I went I was a widow. The only thing happy about that time was I at least wasn't married to Charles, but even that I imagine was better than being a widow." It was truly only torturous for a few minutes at a time. "I would have liked to have seen it again as a girl. I imagine it will delight Ella the way it delighted me. We'll at least be there so she won't be stuck alone with Aunt Eulalie."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

While Rhett Butler may have been able to admit that he had been wrong about the country, he was constantly amazed at how often he enjoyed it. While his wife had taken over the study to deal with plantation business and correspondence regarding the mills and store, he had taken over the library. Scarlett certainly wouldn't have minded if he replaced the library with a study, however he found the room more relaxing and comforting than the office at their house, which had been designed to elicit a feeling of a powerful, grandiose and possibly overbearing man conducted his business there. There was a warmth to the room, to many of the rooms that had been lacking in their Peachtree counterparts.

The room didn't currently hold many books, but the previous owners had left a few, likely every single one they'd owned related to farming, which didn't look like they had been touched or at least not to the degree Scarlett consulted them. He had brought some books from their house and had picked up several more that he considered crucial to all libraries and included some books for the children.

He had enjoyed several respites with Ella and Bonnie as he read to them and with them. Sat in opposing armchairs with Wade as they read in comfortable silence.

He had certainly read to the children before and Bonnie had never hesitated escaping from the servants and pounding on his office door in Atlanta. Life in the country without the Old Guard watching, spending his mornings buttering up the town folk at the bank. They were nice, freeing.

"Rhett Butler for a man who claims to not love reading you certainly do a lot of it," his wife said walking in to find him.

He smiled putting down his book, "I may be a man of action Scarlett, but seeing as you're my only action around here, I would think you would welcome the respite."

She laughed at him. "Not feeling confined and restless?"

"I shall remind you my dear, I used to spend months on a ship. Our sojourn in the country is certainly more enjoyable."

"You can always stay longer in the city," she offered knowing he was approaching another necessary visit.

Dare he admit just how lonely their bed was without her. How it felt as if someone was walking over his grave as he entered that still and silent house? Oh his day had been occupied and filled, he had returned to city life with his normal vigor, handling his and hers business.

He had slept alone for years before Bonnie's gentle breaths had joined his room.

He hadn't recalled it being as torturous as it was now, then again there had been a significant amount of alcohol and women to get him through the first stages of sleeping without his wife.

He had almost left for Belle's for drink, company and perhaps a card game, then he imagined the look on Scarlett's face if she were to find out.

The look on her face after the 2 nights he had gone missing. Oh how greatly he had misjudged that day. In that first moment as she realized where he had been, that split second when genuine emotion passed her face. It had taken all of his resolve to continue with his plan and not confess his weakness, his love a second time. In the end he had been sure he was right to continue about his plan, but there had been that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. As if he had thrown away his last chance at happiness. If not for the baby, he might have.

He had known as he tried to go out that night in Atlanta, nearly two weeks ago that he would never cross the threshold of Belle's again.

As his business had run long the second day and the thought of having to spend a second night in the city had begun to loom in his mind. Rhett had contemplated a long ride back into the dark on horseback if he missed the train.

He hadn't found true relief as he caught the train, nor while he rode out to the house, no it had been Scarlett walking out of her parlor as he entered the house.

He would not be spending a moment longer than necessary away from the house, he was a besotted fool. He would let their businesses go to ruin and live in a shack if she were anyone else, spend his days reciting, perhaps even writing poetry and their nights in their bed. Thankfully Scarlett was who she was and he would never be more than just tempted to do that because even in his love-struck state he imagined that would eventually grow old.

No he would not stay away a moment longer the necessary.

"And leave you alone with only the children for company," he stood and kissed her cheek, "I could never be such a cruel man."

Thanks for reading!