Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Chapter Fourteen

Everyone had an enjoyable time. As the group was sailing back to Charleston, Percy thought, 'It is a shame Elizabeth can't forget her strict upbringing and come sailing with us. If she could, she could have so much fun. I don't know if she ever has fun. In our almost twenty-five years of marriage, I can't recall one time she had fun. She certainly doesn't have fun in our marital bed no matter how much I try to get her to forget the rules for behavior. I don't know why I keep trying.'

Percy had used all his charm on his wife in the early days of their marriage. He wanted to have a happy home. He didn't know if his parents had loved each other, but they had enjoyed each other's company and at the very least they were friends. Percy, finally, realized that Elizabeth would never love him or probably never even like him because he was the son of a pirate and thus beneath her. She was kind, polite, respectful, and dutiful. It was alright. He had his children. It was enough. He would like to keep a mistress just for the company, but if that ever got out it would shame Elizabeth so much that he would never have even as much of a happy home as he did now.

That night as Scarlett was brushing out her hair while wearing her red wrapper, Rhett eagerly said, "Did you get tan lines?"

Scarlett smiled at Rhett. He was as eager as a puppy to see her tan lines. She said, "Yes, but you don't get to see them."

With more disappointment than Scarlett thought she would ever hear from that arrogant man that had asked her to dance with him almost a year ago, Rhett said, "Why not?"

"I started my monthly after we got back."

"Well, damn."

Scarlett no longer censured Rhett for his language. She stood up and took her wrapper off. She walked to the bed. After Rhett saw her nightgown, he said, "The least you could do is wear one of those sexy nightgowns I bought you."

"No, this is better."

Scarlett had on a modest cotton nightgown without any shape or form. Her husband got an erection just from seeing her in this plain gown. She wasn't going to make it worse by wearing something sexy when they couldn't engage in intercourse. Rhett had tried to get her to participate in activities to relieve his need during her monthlies, but she had absolutely refused to do anything. The one time he had tried to force her to touch him, she had balled up her hand so tight there was no way he was going to loosen her fingers. When he tried to force her hand open, she had said, "Do you want me to squeeze part of your anatomy like this?"

It was the cold way she had said it that made Rhett decide that if he made her mad, she might hurt him in a physical way.

Scarlett would barely even kiss Rhett during that time. She figured if she was miserable, he could be miserable too.

After Rhett and Scarlett's discussion and her threatening to hurt him the next day he went out and bought her an emerald pendant necklace. She smiled sweetly at him and told him thank you. She knew that him giving gifts was his way of saying he was sorry. She also knew that he had paid for it with his father's money.

After the incident, Rhett went out and played poker almost every night she was unavailable, and Scarlett was happy about that. She was too miserable to make pleasant conversation with anyone.

A week later the entire family was on the road to Middleton Acres. The carriage was full. There was Percy, Elizabeth, Rosemary, Robert, Rhett, Scarlett, and Mabel. So full that Rosemary had to sit on Percy's lap. On the way to the plantation, Scarlett said, "How did the plantation get its name?"

Percy said, "I don't know. My mother never said. I never asked. We didn't have time. My mother died when I was fifteen in childbirth. I don't think she fought to stay alive. She had been melancholic for a while. In the last year she had lost three of her children, and besides the one she was carrying I was her only living child. When the baby was stillborn, I don't think she had the strength to carry on. Luckily for me my father was still alive. He wasn't the same man he was after my mother's death. He died a year after Elizabeth and I were married. I was twenty-five by then. I guess he thought his fortune was in good hands."

Rhett said, "It was, Father. You have doubled what you inherited."

Percy laughed and said, "By legal means no less."

"Well done, Father."

Percy with a trace of sadness said, "Yes, I did well."

Everyone in the carriage knew that Percy wished his parents could have seen his success. Although, he would not have gotten the purse strings until his father was dead, therefore at least his father would never have seen his success.

Scarlett said, "So, you have no siblings?"

"No, I don't. Elizabeth doesn't either. Therefore, the children don't have any cousins."

"I practically don't. My cousins are so much older than me that there isn't a relationship."

Rhett said, "That and you live in …where is it?"

"Clayton County, but I don't live there now. Now I live in Charleston. The best place to live on the planet."

Only Rhett and maybe Percy knew that Scarlett was being sarcastic. Rhett smiled at her and whispered in her ear, "It is only the best place to live on the planet because you live there."

Scarlett smiled up at Rhett with worship in her eyes. Rhett wondered, 'Could she be in love with me too?'

Elizabeth said, "Hasn't your cousin come to call a couple of times?"

