Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Melanie sent one of the footmen for Dr. Meade. Another footman to the bank to get Captain Butler. She sent Prissy to go get Beau and bring him back to the mansion. Aunt PittyPat could watch Beau, but Melly preferred to have her son near her.
Melanie then helped Scarlett up the stairs. She left Scarlett sitting on her bed while she went to get Mammy.
Three hours later with little fanfare Gerald Rhett Butler was born. Scarlett was ecstatic. Rhett was overjoyed. Ella was thrilled. Bonnie was happy. Wade was relieved that his mother and the baby were alive and well.
Mammy was muttering that it just wasn't lady like how quickly Miss Scarlett gave birth. Melly said, "This is a great way to end this year."
"Yes, it is Miss Melly."
That night as Mammy laid in her bed, she was a happy lady. She couldn't believe how wonderful everything had turned out for her Little Lamb. After Mr. Rhett moved into another bedroom, she had not been optimistic that things were going to turn out so wonderful. Better than she could have imagined. She had just been hoping they would have a peaceful marriage although with their strong personalities it wasn't very likely. Now she knew they loved each other very much. Even a blind man could see how much in love the couple was. Nonetheless it would never be a peaceful marriage because they were both too proud, too arrogant, too selfish and too self-centered but love hopefully would carry them through.
Melanie Wilkes did take over managing the mills. As typical of life Melanie was a matron darling and could do no wrong. Everyone understood why she had to take a job. Her worthless, whoremongering husband had abandoned her and her child after shaming poor Melanie in front of all Atlanta. He had fled to somewhere in Virginia. She was just doing what she had to do.
One night as they were sitting in the family parlor, Rhett asked Scarlett, "Why did you create a job for Miss Melly?"
"So, she would have a reason to interact with Mr. Franklin, so she could finally stop accepting our charity, and so my owning and running businesses would be less noticeable. I can't give the dowagers a reason to criticize me."
"Weren't you worried the dowagers would criticize Miss Melly for taking a job?"
"No, Melly could walk down the street naked, and the dowagers would find a way to make it pure and honorable."
"Like Lady Godiva."
"This sounds interesting. Tell me more."
The first Saturday after Scarlett's confinement was over the couple threw a huge birthday party for Wade and Bonnie. This year Wade was allowed to invite all his friends which were quite a few young boys. To be honest they invited every child in proper society. They all came.
Rhett walked around carrying his son for almost the entire party. Gerry was a beautiful baby. He looked like his mother sort of but then again, he looked like his father sort of. His eyes were already turning brown like his father's.
Bonnie and Ella were busy playing with their friends but every now and then they would have to go check on their baby. Wade was having a ball playing with all his friends.
Scarlett was a gracious and elegant hostess. The matrons all agreed that there was something different about Scarlett. Now there was something regal about her. The matrons all agreed she was on her way to becoming a great lady. She was behaving like a Robillard.
The matrons decided that Scarlett and Captain Butler's marriage had been a love match and the birth of their daughter had made Scarlett finally see the light of how inappropriate her behavior was. Scarlett then forced Captain Butler to start behaving himself for the sake of their child. There was no doubt Captain Butler would do anything for his children. They certainly were behaving themselves now that they had been received again.
As soon as Gerry was three months old, Rhett loaded up his family, Mammy and Prissy and they went to Charleston. Now that Scarlett had two excellent managers, she was alright with leaving Atlanta for an extended amount of time. Although she made Rhett promise that they would be back in a month.
On the train trip over to Charleston Scarlett said, "I'm nervous."
"Why?"
"What if your mother doesn't like me?"
"She will love you. You accomplished a feat that she thought was impossible to accomplish. You made me a family man."
"I did. Didn't I?"
"Yes, you did."
Rhett's mother did love Scarlett, but she loved her grandchildren even more which Scarlett guessed was normal. Elizabeth Butler was the first mother-in-law Scarlett had ever had. They did have a good time in Charleston. Rhett took Scarlett to the opera and a couple of Shakespearean plays. They went to a few lectures. He took everyone sailing and Scarlett marveled at how Rhett came alive when he was on the water.
