Dear Readers, Hello!

Thank you for your reviews and kind words.

This chapter is about dialogues, but let's let our characters to talk.

I think the next chapter will be on Friday evening ;)

Thank you for reading and, as always, the link for inspiration is here.

https//polinka22malinka/772695895393353728/my-inspiration-for-the-chapter-13-of-the-story?source=share

Enjoy reading!:)

Chapter 13.

Scarlett saw Ross as soon as they got off the train and greeted him with a friendly wave. They stood apart from the crowd while Rhett arranged about the luggage.

Ross quickly made his way through the small crowd and said cheerfully, "Hello, Scarlett, finally, you are here!" He shook her hand and then hugged her lightly, thinking it unlikely that anyone would notice them in the station crowd. In those few weeks in Saratoga Springs, and then in their letters, they had become close. They were easy to talk to each other, had a similar sense of humour and both liked to joke about his obnoxious older brother.

Rhett saw Ross hugging her from a distance and felt a prick of jealousy, but he quickly dismissed the feeling, knowing that there was only a friendship between them. "She always found it easier to be friends with men," he thought as he made his way through the thinning crowd and saw them talking like old acquaintances. "She told, her best friends were the twins from the neighbouring plantation," he recalled.

"Ross," Rhett called to his brother, smiling and holding out his hand in greeting. Ross smiled back, shook his hand and replied, "Welcome, Rhett! Finally, you are here! How was your trip?"

"Not bad," he began...

"Terrible," Scarlett interrupted jokingly, "your brother, Ross, was always in our carriage from the New York, with me and the children, and only got into his own carriage at night. I wanted to get off the train already in Philadelphia!"

Ross laughed and Rhett grinned and replied, "Oh, come on, Scarlett! I kept you entertained with my stories and card games, you would have died of boredom travelling alone."

"And so it was just the three of us, Ross, not counting the children and the nanny. Me, Rhett and his ego!" she went on to say. She had once heard John use the word to describe one of his narcissistic and vain patient, and now she was using it successfully.

Ross laughed even harder as he listened to their bickering. They reminded him of a couple in love, oblivious to everyone around them.

"I think you needed a separate carriage for your ego, Rhett Butler!"

"Perhaps for your stubbornness too, Mrs Carter?"

Ross shook his head, grinned and asked Rhett quietly, touching his black jacket, "Is this how you always communicate?"

Rhett just nodded and Scarlett rolled her eyes and tried to turn her attention to the children. Wade didn't hear them arguing as he was fascinated by the train, and Mary was talking softly to the baby Ella, holding her in her arms and pointing at the sky, the train and the bright sun.

As they walked to the carriage that Ross had hired especially for them and their luggage, Scarlett held Wade's hand and felt that even though it was November, the sun was warm and the wind, though gusty, was warm too, southern, not northern and prickly. She took a deep breath of the salty air and found it familiar. "Maybe I've been here before... Who knows, maybe this is the city of my childhood? Maybe I'll meet people I know. Maybe I'll find my relatives?" she thought as they drove through the sunny streets of Charleston.

Rhett glanced at her from time to time, occasionally answering Ross's questions and listening to Wade's excitement about the train journey. Of course, the journey hadn't been perfect and they'd often been in the same carriage (and Rhett had hired two comfortable carriages so that she and the children could be as comfortable as possible on the journey), teasing each other like two pupils. Rhett lost count of how many times she'd scattered his deck of cards because she thought he was cheating (and he was really cheating for fun), how many times she'd wrinkled her adorable nose, and how many times she'd threatened to get off the train in response to his jokes and laughter.

But at the same time he remembered how she would look out of the window in the evenings, how he would sit next to her and just be quiet beside her. He didn't know what she was thinking, he didn't want to press her, he waited for her to tell him, but the children or Mary distracted them, or he had to go to his carriage, and they just wished each other good night.

