Polinka22malinka: Thank you so much for your kind words! They mean the world to me. Reading in a coffee shop before work sounds so lovely! Yes, we're pivoting to Rhett a bit more in this section of the story. We've seen Scarlett's decline and break and now it's time for Rhett to realize what his actions have done. Henry Hamilton is a good man and he will be doing as much as he can to help his niece. Enjoy!

Mistress: I understand your sentiment when you wonder how a grown man can react this way. I think that men, especially those like Rhett that are prideful and have known abandonment, are wired in a different way. Taking a look at what MM gave us small snippets of in GWTW- Rhett was disowned by his father, alienated from his family, and never really had people care for him in formative years in any meaningful way. Do I think that affected his way of showing love? Absolutely. Do I think it excuses some of the behavior? No. But I do think it's good insight to have. He has always felt abandoned.

Guest 1: Thank you! It's always my hope that for my dialogue that the reader feels like they're in it with the characters. I'm so glad you felt that way. I'm feeling much better, thank you!

Guest 2: This is getting into the new content territory! Chapter 13 was the last I had posted, but there will be brand new content next week! Exciting! Here's hoping Rhett can atone for his sins.

Newreader2022: I am feeling much better this week, thank you! I am partial to this version of the story as well, and I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying it as well. I know there were several people who were frustrated that I wouldn't upload the original, but it didn't feel genuine to me. You ask a lot of great questions in your review- some of which will be answered in this chapter. Rhett is feeling just as broken as Scarlett, but is clearly not handling it well… I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Jaded orbs: It is time for Rhett to step up! Here's hoping their loving stepfather is back because those kids have a bone to pick with him.

Windyandstormy: Thank you! Enjoy chapter 13!

Truckee Gal: Frantic is what Wade and Ella are, that's for certain! I think Rhett will do right by Wade and Ella. There is going to be a lot going on for them in the next few chapters. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Aethelfraed: I'm not sure Rhett's been out of the bottle long enough for everything to hit him yet, but it most certainly will in some future chapters. You're absolutely right that the moment of grief it's almost a haze. It's in the weeks and months later does that the full weight of anguish really hits you and he's about to be hit with it like a train (no pun intended). To be honest, I can't tell specific state accents apart either, but the sheriff is going to do his best. Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful reviews.

Klenk eniko: Rhett will absolutely regret this turn of events for the rest of his life. Scarlett's still in there… somewhere. It's just a matter of how she processes so much grief all at once.

Thank you again to all who favorited, reviewed, and followed! It means the world and I would love to hear your feedback!

Chapter Thirteen

Wade sat hunched over his breakfast plate at the kitchen table, unceremoniously tearing bits of warm cornbread before hastily shoving them in his mouth. He ate silently and tracked the sun's gentle rise over the red clay fields of Tara watching as the first rays of the morning bleed gold into the midnight blue sky. He had woken up earlier than anyone in the household, as he had for the past several weeks. His rustling woke Mammy who hastened him downstairs lovingly for some fresh bread and a rare moment of peace.

Suellen had given birth prematurely to her third child last week- a boy they named Gerald after Wade's grandfather. The baby was small and wrinkled but he had lungs of iron and wailed more hours of the day than he did not. Wade did not remember his grandfather very well, but his Aunt Suellen and Uncle Will joked often that the name was fitting. Gerald howled and carried on like his namesake, making his needs everyone else's problem.

Wade understood babies and liked them even. He learned how to soothe a child at the age of four when he would help his mother with infant Ella. He helped again after the birth of his sister Bonnie. Wade had been so excited when his aunt and uncle told him that they were expecting. He prayed for a boy so that he would finally have some more masculine energy in the family. Though the family was overjoyed that their prayers were answered, Wade now felt apathetic over the birth of the little cousin he had so hoped for.

Wade had held little Gerald in the aftermath of his birth and amidst the baby's cries, Wade felt suddenly angry. He loved Gerald, of course he did, but Wade begrudged his cousin for being able to so openly weep when he could not.

His mother was missing.

The heaviness of that knowledge was numbing despite the strained relationship he had always had with his mother. He played that day over in his head constantly. He had been out tending the fields with Will the day he learned the news. It had been mid-morning and the sun was burning the bridge of his freckled nose. His cousin Susie had come running from the house calling for the two of them to come inside. This was not an abnormal occurrence, but what was abnormal was seeing his Uncle Henry's coach waiting out front.

