Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Twenty-Three

In the month of December, Rhett and Scarlett went Christmas shopping. He restrained himself because on March the first, the family would be heading to London to await the arrival of their baby. They bought the children a few toys, but they were mostly clothes and shoes. Things the children needed anyway.

The family had Christmas dinner at Hamilton House with the Hamiltons and Wilkeses. Scarlett had given PittyPat some money to cover the expense of the meal. The meal was pleasant enough, although India brought her scowl with her. During the meal, Rhett whispered to Scarlett, "I wish I knew what she looked like without that scowl, but that is the only expression I have ever seen on her face."

"I think her face is frozen that way."

Rhett laughed and Scarlett smiled.

When Rhett helped himself to a large serving of yams, Scarlett scowled at him. He said, "What?"

"Yams are disgusting."

"Why do you say that?"

"We ate them almost every meal after Sherman marched through Georgia until the end of the war. That and black-eyed peas."

"That sounds awful, but I didn't. After the Charleston port closed and the blockade runners couldn't get back into the Confederacy I moved to London and spent the rest of the war there."

"Must have been nice."

"It was. I didn't return to Charleston until June of sixty-six."

"What did you do when you were in London?"

"Much the same thing I am doing now."

Scarlett leaned forward and whispered, "In morally questionable ways, I bet."

"Of course."

Scarlett smiled and said in a normal voice, "Why did you return then?"

"To help restore order and tranquility to the South."

India said, "You mean profit off the misfortune of Southerners."

"Miss Wilkes, I will freely admit that what I am doing is of benefit to me, but that doesn't mean it doesn't also benefit the people of Georgia."

India's expression actually changed. It went from a scowl to a glare. Rhett just continued sitting there smiling at her. It didn't matter to him what she thought of him or of Scarlett. He had never cared about other people's opinions. He was pretty sure Scarlett didn't either.

Rhett continued, "Although as soon as the former veteran's get the right to vote back, I am sure they will vote in the same people who got them into this mess in the first place."

Rhett's statement effectively turned the conversation at least among the men to politics and the aftermath of the war.

Although PittyPat had the ladies leave the men to their cigars and whiskey, the men didn't spend much time alone before they joined the women. Shortly thereafter Scarlett was ready to leave. As they got into the cab, she said, "Enough is enough."

Ella napped, Wade played with his toys, and Rhett and Scarlett relaxed in the common room. They talked casually about nothing in particular.

The next day the family went down to Tara. They spent a couple of nights down there. Scarlett handed out presents to everyone, but most of her gifts were for Mammy. She gave the older woman several yards of three different types of material plus some white fabric for her under garments. Scarlett also gave Mammy a new pair of shoes. She gave the children toys and Will and Suellen token presents.

When Suellen made a snide comment about Scarlett stealing Frank Kennedy, Scarlett felt not a moment of caution when she said in front of Rhett, "Suellen, I have often told you I just wanted the money not the man. I would have gladly let you have the man. You got a much better man in Will."

"Frank would have made me a good husband."

"He would never have married you. You couldn't even get him to the altar in five years. I got him to the altar in two weeks."

"He would have married me once he had enough money to build us a house."

"Suellen, he had five hundred dollars in the bank. More than enough money to build you a house, but instead of marrying you, he was planning on buying a sawmill."

"The same sawmill that you bought out from under him after he gave you his stash to save Tara."

"Yes, yes, yes. I did all that and I saved Tara. I also was able to support you and your family until Tara started making a profit. That is a lot more than you would have done. You would have built yourself a house and had no concern for Pa or me or the other people who were living at Tara. You certainly would not have sent us money to keep our heads above water."

"Yes, I would have."

"No, you wouldn't have because you would have no money. Just what Frank made at the store. You would have had to have his permission to send us that money and I'm pretty sure he would have wanted to use the money to buy the sawmill. The way I got the money was hounding people to pay on their debts to the store. You would not have done that either or bought the sawmill yourself or run it yourself because it would have been unladylike. You have always been so concerned about acting like a lady."

"The same can't be said for you."

"True, but I did what I had to do. Enough. We are not going to rehash that old history. Come on, Rhett, let's walk around the grounds."

After the couple with Wade had been walking around for about thirty minutes, Scarlett said, "Do you want to know the story?"

Rhett replied, "Let me see if I can figure it out. You have told me about needing three hundred dollars to save Tara. You somehow found out Old Frank had the three hundred dollars you needed. You then skillfully managed to get yourself married to Frank despite the fact he was …. Let me think… I'm going to say engaged to your sister judging by her continual hostility." Scarlett nodded her head. Rhett went on, "Then while he still believed you loved him, you persuaded him to pay the taxes on Tara. Just in the nick of time."

