Hi Everyone,

So sorry I haven't updated this story in such a long time, but I promised I'd never abandon it! Without further ado, here is Part 2. Thank you to everyone who still reviews even know, this chapter is for all of you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gone with the Wind.

Scarlett didn't know how she did it, but she somehow forced herself to stop crying and tried to focus her mind on getting her family safely to Tara. However, she couldn't help but think about Rhett. He loved her. She never would have guessed how he felt if he hadn't said it. When Wade had told her, she didn't quite know whether to believe it, although for some reason, she took the time to pray to God that it was the truth. A few months back, Scarlett would have given anything for Rhett to fall in love with her. He always seemed so elusive that for him to admit that he had fallen in love with her would have given her great personal satisfaction and triumph that she had managed to bring Rhett Butler down from his pedestal.

Now, she didn't feel any of that. She didn't know how she felt about anything. Only the need to get home, to get to Ellen kept her going as she trudged wearily through the night.

Rhett. Scarlett stood shivering under a bridge, up to her thighs in water as a combination of rain and horse hooves pounded down on the bridge above her. She held onto the reins of the horse in a death grip, the wet leather cutting into her palms. Her life and that of her family was in real danger and still she couldn't get him out of her mind.

Eventually, the rain eased and they carried on their way.

"Miss Scarlett, I'm dreadful hungry" Prissy wailed and Scarlett sighed in irritation. She was hungry too, and tired and her body was aching dreadfully, yet she didn't complain. What good would that do out here?

"Well there's no food" she replied bluntly. "We're nearly at Twelve Oaks so we'll stop there." she said eventually. In her mind she could picture the house appearing round the bend, with its great columns and tree lined driveway and she struggled onwards, steering the weakened horse down the muddied road. She glanced behind her. Melly was still sleeping, but Wade was sat in in the cart, his brown eyes fixed on the road ahead as his little hands gripped onto the edge of the wagon.

When they finally reached Twelve Oaks, Scarlett could hardly believe that this was the same place she had spent so many days, so many dances and picnics. All that was left of the once great house was a burnt out and blackened ruin.

Slowly, Scarlett got down from the cart and stumbled, as if in a dream, or nightmare, into what used to be the entrance hall. How glad she was that Melanie was out cold in the cart and didn't have to see this horror. Amongst the rubble and stone, Scarlett could make out where the library used to be. Before she realised what she was doing, she was stood in the doorframe, which, by some miracle had remained standing. She felt a lump in her throat. This was where her son was conceived. Where she had first met Rhett. Tears pricked her eyes and she willed them not to fall.

"Oh Rhett" she whispered and leant her head against the doorframe. Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the hall. Gasping in surprise, Scarlett looked round, heart pounding in fear that there was a yankee in the house. She let out laugh of relief when she saw that it was a cow.

"Prissy, come tie up this cow" she called.

"But Miss Scarlett, I'm afraid of cows" Prissy wailed back, unmoving from her position in the wagon. With little strength left to argue, Scarlett ripped off part of her petticoat and tied up the cow herself. At least they'd have milk for the baby and Wade she thought, as their little party moved on from Twelve Oaks and down the road to Tara, unknowing of the horrors that awaited them there.

Later that night, Scarlett lay in bed, exhausted, hungry and heartsick. Her beloved mother was dead. Her Pa had lost his mind, and everyone was looking to her to sort everything out. Closing her eyes in defeat, Scarlett longed to have someone take that burden off her. To hold her and tell her everything would be alright, and she needn't worry. Scarlett wrapped her arms round herself.

In that haze that comes just before one falls asleep, along with it comes true honesty and insight. It was in this moment that Scarlett, weary and weakened could not help but allow these feelings to flock the forefront of her mind. She didn't know what to do about getting food for the ten hungry people under her roof. Nor did she know what to do about her sick sisters and Melanie. She didn't know how she was going to make it through tomorrow if her Pa hadn't regained his mind and she had lost him as well. No, the only thing she could make sense of, the only thing that she knew, with a certainty that had eluded her in the past, was that she wanted Rhett. Because she loved him. Scarlett gasped slightly at her unexpected epiphany. She was in love with Rhett Butler. She didn't know when it had happened, or how, but she loved him. And he was gone.

She thought that the pain couldn't get worse than what she was already feeling, but she was wrong. At least her mother had died knowing how much her eldest daughter loved her. If she died tomorrow, she knew that Rhett loved her, and yet if he died, she would never have a chance to tell him how she felt, how much she loved him. Tears blurred her vision and a sob caught in her throat. She had let him walk into battle without so much as a goodbye and now she was too late.

Before she knew what she was doing she had slid out of bed and quietly tiptoed to the nursery where her son lay sleeping. Pushing open the door, she slipped in and hastened over to Wade's bed. Sitting down on the end, she gazed at his little face peaceful in sleep, and Scarlett gently grasped his hand. She may not have Rhett any longer, but at least she still had his son. Wade stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

"Mama?" he asked sleepily. Scarlett gently brushed his hair back from his face.

"Shh Wade, go back to sleep" she whispered.

"Ok" he mumbled and within a second, he was fast asleep again. Slowly, so as not to disturb him, Scarlett slid into the small bed next to him and he instinctively snuggled into her side. Pressing a tentative kiss to his head, as she had seen Rhett do so many times before, she wrapped her arms around him. Oh why hadn't she realised she loved Rhett before? Sighing at her own blindness, she closed her eyes again.

She'd think about everything tomorrow. The food they didn't have, the people relying on her, making sure Melly and her sisters were cared for. Yes, she'd think about that tomorrow. Tonight, she'd let herself think about Rhett. But only tonight. Tomorrow, she had to be strong again, but for one night, just one more night… As she succumbed to sleep, Rhett's words of love replayed in her mind and she feared that the comfort they brought her could not dim the harsh reality that awaited her when she awoke.

Any reviews are very welcome,

Thanks

Miss Ivy.