Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Fourteen

Over the next three weeks, Scarlett and her sisters had some long conversations about their futures. Careen and Suellen smiled when Scarlett mentioned Rhett. She talked about him all the time. They had never known for her to be so obsessed with a man. Not even Charlie. Probably because Scarlett had always known that Charlie would do anything to make her happy. Along with all of her gentleman callers. Rhett Butler was the first man that their sister was not one hundred percent confident that she had him hooked despite her saying she was going to marry the man.

After Gerald found out what John and Ashley had done in regard to the slaves, he and Ellen discussed doing the same thing. They decided they would tell the slaves they were free and hoped they stayed and worked although finding food for everyone was going to be challenging, but what other choice did they have.

During their stay at Tara, Mammy had taken Scarlett and Prissy aside to explain to the young ladies how to get Wade potty trained. Mammy had said, "You never quite know when children are going to be ready but starting at age two you need to introduce some words into his vocabulary. These words are pee pee and poo poo. Prissy when you change his diaper, you need to tell him what he did so that he soon associates the word with the action. He probably won't be ready until he is two and a half, but you need to be ready in case he is ready early."

"Mammy, I wish you were going with us to Atlanta."

"You and Prissy will do just fine."

"Thanks for the information, Mammy."

"You're welcome."

Scarlett received a telegram from Rhett. All it said was France. Yes, they were definitely a couple, but would he actually ask her to marry him. Despite her having the feeling that she and Rhett were going to marry and the fact that her feelings had never been wrong until Rhett asked her to marry him, she would still be uncertain.

On January twentieth Scarlett had a little party for Wade's second birthday. She had invited the residents of Twelve Oaks but only Ashley and Melly had come. There wasn't a cake and there was very little food.

Gerald had gotten some apples from Jim Tarleton. Jim had bet them at the men's weekly poker game. Luckily, Gerald had won the pot. Jim had been alright with Gerald taking his apples and leaving. After all Jim had an apple tree in his back yard.

Ellen had saved the apples to serve at Wade's birthday party. With such an uncertain future Ellen and Gerald wanted to spoil their grandson as much as possible.

Nobody had any money to spend on gifts but even if they had the money there was no place to buy anything. The general store in Jonesboro aisles were practically empty.

Much to Scarlett's relief it was not awkward between her and Ashley. He talked to her the same way he had always talked to her. Over her head. She still hardly understood anything that he said. At one point although, he said to Scarlett, "You were right. I do love her."

"So do I."

"Next time you come down to visit your parents, you will have to bring us some books to read. That is quite a collection your gentleman caller has given you especially considering you don't enjoy reading."

"Yes, it is. Rhett is quite generous with his gifts."

"After having met him at the barbecue, I would not have thought he was your type."

"He doesn't appear to be the least bit studious like Charlie was."

"Yet he is. He is very smart."

"Good. Excuse me."

With that Ashley walked away to join another group of people. As Ashley walked away, he knew he still loved Scarlett with a passion that his love for Melly would never match. Yes, he and Melly were compatible, but they were also very boring. That wasn't surprising he was a boring man. Scarlett had always been the most exciting part of his life.

Ashley had told Scarlett all that to preserve his dignity. Maybe they could still be friends. He would have to get along with Scarlett. Scarlett was Melly's best friend thus she would be in their lives forever especially with them living so close to each other.

Ashley did not regret asking Scarlett to marry him. Until she said no there had been a chance, she would say yes despite the fact that Ashley had known she had always just seen him as a friend. Yet, in some ways he was glad she had said no. What she had said in the library had been right. Melly would be happy with whatever he wanted to give her. He knew that Scarlett would have driven him insane with her chatter and her need to be adored.

Scarlett turned to look for Wade and he was being adored by his grandparents. Scarlett thought, 'I am glad he is Charlie's son. He won't let all the attention go to his head.'

At the party, Melanie had told Scarlett, "I've been meaning to tell you that Ashley shut Honey down the very first time she made a snide comment about you. He said, 'Scarlett is both mine and Melly's friend. I am sorry for your sake that Charlie preferred Scarlett to you but that was Charlie's choice. Scarlett didn't steal him away from you because you and Charlie were never a couple. I will not tolerate you making unkind comments about our friend."

The next day Scarlett, Wade, and Prissy were on the train to Atlanta. Gerald had stayed until the train arrived to help Scarlett get all her items on the train. She had her trunk and a box of India's clothing. Prissy had a bag with her clothing.

Once the trio got to Atlanta, Scarlett was able to get an old man on the train to help her get all her items off the train. He then got right back on the train. Much to Scarlett's frustration, she was going to have to pay for a taxi. The worst part was that she couldn't even ask India to reimburse her for the expense because India didn't have any money. As Scarlett sat in the cab on the way to Hamilton House, she wondered what it was going to be like living with India. She already knew that it wasn't going to be as good as living with Melly had been. Scarlett sighed. She was also going to have to contend with Aunt PittyPat.

