@@@@@"Yes, Scarlett?" "Thank you for coming to
@@@@@"Yes, Scarlett?"
"Thank you for coming to wake meHow did you know?"
"You were yelling loud enough to break the windows The last sound
she heard was his warm gentle laughterIt was like a lullaby* True
to Rhett's prediction, Scarlett ate an enormous breakfast before she
went to look for himHe'd been up before dawn, the cook told her
He was always up before the sunShe looked at Scarlett with
undisguised curiosityI should wear her out for her impudence,
Scarlett thought, but she was so content she couldn't summon up any
real angerRhett had held her, comforted her, even laughed at her
Just as he used to before things went wrongShe'd been so right to
come to the plantationShe should have done it before, instead of
frittering away her time at a million tea partiesThe sunlight made
her narrow her eyes when she stepped outside the houseIt was
strong,
already warm on her head although it was still very early
She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked around herA soft
moan
was her first reactionThe brick terrace under her feet continued to
her left for a hundred yardsBroken, blackened and grass-grown, it
was a frame for a monumental charred ruinJagged remnants of walls
and chimneys were all that remained of what had been a magnificent
mansionTumbled mounds of smoke- and firestained bricks within the
fragments of walls were heart-stopping mementos of Sherman's Army
Scarlett was heartsick
This had been Rhett's home, Rhett's life -lost forever before he could
come back to reclaim itNothing in her troubled life had ever been as
bad as thisShe'd never known the degree of pain he must have felt,
must still feel a hundred times a day when he saw the ruins of
hisho