Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rhett shook off any negative thoughts. Clarence had assured him his mission was not impossible, difficult but not impossible. There was still a chance.

Rhett did not respond to her statement about her love for Patrick because he knew that she really did love Patrick Green. His mission was to convince her somehow that she loved him more. Rhett said, "I have a question. Why did you never put two and two together and figure out that I loved you based on how quickly and crudely I asked you to marry me."

"The same reason why I never figured out that only a man in love would loiter in Atlanta while there was a war being wage only several miles away. The same reason that I never figured out that only a man in love would risk his life getting a woman and her family out of a city about to be conquered by an army."

"Do you not remember me telling you at Rough and Ready that I loved you?"

Scarlett shook her head. She said, "I guess I didn't hear you. I guess I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to get us to Tara."

"Fair enough."

"I believed everything you told me. You weren't acting like a man in love. And probably the most important one was I was a selfish, self-centered child who didn't care about anyone's feelings. Not even Ashley's"

"We will come back to Mr. Wilkes's feelings later. I want to finish the discussion about why I never made contact with you in Boston. But before I do, I want to know. Were you allowing Tom Selleck to call on you right after Mr. Green's death?"

Scarlett giggled. A sound Rhett hadn't heard in a very long time. He just wanted her giggling to go on and on. Finally, she said, "No, but he wanted to call on me. He thought up the flimsiest excuses to drop by." She laughed and continued, "One time he had me sign a document then two weeks later he had me sign another document, then four weeks later I needed to sign another document. I knew all the documents could have been signed at once. Furthermore, he never charged me for his time. Even if he stayed all afternoon."

Rhett smiled at her happiness and her pride at a man wanting her that badly. Rhett said, "Mr. Selleck was smart not to let the grass grow under his feet where you were concerned. Unfortunately, for me by the time, it had been long enough for you to once again receive gentleman callers, I was dying. I had lung cancer and cirrhosis of the liver."

"What is that?"

"Cancer is when abnormal cells take over an organ by forcing out the good cells. That is a bit simplistic, but it is all you need to know right now. Cirrhosis of the liver is a disease caused by excess drinking of alcohol. That's all you need to know also. There is no cure to either one."

"That's why you no longer smoke, or I imagine drink."

"I want to spend as much time with you as I can."

"Rhett, I…."

"Tell me about your relationship with Mr. Wilkes in the early days before the war." Scarlett looked at Rhett strangely. He said, "I don't want to talk about all that anymore. I have shared all I can share today. I don't share easily with anyone."

"What about Belle?"

"Especially not Belle. If she could use something I told her against me she would."

"Are you saying she is a user like you and me? I thought you said she was a good-hearted woman."

Rhett smiled and said, "Scarlett, I don't remember when I said that but, my dear, she is a whore. As such she is only interested in what she can get out of the arrangement."

Incredulously Scarlett said, "You don't remember saying that."

"No, things spewed out of my mouth. Their only point was to hurt you at the moment. Hurt you so you were hurting as much as I was hurting."

"I didn't know I was hurting you."

"I know. That may have been obtuseness on my part."

"No, I think it was not caring about anyone else enough to worry about their feelings."

Rhett and Scarlett were quiet for a while. Finally, she said, "That was true of my relationship with Ashley. I didn't care what his feelings were or what he wanted. I wanted him and therefore, he had to become mine. He was the one that got away."

"Go on."

"If I had genuinely loved him, I would have wanted him to be happy even if it was with someone else. What do you want to know about Ashley?"

"How did you meet?"

"I have known Ashley my entire life. Our plantations bordered each other."

"Did you play together as children?"

"No, he was ten years older than me. In fact, I don't think he knew I was alive until I was fourteen. He had just come back from his Grand Tour. He had come over to visit. I was wearing a new blue dress that emphasized my womanly curves that I had just acquired." Rhett laughed. She continued, "He rode up on a magnificent chestnut stallion and the sun was behind him. He looked just like a Greek god. Then he said, "Why, Scarlett, how beautiful you look. You have turned into a woman while I was gone. I was hooked after that."

Scarlett was quiet for a while and Rhett knew she was lost in her memories. He said, "Tell me."

"He would come over every week and read me romantic poetry. We would occasionally talk but I never understood anything he was talking about, but I thought it was because he was so smart and intellectual. I don't think I ever understood anything he said until the night of Melly's death. That is when he said that Melly was the only dream that had ever come true. I finally had grown up enough to realize that Ashley loved Melly and that Ashley was not the man I thought he was. I never listened when anyone tried to tell me the truth about him. Pa, Old Miss, you, and even Ashley himself."

Rhett was quiet. He was listening. He was truly listening. He wanted to know how she thought and felt about Ashley Wilkes. Not what he wanted her to think or feel. She said, "I went to see him while he was splitting rails about the tax money. He talked a lot of gobble gook about being a coward which I didn't understand. I asked him to run away with me. He turned me down and started spouting off about Melly being the best wife in the South. I kissed him and he kissed me back. I told him I loved him, and he told me he loved me." Scarlett turned and looked at Rhett with a ferocious expression on her face. She said, "That was the worst thing he did to me. To tell me he loved me. I would have waited forever if I hadn't seen the truth that night. I know now that he was too much of a coward to actually confront me and make me understand. He always wanted to avoid conflict. He still does."

