Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Scarlett thought the Wilkeses, all of them, would be happier in New York. They would be able to attend operas, plays, and visit the museums. All the stuff Ashley and Melanie were always talking about.
Scarlett hoped Ashley did well in New York, but she found she didn't really miss Melanie. She knew now that Melanie was a part of Southern society that Scarlett could never be a part of. A role she no longer wanted. No, she never could have been a part of it because she had too much spirit in her to always be proper. For a moment, she wondered if she could have happily lived the life she had been groomed to live, that of being a mistress of a fine plantation. She could have done it, but she would never have truly been happy. It would have been too boring for her. When an image of Rhett popped into her head, she wasn't surprised. Rhett was never boring.
When Rhett stopped by the Hamilton House on the first of November, he asked Scarlett to walk him to the door. With Frank's approval, she did. When they were alone, Rhett said, "I am surprised you didn't give Mr. Wilkes a job."
"We had an agreement. I couldn't give Ashley a job or I would have to pay my entire loan back at that moment. I didn't owe very much but it was more than I could pay you at that time."
"I'm still surprised you didn't try."
"I am a woman of my word, Rhett."
"I guess you are, but I would have thought you would have at least gotten him a job a Frank's store considering he is your true love and all."
"He wanted to go to New York. He said it was his last chance to stand on his own two feet. Because he was my true love and all, I gave him what he wanted."
"That was good of you."
"I thought it was the right thing to do."
"How could he afford the train ticket?"
"Once again because he is my one true love, I loaned him the money. It will probably end up I gave him the money, but no cost is too great for one's true love. Good night, Rhett. It is cold out there."
Scarlett pushed Rhett out the door and shut the door in his face.
Rhett left the house confused. Last time Scarlett gave Mr. Wilkes a job to prevent him from moving to New York. This time it almost seemed like she packed his bags for him. He still couldn't understand why she was acting differently. He had always believed that given the same set of circumstances a person would react the same way, but Scarlett had behaved entirely differently in a lot of circumstances since he had returned in time.
Scarlett walked upstairs, she had enough of Frank tonight. He had gotten where every Tuesday night he was extremely irritable. She needed to think about Rhett, she was concerned about all Rhett's questions. He was always good at seeing things that were out of the ordinary. Of course, he hadn't ever shared any of those observations with her. She laughed out loud. How ridiculous was she being. No one would think a person had returned from the future. Even if he did think that so what? He couldn't prove it. If he told anyone what he thought, they would put him in an insane asylum. She laughed again. Besides, he had no control over her. She wasn't married to him in this timeline. She laughed again when she thought, 'Or the other one either.'
Frank was sitting in the parlor having another whiskey. He just knew Scarlett and Captain Butler were having an affair. He had heard from several people that they had been friends during the war. A few people had even speculated that they were more than friends. Frank thought, 'Maybe they still were. No man loans a woman five hundred dollars on her word alone unless he was getting something else out of the deal.'
Later in the week, Scarlett found out from her aunts that Suellen was with child. It seems Will had gotten a bun in the oven during their first month together. Every week Scarlett got a letter from her aunts complaining about their accommodations. They had been given the room that Suellen and Careen had shared but once Suellen had found herself with child, she had taken that room back to be used as a nursery. The sisters were given the guest bedroom which admittedly was small.
The aunts had complained about Suellen's sour disposition. She was always in a bad mood except for Wednesday evening then she was ecstatic.
Scarlett had not been surprised about anything in the letter except that there was a time that Suellen was happy. Nevertheless, Scarlett wasn't the least bit sympathetic to the aunts' horrible life.
Scarlett was busy selling lumber and interacting with her children. She couldn't believe how happy she was when she saw Ella smile at her for the first time. Of course, Wade smiling always made her happy also. Her children were the highlight of her life.
After Scarlett made her last payment to Rhett in December, she was happy. She had enjoyed talking with Rhett during his monthly visits and she did wish they could have continued. However, she was also glad she was not going to have regular contact with Rhett. He had been looking at her questioningly far too often lately.
Christmas was a small affair. Scarlett and Frank had agreed to only give the children presents. The couple had given PittyPat a box of chocolates and Henry a small bottle of whiskey. The older couple had replicated the gesture by giving Frank and Scarlett equally small gifts.
On March fourth, Suellen gave birth to a baby girl. She was named Susan Ellen Benteen. She wasn't a particularly pretty girl, but she wasn't ugly either, but time would tell what she looked like when she was grown up. Suellen had insisted on a wet nurse. She would maintain her lady status in at least this small way. They paid the wet nurse in room and board.
