What Lies in the Heart
by: enchantingmagick

A/N: YAY NEW CHAPTER. I haven't read GWTW in a while, so I'm not sure how accurate some of the details are. If they aren't, forgive me. Some of this is just my imagination, really all of it.

Summary: Scarlett signs off on the divorce papers on impulse. She tells the children about her impending divorce, which makes Ella extremely upset. Wade earnestly demands answers from Rhett about what is making them separate, and Rhett avoids the tough questions. Rhett talks to Mammy, and she makes him promise to take care of Scarlett no matter what happens. Mammy dies. Rhett decides to leave to Charleston on business, and Scarlett gives him the divorce papers. She pleads with him not to sign them unless he's absolutely sure.

"You could still be what you want to,
what you said you were when I met you.
You've got a warm heart.
You've got a beautiful brain,
but it's disintegrating from all the medicine."
- Medicine, Daughter

(Departures and Endings)

Watching Rhett ride away from her for what could have been the last time, something inside of her clicked. At last, she tapped into that steely reserve that she could always count on her times of utter turmoil.

Earlier she had been consumed by the thought that she had lost everything that meant anything to her. Rhett may have meant a great deal to her, but that didn't mean that she could not build herself a new life without him in it. She still had her two wonderful children that seemed to care for nothing except her happiness. They had been unwaveringly loyal throughout the entire ordeal, especially Wade.

Scarlett had already made some preparations for her return to Atlanta with the letters she had sent out days earlier. Mammy's funeral had happened on a small plot of land, by an old oak tree. It was a simple, solemn affair that Scarlett had arranged herself. Now, it was time to leave Tara. This time it seemed as though the graceful columns and wide expanse of green earth held nothing but awful memories Scarlett would rather forget. She wasn't sure if she would ever have the same joyful response to seeing her home after all that had passed here.

Even though the worst possible things Scarlett could have imagined had come to pass at Tara, she still stood by the wagon admiring the indomitable beauty and spirit of Tara. It would forever be tied to the deaths of her parents, the war, that deserter, Rhett leaving her, and Mammy's death, but it would always be home.

With all the suitcases packed up into the wagon, Wade and Ella got up into the seat. They waited for Will to start towards the Jonesboro station. She hadn't noticed Suellen walking towards her with Will at her side.

"I'm really sorry, Scarlett, for everything." The simplicity of the statement betrayed the empathy Suellen had not felt towards her sister for many years.

"It's alright. It's not anybody's fault except mine. Thank you for looking after Tara, both of you. I should be back in the summer, if the store doesn't keep me too busy."

"Have a safe trip. Bring the children back as soon as you can, they're wonderful."

"Thank your Aunt Suellen, Wade, Ella," Scarlett said looking pointedly at her children in the wagon. They repeated their thank yous in quick succession. Ella jumped out of the wagon to give her aunt a quick hug, leaving Suellen reluctantly amused.

"I'll see you soon, Suellen," Scarlett said, hugging her sister briefly and kissing her on the cheek goodbye. Will helped Scarlett up into the wagon, and then sat down in the front, reins in hand.

Scarlett and the children said thank you and goodbye to Will at the Jonesboro station. Then they were on the train riding back to Atlanta. Pork and Dilcey helped with the bags once they arrived back at the Atlanta station.

The Peachtree House awaited them just as terrifying and imposing of a monstrosity as it had ever been.

"Go on upstairs to get washed up, Wade and Ella," Scarlett told the children, as they stood in the foyer. Wade and Ella took their time going up the stairs, because Ella was absolutely terrified of the enormous staircase. Scarlett had to admit that she was more cautious than she had been before the miscarriage. She knew just how easily you could miss a step and end up in a broken pile at the bottom of the stairs.

Finally entering her bedroom, their bedroom, Scarlett was barraged by an onslaught of longing and regret. Rhett would never be waiting for her in their bed with a sly grin again.

(Blink)

"Close your eyes, darling."

"They're closed. They're closed!"

"Don't lie to me, Scarlett. I know when you're lying."

Before she could open her eyes or even blink, fingers were lightly covering her eyelids. She could feel Rhett's arms around her shoulders.

"Will you at least tell me where we're going?"

"No, but now you can open your eyes." His fingers were gone from her eyelids, and she opened them.

At first, she thought that she was looking at someone's gigantic house. Then she realized that it was her beautiful house, everything Scarlett had ever wanted. Those old peahens would be die of jealousy. Scarlett turned around in Rhett's arms, looking up into his face.

"Thank you so so much, Rhett. It's so big. It's all I've ever wanted."

"I'm glad you think it was money well spent," he responded, kissing her on the cheek. "Let's go inside, shall we?"

Rhett led her inside the house, opening the door for them. He suddenly stopped, before they crossed the threshold. He picked her up, easily carrying her bridal style over the doorstep.

