I figured if I'm on a roll, I'd better go with it.
Enjoy and as always thanks for the reviews! You guys are the greatest reviewers and I love each and every one I get.
The Journey Home
Chapter Twenty Six
Where there's a will...
With shaky legs, Scarlett stood from her hiding place. Eli was looking at her as she moved away from him, his expression grim in the face of Rhett's threats."I guess my welcome has truly come to an end, wouldn't you agree?"
"I don't know what to think," she said pressing her hands to her face. "It's almost as if Rhett wanted-"
"Yes," he cut in. "I think he made himself perfectly clear on what he would like to do to me."
"He was so angry. If he had seen me in here…" she shook her head. "I have to go. I don't know what to believe Eli, but I mustn't be here with you right now. I won't destroy this chance I have to make amends in my marriage."
Eli stepped back as she walked through the stall door, but he reached for her arm before she had gone but a few steps. He turned her to him, his gaze landing on her with determination. "Scarlett, I did not murder that man. I am not a murderer. You do believe that, don't you?"
Scarlett glanced down at his hand on her arm and then back up to him. "Yes, I do believe you, but Rhett doesn't. I'm not sure why he doesn't, but I don't think you did anything that horrible."
Something kin to relief swept through his hazel eyes. "Thank you."
"Goodbye, Eli," she slightly nodded and pulled her arm from his hold. "Take care of yourself."
She moved out of the barn and started up the worn dirt path toward the house. Prissy and Dilcey were hanging clothes on the line, they're soft soothing voices reaching her ears.
"Miss Scahlett," Prissy pointed to Dilcey who turned to her.
"You alright, Miss Scahlett?" Dilcey asked in concern upon seeing her.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she answered absently and passed them to enter the back door.
Once inside, she moved to the table and sat down, cupping her head in her hands. The soft creak of the door closed behind her and Dilcey moved to the sink where she sat the empty tub. "Look lak rain," she commented.
Sighing, Scarlett glanced over at her. "I suppose."
"We could shore use it."
"Yes, we could," Scarlett replied and stood. "I'm going upstairs."
"Miss Scahlett, Mist' Rhett… he don' lak Mist' Eli, do he?"
Scarlett stared at Dilcey, her brows furrowing at her. "Whatever are you talking about, Dilcey?"
"I sees things, I knows more dan you know 'bout what goes on 'round heah. I sees da way Mist' Eli done look at you and I sees da way Mist' Rhett looks at Mist' Eli. It just betta he be movin' on. I knows you knows dat, too."
"Dilcey, you are speaking out of turn and I'd appreciate it if you would hold your tongue from now on. You only work here, don't forget that," she said exasperated at the woman's inquisitiveness.
"Yes'm, I do shore 'nough work heah, but I gots eyes and well, I jus' don' lak seein' you unhappy. Mist' Rhett, he make you happy."
Scarlett considered Dilcey's words of wisdom. She looked out of the window and down to the barn. Eli leaving would be the best for everyone, especially for her relationship to Rhett. He had forced his way into her life and now he was forcing his way out… strange how things worked sometimes. She nodded and looked back to the older, wiser woman. "Yes, Mister Rhett does make me happy. Thank you, Dilcey."
"Mist' Rhett, he in da other room with Miss Dahcy. He be wantin' to see you I speck," she smiled knowingly and then headed for the back door, leaving Scarlett alone. She smoothed down her dress and patted her hair. Taking a deep breath, she moved from the kitchen toward the parlor where she heard Rhett and Darcy speaking. When she entered the room, they were sitting across from each other, both looking solemn.
"Hello," she said to them.
"There you are," Darcy said with a wisp of a smile. "Mr. Butler was just inquiring about you."
"Was he?" she asked and looked at him.
"Yes, I was," he replied, but made no move to join her. He didn't look the least bit ruffled after his confrontation with Eli, instead he seemed calm and composed. She, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves, especially considering what had happened between them.
He pulled his cigar case out of his coat pocket and lifted one. "Do you ladies mind?"
"No," they both answered. Scarlett tried to gauge his reaction to her, but he remained elusive to her attempts. She sat down beside Darcy and studied him. His complexion had darkened with his excursions outdoors, giving him a swarthy look. Her heart sped up at the sight of him. How good he looked sitting there with his leg casually draped over his knee. She smiled at him, hoping to let him know how he was affecting her. "Was there something you needed, Rhett?" she asked finally.
"Yes," he nodded and lit the cigar. "I was telling Mrs. Olson that I feel in order to be more effective in my efforts to locate who had done this to her, I shall be moving into Jonesboro for a while. I secured a room there, you see. This way, I can keep on eye on things more closely."
He said it so matter of fact that she could hardly believe what she was hearing. She stared at him, but his face was a mask of indifference. "Move… into Jonesboro? But, I, I don't understand." And, she didn't. What was he saying? Why wouldn't he look at her? Her heart felt as if it were constricting in her chest.
"It's simple, I need to be closer to town," he said and placed the cigar between his even white teeth. "I intend on finding the men who did this and I can't do that here."
Scarlett saw white and then red all in a matter of moments. If Darcy had not been sitting so serenely next to her, she would have thrown something at his head. How dare he sit there so calmly and tell her he was leaving her again as if nothing had changed between them! She felt sickened by his apathy toward her.
"I told Mr. Butler that this wasn't necessary, Scarlett but he insists on it," Darcy said to her.
