July 15, 2023 - Good morning lovelies! Chapter 8 of this story is nearly finished and will be posted in the next few days. I thank you for your infinite patience :)

May 21, 2023 - I'm writing this note from my hotel suite overlooking Charleston Harbor. This city is so inspiring! Especially when you have a gratis hotel stay and Happy Hour haha. But it is beautiful, and making me think of this story and The Force. My accommodations are lovely and inviting, it's not supposed to get above 83 degrees all week, and there are lots of nooks and crannies with palmetto trees and chaise lounges (they should put a chaise lounge on my grave, I've been hunting and collecting them for a lifetime).

Raining today, but I have a window seat in my huge room, and plan to spend the day there, stopping every hour or so to admire the view and walk around the wharf a bit. Even in the rain, I gotta get outside.

The point is, I'm looking forward to a productive writing week. And some Vitamin D. Chapter 49 of The Force is still first on the schedule, but I'm already feeling inspired for Chapter 8 of this little tale. Fingers crossed.

I humbly thank you for your patience. It's been a time.

Hope to see you soon! peace and love, misscyn

A Shift in Trajectory

Through a series of cascading events, our dynamically dysfunctional couple ends up stranded in a remote upstate New York cabin. With the kids. Takes place approximately two months before Ashley's infamous birthday. Let's shake this snow globe up.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 1

The newly-minted Second Pacific Express slogged along the tracks on the way to Albany, slowed down by the continuing snowfall. Scarlett shot a slightly irritated look at Rhett, who held 22-month-old Bonnie to the frost-rimmed window, indulgent as ever, so she could gaze at the deepening white expanse in the light of the setting sun.

Wade and Ella crowded the other window of their well-padded and velvet-lined car. Prissy had taken ill (Scarlett suspected she was sick of the bitter cold more than anything) and departed for Atlanta on an earlier train the previous day. Mammy had declined the trip, claiming rheumatism as the reason.

"Who goes to New York in January," Scarlett grumbled to herself. She had started to decline the northern foray as well, but when Rhett suggested, after the post-New Year slump in activities, that she accompany him and the children up north to visit the new Adirondack resort and experience 'sure-enough' snow, something in his demeanor warned her against refusal. She sensed the question was a test, and so she acquiesced, and he seemed as surprised as she at her answer.

Something was going on with Rhett. Even the normally unobservant Scarlett took note. He was watching her all the time. Without the distractions of her normal day-to-day activities, she started watching him back.

Of course, he was polite, mostly, unless they were arguing and the gloves went flying off. Yet subtle, but unmistakable changes were afoot—a tic in his cheek here, a gripping of fists in his pockets there. An unusual strain laced the edge of his voice when he spoke to her, and he interacted with her more often than he had to, a definitive change, even in light of the journey.

It had been brewing for the last several months, the apparent storm within him, the glimpse of potential rage beneath the surface, and so she agreed to the trip, rather meekly, at least for her. Scarlett did not want to face the consequences of his poor humor if she had not.

And it had been a lovely time, she had to admit. Ever since William H.H. Murray wrote that book touting the wilderness of the Adirondack mountains as a recreation destination a year or so back, everyone was talking about it, but she was the first of her acquaintances to actually make the pilgrimage, and as a result, it became a matter of pride.

They'd stayed in the city of New York for the first week as Rhett had business, as always. They'd shopped and gone to shows, taken in all the sights, and, surprisingly, considering the level of entertainment available, Rhett stayed in after they returned to their hotel at night.

A few nights, they went out dancing. A few times, his hands even lingered, on her shoulders or waist. Away from Atlanta his mood improved and Scarlett found hers did as well. It was the first time they'd been away since their honeymoon nearly three years previously, and, far away from the magnifying glasses of the peahens, they were able to relax.

The hustle and bustle of the city coupled with the indulgent activity and energy brightened Scarlett's spirits, which had been rather deflated ever since, well, ever since … she didn't like to think about that misstep.

On the best side of the city, the streets seemed so ridiculously prosperous, rife with finely-dressed men, and such highly fashionable women. She'd made the mistake of openly admiring the jaw-droppingly gorgeous attire of one youthful wife on the arm of who she assumed to be her handsome, but much older husband, only for Rhett to chuckle as he informed her of the prominent married politician and his well-known mistress. Scarlett blanched inwardly at the memory.

