Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Seven

For the next ten days Rhett visited Scarlett often. When he called her Scarlett, she did not object. She simply called him Rhett with a smile.

Rhett had brought the household some popcorn to pop. Fortunately, Cookie knew how to fix popcorn.

As the residents of Hamilton House and Rhett were enjoying the popcorn, he said, "I think this would be quite tasty with butter on it."

Scarlett laughed and said, "If we had any butter, we could try it."

Everyone had laughed. Although they had some butter, they would not take a chance of wasting it if butter on popcorn was not tasty.

On December twenty-third, Rhett walked her to the train station. He carried her trunk, and she carried Wade. Wade had called her Mama and it thrilled her to the up most extent. Prissy had followed behind them with her carpetbag in tow.

As soon as Rhett got the group settled on the train, he returned to the National Hotel. He checked out and returned to the train station. He had a lot of money to make between now and March. He would return to Atlanta every three months to continue courting Scarlett. He wondered if he could get her to move to Charleston after she became his mistress. No, not Charleston. Someone would find out and that would embarrass his mother.

Rhett went to Middleton Acres for Christmas. His family didn't want to spend the money to go into Charleston. Rhett bought some supplies and drove them down in a wagon he had rented for the day. He would not be spending the night. He would return to Charleston and go play some poker. He would not visit a brothel because he didn't want his mother to hear about that.

Rosemary was living with her parents because she didn't get along with her mother-in-law. It seems that Luther's mother didn't think Rosemary was good enough for her son. Rosemary knew that nobody would be good enough for her son in Mrs. Bradberry's opinion. The older woman often referred to Rosemary as a pirate's granddaughter. If Rosemary hadn't loved Luther so much, living with his mother would be hell even when he was there. Mrs. Bradberry wasn't even interested in Luther's daughter because she hadn't been a son which Rhett thought was a real shame.

Of its own accord, a picture of a little girl with green eyes popped into his head. Yes, he would like to have a daughter with Scarlett.

Daphne and her two children were living at Middleton Acres for it had been their home since she and Robert had returned from their honeymoon. Daphne got along with her in-laws. So, there was no reason to live anywhere else.

It was a pleasant time for everyone. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The residents of Middleton Acres would probably be eating it for the next several days because nobody wasted food these days.

Once Marshall realized that he couldn't make Rhett do anything, he had washed his hands of the boy. That didn't mean that Marshall didn't still love his son. He had just decided to let the boy live his life the way he wanted to live it as long as he behaved properly or at the least, discretely while he was in Charleston. No, as long as he behaved properly while he was in the South. So far, Rhett had behaved while in the South.

Over whiskey and cigars, Rhett and Marshall talked about the war. Marshall was not surprised that Rhett had an entirely different point of view about the merits of the war. Rhett said, "As I have said many times the politicians should have found a way to keep us out of that war."

His father replied as he put out his cigar, "I believe you are right, Rhett. Or at least wait until Mr. Lincoln did something before we seceded."

Rhett knocked back the rest of his whiskey and said, "You are actually agreeing with me."

Marshall stood up and laughed. He said, "Amazing, isn't it?"

Rhett stood up and laughed. He said, "Yes."

The men left the dining room and joined the ladies in the parlor. For the rest of the day the conversation was pleasant. Rhett sat on the floor and played with the children with their new toys. As Rhett was sitting there with the children, Elizabeth thought, 'I hope he is serious about Eulalie and Pauline's niece. It is past time for him to settle down. I will not ask him about it. He would deny he had any feelings for the girl, but a man doesn't travel three hundred miles each way to visit a girl he doesn't have feelings for.'

About four o'clock Rhett made his departure. Elizabeth said, "Are you staying at the townhouse?"

"No, I am staying on my ship. We will set sail on the morning tide."

"What will you do for food?"

"Tonight, I will get some food at a restaurant and tomorrow morning the cook on board the ship will fix my meals."

"Godspeed my son. I will see you in about seven weeks."

"I will send you a telegram when I get to France and another one when I set sail."

"Thank you. Now give me a hug."

Rosemary said, "Me too."

Rhett hugged his sister, kissed his sister-in-law's cheek, and shook his father's hand. He wondered when he would see his father again. Maybe next Christmas. That was often enough.

