Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews. I am so honored that you have taken the time to review and make suggestions on my story.

There is an old adage: Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves. It will be true for Rhett in this chapter.

Chapter Four

The next morning when he awoke, he was alone. He looked at the clock and it was only six thirty. He had never known Scarlett to wake before nine at the earliest. He got up and went to his room. He got cleaned up and got dressed. He looked for Scarlett everywhere and could not find her. When he was going to search again Ella and Bonnie came barreling out of the nursery. He reached down and picked them both up. He asked, "How are my best girls doing?"

They both said at the same time, "Fine"

He took them back to the nursery and helped them get dressed and then took them down to the dining room to eat breakfast. After breakfast when he still couldn't find Scarlett, he asked Mammy, "Do you know where Scarlett is?"

Mammy said, "Yes, she went for her morning walk."

Rhett had not even known she went on a morning walk. He needed to start paying attention to his wife again. Rhett said, "How long has she been gone?"

Mammy said, "About an hour. I expect she will be coming home soon."

Rhett said, "Thank you."

Rhett decided to go to the nursery and wait for her. He left the door open to the nursery. He would see her as she walked by. After thirty minutes when he hadn't seen her, he went to find Mammy and asked, "Has she ever walked this long before?"

Mammy said, "She is out on the veranda."

Rhett went out to the veranda and there she was sitting in one of the lounge chairs. There was a plate of food beside her. Rhett was sure she hadn't eaten any of it. Rhett sat down next to her and said, "You need to eat."

Scarlett said, "I will in a minute. I'm watching the hummingbirds at the bird bath right now."

Rhett turned to where Scarlett was looking and there indeed were two hummingbirds getting water out of the bird bath. If Rhett had not been sitting there watching her be fascinated by the hummingbirds, he would not have believed it. The Scarlett of six months ago would not have even noticed the hummingbirds much less been willing to spend several minutes just watching them. Then he saw a tear roll down her cheek. Rhett said gently, "Why are you crying?"

Scarlett said, "He will never see it. He will never see anything because his parents were having a childish fight. A fight whose only purpose was to hurt the other one. I only remember bits and pieces of it but I know we spewed ugly words as usual."

Rhett sat down next to her. He didn't know what to say.

Scarlett looked at Rhett and said, "Do you hurt too? He was your baby too?"

Rhett said, "Yes. I do."

Scarlett said in a hostile voice, "You don't act like it! You act like nothing happened!"

Rhett said, "I am hurting. It's just unmanly for me to show my pain."

Then almost as if all the fire in her was suddenly gone Scarlett sighed and said, "Alright." She went back to watching the lawn. "I do remember telling you that you weren't the baby's father. That was a lie. I just said it to hurt you."

Rhett said, "I didn't mean anything I said either. I so regret what I said about you having a miscarriage. I was so afraid you were going to die."

She gave him a sad little smile. She said, "I don't remember what you said about a miscarriage and don't tell me. They tell me I was pretty close to death."

He had to change the subject for this talk about the baby and the accident was making him emotional so he said, "Please, try to eat something."

Scarlett said, "Hand me the pastry." And she took a bite of it. Rhett just sat there. He didn't know what to say or do to help her. He felt helpless and he didn't like feeling that way. He also felt such guilt in regard to her fall. He had to keep them off that subject.

Rhett said, "What made you decide to sell the store?"

Scarlett said, "I just don't want to bother with it anymore."

Rhett said, "And the mills?"

Scarlett said, "Same reason."

Rhett said, "Do you want to be alone?"

Scarlett said, "I don't care.

They sat there for a few minutes without conversation. Rhett started telling her some of the doings of the Old Guard. He made several jokes at their expense but Scarlett just stared at him. He noticed that she was wearing a very plain dress and no jewelry again. He realized that since she had been back from Tara that was all she had worn. Rhett decided that she was in deep mourning for the baby which he could hardly believe. She had never grieved anyone this much. He didn't know what to do about it. This was real mourning not the fake mourning she had displayed for Charles Hamilton during the war. Rhett sat there with her for a while longer then he got up to leave. As he was getting up, he said, "I am going to take the children to the park. Would you like to go with us?"

Scarlett surprised Rhett when she said, "Yes. I will meet you in the foyer. I need to eat some of this food or Mammy will scold me."

Scarlett showed more emotion during their time at the park. He even heard her laugh at something Ella had said. He saw her interacting with Wade for a while although it appeared that Wade was doing most of the talking. He saw Bonnie go and sit in her lap. He knew Bonnie's squirming was hurting her ribs but she never complained or put the child down. Scarlett looked sad when Bonnie had jumped down but didn't try to stop the child.

Rhett heard Ella happily say, "Did you not have a nightmare last night? I didn't hear you."

Scarlett said, "I had a nightmare but Uncle Rhett comforted me."

Ella said, "He heard you?"

Scarlett said, "Yes."

Ella said, "Really? That strange usually he doesn't hear you."

Scarlett said, "He has always heard me. He just has never cared enough to comfort me."

Ella looked puzzled at her mother and started to say something but Scarlett put her finger on Ella's mouth and said, "I love you. More than you will ever know." Scarlett kissed her on the cheek and hugged her. "Now you run on and play."