Scarlett sat holding Ella, who had already untied the black satin ribbons from her bonnet, and just stared out of the window. The journey had made her tired, but she knew this was no time to relax. She needed to rest at the hotel for a day or two, and then get busy finding a suitable house, then furnishing it, then dealing with the staff, then a governess for Wade, then, then, then... She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed slightly, remembering that all of this had fallen on her late husband's shoulders the last time.

Scarlett opened her eyes again and immediately met his questioning and slightly concerned gaze.

He looked at her as if to ask, "What's wrong?" and she shook her head silently, smiling weakly. Then Rhett reached out as if to fix Ella's collar on her warm dress, but lingered for Scarlett's hand, taking her palm lightly in his. Sometimes he understood her without words.

Scarlett gently moved her hand away from his when she saw Ross' eyes slide over them and smiled, starting to ask him about his work as a lawyer.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the hotel in the centre, and while Ross was helping with their luggage, Rhett had sorted things out with the porter and went over to Scarlett who was waiting for them on a couch in the lobby with the children and Mary.

She stood up and came to him, wanting to thank him for doing so much for them in spite of their frequent quarrels, but the words caught in her throat when she saw how tender and anxious his gaze was. She hadn't seen him look into her eyes like that for a long time. Probably the last time was in the summer, during that "almost" kiss, that she tried not to remember and that he never tried to repeat again.

She was used to his eyes glittering with a playful gleam, or a serious expression, or a predatory, even indifferent one, when she looked at him and did not understand, what he was thinking, or his answers to her questions. Often she didn't understand him at all. But the tenderness... Her mouth went dry at once and she tried to smile, but heard his quiet voice, "I don't want to leave you at the hotel."

"Why not, Rhett?"

He didn't know how to explain his "why" to her. He just didn't want to leave the woman and children he loved in a strange (for them) city, in a hotel. In the North she lived in her own house, where she had familiar neighbours, servants and here...

"All set Scarlett, your luggage is waiting for you in your room," they heard Ross's loud voice and she looked at him, smiling gratefully.

Rhett just stood there silent and Scarlett, to break the awkward pause, said, addressing both of them but looking into Rhett's eyes, "Thank you, I really appreciate your help and..."

"Oh, Darling," Ross interrupted her cheerfully, seemingly unaware of the atmosphere between them, "you have to rest, you're tired from your long journey. And as a thank you, I expect a dinner invitation as soon as we find you a proper home! So you see, Scarlett, we have so much more to do!" She looked at Ross, smiled at him and shook his outstretched hand.

Ross walked over to Wade and the two of them were alone again amidst the hustle and bustle of the hotel.

"It's time for you to go home, Rhett... Ross said your mother and sister really missed you."

He nodded and Scarlett tried to joke, "Well, now you won't have to go all the way across the country to have coffee with me or make me angry and..."

Rhett grinned and quickly leaned over to her, kissing her cheek lightly and whispering, "It's so good to have you here..."

Scarlett blushed and took a step away from him, looking nervously to see if they were attracting attention, as she had heard from Ross about the strict rules of behaviour and the town gossip.

Later, as they sat in the carriage on the way to the Butler mansion, Ross said with a smile, "And I thought, Rhett, why aren't you married? Now I know why!"

Rhett didn't look away from the window and muttered, "Look at you, Ross."

"I certainly wouldn't behave like you with the woman I love, Captain Butler! And I'd get married as soon as I met the one and only... Well, probably, I'd marry Scarlett without a second thought, but since there's you..."

"Don't even think about it!" his brother interrupted, grinning.

"Look, I'm not the only one who will have thoughts like that..." insisted Ross, twirling his brown hat in his hands.

"What do you mean?"

"Mark the boundaries already, tell her everything and start courting..." Ross listed, but Rhett interrupted him, "I know without you..."

"But you don't do anything!"

"I'm waiting for the right moment."

"Fool."

Rhett laughed and just said, "I feel, I'm definitely home now, I recognize my little brother! And you talk just like Scarlett..."

Ross grinned and suddenly Rhett said seriously, "I didn't want to leave her there alone. I'm going to my mother's house, but she and the children are staying in that bloody hotel... It doesn't make sense."

