Hello, Dear readers!

Well, I have some notes about Miss Eleanor and her thoughts about Scarlett. I followed to the scenario that they didn't meet, as in the novel. At the beginning of the war, when she became a young widow, she didn't attend events because she was in mourning, and she left Charleston quickly, hating all those people.

And it's unlikely that they saw each other during her childhood, as Scarlett didn't know the surname Butler at that barbecue at Twelve Oaks.

Her aunts left for Europe immediately after the war ending, I wrote about this in one of the previous chapters, I think it was because there was no one to support them financially. They probably heard that Tara had been burned, Ellen had died and Gerald too. Suellen probably wrote to them in time to tell them that Scarlett was missing and probably dead. (Knowing Suellen's character, it is possible.) Well, I suppose they left for Europe with those thoughts, perhaps having had time to tell Eleanor - their young sister is dead, the estate is ruined, there is no one to help them. Well, and then their correspondence broke down, and Eleanor can't even tell them the latest news yet.

So there we have it. Charleston society is recovering from the war now.

Great thank you for your reading, your reviews and messages!

The new chapter is here, so...

Enjoy reading!:)

P.S. Well, I enjoyed finding photos for inspiration, so here's the link

https//polinka22malinka/772337038635712512/my-inspiration-for-the-chapter-12-of-the-story?source=share

Chapter 12

Spring passed quickly and Saratoga Springs enjoyed a pleasant summer season, not as hot and sultry as in the South, but Rhett missed the big water like in Charleston.

He and Scarlett were spending time together, the "brooch" incident was forgotten, and she no longer asked question about his "lost woman," and he gave no reason to speak of the subject.

Sometimes Rhett tried to make sense of the whole situation and realized how comic it all seemed from the side. He was so close to her, to the children, was received in her house, often ate with them, walked with them, played with Wade, adored little Ella, teased Scarlett and enjoyed their little quarrels, told her stories of his childhood and youth, made her laugh when she was sad, sometimes read to her and Wade in the evenings. But each time he kissed her hand tenderly, sometimes even let his lips touch her cheek to say goodbye... and drove to his hotel room, burning with the desire to lay into bed with her, make love with her, hold her in his arms and fall asleep together.

He loved their little world, loved to go to the races with her, to walk along the mineral springs, but they did not attend balls, receptions, because she was officially in mourning for her husband. For the same reason she always wore black. Sometimes Rhett chuckled when he realized that she had worn black for most of their acquaintance, and made a promise to himself that as soon as he married her, he would throw away all her black dresses.

The North gave them another advantage: they didn't attract attention. Nobody was known about his reputation in this small town, and she and John had only recently moved here. Their neighbours, when they came round, were polite. One day John's colleague and his young wife came to Scarlett, and they caught Rhett playing chess with Wade, but they didn't seem even to discuss it. Amy and Mary were always around, and on their walks they were almost always in public, and usually with Wade. Rhett imagined this situation in Atlanta, remembered the Old Guard and just chuckled, they would have pecked at Scarlett like a flock of birds of prey. Everything was more complicated in the South - traditions, etiquette, norms, rules, but Rhett was a Southerner to the core, even if he hated to admit it. And he wanted to raise his children (and he knew in advance that Wade and Ella would be his children) in the South. More and more he wondered how he could persuade Scarlett to move.

Scarlett was thinking of moving herself, although she wasn't in any hurry to tell Rhett. The climate played a big part in her decision, as she always felt uncomfortable, even in the summer her hands were cold, and she still remembered Wade's bad colds and was afraid of repeating them in the autumn and winter, and baby Ella was growing up too.

But, it was complicated. For one thing, moving meant a change in her little life. She would have to part with the servants she trusted - Amy and Jim had families in Saratoga Springs, and they refused to move to the South, knowing how much their lives would change. Scarlett seemed to be able to persuade Mary. Her parents were working, her brothers had families, she was lonely and decided she could help her, at least at first.

Looking at the pretty dark-skinned woman, Scarlett wondered why Mary was still single, but she didn't know the answer.

Finding a house was also putting Scarlett into a stupor, not to mention choosing a city. When she and John had discussed moving, the choice had been between the big cities near the water, Savannah or Charleston. John didn't want to move inland or to his destroyed childhood city. "Seeing this destruction really hurts, My Dear. It hurts my heart because that's where I grew up, where my parents were," he told her affectionately as they walked through the park near their home.

