CHAPTER FOUR

This was the middle of April, 1861. The air was filled with excitement. Every man and boy in the South was filled with a fierce desire to fight the North, and everyone believed that one battle would end the war. Because all the boys would soon be going off to war, everyone hurried to marry his girl before joining the army.

Ashley and Melanie's wedding date had been set on the first day of May. When Scarlett discovered this, she decided to marry Charles on April 30, the day before. Scarlett's father, Gerald, and her mother Ellen were very pleased with the marriage, although they did not understand why their daughter had suddenly fallen in love with Charles Hamilton.

So within two weeks, Scarlett was a wife. But within two months, she was a widow. A week after she married Charles, he and Ashley left to join Colonel Wade Hampton and his men. For five weeks, Scarlett received many letters from Charles. He told her of his respect for Colonel Hampton, his love for her, and his desire to become a war hero. But one afternoon, Scarlett received a letter from Colonel Hampton himself: Charles was dead. He had died of a fever while in camp. "He never even got to kill a Northerner!" thought Scarlett.

It was during this time that Scarlett discovered that she was pregnant. When she found out, she wanted to die. A baby! Charles' baby! And now, the baby would have no father. Scarlett had married Charles without thinking, and now she was going to be a mother for the rest of her life. Oh, why had she done it? But it was too late now.

Seven months later, the child was born. He was a small but healthy baby boy. Scarlett did not feel any love for him. She was a strong, healthy girl, and within a week, she was out of bed and recovered. Although Scarlett's health seemed fine, Ellen and the old black house slave, Mammy, were terribly worried about her. She would not eat, and she seemed angry and unhappy much of the time. Everyone believed that it was her sadness at Charles' death that made her act this way. But truthfully, Scarlett was only bored and frustrated at being a mother. She hadn't loved Charles, and she wasn't very sorry that he was gone.

Even more important was her love for Ashley. Scarlett missed him deeply. More and more, she regretted her cruel words to him, and her deepest fear was that he would be killed in the war.

In those days, widows were expected to mourn for a year or more. They had to dress in black, and they could not go to parties or dances. If they did, everyone would say they hadn't loved their husbands, and think they were bad women. Scarlett was angry about being a widow. How horrible and boring life would be!

Ellen was so worried about Scarlett that she decided to send her daughter to visit her relatives in other cities in Georgia. Scarlett spent the next months visiting her aunts in Savannah. This was pleasant, because Savannah was a beautiful, graceful old city. But Scarlett quickly became bored and unhappy again when she returned to Tara. One day, Ellen received a letter from Atlanta. It was from Melanie's aunt, Pittypat Hamilton. She and Melanie were now living in Atlanta, and Pittypat wanted Scarlett to come for a visit and bring the child. After Ashley had left for the war, Melanie had returned to her home city of Atlanta to live with her aunt who had cared for Melanie and Charles as children. Aunt Pittypat had written to Ellen, asking if Scarlett could come for a visit. She and Melanie were lonely in the big house, and Scarlett could help them care for the wounded soldiers in the hospital. Ellen thought that visiting a large, exciting city might be good for Scarlett, so she agreed. Scarlett wasn't happy about living with Melanie, but she wanted to leave north Georgia—it reminded her too much of Ashley! So she took her son, named Wade, and left Tara.

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