Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

In response to TLWtlw and newreader2022's reviews. In that day in time people rarely divorced. The people had a term for the situation. It was called a Victorian divorce (or later generations may have coined that term.) A man and a woman remained married, but lived separate lives. A classic example of this is William and Millicent Hearst. He lived on the west coast in Hearst Castle openly with Marion Davies. She lives on the east coast and remained a socialite and became a philanthropist.

Also, Careen could not have divorce Brent for abandonment probably because she was a woman, but also because she knew where he was thus he had not 'abandoned' her.

The double standard was alive and well.

Chapter Seventy-Seven

The night before had been a trial for Rhett, but a wonderful trial. Robert, Daphne, Alex, and Kenny had supper at the town house. Percy had let all the children eat in the dining room. He had been hoping that the children's presence would keep the morose mood away. It had to a certain extent, but when Alex had said, "We are moving to England tomorrow."

Tommy and Grace both said, "No!"

Robert said, "It is true. You two will have to come visit us."

Grace turned to Rhett and said, "Daddy, make them stay."

"I can't make them stay, Sweetheart, this is Uncle Robert and Aunt Daphne's choice."

"No, Daddy. I don't like this."

"I'm sorry Grace. This is just the way it is."

All the children started crying and Robert, Daphne, Alex, and Kenny soon left, but not before everyone gave everyone else hugs.

While Rhett and Scarlett were putting their children to bed, she said, "Give your Daddy extra hugs. He is taking Uncle Robert, Aunt Daphne, Alex, and Kenny to England tomorrow. He won't be back for at least two months."

Tommy looked at Rhett and with tears in his eyes said, "Daddy! No!"

Rhett said, "I will be back as soon as I can."

Tommy hugged his father and Grace squeezed in there. Rhett hugged his children for a long time. Finally, he got them to get in the bed. He read them several stories until they were both asleep. Although Tommy had a room of his own, he liked sleeping in the same room as Grace. Scarlett smiled as she remembered the event that led to Tommy sleeping in the nursery. Shortly after Rhett had let Agnes go, Grace had said, "Tommy, I'm scared to be in my room alone. Will you sleep in my room tonight?"

"Of course."

Ever since then Tommy had always slept in Grace's room. Scarlett decided that they had gotten used to having someone else in the room with them while they had been going on the cargo runs with her and Rhett.

As Rhett and Scarlett were in their bedroom, he said, "Don't do that again. It is hard enough to leave them."

"I will do everything in my power to keep you safe with me. I love you and don't want to live without you."

Rhett looked at his wife. Her never say die attitude was one of the reasons he loved her, but at times he wished he didn't have to deal with it. He simply said, "I love you, too."

Rhett had smiled and kissed his wife. They had done a whole lot more. After all, it was their last night together for two months.

Rhett was smart enough to have his trunk already on the ship so all he had to get to the ship by six in the morning was himself. If it weren't for the fact that he knew his father would leave him behind if he didn't get to the ship in time, Rhett wouldn't have made it. To make matters worse, Scarlett was doing everything in her power to get him to miss his ship which included her wiles of seduction, which were surprisingly good at this time.

For the next week, Rhett and Percy were studying the geography of the water in front of them. They were looking for landmarks to help them navigate their way into port. It would be easier outside of England because the Union would not be blockading the English shore. Although both men had sailed in and out of Charleston a lot over the last few years neither one had ever come this far east before. To add to the difficulty of evading the Union warships it was going to be at night. Of course, that hazard worked both ways. It would be harder for the Union ships to see them in the dark.

Within a week the Blue Moon had left Charleston far behind. One night while Daphne was watching the boys sleep in their cabin, Robert, Rhett, and Percy talked in Rhett's cabin. They talked about their plans for the future. Rhett said, "We are going to have to find a warehouse right away. I have over a thousand bales of cotton in the hole of this ship."

"You and Father take care of that. My first task is to find Daphne and me some place to live. And the furniture."

"Alright. Father and I will take care of the warehouses and the cotton, and you get your life straightened out."

Percy said, "Leave the boys with Rhett and me while you and Daphne go house hunting."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. Your boys are no trouble. It will make it easier for Daphne to pick out her home. Furthermore, she will be much happier with her home if she has had a say in which home you choose.

"You are right, Father."

"I have learned a few things in my life about keeping a woman happy." The boys laughed and Percy said, "Let's go to bed."

Rhett stood up and said, "You go on and go to sleep. I'm going to play some poker with the crew."

"Rhett!"

"Not to worry, Father, I always break even."

"Alright. Good night, Rhett and Robert."

The men left the cabin Rhett was sharing with Percy and went their separate ways. Rhett played poker with the crew to establish a bond between them, but he made sure he didn't take any of their money.

After three weeks of being on the water, the Blue Moon had docked in Plymouth. Two weeks later, Rhett and Percy were on their way back to Charleston. They had bought a couple of warehouses and found a lawyer. Their new lawyer, Jacob Marley, was in place and Rhett had given him a retainer. Robert and Daphne had bought a house with five bedrooms. One for Robert and Daphne, one for Alex, one for Kenny, and two guest bedrooms.