At the end of the day, Scarlett had wondered how Rhett had spent his day. She knew he wouldn't have gone to his mother's. When it popped into her head that he had spent the day with Belle, it had not made Scarlett the least bit happy.
Rhett had spent the day with Belle so to speak. He and about twenty other men who also had nowhere else to be spent the day at The Painted Lady. Belle had provided Christmas dinner for the group. It was a bunch of sandwiches, but the clientele appreciated her effort to give the day some normalcy.
Both Rhett and Scarlett were anxious the first two weeks of April. Would the clan go on that ill-fated raid? If they did it wouldn't be because Scarlett had been attacked. With Big Sam as her bodyguard, she was well protected.
If one of those Yankee women said anything that might hurt Big Sam's feelings Scarlett was quick to defend him. She couldn't lose Big Sam and certainly not over some hurt feelings.
As it turned out the clan going on a raid was not what altered Scarlett's life. When Ella was six months old, and Susie was six weeks old. Frank and Suellen ran away together. It wasn't at the same time as the clan raid, but it was awfully close. Nobody knew where they had run off to. Maybe Texas. Tony was living there after all. He was living on Galveston Island. Maybe Mexico. Maybe even California. It didn't matter where. Both Will and Scarlett knew they weren't coming back. Both people had left their children behind.
Frank had left a note that said, "As you know I found one of your stashes and I took those two hundred dollars. I put it in the bank under my name which you couldn't touch. You told me often enough how wrong that was of me, but I didn't care. You tricked me into marriage by making me think you loved me. You have stopped having relations with me. You have bullied me and shamed me with your behavior. When I found another of your stashes for one hundred dollars, I thought 'I have gotten my money back.' The money you tricked me into paying Clayton County to save that white elephant called Tara. I have taken all the store profits, the money I was going to use to buy stock, and my three hundred dollars. I am leaving Atlanta forever. The only relative I have is my sister and we aren't very close. Suellen and I are running away together. I think we will go to Mexico.
Good luck surviving without any money. Maybe your friend, Captain Butler, will loan you some more money. He did say you needed to go buy something, so you would have to borrow money from him again.
Just for the record, I know you and Captain Butler are having an affair, that is one of the reasons I didn't feel guilty about my relationship with Suellen.
Frank
After Scarlett read the letter, she said out loud, "What a hypocrite. I'm having an affair, so it justifies him having an affair. Good riddance. He had outlived his usefulness. But what am I going to do without any money?"
PittyPat, who was walking by the parlor, said, "What, Dear?"
"Nothing. I have to go to Tara this afternoon. I have to confirm something."
That afternoon, Scarlett had Big Sam drive her down to Tara. She left Wade in Atlanta with Mammy. Although Scarlett was in a hurry to get to Tara, she didn't ask Big Sam to go faster. The old horse couldn't go any faster than he was going. This day was bad enough, she didn't need to add a dead horse to the mix.
After Scarlett had found Will in the barn, he said, "I don't know where Suellen is. I believe she has run away. She left you a note. I think it has your name on it. I can't read."
"Where is it?"
"In your mother's office. Let's go get it. You can tell me what it says."
Once in the office Scarlett found the note easily. It was on the desk. She picked it up. She started reading it. The note said, 'Dear Scarlett, I finally found someone who loved me more than you. I am finally the winner. Pa loved you best, Mother loved you best, Mammy loved you best, and every man for five counties loved you best. All the women hated you. Even the matrons hated you. But you didn't care.
Frank and I have run off to Texas. We have been meeting in Rough and Ready since we saw each other at Pa's funeral. When he looked at me, I knew Frank still loved me. Because I didn't think we could ever be together since he was married to you, I married Will. Five years ago, I would never have done anything so improper as to run off with a married man while I was married to another man. Yet it is you that taught me that one can do the most unladylike things and in truth there is nothing society can do to shame one unless one feels the shame. Since the debacle with Pa and the unionist money everyone in Clayton County has been shunning me therefore what have I got to lose? Nothing.
The first time Frank and I met he begged me to forgive him. Which when he explained how you lied to him, of course, I forgave him. Frank has always been such a trusting man. When he found the other hundred dollars, we began to make our plans. I was nine months with child when he found the money so we had to wait until I could once again leave the house although I still met him at Rough and Ready despite the fact I was supposed to be in my confinement and recovering from the birth of Will's child. I guess the servants, or our aunts never told Will about me being gone.
We met in the middle of the day when he was supposed to be at the store and Will was usually out in the field. Naive Will never suspected a thing. You hadn't really cared about what Frank did as long as he wasn't bothering you.
Once you saddled me with two old biddies, I had to get away from Tara. Did you honestly expect a man to stay faithful to you once you banned him from your bed?
Goodbye my charming older sister,
Suellen.