"Your Uncle Henry is here!" Susie called as Wade came within earshot. She was waving an envelope in her hand as she beckoned him closer. "Also this came for you this morning just after you went out."

"Uncle Henry?" Wade questioned, reaching for the envelope Susie stretched out to him. "Is this from mother?" He and his mother wrote often since she returned home to Atlanta. He liked to tell her all about what Will was teaching him and she seemed interested. She would even add her own anecdotes about farming and maintenance. He felt closer to her in their letters than he had ever felt in her presence. Wade never realized how much he looked forward to them.

Susie shrugged, the corners of her lips pulling down in an unconcerned frown. "Dunno."

Wade broke the seal on the envelope without reading the front as he continued his walk with Will and Susie into the house. He only ever received mail from his mother and had no reason to believe it was from anyone else. It wasn't until he saw the slanted, jagged curves of his stepfather's handwriting did he realize that Uncle Rhett had written him. For a moment he was elated- Wade and Ella had not seen their Uncle Rhett since Aunt Melanie's funeral. His mother had told them both that he had been away on extended business but missed them dearly. Wade was very fond of his stepfather and asked his mother often to give his regards whenever she heard from him.

Trailing behind Susie and Will, Wade began to read the letter, his heart beating in excitement. He made it two lines in before Ella seized his arm, tugging gently. "Uncle Henry is here."

"Susie told me," Wade muttered, trying to shake her off.

"What's that?" Ella asked trying to reach for the envelope as she pulled him into the sitting room. Henry watched them quietly, unable to will himself to crack their world open.

"Letter from Uncle Rhett."

"Uncle Rhett!" Ella exclaimed, continuing to paw at the letter in her brother's hand. "Mama said he was on business- what does he say? Is he coming back soon?"

"I'd know if you let me read it," Wade said agitated, but before he could return his attention to the letter, he heard Will welcome Henry in from Atlanta.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Benteen. I apologize for coming unannounced, but I was hoping to speak with you and my niece and nephew."

Will took Henry's outstretched hand and pumped it in welcome before gesturing to their worn couch. "Call me Will. Of course, what can we do for you?"

Henry removed his dark bowler cap from his head and began to wring the rim nervously. "Is your wife available, Will? I think it best that we all speak together if possible." There was a slight pause and Wade watched as Henry gave Will a look- one that he could not discern at the time but what he came to realize was pity. Will straightened slightly and glanced at the children before leaving the room to call for Suellen. It was then that Uncle Henry gathered Wade and Ella in his arms for a hug and told them that their mother had been missing for a week. Wade and Ella sat on the threadbare couch, their hearts in their stomachs, and listened as Henry asked them all questions.

Ella reached for her brother's hand and he took it. In the other, he clutched the letter from their estranged stepfather. Wade remembered time moving slowly. He held that note like a beacon not realizing that in that letter lay the catalyst for everyone's despair.

Wade felt foolish thinking about the hope that Rhett's letter brought him for that transient moment in time between receiving it and reading it. He felt so idiotic to think that his stepfather would care enough about him and his sister to want to write for the sake of writing. It had been nearly six months since they had seen or heard from Rhett. Later, when Henry pulled Will aside to discuss their mother's disappearance at length and what they knew for certain, Wade realized why. From that feeling of utter foolishness bred a simmering ire.

That anger grew slow and was stoked at small intervals. Both Aunt Suellen and Uncle Will had been extra-loving upon hearing the news. They consoled a sobbing Ella when Wade could barely think through his own concern. Uncle Henry had been raving when he realized that the children found out about their mother's divorce through the letter clutched in Wade's hands. He promised to do everything in his power to bring his mother home, but that had been three weeks ago.

Now there was a new baby who needed attention. There was chaos around him and inside him and he felt useless on all fronts. He could not help with the search for his mother because he was too young. He could not get the comfort he needed from the only parental figures that now mattered to him because of baby Gerald's neediness. He did not fault his aunt and uncle for their distraction- babies needed attention, especially premature ones, but he did feel slightly neglected. He felt neglected by his mother. He felt neglected by the only father figure he had ever known. He felt neglected by the world.

