Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Protos Heis - I always imagine PittyPat Hamilton as the actress, Laura Hope Crews. Ms. Crews died in 1942. It is believed she died from kidney failure.

Billie Burke was the actress that Selznick wanted to play PittyPat, but she was far too thin. She would have needed padding everywhere, even in her face. Burke went on the play the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz.

Chapter Thirty-Four

That evening, Rhett picked up Scarlett in a cab. When Scarlett got to the cab, she found that Mr. and Mrs. Powe were already in the cab. Rhett said, "I have learned from experience that no amount of time is too short to compromise a young lady. Now, if you were already divorced from Mr. Kennedy I might do it but not until then."

Scarlett laughed and climbed into the cab. She seated herself while Rhett climbed in after her. Once he was seated, he said, "Scarlett, this is Joseph Powe and his wife Suzanne."

"Suzanne and I know each other from our time nursing during the war. Nice to meet you Mr. Powe."

"And you too Mrs. Kennedy."

"Just to confirm, how long does my worthless, runaway husband have to be gone before I divorce him?"

Joe was flustered by Scarlett's direct question. He stammered, "How.. How long has he been gone?"

"Over a month without a word."

By this time Joe had gotten himself together and said, "He has to be gone for an entire year."

"Is that three hundred and sixty-five days or is that April fifteenth the day he ran away like a coward leaving me and my baby without any financial support." Scarlett turned and smiled at Rhett then she turned back to Joe and said, "Fortunately, my best friend has been able to help me in my time of need."

Joe and Suzanne turned and looked at each other. He said, "On April fifteenth of sixty-eight you can file the papers."

"I will probably get you to file the papers for me. I am quite sure my current attorney would not happily do it for me."

"I would not be happy about doing it either. Marriage is a sacred union."

"Obviously, Frank didn't think so since he ran off with my sister."

Both Joe and Suzanne blushed. Rhett said, "Scarlett, you are embarrassing our guests."

Scarlett looked at Rhett to see if he was serious about the fact that she was embarrassing their guests. She could tell by the twinkle in his eye that he wasn't. She smiled and said, "I don't want to embarrass our guest. I just wanted to find out….. well, I got my answer."

Scarlett was working hard at being nice to Mr. Powe. During her first timeline, he had told her such awful news that she had developed a hatred for him. She knew he was just repeating what Rhett had told him to say but nevertheless, she had still been angry at him.

The rest of the evening was pleasant. Rhett had taken them to the Peachtree Inn for supper. After they were seated at the table, Joe said, "Does everything down here have peach in its name?"

Suzanne and Scarlett at the same time said, "Yes."

"It gets very confusing."

"Yes, it does especially when there ends up being two Peach of something."

The rest of the evening was pleasant. When the check came Rhett took it and paid it without ever looking at Joe.

When Rhett was walking Scarlett to her door, she said, "Did you just pay for the meal, or did you have to pay for his time also?"

"Just the meal but if you continue to ask legal questions, I might get charged for his time also."

Scarlett smiled. She said, "I am going to get my children tomorrow."

"Alright. I never thought I would say this to you. I guess a week away from your children is the longest you can last."

"Yes, it is."

"It should be safe enough. I imagine those women have moved to another city."

"Was there nothing Captain Jaffery could arrest those women on?"

"He could have charged them with assault but that is a minor crime."

"What about keeping someone against their will?"

"The women claimed that anyone could leave at any time."

"They couldn't."

"Captain Jaffery has bigger problems on his plate. I'm just lucky that we were friends, or he would not have listened to me."

"How can you be friends? Didn't he imprison you?"

"Yes, all has been forgiven. He is a bad poker player. I have made a lot of money off him. Take the train to Tara tomorrow. You can't live in fear forever."

"Good night, Rhett."

Rhett bent down and kissed her on her forehead. He whispered, "People are watching. It is already going to be all over Atlanta that you don't care that Frank has run off with your sister."

"Well, I don't, and I don't plan to pretend. I will do what I can to maintain my reputation but in April of seventy-four I am moving to Boston therefore in the end it doesn't matter."

"Next time we talk you will have to tell me what Mr. Green did that made you love him so much."

"Maybe. Good night, Rhett."

After Rhett had dropped the Powes off, he said, "Clarence."

"Yes."

"She called me her best friend which made me think I was making headway in winning her heart back. At the end of the evening, she stated once again that she is moving to Boston in seventy-four to once again meet Mr. Green."

"You are making headway in winning her heart, but she is not willing to admit it yet. I think she knows she loves you, but she doesn't trust you. Therefore, she is going…."

"To return to the safe and secure world she had with Mr. Green."

"Exactly."

"Great."

"Any progress is better than no progress."

"True. I will talk with you later. I have arrived at The Painted Lady."

Right after breakfast the next morning, Uncle Peter dropped Scarlett off at the train station. She would be arriving at the Jonesboro Station by nine. Will would make sure Big Sam was there to meet her. She had a passing thought, 'I am alone with Big Sam for hours on end and nobody thinks we are doing anything naughty but if I am alone with Rhett for a minute, he will have compromised me. That is the ridiculousness of the gentry."

Scarlett spent her time traveling to Tara thinking about Patrick. She thought about their intimate time together. It hadn't been bad, but it hadn't been something she had wanted to do. She had just handled Patrick the same way she had handled Frank. She had a hundred reasons why they couldn't have relations.

