I apologize that it has been SOOOO long since I've updated. I have really no excuse at all except for a bad case of writer's block and real life becoming all too real of late. This chapter is a shortie. Largely because I'm stuck on a sequence that comes immediately after this, so I decided rather than to hold onto this any longer, I'd post it and hope that inspiration comes to me soon so that Chapter 8 will get off the ground. Thanks to all of you who have been so kind with your reviews. I appreciate and treasure each and every one of them. Thanks again!!
So here we go…
Chapter 7 - Atlanta
And so, the next day Scarlett left for Atlanta. She kept her eyes down and averted, pouting for all to see, playing the wounded and long-suffering daughter until the train pulled out of Jonesboro. Then, and only then, she raised her chin and her bright eyes sparkled as she watched the countryside fly by. She was free of her parent's supervision; she was going to Atlanta where surely she could live life as she chose—or at the very least, she could live freer than she could at Tara or under Grandfather's supervision in Savannah.
More important, she traveled with a light heart, knowing that Rhett had written her. Surely, he wouldn't have written multiple letters if he didn't feel—something. How she longed for those letters. What did his handwriting look like? She could only imagine that he wrote with strong, bold strokes. From where did he write? What did he say? Did he speak of his feelings for her or did he chat about his travels and business ventures? She could only wonder and the thought that she would never know what he wrote brought tears to her eyes. Why, oh, why would her mother burn the letters? Her mother had never done anything to intentionally hurt her before, ever. So the fact that suddenly Ellen had become cold and unmoving in her stance that Scarlett not have anything to do with Rhett mystified her. What was it about Rhett that bothered Ellen so much?
Scarlett heard the words spoken by her grandfather, "You're both cut from the same cloth; like mother, like daughter. I only hope you don't settle for some peasant immigrant like she did!" Was her mother in love with someone before her father that her family objected to? Scarlett couldn't stop these same questions from running through her mind last evening when she was packing. Mammy, who had been with Ellen as a child, was helping Scarlett pack her trunks and so Scarlett decided to take a direct approach.
"I don't know why Mother insists on sending me away. It didn't do any good when I went to Savannah and Grandfather was so hateful."
"Your mother is doin' whut she thinks is best for her lamb," soothed Mammy.
"Oh, I know, Mammy," Scarlett told her with a voice full of anguish, "but I don't understand. Grandfather said I was just like her. What did he mean?"
"He said whut?" Scarlett had Mammy's full attention now and Mammy was clearly irate. No one was going to get away with saying anything bad about Miss Ellen.
"He said that Mother sent me to Savannah to keep me from a bad match and that Mother and I were cut from the same cloth."
"Dat man! I can't believe 'im!" growled Mammy, slamming the trunk closed. "He dun never care much about your Mother after she dun left Savannah."
"Why did she leave on such bad terms?"
Mammy sized up Scarlett, trying to decide how much she could tell her without betraying Miss Ellen. Scarlett came in second only to Miss Ellen in Mammy's eyes.
"He didn't like your Pa."
"Oh, I know what," huffed Scarlett, disappointed that she didn't hear something that would tell her more about her mother's behavior. "So, then is Pa the bad match that he tried to prevent?"
"No…Dere was someone else," said Mammy slowly, her mind drifting back to the days when Ellen longed for her cousin Phillipe, a dark-haired, dark-eyed charmer.
"What? Who was it?" Scarlett scrambled off her bed and came to stand directly in front of Mammy.
"Whut?" startled by Scarlett's look of astonishment, Mammy realized too late that perhaps, she said too much and tried to cover her revelation. "No one special. She was jes lak you. She always had lots of beaux."
"I don't believe it! There was someone. You have to tell me. Please, Mammy."
"You need to behave yourself, Miss Scarlett! 'Tain't fittin', it ain't fittin'. You jes behave yourself in Atlanta."
For a moment, Scarlett felt like she was on the brink of a new discovery, a secret from her mother's past that would reveal why she was acting so harshly, but as it turned out, Scarlett's hopes were as fleeting as the countryside racing by outside the train window. She knew no more of her mother than she did before and for the first time in her life, Scarlett felt oddly estranged from the woman who she had adored and failed miserably at emulating for all the years of her young life.
Once in Atlanta, life settled into a routine that was not altogether unpleasant. Life in Sarah Jane Hamilton's household at the end of Peachtree Street was quiet and very well mannered. Everything was very ladylike, very genteel and overwhelmingly at odds with Scarlett's robust nature. However, strangely enough, she found a friend in Melanie Hamilton Wilkes. Once she despised Melanie with a childlike jealousy, but now that she knew Melanie better, she couldn't think of a match more suited to Ashley's studious, refined nature. She also felt sorry for Melanie, who was mourning the loss of her brother, Charles, who had died in camp, leaving his wife, Honey, a young widow.
