Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Seventeen
Two weeks after the divorce was final all the arrangements for the visits had been made through their respective attorneys. Rhett got to visit with Wade and Ella every Sunday and every Wednesday. It was in the afternoon. The visits would start on February sixteenth. Scarlett would meet Rhett at Westside Park at three-thirty. Westside Park was not the park Rhett had taken Bonnie to. Scarlett had not chosen Westside Park for that reason. She had chosen it because it was closer to Hamilton House.
Scarlett and the children would leave at five-forty-five. If it was raining, they could sit in the carriage and talk. No, Rhett was not allowed to come to her home. She did not want him randomly dropping by like he did during the war years or when she was married to Frank. If he was late for any reason, his time would not be extended. If she was late for any reason, she could choose to extend the time if she chose to.
When Rhett got into the carriage on the Wednesday of their first visit, the woman that had been sitting there was his warrior wife. She once again looked like an Amazon princess. Another way Scarlett had grown up. She now knew that image was everything. She also knew that she was telling him that she was more than willing to do battle with him if she had to. No, she had never backed down from him. He should have stopped coming straight at her. He had always known that was the wrong way to handle Scarlett. Before they were married, he would always get her to see the silliness of her ideas. Yet, every time the thought of Mr. Wilkes had entered his head all his good humor and playfulness vanished. He had just become hateful, cruel, and mocking.
To say the first visit was a disaster would be putting it mildly. It was raining. Scarlett, Beau, and Ella had been sitting on one bench in the carriage with Wade sitting on the other bench. As soon as Rhett got into the coach, Wade had moved to the bench with his mother and siblings. This left the other bench completely for Rhett. So, he sat himself dead center in the middle of the bench.
Rhett said, "Come give me a hug."
All the children looked at their mother. Scarlett said, "They don't have to hug you."
Rhett handed Scarlett a check and she took it. She looked him in the eyes and Rhett saw that her eyes no longer looked like a sea squall but cold emeralds. There was no emotion whatsoever. She said, "If you don't make your payment on time, I can have you arrested."
"I'm sure you would enjoy that."
Without expression, Scarlett said, "Yes, I would."
"Just so you know I have not removed your name from any of my bank accounts. If you need money in an emergency, you can get it there. Who knows what might spring up?"
Scarlett did not thank Rhett, but she was pleased he had kept her name on his accounts.
For the next two hours, Rhett tried to get the children to talk to him. They politely answered his questions but when a subject was exhausted, the children didn't introduce another one. Of all the children, Beau was the friendliest, which made sense. He didn't have the history of pain that Wade and Ella did. Wade was openly hostile towards Rhett which made sense for the boy was old enough to understand what Rhett had been saying to his mother. Although Rhett had never said anything mocking or unkind to the children, he also had not been polite to them either. Ella sat next to her mother and held her mother's hand the entire time. Rhett didn't know if Ella was doing that to provide comfort to her mother or receive comfort from her mother. Rhett decided it was both.
Scarlett did not contribute anything to the conversation except when the children asked her a question. When Scarlett spoke to her children, she was warm and loving. When Rhett spoke to her, she ignored him. At five forty-five, Scarlett looked down at the gaudy brooch timepiece she had been wearing. The one she had bought herself the Christmas after he hadn't bought her anything. She said, "It's five forty-five. Rhett, get out of the carriage your visit is over."
It hurt that the children actually looked relieved but what could he expect? He had emotionally abandoned them after Bonnie was born, which got worse and worse with each passing year. He had physically abandoned them, when Bonnie died with the final insult being walking out of their lives without even saying goodbye.
Rhett had smiled his most charming smile and got out of the carriage into the rain. At least, it was just a little drizzle. It wouldn't have mattered if a monsoon had been outside the carriage, Scarlett wasn't letting him stay one minute more.
Scarlett brought Beau with her because there was no reason to exclude him. If Beau's presence made Rhett uncomfortable or angry so much the better. Beau's presence did not make Rhett uncomfortable. When he looked at the boy, he saw Miss Melly and all her quiet strength despite the fact that the boy looked just like his father.
Sunday had been a little better as far as the children were concerned. It had been a bright sunny day in February. The weather was a little cool, but it was still nice. The children had a good time running around chasing each other. Rhett had even joined in.
While watching Rhett play with the children she thought, 'He is a good stepfather. Lousy father but good stepfather. It will be alright. The children will have a man in their lives occasionally. As soon as they are grown, he will be out of my life. Although, I don't know why he is working so hard to stay in it. He has been running away from me since the day we said I do.'
After a couple of weeks, Rhett waited at the school for Scarlett's carriage to show up. He was going to follow it home. He had to know where she lived. He wondered if this would be a violation of trust. He decided no, because Scarlett had no trust in him whatsoever. That was sad to Rhett also because she had once trusted him above all others.