It was the same reason he didn't want to move to the same devastated Atlanta.

Finally, at the end of May, she shared her thoughts in a correspondence with Ross that was quite active, despite his older brother's overconfidence. Oh, how she waved triumphantly at Rhett with a letter from Ross. How haughtily she had teased him, so indifferent in appearance. "Hurt, Captain Butler?" and he just grinned back.

Ross urged her and the children to move to Charleston, saying there were plenty of houses to rent in the centre or on the outskirts, or by the water.

Scarlett thought about it and by the end of the summer, she shared her thoughts with Rhett, delaying the moment, because she knew he'd be active in his actions. Scarlett wondered why he was helping her and the children and what he found so interesting about their relationship, but she was very interested and comfortable with him herself. And that's not to mention the frequent goodbye kisses... She tried not to think about those light touches of his lips on her cheek or hand when everything inside her tightened and the breath caught.

She felt confused about everything with Rhett. So she did what she intuitively knew was right, and that was to put her thoughts and worries aside for later. "I'll deal with the move and then I'll think about Rhett and his role in my life," she thought again as she fell asleep, trying not to remember the black eyes that so often looked at her in a way that seemed to penetrate her very soul.

But when she had written to Ross about her decision, Scarlett realized it was time to talk to her varmint-friend. It was early August, warm summer weather, and Rhett had suggested a picnic in the wooded park behind her house, near the river. There were several gazebos along the bank, but Scarlett suggested they sit on the grass closer to the water.

As they sat, Ella crawled between them on the plaid, creeping to the edge of it now and then to pick a few green blades of grass with her little hands. Scarlett admired the view: the river, the sun glimpses on the water, wild birds.

Rhett admired the view too: her profile, her little pretty nose, her plump lips, her black hair, her thin, graceful neck, her snow-white skin set against the black cotton dress...

Scarlett sighed and suddenly turned to him, noticing his gaze. Rhett grinned and cleared his throat, adjusting the lapels of his linen jacket as he heard her sad voice, "It's such a beautiful place after all..."

Rhett nodded and she continued, "It'll be so pity to leave, it's wonderful in the summer..."

Rhett looked at her questioningly and asked again, "To leave?"

"Yes, I've decided to take the children and move to the South, as John and I wanted."

"And where?" he asked nervously.

Scarlett grinned and said, "To the town of your childhood, Captain Butler! Ross was very persuasive and I had to choose between Charleston and Savannah."

"Ross?" asked Rhett, frowning slightly. That little traitor, his brother, just like when he was a child, liked to go behind his back. Of course, Rhett had always found out about Ross' plans, and usually they were created to please him. Just like now. It turned out that Ross had done everything in his correspondence to make Scarlett decide to move to Charleston.

"Is there a problem?" she asked quietly when she saw his thoughtful face.

Rhett suddenly smiled broadly and said, "No, I'm glad, really! In fact, I love Charleston, despite the gossip and the society... It's a beautiful city on the water, what could be better? Look, Scarlett, I'll take you and Wade for a boat ride and..."

"Wait-wait-wait, Rhett," she cut him off quickly with a smile, "first I have to find a place to live and..."

"I'll arrange it, Scarlett," he said simply, reaching into his pocket for a cigar, but Ella crawled up to him and he immediately took her in his arms, smiling.

Scarlett looked at him carefully and said earnestly, "But you don't have to help me, Rhett. I mean," she continued, noticing the way his eyebrow raised in question, "what I'm trying to say is that I'm going to sort everything out... Gradually, especially as I have the money, John..."

"Scarlett," he cut her off, "I'll help you, you don't have to do everything yourself. There are many things I'm better at, like travelling by train, transporting your horse..."

"Oh..." she had really forgotten about Gracie, transporting an animal is not easy. And those trains... She remembered how she didn't like them, how she didn't like the smell of the station and the sleepers, the noise near the train. It all reminded her of that train with the wounded soldiers and made her relive those first hot days of despair at the emptiness in her memory. "Well, it's not like going to the other side of the country on donkeys," she joked sadly to herself, deciding to think about it later.

Rhett watched her, holding little Ella in his arms, stroking her short honey-coloured hair and silently rejoicing that she hadn't chosen Atlanta to move to, for God only knew how he would have discouraged her.