After a long pause Ella said, "I love you." She then ran off.

Rhett felt shame which was an emotion he didn't feel very often. He had never known she knew he was deliberately not coming to comfort her. He had not given her comfort because he was punishing her for kicking him out of her bed. He had wanted her to humble herself and ask him back. He knew now that if he had given her comfort it would have led to other activities and he would have been welcomed back into her bed. Especially after he shared some of the ways to prevent pregnancies that he knew of.

He should start courting his wife especially now that she no longer cared for Mr. Wilkes. Rhett thought, 'I will buy her gifts. That will make her happy and receptive to my feelings.'

Rhett did try to start courting Scarlett but it was very hard because she was so sad and unresponsive. He gave her a little glass angel and she smiled mechanically and said, "Thank you." That was it. Later that day he saw her holding the angel and she was quietly crying. He thought, 'You ass, that angel reminds her of the baby.' He didn't see any way to take it back though. The next day he did see the angel on her vanity table and he saw her touching the angel lovingly so he thought 'Maybe it does make her happy.' He had gone out and bought her the gaudiest necklace he could find. When he gave it to her, she said, "This is not like your usual style. I don't like it." She closed the box and gave it back to him. He had taken it back to the jeweler and exchanged it for a tasteful emerald and diamond necklace. When he gave that to her, she had smiled and said, "This is better. Thank you." He saw her looking at it but he didn't see any pleasure on her face when she looked at it. What he saw on her face was puzzlement like she was trying to figure out why he had given it to her. He brought her flowers and she thanked him mechanically. She never put them in any water. He bought her candy and she thanked him mechanically and he noticed the box was missing so he thought she had eaten it. He found out later she had Prissy share the candy with the staff. He had a dress made for her at her favorite modiste. She thanked him but he never saw her wear it. He gave her some books and he did see her reading them but when he tried to discuss them with her, she stared at him and made noncommittal statements. Nothing he gave her made any difference to her mood. The only thing he had found that made her happy was the trips to the park with the children. He made sure to invite her with them every time they went to the park. He also noticed that if the children were around, she tried to keep a smile on her face and engage with them. He bought children's books for her to read to the children and he did see her reading the books to Ella and Bonnie. Rhett was completely at a loss of what to do to fix Scarlett.

Rhett told Ella that he would take care of her mother if she had a nightmare and she could just sleep through the night. Ella looked at him like she wanted to argue with him but she just said, "Yes, Uncle Rhett." Rhett stopped going out at night and tried to have conversations with Scarlett after the children had gone to bed. She would most of the time excuse herself and retire to her room. He did start listening for Scarlett to start crying and when he heard her, he went into her room and comforted her. After four nights he just went into her room after she had fallen asleep and got into bed with her. He would hear her whimper and he would pull her close to him. She would fall back into a sound sleep. She was always gone when he woke up in the morning. She never mentioned his presence in her bed.

A week after he had started sleeping with Scarlett again, he had been about to take the children to the park and went to her room to ask her if she wanted to go. The door was ajar. As he got to the door, he heard Scarlett say, "Mammy, why do you think Rhett hates me?"

Mammy said, "You wounded his pride when you kicked him out of your bed. No man would be happy with that."

Scarlett said, "He was already unhappy with me before that."

Mammy said, "I know my little lamb. For a man like Mr. Rhett you destroyed any tender feelings he might have had with your obsession with Mr. Wilkes. I thought things were going to get better after Bonnie was born but…"

Scarlett said, "Oh Mammy. I know he hates me but I wish he would stop being cruel and mocking and just leave me alone."

Mammy said, "I know. But you must know that Mr. Rhett is a cruel man if he doesn't care about the person."

Scarlett said with a sob in her voice, "So there isn't anything I can do to change his attitude toward me."

Mammy said, "I don't think so."

Rhett went back to the nursery and started thinking back over his marriage. 'When was the last time he was truly nice to Scarlett? Before Bonnie was born? No before she told him about Bonnie? Maybe. Before they moved into the house? He was nice and then he was mean. The last time he was consistently nice to her was when they were in New Orleans. After she had kicked him out of her bed, he had blatantly used whores to shame her in front of all of Atlanta. Then he had managed to convince the Old Guard that it was her fault he used whores. He was a cruel man and he had just been getting crueler and meaner. He had raped her then basically called her a whore. When he came back after not seeing her for three months the first thing, he said was a criticism of her looks. He had actually thought she was going to call for him on her death bed. What an ass he was. What an idiot he was. He could say she was obtuse but if even Mammy didn't think he even cared for her he had done too good a job of hiding his feelings. He was going to have to be a lot nicer to her. He was going to have to start treating her like the valuable woman that he thought she was. He was going to have to repair all the damage he had done to her reputation. This was going to take a lot more than buying her a bunch of gifts. This was going to take time and a lot of effort on his part and a lot of forgiveness on Scarlett's part.

Rhett waited until Mammy left Scarlett's room then proceeded down the hallway and asked her to the park. He walked with her and even placed her arm through his arm. She looked at him strangely but left her arm there.