Chapter XIV

Atlanta people gossiped more and meddled in other people's business more than any other people in the South...

... And the morning after the bazaar, the names on the tongues of all the busybodies of Atlanta where Captain and Mrs. Butler. Their conduct the night before had been extraordinary, the likes of which Atlanta had not seen before. That they had been the most handsome couple there was not in doubt, that they had contributed more money to the Cause than anyone else there, also, could not be questioned. But their behaviour! Several times they had been seen dancing far too closely! He had been seen kissing her more than once and, Atlanta could never forgive that he had passed up its many beautiful belles to dance instead with his own wife! Whoever heard of a man paying money to dance with his own wife! It was an outrage, a scandal! It was...

... Rather sweet actually. Or so were the murmurs that followed these expressions of outrage. The young women of Atlanta, far from being jealous of Mrs. Butler, thought hers a rather blessed life, for not only was she young and beautiful and stunningly attired, but her husband clearly adored her.

So while the matron's and gossipy old men of Atlanta slammed the Butlers, the younger set, aided by Melanie Wilkes, were their strongest supporters. It mattered little to Scarlett and Rhett however, for by the next afternoon they were on their way to Tara.

Originally, they had intended to stay several days longer, but, upon rising after sleeping late that morning, Scarlett had been overcome by her desire to go home and see her family. She had had no news from home since her mother's last note telling her of Brent's survival and she was eager to return and find out what was going on.

Rhett agreed, tickets were purchased, bags were repacked and to Clayton County they were to go. As the train moved further away from Atlanta, and closer to Tara, Scarlett's excitement grew.

"I'll take you riding and show you all the best paths and Pa shall take you over the land and tell you the story of how he won Tara in a card game. And Mother! Rhett I can't wait to see her!"

"And how shall you like sharing your childhood bedroom with me, Mrs. Butler?" Rhett asked, a strange heat burning in his eyes.

Scarlett blushed hotly.

"Oh! I hadn't thought of that!"

"I love that you still blush, my darling," Rhett told her, running a finger down her reddened cheek. "Like a virgin bride, except, hardly the first..."

"Rhett!" Scarlett gasped, her hands flying to her cheek. "You mustn't talk so. You must promise to behave yourself while we are at Tara!"

"I shall make no such promise," Rhett declared, grinning wickedly. "I shall treat you just as I always do."

"Oh, Rhett, no!" Scarlett moaned. "You mustn't, you simply mustn't! Mother would be horrified! Pa would shoot you!"

"We've been married a year now, my pet. I daresay your parents have reconciled themselves to us sharing a bed and engaging in the usual marital activities."

"Stop!" Scarlett exclaimed. "You can't talk like that at Tara, Rhett! In fact... we'd better not... you know... while we're there at all."

"Don't be ridiculous Scarlett," Rhett sighed, drawing her across her seat and situating her comfortably in his lap. "I shall behave myself, as you bid me. I won't drag you into your bedroom in the middle of the day as I might at home and I promise not to you words such as virgin and lover. But we shall make love in your childhood bed, Scarlett, just as often and just as thoroughly as we would in any other bed we might share."

Scarlett's blush seemed to be a permanent fixture once they arrived in the depot closest to Tara, for Rhett had spent the remainder of the trip engaging in the very behaviours she had forbidden in him once they arrived at her childhood home.

It was a simple enough matter to hire a conveyance to take them and their luggage to Tara and as the great white house came into view, Scarlett thought she might cry.

"Oh I hadn't realized how I'd missed it!" She whispered wondrously, staring at the house that had been home for her whole life until a year ago.

She jumped down the moment the buggy stopped, not waiting for Rhett's assistance and charged up the front steps. She threw the door open herself and called loudly –

"Mother! Pa! It's me, Katie Scarlett! I've come home!"

"Scarlett?"

It was Ellen, hurrying down the stairs, a wide smile on her face.

"Mother!"

She was in her mother's arms then, crying like a young girl, embracing her tightly and murmuring over and over again how glad she was to be home.

"My darling girl," Ellen murmured. "Of course you are glad to be home. We are so glad to have you."

