Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
To my guest reviewer who corrected my spelling of 'piece de resistance' thank you. If I have misspelled something I appreciate people letting me know.
In response to this same person's comment about Rhett knowing how to prevent the creation of a baby. I disagree. Why would he care? If he got a prostitute pregnant that was her problem not his, especially to a 19th century man.
Chapter Fifteen
Rhett continued to sit in the park. He became lost in the past. He remembered his decision to redeem his reputation for Bonnie's sake. Rhett had not appreciated Scarlett having given up her reputation for him when they had gotten married. That must have been a real slap in the face. Basically, he said to her, 'you aren't worth me redeeming my reputation, but my daughter is.' In his mind Bonnie was only his daughter. That whole process had made him feel slimy. Now as he looked back upon it, he had felt no guilt at letting the matrons push Scarlett in the dirt further. He wondered for a moment what it was about Scarlett that made other women hate her so much. Admittedly, he himself had never blamed anything on Scarlett but he also had never dissuaded the matrons when they had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
Rhett didn't want to think about the entire mess he had made of the incident at the mill. He should have known she would never be physically unfaithful to him. He should have known that if Mr. Wilkes had tried anything, she would have balked at that. Even hopelessly infatuated Scarlett would have considered that wrong and would have lost all respect for Mr. Wilkes. After all, one of the reasons she claimed to love him was that he was so good and honorable.
After Rhett had forced himself on her, he should have stayed. If she threw his declarations of love in his face, he could have just denied them. At the time, he had always been able to make her believe everything he said. He should have just declared there would be no more separate bedrooms. No, instead he had run away. He had returned and within two minutes he had informed her he had been with Belle. As Rhett sat in the park and looked at his surroundings, he wondered, 'What had I been thinking? What woman would have welcomed me back after I told her I was living with a whore. To further to rub salt in the wound the whore was a better woman than she was. Of course, I overreacted to her defensive reaction. I can't think of any of that now.'
Rhett continued thinking, 'I can't think about the baby that I killed with my unkind comments. I will never understand why I wasn't in Scarlett's bedroom begging her not to die. Begging her to forgive me. Begging her to say she loved me before she died. Just making sure I was with her in her final moments. No, instead I hid in my room like a coward. Waiting for a woman who was fighting for her life to call for me. What an idiot I was.'
Rhett took a deep breath. He sighed. He looked around the park. He would take Wade and Ella to the park when he got to visit them. He hoped they would forgive him for abandoning them. He hoped they would forgive him for killing Bonnie. He hoped they would forgive him for the hell he had made their lives while he was married to their mother. He would do his best to actually establish a relationship with his stepchildren. He had to remember they were not a means to an end but actual human beings with real feelings and emotions. It would be more of his change of attitude. For him to consider other people's wants and wishes.
As Rhett sat there on the park bench pondering the mistakes of his relationship with Scarlett another memory sprang into his head. Probably the last real chance he had had of his marriage working. The night she stopped him in the hallway wanting to know where he had been going at night. Her words rang out in his head, 'If you had given me half the tenderness that you gave our daughter, our life together would have been so much better.' Bonnie had called to him and like the whipped puppy that he was, he immediately hurried towards his daughter. After all, he couldn't make his daughter wait even for a minute because his wife, the love of his life, had reached out to him.
Rhett wouldn't think about his mistakes anymore. That was all he could handle. Rhett smiled. He knew that even if he fell to his knees and took all the blame for their disastrous marriage, Scarlett would not be forgiving of him. He didn't know what his path forward was. He could take all the blame for the problems in their marriage, yet sadly these last eighteen months had done more damage to Scarlett's feelings towards him than all the years before. Rhett knew he had left her at her lowest moment.
Yet while he had been wallowing around in self-pity and refusing to move on, Scarlett had rebuilt herself. She had taken the time to heal. She had taken the time to become a better person. Although there was little to no chance of him worming his way back into her heart and there was even less chance of her ever trusting him enough to marry him again, he couldn't give up. He guessed he really was a sucker for lost causes.
Rhett got up from the park bench. As he walked to the hotel, he squared his shoulders. He had to get back into her heart. He knew now that if he didn't have Scarlett, he didn't have anything except two and a half million dollars. He didn't even have his soul for he had sold that a long time ago to amass all that money. Money, he had acquired to prove to his father and Charleston society that he was not a loser. With a wry smile, Rhett knew that his father and Charleston society, in fact, anyone in the South would still think of him as a loser because of his dishonorable behavior.
Rhett cheered himself up by thinking, 'I will get back in her heart even if it takes me the rest of my life.'
Over a week after Belle had testified, a pretty brown-haired woman named Anabelle Wagner got off the train in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Anabelle was actually her real first name, but Wagner was a name she had taken because she liked the sound of it.
