Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Chapter Four

Rhett said, "If you don't say yes, I will compromise you. By being seen climbing into your bedroom window."

"Good luck with that. There is nothing to climb on outside my window. It doesn't matter. You could run a full-page ad in the Atlanta Democrat stating you have carnal knowledge of me, and I will still say no. No matter what you do I will never say yes. I feel the same way you probably felt when you ruin that poor girl. I would rather be ruined than marry a man I don't love or even like ever again. I have done that twice before and it didn't work out well for me. I never wanted children and now I have two children by two different husbands. I will not have a third by another husband. I don't want any more children. The worst thing that could happen to me is that I would be ostracized by society. No worse possible fate. The funny thing is, Rhett, if I marry you, I will be ostracized by society also, so I am no worse off, but at least I will not have to put up with you and your snide, mocking, insulting comments." Scarlett smiled and said, "You are the one that taught me that if one has enough courage and money, they don't need a reputation. I have found out that Frank left me a ten-thousand-dollar life insurance policy. And the store, of course. When do you think would be a good time to sell the mills?"

The change of subject flustered Rhett. He said, "In two years. The best time to make money off a civilization rebuilding itself is the first five years."

"I guess I will keep them a little bit longer then."

"You would sell the mills? What about Mr. Wilkes?

"Ashley is moving to New York. He wants to try to make it on his own. Which is good. It is time Ashley grew up."

"Have your feelings changed toward Mr. Wilkes?"

"Yes, I realized that I don't love him. I wonder if I ever really did."

"I am glad to hear you say that. My chances just got better. I will stay in Atlanta and wear you down."

"Rhett, I also don't want to marry you because you are too old. How old are you? Forty?"

"My age is not important. What is important is that I can make you happy."

"No, Rhett, it is important. You have lived a lifetime already. There is nothing new for you to experience."

"I could experience being a husband and a father."

"I told you I don't want to have any more children, and I don't want another husband."

Scarlett looked at Rhett and saw a desperate expression on his face. She now knew what Ashley was feeling in the library that day the war started but unlike Ashley she was not going to give Rhett false hope. She was made of stronger stuff than Ashley. She would miss him, she guessed. He had been amusing some of the time. Downright hateful the rest of the time. She said, "Furthermore, I will not marry a man who thinks whipping me is acceptable "

"I didn't really mean that Frank would actually whip you with a buggy whip. It was just a figure of speech."

"Nonetheless, that is what you said,"

"Scarlett, don't take me so literally."

"I'm sorry, Rhett. You should know by now that is the way my mind works and now your statement about a buggy whip is out there."

"I will think of a way to change your mind."

"No, you won't. I won't give you a chance. I will not give you false hope. I will never marry you. Now that you have asked me to marry you, and I have turned you down we cannot be friends any longer. I will no longer receive you in the house."

"If we can't be friends then there is no harm in me doing this."

Rhett reached for Scarlett and took her into his arms. She let him. She wanted to know what it would be like to be kissed by Rhett. She vaguely remembered him kissing her at Rough and Ready, but she had been distracted and had not gotten to experience the kiss completely. As he was kissing her, she thought, 'He really is quite the good kisser. He might even be able to make the rest of it enjoyable, but he can't do anything about not creating a baby. No!' She jerked herself out of his arms and fell to the floor. She quickly scrambled up and said as if he had no effect on her, "It is time for you to leave."

"Scarlett…"

"Let me show you out."

Rhett had walked out of the house in a daze. After closing the front door, Scarlett thought, 'Rhett is bad, dishonorable, a cheat and a liar. Maybe I am too, but I don't want to be while Rhett seems almost proud that he is that kind of person. I need to surround myself with good people. People who will make me feel shame in my less than honorable actions even if they know nothing about them. Rhett always said we were just alike and maybe so, but there is one way we are different I still feel shame while Rhett does not. I no longer want to be around someone like Rhett. He has served his purpose. I don't want to be around people who are goody two-shoes like Melanie and Ashley either.' That thought made her smile. Until Ashley had rejected her, she had thought he was so wonderful because he was good and honorable. She continued thinking, 'But now that the blinders have been pulled away, he is as boring as Melanie.'

Scarlett smiled as she thought about her mother. Rhett had helped her to finally see her mother clearly. Yes, her mother was a great lady just like Melly, but both of them would have starved in these tough times. She smiled again. If her father hadn't lost his mind he would have triumphed through these last years. Just as she had.

Scarlett decided in that moment, she was going to behave like a proper lady even in business. She would try to be like her mother, while full well knowing she had too much of her father in her to ever achieve that calm, dignified exterior.

Scarlett knew she had some boring times ahead of her. All three of the people she had socialized with over the last few years were leaving town. Melly and Ashley to New York and Rhett to wherever he was going. She would talk to Melly tomorrow about good books. Now she had to start planning her future. She would make Hugh go run Ashley's mill while she ran the store.

