AN: Thanks for all the amazing reviews guys! They mean so much to me. Another short one, we're SO close to the end. Lol. Probably why my mind is thinking of other fics so this one doesn't need to leave me.

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Part Twenty

Mid-October 1871

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"I miss riding," Scarlett said at her vanity brushing her hair as they discussed Wade's growing skill. They had been discussing at what age it would appropriate for Wade to ride without a chaperon, if he had been a country boy, she was sure it would have happened ages ago. None of the boys she had grown up with had been forced to have a servant tagging along after them when they went next door to play with their neighbors, despite the fact that their neighbors were generally at least a mile away, sometimes several.

"I know of something you could ride, my sweet," Rhett said with his usual glass of brandy as he watched the ritual.

She paused and turned, "That sounds awful." She shifted on her bench. The heaviness of her stomach grew more profound each week. She rubbed the small of her back with her free hand just thinking about it.

Rhett laughed softly, making a note not to bring it up again unless she was having a particularly good day or perhaps the morning. She still slept well, minus a visit to the water closet in the middle of the night that she tended to barely be awake for, unless it was to glare at him as he would try to escort her. There were plenty of other positions to accommodate her growing stomach that wouldn't strain her back, he hadn't heard her complain about those. He stood as he did, always trying to make her pregnancy easier on her. Despite having heard from numerous staff during her pregnancy with Bonnie and now this baby that no wealthy woman carried a baby as easily as Scarlett.

"Rhett no," she told him as he straddled her bench, putting his drink down on her vanity.

He laughed.

"Absolutely not," she repeated.

He laughed again, "I'm merely trying to massage your back."

She gave him the disbelieving look of a child, "I don't believe you."

He laughed again as his hands went to her back.

"I don't even believe you that we should. You lied to me with Bonnie, didn't you. It's completely unnatural to do anything with this present." Her hand went to her stomach.

Scarlett was apparently having a tougher day than he realized. His hand went to her stomach, the ripples he had seen in her dressing gown, apparently much more active than he realized. He rubbed the area, hoping the baby would settle down so she could fall asleep. "You could have always asked Dr. Meade or ask Dr. Peyton."

The horror was evident on Scarlett's face at ever confessing that would even consider making love given her current state.

He laughed softly, "I assure you, Scarlett, unless you live a comfortable lifestyle the world continues on as normal for those who are expecting."

"I believe you are a fibber Captain Butler," she gave him the look of a petulant child.

"I believe you ate too many sweets late in the evening," he countered, still with his hands on her stomach.

"Your son has made that very evident," she gave him another annoyed look.

"Would you like me to return to your back?"

"Yes, but don't you dare think for a second that I will be returning the attention in kind."

He laughed and returned his hands to their original location.

"Stop laughing at me," she ordered him.

He bit back the laugh.

She gave up trying to brush her hair, "I'm glad you fell in love with me and had to propose."

He didn't pause in his actions, but neither did he say anything. It was the first time she had brought it up since that night, since the night they created their child. The night that had changed everything.

"Accepting your proposal was likely the most foolish and reckless thing I've ever done. Likely the worst decision I ever made and somehow also the best."

"Somehow?" He somehow found the breath to question.

"It was rather horrific for nearly two years," she continued looking at their reflection in the mirror and he at her profile.

"Even with your house and fal-lals?"

She turned slightly so she was giving him the side eye, looking at his person and not his reflection, "It would have been horrific with all the money in the world."

He didn't know what to say, he was afraid if he opened his mouth, he would become the Rhett they both abhorred.

"Why did it take you over three, four," her head shook, "why did it take you so long to be honest with me?"

Had that been the change in their relationship? Not that passionate night and the baby it created. Those harsh and ugly and desperate truths he had laid at her feet. The words he had forced her to confront as he held her captive in the room. The fact that he had chased her down for that first kiss, not allowing her to hide from the feelings he had for her. The words he had run from the next day, nearly frantic that they would be thrown back in his face. "I did propose marriage to you, Scarlett," his face betrayed emotion, he couldn't keep it away.

"With talk of money."

"I did express deeper feelings. Quite sure I used the world love."

She had vaguely recalled that after, but the entire experience had been a blur. His kiss making her drunker than the brandy, not to mention the brandy. "Quite sure you knew I didn't take that seriously."

"Hardly my fault-"

She lifted a brow at him.

He smirked at her.

"This is nicer than friendship. Love is certainly less ideal than I expected as a child. You do at least grovel in bed sometimes."

"Is there a point to this, my love," he had used the phrase before, sometimes, hell often mockingly. She hadn't known he had been mocking himself.

"Well I love you, Rhett. You could be kinder about it."

"Do you actually Scarlett?"

"I never thought the part of you, you kept hidden had to do with me. You made it as hard to fall in love with you as I suspect you felt staying in love with me."

"You don't need to say this-"

"The morning after you told me, I woke up feeling like a bride on her wedding day-"

He kissed her before she could think any further, think of the cowardly actions he had taken. Hurtful and cruel when he should have stayed by her side.

"Rhett just because I love you, do not for one second think that means we will be making love. Possibly never again."

He smiled and brought his hand down to her belly to where their son was likely doing somersaults. "I imagine that is a narrow, shortsighted term you are talking of. You are growing our child, making love. You pressed against me, making love. Your hand on me, making love. Your smile to me, making love."

"Rhett, I mean it."

"I mean it as well Scarlett, that narrow aspect of love is something I can do without as long as I have you and all the broad ways we make love."

She smiled again and kissed him.

Every moment he was with her, he was making love.

Thanks for reading!