Good evening, My Dear readers! :)

I've had quite a long break, over a week since the last chapter!:(

I don't really like it when it's like that, I missed our characters very, very much! Ah, those little stories that come out of nowhere :) (If you haven't read it yet, and the site hasn't been the best lately, my new story "You should be kissed and often..." is on the app and on AO3).

So, the new chapter is here!

Enjoy reading! :)

P.S. I plan to update on Sunday evening, I just had my twins' birthday on the 20th, so I'll be more free now!

https//polinka22malinka/776049699192995840/my-inspiration-for-the-chapter-22-of-the-story?source=share

Chapter 22

Winter was over in Charleston before it had begun, and Scarlett was surprised not to see the snow she'd grown accustomed to in Saratoga Springs over the last couple of years.

Spring came quickly in March, the sun grew warmer every day and its rays became less timid, forcing the ladies to choose matching hats and bonnets, not forgetting parasols to protect their snowy white skin from pesky freckles.

Their days were filled with work, family, outings and each other. Rhett had his meetings, sometimes formal at the bank where he had his own desk, sometimes informal at the poker desk in Charleston's most elite bar. He kept his word and was unfailingly courteous to the ladies of the various patriotic societies and committees, so that his children and (he fervently hoped) future children would be welcomed into the finest parlours in Charleston.

Scarlett was reluctant to attend reading and embroidery circles, at least once a month she had to be there in person, and then she usually bought her way out with notes of apology, following Ross's advice. She was very fond to spend time with court documents and calculations with him, and Rhett often found them in the study of their house, sometimes sitting, concentrating on words and figures, sometimes talking and laughing over a cup of coffee when the documents were forgotten.

Rhett had never been jealous of his wife to his brother, although from the start he had envied their ease of communication. They were so easy to talk to each other, laughing at the same jokes or quietly discussing things between them, perhaps because Ross had been honest with Scarlett from their first meeting.

Rhett tried, tried very hard to be as sincere, but the secret he kept in his heart, the secret that hung like an invisible veil between them, seemed to prevent him from truly feeling her as his... The boundless, passionate love for her went hand in hand with the greatest fear that the memory might return to her. He waved away this fear, closed his eyes to it, justified himself and his actions, but often, when he fell asleep next to his wife sleeping peacefully, embracing her tightly from behind at the waist, he heard that inner voice whispering to him that "she is not yours..."

At such moments he would gently touch her hair with one hand, run his fingers through it, caress it, kiss her neck, her shoulder, barely touching with his lips and inhaling her so dear and favourite scent, he would fall asleep, repeating "it's not time yet, it's not time yet..."

At the beginning of April, Scarlett noticed that her obnoxious husband was going out immediately after breakfast and returning late, almost at dinner time. When, after three such carriage rides and cunning answers to her questions, he would not give her a straight answer, on the fourth occasion she gave him a scandal in the bedroom, where he came after dinner, having put the children to bed that evening.

She was furious, her hair slightly dishevelled, in her burgundy silk dressing gown, reminding him of a charming little witch who, with his favourite ashtray in her hand, threatened to find out all his "disgusting secrets".

"I'm not a little quiet lady like that Miss Hampton, Rhett Butler! I'm not going to stand and watch you make a fool of me and deceive by going off almost all day to some unknown place and..."

He just laughed merrily, then, seeing her warlike but bewildered look, came rapidly to her, took the ashtray carefully and quickly from her cold fingers, placed it on the dressing-table, and then, in one sharp movement, pulled her to him by the waist, so that Scarlett gave a startled sigh, and he whispered hotly in her ear, "Do you know what I love most about you, Mrs Butler, besides your stubbornness and defiance?"

She just snorted indignantly, he smiled and continued, not releasing his embrace, "The fact that you are so intensely jealous of your husband, Mrs Butler, that it shows how passionately you are..."

He felt her try to break free of his embrace and then she hissed, "Ah, shut up, you varmint! I just hate being tricked!"

Rhett smiled softly but still holding her in his arms, he pulled her towards him and they were on the edge of the bed and Scarlett found herself sitting on her husband's lap.

She looked up at him expectantly, her eyebrows furrowed, he chuckled and said, his hand lightly touching her chin, "I was planning a surprise, Scarlett. And if you hadn't been so suspicious, Dear Mrs Butler, and trusted your husband," she rolled her eyes slightly at these words, and Rhett went on, "you would have found out at breakfast that I was going to take you and the children, my mother and my sister to our estate tomorrow. To walk around together, to look at the house. You'd probably be interested to see where your, as you put it, "varmint husband" grew up as a child, and mother with Rosemary haven't been there since the war. Ross and I have been rebuilding it..."