Yes, life on Peachtree Street was pleasant and above all, it was exciting. There was so much commotion going on in Atlanta due to the war. The town was overflowing with newcomers and there were dances and balls of all kinds to raise money for the war effort and an equal number of committees that Scarlett was asked to serve upon. The men were all dashing in their uniforms and the rules of courtship, Scarlett noticed, seemed to be been loosened like the strings of a corset. Girls were courted by men who arrived without family introductions and they hastened to wed after just a few weeks. Girls were kissed by men hours after being introduced to them, something that was unheard of prior to the war and was mightily frowned upon by the matrons who attempted to chaperone these events. Best of all were the clothes. Admittedly, some items were hard to get and families were making do by modifying recipes and wearing shoes an extra season, but oh, the clothes that the blockaders brought in were so beautiful! Scarlett noticed immediately the many girls who wore the latest fashions brought in through the blockade from England and France and wondered how she could get them, too.
Scarlett took in all the gossip and longed for the fashionable clothes that she saw other young belles wearing and she listened intently to find out where she, too, could find them. It was then that she heard through the grapevine and the famous Captain Butler had run the lovely laces and frocks and frills through the blockade on his last trip.
"Was that Captain Rhett Butler?" she wondered aloud one morning to Melly and Aunt Pittypat. Pitty was oblivious, but Melanie informed Scarlett that indeed it was, and that from what she heard he had made frequent deliveries to Atlanta, which led many of the Old Guard to question why this blockader ventured so far inland when most of the others left their goods at the docks before setting back out to sea.
While Scarlett had matured in the last year and outgrown many of her childish habits, her vanity still fit her like a glove and when she heard this she couldn't help but question if Rhett was coming inland with the hopes of seeing her. But her bright smile was dashed at the next thought: he never came to Tara seeking her out! Well, horrid thought, he would think she wasn't interested because she never responded to his letters! Scarlett again cursed her mother for burning the letters and wondered for the umpteenth time what was in them. She even wondered forlornly how many there were. How many letters did he write before he gave up, thinking that she had dismissed him and was only toying with his affections that day at Twelve Oaks? Well, she'd just have to find him and explain. Surely, he would understand.
Finding Rhett Butler was not as easy as Scarlett initially thought. She quickly discovered that his name was bandied about easily enough whenever and wherever ladies gathered in their sewing circles. They talked about the fashions he brought in and then, the conversation quickly fell into gossip mongering about his scandalous background and his not being received by "good people." His bad reputation, however, was something that many people were willing to overlook—at least partially, due to his bravery at running the Union blockade. At the same time, their voices fell to whispers when they discussed the more personal side of his life, answering for themselves the question as to why he traveled to Atlanta when most blockaders stopped only at Wilmington, Charleston or Savannah. The ladies assumed it was because of a woman, which caused Scarlett to sit upright. She didn't know whether to be proud or cower in the corner since their opinion of the man seemed to sway back and forth like a clock pendulum. So lost in thought was she that she missed the next bit of chatter until she heard the name Belle Watling, whispered about and always preceded with the phrasing, "that woman, Belle Watling."
Scarlett remembered the name from the first day when she arrived in Atlanta. "That woman" she knew was the town's notorious bad woman and horrors, Rhett associated with her!
"I don't believe it!" Scarlett told herself, getting up from the sewing circle and tossing down the sock she was darning. She went out onto Mrs. Merriwether's porch to get some fresh air. The only problem was, from this vantage point, she couldn't overhear the conversation and learn where Rhett stayed during his visits to Atlanta. She moved toward the window but only picked up snippets of the conversation. She heard the National Hotel mentioned but had no idea if he was still in town. Furthermore, she told herself, she, an unmarried woman, couldn't be caught visiting a hotel for the purposes of meeting up with a man of Rhett's reputation. She leaned in closer to the window, almost to the point that she could have stuck her head inside.
"…back to Charleston where he belongs. Good riddance, I say," retorted Mrs. Merriwether.
So he had returned to Charleston. Well, that made sense, Scarlett reasoned. He'd return to the port city not only to embark on another voyage but also to see what he could of his family, if he chose to. Scarlett knew what she had to do and settled herself on the porch swing so that she could begin to formulate a plan.
