Hello Dear Readers!:)

Thank you for all your reviews, some of you even left them here and on another site (waving to you, Sabina.C:) It's nice and very inspiring me to keep writing!

So, some words about our Rhett. By the way, I tried to get into his head a bit in this chapter...

So, he behaved that way with Melly partly because he's no stranger to selfishness.

He made the decision to hide everything from Melanie when he didn't answer her first letter in New York. He had time to think, the shock of the news had passed, Scarlett was "free" again and he decided to build their relationship, not to let anyone into their little world. Yes, sometimes he regretted it, but more often it happened in emotional moments, after meetings or letters, or conversations. But then he would return to their live, their relationships, immerse himself in their feelings, and his conscience would fall asleep.

Somehow, Rhett has never been an easy hero, and if you start digging into his soul, where he doesn't let many people in, you'll get a headache (which I got today, thanks Rhett, haha:)). Anyway, the new chapter is here.

Enjoy reading!:)

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Chapter 21

The winter sun crept shyly into the emerald-green bedroom, gliding across the walls, the soft beige carpet, the white blanket. It tangled with the long black woman's curls on the pillow, caressed by a swarthy man's hand.

Rhett woke early, as usual, and lay beside his wife with a blissful smile, stroking her hair lovingly.

After they had "reconciled" several times last night, she sat near the headboard with her head on his shoulder, he smoked a cigar, began to talk her something and soon found her asleep.

He remembered how he gently lowered her onto the pillow, how she mumbled something without opening her eyes, which brought a smile to his face, and then fell back into a deep sleep.

When he fell asleep, the last thing he remembered was her confession to him in the study. It was also the first thing flashed in his mind, when he opened his eyes in the morning. It seemed unreal that this young woman, the coquette from Clayton County who had always had several beaux and had foolishly given her heart to a man who did not need it, had declared her feelings to him yesterday. Boldly, openly, with a stubborn gleam in her green eyes. Rhett felt he had finally reached a certain peak and could relax, he no longer had to find his way to her heart, he was already there. "By hook or by crook," a thought flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. It was real between them, the truth. He loved her and she loved him.

"Stop waking me," he heard a sleepy murmur and grinned.

"It seems my dear wife hasn't slept well," he said, then kissed her shoulder and added, "but we really should get up, Scarlett, breakfast will be served soon."

She wrinkled her nose a little sleepily, then stretched and sat up on the bed, clutching the blanket to herself. Rhett smiled and sat up beside her, putting his arms around her shoulders.

"Did you not sleep well?"

"No," she replied, adding, "at least better than night before it."

She bit her tongue at the last phrase, knowing he could guess how worried she was about his absence, but Rhett smiled and simply asked, "And what kept you from sleeping well? I was on the train and no one, as you like to complain, My Dear, breathed on you..."

He was giggling and she had to frown again, mutter something like "You're so impossible again, and from early morning!" and try to move away from him.

"Okay, Scarlett, I'm sorry," he said calmly, "you seem really to be in a bad mood..."

"But you're glowing with happiness," she grumbled in reply. She really didn't like waking up in the morning, especially since she and Rhett had fallen asleep late the night before and she remembered the "why" with her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

No sooner had she thought about it than she heard him say in a quiet low voice, "Of course I'm happy, because it's not every day that my beloved wife speaks as openly about her feelings as she did yesterday!"

"Then you can remember that moment, Rhett Butler, because I won't make that mistake again, you rascal! And you knocked me down yesterday with your... Hmm... Passion... And you stopped me from beating you at chess!"

"I told you, you won, Scarlett," he whispered, pulling her closer.

She smiled contentedly, giving herself permission to trust him again. She didn't like having a real fight with him, and such fights rarely happened, and the little domestic quarrels actually spurred her on. For some unknown reason, she liked to have verbal duels with him, to taunt him, and she rejoiced like a child when she emerged victorious.

Dressed in her beige house dress, Scarlett brushed long hair and looked at her reflection in the mirror, but her thoughts were far away when she heard Rhett's cheerful voice.

"Hurry up Scarlett, I'm really hungry."

She hummed and just said, "Why should you be?

"Maybe because I barely ate yesterday dinner," he said, looking expressively into her eyes in the reflection.

"I don't know what you mean," she said calmly, running the brush through her hair again.

"So you don't know where all the salt from the table ended up on my plate, Dear?" he asked, smiling broadly.