Rhett and Scarlett were quiet for a long time. She said, "You can say I told you so."

"No, I don't want to say that. I want to understand the young girl you were before the war, during the war, and after the war. I made some assumptions about you a long time ago, but I have found they weren't true. Well, completely true. You are selfish and self-centered, but you are also extremely loyal, hardworking, ingenious, clever, and so very passionate."

"And?"

"No jab. No cutting comments. I will tease you but in a playful way not in a hurtful way."

"Alright."

Just then the clerk, Phil, stuck his head out the door and said, "Mrs. Kennedy, we have a problem."

"I will be right there."

"Go, my love, and dominate the world."

Scarlett smiled and said, "Goodbye."

Later that night, Scarlett thought, 'I wish Patrick doesn't die. We only get seven short years together. I wonder if there is any way I can stop Patrick from dying. I guess I cannot let him leave the house that day.'

Rhett went to The Painted Lady every night and made shady business deals. He knew which ones were going to make money and which ones weren't. He avoided the ones that didn't make money and invested in some others that he hadn't had time for the first timeline. He was making money hand over fist. Yet because of his sober state, he saw how pathetic his life was now. Yet he would keep going back because he wanted to be able to buy Scarlett any damn thing she wanted, including another mansion built like a Swiss chalet if that was what she wanted.

Before Frank had run off with Suellen, while Rhett was at The Painted Lady, he had always made a point to speak to Belle to make sure she would give the clan members an alibi because of her affection for him. Now in his sober state, he had seen that she had no affection for him. She was pleasing her benefactor, that was all. If the truth was known she probably didn't have any affection for anyone. Like Belle he hadn't cared about another human being until he met Scarlett.

Rhett decided that Belle was an amazing actress. He now knew why she had given the clan members an alibi. So, he was in debt to her and to shame all the proper women who snubbed her on the street.

Rhett never allowed himself to think about his being unfaithful to Scarlett much less with a worn-out, old whore. That just made him feel so incredibly stupid. It was just one more thing he had to atone for. The sad part was that he hadn't used Belle for sexual release. No, he had used Belle to hurt Scarlett. He guessed before he had even committed adultery, he had already known in the back of his mind that he was going to make sure everyone knew about it. But Rhett knew at that moment Belle had let him use her body, so he was in a conspiracy with her.

Rhett went back to the store during the next week. When Scarlett came out of the back, she smiled at him like he was her favorite person in the world. Rhett's heart swelled with happiness. She said, "Let's go sit on the porch."

When Rhett and Scarlett got out on the porch, she said, "What do you think of the floor display?"

"It is nice. I am surprised at how plain it is."

"Most people like plain. It blends with everything. It is going to get hot soon. So, we can sit out here and maybe catch a breeze."

"Sit down, then I will sit opposite you."

"Certainly."

"How are the children?"

"Wonderful. Ella is trying to sit-up. She is a little early which makes me happy."

"Is she ahead of where she was last time?"

"I have no idea. You know I didn't pay any attention to my children then."

"Yes, I know. And Wade?"

"He is missing Mammy, but I think Prissy has been sneaking him treats."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing. He deserves to get treats. Just not from me. I have to be the strict person in the household."

"Not too strict I hope."

"No, not too strict." Scarlett looked away. She said, "I would like to say it was Bonnie's death that taught me not to take anyone for granted but it was Melly's death that taught me that lesson. And, of course, you leaving me. I took both you and Melly for granted. I thought you two would always be there."

"When I found out you had signed the divorce papers I felt like a ship without an anchor. I took you for granted also. I thought you would always be there for me to come back to."

"I didn't lose Ashley for he was never the man I thought he was. He was just another child for me to have to be responsible for. One good thing about you leaving me was that I was in so much pain, I couldn't carry anyone. I'm pretty sure that India carried him which was fine. She needed him to succeed."

"India? Isn't she the woman that spread the gossip about you being caught with Mr. Wilkes' arm around you?"

"Yes. What is sad about that situation was that India spread all that gossip to hurt me, which she did, but she dragged her brother's name through the dirt also. She was so intent on causing me harm that she didn't care about who else she hurt. She hurt Ashley and Melanie, also, the people who had opened their home to her."

Rhett smiled sadly and said, "Sometimes people get so focused on their goal, that they ignore all the collateral damage."

"Collateral? Isn't that something I put up to secure a loan."

Rhett resisted the urge to make a joke about Scarlett's lack of knowledge. He simply said, "Yes but the phrase is 'collateral damage' which means unexpected consequences from one's actions. For an example of collateral damage is my turning you down at the Fire House was you marrying Frank. Believe you me, I didn't like you being married to another man, but especially Frank Kennedy."

Scarlett was stunned Rhett had admitted that he had done something wrong and that he had regrets about something.