That night Scarlett said, "Do you want us to move so we will be closer to the water?"
Rhett smiled and said, "Not now. In a serendipitous way we have managed to be completely received back into polite society in Atlanta. You helped your enemy find love and happiness. I was able to help the matron with the most power turn her failing bakery business into a success. You were able to help a widow find another husband thus making it able for a man to finally marry. We had to grovel to all those women by asking them how to raise our daughter. No, I can't go through that again."
"I don't know if I could move far away from Tara."
"I know, Bunny. Thus, the final reason we will never move from Atlanta."
Scarlett got along well with her sister-in-law, yet Scarlett knew that Rosemary would be glad when they left. Scarlett could tell Rosemary was not a maternal woman either.
One morning over breakfast when it was just Rosemary and her, Scarlett asked, "Are you content with your life? Are you sorry you never married?"
"Yes, I am very content. I had a childhood friend that I wanted to marry but Father would not allow it. It didn't really matter in the long run. He was killed in the war. After the war was over most men of my station were dead. Once Rhett started supporting us, I never wanted to marry after that. Mainly because I don't want to have children. I like attending my sewing bees and committees, but I don't really like being with people."
"I have always enjoyed being around a lot of people."
"I would rather read a good book than listen to someone yammer on endlessly."
"I will never voluntarily pick up a book."
"Don't you want to learn things?"
"Rhett is teaching me things. He doesn't think I know that he is trying to make me better educated but I do."
"Why don't you tell him?"
"Because he is so cute when he is trying to nonchalantly teach me things. Besides, he is an incredibly good teacher."
The ladies smiled and continued eating their breakfast.
After Ashley's departure from Atlanta Rhett became more involved in the Democratic Party. He went every week and worked on the committee to get the clan out of Georgia.
He told Scarlett one night, "I donated a thousand dollars to the Democratic Party."
"No, you gave the men of Georgia back some of their money."
"I think you are beginning to know me too well."
"Never. I'm sure it will take me the rest of my life to truly figure you out."
"I do like to be mysterious."
"No, you do like to keep your secrets."
The couple laughed.
Once a week Melanie reported to Scarlett the status of the mills. It was a business meeting. Melly needed these meetings more than Scarlett did but soon Scarlett felt they would start only meeting once a month then Scarlett would just start picking up her check.
If there were any problems, they would discuss them. Scarlett worked awfully hard at not telling Melly how to solve these problems. Melly was a first-rate manager. She had her own style and it suited her. Scarlett smiled when she thought, 'There is just something about Melly that makes men want to be finer men. The managers tried harder just to please Melly.'
One week in June as Melly got up to leave she put some money on the tea table. She said, "I don't need these gifts anymore. Aunt PittyPat and I have enough now. I do need you to continue paying for Beau's tuition, though.
"Of course, my dear."
"He doesn't need them, but I can't stop you from giving Beau gifts."
"Maybe I won't give as many."
"Goodbye, my sister."
"Goodbye."
As Melly got into her new buggy, she thought, 'My world is so much better than it was two years ago when I thought it was almost perfect. I need to stop by India's house and see if she needs anything. She is so miserable being pregnant in this heat just like I was when I was pregnant with Beau.'
As Scarlett walked back into the house after seeing Melly out she went upstairs to see her children especially her newest one, Gerry. She wished she had known breast feeding one's child burned up so many calories. She was smaller now than she had been before she got pregnant with Bonnie. Nonetheless she didn't want to have another one. Yet she was willing to take a chance of getting pregnant because she wasn't going to stop being intimate with Rhett.
A year after Ashley had moved to Lexington, he finally scraped together the money to get to Norfolk to look for the gold. After all he had the longitude and the latitude. When he was in Norfolk he ran into Johnny Gallagher. Johnny was looking for the gold also. Johnny had run afoul with his employer. The man, James Broadstone, was not as kind as Mrs. Butler.