She made her excuses to the ladies and set off for the telegraph office where she sent a telegram to her Aunts Eulalie and Pauline, telling them of her arrival in Charleston the next day. She signed the telegram with the name Ellen O'Hara. Later that afternoon, she whimpered as she told Melanie and Aunt Pitty that she was going to visit her aunts in Charleston. Her mother had mentioned in a letter from Tara that her aunts were so lonely and afraid with all the strangers in the city and would love a visit from their niece. Wanting to help out her family, Scarlett told them that she had agreed to the visit. Heartbroken, Melly and Aunt Pitty could only sob quietly as they helped Scarlett pack her bags and in the morning, they said their goodbyes when they bid her farewell at the depot.
* * *
No one was out in Atlanta's streets; virtually everyone was attending the Monster Bazaar to raise funds for the Cause. Even Melanie and Aunt Pitty were present, which was striking to the uninformed because of the fact that they were in mourning for Charles. But their presence was needed and no one would dare say no to the Cause. There were pretty speeches and a lot of pomp and circumstance, and then Doctor Meade, the bastion of the Old Guard, took the stage. He thanked the good ladies of the hospital committee for their untiring efforts to nurse the wounded. He thanked those who decorated the hall. And, then he asked for donations.
"We must have more money to buy medical supplies from England, and we have with us tonight the intrepid blockade runner who has so successfully brought in the goods that we have needed for the last year and who will run it again to bring us the drugs we need—Captain Rhett Butler!"
Though caught unaware, the blockader made a graceful bow—and as he did, he caught the eye of Melanie Wilkes and almost immediately, made his way to her side.
"Why—it's Mr.—I mean, it's Captain Rhett Butler," said Melanie with a smile of greeting, extending her hand. "I met you—"
"On the happy occasion of the announcement of your betrothal," he finished, bending over her hand. "It is kind of you to recall me."
"And what are you doing so far from Charleston, Captain Butler?"
"A boring matter of business, Mrs. Wilkes. I will be in and out of your town from now on. I find I must not only bring in goods but see to the disposal of them."
"Oh, yes, how silly of me—" began Melly, her brow wrinkling, and then she broke into a delighted smile, as she made the connection. "You are the famous Captain Butler we've been hearing so much about—the blockade runner. Why, every girl here is wearing dresses you brought in."
"Ah, yes. Business is business and it takes me away often, and, I must admit to getting homesick now and again. I met so many wonderful people in Clayton County when I was at Twelve Oaks that it is refreshing to see a friendly face. I've often wondered how everyone in the county have been faring in the last year."
"Well, I'm happy to oblige, Captain Butler," beamed Melanie. "I'm sorry to say, my brother, Charles, died for the Cause in the first month of the war."
"Oh, Mrs. Wilkes, I'm so sorry to hear that. But I might add, to die for one's country is to live forever."
"That is so true, thank you," she sniffed into her handkerchief. "Everyone else is doing better, thankfully. Oh, did you meet the O'Haras while you were in Clayton County? Oh, of course, you did! Now, I remember. I saw you walking with Miss O'Hara during the barbeque—"
"Ah, yes, Miss Scarlett O'Hara. I remember her well," stated Rhett, grateful that he didn't have to work hard to bring the conversation around to Scarlett. "How are the O'Haras doing?"
"Well, that was what I was going to say. They are the only ones I've been keeping up with, but that is largely because Scarlett has been our houseguest for the last month—"
"Miss O'Hara is here, in Atlanta?" Rhett stood up straight and quickly gazed around the hall.
"Yes—well, no. That is to say, she was here. She came to stay with us about a month ago. Then, just a few days ago, she heard from her aunts in Charleston and she left to visit them."
"So, she's in Charleston?" Rhett was dumbfounded. The story he gave Melanie earlier about coming to Atlanta to see to the disposal of his blockaded goods was a rehearsed speech that he decided to use to cover his real reason for venturing inland, to find Scarlett. She hadn't answered any of his letters, so to save face in the event that she had since taken up with another man, he needed a ruse. "Visiting her aunts, you say…"
"Yes, I don't think there was a problem, but they were alone and fearful. Aunt Pitty and I were so sad to see her go. After all, we are alone and a little fearful, too, so it was so reassuring to have Scarlett with us. She is so brave and we enjoyed having her live with us. Why just the other day—" Melanie was cut off as a customer came to her booth and inquired about one of the items for sale. "If you will excuse me, Captain Butler—" she said, begging his leave.
"Oh, of course. It was a pleasure seeing you again Mrs. Wilkes."
Back at the hotel, Rhett threw the few things he had with him into his valise with every intention of getting the first train out of Atlanta for Charleston.