"You deserve it," she replied, meeting his gaze and narrowing her eyes slightly.

Rhett was silent for a few moments before he replied, "Maybe..."

Then he added more quietly, "Who told you about my... Нmmm... My business in Atlanta, Scarlett?"

She frowned, she didn't want to remember the overheard conversation, especially since it involved an ex-mistress of his, but she put down her hairbrush and boldly said, turning to him, "Your almost fiancée!"

Rhett stared at his wife in surprise, and she rolled her eyes and explained, "That quiet mouse, Miss Hampton... She was talking to Rosemary in the living room, I eavesdropped..."

Rhett raised an expressive eyebrow and interjected, "Eavesdropped?"

"Okay, Rhett, don't start teasing me, because you're going to lose this argument, Captain Butler!"

He made a peaceful gesture with his palms, smiled at her and then asked seriously, "Rosemary gossiped too?"

"No, she actually tried to defend you."

Scarlett got up, walked over to him and he took her hand gently, asking, "Was it just me? Not us as a family?"

"Well, when she didn't even bother to call your wife by her first name..."

"Give her time Scarlett, Rosemary is very..."

Scarlett looked at him impatiently and just said, "I told you, Rhett, I don't care. She doesn't have to like me. Of course," she added slyly, "I'm so pretty and so cute, but not everybody sees it..."

Rhett chuckled and said, "How modest you are, Mrs Butler!"

"Ah, shut up..."

That same morning, at breakfast, they received a note from Mrs Butler asking her eldest son to come and see her, if he had a little free time. Scarlett took a sip of coffee and barely suppressed a giggle. She knew her mother-in-law wouldn't let her eldest son get away with such an offence and would reprimand him.

"That's what he needs," she thought, catching his surprised look and simply saying with a charming smile, "Rhett, get your mother to join us for dinner tonight and have Ross and Rosemary come too."

He just smiled and nodded, thinking about coming by to see his mother before meeting his lawyer.

Half an hour later, sitting in the sunlit living room of his mother's house, Rhett realized why she had insisted on seeing him.

Miss Eleanor was busy with her delicate embroidery, but occasionally, during a particularly important sentence, she raised her eyes to her son and gave him a stern look.

"To tell you the truth, Rhett, I have been extremely discouraged by your behaviour," she began sternly. "I don't live in a fairy tale, and I know you could have different business, Darling, but to be connected with such an establishment..." She was silent for a moment, seeing that Rhett was sitting still,with china cup in his hand, and continued, "but this isn't just about you, it's about your spouse and your children now."

"I've solved that problem, mother, I have no more ties there, legal or personal."

Miss Eleanor shook her head and said only, "All the better for you Rhett. Your wife was very upset and offended by your behaviour."

Rhett set the cup down on the table in front of him and heard his mother's stern voice, "Why didn't you tell her the truth, Darling? "It's like you're six years old, Rhett, and you keep telling lies. She won't stop loving you if you tell the truth."

Rhett grinned suddenly and said, "I suppose it's old habits, mother. I've been used to it since I was a child, that it was easier for father to lie or embellish reality..."

Mrs Butler put down her embroidery and looked at her eldest son. She was so young when she married and had her first child, and her husband was such a strict man, that it was their eldest child who bore the brunt of all the missteps and parenting mistakes.

Rhett continued, with a wry grin on his face, "He looked at me like an insect when he found out about my mistakes and weaknesses. And yes, it seemed to me that his father-son love for me evaporated with each such confession. So I learnt to lie."

"Why did you lie to me, Rhett? Was I like that?" she asked sadly.

"I can't remember. Just habit."

"Still, the truth has often come out, Darling..."

"Mother," suddenly he interrupted her with a broken smile, "you have no idea how often the lie won and how often father lost to me..."

"That's nothing to be proud of, Rhett!" Miss Eleanor said sternly, and he just shrugged his shoulders.

Mrs Butler sighed, took her embroidery again and said gravely, "You can't correct the past, son, but there is your present. Your wife loves you very much, Rhett, even if she hides it behind a sly smile. Don't do this to her again, don't lie to her. Scarlett was feeling humiliated, she didn't understand your behaviour."

"The last thing I want to do is hurt her. You should know that."

"I know, Rhett, I know... Well, all I can say is that however she punished you, you deserve it," she said with a slight smile, adding, "You should go, son, I've taken up enough of your time.We'll see you tonight."

Rhett got up, adjusted his brown jacket and, kissing his mother, walked quickly towards the hall.

