Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Three
It was January of sixty-six, Rhett and his family were still in London. He had sold all his cotton he had stockpiled in a warehouse in Lancashire. He and his family would be returning to Charleston in March. Once it wasn't too cold to cross the Atlantic Ocean. His attorney would have gotten his pardon by then.
Miranda was terribly homesick. She missed all her friends. She had not given living in London a fair chance. She just moped around the house. She was even worse to live with than she had been while they had been living in Charleston. Rhett had spent more time away from the house, which probably had made her homesickness even worse.
Grant and Lee were unhappy about living so far away from home also. Rhett guessed they were just Southerners through and through. He had decided he might as well return. There certainly wasn't any beauty or charm here for him in London. The slow gentle life of respectability and properness was as boring now as it had been the first time around.
As much as Rhett didn't want to admit it, he missed the excitement that being around Scarlett always brought him. He wondered how she was going to save Tara this time. After all, the only reason she went into Atlanta the first time around was to sell herself to him. She just coincidently ran into Frank and got him to the altar in time. Rhett would never know. He would never enter Georgia. He couldn't live through being married to Scarlett while she was mooning over Ashley again. Maybe he would go see her in the Fall of seventy-three. If he was still alive.
Scarlett was fretting over the taxes. How was she going to get the money? Ashley had been no help. He had been worse than no help. He had told her he would never leave Melly because that would be a dishonorable thing to do. That he loved honor more than her. She pushed those thoughts from her mind.
That night over supper, Scarlett heard Suellen going on about the fact that Frank had started a store. That he was quite successful. Scarlett knew what she was going to do.
Two weeks later Scarlett and Frank were married.
On the last day of January Scarlett convinced Frank to pay the taxes on Tara. A week later Frank was sick in bed. He had been sick for two days. Scarlett went down to check on the store. When she returned, she said to Frank, "If you collected all the money that people owe you, you could buy the sawmill."
"I cannot hound the people for the money they are barely getting by. I will have to figure out another way to get the money for the sawmill."
"If I can find the money, can I buy and run the sawmill."
"Yes, Mr. Johnson will train you. I will help you anyway I can."
"Thank you, Frank."
Frank had said yes because he could not imagine how Scarlett would find the money. He also knew that once she failed at running the sawmill, if it ever got to that, he could either take over or sell it.
Maybe Frank couldn't hound people, but Scarlett certainly could. Every unpaid debt she collected she set aside for her to buy the sawmill with. Soon she had three hundred dollars to buy the sawmill. With her profits she made repairs to the sawmill. Finally, it was profitable enough for her to support her family and buy another sawmill. She had made some mistakes because there was no one to give her advice.
The worst day was when her horse had died on her way back into town. She had to walk the entire way home while being five months along with her child. Frank went out and took care of the horse and buggy. She had not been able to visit her sawmills until she had made enough money to buy another horse.
Rhett made sure he was in Charleston in June of sixty-six so he could say goodbye to his father. He and his father had quite a good relationship now. Now that Rhett was no longer a young man determined to flaunt all the rules of society. Now that his father had truly stopped worrying about what Rhett was going to do next. His father had even told Rhett that he was proud of him and everything he had accomplished. Rhett had not known it until the words were spoken how much he had wanted his father to be proud of him.
After Rhett's return from Europe, he had paid to get the family's home fixed up. It was a townhouse down the street from his and Miranda's townhouse. He was glad. Everyone but him and his family were living there.
This time last timeline, Scarlett was about to go into her confinement for Ella. That is after her father's death and her hiring Ashley to run one of her sawmills reneging on their deal. That still made him mad. How many sawmills did she have this time? Did she have any sawmills this time? Was she living in Atlanta or at Tara? Maybe he would go see what she was up to? No! There was no point in torturing himself with seeing Scarlett. She was in love with Wilkes. He couldn't go through that again. Not that it mattered, he was married to another woman. He had found out from a lawyer that he couldn't get a divorce in South Carolina for any reason. Therefore, he was stuck. He couldn't marry Scarlett even if he wanted to. He smiled as he thought, 'And she damn sure isn't going to be my mistress.'
In July, Scarlett received a telegram stating that her father was dead. She went to the funeral in a black dress she had borrowed from Mrs. Meade. She found out how Suellen had gotten her father killed. Old Miss told Scarlett that Ashley was useless, but she refused to listen. After Will told Scarlett that the Wilkes were moving to New York, she tricked Ashley into staying in Georgia. Ashley would manage her mills for her while she was in her confinement then they could go to New York when she was back at work.
Will and Suellen got married, Careen boarded the train to Charleston to go into the convent, and the Wilkeses moved into the Hamilton House. For Scarlett it was wonderful and awful all at the same time. She was living with Ashley, but he was seeing her in a grotesque shape. Ashley took over running one of the mills for the next six months.