Rhett had concluded all his business affairs in Europe. He had sold all his cotton and the two warehouses. He now had almost a million dollars in his London bank account. He knew he could have had more if he had sold the medical supplies instead of giving them away, but he just couldn't do it. He knew he could have run the price up on his goods, but he couldn't do that either. He knew that he could have taken some of the Confederate gold to buy food supplies with and then just not given it back, but he couldn't do that either. He would have more money in his bank account if he hadn't given his mother and Scarlett money. He smiled when he thought about Scarlett thinking she had gotten all that profit. In truth, her actual profits were about one fourth what he had given her, but he had wanted her to have money in case she needed it. He knew that she would not have just accepted his money if he had tried to give it to her. After all, that wouldn't be proper. That made him smile. He knew that she was only obeying the rules of society so that people would not talk badly about her.

One time when Rhett had made fun of her for always obeying the rules, she had solemnly said to him, "I have to obey the rules more closely than everyone else. Since I turned fourteen, I have been able to attract anything in pants without even trying. That fact has made all the other girls jealous. Of course, I am the problem. Not that men find me extremely attractive. Since they are jealous, they are looking for a reason to talk badly about me. I can't give them any ammunition. After we danced together at the bazaar, which I agree wasn't proper, at least one of the matrons wrote my mother and told her what I had done in negative terms. Probably one of the matrons who had a single daughter. That could have been either Mrs. Merriwether, Mrs. Bonner, or even Mrs. Elsing. She was hoping my parents would make me return to Tara thus I would not be in Atlanta to steal men's attention away from her daughter.

"How do you know that?"

"Pa told me. Luckily for me Mrs. Meade wrote Mother praising my actions."

"At least you have one matron who likes you."

Scarlett had smiled and said, "I don't know if she likes me, but she did the right thing towards me considering my actions earned the hospital one hundred and fifty dollars in gold," With another smile she added, "Of course, she doesn't have any daughters so she may not be concerned with how much male attention I get."

"In order to spare you any grief I will make sure I do the proper thing. Or I will make sure nobody ever finds out if we misbehave."

Scarlett had just smiled at Rhett and changed the subject.

The evening after the conversation Rhett knew he would have to handle Scarlett very carefully. She was a woman who knew her own worth. He would have to be his most charming and his most coaxing to get her to agree to be his mistress.

Rhett had sailed his ship to England and visited his solicitor. He checked all the records of the sale of his cotton and his warehouses. He noticed that the first few sales of the cotton had been at four times what he paid for it. His solicitor got a small percentage of every sale he had made for Rhett. That was to motivate the solicitor to find the most money. Rhett guessed it had. Rhett had still made a lot of money on the cotton. He had one million dollars in his London bank account. From now on he would make safe investments. Safe, legal investments. Maybe. Fairly safe and fairly legal investments.

While in France, Rhett had only bought luxury items to sell to the civilians. This was going to be his last run. He had already sold all of his ships to George Trenholm. Part of their deal was that Rhett would get to make one more run with the ship.

While in Europe Rhett had eaten at the most delicious restaurants. He had the best food. He may have gained five to ten pounds during his time in Europe which wasn't all bad. Food was going to be hard to find in the South until the war was over. With that thought, Rhett had gone out and bought himself several eclairs to take on the ship with him. He wished the eclairs would have stayed fresh enough for him to give one to Scarlett.

He would sell most of the goods to one of the brokers in Charleston. He could make a larger profit on the goods if he sold them himself, but he was moving on. He had to get back to Atlanta to keep Scarlett and Wade safe.

Rhett had already given Mrs. Berman her late husband's share of the profits therefore all his business deals were concluded.

Rhett had a couple of deals working in Atlanta, but he had to be sure they were legitimate and legal enough that he didn't have to worry about going to jail. He couldn't go to jail now, he had to protect Scarlett and Wade.

Every time Rhett had been in England and France in the past, he had visited several brothels. This trip had been no exception. In fact, he may have used more whores than normal because every time he thought about having to be good once he left Europe he went out and used another whore. It was safe enough as long as he kept his condom clean and ready. With his return to the South, his playing days would be over for a while. He didn't want anyone telling Scarlett he used whores. He had already known that for his mother and sister's sake he had to behave himself while he was in the South therefore behaving for Scarlett's sake was not an inconvenience. Although he had used whores while being in Atlanta, he wasn't going to do that anymore. If she found out she would not understand a man's needs which were made that much worse by him spending time with her. She made him want to hurry her to the nearest bed. Once she became his mistress, he would educate her on a man's needs and how she needed to pleasure him. He, of course, would be more than happy to pleasure her. After all he certainly knew how to pleasure a woman thanks to all those widows he had been with.

As Rhett thought about all the women he had been with in his life, it made him sad, and he didn't know why. He finally decided that he wished that he and Scarlett could have been each other's only partner. He cheered himself up by thinking, 'Scarlett and I will be together from now on.'

Rhett smiled as he thought about Scarlett and her need to behave ever so proper. She was right. Other women would be more than happy to talk about her misdeeds therefore she had to behave properly. Although Scarlett wasn't opposed to misbehaving. He just had to be sure nobody ever knew they had misbehaved. He wondered how he was ever going to get Scarlett to leave the South. He would worry about that once she agreed to be his wife. No! His mistress. His brain let him continue deluding himself for a little while longer.