When the carriage rolled up at the Hamilton House, he thought, "I shouldn't have been surprised. Hamilton House takes her back to a time when she was safe. Well, she was safe during the war years."
Rhett went to Mr. Darrow's office the next morning. When Clarence's secretary had told him that Rhett Butler was in his waiting room, Clarence had wanted to groan. The man was the worst kind of client. One who thought he knew more than his lawyer did. Nonetheless, Mr. Butler had paid his bill in full without a protest. Clarence could make money on the man.
Once Rhett was seated in his office, Clarence said, "I'm surprised to see you. I would have thought you would have taken your business elsewhere."
"Why? I don't think anyone else could have done any better than you did. As you said I didn't have a very strong case."
"The judge might not have granted her petition if that whore hadn't testified for her. How did she manage that? I thought you said the whore loved you too much for her to ever testify against you and especially not for Mrs. Butler."
The mere thought of how much Belle had hated Rhett was a humbling thought. He had been so very wrong. He had actually thought the woman loved him so much she was practically his puppet. When in fact the opposite had been true. She had hated him so much she was willing to alter her life just to be able to hurt him. In the last two months, he had undergone humbling experience after humbling experience but him being so completely fooled by Belle may have been the most humbling of all.
Rhett said, "I was certainly wrong about how much she loved me. It seems that not only did she not love me, but she hated me to the nth degree. I don't know how Scarlett got Belle to testify. Based on Belle's hatred of me all Scarlett probably had to do was ask her. In fact, Belle may have volunteered. I don't know how they got to be friends. When Belle walked into the courtroom, you could have knocked me over with a feather."
"I guess we will never know. What can I do for you?"
"I want to buy a house. I want to buy the house at 413 Ivy Street."
"Why that one in particular?"
"Do you need that information to arrange it where I can buy the house?"
"No, no. I was just curious."
"Will you start working on it tomorrow? I am in a hurry to get out of the hotel."
"Of course, Mr. Butler, I will find out if the current owners want to sell."
"If they don't you can offer them a small incentive to change homes."
"Very well. I will be in touch."
Across town Steven Cavalier was finalizing the contract to sell Scarlett's mansion. She had done all the negotiating. She had gotten twenty-two thousand for the house. Steven was impressed. That was an exceptionally good price.
Steven had always been impressed with Scarlett. She was funny, witty, smart, sexy as hell, and now she was single. He wondered what the proper time was before he started courting her. No, he wondered what the proper time was before he asked her to marry him.
Steven had always been awkward around women but not with Scarlett. From the first moment he met her he had been comfortable around her. Much like with his late wife.
Of course, Bessie and he had grown up together. He had literally known Bessie all his life. Of course, Bessie had told him that he was going to start calling on her. Bessie had also told him they were going to get married. He missed Bessie but he didn't miss her as much after his and Arritta's move to Atlanta. Bessie's death had been part of his reason for leaving Concord.
Steven was happy he and Arritta had moved to Atlanta. If for no other reason than he had met Scarlett. Scarlett was such an amazing woman. Stephen sat there for a minute and wondered how any man could have let her go. No, that wasn't right. How any man could have driven Scarlett away because Steven knew that was what Rhett Butler had done. He didn't know the whole story, but Arritta had told him that Scarlett had said her life was five years of hell and Scarlett had been happy her husband had been gone.
Arritta had also told him that Scarlett had said, 'Rhett, my husband, had no respect for other people's possessions. Just his own. Or other people's opinions. Or other people's feelings. Or other people's strongly held beliefs. He was a cruel, mean, selfish bastard.'
After having gone through the trial Steven was in no doubt that it had been five years of hell. What he didn't understand was why Mr. Butler had worked so hard to keep Scarlett if he didn't want her or if he had wanted her why he didn't treat her like the treasure she was.
Scarlett would never tell Steven the truth, but she had been a selfish, self-centered child who thought she was in love with another man for most of hers and Rhett's time together. That was one of the things that Mammy had pointed out. A proud man would never be able to handle his wife being in love with another man. A man that he thought was less than him. Scarlett had not said so to Mammy. A man that his wife was constantly throwing up to him as a better man.
One thing Rhett had been right about, she had not cared about anyone but herself. She had not even cared about Ashley for if she had cared or loved him as she thought she did, she would have wanted him to be happy even if it wasn't with her. She would have let him go to New York. She would have let him be happily married to Melly. Melly the kindest, most honorable woman in the world.
Steven finished up the paperwork. He would drop by Scarlett's house that evening on his way home. If he timed it right, she would ask him to supper. And he would certainly time it right.