"I can assure you, I earned every penny of that three hundred dollars."

"I have no doubt you did. Furthermore, you are continuing to earn that three hundred dollars by having to listen to your sister carp about the subject."

"If she knew what it was like being married to Frank, she would be thanking me instead of being mad at me about the issue."

Rhett and Scarlett walked around for about five more minutes until, she said, "Do you think less of me?"

"No, I'm proud of you. You did what you had to do to save your plantation. Do you think I wanted to put my life at risk by running the blockade? No, I did not. But like you I did what I had to do so I would never be poor again."

"Thank you for saying that, Rhett."

Rhett knew that despite her bravado, to the contrary Scarlett was not as confident as she appeared, especially when it came to breaking the rules of Southern society. He said, "The main thing is that you survived and drug all those leeches with you. Speaking of leeches, I spoke with Mr. Hardy about how Mr. Wilkes was doing."

"What did he say?"

"Surprisingly, it seems Mr. Wilkes has found his niche in our new world. He is doing quite well at his new job."

Rhett and Scarlett walked for a few more minutes until she said, "When were you poor?"

"I wasn't exactly poor, but I was trying to make it without my father's help. I didn't want to be beholden to him."

"Oh."

"Therefore, when I was first making my fortune, I got into some dicey schemes. Not all of them were successful. In fact, one time I got stranded in Cuba when my partners double crossed me, took all the money, and left me to starve." Rhett remembered that day like it was yesterday when in truth it had been over thirty-five years before. He went on, "I had a few days when I went without eating. I finally got a job on a fishing boat. That was a long sweltering summer hauling in all those fish. Of course, not catching anything was worse. The man who hired me, Peter was his name, I never knew his last name, he paid me at the end of each day after he sold his haul. Of course, if we didn't catch anything there was nothing to sell, thus no money for Rhett."

"What did you do?"

"Eventually a large ship came to the island. They needed deck hands, and I hired on."

"Couldn't you have telegraphed your father and have him send you the money?"

"And admit that I couldn't take care of myself. No, ma'am. I wasn't going to do that."

"Rhett, you could have starved."

"But I didn't, and everything worked out for the best."

"Did you ever see your former partners?"

"No, I never did."

In truth, Rhett had tracked them down and killed both of them. He had told them both, 'Your mistake was not killing me when you had the chance.'

Rhett felt like he had to kill them to send a warning to the next man who thought to double cross him. That had been three years after he had been disowned. At the time he hadn't really cared if he lived or died. At the time, the only thing keeping him going was the goal of proving to his father that he was a better man than him. In truth, Rhett knew his father of the first timeline had never thought Rhett a better man. His father would never have no matter how much money Rhett had. What his father valued was being thought of as honorable and esteemed by his fellow men.

For a moment Rhett flashed on the change in this timeline from his original timeline. When he had returned in time he had every intention of marrying Miranda Lambert, but somehow when he returned there had been no buggy incident to atone for. He dismissed it from his thoughts. He hadn't been able to figure it out in almost twenty years of pondering the subject. He was with Scarlett and there were so many better things to do with her, like teasing her. He said, "Have you thought anymore about changing the name to Caveat Emporium?"

Scarlett turned to look at Rhett and he knew that any guilty feelings she might have had about Frank Kennedy were long forgotten. She sharply said, "I told you I wasn't calling it that."

"How about 'Grab it and Go.'

"No! That might encourage people to steal my goods."

"Serenity Springs Market."

"That sounds like a cemetery."

"I suppose. How about Green Acres Market."

Scarlett laughed and said, "Same problem."

"The Friendly Neighborhood Store. No, that wouldn't be right, then you would have to be friendly to the matrons."

Scarlett smiled and said, "I will be polite, but not friendly. Go on what else have you got?"

"Friendly Mercantile."

"Let's just leave friendly completely out of the name."

"Peach Tree Emporium."

"Nothing about peaches or pecans. What does mercantile mean?"

"Business. How about Starlight General Store?"

"I like that, but I'm not going to change the name until I decide whether I am going to sell the store or not."

"So, you are thinking about it?"

"Yes, I am. Over there is the lake my sisters and I went swimming in during the summer." Scarlett smiled and said, "Mammy always went with us so nobody would drown. Although I don't know how she was going to stop us from drowning, she doesn't know how to swim."

Rhett laughed and his laughter made Scarlett feel stupid and she didn't know why. When he sobered, he said, "She was protecting you three little girls from someone trying to steal your virtue."

Scarlett blushed and immediately felt like she was a naïve, country bumpkin. When Rhett started laughing again, she screamed, "Just shut up, you jerk."

Scarlett turned and started walking rapidly towards the house. Rhett caught up with her, but didn't touch her. She would not tolerate that right them.