The woman had been both young and beautiful, perhaps even younger than herself. Rhett certainly had the wherewithal to take such a mistress, and how would she deal with the humiliation of him flaunting someone like that around Atlanta? She supposed his love of their only child together kept him somewhat in line. Of course, there were always opportunities when he traveled. …

Silently she said a prayer of thanks for a certain over-blown aging redhead of rather garish and tawdry personal taste in clothing, who at least had the decency to stay on her side of town, for the most part, during waking hours.

Enough about that. After New York, they'd gone on to the mountains and rented yet another outlandishly spacious suite at The Leland House, a most pleasant accommodation, despite the Yankee territory. The children played in the snow, and although Bonnie didn't seem overly impressed, Wade and Ella definitely were.

Rhett demonstrated his typical honeymoon largesse as he visited the local shops that catered to well-heeled visitors, purchasing them all copious amounts of 'sure-enough' cold-weather clothing, the best heavy boots and finest overcoats, wool hats and cashmere scarves, gloves, and mittens galore.

Scarlett appreciated the high-end winter attire, yet had no intention of spending much time outside; but Rhett cared nothing for her intentions, par usual.

The entire family walked miles around the charming town surrounding the hotel, built a variety of snowmen on the expansive lawn, had copious snowball fights, and sledded in every variety of contraption available on every hill Rhett could find.

And the ice skating! Wade took to it immediately, and Ella surprised everyone with her willingness and agility. Scarlett did not miss the triumphant smirk her eldest daughter shot her youngest as she sailed past the children's sleigh Bonnie preferred, pushed along by her long-suffering father. Scarlett couldn't help but chuckle, and Rhett merely raised an eyebrow.

Annoyed, Bonnie attempted to toddle along on miniature skates from time to time to her family's amusement, her tiny brow drawn down in a determined glower, but it was Scarlett and Rhett who put on the real show.

Rhett had already learned the skill sometime in his past, and Scarlett took it up quickly as she did all things physical; in a matter of days she skated circles around the other women, around the other girls, and men were clamoring to partner her as if she were still a belle.

Oh, how she could have lived in those ice skating costumes! As much as she despised the cold, the elaborately embroidered, mink-trimmed richly-colored capes and perfectly proper shorter, streamlined skirts—showing her ankles!—had set her spirits soaring as she flew across the ice, seemingly leaving her troubles behind …..

The night skating is when she came alive. While the children slept warm and soundly after their days of endless outdoor activity, Scarlett and Rhett attracted as much attention on the frozen pond as they had on the dance floors of New York. She felt gay and lighthearted, so free! Rhett felt it, as well, she knew he did. He, absolutely fearless as always, swung her high as he speedily crossed the ice and only laughed at her protests. His eyes lit up when she laughed as he tossed her in the air, and he couldn't deny it. She'd like to see him try to deny that, try to act as if he wasn't affected, even as he treated it as merely play.

While on her own and when she inevitably fell, a flurry of activity ensued as half the men on the ice tried to rush to her side, some of them falling themselves in the effort.

But Rhett would have none of it. He'd shouldered in and swooped her up bodily, draping her across his broad chest and muscular thighs as he skated away, despite her scandalized and laughing protests. She thought he might kiss her there for a minute—she was sure she'd seen that intent in his eyes—but then that mask of indifference fell over his face as he set her down on the edge of the ice, and her heart with it.

Yet soon enough he was his honeymoon self again and insisted they stay another week and she pretended to reluctantly agree, commenting on what little choice she had in the matter when he and the children were dead set against leaving. She knew he wasn't fooled. She wanted to stay. It had been a true break in the winter bleakness, as well as the darkness of their marriage.

But now it was February 6 and time to go home. And Rhett's demeanor nearly visibly soured as the miles ticked away.

OOOOooooOOOOooo

Fun Facts:

Did you know the Adirondacks are considered the birthplace of the American vacation?

