Hello! First of all, thank you so so so much for all the reviews! I appreciate that you have taken the time and effort to write them and I am very grateful for every single one.

So… Who's ready to meet Wade? :)

Disclaimer – I do not own anything.

Scarlett married Charles Hamilton two weeks after the barbeque and a day before Ashley married Melanie. In the two weeks leading up to her wedding, she had half expected, in moments of shear madness, to see Rhett Butler stroll up the drive and do the honourable thing and propose marriage to her. However, when such thoughts crossed her mind she would have to remind herself that Rhett Butler was no gentleman and was probably off doing whatever no good varmints do. Besides, he probably wouldn't know honour if it came up and slapped him, she scoffed. The problem was, she just didn't know if she could bear marrying Charles Hamilton and anybody, Ashley aside, would have been a massive improvement. Even a cad like Rhett Butler. At least he had a personality, Scarlett though idly, even if not a very decent or nice one.

When Charlie had informed Melanie about their engagement, the Hamilton siblings had come to visit Tara and Melanie was overjoyed that Scarlett was to become her sister-in-law. At first, Scarlett had found Melanie's sweetness and obvious happiness to be overbearing, but as one day merged into another, she found the presence of Melanie to be comforting and most welcome, especially as it lessened the time she had to spend with Charlie on her own.

Ashley had been another matter. It was Charlie who had told him of their engagement, and Scarlett would have given anything to have been there to see his face. Unfortunately, she had to settle for a recount from Charlie, who had told her how immediately after telling Ashley the news he had given his congratulations before turning quite pale and had taken to his room for the rest of the evening with a headache. This had caused Scarlett to smile in satisfaction.

Her wedding day dawned ironically bright and sunny and Scarlett felt sick as she walked down the stairs holding onto her father's arm. The only way she managed to get through the ceremony without quite literally being sick or running away to hide in her room was the thought of what people would say if she turned up pregnant and unmarried. Nothing, even marrying Charles Hamilton, could be worse than that. It was with this thought in mind that Scarlett gritted her teeth, plastered a smile on her face and said her vows.

The part that Scarlett was most dreading about the whole tragic affair was the wedding night and having to share her bed with Charlie, which was singularly ironic as it had been that act that was the reason for her getting married in the first place. Before she had gone to bed, her mother had taken her aside to tell her about her wifely duties and what would be expected of her. Ellen had said that it would be uncomfortable but it was a wife's duty to bear it. It was all Scarlett could do to stop herself from drowning in shame. What would her mother say if she knew that Scarlett had already given herself to a man she wasn't married to? That it didn't feel like something to be endured, but something that she had even enjoyed and encouraged? Thankfully, Ellen took Scarlett's silence and red face as nerves and apprehension for the upcoming night, rather than guilt and embarrassment.

When the time came, Charlie emerged from her dressing room and Scarlett watched him as he gave her a nervous smile and climbed onto the bed. She lay still whilst Charlie fumbled and moved clumsily on top of her. With Rhett, it had been uncomfortable at first, but she knew he had tried to be gentle. Charlie was, in comparison, inexperienced and his fumbling was painful and awkward and she lay there hoping and praying for it to over soon, which, thankfully, it was.

After it was over, she lay on her side and desperately tried not to cry. It had been dreadful and humiliating and she couldn't understand why it hadn't felt so with Rhett. After all, Charlie was her husband. Oh, how had she gotten herself into this mess she wondered as she drifted off to sleep?

Not two months later, Scarlett received a letter informing her that she was a widow. She stared blankly at the letter from Wade Hampton. She hadn't loved Charlie, but she was grateful that he had married her. However, she couldn't bring herself to feel even remotely grief stricken, as was befitting of a new widow and at first only felt relieved that there would be no more awkward nights together.

After, came the upsetting realisation that, as a widow she wouldn't be allowed to do anything that she could as an unmarried girl, or even as a married woman. That night, she had lain on her bed and sobbed over the fact that her life was practically over and cursed Charles Hamilton and Rhett Butler until she fell asleep.