Charleston suited, her aunts had left just after the war, his mother had told that they were saddened by the death of their sister and eldest niece. There was no communication between them now... His mother didn't know Scarlett, if she'd even heard of her.

Scarlett herself had told him that she had come to Charleston as a young widow and quickly left, meeting almost no one and calling the people of the society "stupid snobs".

Rhett felt the sleeve of his jacket grow damp and smiled as he reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief. Ella continued to grow new teeth.

Scarlett noticed his actions, then looked at Ella, blushed slightly and reached out to pick up her daughter, saying, "Oh, sorry, Rhett, little miss got you dirty after all..."

"Nonsense, Scarlett."

She took her daughter from his arms and noticed Mary in the distance with a picnic basket. They agreed that Mary would pick Ella up closer to her afternoon nap.

Scarlett smiled at the opportunity to eat in peace, for Wade, now out riding horse with Jim, would soon come.

Handing her daughter to Mary and taking the basket, Scarlett was about to unpack the food when Rhett said, "Why don't we take a little walk, Scarlett? Along those gazebos?"

She looked at the basket, smelled the aroma of peach pie wafting from it, but nodded.

They were walking slowly on the grass when he said, "About the move, I think..."

"No, Rhett Butler," she interrupted with sudden determination and belligerence, "yes, you'll help me if you really want to, but let me make the decisions. And I'll pay for everything myself!"

"Scarlett..."

"Rhett, stop..."

They stood in the shade of the white gazebo and he admired the glint in her green eyes and the stubborn expression on her face.

He smiled, threw up his hands in defeat and said only, "Let's work this out together, shall we? I'll offer suggestions and advice, but you have the final say," she smiled, nodded, and he added, "but I'll take care of some of the costs. It's no problem for me, and I have to pay you back for all the coffee you treated me," he finished with a smile.

"You're incorrigible," she murmured, smiling slightly and thinking.

"And when would you like to move, Scarlett? You could have everything ready in a month and..."

"No," she cut him off sharply, "after the first anniversary of John's death. November. I won't leave before then. I'm owe to wait."

Rhett nodded and fell silent, trying to understand how she felt about her late husband.

"Although John always said we owe nothing to those we love," she said thoughtfully, looking out over the water, "he liked to say that love isn't measured in numbers, it's not a service for service... You just give it..."

She didn't notice that Rhett was moving closer to her, driven by some instinct.

They suddenly froze, everything around them stilled, not even the rustling of the leaves and the wind died down. Scarlett felt his hand at her waist and with the other he gently brushed the strands of hair away from her face. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt him lean to her face, but at the same moment a little anxiety crushed her from within and she quickly opened her eyes and took a step back from him. Catching the confused look in his black eyes, she tried quickly but carefully to pull away from his embrace, but Rhett wouldn't let her go and took her gently by the elbow.

"Scarlett," he called softly, moving closer again, then gently taking her chin and meeting her eyes.

"Why are you running away from me?" he asked quietly without taking his eyes off her, and all she just could whisper, "I don't know... It's not right..."

"What's 'not right', Scarlett?" he asked in a serious voice.

She didn't know how to explain it to him... There were so many thoughts in her head that everything was jumbled. The image of John, of herself. She'd been attached to her late husband and it was wrong to behave like this with Rhett, who was standing across from her, staring at her patiently. Scarlett knew she felt something for this tall man. She could tell that his touches, his scent, even the timbre of his voice sent such a strong pulse from her fingertips to the centre of her chest that everything inside her turned up with excitement. She often struggled to control the intonation of her voice. But... Too early... How could this happen, she was another man's wife a year ago and was expecting Ella.

"Let me go, please, Rhett," she told him softly, and he must have heard something serious in her voice because he let her go immediately.

She looked around nervously, saw Wade and Jim in the distance and said, "We have to go," and hurried to their place by the river, leaving him in extreme thoughtfulness.

The summer and early autumn were filled with meetings and organisational moments. Rhett made several trips to New York to arrange tickets and comfortable carriages, and he was closely involved in Gracie's transport.

At the end of September the weather turned bad and Scarlett prayed desperately that the children would not catch cold from the constant wind and rain.

Ella's first birthday had come and gone and they had celebrated it at home, with Rhett of course, who had just returned from New York where he had received several letters from his mother, sister and from Atlanta...

His mother complained that she had not seen her son for over six months, and Rhett sent her a telegram that he would be in Charleston by the middle of November.