When Broadstone suspected Johnny of stealing from him, Broadstone threatened to kill Johnny. Johnny took the first train out of Atlanta. It happened to be heading east. Johnny decided he would stop in Norfolk and ask questions. Maybe he could get enough information to narrow his search.
Ashley and Johnny had seen each other. Johnny immediately knew that Ashley probably had more information than him. Ashley knew that Johnny had more money than him. They joined forces and agreed to split the money.
They rented a boat, and the captain took them into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The men had thought there was going to be a small piece of land where the gold had been buried but there wasn't anything but water. As Ashley looked out from the boat at nothing but water, he knew that Butler had deceived him. He didn't know if Scarlett was part of the deception or if Butler had just fed her information for her to pass on to him. It didn't matter. He knew exactly where the Confederate gold was. It was in Rhett Butler's bank account.
All the way back to shore Ashley Wilkes cursed Rhett and Scarlett Butler. They would never know how completely they had fooled him. That was the only part of his pride he could save. He avoided looking at Johnny. He didn't want to see the smirk on that Irish bastard's face.
When they got to the location Johnny knew what Butler had done. He had fed Wilkes just enough information to make that pussy think Butler knew where the gold was. Probably through Mrs. Butler. It was almost worth the amount of money he had spent to rent the boat to see the disbelief on that pussy's face and the look when he finally figured out that Butler had fooled him completely. Wilkes had bought Butler's story hook, line and sinker. Johnny laughed all the way back to Norfolk.
The men parted when they got back to shore. Ashley returned to Lexington. Ashley was in a foul mood for weeks after his trip to Norfolk.
When Johnny was on the train heading North, he wrote Rhett Butler a letter. He told Rhett about the entire afternoon. It was one of the few times Johnny had done something that had not benefitted him directly. It was such a good hoax on Wilkes that Butler had to know how well it worked. Johnny knew that Wilkes would never know the Butler knew but it gave Johnny such perverse pleasure to know that Butler was secretly laughing at that pussy also. So, few things actually gave Johnny true pleasure that it was worth the cost of the stamp to let Butler know the outcome of his hoax.
When Rhett received the letter from Johnny he laughed and laughed. That night when they retired, Rhett read the letter to Scarlett. Rhett carefully folded the letter up and put it in the envelope. They would definitely read it again and again. Scarlett was so excited she kissed Rhett's tummy and other parts without there even being any chocolate cake on them. After they were finished Rhett said, "You must be an amazing actress to have fooled him so completely"
"I thought he would see it for the hoax it was when I gave him the exact location."
"True. Anyone who knows me knows that if I knew the longitude and latitude of hundreds of dollars in gold, I would be on the first train to that location."
Johnny was pleasantly surprised when he received a return letter from Rhett. All that was in the envelope was a five-dollar bill. Johnny was pleased that he had been rewarded for his good deed. He still probably would never do another one.
When Ashley received a letter from Scarlett, he eagerly opened it. On the paper inside Scarlett had written: How was your cruise on Chesapeake Bay? Who's the obtuse, stupid, ignorant pudden-head now?
Ashley could almost hear Scarlett and her husband laughing at him. He cursed them and Johnny Gallagher for many months afterwards.
Almost two years to the day that Scarlett had joined him in his bed, Rhett Butler was looking at the ship's wheel hanging on the wall, and he marveled at how happy he was. The ship's wheel did bring back a lot of happy memories of his sailing days. It reminded Rhett of all the pranks they had played on Mr. Wilkes. Most of all it reminded him of how much he loved his wife.
The wheel represented how much he had given up to live with her. He had gladly agreed to live in a landlocked city just to make her happy. Yet he was incredibly happy living in this landlocked city. He was finally happy after many years. He had not been happy since he had been disowned all those years ago. Probably long before that if the truth were known. Rhett laughed when he thought, 'I have done a complete reversal. That young man that I was would never have thought being married with children and being part of proper society would be almost heaven on earth.'