After a month, the Wilkes had found a house for them to rent until Scarlett was out of her confinement. She was glad. She hadn't wanted Ashley to see her in an awful shape. She also was tired of him and Melanie talking about things she didn't understand.
In October, Scarlett had a daughter, Ella Lorena. She looked too much like her father to ever be considered pretty. Scarlett felt no more for this child than what she felt for Wade. After three months Scarlett was pleased that the child had her eye color, her dimples, and her smile. Maybe there was hope for the child.
In the fall of sixty-six, Rhett's son Lee died. He had stepped on a rusty nail and developed Lock Jaw. He was quickly dead. Rhett decided to send Grant to boarding school. He was sending the boy to his Alma Mator, Princeton Academy. It was in Virginia. He had to get the boy out of South Carolina. He was teased and harassed about his name because of General Grant and now President Grant. Rhett had certainly not thought that would happen. He would not have name his son that name if he had.
As Miranda and Rhett were seeing their son off, Rhett had said, "You might want to start using your middle name from now on."
The boy had sadly smiled and said, "Yes, I will start being called Lambert from now on."
Miranda said, "That is originally what I wanted to call you, but your father had insisted I call you Grant."
"Then it is settled. Get on the train Lambert."
"Yes, sir."
"We will write you."
A week later Rhett had moved to Atlanta to make an obscene amount of money off the Republican government. He just wouldn't ever meet Scarlett. It shouldn't be hard. He would never spend time with proper people.
Rhett told Miranda, "I will be back in about three to four months to keep gossip down. I have some business deals that are going to make me a lot of money."
The next morning as Miranda watched Rhett walk out of their townhouse, not for the first time she wished she had not gone on a buggy ride with Rhett Butler. She missed her sons. She didn't miss Rhett. He had never been a companion to her. He had never tried to have a relationship with her. Furthermore, despite his wealth, he was a miser. He gave her an allowance, but it was barely enough to cover the expense of running the household. She had the minimum number of servants. In fact, she often had to do some of the household chores herself. It was just as well. She knew she was much more well off than her friends, therefore even if Rhett had given her a lot of money, she would not have been able to spend it and keep her friends.
Occasionally Miranda would think about the young man she had wanted to marry, Blake Shelton. His family was not as financially independent as the Butlers, but they had been socially prominent. Blake had been calling on her. Her father had forced her to go on the buggy ride with Rhett Butler.
Miranda knew that Rhett had been no more interested in her than she had in him. Yet because of a broken buggy wheel they had become husband and wife.
Miranda would fantasize about the life she and Blake would have had. Of course, now she would be dirt poor without anyone to support her because Blake had been killed at the First Battle of Manassas. Her father was dead, and her mother lived with her. She was happy that her mother was living with her. She enjoyed having someone to talk to.
Yet, if it wasn't for Rhett, Miranda really didn't know how she would eke out a living with no one to support her. She guessed she could have gotten a job.
Miranda missed Lee and Grant so terribly much. She never missed Rhett while he was gone. In fact, she was happy he was gone. When he was home, he was often mocking and sarcastic.
In the spring of sixty-eight, Scarlett was attacked while returning from Ashley's sawmill. The Klan went out that night to avenge her honor. Frank and Tommy were killed and Ashley gravely injured. Scarlett was blamed for the whole affair.
Rhett had heard the Yankee officers talking about the trap. He did nothing. He kind of hoped Ashley Wilkes died this time. He found out a week later Ashley had not died. Rhett also found out that the Yankees didn't have enough evidence to seize the widows or anyone else's property.
Rhett knew all about Scarlett by now. Her life was much the same without him. He made sure to never see her. He knew that would be his downfall. Just seeing her. That had been his downfall when he saw her again at the Hospital Bazaar.
Rhett's foolish heart had thought it had been destiny that he and Scarlett would meet again. But it hadn't been. It had been him seeing what he wanted to see.
Instead of pursuing Scarlett, Rhett had made money with other shady businessmen. He had invested money in the Blue Moon. The saloon didn't have a brothel which was why he had felt safe investing in it.
This time Rhett was not infamous. He had managed once again to steal a sizeable amount of the Confederate gool and he supposed he should feel guilty about that, but he didn't. If he hadn't stolen it someone else would have.
Rhett had worked extremely hard at keeping a low profile. Mainly for his relatives' sake, but also because he had mellowed with age. When he had been returned in time, he had been forty-five years old. He had lived another almost twenty years, so therefore, he was mentally almost sixty-five. Yet here he was sitting in a bar at eight o'clock at night playing poker with men he hardly knew.