Scarlett corresponded with Ross, who was looking forward to their arrival and advised them to stay in a hotel for the first time, which she agreed to do.

It was early November and the first anniversary of her husband's death. Scarlett had gone to the cemetery alone that day, and when she came home, freezing, she found Rhett in the living room, staring anxiously out of the window.

"Are you cold?" he asked, moving closer to take her hands and warm her, but Scarlett just shook her head and moved closer to the fireplace to warm herself.

As the day of departure drew nearer, she became more and more nervous about the train journey ahead.

And so, on the day of their departure, when they arrived at the station, Rhett saw how timidly she looked at the waiting train, how anxiously her eyes moved, how firmly she held Wade's hand and tried to smile at him.

Rhett helped Mary into the carriage, then handed her Ella, helped Wade and, looking at Scarlett, held out his hand and said, "Come with me, Scarlett," and she raised her eyes to him and touched his palm with her gloved hand, trustingly.

They entered the compartment and Rhett could feel her anxiety. She grew quiet, barely answering questions. He watched her lovingly as she looked around the compartment, staring out the window as if drowning in memories.

"Sit down, Scarlett," he said and she nodded, taking off her black leather gloves and bonnet, placing them on the table in front of her before sitting down on the soft couch near the window.

"Uncle Rhett, we have another compartment, don't we?" asked Wade curiously. He really liked trains and this trip was fun for him.

Rhett nodded with a smile and replied, "Yes, Wade, next door. It'll be comfortable to change Ella there or to take her an afternoon nap while we're going to New York."

"Can I see it?" the boy asked, holding his breath with delight.

"Yes, of course! Mary," he turned to nanny who was carefully holding Ella in her arms, "it's the next door on the right, can you go with the children?"

She nodded, smiled and said, "Yes, Captain Butler," and walked off with Wade and Ella.

Scarlett barely heard their conversation all the way, but looked nervously out of the window at the station, where people were hurrying with their valises, saying goodbye, giving kisses, polite or affectionate, waving their hands.

She remembered the scene of her and Wade saying goodbye John on the platform before he went to New York. "So Rhett was on the same train," she thought, "maybe he was watching us out the window at that moment, too."

She watched and realized that she was closing a chapter in the life she remembered. John and her story stayed there, in Saratoga Springs, but the memories of him were with her, and would always be with her (she hoped for that).

The steam train hissed and she swallowed nervously, remembering her first meeting with John on the train with the wounded soldiers.

Rhett noticed her tension and decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.

He sat down and suddenly reached for her hand under the table. His large, warm palm touched her cold hand and he whispered to her, "Your hands are ice-cold, Scarlett..."

She flinched, either from his warmth or from the whisper he used to say her name.

"I'm a bit cold," she whispered, not knowing what else to say.

Rhett smiled slightly and began to gently stroke the back of her hand with the pads of his fingers, and his thumb stroking her palm as well.

The touch of his slightly rough fingers on her soft skin was so gentle, so exciting...

Scarlett felt that she no longer felt cold at all. She was hot, hot inside, she even thought her cheeks were flushed.

She forgot her fears, her anxieties... There was only him, his touch and the whisper of her name in her ears.

She felt that these touches were special to him as well, listening to his breathing beside her, not daring to take her eyes from her skirt. His fingers seemed to grow a little bolder and stronger around her hand, a little harder to press, and then he placed his hand on her palm in the folds of her dress and gently but insistently ran his fingers between hers, intertwining them, touching her wrist with his wrist.

Scarlett didn't know what it was about the gesture that touched her most, but she covered her eyes slightly and heard him whisper her name again.

It seemed to her that he was moving closer, even though he was already sitting quite close to her. She thought she could feel his warm breath against her ear and shivered again, then felt goosebumps all over her body. She felt him squeeze her hand tighter and whisper, "I'm with you, Scarlett," but at the same moment there was a loud honk of a steam train. Scarlett opened her eyes and jerked her hand away sharply, then the compartment door opened and a cheerful Wade, Mary and Ella came in. Rhett pulled away from her just as abruptly, smiling, but his heart was racing and he was so aroused. They needed to talk, but he decided to leave it until Charleston.

Scarlett was afraid to look in his direction, feeling her knees trembling again. She tried to distract herself by smoothing her hair. "God, what's happening with me..." she managed to think and gave her son a polite smile.