"Is that Katie Scarlett? Is that my Puss?"

She fell into Gerald's arms then, embracing the heady scent of horse and whisky.

"It is your Katie Scarlett," she whispered, for, in that moment, she was Katie Scarlett O'Hara again.

She stepped back then, wiping treacherous tears from her eyes and smiling about the place broadly. Very little had changed, Tara was as it always had been and yet she was so very different it was as if she were seeing the place for the first time.

"Oh I'm so glad to be here! I've missed you all so! Where is Rhett?"

"Here, my darling," his smooth Charlestonian accent drawled. "How quickly I am forgotten when you return to your beloved Tara."

"Rhett, look, Mother and Pa are here!" Scarlett beamed, threading her arm through the crook of his arm and guiding him forward.

"As we might have expected," Rhett quipped lightly. "Mr. O'Hara, Mrs. O'Hara, I'm very glad to see you again."

"We're very glad to see you as well, Captain Butler," Ellen offered him her hand. "And very grateful that you have bought our Scarlett to visit us."

"I could hardly have kept her away had I wished to," Rhett replied. "She's spoken of nothing else for weeks now."

"How is everyone?" Scarlett asked. "Careen and Brent..?"

"All in good time, darling," Ellen soothed, her calming tones inspiring patience, as always. "You must wish to refresh yourselves after your journey. Here's Pork and Mammy."

"Der's ma honey chile!" It was Mammy, the big, comforting arms of Mammy and Scarlett felt like a child again.

"We shore iz glad to see yu Miz Scarlett," Pork beamed at the young mistress. "Things ain't been da same 'round 'ere since yu left a'go married."

"I'm glad to be back, Pork."

"Pork, see that Miss Scarlett and Captain Butler's things are taken to Miss Scarlett's old room," Ellen instructed, pretending not to see the blush that sufficed her eldest daughters face. "Come through to the front room, we'll have refreshments Mammy."

"You'll take something stronger I reckon Capain' Butler," Gerald indicated the brandy canister as Ellen poured coffee. "Mighty good of you to bring our Puss home for a visit!"

"Her wish is my command," Rhett responded elegantly. "The crossing from Nassau wasn't easy, but well worth it."

"Then you must stay for a nice, long visit," Ellen smiled fondly at her daughter. "For we've missed you, my darling."

"I don't know how long will be possible Mother," Scarlett responded. "Rhett can't be spared from the blockades."

"Oh, of course not," Ellen agreed. "It's terribly important that Captain Butler continues his blockading. But that doesn't mean that you can't stay longer darling."

Scarlett looked at Rhett askance. She had never considered that her family might try to convince her to stay, while he went back to Nassau.

"We shall have to see," Rhett jumped in smoothly. "As I'm terribly selfish Mrs. O'Hara, and want to keep Scarlett by my side whenever possible."

"Of course I understand," Ellen nodded, trying to mask her disappointment. "A wife's place is with her husband after all."

"How is Brent?" Scarlett asked again.

"Much better than Doctor Fontaine anticipated," Ellen reported. "He's out of bed now, and walking about. He took dinner with the family last night."

"Oh thank God," Scarlett uttered unthinkingly, blushing as her mother gasped at her profanity. "Forgive me, Mother. I'm so relieved. It was awful being so far away and not knowing what was happening, if he were alive or... otherwise."

"We had little to do here either," Ellen told her. "Except nurse him and pray. And Mrs. Tarleton would hardly let us lift a finger either. She was a woman consumed when he was at his worst. After Boyd..."

Scarlett frowned, thinking of the eldest Tarleton, sweet, studious Boyd, who had died in the first months of the war. While he had never been a particular beau of hers, she had been fond of him, in an absent sort of way, and she had been genuinely grieved to hear of his death.

"And Careen?" Scarlett asked.

"Later, dear," Ellen replied, casting meaningful glances at Rhett and Gerald, who were discussing the blockades and smoking cigars.

Later arrived as, flanked by Ellen and Suellen, Scarlett ascended the staircase under the pretence of overseeing the unpacking of her belongings. Scarlett knew her mother wanted to speak to her privately, but was unable to indicate to Suellen that her presence would be unwelcome.