'One of the little-known turning points in the history of American travel occurred in the spring of 1869, when a handsome young preacher from Boston named William H.H. Murray published one of the first guidebooks to a wilderness area. In describing the Adirondack Mountains—a 9,000-square-mile expanse of lakes, forests and rivers in upstate New York—Murray broached the then-outrageous idea that an excursion into raw nature could actually be pleasurable. Before that date, most Americans considered the country's primeval landscapes only as obstacles to be conquered. But Murray's self-help opus, Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, suggested that hiking, canoeing and fishing in unsullied nature were the ultimate health tonic for harried city dwellers whose constitutions were weakened by the demands of civilized life.

This radical notion had gained currency among Europeans since the Romantic age, but America was still building its leisured classes and the idea had not yet caught on with the general public. In 1869, after the horrors of the Civil War and amid the country's rapid industrialization, Murray's book became a surprise best seller. Readers were enthralled by his vision of a pure, Edenic world in the Adirondacks, where hundreds of forest-swathed lakes were gleaming "like gems...amid the folds of emerald-colored velvet." Murray argued that American cities were disease-ridden and filled with pressures that created "an intense, unnatural and often fatal tension" in their unhappy denizens. The wilderness, by contrast, restored both the spirit and body. "No axe has sounded along its mountainsides, or echoed across its peaceful waters," Murray enthused, so "the spruce, hemlock, balsam and pine...yield upon the air, and especially at night, all their curative qualities." What's more, Murray pointed out, a new train line that had opened the year before meant this magical world was only 36 hours' travel from New York City or Boston. The vision struck a deep chord, and his book ran into ten editions within four months.' -

Smithsonian Magazine

By 1875 there were more than 200 hotels, resorts, and camps. The Vanderbilts vacayed there. Errrybody wanted to go, and The Leland House was completed in 1871. I myself have never been to the Adirondacks, but my new half-New York Italian, half-SC-bred son-in-law has family near the area so I may have a reason to visit soon.

The following article 'Ice-skating in the 1860's' is excerpted from the website emergingcivilwar dot com:

'Across the chilly regions of America, this favorite pastime created fun and energetic entertainment during the Civil War era. In city parks, the winter activity was refined as a social skill and art while on less sophisticated ponds or lakes youngsters had their ice-skating parties. Ladies participated in ice-skating, a sport that allowed them out of the decorated parlors and gave them another reason to visit the dress makers. Ice-skating created a pleasant diversion from the tragedy of war, especially during the Christmas season.

According to an article published in the New York Herald on December 24, 1864, ice-skating on Central Pond gained a happy reputation at the beginning of the decade and had increased popularity each year. A system for judging and announcing ice thickness and safety had been developed, and the citizens eagerly watched for a red ball in the park which signaled skating season had begun. On the city ponds, workmen swept away the snow and scrubbed off the rough piles of ice or frozen snow to make a smooth, glassy surface for easy skating. According to the paper's account, the ponds were prepared for skaters by noon on fine days when the ice was safe. Skates and ice chairs were available for rent in Central Park, and the enterprising merchants set up booths to sell hot drinks and refreshments.

Appealing to the desires for good health, the reporter extolled the frozen winter wonderlands over the crowded and close atmosphere of the ballroom, claiming:

Skating and dance are the only two forms of recreative exercise within the reach of the gentler sex, the former being infinitely more healthful than the latter, from the fact that the rapid motion through a clear, bracing atmosphere, incident to skating, quickens the circulation and introduces the pure oxygen of nature into the system, instead of the noxious gases of the ballroom, where the atmosphere is redolent of caronic acid, frivolous tittle tattle, eau de colgne, insipid small talk, cutaneous exhalations, and simpering stupidity. The contrast, too, between the social surroundings of the skating pond and the ballroom is equally in favor of the outdoor recreation… The sanitary benefits accruing from skating are great, and especially is the exercise advantageous to females. The prominent cause of the delicate and sickly constitution of the majority of our city ladies arises from their great neglect of outdoor exercise and recreation…[i]

Many ladies eagerly took advantage of the outdoor sport. Unwilling to leave behind their fine clothes, they developed "ice skating costumes," complete with hoopskirts. Godey's Lady's Book regularly featured new designs for these fashionable ensembles during the winter months. And, of course, a gorgeous hat, muff, and perhaps a fur-trimmed coat completed the classic Christmas image of an idealized lady gliding across the ice. Ice-skating gave women an opportunity to continue their feminine appearance while participating in a semi-liberating activity.