As he put on his warm coat at the mirror and took his hat, he noticed his little sister hurrying down the stairs in her pale pink dress with the sheet of paper in her hands.

But he was in a hurry anyway, so he just nodded to his sister and headed for the door.

"Rhett, wait! We need to talk!" he heard her serious voice, he turned and said with a slight smile, "I'm in a hurry Rosemary, let's do it tonight over dinner..."

"It's urgent!"

"Darling, if it's not about your wedding or Ross' wedding, it can wait until tonight..." Rhett joked, smiling to himself. He opened the door and took a step onto the veranda when his hand, with the hat, froze at the sound of her soft but desperate voice,

"I know everything! About you and your lies to Scarlett! About her past!"

The brother and sister were sitting on a bench in the nearby park. Rosemary had put on her grey cloak, but her hands were still trembling with emotion as she clutched the letter. She glanced at her brother, who was staring straight ahead with his hat in his hands and squinted slightly at the sun. The wind was quite strong that February day, and his hair fluttered from time to time, but he didn't seem to notice, he was thoughtful.

Occasionally they nodded at passing acquaintances, but mostly they were silent. Finally, Rosemary couldn't stand it any longer and said quietly, "Tell me everything, Rhett. I understand from your letter that a certain Mrs Wilkes is still looking for Scarlett. And Scarlett is the woman you were looking for after the war, isn't she?"

He just nodded, and she went on, "When did you find her, Rhett?"

"Almost two years ago. I saw her and Wade at the railway station in Saratoga-Springs, they were seeing her late husband off to New York... By chance he came by my compartment and I found out she'd lost her memory..."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe she saw something that shocked her."

"Saw what?"

Rhett sighed heavily and turned to his sister. "Rosemary, why the interrogation?"

"I want to get to the bottom of this," she said sternly, looking at her brother expectantly. Rhett knew his sister could be very stubborn, like their late father, and it was easier to talk to her.

So he told her the story of Dr Carter, then the story of how he'd gone to the estate after the war but hadn't found her. He told her about Melanie, her sister-in-law by her first husband and Wade's aunt.

"Wait, Rhett," Rosemary interrupted, "so those rumours about you going to Atlanta to see the widow were true?"

Rhett grinned and nodded.

"And how long have you known Scarlett?"

"Ironic, but we met on the first day of the war, on the same estate, at a barbecue."

"I didn't know you had been travelling all over the South, Rhett," she said incredulously.

"It was a business trip, but my partner had to take me along," he grinned again, remembering Frank Kennedy fidgeting and fussing like a hen, first around him and then around Scarlett at that barbeque.

Rosemary fell silent, making sense of everything she'd learned, putting the facts together, and only one thing she couldn't understand.

"Why didn't you tell her and her husband all at once?"

"I don't know... I guess I was overwhelmed by the whole story. Then I realized I had lost her again, because she was married to John. Then I corresponded with him for almost a year, from here in Charleston... She was expecting a baby, Ella, during that time. I was devastated..." he told his sister frankly, looking in front of him.

Oh, she remembered him as aloof, with eyes that had gone blank. Always polite, but like a stranger.

"Then I planned a trip to Europe and realized I had to move on, but her husband died prematurely, he told me about his illness in his last letter and asked me to check the documents because he and I had the same lawyer. The next thing I knew, I was off to see her. You know the rest roughly..."

"Rhett," he heard his sister's serious voice, "why didn't you tell her everything when you went to see her? That you knew her... Her leftover relatives..."

"And who is left, Rosemary? The sisters who didn't love her much? A sister-in-law..."

"Never mind, that's her past," she interrupted him.

"And she doesn't remember it! Then she doesn't need it! So it's unnecessary! And she'll get hurt, damn it!"

"You're talking rubbish, Rhett!" exclaimed Rosemary emotionally and fell silent.

Rhett leaned back on the back of the bench and fell silent as well.

"You're being silly, Rhett, and you've never been silly, let alone mean... so there must be something else that's making you keep the truth from Scarlett," Rosemary reasoned, looking at the letter.

Rhett was silent and she said firmly, "There's something you haven't told me!"

Rhett ran his palm through his hair and suddenly replied hoarsely, "Do you know how she got there?"

"What do you mean? She was riding home with her sister-in-law and..."

"It was me! It was because of me that she ended up there and almost died!" he almost shouted, standing up abruptly and pacing in front of the bench where his stunned sister was sitting.

