Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Eight

After Rhett left, Scarlett expelled the afterbirth. Dr. Meade gave it to Mammy.

Melly took the pan from Mammy. She said, "Let me take it to a maid to dispose of."

By the time Melly had returned Dr. Meade had left. Nothing was left to do but clean the room up.

Scarlett could see Melly had been crying. After everything was taken care of and the room cleaned up, Melly said, "I will be back tomorrow."

"Mammy, leave us."

"Yes, Miss Scarlett."

As soon as the older woman was out of the room, Scarlett said, "If anything happens to me, you are going to have to help Rhett raise my children. He won't ask for or accept your help if you offer. You are going to have to just come over and do it."

"Of course, Dear. I will help anyway I can, but you are going to live for a long time."

"Give me a hug."

"Of course."

Scarlett knew she was acting out of character by the puzzled expression on Melly's face, but she had to give Melly hope that someday she might have more children to raise.

After Melly left Scarlett looked around the room. It was spotless. Quite the transformation. Nobody would think anything traumatic had happen in this room less than an hour ago.

Rhett entered the room and walked over to Scarlett who was sitting up in the bed. He handed over his child and kissed his wife. He said, "Do you need anything?"

"Yes, go get me the bassinet from the nursery."

"What will Mammy do for a bassinet?"

"Genie will be with me for the next six weeks, so we only need the one bassinet. Later we can just move it back and forth."

With an exasperated look on Rhett's face, he said, "I can afford two bassinets. When you are able to get out of the house, we will go buy one."

Scarlett peevishly said, "I can buy a bassinet by myself."

"You can but your taste is questionable so I will approve anything bought for my little miracle." Rhett's statement was met with an ugly stare. If she was too sweet, he would be suspicious. He ignored her stare and said, "Did you get Mammy some help?"

"The employment agency will send someone over when I send them a note. Right now, we don't need any help. Genie is going to be with me all the time."

"Except when she is with me."

There was a knock on the door. Rhett told the person to enter the room. It was Prissy with Scarlett's meal. Prissy set the tray down on Scarlett's lap and she's started eating. She said to Rhett, "I will eat my meal, nurse Genie, then take a nap. Tell someone to wake me up in an hour and a half."

"Alright."

As Scarlett watched Rhett walk out of the room, she was pleased. She hadn't seen him that happy for a long time. Actually, she had never seen him that happy. She hoped her plan worked. She had wanted Rhett to see the pain and agony it took to bring a baby into the world true enough, but she had also decided that she had to get him to see their child as well… theirs. By having them share the experience of her birth, she hoped they had become bonded in Rhett's mind. At least, where Genie was concerned.

After Scarlett woke up from her nap, she asked Mammy to bring Wade and Ella to her after they had finished dinner. Right before Mammy put Ella down for her nap.

Wade and Ella looked at the baby briefly. They both were more concerned about their mother than their sister. Scarlett assured them that she was fine, and they could come see her before supper. She then sent them on their way.

Rhett behaved much the same way in regard to Genie as he had in the first timeline. He didn't have any nursemaids to fire except Mammy and he wasn't stupid enough to think that he could ever fire Mammy. Scarlett mainly took care of the baby herself. Even to the extent of changing the little girl's diapers.

The only time the baby was in the bassinet was when she was sleeping. Usually, Rhett was carrying her around with him but occasionally Scarlett carried the baby around.

Scarlett scheduled for the contractor Calvin Hobbs to come to the house a week after Genie had been born. After Mr. Hobbs had agreed to the appointment, Scarlett told Rhett as he was getting undressed. Although she knew there were lots of pauses while she was talking, he never said a word. Although Scarlett knew he knew she had been distracted by him revealing his body.

When Rhett got into the bed, he said, "I will be in the room when you are discussing the changes to the décor. That will just be easier. I can just nip those bazaar ideas of yours in the bud before you get your heart set on any of them."

Sourly, Scarlett said, "Alright."

"It is going to be a long five weeks for us. This first week has felt like a month.

Scarlett immediately knew what Rhett was talking about. She had quickly gotten used to being sexually satisfied. She said, "Yes."

"Would you be willing to relieve some of my need?"

"How?"

"Let me show you."

"Alright."

Soon Rhett was sexually satisfied and was happily sleeping beside Scarlett. She was not. If anything, she was more sexually frustrated. Rhett rolled over and pulled her close. He had not been asleep. He said, "I will be happy to take care of your needs when I can."

"Thank you, Rhett."

Scarlett closed her eyes and thought about what they had done. Rhett had done most of the work and she could tell this was not the first time he had pleasured himself. She also knew next time she would have to take more of an active role. She would do it. She wanted him to be happy.