Ross just shrugged and then he heard his brother's serious voice again, "Ross, what does mother know?"

"Everything... Well, almost everything, Rhett. You know I could never keep the truth from her," he said with a guilty smile.

"Can you be more specific," Rhett insisted.

"She knows about Scarlett, she knows that she is a young widow and that there are charming children... She knows that the girl has no memory of the past. And, of course, our mother knows that her eldest son seems to have lost his head in love, living six months at a time in the North."

Rhett turned thoughtfully to the window, and Ross added, "Mother's happy for you, Rhett. And for herself. She's glad you brought the young woman here, that she'll see you more than once a year now..."

And indeed, as they pulled up to the familiar mansion in Battery Street, Rhett, as he stepped out of the carriage and breathed in the fragrant, salty air, noticed the silhouette in the window of the living room.

A few minutes later his mother was hugging him warmly and saying, "You've forgotten your mother, Rhett! You've been away a long time, a very long time. If it hadn't been for Ross, we wouldn't have known about you at all..."

Rhett hugged his mother affectionately, and then Rosemary, who seemed to have forgotten all their differences.

Coffee flowed smoothly into lunch, while his mother and sister were talking him all the news and gossip in town, especially about the "Committee of Confederate Widows and Orphans."

Listening half-heartedly and nodding his head, Rhett quickly realized that through these women in Charleston, through donations, he could count on a place in this high society. Not that he wanted it badly, but he wanted a family and he wanted his children to be accepted and to have a good future here, and if he had to smile and pay a little bit for it, he was willing to do it, and for fun and entertainment there might still be trips to New Orleans, Europe, somewhere else... Rhett grinned, realizing that his main "entertainment" at the moment was in the hotel in the centre. He missed her already so much.

"By the way, Rhett, do you know who the head of this committee is?" Rosemary suddenly addressed him with a playful smile and he just looked at her questioningly. "Mrs Hampton, the mother of my friend Anne! Do you remember her?"

Rhett barely remembered the young girl, but he nodded with a polite smile, hoping his sister wouldn't start the campaign to get him married again. Especially since his fiancée was already here, even if she didn't know it yet.

"Perhaps, we all can meet at the ball in a two weeks, at the beginning of December? You won't be away this Christmas here, will you, Rhett?" asked Rosemary, while Mrs Butler was watching her eldest son closely, who smiled and assured her that he would be in town for Christmas. Ross just grinned.

Later that evening, as Rhett smoked in his study and wondered what time he should leave for her tomorrow, there was a soft knock and his mother came in.

"Do you have a few minutes to talk to me, son?" she smiled kindly at him, and Rhett just smiled back, getting up and helping his mother to sit down on the sofa.

"Something you wanted to talk about?" he asked, knowing the answer.

His mother nodded and asked, "How was your trip, Rhett?"

"Good..."

"I presume you travelled with company this time?"

"Pleasant company..."

Mrs Butler smiled and said, adjusting her brown house dress, "Ross told me about your attachment, son, and as a mother I can only be happy for you. You're not young anymore..."

"Mother," Rhett laughed, "you offend me by comparing to an old man!"

"Oh, Rhett, you're just the same as you were when you were a boy! I'm just saying I'd like to meet this woman. If I'm not mistaken, her name is Scarlett..."

Rhett nodded, carefully putting down his cigar, and was about to add something, but Mrs Butler beat him to it, "And her children. I'm glad you see yourself not only as a future husband, but as a father," she caught his questioning look and it was her turn to laugh, "Oh, Darling, your brother Ross never could keep a secret, and I've had plenty of time to think about it. Of course, we don't know what family she's from. This loss of memory... Oh, poor child, so traumatised by this war..."

Rhett swallowed and his mother continued, looking sadly in front of herself, "But who isn't traumatised now? Physically or mentally, we're all trying to recover from it. Anyway, son, bring Scarlett to visit and..."

Rhett listened intently to his mother's words and then interrupted her, "Thank you, mother! I'll introduce you to her soon, but right now she needs to get settled here. I want to help her with the house..."