So he began throwing himself into the red clay fields of Tara. He woke before sunrise and was out in the field by dawn. He worked tirelessly, rarely stopping for the lunch break. If he stopped, he thought, and when he thought he stoked his own rage. He worked until supper and even then would take long walks around the perimeter of the plantation. Often Will would accompany him, but they walked in silence unable to find the right words to express their emotions.

Wade exhaled sharply, tossing another piece of cornbread into his mouth. Behind him, he heard the quiet shuffle of clumsy feet. They approached softly coming up beside him before he heard the squeak of chair legs being tugged along the worn wooden floor. Without turning to face his companion, Wade picked up a piece of cornbread and extended it to them. "Can't sleep again?"

"Can't sleep," Ella answered. She took the sweet, yellow bread from her brother and placed it in front of her. This had become their morning ritual since their great uncle had come to visit. Wade and Ella would watch the sunrise together in their heartache until Mammy came downstairs to sit with them after attending to Gerald. Mammy encouraged them saying that Scarlett was a firecracker of a woman and would be back any day now, but the children saw the concern carved deep in the lines of Mammy's face.

"The sunrise is pretty this morning," Wade nudged his sister and jerked his chin to the window. Ella followed his gaze and nodded grimly. "Eat."

"Do you think Mama's coming back?" Ella asked softly, ignoring Wade's statement. She tapped her fingers against the kitchen table, the pads of her fingertips making soft thuds against the polished wood. "I had a dream last night that we never saw Mama again and we had no place to live."

Despite Wade's own anxieties about his mother's absence, he tried to be brave for his sister. She was young, only eight years old, and very naïve. He often heard her crying at night. Wade did not know what to think when it came to his mother. He might have been young but he was old enough to recognize that when the three of them had come to Tara, his mother was as sleepless as he was now. She would haunt the halls of the great house until the sun rose and she would be out in the field with Will. He recognized that feeling now, but Ella did not need to carry this burden with him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "You heard Mammy- I'm sure Mother is alright and will come home very soon."

Ella seemed to take some comfort in this empty platitude and nodded to herself. She finally reached for her cooled cornbread and turned to look at her brother. "You won't leave, right Wade? We'll always stay together even if you get sad sometimes?"

This was not the first time Ella posed this question to her brother. She had asked him after Henry had left Tara and told them he was hiring a constable to help with the search. She was distraught over the disappearance and though she did not understand the concept of divorce just yet, Will did gently explain to her that Scarlett and her Uncle Rhett were no longer going to be living with them when their mother returned home. The loss of two parental figures in the span of a half-hour sent her into an anxious frenzy and she asked Wade this for the first time. She had since asked him to confirm his response on a few occasions since.

Wade nodded, squeezing his sister's shoulder, "I promise- it's you and me. Let's go outside and watch the sky. Bring your breakfast and we'll walk until Uncle Will calls me in for work."

Will never did summon Wade back to the great house for work that day.

The siblings meandered leisurely around the edge of the plantation ground- Wade watching Ella search for flowers to bring back to their aunt. The sun was starting to warm away the morning chill and Wade was beginning to feel uneasy. He was usually working by now. He did not want to rush Ella, especially after her sleepless evening and her apprehensive state. He also found that he enjoyed spending time with his sister. She was simple, but she was fiercely kind. She was also the only family he had left and that thought alone made him very protective of her.

Ella had a fistful of wildflowers, arranging them in her palm so that no two of the same flowers were touching each other. She was proud of her floral arrangements and took pride in gifting them to their Aunt Suellen. Suellen always accepted them with grace and thanks but permanently seemed withdrawn around her niece. With every temperate thanks, Ella determined to make a lovelier bouquet; she gifted these small tokens as a means to become closer to her mother's sister who, despite her best efforts, still viewed her as a product of deceit.

They walked side by side, Ella pointing to each flower and identifying them to her brother. He listened distractedly, making small humming noises when he felt appropriate. He had started them back towards the house when he heard a distant bell. Wade and Ella paused for a brief moment before turning to face each other.

A second bell began ringing, this time closer. At the peak of its functionality, a system of bells was utilized at Tara to signal the middle and end of the day for those working out in the field. The Benteen family had since begun using the system to call home their children who were out playing far from the home.

Wade stared at his sister for a fraction of a moment, her copper-wire hair sticking out in a frizzed halo around her head. She clutched the wildflowers to her chest and stared back. "Do you think it's news of mama? Susie and Nellie don't play before breakfast."

