Chapter 3 – Bad Romance part1

At the dinner table that evening, Scarlett sat quietly observing her family as she ate. There was Joy pushing the vegetables around her plate, maneuvering them into hiding places in hopes no one would notice that she wasn't eating them. Her black curls were tousled from playing and her eyes were glowing with the knowledge of her sister's secrets.

"Whoever would have thought a seven year old would have a penchant for revenge," she mused; knowing that Joy's interest in spying and tattling on Ella was retaliation for breaking the close bond between them. Of course, she reasoned, Joy was Rhett's child so perhaps it wasn't so surprising that she was devious and vengeful. She smiled at the thought, not having the heart to scold the girl for not eating the green beans on her plate or for invading her sister's privacy. If those were the worst things she ever did, Scarlett would count herself lucky.

Her attention shifted to James, her handsome little boy, the very image of his father and always full of life and mischief. He'd be trouble one day, she was sure of that but for the moment he was sweet and innocent sitting next to his father talking animatedly about his trains.

Her eyes moved to Rhett who was carrying on his end of the conversation acting as though nothing were wrong. He couldn't hide his thoughts or feelings from her though. He had been a master at it at one time but they had been together for so long now that she could read those little things in his demeanor that gave away his true thoughts, and his thoughts tonight were dark despite the light tone of his voice. His eyes seemed blacker than usual and they moved sharply around the table landing on Ella every so often. She could see the tension in his body, the stiff way he sat in the chair instead of the relaxed and casual pose he usually held.

Finally she allowed her eyes to settle upon her eldest daughter. Ella sat staring down at her plate pushing the food around and only occasionally bringing a forkful to her lips.

"Nervous are you?" Scarlett thought to herself. "You should be."

She continued to watch her discreetly, feeling disgusted as Ella's face took on a dreamy look as she stared down at the mashed potatoes.

"She's probably thinking about china patterns and names for their children," she said to herself; the thoughts making her blood boil. If Scarlett was sure about anything it was that she was much too young to become a grandmother. The very word made her shudder. Sending Ella to Charleston was sounding better and better as the minutes ticked away and her thoughts ran away with her.

Time moved slowly as dinner was eaten and then dessert. Tension hung so thickly in the air that if felt oppressive as they all held on to their secrets. Scarlett stirred her coffee nervously. She wanted to scream, to throw something, to grab a hold of Ella and shake her until her brain settled back into its proper place but she knew that she couldn't, that she had to control herself and wait. She had to follow the plan that Rhett had laid. After what seemed to be an eternity the dishes were cleared away and Rhett turned his attention to Joy.

"Is your schoolwork finished, Joy?" he asked.

"No Daddy," she replied. "I'll do it tomorrow."

Rhett shook his head, "No, you'll finish it tonight."

"But Daddy!" she complained. "There isn't any school tomorrow."

"I know there isn't but do it anyway, Wade will be coming home tomorrow and you'll be busy following him around. You go on upstairs and finish it before your bath," he told her.

"Yes Daddy," she responded sliding off her chair.

"Can I go play now?" James asked; hating that Joy gotten away from the table a second sooner than him.

"You may go now," Scarlett answered smiling as he hurried away.

Ella was still lost in her thoughts, her elbow on the table and her chin resting in the palm of her hand.

"Ella," Rhett called but he received no response.

"Ella," he stated loudly but once more he went unnoticed.

He looked to Scarlett who shook her head. "She's in her own world," she remarked.

He made a fist and slammed the table causing Ella to jump and return to reality.

"Ella, I've been trying to speak to you," he told her.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Rhett," she replied although her voice held no hint of remorse. "What were you saying?"

"I was trying to ask you if your school work is finished."

"Oh," she replied with a shake of her head. "No it isn't, that's what I was thinking about."

"Liar," Scarlett said to herself biting her tongue to keep from speaking the word aloud.

"I suggest you go upstairs and finish it," Rhett stated evenly.