Anabelle had been a pretty girl of seventeen when an older man had started calling on her. His name had been Brad Pitt. She had never known what his trade had been exactly. He had said he was an entrepreneur. She had not known what that was, and she hadn't cared.
Brad had made her feel things that were amazing. When Brad had taken her virginity, she had been alright with that because of the wonderful things he was making her feel.
Anabelle and Brad kept seeing each other for over six months when the inevitable happened. She got with child. Despite being with child, her father would not let her marry Brad because he was a fortune hunter. Instead, her mother took her on a trip to Europe. A year later, when they came back her mother had adopted a poor orphaned child and brought him home.
Anabelle's parents had been alright with her continuing to live with them, but her father was extremely strict with her after that. At one of the social engagements Anabelle had attended with her parents she had noticed an older man, Archie Litchfield, staring at her. He had given her a lustful look. She had quickly appraised the man. He was handsome enough, his clothes spoke of great wealth, and after she had spoken with him, she knew he was quite charming. The only problem with Archie was he had an old wife hanging on his arm. Anabelle and Archie had met several more times at social gatherings. She soon found out that Archie's wife, Edith, was not a problem as far as Archie's affections were concerned. He hated his wife. Archie had wanted to set her up as his mistress. She had agreed but it couldn't be in her hometown. Archie had said he had business interest in New Orleans, and they could move there. They had moved to New Orleans with Archie leaving Edith behind in Danbury.
Anabelle had become Belle. She stayed with Archie for three months until he tired of her and returned to his wife. It seemed that Archie had more affection for Edith than he thought.
Belle then found a high-class brothel to join. She soon moved to a less refined brothel because the work was easier. In the high-class brothel, the men were all older men and they required too much work to satisfy. In the lower-class brothel, most of the men were boys and they were easy to get in and get out. Belle had liked being a whore better than a mistress. She didn't like having to answer to any man.
Most of the other girls had pets but Belle had never wanted that responsibility. She had saved all of her money. She had got some of the more well to do men to talk about how they were investing their money. They were happy to brag about themselves and how smart they were. She had invested her money in safe investments. She had decided to invest her money in three things. Jewelry, bearer bonds, and U.S. savings bonds. All things that were easily transportable.
When Belle had met Rhett, she had not been impressed with him. She thought he was too sure of himself, too arrogant, too proud. She had enjoyed having relations with him but that was about it. True enough he could be very charming when he chose to be, but she had seen him be cruel and mocking far too often to ever let herself feel anything for him. She knew the role he expected her to play, a girl in love, so she had played it. She had certainly made money off of running a brothel. Not to mention the amount of money she had siphoned off.
Overall, Anabelle had done alright. She could support herself, her son, Hubert, who was sixteen, and her mother, Jewell Weekes. Her father had died several years ago, and she had been sending a check home ever since her mother had spent all their savings. Her home had been Danbury, Connecticut. She smiled as she got off the train in Cheyenne Wyoming, that was another thing Rhett never noticed. She didn't have a southern accent.
Anabelle and Jewell were going to open a boarding house. Anabelle had sent her mother a telegram informing her that Hubert and she were moving to Cheyenne. Her mother was welcome to come with them if she wished. By the time Belle had arrived in Danbury, her mother had sold her home and furniture at a fair price to her dead husband's former partner. A man Jewell had a long-time romantic relationship with. That was another thing the mother and daughter had in common – a lusty nature.
Jewell had packed up all of hers and Hubert's possessions and was ready to get on the train that very night. Anabelle got them a private car and the family was gone from Danbury within twenty-four hours of Belle arriving. The only thing the women had taken the time to do was dye Belle's hair brown thus her becoming Anabelle once more.
Anabelle had heard there was eight men for every woman that meant those men were going to need some place to stay. She had wanted to get out of the saloon and sex trade, but she had not wanted a quiet life. She figured running a boarding house would provide her with enough excitement that she didn't get bored. She might even eventually marry but not for a while. She wanted to get to know her son, first. He already knew he was her son. He had point blank asked her after they were on the train. She had said, "Yes, and your last name is now Wagner." There was no denying he was her son. The boy looked just like her.
Anabelle would have to first find a man that had sexual talents. She thought of Rhett. He certainly had been talented in the bedroom. It made her think of what a pudding head he was. His greatest asset next to his money he concealed under a bushel. She wished him well as long as it was far away from her. She wished Scarlett well also just not with Rhett. Scarlett had given her a thousand dollars. There had been a note in the envelope that she had found later. It had said: 'A girl can never have enough money. Thank you again. I will miss you.' Belle had thought at the time, 'I will miss you too.'
Amazingly Scarlett had been the first girlfriend Anabelle had ever had. Anabelle would have been gratified to know that she had been Scarlett's first girlfriend she had ever had also.