Suellen had pouted and sulked for the duration of the hours since Rhett and Scarlett had arrived, after first refusing to leave her rooms to great them. When she had it had been with civility bordering on coldness as she loudly lamented that her fiancé was too busy contributing to the war effort to marry her and whisk her off to Paris. These barbs had failed to have any impact on Scarlett or Rhett and as they had been ignored, her efforts become more concerted. Scarlett dismissed her ill-favored younger sister as simply jealous, which was true and set about making her even more envious at every turn.

"Look at these stockings!" Suellen exclaimed, pausing in her riffling through of Scarlett's bags. "Why they're full silk, not a cotton top amongst them! Scarlett!"

"Oh those," Scarlett shrugged dismissively. "I've dozens of pairs in Nassau. You may take a pair or two, if you should like Sue."

"Scarlett, you're awful!" Suellen exclaimed, bursting into loud, dramatic tears and fleeing the room.

Mammy clucked disapprovingly and Ellen sighed.

"Well! I had thought to leave a dress for Sue when we left, for it's nothing for me to have another ordered from Paris whenever I like. But if she's going to be hateful than I won't leave her a thing!"

"Be fair, darling," Ellen implored gently, smoothing Scarlett's hair lovingly. "It's been difficult for Suellen, here at Tara while you've been on exciting adventures. And she misses Mr. Kennedy so!"

Who could miss that mealy mouthed old thing? Scarlett thought to herself, but, for her Mother, faked a smile.

"Poor Sue," she simpered. "Perhaps I will leave her a dress, for when Mr. Kennedy has a furlough. Not a green one though, for she looks ever so sallow in green. A nice pink perhaps?"

"You are sweet, Scarlett," Ellen smiled, the only person in the world who might possibly think so. "I hope you will forgive me for admitting I had my reservations about your marriage to Captain Butler. But you seem so happy dearest. I only hope to see Careen as happy."

"How is she, Mother?"

"Exhausted," Ellen sighed. "For she works all day, nursing Brent and trying to make herself useful to the Tarleton's. Then she prays all night for his recovery, dear, sweet girl. I worry for her Scarlett."

"She is so young," Scarlett replied, with all the wisdom of a girl three years her sister's senior. "Too young to be a bride."

"I was only months older than she was when I married your father," Ellen pointed out. "Though I would have seen them wait. If Brent hadn't been so ill..."

"He is better now?"

"Much. Though he is still unable to... act as a husband," Ellen commented delicately, a blush suffusing her soft features. "Because of that I thought that perhaps she might come home, that they might live apart for some months, slowly accustom themselves to marriage. They both refuse however."

"How awful," Scarlett sighed. "She wouldn't even have had a wedding gown, let alone a wedding night!"

"Scarlett!" Ellen exclaimed. "Such frank talk is unbecoming in a lady."

"Forgive me, Mother," Scarlett asked, taking her mother's hands in hers and pressing the back of a verbena scented hand to her cheek. "I've been without your guidance too long."

"Things must change, when one marries," Ellen conceded, cupping her daughter's cheek lovingly. "Which is why I ask that you speak with Careen when you have the chance. Some advice from a newlywed sister may be beneficial to her at this time."

"Of course," Scarlett agreed, privately wondering what advice she could offer, for she hardly thought her marriage typical and certainly not at all like the sedate affair she could imagine Brent and Careen enjoying.

"You are too good, my dear," Ellen smiled, before concern creased her brow. "You are happy, aren't you dearest?"

"Of course I am, Mother," Scarlett responded. "Why should I not be?"

"Your husband... he makes you happy?"

"Rhett?" Scarlett laughed at her mother's question. "Of course he does. Why do you ask, Mother?"

"Is he... acting as a husband ought?" Scarlett could not remember seeing her mother blush before this day.

"He's very attentive, always seeing to my needs. Really, Mother, you saw him downstairs, did you not think him a very thoughtful husband?"

"Oh yes, very thoughtful..."