Scarlett spent some time wondering why she hadn't at least tried to manipulate Rhett that way. Why had she come straight at Rhett with her demand? She had known that would not work with Rhett. He would have called her bluff. Sadly, she wished he had called her bluff in another way.

Scarlett had said she didn't want to have any more children. Why had he not come back and said, "We don't have to have any more children, but we are going to continue being intimate. I know about preventatives."

A thought occurred to Scarlett that was so outrageous she could hardly think it. Especially for such a worldly man as Rhett. Maybe he didn't know how to prevent creating a baby. The next thought that followed close behind was why would he? Wait! Wait! Hadn't he had mistresses? Had he? And even if he had, wasn't that the mistress' problem to not get with child. If she did, she would just have to get rid of it. Maybe the only ways he knew of preventing creating a baby were abstinence and getting rid of it afterwards.

Another thought occurred to Scarlett. Rhett hadn't heard I don't want to have any more children. He had heard I want to stay chaste for Ashley. Why would he think that unless he was so insanely jealous that all logical thought had escaped him. Sadly, she knew that was true.

Last but not least, she had hurt his pride. She realized that Rhett was a lot more insecure than she would have ever thought. That is why she had unknowingly been hurting his pride time and time again.

Why had Scarlett even said anything to Rhett about not having any more children in the first place? Why had she not tried to manipulate Rhett? Because of Ashley's words about not liking to think about Rhett holding her. She would never know if what Ashley had said was what she had heard. She was pretty sure it wasn't. She had never understood anything Ashley had said and therefore, to keep the fantasy intact she had always interpreted his words to fit her desires. She wished she could remember what he had actually said that day, but she hadn't heard his words in the first place so how could she remember what he said?

Looking at that scene from the point of view of an adult, somehow Ashley had known Scarlett was getting ready to sell the sawmills. She remembered considering it as she had walked into the office. She hadn't needed the money from the mills then. She had Rhett's money and he had said she could use his money to support Tara and her aunts.

No, Scarlett had not been listening to Ashley that day. She had been too busy wondering if he was going to kiss her or not like some fourteen-year-old child. In disgust, she thought, 'My entire life was teetering on a pinnacle, and I was stupidly wondering if Ashley was going to kiss me or not. What a stupid child I was.'

Scarlett remembered the rest of the afternoon. She had gotten herself all worked up over a belief that she had made up in her head. She had barged into the nursery and then their room without a plan. She had just blurted it out without judging the circumstances but then again, she never had stopped to judge the circumstances.

Scarlett remembered she had said the worst thing she could have possibly said at that moment. She had said, 'Ashley forgoes having relations because of Melanie's condition.' Upon reflection she didn't think she could have said anything stupider if she had tried. In retrospect, she had often asked herself, "Did you not know that Rhett hated Ashley to the nth degree. Why did you never wonder why?' No, she had just kept bumbling along making her life worse and worse.

Scarlett remembered Rhett not coming home that night or at least not coming to their bedroom. She had laid in her bed willing him to come to bed. She guessed her will had not been strong enough.

Scarlett remembered all his belongings having been moved out of their bedroom before she had gotten home from the store the next day. She had cried some tears over that event also. Yet, despite it all she had not said one single word about his leaving the main bedroom. She thought, 'If only he had let me know I mattered to him in some way, I would have reached out to him.'

Scarlett smiled. When she thought, 'Liar, liar. Pants on fire. As he had said one time… 'He was not important as long as the bills were paid.'

The worst memory was when she had realized that Ashley was already living a chaste life so he wasn't giving anything up to be chaste with her if he had even promised he would be. She guessed he hadn't been, considering that Melly died from complications from a miscarriage. She just then in that moment realized that she had been a bigger fool than she had thought she had been. And she had thought she had been an enormous fool.

Scarlett was going to ask Rhett about that afternoon and what he was feeling. She was also going to make herself ask him about his activities that night. He was being honest for once in their relationship.

When the train got to Jonesboro, Scarlett got off the train and started looking for Big Sam. She would think about Rhett and Patrick later. After she was in the buggy, she had one last thought that made her cringe. She thought, 'I knew Ashley and Melly were sleeping in separate bedrooms before I went out to the mills. If I had been more concerned about what Ashley was saying instead of whether he was going to kiss me or not, I would have realized that Ashley wasn't giving anything up. No, he was just taking something away from Rhett. I don't remember the words Ashley had said about Rhett that day, I just remembered his words had been filled with anger and hatred. It seems Ashley hated Rhett as much as Rhett hated Ashley. I was such a fool.'

As Sam pulled up in the clearing, Scarlett saw the children playing on the grass. Mammy and Prissy were watching them. Scarlett said casually, "I won't need you until it is time to return to Atlanta."

"Yes, Miss Scarlett."

Sam would be sure to linger around the family while they were outside. Although he thought the danger had passed one could never be completely sure in these situations.

By the time Scarlett had gotten out of the buggy, Wade was running over to her. Ella couldn't even crawl yet much less walk, but Scarlett scooped her son up and walked towards her daughter. She sat herself down on the ground and pulled her daughter on her lap. She sat there hugging her children and talking to them until Careen came out of the house.

Scarlett could not believe the change in her sister's appearance. She looked like she had gained ten pounds which would have been amazing because nobody had an extra amount to eat those days. Scarlett also noticed that Careen was wearing one of Scarlett's dresses from before the war. She hadn't been able to wear at least half the dresses she owned after Wade was born. She wouldn't say anything. It no longer mattered. In truth, the dresses were Careen's dresses now.