"And I told her that once I start something, I finish it," he looked pointedly at her.
The look on his face said so much, and not what she was expecting. "Yes, Rhett is quite the noble character when it suits him," she bit out before she could stop herself. "So, I am to assume that why you're in Jonesboro playing detective, we're supposed to sit here and wait for Jonas to come to Tara?" she threw at him resentfully.
"I wouldn't think of doing anything of the kind, my dear. I was about to propose a plan to Mrs. Olson and now that you're here, I can do just that."
"A plan? What sort of plan?"
"I feel, for both you and Mrs. Olson's benefit, that staying at Tara with my not being here may not be the wisest of choices, so I am suggesting that you and she go back to Atlanta."
"What?" she shot to her feet. "What do you mean?"
"Just what I said, I would like for you to take Mrs. Olson back to Atlanta. She will be safe there and out of harms way… and you also, of course," he added.
"Rhett Butler, I have no intention of leaving here! I will not tuck tail and leave because of the likes of Jonas Wilkerson. Tara is my home and that is final. Darcy knows she's welcome to stay here for as long as she wants but neither you nor anyone else is going to tell me to leave it."
"Have you forgotten our home in Atlanta? God only knows how much of my money it's taking to keep it up. The very least you could do is be grateful by actually living in it."
"I have not forgotten our home, but I'm not ready to go back there," she told him.
"I think you should let Mrs. Olson decide whether or not she would like to go before you assume the responsibility of her decision."
"Why on earth would Darcy want to go to Atlanta? She doesn't know a soul there," she protested.
"Actually, Scarlett, I think I might," Darcy said quietly. "I have nothing here now, nothing that matters anyway. Going to Atlanta sounds fine to me… if only for a while."
"And it would only be for a little while, just until things are settled here," Rhett assured her, but to Scarlett it was the same as when he left her there the first time. She silently fumed at this unexpected turn of events.
"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go upstairs and lie down. I'm not feeling very well."
"Yes, of course," Scarlett replied, glad to have the distraction for a moment. She retrieved a packet of medicine the doctor had given her and handed it to Darcy. "Take this with a glass of water. It'll help you sleep and help with your headache. I don't want you to overdo it too soon."
Darcy thanked her and then suddenly and unexpectedly hugged her. "Thank you, Scarlett. I can't imagine what I would have done these last few days without you. You've truly been a gift from God."
Uncomfortable with the show of emotions Darcy was displaying, Scarlett stiffly patted her arm. "You just get some rest, that's all I want from you."
"I will and thank you again," she nodded and left the room, leaving Scarlett and Rhett alone, something Scarlett didn't want to happen, at least not at that moment.
"Gift from God… now that's something you don't hear every day," Rhett drawled behind her.
"Great balls of fire! Is that all you can say?" she whirled on him.
"Pray tell my dear, what did you expect to hear me say?" he asked with another drag on his cigar.
"You know good and well what I want to hear. I thought… I mean… well, since you and I…" she stammered in her frustrations.
"Please, spare me the descriptions. I get the gist of where you're going," he held up his hand to stop her.
"Rhett, why are you being this way? You know very well that last night-"
"Changed nothing," he cut in. "I'm sorry, Scarlett but last night should have never happened."
If he had taken a sword and cut her arm off, she couldn't have been more hurt or wounded by one single action. She stared at him in disbelief. "That's not true. You came to me, you wanted me."
"Yes, and do you recall what I told you when I first came here? Physically I would always want you, I am but a man, after all. But anything more than the physical is out of the question and knowing that, I should have been in more control of my amenities."
"Is that why you want to send me to Atlanta? To get away from me?" she accused hotly.
"Must you hear me say it?" he asked with a hint of regret.
"No Rhett, I don't have to hear you say it because it would be a lie. You want to send me to Atlanta so that I won't be a temptation to you. You think by sending me away you won't want me anymore, but you're wrong. You see Rhett, I know what last night was even if you won't admit it."
"It was not what you wanted it to be," he insisted.
"It was everything I wanted it to be and you know it. You can push me away all you want but it won't make this be anything but what it is."
"I will not be a fool for a second time," he quipped and smashed the cigar into the tray on the table. He stood and lifted his panama hat, sliding it on his head.
"If you're a fool then I'm one, too," she said glaring at him. "But, at least I can face the truth and not be afraid of it."
Rhett's lip curled into smirk. "Are you calling me a coward?"
"And if I am?" she faced him and crossed her arms.
"Never are you more beautiful than when you think you have the upper hand," he laughed mirthlessly. "Go to Atlanta, Scarlett. Leave me in peace."
"If I go, and I'm not saying I am, but if I do go, what then? Will you go back to Charleston?"
"Perhaps," he nodded. "Either way, I'll be free of you."
Scarlett shook her head. "That's where you're wrong, Rhett. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you'll never be free of me," she said. She lifted her glittering green eyes in triumph when she saw the fierce expression come across his face. With a growl he stalked through the hall to the front door.
"Have Pork send my things to Jonesboro and be on the next train to Atlanta… or so help me God I will strangle your pretty little neck myself!" he roared and then slammed the door behind him.
She ran to the window and watched him mount his horse, spurring his heels into its flanks as he galloped full speed down the driveway. "I'll go to Atlanta," she scoffed to his retreating form. "When pigs sprout wings and fly!"