At last Rhett sat up, adjusted his jacket and continued, "It was I who drove her home from besieged Atlanta that night, with the Yankees breathing down our necks, and we outrun the remnants of the army. It was I who left her there in the midst of the fighting, alone, frightened, with her sister-in-law who had just given birth, a baby, her own little son, and a stupid maid who was afraid of her own shadow! Damn it, Rosemary! I would never do it again! I don't know why I didn't get her to safety and left her there! Damn it!!! No, I decided I'd had an awakening of honour and courage and was determined to prove it to myself or anyone else by any means necessary... My God, Rosemary," he suddenly turned to his sister, and she saw his eyes full of despair, "Would you forgive such a thing? How can I tell her everything now?"

Rosemary looked around nervously and said frantically, "Rhett, calm down, you didn't mean it! It's just circumstances... You joined the army then, I know you would never have deliberately put her in danger!"

"But I did, Rosemary!"

"It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, Rhett... And she will forgive you and understand. But even if she doesn't understand, she will forgive, because she loves you..." his sister reassured him, stroking his shoulder gently.

Their neighbours passed again, Rosemary smiled and waved slightly at them, and Rhett nodded. From the adjoining street came the sounds of passing carriages, and the park itself was filled with the rustle of evergreen leaves, scraps of conversation, children's laughter and the occasional flirtatious giggle of a women. Only the brother and sister sat in silence, each of them lost in his own thoughts.

They were sitting, watching people passing by, but suddenly Rhett heard Rosemary's voice calling for him and looked at her, smiled slightly and said "Thank you, Rosemary... For your support..."

She smiled uncertainly at her brother, then suddenly held the letter out to him and said sternly, "Get rid of the letter, Rhett. Burn it or tear it up. I know you'll tell Scarlett everything... I can see how much you love her and how afraid you are of losing her and hurting her at the same time. You just need time, and you have it. Don't worry, I won't interfere and I'll forget this conversation ever happened." She stroked his shoulder again and caught his grateful look. Yes, she felt sorry for Scarlett, and she felt very sorry for her when she found out the truth. But she loved her brother even more, he had already lost his family once and she didn't want that to happen again. And if that meant keeping quiet, she was willing to do that.

That night, as Scarlett sat near the headboard of the bed, rested her head on his shoulder, and watching the smouldering tip of his cigar in the darkness of their bedroom, she said softly to him, "It's been a nice evening tonight, Rhett..."

He just nodded, lost in thoughts, hugging her gently by the shoulder, as if he wished he'd never let her go after the memories, Rosemary had stirred up with their conversation in the park.

And especially today he wanted to be closer to her, just to talk and feel her... It was as if a storm had blown through his soul in the form of desperate memories, and he was trying to feel the ground beneath his feet again.

"Even your sister was different," Scarlett continued, not noticing his reticence.

"What do you mean?"

She raised her head and tried to explain, "Mmm... I don't know, Rhett, maybe a bit nicer. Imagine, she took Ella in her arms for the first time and offered me to play the piano together... By the way, we should invite a master for it, your sister recommended one."

Rhett smiled as he listened to her rapid speech.

"I told you, Rosemary just needs time, Darling..." he said calmly, exhaling smoke.

She nodded and leaned back against his shoulder.

"You know, Rhett," she continued in a quiet voice, "today I suddenly felt that I wasn't afraid at all."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, a little worriedly.

"Not afraid of not remembering anything... After John died, I was often afraid for the children who had no one, I even told you about it... If something happened to me..."

He just squeezed her shoulder tighter and she, feeling him nod, continued her confession in the darkness of the room, "John didn't have anyone, his parents had died. There were no close relatives... And me... You know how it was... I had no friends, no family."

"You had me... I was always there for you," he said firmly and she smiled.

"Yes, you were... But I didn't know you were," she said with a chuckle, but then added more seriously, "but now the children have you and your family. And I'm more at peace... Thank you for this..."

He just kissed her hair, then said quietly, "But your family or relatives can be found, Scarlett... Perhaps you'll remember... Or..."

"I think about it less and less, Rhett... I'll say this," she interrupted, snuggling into him, "even if I don't remember anything, I won't be upset. I remember John and Saratoga, and now there's Charleston and... you..." Her last words faded into the silence of their bedroom...

She felt him pull away, quickly extinguished his cigar, and a moment later he was holding her closer, covering her lips with his.