Calvin Hobbs was happy to return to the Butler mansion. Admittedly, Mrs. Butler was a difficult customer, but she had the money to be. After he was seated, he saw a man in the room also. The man was not sitting on the sofa but was standing off to the side.

With a scowl Scarlett had introduced Mr. Hobbs to Rhett. Rhett said, "I am here to banish any avant-garde ideas my wife may have."

Scarlett knew what avant-garde meant but she wouldn't have at this point last timeline. She scowled at Rhett and said, "What in Halifax are you talking about?"

Rhett had smiled a condescending smile and said, "Everything you think is beautiful but in truth is downright ugly."

Scarlett harrumphed and turned back to Calvin. She smiled and said, "My husband thinks my beautiful mansion is ugly, so we are going to make some changes."

Judging by Mr. Hobbs expression, he thought the décor was ugly also. She really had been obtuse back then. No, the truth was she had never cared about another human being's feelings. Not even Ashley's.

Calvin simply said, "Yes Ma'am."

Rhett said, "You can start by ripping out all of the red wallpaper and all the mirrors."

"No, Rhett, you said…."

"And paint all the walls beige."

"Beige?! Beige! No!"

"Mrs. Butler, we can always paint the walls a different color later."

While staring at Rhett angrily, Scarlett said, "Alright."

Scarlett wasn't pretending to be angry. She was really angry at Rhett and his high-handedness.

Scarlett continued, "Don't take out any of the mirrors. Rhett, you agreed to leave the mirrors in place until we saw what it looked like without the red wallpaper."

"I did agree to that therefore, Mr. Hobbs, leave the mirrors. We will meet again once the wallpaper is removed, and the walls painted. Let me walk you out."

Scarlett was truly mad. She was mad at Rhett for just making all the decisions by himself. She thought, 'He is so high-handed. And he always will be. I will accept it, but I don't have to be happy about it. And to think this is what I asked for so very long.'

Rhett did not come back to the parlor, but Scarlett had not expected him to return. She knew where he was. In the nursery. Thirty minutes later when she felt her breasts ache, she got up and headed towards the nursery. Petty as it was Scarlett got great pleasure out of taking Genie out of Rhett's arms. Especially because there was nothing, he could do about it. She definitely remembered him taking Bonnie out of her arms and making an ugly comment about her poor mothering skills.

Scarlett and Rhett didn't celebrate St Valentine's Day, but they hadn't celebrated it last time either. Probably because she was still in her confinement. Although this time Rhett had brought her a bouquet of flowers to mark the occasion. After the no baby debacle, they hadn't celebrated anything as a couple.

One big change was that Rhett had not been sarcastic. In truth, he was still being mocking, but he was not being cruelly sarcastic. She couldn't say he had been sweet, but she didn't think she would ever be able to say that Rhett had behaved sweetly. He was behaving sweetly for him and that was all she could expect. He had not stopped teasing her, but his words no longer had a cruel aspect to them. Most importantly, he had stopped calling her My Pet.

Because Scarlett knew the cost of her neglect of her children, she was a much more interactive mother with all of them. She never chastised Rhett for being an overly involved father therefore, they never had the conversation about Genie only belonging to him. Although she wasn't sure if he felt that way this time. She couldn't remember exactly when they had the conversation about Genie's eye color thus whenever Melly was around Scarlett was on high alert to prevent that conversation from happening again.

When Rhett said to Melly, "Do you think her eyes are going to turn green like Scarlett's?"

"Indeed not. They are the same color as Mr. O'Hara's eyes."

Scarlett started talking over Melly when she said, "Pa always said his eyes were Irish blue. I guess Genie's eyes are going to be Irish blue also."

Rhett smiled and showed all his snobbery when he said, "We will just refer to them as blue."

"Alright, Dear."

The next day as Rhett was picking Genie up out of her bassinet, Scarlett heard him say, "Come here, Miracle."

"Rhett don't call her that. Her name is Genie."

"I can call my daughter anything I want."

"No, Rhett, no nicknames."

In a sing song voice, Rhett said, "Yes, Scarlett, nicknames." In a normal voice, he continued, "You call her Precious. That is a nickname."

"That is not a nickname. That is a term of endearment like Honey or Baby."

Stubbornly Rhett said, "I am going to call my daughter what I want to call her whether you like it or not. You are not the child's only parent. You don't get to make all the rules." In a harsh voice, he added, "Do you understand?"

While scowling at him, Scarlett said, "Yes, I understand, but neither do you."

Rhett smiled and said, "Since you are so involved with Genie, I will let you have a say in her raising."

Scarlett had quit fighting with Rhett because she knew that the more, she tried to force him to not do it, the more determined he would be to do it. She had wanted to scream. As she walked out of their bedroom, she thought, 'Stubborn bastard.'

Rhett did start calling the little girl Miracle. It soon got shortened down to Mira. It was enough to make Scarlett want to scream.