"Mis' Ellen ain't asking bout that Mis' Scarlett," Mammy intoned from the dressing room. "She's wan' kno' if he dun hiz mar'al duteess an' put a babe in yu."

"Mother!" Scarlett gasped, shocked into disbelief and blushing darkly. In all her life she had never heard Ellen speak of such things. To Ellen, mares never foaled nor cows calved. In fact, hens almost didn't lay eggs. As far as Scarlett had ever known, Ellen ignored these matters, completely.

"Forgive my interference, dear, but I am only concerned! You've been married a year now and no child. I had thought to find you in a fix when you arrived, but I can see that you are not."

"Certainly not!" Scarlett exclaimed, laying a hand over her famously tiny waist.

"Is Captain Butler... doing as he ought?" Ellen's cheeks were flaming at such explicit conversation, but she thought it her duty as a mother to see to her daughter's welfare, and she knew that no woman could be truly happy without a child to care for.

"Of course," Scarlett whispered, beyond mortified, for surely Ellen would he horrified to know just how often, and how thoroughly, Rhett performed his 'husbandly duties.'

"Have you had any disappointments?" Ellen asked.

"No."

"I see," Ellen and Mammy exchanged concerned glances.

"Is that... bad?" Scarlett asked, suddenly concerned. Since the brief, teasing discussion she and Rhett had had on their wedding night regarding babies, she had given the matter very little thought. She knew, of course, that the activities she and Rhett liked to engage in so often would result in a child, but she had given the subject little consideration when no baby had appeared. Had Rhett? Was he disappointed or glad? Was there something wrong with her?

"Of course not dear," Ellen soothed and Scarlett was immediately sure that her mother was lying. "It just takes some ladies a little longer than most, that's all."

Scarlett nodded, allowing her mother to comfort her, while silently worrying that she might be failing as a woman, and disappointing her husband.

Scarlett had thought to bring the topic up with Rhett just as soon as may be, but their time was not their own for the next several days. Neighbors came and went from Tara with startling regularity, for all were curious to see the famed Captain and Mrs. Butler. Scarlett was delighted to renew old acquaintances and friendships and, for hours at a time, was quite able to forget her worrying conversation with her mother.

Scarlett, as she had promised, took Rhett riding, showing him her favorite trails around Tara. She challenged him to a race, as she had once raced her childhood beaux, but he had demurred, instead preferring to drag her from her horse and kiss her senseless beneath the shade of a beautiful old oak tree.

Retiring to her childhood bedroom on the first night of their stay had been an experience in mortification for Scarlett. Her cheeks had flamed as they had said their goodnights, and she thought she would die of awkwardness as she kissed her blustering father goodnight and closed the door on Suellen's scowling face.

"Surely it's not so bad," Rhett had laughed at her, as he had firmly shut the door to her bedroom behind them. "You've been married a year now."

"I now see why you were so insistent on not staying here on our wedding night!" Scarlett exclaimed agitatedly. "I don't know how I shall face them all at breakfast tomorrow morning."

"You'll face them as a very satisfied young bride, if I have any say in it," Rhett had smiled salaciously. "Come here my pet, and I shall endeavor to prove my point."

It was the second day of their stay before Ellen would permit them to ride across to Fairhill and visit Brent and Careen. By divine intervention, or perhaps Rhett's, they were to go alone on horseback. Luck was further on their side, when as they rode up the drive, it was to see Brent and Careen sitting on the old porch swing, gently rocking together in the warm County breeze.

"Sissy," Scarlett murmured, barely waiting for Rhett to assist her from the saddle before she was hastening up the steps to the porch.

She was surprised when Careen launched herself into her arms, laughing and crying in equal measures. While the two had always been closer than Scarlett and Suellen had been, the age difference between them, and Scarlett's innate self-absorption, had prevented any close relationship. Now however, as they held each other tightly, one might have been forgiven for thinking they were as close as sisters might be.

"Mr. Tarleton," Rhett followed his wife up the porch steps and held out his hand to his new brother.