That night Scarlett slept like a baby. Her future was stable. She also knew that she would never have her nightmare again. Her need for money was no longer the most important thing in her life. She had turned Rhett and his checkbook down after all. She had control of her future. At least, as much as any one person could have control of their future.

Rhett sat in The Painted Lady knocking back drinks. After Belle served him another drink, she said, "Are you alright, Rhett?"

Rhett responded the same way he had been responding all night. He said, "She said no."

At midnight, Rhett stood up although he was not very steady on his feet. He stumbled back to The National.

At six the next morning a still slightly intoxicated Rhett got on the train to Charleston. He would see his mother before he boarded a ship to London. He would take care of his business in London, then start an around the world trip. There was nothing for him in Atlanta anymore. On the train in his private car he kept saying, "She said no." Or "She was not affected by my special kiss."

Over the next two years when Scarlett found herself missing Rhett, she would remind herself that all he had ever wanted was her body. She would remind herself that he was a disrespectful, mocking man who thought it was alright to whip her with a buggy whip. She would remind herself that he was a selfish, self-centered person who could easily dismiss her distress with a flick of his wrist because he wanted to talk about himself and his needs.

A year after Frank's death when Scarlett's contract with the state was up for renewal, she decided to sell the sawmills. Big Sam had refused to return to Atlanta. She wondered why but didn't give it a lot of thought. Maybe he was happier living in the country.

Scarlett had hired another man to be her bodyguard but even with him by her side she was terrified every time she passed through Shantytown. The profits just weren't worth it. She had to stay alive for Wade and Ella's sake. She would never allow her children to be raised by Aunt PittyPat, or Uncle Henry or Ashely and Melanie. Although surprisingly Suellen and Will were very fond of Wade and Ella. They would often keep the children for weeks on end especially when Wade was out of school. She had drawn up a will and left the Benteens as guardians of her children just in case, but she knew that nobody could raise her children as well as she could.

With the profits from the sale of the sawmills, Scarlett bought another store. And another. She devoted herself to creating a stable life for herself and her children.

Rhett returned two years later. He had taken an around the world trip. He saw lots of interesting things, met interesting people, and bedded a few women. His desire was not what it once was.

With a lot of other amoral men Rhett fleeced the state of Georgia out of a lot of money. He would occasionally see Scarlett around town, but he never spoke to her. He knew when she looked right through him that he was nothing but a memory to her now. Someone who had once been her friend but was nothing now. There was no point in compromising her if she wasn't going to marry him. He didn't need to be involved in another scandal like that. She had been right that day. It wouldn't matter. If she married him, she would be unreceived. If he compromised her and she didn't marry him she would still be unreceived. She actually might garner some sympathy by refusing to marry him. She had been right. They couldn't take a step backwards and go back to being friends. She didn't want to take a step forward so there was nothing left for them. Besides raping her, he knew he was never going to have carnal knowledge of the fabulous Scarlett O'Hara, and he certainly didn't want her that way. He had wanted her to be warm and willing just like every other woman he had ever been with. He shied away from admitting that every woman he had ever been with had been a whore or a woman of loose morals so, of course, they had been warm and willing.

Rhett knew from the gossip about Scarlett that she had continued to be received by polite society. Sort of. She was not invited to all the social events, but her children were invited to all the birthday parties. Rhett would have been amused to know that was because Scarlett gave the child clothes, shoes, and a toy. Something every child needed these days.

Scarlett had sold her mills. Rhett had heard the rumor that she thought the mills were cursed. They had caused Frank's death after all. The truth was the mills were too much trouble for the return she was getting. She ran the store and led an extremely quiet life. He also had found out she spent every weekend at Tara.

Three years after Frank's death, Rhett admitted the truth to himself. He could no longer achieve an erection. It wasn't his age as much as it was his consumption of alcohol and tobacco over the years. Over twenty years of drinking too many whiskeys and smoking too many cigars, and his pecker was the casualty. He had gone to Zurich and had been diagnosed by the leading minds in medicine. He had been diagnosed with heart problems, an enlarged liver, and his lungs didn't sound quite right. They didn't give him any hope that he would ever achieve an erection again. The doctors urged him to stop drinking and smoking to extend his life. He did so. Not to extend his life, but he was still hoping he would be able to obtain an erection again… regularly. He had always been an optimist in regard to his life.

On Rhett's way back to Atlanta, he had thought about Scarlett. He vaguely wondered if he had been in bed with her would his cock have worked. Probably not. That would have been horrible. To have Scarlett in his bed and not be able to avail himself of her body.

Rhett missed Scarlett more than he had thought he would. He had often wondered, 'If I had told her I loved her would she have said yes? Probably because she would have had something to bully me with.'