They watched in silence as she pushed away from the table and made her retreat. When Scarlett was sure she was out of hearing range she turned her attention to Rhett.

"It's going to be a long night," she whispered.

"It's going to seem even longer to Ella," he remarked with a grin.

Hours later, Scarlett was going through the motions of her nightly routine. She looked in on Joy and James who were both sound asleep. She kissed their foreheads lightly and made sure the blankets were tucked around them. Finally she came to Ella's door where she knocked lightly.

"Come in," Ella called.

Scarlett opened the door and walked into the room. Ella was dressed in her nightgown, sitting in her bed with a book in her hands. She smiled at her daughter seeing that Ella was following a similar plan of her own.

"Did you finish your schoolwork?" she asked.

"Yes Mother, I thought I'd read for awhile before I went to sleep."

Scarlett leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Don't stay up to late."

"I won't. Are you going to bed now?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" she replied; seeing a small bit of anxiety that Ella hadn't been able to mask.

"No reason, I was just wondering."

"Are you sure? Is there something you need?"

Ella shook her head, "No."

Scarlett couldn't resist tormenting her a little. "Did you want company for awhile? I can stay up for awhile longer if you want."

"Oh no!" Ella exclaimed a tremor of panic in her voice that Scarlett pretended not to notice. "I'm just going to read my book."

"Alright darling if you're sure."

"I'm sure," Ella replied.

"Goodnight then," Scarlett told her.

"Goodnight," Ella answered.

Scarlett smirked as she turned and left the room. She had put Ella on edge and that gave her some measure of satisfaction as she waited for the final showdown.

Inside the room Ella mentally berated herself. "You almost blew it," she said softly.

What had she been thinking asking her Mother if she was going to bed, of course she was, she always went to bed around this time. She had almost made a costly mistake. She only hoped that she was right in assuming that her Mother hadn't become suspicious of her. She got out of bed and hurried to the closet and pulled out a simple dress that she could put on without assistance. She hurriedly changed clothes and put on her shoes. Taking careful steps to insure that she wouldn't make any noise, she crept back to her bed and settled down to wait. She opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out her goodbye note and positioned it on one of her pillows. Only two more hours she told herself as she looked at the clock, she just had to hang on for two ore hours.

Down the hall, secluded in their bedroom, Scarlett sat against the pillows on the bed watching Rhett as he rummaged through the boxes on the closet shelf. Finally he found the one he had been looking for and he lifted it down and removed its lid. She watched as he lifted out his gun, a box of bullets and a cloth. He made his way across the room with the items and sat down in the chair near the window.

"Does this mean you've decided to shoot him?" she asked as he began to clean the weapon with the cloth.

"I'm still debating," he answered; his voice low and his attention on the task he was performing.

"If you decide to go through with it take him outside, I don't want blood on my carpets."

He raised his head to look at her, "I can't shoot him outside, Scarlett; someone would hear."

"And you think no one will hear if shoot him inside?"

"I doubt it; the walls and carpeting would muffle most of the sound to anyone outside."

She shook her head, "It would still make a mess and we have Joy and James to consider. I suppose you could take him down in the cellar and shoot him."

He pondered the idea for a moment and then nodded as he loaded the gun. "That's not a bad idea, If I have to shoot him, that's where I'll do it."

She sighed deeply as he laid the gun on the stand. "I can't believe she's actually attempting this."

He smiled indulgently, "What did you expect from a daughter of yours?"

She rolled her eyes, "Not this."

"Just think we still have two more to go."

"Thanks for the reminder," she replied bitterly causing him to laugh.

"Is it my fault that you couldn't keep your hands off of me?" he asked.

"I think you have that backwards," she answered a slight smile on her lips.

"Come now, Mrs. Butler; you know the reason we have James is because you seduced me that night in Charleston."

Her eyes widened, "I did no such thing!"

"Yes you did."

"I did not, we have James because we fought and you ran off to Charleston and I had to follow you there, dragging the children along with me."