"Son, but... Don't you court after her? Have you told her how you feel? It seems that the two of you should look for a house together..."

"Mother, she's a widow, it's been a year, since her husband died... No, I haven't talked to her about it. I'm a close friend of hers."

Miss Eleanor smiled sadly, but then said in mischievous tone, "Well, Rhett, first of all, the woman is obviously very unusual, if my always determined son is putting off talking to her for some reason. Secondly, norms have changed since the end of the war. Not all widows are ready to be left alone and without children after the war. I know it sounds sacrilegious, but it's a new life and new rules. But you, Rhett, you never played by the rules..."

He grinned.

"As for the house, there's a lovely one for rent at the end of our street, and you can even buy it in some time. The owners, a family from Europe, have recently left for Paris, to teach their daughters art. I knew this family a little, their mother, Lady Simmons, never got used to our southern summers, so they made such a decision..."

Rhett listened with interest as his mother continued, "A classical house with a veranda, two storeys and a large garden behind the house."

He nodded, remembering that Gracie would be brought in a few days.

"Ross seems to know their family lawyer," Mrs Butler finished.

The next morning, just after breakfast, Rhett knocked at her door.

"Oh, Rhett Butler, I was sure you'd come this morning, I didn't even doubt it!" said Scarlett, closing the door behind him. In the living room of the suite sat Wade, who was busy with drawing.

"But I see you're quite ready to go out..." he replied, looking over her black dress, causing her to turn quickly to the mirror. He joined Wade at the table, stroking his hair affectionately.

"Out where, Rhett?" she asked, fixing her hairstyle.

"First to have coffee with me down at the restaurant, and then..."

"Okay, Rhett Butler!" she turned sharply and cut him off, "I didn't move to this town to entertain you! I've got some serious business to attend to and..."

"Oh, Mrs Carter, how stubborn you are and won't listen to the end," he interrupted, laughing.

Wade stopped drawing and listened them with interest, trying to figure out if the adults were arguing.

"Wade," Rhett said, noticing the child's interest, "please go to your sister and play with her. I'll take your mother to see the house for you and then I'll bring her back and we'll go for a walk together..."

Wade nodded happily, went to the adjoining room, and Scarlett looked at him incredulously, "A house? Have you found a house already, Rhett?"

"I'm making things fast and clear, Darling," he began.

"Hey, this room is too small for the three of us with your ego, Rhett Butler!" she cut him off with a grin.

Suddenly he stood up and came very close to her, looking intently into her eyes and saying quietly, "Maybe it's not just my ego, Dear, but your constant stubbornness and insistence on doing everything yourself?"

He was standing quite close and Scarlett looked away in several seconds, then nervously adjusted the white lace collar on her black dress, thinking he had burst into her quiet room and sparks seemed to be flying around them again, as they often did. "Very often," she thought and tried to ask him more calmly, "So what is this house?"

Rhett couldn't take his gaze off her face, trying to understand how he'd got hot for her again in the few minutes they'd been in the same room, but he pulled himself together and grinned at her, "Come on, Scarlett, and warn Mary we won't be long."

As they drank coffee, he told her about the house, adding that it was on the street where his mother lived.

"God forbid, you and I should be neighbours, Rhett Butler?" she replied, smiling and shaking her head.

"Not out of the question, Darling," he said, looking lazily around the restaurant.

He wanted to be more than just her neighbour and he knew he would tell her soon. He glanced over at her from time to time as she sipped her coffee, only to be surprised at how quickly the range of his feelings for her changed from tenderness to heat. With just one look, she seemed to awaken his most secret feelings. And if during the war he had loved to tease her to hide his feelings, he didn't want to hide them now. But no matter how gentle he tried to be, there was always that moment, that phrase, that curve of her lips or eyebrow that challenged him to a verbal duel.

"Rhett..." he heard her voice and was ripped from his thoughts.

"Are you ready?" he asked her with a smile.

"Yes, let's go..." she replied, standing up and adding as he turned away, "And thank you for helping me..."