Author's Note: I'm so sorry for taking ages to update … (I always seem to be saying that). In my defence, I was away for a fortnight and I've had trouble with this chapter, I wrote something, then it seemed as if I was going too fast, so I wrote an intermediary chapter, which I ended up hating, so then I modified some things, and merged two ideas and I'm still far from satisfied, but I can't seem to make it right.
It lacks fluidity and it seems to go everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Thank you for all the fabulous reviews, you are all the best possible readers I could ever have wished to have.
By the way … Do any of you know of any decent (updated often) Gone with the Wind (creative) Live Journal communities?
A daily routine took over Scarlett and Melanie's lives over the following weeks.
Scarlett no longer made her calls to the lumber mills or the store, instead every morning she would force herself to spend time with each of her children and every afternoon, except Sundays, Melanie would turn up on the doorstep of the Butler's Home accompanied by Beau.
While the children played together in the nursery or the garden if the weather was nice, the two women would talk over tea and coffee about everything and nothing in particular, but the one recurrent conversation topic was children.
As the days went by, Melanie asked Scarlett question, as if she was monitoring the progress of her friend's mothering skills.
One afternoon, Rhett had decided to cut his working day short, he felt as if in his efforts to avoid the child's mother, he had been neglecting Bonnie lately.
As he thought about it on the way home, he realised that he wasn't the only one avoiding his spouse. Scarlett had also been trying to stay out of his way, every time they had found themselves in each other's company; she had come up with a reason or an excuse to take her leave.
It's not as if during the short time they had been married either of them had ever sought the other's companionship, but during the good times, they had never fled from it. Funnily enough the knowledge of this bruised his ego, even if he was as much to blame as she was.
He was welcomed by a cold silence as he walked through the imposing front door, he was surprised and disappointed by the absence of Bonnie's squeals of delight provoked by seeing him home early.
As he made his was through the horror house he called home, he heard the soft cries of children playing in the garden and set of in the right direction.
He approached the open back door and stumbled upon a conversation that he knew she would never have let him be privy to. He seemed to be eavesdropping on his wife an awful lot these days, he thought.
"… and Wade seems to be warming up to you every day a little more," Mrs Wilkes soft voice said.
"Is that what you really think Melly, or are you just saying that to make me happy? Because he looks just as terrified of me as he always has been," Scarlett sighed, a hint of sadness clearly audible in her tone.
"No darling, I can't lie to you, when you're attention is focused on one of the other children or something else, he looks at you with pure devotion, love and admiration. And your girls simply adore you. Ella, bless the child, is in awe every time you speak to her, and Bonnie, well she tries really hard to be just like you," Melanie reassured her friend.
"Oh, Melly, I really do hope it will be easier with this child, and that it'll take to me straight away."
"Of course it will darling, you'll be its mother," Melanie smiled.
"I really hope you're right. I don't think I could bear having another child who loved its father so much more than me," Scarlett confessed.
As Melanie reached her arm out and delicately placed her hand on Scarlett's, a piercing cry broke the peaceful tranquillity of the afternoon, "Daddy!" Bonnie cried out. "Daddy, you're home, I missed you so much."
She picked herself up from the ground clumsily and she ran, as fast as her short legs would take her to her father, her arms up in the air ready for him to pick her up.
A look of shock took over Scarlett's face and Melanie, blushed, unsure of what Captain Butler had overheard.
"Why good afternoon Mrs Wilkes, it's a pleasure to see you," he said as he gathered his young daughter into his arms, bent down and softly kissed his wife on the cheek, the most intimate gesture they had shared since the night they had conceived the child she was carrying.
Scarlett stared at him with such intensity, he knew she was fighting the urge to ask him what the hell he was doing home at this time but she kept her cool in front of Melanie and offered a very forced smile.
"Good afternoon to you, Captain Butler. How charming of you to leave the office early to come and enjoy the sunshine with your family," Melanie beamed. "Well, it was nice talking to you Scarlett, but I'm afraid I must take my leave," she added, wanting to leave husband and wife alone.
"Oh Melly, you don't have to leave," Scarlett blurted out; she didn't want to be left alone with Rhett.
"No Mrs Wilkes, don't feel the need to rush out the door just because I decided to come home early and interrupt your afternoon," Rhett said.
"Really, I must go. I promised Mrs Meade I'd call on her this week, and I have a few errands to run before I go home," Melanie insisted. "But I will see you tomorrow, Scarlett", she smiled touching her friend's forearm very lightly.
She quickly summoned Beau by her side, said her goodbyes and promptly left the Butler's home, leaving Scarlett and Rhett in each other's company.
Back in the garden, Rhett put Bonnie gently down on the ground.
"Now Bonnie, go and play with your brother and sister, I have to speak with Mother," he told the child.
"But Daddy …" she began.
Much to Scarlett's surprise, Rhett put an end to Bonnie's fussing before it had even begun by using a stern tone to say, "Bonnie, if you're a good girl and do as you are told, I will take you and your pony out for a ride on Saturday."
The little girl seemed satisfied with the compromise, at least for the time being, and skipped on to the lawn towards Wade and Ella.
Rhett sat down on the bench next to Scarlett; he could sense every muscle in her being become tense as their bodies go closer to the other's.
After seconds of silence that seemed to pass like hours, she could take no more and burst out, "What are you doing here?"
"Sitting next to you, on a bench, in the garden of the house I built for you, trying to enjoy a nice afternoon," he replied.
"Don't try and be smart with me Rhett Butler," she hissed. "You know what I mean, you have been staying out to God only knows what time, doing God only knows what every night since you came back from your time away with Bonnie, why are you home in the middle of the day."
"Believe what you wish to believe Mrs Butler, but I honestly came home early, because I missed spending time with my daughter, if you spent some time with her and tried to get to know her, you would realise she has quite a charming personality," he retorted with an emphasis on the 'my' before 'daughter', which didn't go unnoticed by Scarlett.
"So that why you were hiding behind the door eavesdropping on my conversation with Melly," she snapped.
"That was a simple matter of coincidence my pet," he smirked.
"Yes, just like the time you were spying on Bonnie and I in the nursery," she said full of herself.
"Yes, as a matter of fact is was. I would also like to inform you, my dear, and this may come as a shock to you, but the world and my thoughts do not revolve around you. I do not spend my time thinking about you, and I could not care less if you decided to prance around the town in your birthday suit," he said smugly. "I, on the other hand, have an interesting question for you, what are you doing home in the middle of the day, Mrs Butler? Shouldn't you be touring your beloved mill, furiously batting your eyelashes at Mr Wilkes and getting the poor old man all flustered?"
"You are so intent on making all Atlanta believe that you are an honourable gentleman," she spat. "If only they could see and hear you now, all your hopes at being regarded by everyone as a respectable person would vanish into thin air. You are the vilest most despicable human being I have ever set my eyes on in my entire life! How dare you speak to me in such a manner while I am carrying your child?" She said as she stood up and stormed into the house slamming the door behind her on the way.