He smirked, "You didn't have to follow me."

"Yes I did, I told you when you came home that I wouldn't put up with you running away from me any longer."

"I wasn't running from you, I was only trying to give us time to cool off."

"You could've cooled off in Atlanta," she remarked.

"I could have but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun and besides, the point is that you followed me and seduced me."

"You wish it had been that way. Why would I want to seduce someone who was so bent on quarreling with me especially when it led to your Mother throwing us out of her house!" she exclaimed.

He laughed at the memory, "At least she kept the children."

Scarlett laughed softly, "We had to go stay at the hotel that night."

"You wanted your own room," he added his eyes dancing with amusement.

"And of course they only had one vacancy," she replied.

"It was quite stormy out that night," he remembered.

"It was stormy inside too."

His quiet laughter filled the air, "That it was my dear, but at least it turned out alright in the end."

Her eyes glowed warmly. "I'd say it was worth the humiliation of your Mother tossing us out of the house and into the storm."

Rhett stood and crossed the room. Coming to her side he leaned down and kissed her slowly.

"If it wasn't for your daughter we could relive that memory tonight."

"Why is it that when they are misbehaving they're my children?" she asked.

He shrugged, "It just seems to work out that way my pet."

"I don't think it's fair, you should take your share of the blame."

"I don't see anything you can blame me for."

"You're the one that spoiled her," she replied.

"You're the one that lets her get away with everything."

"I am not."

Rhett checked his watch and sighed, "We don't have time for this argument again, Scarlett. Let's get into our places."

She cast a glance at the clock "We still have an hour and a half to go, Rhett."

"I know but he may show up early and we don't want to take any chances of missing them. We'll go down the back stairs so she doesn't hear us walking past her door and then you can come back up the front stairs and hide near her room like I told you. I'll go out on the porch and stay in shadows until he gets here and signals her and then I'll slip around the house and be waiting to grab him."

Taking a deep breath she nodded in agreement and slid her feet into her slippers. Rhett turned the lamp down low and opened the door carefully to keep the hinges from squeaking.

Quietly they made their way down the hallway and down the back staircase together and then separated once they had reached the entryway and went to their separate locations.

Scarlett crept near Ella's room and sat down on the floor with her back against the wall to wait in the darkness.

If she had thought time was moving slowly during dinner it was nothing compared to the long stretch of minutes before her. There was no light shining beneath Ella's door but she could hear her moving restlessly around the room. The clock downstairs ticked loudly, annoying Scarlett as she sat staring into the shadows. Finally the clock struck midnight and she became more alert knowing it wouldn't be much longer.

She listened intently until she heard the ping of pebbles bouncing off Ella's window. She quickly got to her feet and gripped the cool glass doorknob as she heard Ella scurrying around inside. She heard the latch being undone and the window sliding up. Without a moments hesitation she burst threw the door and crossed the room in record pace, grabbing Ella's arm as she moved to climb out the window and onto the ladder.

"Mother!" Ella screeched as Scarlett gripped her arm pulling her away from the window.

"Going somewhere?" she asked angrily.

"How did you know?" Ella cried as she tried to pull away from her grip.

"Don't you worry about how I knew," she replied. "You have bigger things to worry about."

"Scarlett," Rhett's voice called from outside. "Bring Ella and meet me in the parlor."

"We're on our way down," she called back to him.

At the sound of Rhett's voice, Ella had burst into tears.

Scarlett dragged her towards the door not caring that her grip on Ella's arm was most likely hurting her. The girl dug her heels into the carpet trying to keep from being propelled outside of the room.

"Let's go Ella; you'll have plenty of time to cry later."

"I don't want to go downstairs; can't I just go to bed? I won't go anywhere I promise," she pleaded desperate to find a way out of this situation.

Scarlett laughed, "You can't be serious, Ella; do you really think you're going to get away with this? You must really be out of your mind if you do. Now let's go."