Scarlett looked up at him quizzically, with a questioning knit of her eyebrows.

"This may be your third marriage, my dear, but I think we should still stick to tradition."

"I've never been carried over the threshold, Rhett," Scarlett answered softly smiling. He set her down gently on her feet, and she glanced around at the splendid foyer in wonder.

It was empty, no furniture or decorations of any kind yet. Scarlett would have the pleasure of picking those out herself.

"We should look at the bedrooms upstairs, Scarlett. Let's make sure the ones for the children were finished properly," Rhett told her, a hint of mischief in his low voiced suggestion.

"If you want to. I mean what will we do now if they've made a mistake?" Scarlett asked, while walking up the grand staircase.

"We can call the workers back to fix it. I want this house to be exactly what you want, my dear. The bedrooms start on the left," Rhett answered when they got to the top, guiding Scarlett with his hand on the small of her back.

They went into the first one that was meant to be Wade's room. It was painted a rich, deep midnight blue, with a nice nook for him to sit and read by the window. There was plenty of light in the room, so that Wade could read as much as he wanted in his room during the day. Scarlett ran her fingers lightly over the walls and the cushions in the nook. She left the room, closing the door shut behind them.

Next, they went into Ella's bedroom, painted a delicate, pale pink that she would adore. The wardrobe that had been built had plenty of room for all her dresses, and the new ones that Rhett would undoubtedly spoil her with.

"Well, Rhett, I suppose that leaves our room doesn't it?" Scarlett asked with a backwards glance towards Rhett.

"Close your eyes, darling."

"Not this again," Scarlett protested, while Rhett came up behind her, covering her eyes.

He opened the door, leading her inside slowly, careful of her skirts.

"What do you think?" he asked almost inaudibly.

Scarlett opened her eyes to a fully finished bedroom. There were large floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room that opened to the street, covered by beautiful green velvet curtains. Curtains exactly like the ones she had worn to visit Rhett at the jail years before. She walked towards them, running her fingers over the soft velvet. The bed was enormous and carved out of beautiful mahogany wood.

The bed was outfitted in a lovely, pale yellow set of sheets. An exquisite vanity sat in the corner, by the door to her wardrobe. She walked inside and was impressed by the sheer size of it and the exquisite woodwork. When she came outside, she found Rhett leaning on their nightstand with two glasses of champagne.

She walked towards him, slowly, anticipation building up inside her. He handed her one of the glasses, and she held it in her hand, daintily taking a sip. The warmth filled her up, bubbly and light, so unlike the raw burn of whiskey. They had been married a few months, yet there was still a tense, uncomfortable distance between them.

Sighing deeply, Rhett approached her with visible reluctance, his arms encircling her slender waist. Relaxing in his grip, Scarlett was loathe to admit how natural it felt to be in the arms of her newest husband, how right how good. It was a tormenting realization, had it felt this good to be in Ashley's arms? She almost couldn't remember.

His fingers lightly traced the curvature of her jaw, stopping only to tip her chin up to face him. They made eye contact sheepishly, Scarlett breaking it to look away.

"Does all of this make you happy?" Do I make you happy?

Scarlett closed her eyes and buried herself closer into her husband's chest, feeling quite comfortable and betrayed by her own pleasure. It was a warm embrace enveloped by the scent of crisp cotton and musk, cigars, and something that was just Rhett.

"Yes," she whispered softly.

"You make me happier than I have ever been, Scarlett." And I am helplessly in love with you, he added wordlessly. Something held him back, weren't they man and wife now?

His hands traced the ridges of her spine, before coming up on both sides of her face, leaning her head back. His thumbs grazed her cheekbones, and he kissed her softly, gently at first, as though he were afraid of breaking the woman he loved beyond all else.

The kiss was adoration and reverence wrapped up into a heady sensation. Rhett became hungry in the way Scarlett expected by now, impossible to satisfy. He kissed her again, his tongue slipping into her mouth to explore and dominate her every sense. Rhett was all she could think about, all she could feel surrounding her everywhere. This was what she was afraid to admit she enjoyed.

Soon enough, it wasn't enough for him. He turned her around, running his hand down her spine once again. He undid all the buttons, slowly, painstakingly careful. The wait was making Scarlett anxious with desperation for his touch on her bare skin.

He peeled off the outer layer of her dress and unlaced her corset, all the while raining kisses on every inch of exposed skin, paying special care to the curve of her neck and shoulder. It was all a blur after that, but Scarlett enjoyed herself immensely.

They lay in bed later, facing each other.

"I'm tired," Scarlett said.

"Don't complain now, you little vixen," Rhett drawled, leaning away to blow out the candle on their nightstand.

"You won't make me get rid of the mill, right?" Scarlett asked suddenly, afraid that his response would be an unequivocal yes.