When Rhett and Percy left Plymouth, Robert had a lead on a textile mill. After going round and round with the seller, Robert backed out of the deal all together. Instead, he bought a general store. Through the store he could make all the contacts he needed to be able to get the supplies his father and brother were going to need in the coming years.

Scarlett sat and stared at the telegram. She pondered about why she wasn't enough excitement to keep Rhett happy. She didn't know why, but she knew she wasn't. She couldn't understand it. He was enough excitement to keep her happy. She smiled. Inside and outside the bed. She sighed.

Scarlett knew Rhett loved her to the moon and back, but something in him had to pursue danger. She also knew that he had been behaving himself for so long and not asking for trouble in saloons and bars. He had never told her, but she knew he had stuffed down so many mocking comments in order to prevent someone else from taking a knife to him.

Scarlett's sane brain would say, 'Accept you are going to be a widow at an early age.' Yet, her heart would say, 'No, I will never accept that. I will do everything in my power to prevent him from killing himself.'

Scarlett sighed. She read the telegram. All it said was: Leaving Plymouth tomorrow. She sighed again. She knew that unless she was sailing with him, she was going to be getting a lot of these telegrams in the future.

Scarlett would pray for God to protect her husband. What was that saying? She remembered. God protects fools and children. She needed him to protect her children and her fool of a husband.

After Rhett and Percy had docked, it was all Rhett could do not to hurry his wife off to their bedroom. Yet he couldn't do that. His children missed him and wanted to be with him. It didn't make his situation any easier when every time he looked at Scarlett, he saw the desire in her eyes. He tried not to look at her, but he couldn't help himself.

Scarlett had prepared a supper celebration for Rhett's birthday. She had invited her family and Steven. She had not been unaware of the interaction of Careen and Steven at Tommy's birthday party. That and the not too subtle way Careen had attempted to get information on Steven. Whenever Careen would ask a question about Steven, Scarlett would simply answer the question in as much detail as possible. She would never question Careen about why she wanted to know about Steven. She had also enlisted Rosemary's help in giving Careen information about Steven. Scarlett didn't know Steven as well as Rhett or even Rosemary, but she liked him. She thought he was a wonderful man, and she would be happy for him to be her brother-in-law. If nothing else, Steven was smart, kind, and considerate.

What had surprised Scarlett was that her proper mother had never questioned Careen about her interest in Steven either. Admittedly Ellen was losing her proper ways, but she too felt Steven was a good match for Careen. Undoubtedly, Careen was still very much married to Brent, but people died all the time especially if they went to war. Ellen knew her son-in-law would do something foolish and get himself killed.

Scarlett had Rosemary invite Steven to the supper party. Nobody had to do anything to get Careen and Steven seated next to each other. Careen had quickly sat down when Scarlett told everyone to have a seat. Steven had taken the seat next to Careen even if it meant getting seated before Grace could sit down. Rhett calmed his daughter down by telling her she could sit next to him. Grace had begrudgingly agreed. The little girl liked her aunt and had wanted to sit next to her. Grace had ended up seated between her parents and that was pretty good. Tommy sat next to his mother. His favorite place to sit in the entire world.

By Rhett's birthday in November, everyone in the South knew that their worst nightmare had come true. Abraham Lincoln had been elected president. Over supper, Rhett said, "Surprisingly Lincoln swept the North and therefore has enough electoral votes to win the presidency."

Scarlett sighed and said, "Explain to me the electoral vote."

"Every state is awarded a certain number of electoral votes according to the number of men they have in the senate and in congress. Ours is eight. The men of the state go to the polls and cast ballots for who they want to be president. Whichever candidate gets the most votes gets all the electoral votes except for Delaware, but that is not important for you to understand the basic concept. There were three hundred and three electoral votes available in the election and Mr. Lincoln won one hundred and eighty, making him the winner. All he needed to win was one hundred and fifty-two."

"Who voted for him?"

"Almost everyone in the North. Of states that would be considered Northern states, he won every one of them except he split Delaware with Mr. Douglas."

"Mr. Douglas didn't win any of them?"

"The only state he won was Missouri. Mr. Breckinridge won all the Southern states except Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee."

"Rhett, if Mr. Breckinridge won all those states isn't his what did you call it?"

"Electoral votes."

"Electoral votes equal to Mr. Lincoln's"

"Unfortunately, no. The Northern states had a lot more electoral votes than the Southern states."

Rosemary said, "What was the popular vote?"

"I don't remember, but Mr. Lincoln won that too. Mr. Breckinridge had less than half what Mr. Lincoln had. Mr. Douglas didn't even come close either. It seems the men of the North wanted Mr. Lincoln as their next president."

"What does this mean now?"

Percy said, "It is going to be put up or shut up for the Southern states. The Southern states have been threatening to secede for many years now. Probably before the ink was dry on the ratification papers for the Constitution. They threatened to withdraw from the union if Mr. Lincoln was elected. We will have to just wait and see."