Rhett saw her face light up, a smile appeared on her lips, and he smiled himself.

The estate had been a place related with difficult time in his life, when he'd tried to find her and then when he'd thought he'd lost her again in the marriage to another man. But now they had a family and he wanted to fill the place with new, kind and funny memories...

"And the children will love it," he continued, "there's a little river nearby, we can have a picnic on the bank. And it will be good walk for Gracie... What do you think, Scarlett?"

Of course she agreed, Rhett had told her about the estate several times, and Ross had often mentioned it in conversation. So she smiled and nodded, remembering to slap him lightly on the shoulder and say, "Did you have to act like that, Rhett Butler? You couldn't just come right out and..."

He grinned and held her tighter, whispering, "Look at the intrigue, Scarlett... To see you burning with jealousy..."

"Don't get your hopes up, you varmint!" she tried to wave him away, but he only held her tighter...

The next April morning, Scarlett woke up very early, in a happy mood. The idea of a change of scenery, of spending time in the countryside, appealed to her for some reason. Slipping out of bed, she looked out of the window at the light blue sky, the sun creeping across their garden and closer to the walls of the house, soon to flood their bedroom with light.

Scarlett didn't understand why she was so excited on this particular April morning, but she couldn't wait to get going.

Rhett woke earlier than usual and ran his hand over where his wife usually slept, but found only a cool, crumpled fabric of the sheets.

He opened his sleepy eyes and looked around the room, noticing the slender female figure standing by the window.

He stared at her for a long time, almost out of breath, studying her every curve, gliding his black eyes over her, in which desire no longer smoldered but burned. Rhett didn't know if it was the dawn light, her shy seductiveness, dressed in fine cream silk, or the curls on her back, the softness and scent of which drove him mad, but he knew for sure, that he needed to feel her desperately.

"Scarlett," she heard his hoarse, sleepy voice.

He saw her shoulders tremble slightly and said, "Come to me, it's still very early..."

If she was going to object or joke back, the words froze in her chest as she heard his husky, sleepy voice and realized that she would go anywhere as long as it was with him...

Scarlett turned slowly and as she walked towards the bed, her gaze was reflected in his eyes...

Dissolving into his arms that morning, her slender fingers lightly squeezing the thin fabric of the sheets, feeling him everywhere, in every breath, touch and whisper, she realized she had no more limits for him, either physical or mental...

That afternoon, around midday, Scarlett looked around Butler Estate with interest, listening to Miss Eleanor's reminiscences and Rhett's constant jokes about how "Mother is always mixing things up, Scarlett... She gets me and Ross mixed up."

Mrs Butler just laughed as she recalled another funny story about how little Rhett had stolen cookies from the kitchen and tried to use them as bait to catch fish, or how as a little boy he had hidden under the table under the long white tablecloth and fallen asleep there, or how he had once met a rooster in the yard and been frightened...

"Yes, there's a lot of work to be done around here," Mrs Butler said quietly as they sat down to eat at the wooden table Rhett had asked the servants to set up in the shade of a large spreading tree near the water.

"I'll have everything ready for the summer, mother," Rhett replied dutifully, holding Ella on his lap as she broke off small pieces of sweet cake.

Miss Eleanor just nodded, and Rosemary, suddenly noticing Scarlett's pensive gaze at the little river, asked her, "And you, Scarlett? Do you like these places?"

Distracted from her thoughts, Scarlett nodded with a smile, "Yes, it's a lovely place, Rosemary... I love the nature."

Rhett watched her, smiling gently, remembering how sometimes during the war years she would tell him about her childhood on the plantation, climbing trees and learning to swim in the river near Tara as a child.

"Besides," Scarlett continued with a mischievous smile, "I've learnt so many interesting things today!"

She looked at Rhett expressively, but he just grinned and said quickly, "Half of it is our mother's fairytales, isn't it, Rosemary?"

Miss Eleanor smiled, and Rosemary said mischievously, standing up and shaking the crumbs from her skirt, "I don't know, Rhett, mother always tells the truth," adding, turning to her sister-in-law, "Let's go for a walk by the river, Scarlett, I see Wade has found something interesting in the grass. At the same time I'll tell you the story of how Rhett once brought a frog into the kitchen and..."

Scarlett laughed merrily and joined Rosemary with interest.

After a while, Rhett handed a sleepy Ella to Miss Eleanor and walked closer to the river. Wade was busy making something out of twigs at the water's edge, and Scarlett didn't even bother to scold him for getting sand on his clothes.

Rhett stood a little further away, smiling as he noticed two young girls in light-coloured dresses discussing something, sometimes giggling. He didn't want to disturb them, glad that his sister and his wife had found common ground.