If skating gave women another social opportunity to step outside the home and enter a public arena, it also gave couples a chance to interact without close supervision in a parlor and gave singles the opportunity to meet rather casually. The New York Herald reporter even hints at this in his article: "In fact, the exercise not only brings roses to the cheeks, and imparts buoyancy to the spirits, but weaves nets to catch Cupid, and makes cages to retain him."[ii] If eyes brightened by the exercise[iii] did not catch the gentleman's attention, there was always the possibility of a graceful tumble to draw attention to oneself and create a need for gallantry. In an 1864 letter, a Virginian teen boy hinted that some girls skating on the frozen river kept purposely falling to continue the interactions with him and his handsome friends.[iv]

For some Union soldiers, skating and sledding were typical social activities in their small towns. Private William P. Lamson, Jr. in the 20th Maine Infantry asked his sister several times about the ice-skating parties at home and noted a major difference in the weather in Virginia and Maine: "You say you had good sleighing and skating [on] Christmas. We had neither snow nor ice after the sun got up, and have had none since. I never spent a New Year's Day without seeing snow before."[v]

Southerners enjoyed their ice skating too – if they lived in a region that stayed cold long enough for ice to form and thicken. Miss Lucy Buck lived near Front Royal in the Virginian Shenandoah Valley and recorded her skating adventure in her diary.

January 12, 1864

Father took Laura and me down on the ice and gave us our first lessons in skating. It was a magnificent morning and I felt so invigorated by the bracing air, the bright sunshine and the run through the crisp sparkling snow. Then the ice formations at the dam were so exquisitely delicate and beautiful. We were there about two hours – Father predicting that we will make expert skaters – did not get one bad fall though Father did. Returned to the house with tired ankles but in a perfect glow…[vi]

During the Civil War era, ice-skating created a joyous homefront diversion, and many soldiers far from home associated memories of cheerful winter days with their skating escapades. Fashionable and fun, healthful and happy, this winter activity included men, women, and children, pulling them outside into the chilly winter days air and making the air ring with jolly laughter, joyous shouts, and the steady, faint swish of skates making circles on the ice.

And – for just a few moments, perhaps – the war seemed far away while the cheer of Christmas and magic of winter reigned.' - author Sarah Kay Bierle

I think Bonnie would be about 22 months old in February of 1871 but if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

'Sure-enough' is a term Southerners often used when referring to snowfall, because not many of us get it down here, and when we do, well, it can be under-whelming. Like an inch or so if we're lucky, that melts by noon the next day. Hence the term 'sure-enough' means, enough to count, enough to knock out school or work the next day and enough to play in. I get more than most Southerners in western North Carolina, as does West Virginia and parts of Tennessee, but deeper south, it's hit or miss. Mostly miss.

A/N: Well hello! I have been struggling with my other creative project while hibernating from some brutally cold weather here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and this plot bunny popped up out of the snow. It's going to be a short one, I hope. Really, I don't see it going beyond a few chapters (a few being around five maybe, def less than ten), given the subject matter. Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.

I want to give my readers something in the dead of January, and The Force is at a bit of a standstill while I work some complicated stuff out, both in the story and personally. It's a chess game folks, and I only have energy for Go Fish right now.

PLEASE NOTE: Fanfiction dot net has opted all members out of email alerts and continues to do so on a nearly bi-weekly basis, it seems. You'll have to go back into your account and opt-in every week or so if you want notice of new chapters and stories!

This new practice of automatically opting everyone out is hurting our fragile little fandom mightily, and the writers here need all the encouragement they can get, so if you enjoy a fic, even if it is an older, finished one, leave a few words. There might be writers out there with story ideas who won't bother because there doesn't appear to be much of an audience, or writers of current stories who don't see much need to continue. We don't want that!

And kindly toss me a few words if you like this one :). I truly appreciate it! See you in a few days. Peace, misscyn

OOOOooooOOOOoooo