Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
In response to marktayloruk's review – Did most men then know how to satisfy a woman?
No, men did not know how to sexually satisfy women. Ladies didn't even know they could be sexually satisfied. The prevailing theory at the time was if a woman enjoyed sex, she was a bad girl. Good girls didn't enjoy sex. A belief that was still alive and well until the middle of the 20th century.
The first mainstream sex manual was in 1969. It was called 'Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask.' It was a very clinical writing, but it could be left on the coffee table. 'The Joy of Sex' the next great sex manual was published in 1972. It was much more user friendly. There were even drawings.
Before these books were published people found out about sex from friends, unfortunately their friends didn't know any more than they did.
Chapter Four
That night Rhett kissed his way down to Scarlett's nether regions. When he placed his mouth on her womanhood, she had shrieked and moved away from his mouth.
Rhett had just closed the distance between them and kissed Scarlett's private parts. When she had tried to move away again, he had held her in place.
Scarlett said in a shocked voice, "Rhett! Stop it! What are you doing?"
"Relax. You are going to love this."
"No, I'm not. Stop."
"If you don't like it, I won't do it again."
Leerily Scarlett said, "Alright."
After a few minutes, Rhett had figured out what he needed to do. He had Scarlett moaning and groaning. He figured out the area at the top of her mound seemed to bring her the most pleasure. When she had clamped her legs together, he kept doing what he was doing and hoped he would continue breathing. Finally, he heard her call out his name followed by her saying, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Rhett."
Rhett quickly moved into position and entered her. She orgasmed immediately. Rhett wasn't far behind her. He had never been so sexually aroused before. Relations with Scarlett were so incredibly good. He had been amazed on his wedding night how much more intense the feelings were without the condom. The feelings were so strong, he had not lasted very long, which was fine. She hadn't known any different.
Rhett had not known how possessive he was going to feel about his wife. She was his. She would never be anyone else's ever again. At least, not until he no longer wanted her.
As the couple was lying there afterwards, Rhett said, "I guess you wouldn't mind me doing that again."
"No, I would not."
After Rhett knew Scarlett was asleep, he thought about how passionate she was. He was a lucky man, although he had already experienced the negative side of that passion when she had snapped at him. The first couple of times she had snapped at him, he had just laughed. It had pleased him that underneath that silly ninny persona was a smart, hot-blooded woman. He certainly didn't want a ninny for a wife.
The night after Hugh had told Rhett all about whores, he had asked his father, "Can I have some money?"
When his father had asked him, "What for?" Rhett had known that if he told his father, it was for a whore, his father would not have given him the money. Because his father didn't want the matrons hearing about his son using whores. Although almost every young man of good breeding in Charleston had used a whore at least once. His father had explained to Rhett when he was sixteen why he always had to be so very proper when he was out in public. Percy had said, "I am the son of a pirate and every one of those battle axes are waiting for me to slip and fall."
"What about Robert, Rosemary, and me?"
"No, my children are given more tolerance. Probably because your mother is such a saint."
Rhett had not known if his father had been serious, or he was being sarcastic. Rhett had not asked. He didn't want to know.
Rhett had answered his father's question by saying, "To go get a drink."
"You can have a drink here."
"I want to play some poker."
"Have you ever played poker before?"
"No, sir."
"Tonight, you will learn how to play poker. Tomorrow night you can go to a saloon."
For the next three hours, Percy taught Rhett all about poker. At the end of the night, Percy said, "You have the basics. You will just have to play to get better. My final piece of advice is: Don't show any emotions on your face. You have to be like the sphinx. You don't want people to know if you have a good hand or a bad hand by the expression on your face."
"Yes, Sir."
"Let's go over it one more time. What are poker hand rankings?"
"I will start with the least and move up. High card, a pair, two pair, three of a kind, a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and the best possible hand is a royal flush."
"That is correct. Here is five dollars to get you started. That is some money to buy a drink and some money to bet with."
"Thank you, Father. How did you learn to play poker?"
"My father taught me. He was quite good at it. We played together while at the plantation during the winter when it was too cold to go outside."
"Did you ever go to saloons to play?"
"Yes, and I earn quite a bit of money that way. Once I married your mother I stopped going to saloons. She didn't approve which meant the matrons wouldn't approve. I have to keep my reputation squeaky clean because of my father once being a pirate."
"Thank you for teaching me."
"Sure, Son."
As Percy watched his son walk away, he knew Rhett wanted a way to earn money so he could buy a whore, but they would never speak of it.
For the next several weeks Rhett perfected his poker playing skills. Finally came the night that at the end of the evening Rhett had enough money to get a blow job. He bought a condom, because Hugh had told him that the whores even had diseases in their mouths. Hugh had also told him not to kiss the whores. After Rhett had achieved satisfaction, he just laid there. When he could think about something other than what had just happen, he thought, 'I'm going to have to get really good at playing poker.'
Being able to earn his own money had become a quest for Rhett. He didn't want to be asking his father for money the rest of his life. He wanted to be able to do what he wanted to do. And he damn sure didn't want to be running a rice plantation.
For the next several months Rhett played poker several times a week. He would have a drink before he left the townhouse, then a drink at the saloon, and the last one when he got home. He didn't want to waste his money on whiskey. He was saving all his money to spend on whores.
