Scarlett's Sister

Chapter Sixteen: Panic

Eventually, Rhett's captors let him out of his makeshift jail, and when they did, he went to the one person he knew he could talk to, Belle Watling. He spent his days drowning himself in liquor, trying to forget the pretty girl with the sparkling blue eyes full of hope for a better life. Instead of trying to win back the woman he loved, he buried his feelings and lived up to the man everyone thought he was, a devilish rogue, a scoundrel.

A few months later, he found himself in Charleston. It was the first time he had seen his mother since before the war. He almost wondered why he bothered trying to be a good son, as nothing he did had ever been good enough for his parents. Instead, he listened to his mother relay the gossip in town, in between asking him when he was finally going to give her grandchildren.

"...Miss O'Hara got married to one of those northern businessmen. Quite a rush it was too. They say she did it for the money. She must have been desperate, I dare say-"

"Wait, mother, who did you say got married?"

"Miss O'Hara. Pauline and Eulalie's niece."

"Which one?"

"The pretty one."

"One of the twins."

"She has a twin?"

"Mother, when did this happen?"

"A couple of weeks ago. Why are you so interested?"

"I have to go. I'll visit again soon."

"Rhett? What? Where are you going? Rhett!"

Rhett went straight to the train station and bought a ticket for the first train to Atlanta.
After he would wonder what on earth he was thinking, but he had to know if he had lost his chance with Ella. He had acted like an idiot the last time they had spoken, and he had cursed himself every day since.

If it wasn't too late, Rhett was going to make sure he would never feel this way again. Ella would be his and he would be hers.

-

While Ella may have managed to stop Scarlett from stealing their younger sister's beaux, she could not watch her sister all the time. She had watched in despair as her twin got married to a wealthy businessman, she had found who had agreed to pay the taxes on Tara in exchange for her hand.

The man made Ella's skin crawl. While he had seemed nice enough at first, once she had moved in with them - at Scarlett's insistence - he developed a look in his eye that made Ella uncomfortable. Scarlett may have thought that she could wrap her new husband around her finger as she did with all her beaux back before the war, but he was not a young, infatuated boy and she was out of her depth.

Ella was in the library when it first happened. Scarlett's husband was in a few businesses, one of them being construction. As such, he had built them a lavish new house in Atlanta and Scarlett had tasked Ella with helping her decorate and turn it into a home. The only time she thought she would agree with the man was when he said a respectable house should have a library. While they may have had different reasoning, Ella was happy to fill the shelves with books.

She was doing so when a body pressed up behind her, arms wrapped around her, and the person began kissing her neck. After initially freezing in shock, Ella managed to gather her wits enough to try and escape.

"Stop struggling!"

"I think you'll find that I am not your wife."

Ella could feel his reluctance as Scarlett's husband let her go but did not move away.

"You two really do look exactly the same, don't you! My apologies."

She could that he didn't mean it.

"If you see one of us with a book in our hand, it's safe to assume that it is not your wife."

The man only hummed in response, his gaze lingering on her still.

"Excuse me."

Ella shuffled to the side so that she could move past the man who was still blocking her way. Her heart pounded as moved, half expecting him to not let her leave. Thankfully, he did, but she didn't relax until she was out of the house.

Needing to get away, she walked through the streets of the new Atlanta. So much had needed to be rebuilt after the war and there was still a lot left to be done. They had been lucky that Miss Pitty's house had still been standing when they returned, and Ella had been able to collect the things that she had not taken with her in their rushed escape. Most notably of these were the books that Rhett had given her.

Without realising it Ella was still holding one of the books she had been putting away in the library. Feeling nostalgic, she walked to the park where she often used to go, where Rhett had once found her. Luckily, it was still there, a little scruffy and worn, but she still found a fallen log to sit on and read her book.

Time passed swiftly while she was entranced by her book. Stories of places across the ocean that she still longed to see but had almost all but given up on ever reaching. Ella had once thought that Rhett would be the one to take her on her adventures to see the world. When she had stood at the front of his ship, that was what she had imagined. Now the thought of him made her scowl.

"Is the book that bad? It must be to make your pretty face scrunch up like that."

At first, she thought she was dreaming. Many emotions passed over Ella at the sound of Rhett's voice, from hope to anger.

"What are you doing here, Rhett?"

"I heard Miss O'Hara got married?"

"I wasn't there to stop Scarlett from doing something foolish this time."

Ella didn't see Rhett sigh in relief.

"You haven't been snatched up yourself then?"

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't plan on getting married."

"Surely you don't mean... why not?"

"Because I believe marriage should contain trust, and men, cannot be trusted."

Rhett tensed at her words. It was all his fault. He had finally convinced himself to marry and now it seemed he would have to convince Ella.

"I see. Where are you living, are you back with Aunt Pitty?"

Ella closed her book with a harsh thump and looked up at Rhett with an annoyed expression.

"If you must know, Scarlett insisted that I stay with her and her new husband."

She tried not to, but Rhett caught the grimace that accompanied her words.

"You don't seem happy about that."

"It's a very beautiful house and I get to stay with my sister. Why wouldn't I be happy about it?"

So, it's the husband, thought Rhett.

"They're a newly married couple, don't you feel as though you're getting in the way?"

Rhett gulped as Ella's expression darkened again. He would enjoy this side of Ella were it not aimed in his direction.

"If you insist on staying and bothering me, then I will go."

He smiled slightly as she got up and stomped away, but he grinned when he noticed what she had left behind. Now he had an excuse for a house visit. Although Ella could be stubborn, - an O'Hara trait it seemed - Rhett's own stubbornness outmatched hers. He would gain her trust and her hand in marriage, even if it killed him.