Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

For everyone following at home. From now forward we are leaving the canon far, far behind.

Chapter Twenty-Three

After Scarlett read the letter, she questioned Suellen's intelligence. Scarlett thought, 'If you think Frank is a prize, you deserve him. And no, I hadn't ever cared about Frank. He was just a means to an end. I hadn't even cared if he got himself killed as long as I wasn't responsible for his death in any way. I guess that is a sin I will have to atone for someday.'

Scarlett turned to Will and said, "Suellen and Frank have run off together. He said Mexico. She said Texas."

"What?! She left Susie?"

"It doesn't matter where they have gone, we will never find them. I doubt we will ever see them again. Yes, you are lucky. She left your child. Furthermore, after a year we can file for divorce because of spousal abandonment."

"What? I don't want a divorce."

"They have been meeting in Rough and Ready at least once a week since Pa's funeral. Did you notice anything?"

"No, I was too busy with harvest."

"I was too busy having a baby then selling lumber once I got out of my confinement."

"She was happy. I thought she was happy because she was having a baby."

Scarlett sighed inwardly. Wasn't that just like a man to assume that a woman would be ecstatically happy because she was having a child by a man she didn't love? Scarlett said, "We are lucky they left the children. Susie will be fine because she has a wet-nurse, but I will send Mammy down here to help you take care of Susie."

"Thank you. I don't know anything about babies."

"Well, I don't either."

"Do you think there is any chance Suellen will return?"

"Not a chance in hell."

"What am I going to do?"

"First, you are going to accept that your wife left you and she isn't coming back, second, you are going to be incredibly happy she left your daughter, third, you are going to realize that you are the Master of Tara whether Suellen is here or not. Once you married Suellen, everything she owned became yours. Fourth, I will figure out a plan."

"Alright. Alright."

"I am taking Prissy back with me to take care of my children while I send Mammy to you."

"Thank you."

Before Scarlett left the main house, she went to the parlor and told her aunts, "Suellen has run off with Frank Kennedy and she isn't coming back."

Pauline said, "She ran off with your husband. The shame."

"True. Why didn't you tell anyone that Suellen was sneaking out of the house?"

Eulalie said, "We didn't know what she was doing. She never informed us of her whereabouts."

Pauline said, "If we questioned her, she snapped at us quite rudely. She was so improper speaking to us that way." Scarlett sighed and thought, 'That is probably true.'

"You are right, it was extremely improper for Suellen to speak to you that way."

Scarlett was trying to speak politely to her aunts because Will was going to need the old biddies help in the coming months. She said, "If you want supper tonight, you two better go help Liberty get it together."

Before Scarlett was out the door, Eulalie said, "But we don't know anything about cooking."

Scarlett smiled and said, "Then you better learn, or everyone is going to starve." Meanly Scarlett said, "Do you know what it is like to starve?"

"Of course, we do."

As Scarlett walked out of the parlor, she said, "Then get to the kitchen and help Liberty or you will experience starvation once again."

Although Scarlett wanted to slap her aunts just for the sheer joy of slapping them, she walked out of the house into the clearing. As she got into her buggy, she decided she would have to give Will some time to get over his shock and she supposed grief. Scarlett didn't know how much Will truly cared for Suellen, but she was the mother of his baby. Men seemed to hold a lot of store by that, except Rhett Butler. Her being Bonnie's mother seemed to make her even more of an enemy to him.

As Scarlett returned to Atlanta, she pondered Suellen's question about the faithfulness of her husband. Yes, she had naively expected Rhett to remain faithful to her despite the fact she had kicked him out of her bed. Kicked him out over some allusion Ashley had made that in truth he had not meant what she had thought he had meant. Proper Ashley would never have talked about that subject with his wife much less his friend. She had honestly expected Frank the gentleman to remain faithful. She guessed Frank was only a gentleman when it suited him. Frank had done iffy business with Rhett before the war started.

Scarlett sighed. Yes, her asking Rhett to sleep somewhere else had been a mistake but she didn't need to worry about Rhett for she would never marry him again. She would never put herself or her children through that again.

Scarlett shook her head. She had bigger problems than remembering a mistake she had made fourteen years ago. She said to herself, "What am I going to do about Tara?" Then she said, "What am I going to do about the store? Is there anything there to save? When I get back to Atlanta, I will go by the store and check it out but first I will go to the bank and get a loan."

Prissy and Big Sam were sitting in the front but neither person asked Scarlett what she had said. They knew she wasn't talking to them.

Once Scarlett had arrived in Atlanta, she had Big Sam stop at the bank before she went home. She asked to see the loan officer. She had to find out if she could get a loan. After all, she had the store as collateral.

Scarlett told, Merrill Lynch, the loan officer, her situation. He seemed sympathetic to her plight. He said, "What is your collateral?"

"The store."

The man looked at his desk then at Scarlett with sad eyes. He said, "That is where we are in a bind. The store is not legally yours. It still belongs to Mr. Kennedy."