"Captain Butler," Brent responded. Rhett had only vague impressions of Brent Tarleton formed in the weeks between the barbecue at Twelve Oaks and his marriage to Scarlett, but the man from his memory was not the man that stood before him now. Sickly thin, bent and pale with the pallor of one who had only recently recovered from a serious illness, the biggest difference Rhett saw in Brent was his eyes. Where they had once been young, carefree and full of mischief, now they were hardened, pained and with far too much knowledge of the world and the frailty of man.

Scarlett turned to Brent then and, with a teary smile, threw herself into his arms. Rhett, leaving them to their reunion, turned to Careen and, seeing her using the sleeve of her dress to wipe her eyes, gallantly offered his handkerchief.

"Thank you Captain Butler," Careen smiled shyly, the innocence of her expression reminding Rhett of how painfully young she was to be a bride.

"Congratulations Mrs. Tarleton," Rhett spoke gently to her. "You must be very glad to have your husband well again."

Careen's mouth fell open gently and Rhett thought that perhaps it was the first time she had ever been addressed by her married name.

"I am," she smiled demurely, her face pleasantly pink. "I am so glad he is on the road to recovery."

Her pretty face shone with genuine happiness, her love for her husband amplifying her gentle prettiness. For a bizarre moment Rhett felt jealous of the handless Brent Tarleton, for Careen looked very much like her eldest sister, not as beautiful certainly, but there was genuine warmth and softness in her features that Scarlett's lacked and it was very appealing.

"I am glad to see Scarlett again," Careen continued. "And you as well, of course Captain Butler. We have missed her very much here."

"I have been selfish in keeping her to myself," Rhett admitted.

"Oh no!" Careen exclaimed, flushing darkly at the unintended criticism she thought Rhett had found in her words. "We've all understood, of course. And her letters have been everything charming."

"I'm sure," Rhett's words were sarcastic, knowing, as he did, how Scarlet liked to brag about their lifestyle whenever she wrote home.

"Sissy," Scarlett was back now, taking Careen's arm. "Sissy won't you come for a walk with me?"

"Oh!" Careen looked back towards Brent, her teeth worrying her bottom lip in indecision. She was unwilling to leave his side, for it was the first time he had been out of doors since Stu had bought him home and she was painfully cautious that he not overexert himself.

"I shall stay with Mr. Tarleton," Rhett promised solemnly. "And I shall fetch you immediately if I feel his situation is deteriorating."

"Go on, dear," Brent encouraged Careen. "I feel just fine and I won't move from this spot."

"If you're sure," Careen vacillated nervously, until Scarlett firmly tugged on her arm, looped her own through the crook of her sister's elbow and began walking.

The two gentlemen watched in silence their wives retreating backs, until they turned the corner, and were out of sight.

"It's a relief to see you alive," Rhett said.

"Barely," his eyes were grim. "Thank you for bringing Scarlett here. Careen needs her sister at the moment."

"As any young bride does," Rhett acknowledged, not wanting to allow any self-pity from the younger man. "How are you feeling?"

"Quite well actually, though I hardly look it," Brent shrugged. "If it wasn't for this useless thing I'd be fully recovered by now." The look of loathing he gave to his arm stump, tucked carefully into his coat, was not missed by Rhett.

"You're lucky to be alive from what I hear," Rhett commented carelessly.

"That's what they tell me," Brent cast another disgusted look at his missing hand. "Part of me thinks I might have been better lying dead on the battlefield."

"Don't," Rhett spoke sharply. "Do you want your wife to hear you? Isn't it enough that she's a baby trying to adjust to life as a spouse with an ill husband? Do you want her to know that you'd rather be dead than here with her?"

Brent's hard eyes softened at the mention of his wife.

"The transition from carefree young soldier, to hardened man of the world will be difficult for you," Rhett told him honestly. "But think of your wife and the transition she is undertaking at the moment."

"I'm more than aware of the sacrifice she is making for me," Brent's voice was gruff with emotion.

"Good. Too often men of your kind aren't," Rhett responded blandly.

"And what sort of man is that?" Brent demanded, rising to his feet immediately.