"No, because then you would put all of that crazy energy of yours to work here in the house, where it doesn't belong. I won't spend a dime towards the mills, though."

Leaning towards him, she kissed him shyly. "Thank you, Rhett."

"I know exactly who you are, my pet. I wouldn't dare change anything about you. Now, come here," he demanded.

She turned away from him, and he pulled her in close to his body. That night, Scarlett slept peacefully without a single nightmare.

(Call Me Crazy)

"This ain't the right time for you to fall in love with me.
Baby, I'm just being honest.
In my dark times, I'll be going back to the street,
promising everything I do not mean.
In my dark times, baby this is all I could be.
And only, my mother could love me for me."
-Dark Times, The Weeknd feat. Ed Sheeran

The amber fluid caught the light in a mesmerizing way, sloshing around in the glass tumbler. Nursing his drink and holding it up to the firelight, Rhett consumed it all in one gulp. The papers sat on the desk beside him inside his father's study. He refused to look at them, because he would see Scarlett's name scrawled on the line seemingly carelessly.

Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler. So many names she had collected over the years, and now Butler was just another one.

Why hadn't she come after him? Why would she sign the damned papers? There could only be one explanation, she had lied to him all along. She had never loved him, and she certainly didn't love him now.

He could be in her bed right now. His lips on her skin, and his hands on her body. Just the image of them Ashley and Scarlett in his bed drove Rhett insane. His inebriated mind could think of nothing else. He poured more brandy into the glass and downed another glass.

Slumped in the armchair, he had tossed his jacket over the desk. His cravat was loosened around his neck, slanted to one side. Cigar in one hand, drink in the other, he stood up and stumbled up to standing by the fireplace. He placed the tumbler on the mantle.

He reached the desk in two strides. Flipping through the papers, he ended up at the page he had not wanted to see.

Wife. Her name was written there in an almost elegant scrawl, all five of her names. Would she be Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler Wilkes now? Rhett wondered what Scarlett had been thinking when she gave in and signed the papers. What had driven her to it? Was she tired of waiting for Ashley to be her husband? Or had she given up on Rhett, and realized that he was broken beyond repair?

Staring at the fire, Rhett was torn between throwing the divorce papers in the fire and signing them in equal measure. If he threw them in the fire, this madness about a divorce would be over. If he signed them now, he would free. Rhett would at last be free from the madness, the pain, and the euphoria of loving Scarlett.

The papers were in his tightly clenched grip, and his eyes were unfocused and darting between the fire and the cigar in his hand.

"Rhett?"

"What?" He snapped, without looking at the intruder.

"What have you done?" The smooth, composed voice asked him.

"Rosemary," Rhett responded slowly in his drawl. "I want you to leave this room now."

"I'm a grown woman. I think I'll stay and get to the bottom of this. Now, why are you drinking yourself into an early grave?"

"I can't do this with you, Rosemary. You've never even been courted before. You can't possibly-"

"I can't possibly what?" Rosemary countered. "I couldn't possibly understand what it's like to love someone?"

"You just can't leave well enough alone, can you? Neither of you. Always sticking your noses where they don't belong."

"That's enough, Rhett. Tell me what's happened. Why are you so upset? Did she sign the papers?" Rosemary asked hesitantly.

"You know, I don't even know why I'm upset? I'm the one who gave her the papers. All she did was sign them." Rhett glanced upward at the ceiling, as if it held the answers. He finally set down the tumbler, brandy sloshing out down the side.

"So then it's definitely Scarlett?" Rosemary asked hesitantly, gauging her brother's reaction to her name.

"When has it ever been anything else? She's the one I can't shake."

"You need to stop with this nonsense about a divorce. You cannot divorce the woman you obviously still love. I don't see what the problem is, Rhett. She loves you and she wants to make this work. Why won't you even try?"

Rhett crumpled into the armchair by the fire, folding his head into his hands.

"I just never expected her to love me back...ever."

"If it's time that you need, take all the time you want to sort things out. Just don't think that Scarlett will wait for you forever. She may not still be there, when you decide you want her back."

"I care so much about her, but I just can't trust her after everything we've been through."

"Did you ever think that goes both ways? She couldn't trust you either, and maybe she's worked through that now. You've both been through so much this year, with losing Bonnie," here Rosemary paused, crossing the room to her brother. She sat on the arm of the chair and then held his left hand between hers.

"I can't bear to think about Bonnie, even still it's just too painful," Rhett spoke stiltedly, as though speaking her name sapped all his energy.

"I think you're afraid," Rosemary whispered.

"What did you say?"

"I think you're afraid. Now that she loves you, you have something to lose. If it doesn't workout this time, it's the end for both of you for real. Which means, this time you've got to be all in."

A/N: As always, would love to hear your thoughts. Please forgive any inaccuracies. Leave me a review! xoxo