Already knowing the answer Scarlett said, "What about my sawmills? They are in my name."

"Technically they are yours, but you would have to have your husband's signature to be able to put them up to guarantee a loan."

Scarlett stood up. She said, "And he can't sign anything because he has run away."

"That's the situation in a nutshell."

"Can you tell me how much money is in the store account, at least?"

"I am not supposed to tell anyone but Mr. Kennedy. Would you like a cup of tea, Mrs. Kennedy?"

Scarlett was startled by the abrupt change in subjects but when she looked at Merrill's face, he winked at her. She said, "Yes, thank you."

Scarlett sat back down and waited for Mr. Lynch to return.

In about ten minutes, Merrill came back with a cup of tea. He set it in front of Scarlett, he whispered, "Nothing."

Scarlett whispered back, "What?"

Still whispering Merrill said, "There is nothing in either one of Mr. Kennedy's accounts. In fact, he closed both of them."

Merrill was looking at Scarlett with sympathy. It was obvious to her that he wanted to help but there wasn't anything else he could do.

Scarlett wanted to scream out her frustration at the situation. She wanted to take the cup of tea and throw it in the extremely kind loan officer's face just because she was so angry. She wanted to call Frank Kennedy every ugly name she could think of. If she could have gotten a hold of that sniveling coward, she would have killed him with her bare hands. Instead, she pulled herself together with heroic effort and stood with the dignity of a queen.

Scarlett politely said, "Thank you for your time. You are a true gentleman. There are so few of them these days. Thank you, again."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help."

"You did everything you could do."

Scarlett turned and with her back iron rod straight walked out of the bank. The Yankees, starvation, and Rhett Butler hadn't broken her. She would be damned if Frank Kennedy would.

Big Sam and Prissy were patiently waiting for her outside. They both smiled at her, and she felt their trust in her. That made her feel better. That made her feel stronger.

As Scarlett climbed into the buggy she said, "Take me to Hamilton House. I will go to the store later."

"Yes, Miss Scarlett."

When Scarlett, Prissy, and Big Sam got to the house, she said, "Tell everyone I need to see them in the kitchen. You two, also."

Scarlett got PittyPat, Mammy, Wade, and Ella. They did not have a large staff. There was Peter, Cookie, Mammy, Big Sam and a scullery maid, Clara, who had recently been hired to help Cookie. Scarlett had hired Clara because she had thought they had gone around the bend and life would be easier in the future. Normally the mistress of the house would not share all of her personal business with the staff, but she needed them to know what was going on. A lot was going to be asked of them in the next several weeks if not months.

Once everyone was in the kitchen, Scarlett said, "Mr. Kennedy has left me. He has run off with my sister, Suellen. We will never see him again." Scarlett turned to Mammy and said, "Will needs a really experienced nursemaid to help with Susie. The only person he has to help him is the wet nurse. Prissy has agreed to come stay here and help me with Wade and Ella thus freeing you up to go to Tara and take care of Susie. Will you go live at Tara?"

"Of course. Those aunts of yours won't be any help."

Scarlett smiled and said, "Maybe you can browbeat them into helping with the chores around Tara."

"That will take a lot of browbeating."

"If anyone can do it, it is you."

"Yes, I will go take care of Miss Ellen's granddaughter."

"Go ahead and pack your clothes. I will have Big Sam take you down to Tara tomorrow. Let me have Ella."

With Ella in her arms and Wade beside her, Scarlett turned back to the rest of the group and said, "Big Sam…."

"Yes ma'am. I will take her down to Tara, but you will have to stay home tomorrow.

"It will be alright. The only place I will go will be the store. We have some tough times ahead of us because Frank took all the cash money we had. I am going down to the store right now to see what stock we do have. Frank took all the store money also. We have nothing. I am going to have to get a loan from my friend, Rhett. For everyone's sake I hope he loans me the money. Thank you. You can go back to work."

Cookie and Clara walked away to go back to work while Peter remained standing there. He knew as well as Scarlett that he was going to have to convince PittyPat to perform her role. Whatever it may be. Scarlett turned to PittyPat and said, "I am going to invite Rhett to supper tonight. Aunt PittyPat, you will have to remain in the dining room the entire time Rhett is in the dining room. If we move into the parlor, you will have to move with us. I cannot be left alone with Rhett. It just isn't proper."

"I don't know, Sweetie. He isn't received."

"I know. That isn't what is important right now. What is important is that he has money to loan us. Frank took every penny we had. Let me go write Rhett a note. I will be right back, Peter. You can take the note to Rhett at the National Hotel."

"Yes, Miss Scarlett."

Scarlett wrote Rhett a note. It said: Would you be so kind as to join us for supper? If your answer is yes, we will eat at six.

Scarlett gave the note to Peter. He could take it over once he had convinced PittyPat this was their only choice.