"Sit yourself down, do you want Careen to see you? It wasn't an insult man," Rhett sighed and perched himself on the edge of the porch ledge. "You're a Southern gentleman through and through and a soldier recovering from war wounds to boot. It would hardly be surprising if your new wife was neglected in the process."

"It's been a far from auspicious start to a marriage," Brent shook his head in self-disgust. "I hardly remember the wedding. I just remember begging her to marry me before I died."

"She loves you," Rhett said bluntly. "It's clear to see even from a moment's observation. She was prepared to become a widow at fourteen for you. What are you going to do for her from here?"

"What's it to you?"

"Her family trusts you implicitly, but I'm part of that family now, the closest thing she has to a brother and I want to know how you intend to treat her. Furthermore, I have a proposition for you."

Brent stood again, pacing the length of the porch in front of Rhett, his face twisted with misery and self-loathing, his remaining fist clenched at his side.

"What am I to do Captain Butler? I'm no use to the Confederacy with one hand and I'm no use on the farm either. How can I be my own man when I have my mother and sisters hovering over me, waiting to cut my meat or wipe my arse? What sort of life for Careen is that?" He broke off, his voice choked, his eyes despairing.

"I was hoping you'd say as much," to Brent's surprise, his brother in law grinned. "For I've an offer for you and I think you might be willing to accept it."

"Go on."

"I'd like you and Careen to come to Nassau and live with Scarlett and I."

To Brent's credit, and Rhett's surprise, the younger man did not dismiss the idea out of hand entirely; instead, he questioned, a look of distrust on his face –

"Why?"

"Many reasons, the most important being Scarlett. She's lonely there, lacking companionship, particularly when I go out on runs. We're living in the hotel at the moment, but I can't trust the other men staying there, so when I'm gone, I've had to ask her to stay in our suite, unless my business partner is able to accompany her out."

"So send her back home, the O'Hara's would love to have her here."

"Have you met Scarlett?" Rhett grinned affectionately. "She's as stubborn as the day is long and she wants to stay with me and, I confess, I'm hardly eager to send her here for the foreseeable future. But you know her, she doesn't cope with isolation, nor with confinement and every time I come back from the blockade, it's a little harder on her the next time I leave. And I haven't told her yet, but for the...erh... sake of the Confederacy, I need to increase how often I'm running the blockades. Once or twice a week isn't enough any more. I've decided to take a house for us in Nassau, but my fears for her safety, as a beautiful young woman, left alone much of the time, are real."

Rhett knew what he was about, exacerbating his concerns for Scarlett's safety in such a way. Brent, he knew, was a true Southern gentleman, chivalrous to a fault. He was also mighty fond of Scarlett and would be unwilling to leave her in a situation that her husband deemed unsafe if he might do something about it.

"There's also the matter of my business," Rhett continued smoothly, about to appeal to Brent's other great weakness, his love for the South and the glorious Cause. "I'm spending far too much time ashore, dealing with buyers and sellers, sorting out my warehouses and organizing shipments. It's a waste of my time, time that could be spent running ships, particularly now that our fleet has grown to five boats. I'd like for you to come and manage that side of the business for me, so my partner, Mr. Hamilton and I can run as many ships as possible, while you take care of the management of our goods in Nassau."

"You'd hire a cripple?" Brent asked bitterly.

"I'd hire my brother in law. Whom I'm told is a smart man, with a good deal of common sense and whose wife might provide some desperately needed companionship and security to my wife."

"You're a sharp talker Captain Butler," Brent smiled wryly.

"Scarlett and I are here for at least a week, take some time to consider it," Rhett advised. "I won't lie and tell you everything shall be golden if you come to Nassau, but it might be the best hope you have of making a true go out of the start of your marriage with your wife."

"Enough, enough," Brent held his hands up, shaking his head in defeat. "You've quite convinced me Captain Butler, I need no time to consider it. I shall take you up on your very generous offer."

"Good," Rhett smiled, a dangerous smile as he handed a cigar to Brent. "I'm sure Scarlett will be very happy to hear that."

"She'll probably be the only one," Brent shook his head resignedly. "Prepare yourself Captain Butler, for you're about to be set upon by the hounds of Hell in the form of my Mother and sisters."