"I don't know," Wade began, taking her hand in his. "Uncle Will is probably looking for me to come back in for work." Even as he tried to brush off the optimism, a bubble of hope formed in his chest. Uncle Henry was so adamant that he was going to find their mother. Wade wondered if he actually had.

They took off running for the great house, hand in hand, both nervous and anticipative simultaneously. Wade trailed his sister behind him, listening to the patter of her feet urging her silently in his mind to hurry. The bells tolled around them as they rounded upon Tara panting and damp. Wade pulled Ella inside calling out, "Uncle Will- we heard the bells is everything…"

Wade froze in his tracks. The hope that had threatened to stir within him died at his feet.

"Uncle Rhett!" Ella exclaimed, wiggling her hand free from her brother's and running towards her stepfather.

Rhett Butler stood in the drawing room surrounded by a pinched-looking Suellen and a stone-faced Will. Upon hearing his name, Rhett turned to see a flash of copper and grey eyes rushing towards him. He crouched down on one knee and felt her body collide with his, her arms wrapping around his neck. "Ella."

Despite the emotion he heard in his former stepfather's voice, Wade stood rooted to the spot. He wished that his feet would melt into the wooden floor and out of this room. He'd rather be anywhere but here. He would rather be with the dead rats decaying beneath the porch foundation than with Rhett.

"I missed you, Uncle Rhett," Ella's voice was muffled against Rhett's shoulder and her back seemed to heave as she strained to hold back her tears. She still clutched the wildflowers in her fist. "Wade said that you weren't coming back and we would never see you again."

Rhett glanced over Ella's shoulder and caught eyes with his stepson for the first time. Rhett searched Wade's gaze and found a stony, unreadable wall. "Hello, Wade," his voice was gentle.

Wade nodded curtly in response before tearing his eyes away and staring at the floor. He began to trace small, slow circles with the toes of his work boots along the hardwood floor. He was unwilling to speak lest he begin yelling or crying or both.

Rhett continued to hold Ella who refused to disentangle her arms from around his neck, "I would never leave you two, Ella. Of course, I would have seen you again."

The simmering anger in Wade's chest bubbled over, "But you did though. Leave."

Ella peeled herself away from her stepfather and turned to face Wade, her grey eyes wide. Rhett paused, still crouched, and blinked. "I did. I want you to understand how sorry I am. I appreciate how you're feeling, Wade, but it is not as simple as that. We have so much to discuss, but I want you to know that I never left you."

"Yes you did, you left. We haven't seen or heard from you since Aunt Melly's funeral. You never wrote except to apologize for leaving. We found out mother was missing three weeks ago and you come here now?" Wade began to tremble, the many weeks of anxiety and desperation and loneliness finally creating a catastrophic breaching in the dam of his resolve.

Rhett stood slowly, his eyes pleading. There was a depth of sadness in them that Wade recognized from when his sister, Bonnie, passed away. He could not seem to muster any empathy, however, and instead snapped his head up, glaring.

"I only learned of your mother's disappearance two days ago. I came as soon as I heard. I would have been here sooner if I had known. I am so sorry. I never meant for you to find out about the divorce that way. When we saw each other last she mentioned that she was going to tell you. I waited to write to give her time. If I had known…" Rhett's voice cracked, hitching at its very edges. Ella twisted her head to look up at him. Rhett caught her eye momentarily before she dropped her gaze to her hand, sticky with the milky liquid from the wildflower stems. Deliberately, she extended her arm up offering him the bouquet in her hand.

Rhett swallowed hard, the edges of his lips trembling imperceptibly. He did not deserve this gentle kindness and he knew it. Wade knew it as well and stood rooted to the spot, seething. Rhett took the flowers in his hand reverently taking a long, slow breath. Before he could thank Ella she began, "Wade says Mama is alright and going to come home very soon."

Rhett nodded, "I know she will."

"Why are you here?" Wade butted in, interrupting the tender moment between his sister and former stepfather.

Rhett opened his mouth to respond, but Will stepped forward towards Wade and interjected, "Wade, Mr. Butler has come to take you home with him."

Wade stepped back surprised. He turned his head violently towards his uncle as if slapped. Resentment surged through him but it was just thinly veiled behind a deep hurt. "What? But… you said I could stay here with you and learn."