Percy had made Rhett go to West Point the following September. Rhett had played poker with the other cadets, but none of them had any money to speak of. In October he started sneaking into town to play poker at a saloon and brothel. At first, he had no problem with going to West Point. In early November he had run afoul of another cadet. The other cadet, Vince Carter, had ended up being the butt of Rhett's jokes several times.
Vince hated Rhett with a passion. Once he found out that Rhett was sneaking out of the barracks almost every night. Vince told the cadet guard. That night the cadet guard caught Rhett sneaking back into the barracks.
Rhett probably would have gotten off with just receiving some demerits, but he had made a lot of mocking, rude comments to the guard. He had been done with West Point ever since he had found out upon graduation, he would have to serve in the army for four years. He returned to Charleston and attended the University of Charleston.
After graduation Rhett heard about them finding gold just lying on the ground last year, he asked his father, "Will you give me some money to go out to California and make a fortune in the gold fields?"
"No, Rhett. You need to accept that you are my heir."
"Why am I your heir because I was born first? That isn't fair to Robert. Robert wants to be a farmer. He wants to live in the country. Why punish both your sons by making them fulfill roles that they were only awarded because of an accident of birth."
Percy stared at his eldest son and smiled. He finally decided that Rhett would be bored to tears running a plantation and therefore not be successful. Father and son had been talking in Percy's office. Finally, Percy stood up and said, "Let's go to the bank. I will give you a thousand dollars for you to invest here in South Carolina. Go out and try to make your fortune. If you fail, then you can always run the plantation. I will accept your decision to not run the plantation, but I will not change my will for now."
"No, Father, go ahead and change your will. If I change my mind, you can change your will at that time."
"Alright."
Rhett was determined to be successful. For two reasons, he didn't want to be dependent on his father for his livelihood and he did not want to live on a plantation. Maybe there was a third reason. He didn't want anyone telling him what to do.
Everyone in the Butler household, but Rhett and Scarlett went to the family plantation the next week, even Rhett's grandmother. All the servants went with them also except for a couple of maids and the kitchen staff. The kitchen staff didn't need to go because they had a kitchen staff at Middleton Acres.
The morning after the rest of the family had left, Scarlett got her first monthly as a married woman. She went in search of Simone, the maid that had been assigned to her. She could not discuss this with Rhett. Furthermore, she doubted he even knew where his mother stored the rags. She, of course, had some in her trunk, but she wanted to know where there were more in case she needed them.
When Scarlett found Simone, she said, "Do you know where Mrs. Butler stores the rags?"
"Yes, ma'am. Let me show you."
"Thank you."
When Simone opened the drawer, it was practically empty. Scarlett said, "I guess Mrs. Butler took them with her to Middleton Acres."
"I guess so, Miss Scarlett. Do you have any of your own?"
"Yes, hopefully enough."
"If I find some rags, I will bring them to you."
"Thank you."
As Scarlett walked away from the slave girl, she thought, 'Aside from Rhett, Simone has been the nicest person to me since my marriage to Rhett.'
About three weeks after the couple moved into the townhouse, Rhett got the letter he had been waiting for. Mr. Vanderbilt was willing to meet with him and talk about Rhett investing in his railroads. He and Scarlett would leave the next Monday. She was so ready to leave. Her welcome in Charleston and in the Butler's townhouse had not gotten any warmer in the last three weeks.
Although, the family had returned from the plantation a few days ago Scarlett had not been involved in any more conversations than she had been in before they returned except with Rosemary, of course.
Scarlett had gotten a letter from her mother. Ellen had updated her on the number of men that were very disappointed she had chosen to marry another man. That made Scarlett feel better. Her mother had told her who had come to call on her and express regret about her new marital status. They were Stuart and Brent Tarleton, Tony Fontaine, Troy Aikman, and Glenn Miller. Scarlett noticed that Ashley's name was not among the names listed. She would have been surprised to know that Ellen had deliberately omitted Ashley's name from the list. Ellen knew what everyone in Clayton County knew but Scarlett. The Wilkeses always married their cousins. She knew that despite the fact that Ashley had been calling on Scarlett for the last two years, he had been committed elsewhere, therefore he had been trifling with Scarlett's affections. Ellen had to do everything she could to extinguish any hope her daughter might still have in her heart. She had known that her daughter could be incredibly stubborn when she thought she was in the right.
Admittedly Gerald knew all about Ellen's feelings for Phillipe, but Phillipe was dead. She would never see him again this side of heaven. She knew to make her marriage work she had to put her feelings for Phillipe in cold storage until she died. She had done just that when she had said, 'I Do.' During their first year of marriage Ellen had woken up with a nightmare several times. When she did, she would be calling for Phillipe. Gerald had known all about Phillipe. He knew that was how he a middle-aged, Irish man with no family connections had gotten a Robillard to marry him. By taking advantage of the extremely well-known scandal.
Gerald had known he had to become Ellen's safe haven and he had. He had become part father, part friend, and part husband. Gerald was in love with Ellen, but he knew that his wife just loved him as.. well, her safe haven. It was enough for Gerald, but Ellen knew it would never be enough for her proud, arrogant son-in-law. Therefore, she had to make sure that Scarlett had no hope in her and Ashley Wilkes ever being together on either side of heaven.