Suddenly they both turned in his direction and, smiling playfully, Scarlett waved him to join them.

"Too bad Ross couldn't be here today," she said disappointedly, feeling her husband gently take her hand.

"Yes, it's a pity," Rosemary agreed, and Rhett added jokingly, "Business, ladies. Sometimes my little brother has to work too."

That day, at the evening, hundreds of miles away from Charleston, in Marietta, Ross Butler was sitting in a chair by the window of a hotel room, looking very thoughtful.

He was smoking for the first time in a long time, having bought some cigars in a nearby bar, which he felt were not of the best quality. He asked for a whiskey, but without touching it he went to his hotel room.

And now there, having taken off his jacket, he sat in his shirt, looking at the twilight outside the window with an expression of shock and despair, trying to make sense of all that he had learned a few hours earlier.

He had an appointment that day with two lawyers, one from Atlanta and one from Marietta. They worked on a family inheritance case, had a long business correspondence and finally came to an agreement.

But, the Atlanta lawyer was unable to attend the meeting in Marietta due to family commitments, but sent a colleague to pick up the papers. "Mr Butler," he wrote in a telegram, "Mr Hamilton is a reliable man, I have full confidence in him. He has been brought up to date and will take the papers for my client."

And so it was that he, lawyer Henry Hamilton from Atlanta, and the lawyer from Marietta were at the meeting.

After introducing himself, Ross noticed that the elderly Mr Hamilton looked at him with interest, but didn't pay any attention to it. The bureaucratic matters were dealt with quickly enough and the Marietta lawyer, in whose office they met, hurried off to another meeting.

The older, grey-haired lawyer smiled politely at Ross, as they stepped out into the busy street, glanced at his gold watch on a chain, and asked with a slight click of his tongue, "I have a few hours before my train, Mr Butler. Are you leaving now?"

Ross adjusted his hat and brown jacket, shook his head negatively and said, "No, Mr Hamilton, my train for Charleston isn't until tomorrow."

"Then let's have dinner together, will you join me young man?" asked Henry Hamilton with a smile.

Ross smiled and replied, "I would love to," and they walked leisurely down the street to catch a carriage.

They took seats by the window in a restaurant near the hotel where Ross was staying, ordered, and Henry Hamilton, loosening the scarf around his neck a little, suddenly said, smiling, "Mr Butler, I believe I knew your brother, Captain Butler..."

Ross looked at him in surprise, but smiled and just said, "Yes, Rhett is known to many people, he travelled the South a lot..."

"During the war," Mr Hamilton interrupted gently, "he was often at my sister's house. She received him," he explained.

Ross just nodded, but Henry suddenly smiled sadly and continued, "During those war years he was often in Atlanta on business and came to my sister and my nieces. You know, Mr Butler, there were a lot of rumours in those days that I didn't listen to very much, that woman talk..." he grumbled.

Ross looked at the older man in confusion, and he continued, "One of my nieces, my late nephew's wife, Mrs Hamilton... She was close to your brother, they communicated a lot. There were even rumours that he was going to marry her. So, if it hadn't been for the war, who knows, we might have been distant relatives," he finished with a gentle smile.

Ross smiled back politely, quickly gathering the facts about his brother's visit to a widow who seemed to be the woman he was looking for. "But it doesn't matter," he thought to himself, remembering that his brother was happily married, but before he could open his mouth he heard Mr Hamilton's voice, "It's the war, damn it... By the way, Captain Butler tried to find my niece and her son..."

Ross looked at the man in surprise, hearing about the child for the first time, and just said, "I don't understand, Mr. Hamilton, explain, please..."

The man barely nodded and continued, "My nieces left Atlanta in the midst of the fighting and your brother helped them out of danger with their children and maid. I know he went straight into the army, and that does him credit!"

Ross nodded, and Henry continued to speak thoughtfully, looking out of the window, "Yes, who would have thought that Scarlett and Wade would meet such a fate... Missing in this hurricane of war... Even though she was a coquette, she was Wade's mother, and he's the heir, and..."

"Scarlett..." repeated Ross quietly, unable to believe his ears, and the elderly lawyer just nodded in response, not noticing his companion's nervous gaze as he picked up his glass and took a large sip of water...

Ross placed the glass on the table, just as their dishes were being brought to them, and Mr Hamilton smiled guiltily and said, "Forgive me young man, I touched on a personal subject..."

He just nodded dazedly as he watched the grey-haired gentleman reach for the utensils...

Ross put down the cigar, exhaled the smoke and coughed slightly... Running a hand through his dishevelled hair, he put the pieces of the picture back together in his mind and what he saw, left him shocked and confused.