A few days after she received the news that she had been widowed, Scarlett discovered that she was indeed expecting a baby. Even though she had suspected it, to have it confirmed was not pleasant and the only thought that crossed her mind was that she was glad she hadn't married Charlie and suffered his touches for no reason. Unless… she bolted upright in her bed and battled down a wave of nausea. Was it possible that it was Charlie's baby? She didn't know, and there was no way she could ask anyone.

Oh, how she wished it was Rhett's baby, if only because of the hope that the baby would grow up to be handsome and strong whereas any baby of Charlie's would most likely grow to be shy and nervous.

One night, several months into her pregnancy, Scarlett was lying in bed, and felt the baby kick. Her eyes flew open and her hand drifted down to her stomach. The baby kicked again and her eyes widened. For hours, the baby kicked and in Scarlett's mind, the matter of the baby's father was settled, for no baby of meek Charles Hamilton would tirelessly kick its mother all night long. No, only a child of Rhett Butler would have the gall to do that

Wade Hampton Hamilton was born 8 months and two weeks after her wedding. Scarlett's uncommonly short labour was mostly a painful blur, which ended when she heard the first cry of her new born baby.

"You got a son Miss Scarlett" Mammy said, wrapping the baby in a blanket.

"Oh, let me see him!" Scarlett said. Her whole body and ached and she was ravenously hungry, but at the minute the only thought on her mind was that she needed to see her baby, or more accurately, needed to see who he looked like.

Scarlett's heart was beating wildly her mother placed her son in her arms and she looked intently at his little face. He had a head of black hair and under the red blotches his skin was as white as hers. Inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief. He looked like her.

Later that night when she was on her own with her baby, she almost cried with relief that her secret was safe. Her sisters and her father had all commented on how much little Wade looked like her, which had calmed some of her fears. Besides, surely no one would notice that his hair was a darker shade of black than hers unless they were looking for it, she thought drowsily before falling asleep.

By the time Wade was a few weeks old, his eyes had changed from baby blue to a dark brown to Scarlett's horror. Charlie's eyes had also been brown, but a lighter, more chestnut brown. Wade's eyes were definitely the same very dark brown as Rhett's she lamented. Thankful, this difference was only noted by her.

Scarlett had come to realise that she wasn't a natural mother. She hadn't fallen in love with her son as soon as he was put in her arms and often found his crying and fussing annoying especially as it often happened at the worst times like when she was sleeping or hungry or resting. However, to the rest of the household, it looked as though Scarlett was a devoted mother. She rarely let Wade out of her sight and insisted on doing everything from bathing him to feeding him herself, such was her fear that he might display some characteristic or sign that could not be attributed to herself, Charlie or natural infant behaviour. For to her, he was so obviously Rhett's son that she could scarcely believe no one else suspected.

Although she found it surprising, Scarlett had moments when she genuinely enjoyed spending time with her son. She would sit on the porch with Wade in her lap and she would be reminded of the few frantic moments that had created her son and catch herself smiling before reminding herself of what a varmint Rhett Butler was. Other times she would rock Wade to sleep and admire how handsome her little son was and a wave of motherly pride and to her astonishment, love, would wash over her.

One day a few months after Wade's birth, she received a letter from Melanie Wilkes asking her to visit Atlanta as she wanted to get to know her sister-in-law better and also to meet her nephew.

Scarlett's immediate thought was that there was no way she could go. It was safe to have Wade around her family who had only known Charlie a short while, but Melanie was his sister. They had grown up together and if there was anyone who would realise that Wade was not Charlie's son it was her. Also, Scarlett felt guilty beyond belief that she would have to lie to Melanie over such an important issue. Melanie believed, as did everyone that Charlie was the father, but somehow Scarlett felt that it was worse lying to Melanie than to her family, as Melanie thought that Wade was the last link to her dead brother and if she ever found out the truth then she would surely hate her.

However, she was bored beyond belief, despite looking after a baby that took up most of her time. Although she loved Tara and her family, she felt as though she would go crazy if she was cooped up in the country for any longer. Scarlett craved attention and excitement and Atlanta could give that to her. Besides, Wade was still so little that maybe Melanie wouldn't notice anything amiss. With that thought, she crossed her fingers and penned a response telling Melanie to expect them within the week.

Once again, please let me know what you think!

Next chapter is the bazaar and Rhett will be making an appearance!

Miss Ivy