"You know, Wade," Rhett said tenderly, "I could teach you about agriculture. I worked on an estate outside of Charleston that grew wheat when I was young. I know you love it here and it is not the same, but I could…"

The boy ignored Rhett, his voice growing louder as he addressed Will, "You said you'd teach me, Uncle Will. You said that I was family and that you liked having Ella and me here. Am I not doing a good job?"

Will came to stand next to him, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Of course, you're doing a good job, Wade. You are always welcome here, you know that, but Mr. Butler believes and I agree that you should be home when your mama gets back. She'll be wanting to see you."

"Is this because of Gerald?" Wade asked, his voice louder, more frantic. "I can help. I helped with my sisters when they were babies. Why don't you want us?"

"No, Wade, it's not about Gerald. And I do want you, but I think you should go with Mr. Butler for now." The baby began wailing in Suellen's arms. She bounced the boy, shushing him agitatedly as her husband continued, "Just for now, Wade. Once your mama comes home you come right back. I think it's best you be with your stepdaddy."

"He's not my stepfather!" Wade yelled, causing Gerald to howl. "He's not married to mother and he is not my family! I don't want to go to Charleston."

"Wade!" Will said sharply, tightening his grip on his nephew's shoulder. He understood Wade's anger- he too felt something similar. Rhett had abandoned his family and wreaked this havoc, but he did not have any other choice. Rhett was their legal guardian and he felt that it was best to have them back in Atlanta where they were close to Henry and their search for his sister-in-law. There was something to be said about that, too. Will knew that when Scarlett was found, she would want her family around her. She was distraught when Will asked her if the children might stay. He regretted asking her that. Had he not asked she might not be gone. "I'm sorry, Mr. Butler. That's not right of him to say."

Rhett shook his head, "No, it's alright, Mr. Benteen. Wade has every right to be angry with me. Wade, we would not be going to Charleston. We're going home to Atlanta to be close to your Uncle Henry. The three of us have a lot of talking to do. I have so much to make up for."

"I don't want to go with you."

Before Rhett could respond, Mammy shuffled into the room. She saw Rhett and paused momentarily in her tracks before she continued towards the baby. Suellen handed her the sobbing child who squirmed in her arms.

"Mammy," Rhett said, trying to smile. "It's so good to see you. When did you come to Tara?"

Mammy looked him directly in the eye as she rocked the calming Gerald. She was stunned to see him here at Tara but she was more stunned that she saw him at all. The last time they came face to face he had dropped off the divorce paperwork. Scarlett had been at Tara and Rhett had been rather annoyed. They spoke briefly and before he left he wished her well and told her he would miss her in the years to come. Mammy knew what that meant and she wished she had reproached him for it. While Mammy and Rhett had a fine relationship, she had witnessed their marriage falling apart for years. She was not surprised when he landed the final blow.

Mammy inclined her head towards Rhett, "Mr. Butler. Suellen asked that I come to help with baby Gerald. I came a few weeks ago."

Rhett knew Mammy well enough to know the use of his last name was a deliberate accusation. He did not blame her for it. He blamed himself for everything. The dissolution of his marriage, his stepchildren's disdain, his ex-wife going missing. Had he allowed himself to speak to Scarlett before their last meeting- had he seen the way she was wasting away- no one would be in this situation.

He felt himself dragged down deep into the shadowy recesses of his mind. This was his fault and he owed everyone the rest of his tattered psyche while he still possessed it. Rhett felt a wave of shame and grief wash over him.

"I want to go with you, Uncle Rhett." Ella's voice, though soft, cut through his inner turmoil. Her wide eyes searched for his and in them he saw such fear and despondency that it took everything in him to fight the urge to weep. "And Wade promised that we would always stay together, right Wade?"

Her brother's face crumpled in disbelief, his eyes beseeching. He did not want to leave Tara and he especially did not want to leave Tara with Rhett, but he would not be separated from Ella. He promised her. He refused to abandon her like everyone else had forsaken them. He smashed his lips together in a hard line, "Please, Ella. We don't have to. We can stay here."

"You said that, right?" Her lip quivered, grey eyes on his unwavering. Wade nodded sullenly. Then to Rhett, she asked, "Promise you won't leave, Uncle Rhett? We'll stay together?"

"I promise, Ella. I promise."