Editing Gone with the Wind (novel) (section)

===Part V===
[[File:The Bonnie Blue Flag - Project Gutenberg eText 21566.jpg|thumbnail|[[The Bonnie Blue Flag]] is an 1861 marching song that refers to the first unofficial flag of the Confederacy.]]
Mr. and Mrs. Butler honeymoon in New Orleans, spending lavishly. Returning to Atlanta, they build a gaudy mansion on [[Peachtree Street]]. Rhett happily pays for the house to be built to Scarlett's specifications but describes it as an "architectural horror."<ref name=autogenerated18>Part 5, chapter 50</ref> Shortly after moving into the house, the sardonic jabs between them become quarrels. Scarlett wonders why Rhett married her and then, "with real hate in her eyes",<ref name=autogenerated18 /> tells Rhett she will have a baby, which she does not want. Wade is seven years old in 1869 when his half-sister Eugenie Victoria is born. She has blue eyes, and Melanie nicknames her "Bonnie Blue" in reference to the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Bonnie Blue Flag]] of the Confederacy. After feeling well again, Scarlett makes a trip to the mill and talks to Ashley. In their conversation, she comes away believing Ashley still loves her and is jealous of Rhett. She returns home and tells Rhett she does not want more children. From then on, they sleep separately, and when Bonnie is two years old, she sleeps in a little bed beside Rhett. Rhett turns his attention entirely toward Bonnie, pampering her and working to ensure her a good reputation when she enters society.

Meanwhile, Melanie plans a surprise birthday party for Ashley. Scarlett goes to the mill to stall him until the celebration – a rare opportunity to be alone together. The two reminisce about the old days and how far their lives have departed from what they imagined for themselves. They share an innocent embrace but are spotted in the moment by Ashley's sister, India. Before the party has even begun, a rumor of an affair between Ashley and Scarlett explodes across Atlanta, eventually reaching Rhett and Melanie. Melanie refuses to accept any criticism of Scarlett, and India is expelled from the Wilkes home. That night at home, Rhett, drunker than Scarlett has ever seen him and acting more violent than ever, encourages Scarlett to drink with him. However, she declines with deliberate rudeness. Rhett pins her to the wall and tells her they could have been happy together if she could have let go of Ashley. He then takes her in his arms and carries her to her bedroom, where they engage in intercourse. Several days later, a chagrined Rhett leaves town with Bonnie and Prissy for three months. Scarlett is uncertain about her feelings surrounding Rhett, for whom she feels a mixture of desire and revulsion. She then learns she is pregnant with her fourth child.

When Rhett returns, he comments on Scarlett's paleness, and she reveals her pregnancy. Rhett sarcastically asks if the father is Ashley; Scarlett calls him a cad and says that no woman would want his baby, to which he replies, "Cheer up, maybe you'll have a miscarriage."<ref name=autogenerated15>Part 5, chapter 56</ref> She lunges at him but misses and tumbles down the stairs. She is seriously ill for the first time in her life, having lost the baby and broken her ribs. Rhett is remorseful and fears Scarlett will die. Sobbing and drunk, he seeks consolation from Melanie and confesses he acted out of jealousy. Scarlett goes to Tara with Wade and Ella to regain her strength and vitality.<ref name=autogenerated16>Part 5, chapter 57</ref> She returns healthy to Atlanta and sells the mills to Ashley. Bonnie is four years old in 1873, and Atlanta society is charmed by Rhett's transformation into a doting father. Rhett buys Bonnie a Shetland pony, teaching her to ride sidesaddle and paying a trainer to teach the pony to jump. One day, Bonnie makes her father raise the bar to one-and-a-half feet. During the jump, she falls and dies of a broken neck.

In the months following Bonnie's death, Rhett is often drunk and disheveled, while Scarlett, though equally bereaved, is more presentable. Melanie conceives a second child but loses the baby and soon dies due to complications. As she comforts the widowed Ashley, Scarlett realizes she stopped loving him long ago and perhaps never did. She is shocked to realize that she has always loved Rhett, and he has loved her in return. She returns home, brimming with her new love and determined to begin anew with him. She discovers him sitting in the library. In the wake of Melanie's death, Rhett has decided he wants to rediscover the calm Southern dignity he once knew in his youth and is leaving Atlanta to find it. Scarlett tries to persuade Rhett to either stay or take her with him, but he explains that while he once loved Scarlett, the years of hurt and neglect have killed that love. He says he may "come back often enough to keep gossip down" (since they have decided not to get a divorce), but in reply to Scarlett's plea of "What shall I do?" he replies, "My dear, I don't give a damn.", and walks out the front door. Amid her grief, Scarlett consoles herself with the knowledge that she still has Tara. She plans to return there with the certainty that she can recover and win Rhett back because "tomorrow is another day."<ref name=autogenerated50>Part 5, chapter 63</ref>