Scarlett's time at Tara was nice. Everyone was glad to see Scarlett. She had a fairly good relationship with her sisters. Although Scarlett had been the belle of five counties, she had never gone out of her way to attract a man. She never turned one away either. She had always known that she wanted to marry Charlie but until he asked her, she was going to keep as many men on the line as possible. Also, all those gentlemen callers had been entertaining. There was so little to do on the plantation. She did like to read but there was only so much reading she could do especially since Pa would only buy her a new book once a month when he went into Atlanta for supplies. Pa was definitely not a reader. She thought it was a small miracle that he had bought her and Careen a new book every month. Not a new book each but a new book for the sisters to share which was kind of awkward. Careen liked romances and Scarlett liked adventure stories. Gerald would switch back and forth each month. Careen got to read the book first when it was a romance and Scarlett when it was an adventure story. They both read every book Gerald bought, even those that were not an adventure story or a romance.

Scarlett had let Brent call on her only because Careen adored him. She always managed to somehow get Careen involved when he did come to call, usually as her chaperon. After Brent's visit one time Scarlett had said, "Baby, I know it is hard on you to be around Brent when he just has eyes for me. Would you rather I not involve you in his visits."

"Scarlett, I just want to be around Brent. When I get older, he will realize I am his one true love."

In an act of kindness Scarlett had learned from Melly, Scarlett lied and said, "Yes, he will."

Scarlett knew that Brent was writing Careen now. She also knew that Careen was less than enthralled with Brent now. Since she and Brent had been corresponding, she had noticed that he misspelled a lot of words. Not just simple spelling mistakes but big ones. Careen had shared with Scarlett that Brent's letters were the letters of a ten-year-old which had made Scarlett laugh.

India would never share personal information with Careen, but Stuart's letters weren't much better. India was beginning to rethink marrying Stuart. She was beginning to think that being alone would be so much better than being married to that stupid man. She had been around well-educated and well-read men all her life and she had never known how stupid some gentlemen actually could be. In fact, she had been shocked at Stuart's level of stupidity, but the worst part was that he was happy being stupid. He didn't want to be any smarter or any more well-read than he was. To Stuart the thought of reading anything was a horrible thought. What's more he and Brent had already been kicked out of four universities and they hadn't even gotten through their first year.

Small presents were exchanged. Scarlett's parents had given Wade several toys. Wade really was the apple of their eyes. Scarlett had thought, 'If my marriage to Charlie did not do any other good than the birth of Wade it was worth it. Pa and Mother love him so very much."

Scarlett's parents had given her several yards of maroon material and several yards of grey material. Ellen had said, "We are giving you the material now so you will have time to make yourself some new dresses."

"Thank you, Mother."

The entire time that Scarlett and Wade were at Tara, either Pa, Mother, or Mammy had Wade with them. She sometimes felt she needed to make an appointment just to see her own son. She knew she need not worry for she was Wade's favorite which was only right because he was her favorite also. Although Rhett was becoming very dear to her.

Soon Scarlett, Wade and Prissy were back in Atlanta with Scarlett back to working at the hospital. It was depressing work, but someone had to do it. Besides there really wasn't anything else to do. She did get to socialize with all the soldiers on the mend. The ones that really broke her heart were the boys who knew they were dying. While she was around them, she always forced herself to be sunny and happy but there were many days that she would cry her eyes out as soon as she got home. She knew Melly did too. They didn't talk about it because it wouldn't have done any good to talk about it. Occasionally one or the other one would say, 'I knew the war was a mistake.'

Melly would get a letter from Ashley about once a month. She was always happy to receive them. He never wrote about the war. He wrote about what they had done in the past and what he wanted them to do in the future. Melly wrote back and told him about their life in Atlanta and what she wanted them to do in the future. She also wrote and told him about all the good books she had been reading thanks to Scarlett's new gentleman caller. Melly knew that Scarlett didn't have any more feelings for Ashley than friendship but there was something special about Scarlett that made all the men want her. She wanted to make sure Ashley knew that Scarlett was already taken again.

During the months of January and February, Rhett continued taking cotton out and bringing luxury goods in. It was a great situation for Rhett. The cotton was dirt cheap, and he was getting some very fine prices for his goods. The only thing he did that didn't benefit Rhett was he kept bringing medical supplies into the South. Every time he bought the supplies, he wondered why he was doing it for he knew he would be giving them away to the doctors. He guessed he felt sorry for them. Not only the men who were wounded but for the doctors who had to treat all the wounded with inadequate supplies. Rhett could only imagine the despair the doctors faced day after day. He knew it was just going to get worse for them.

Although Rhett had only been able to make one trip to France and back, on the second week of March, Rhett gave his crew ten days off while he sold his goods in Atlanta. He had brought Scarlett some fabric for her birthday. He had brought Miss Melly some fabric for her birthday also. It seems that Scarlett was born on March seventeenth and Miss Melly was born on March eighteenth. He had also brought thread and hairpins. And books. He couldn't forget the books.