Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell up to page 195

This section has definitely brought the excitement I was looking for! I'll fill you in so you can enjoy it as well.

The hospital holds a fundraising bazaar, but as a widow in mourning Scarlett cannot attend without breaching decorum. Unlike the other widows, she thinks it unfair that she works like a “field hand” to prepare for the bazaar but cannot attend. At the last moment, Scarlett and Melanie are called in to work at a booth. At the bazaar, Scarlett is shocked by her own lack of patriotism during the speeches about the glorious Confederate cause; she'd much rather dance. Rhett Butler, now a famous blockade-runner for the South, appears and teases her about her marriage to Charles. Dr. Meade, Atlanta’s foremost citizen, sends around a collection basket to encourage women to donate their jewelry. Scarlett donates her hated wedding ring, which I found quite strange. Melanie mistakes Scarlett’s action for courage and throws her own wedding ring into the basket, also quite strange. Dr. Meade proposes that the men can bid to dance with the lady of their choice in order to raise money for the hospital. As a widow, Scarlett is strictly forbidden to dance, but Rhett bids a hundred and fifty dollars in gold on her. Shockingly, Scarlett accepts and hurries to the dance floor. Rhett tells Scarlett that he admires her beauty and spirit and that he knows the war bores her as it bores him. Scarlett pretends to be angry, but she knows that what he says is true. Rhett chooses to charm her more while they dance squeezing her tightly. Scarlett insists he must stop and that she will be angry if he does not stop because Pittypat is coming over. She knows Pittypat will be angry at Scarlett for dancing with a man. Rhett responds by saying he loves they way she looks when she is mad, for she is even more charming with her Irish background adding to the charm. He brings up the day at Twelve Oaks when she threw a huge fit because of Ashley and says it is one of his priceless memories. She convinces him to stop and walk over to the window with her before she has to endure a confrontation with Pittypat.

Scarlett must give into her charming tendencies and dance with this fool, who makes it obvious he is in love with her. He only brings up her beauty though, which brings me back to remembering previously when Scarlett mentioned that the tools she must use to win a man are a pretty dress and a clear complexion, beauty. Does Rhett really love her? If so is she in any position to pass up true love? Her situation at the moment seems pretty frustrating as the man she thought she loved has found another woman and he is now unavailable to her...why doesn't she find another man and restart this portion of her life? That's just my opinion...maybe she'll do what I think she should? Guess I'll find out.