"Yes, and I have called on Gabriella also, but the visits are always awkward because we have so little to talk about. I go with you sometimes when you call on my aunts or when they call on you, I come to the parlor, but I have little to talk to my aunts about either."

"When are you going to forgive Eulalie?"

"Never."

"How can you say that? Rhett was a great catch."

"I know. So far, he has made me a good husband, but to be forced to marry a stranger just because we got home late is ridiculous. Nobody would ever have found out if Aunt Eulalie had kept her big mouth shut."

"Scarlett!"

Rhett said, "No, Mother, we are not going to sanction Scarlett for speaking the truth. Nobody would have ever found out that I brought Scarlett back after dark if Mrs. Hicks had kept her mouth shut. I agree with Scarlett. To be forced to marry a stranger because of a broken buggy wheel is ludicrous."

"Your father would have found out when you told him about the broken buggy wheel."

Percy said, "And I would have kept my mouth shut also."

"What you all are saying is against all the rules of proper behavior."

Rhett said, "Sometimes those antiquated rules need to be broken."

"Rhett! You will not speak to me that way."

"I did not speak to you rudely or disrespectfully. I simply stated my opinion. I am a man of twenty-three with an exceptionally good brain. I am well-educated and well-read. I have traveled to other cities. Therefore, I am not stuck in the narrow Charlestonian mind set."

With Rhett's last statement, Elizabeth turned a hateful look onto her son. Rhett for his part kept his face neutral and continued to stare at his mother. There was an uncomfortable silence in the carriage. At long last, he said, "Robert, do you like Daphne's parents?"

"Yes, I do. I like them telling me about Manchester, England. It is great to hear about how other people live their lives."

After the words were out of Robert's mouth, he took a quick peek at his mother. She did not appear to have heard him. She wasn't looking at him but staring out the window.

Percy said, "The senate is working on a compromise in regard to the territory we were given at the end of the Mexican American war."

Rhett said, "Hopefully it will defuse the tension in the nation now."

"I have read that part of the compromise is to admit California as a free state."

"I have read that part of the compromise is for Texas to give up claims it has on territory out West."

"I wonder why Texas would do that? We will have to wait until the bill or bills get passed to get all the details."

"Yes, sir."

The rest of the way to the plantation, Elizabeth did not speak to anyone. Everyone in the carriage was certainly happy to arrive at Middleton Acres.

That night Scarlett did give Rhett her special thank you, but he hadn't said what he said to his mother in order to defend his wife. That was just a bonus. He had said what he said because he had agreed with what Scarlett had said. For them to have to get married because of a broken buggy wheel had been ludicrous. No, because some stupid, old hag hadn't been able to keep her mouth shut because she had to do her duty.

To Scarlett the plantation was beautiful. As Rhett took her on a tour of the land, she marveled at how opulent everything was. It was more magnificent than Twelve Oaks. Twelve Oaks had been the finest plantation in Clayton County. Scarlett said, "Tell me the history of your plantation."

"My great, great, great grandfather, Pierre Mulberry and his wife Amelia immigrated from France in sixteen-ninety-nine. He claimed this land as his own. He cleared the land and established a rice farm. To grow rice, one needs a lot of water. One has to flood the fields in June and keep them flooded until September. Then the ground is drained, and the rice harvested. It is a labor-intensive process. Their first years were lean because my great, great, great grandfather was spending all the profits on buying more field hands. After they had been here for about twenty years, they finally built the main house. Slowly over the years other structures had been added. It was my great grandfather's idea to grow indigo. It grew wild on the plantation." Rhett smiled and added, "It still does."

Scarlett smiled back and said, "Go on."

"It wasn't labor intensive, but because the plantation didn't have enough field hands it took away from growing the rice. My grandfather ceased harvesting the indigo immediately. Although occasionally my mother will have some of the field hands gather some up if she wants a new blue dress. Would you like a new blue dress?"

"Yes, I would. I think that would be amazing to have a dress dyed with the plant that was grown on my husband's family plantation."

"I will have some of the field hands gather some up tomorrow."

"No, wait. I don't have a dress to dye. Let me get a new one made then we will send it down with your family next time they go to the plantation. They seem to visit fairly often."

"Yes, they do."

"You can help me pick out the style so I'm sure it is mature enough."

"Of course."

The couple continued to walk around the grounds. As Rhett talked about the plantation Scarlett could hear the pride in his voice. He may not want to manage a plantation or even live on one, but he was still proud of Middleton Acres. And she guessed what his grandfather and father had accomplished.

Scarlett said, "That is amazing that your grandfather who had spent his life at sea could make the plantation successful."

"Whether it is managing a ship or a plantation or a business, it is all about keeping everything organized."

"Of course."