Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Thirty-Five
On July first of seventy-three the Butlers boarded the train to New York. They were going to live in New York. Rhett had made as much money as was possible off the Republican government. In fact, it was no longer the Republican government it was now the Democratic government.
The couple could no longer live in the South, and it wasn't just that Rhett wasn't received or Scarlett either for that matter. It was because they couldn't live by those antiquated rules of behavior.
Mammy was going back to live out the rest of her life at Tara with Suellen and Will. The Benteens were fine managers of Tara. The plantation was making a profit now that they had gone to share cropping. Will's personality was perfect for managing all their tenants.
Pork and Dilcey would be the caretakers for their house in Atlanta. Prissy had gotten married to a fine young man.
Scarlett had done right by her former slaves who had stuck by her in those dark days, but they were now on their own. She often wondered what had happened to all the slaves that her father had owned but she knew she would never know. She knew that a lot of them had come back and were sharecroppers now but not all of them. She would just hope their lives were better now that they were free.
As they had boarded the train, Rhett had said, "In our new home you will have to get the gardeners to create another maze."
A blushing Scarlett said, "Of course, Dear."
Scarlett was blushing because they had spent some time in the maze the night before. Even without there being lots of people right on the other side of the bushes it was still terribly exciting. She was also blushing because Rhett had a way of saying things that made her instantly have erotic thoughts.
In the private car Scarlett looked at her children. Wade who was eleven years old would have the hardest time adjusting because of his Hamilton relatives. Because of them he had more of a connection to the South. Yet, she knew he would adjust. She knew this because the boy had a resilience that she knew she had gifted him. He had spent the last five years going to school and being friends with Yankees and Scallawag children. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard for him to adjust.
Ella who was almost seven had received the gift of resilience from her mother also. Scarlett had never seen it in this Ella, but she now knew that she had seen it many times in the first timeline. In the first timeline she had thought Ella had not known what was going on but that wasn't true. Ella had just learned to roll with the punches at an early age. Ella would never be a scholar, but she wasn't stupid which pleased Scarlett more than she cared to admit.
Genie who was five. Genie who was adored and loved by her father. Genie whose mother was the only thing that was preventing her from becoming a truly outrageous brat. Genie had not developed Rhett's personality. Genie was Scarlett made over except thanks to her mother's influence Genie was not as selfish and self-centered as Scarlett had once been. Unlike Scarlett's mother, Scarlett never bought Genie's innocent act. Scarlett had made a point to be involved in Genie's life from day one. Scarlett had made sure that Genie cared about other people and took other people's feelings and emotions into consideration. Even Rhett was beginning to see through Genie's pretense of innocence.
Alexi who was almost three was pretty spoiled by her father also. Not as much as Genie for Rhett had seen the error of his ways. He had realized that giving a child everything they wanted just made them a selfish, self-centered brat. Scarlett knew that was Rhett's child. Not just because she looked so much like him but even at almost three the child was behaving like Rhett. The child had blond hair and green eyes and she reminded Scarlett of baby Melanie which pleased her. She knew the child was not baby Melanie reborn because baby Melanie had Ashley's personality which Al-jani could not give hers and Rhett's child. Al-jani had done the next best thing. She had given the child blonde hair, green eyes, her father's looks, and her father's personality. It made Scarlett incredibly happy because she had all her children back.
Even the child she had not known she had lost, Gerry. His features were a combination of hers and Rhett's. His eyes had darkened and now where the same color as Rhett's eyes. She hoped his personality was also a blend of their personalities. He was sixteen months and most of the time he behaved like she did. Every now and then he would smile like Rhett and behave like his father.
She smiled. She got a mini her then Rhett got a mini him. Now they got a mini them. She also hoped she didn't have anymore.
The family's life was good in New York. They had several close friends. They were part of the cream of society. There were rules they had to follow but the rules made sense to the couple, so they did. They also very much wanted to belong to this society so their children would be included. The people that were included in this society were people like the Vanderbilts, the Duponts, the Astors, the Belmonts, the Fishs, the Oelrichs, and several other hundred wealthy families. They were part of the Astor 400.
The Butlers lived in the poshest neighborhood. Their home was as big as the mansion had been, but it was the same size as the other homes in the neighborhood. In fact, it may have been smaller than most of them. Their children went to the finest schools. The children's playmates were children whose fathers were as rich or richer than Rhett. It wasn't long before all the children had lost their Southern accents, but Rhett still spoke with a Charlestonian drawl and Scarlett still spoke like a Georgian peach.
Rhett and Scarlett had lots of fun in their maze in their new home. Sometimes in the daytime with their children and sometimes at night with just the two of them. And at every party they hosted. Rhett never got tired of that. Neither did Scarlett. Overall, it was a wonderful life.
Melanie and Scarlett corresponded once a month and Suellen sent Scarlett a quarterly report on Tara. While Melanie's letters were full of the going ons in Atlanta, Suellen's letters were strictly a report of the health of the business of Tara. Sadly, Scarlett was not interested in what the gentry of Atlanta were doing. At this point she felt no more for them than she would strangers.
In the spring of seventy-five the family went to London. Rhett was going to sell all his business interests in Europe. It was too difficult to travel with the family and Scarlett would not travel without the children. Rhett would no longer travel without Scarlett. He had hoped the trip would brighten Scarlett's disposition. She had not been happy to find herself with child again. The only thing that had made her happy was him telling her that he was going to take care of the problem once and for all.
Rhett didn't really think she had believed him. No that wasn't right. Her actual words were 'That sounds too good to be true.' After a few minutes she said, 'If that is possible why have you not done it sooner.'
When he hadn't responded in a couple of minutes she said, "Well?"
"I just found out about it."
Scarlett sat there staring at her husband. She usually knew when he was lying to her now and he was lying big time right that moment. She wondered for a moment why he still felt the need to lie to her, but she quickly dismissed it. It was another of the mysteries of Rhett Butler. Her adorable doofus.
She smiled at him and said, "When do we leave?"
"As soon as you want."
"Let us go the day after our anniversary. It will be like when we first got married. I was pregnant then too."
The family had left for London on April 16th. They had a wonderful time during their stay in London. They rented a house.
Rhett went to see Dr. Marcus Welby about having the procedure done to make him sterile. When the doctor examined him to determine if he was healthy enough to have the surgery, Dr. Welby found that his liver was enlarged, and his heart didn't sound as good as it should. The doctor told him to stop smoking and stop drinking alcohol. He had the procedure done then was sent home. Every time he coughed that hurt his equipment. He stopped smoking right then and there. He started dipping but that only lasted about a month. Scarlett refused to kiss him when he had been chewing. She said, "It gives you the most awful tasting kisses."
"Worse than Frank's"
"No, but close."
Rhett finished the last of the tin. He had gotten through the worst of the withdrawal from cigars by that time. He was already not consuming alcohol because of Scarlett being with child.
They looked up some of their friends from when they lived in London eight years ago. Quickly they were on everyone's guest list again. Scarlett did seem to be happy once they were in London. Or was it that she knew this would be her last pregnancy. Rhett didn't care why. He was just pleased to have his happy Scarlett back.
Scarlett and Rhett's third daughter was born on September 16th. They called her Emma Elizabeth. Like Gerry she appeared to be a cross between Rhett and Scarlett although she was born with green eyes. Another mini them. It was nice.
When Scarlett had suggested the name Emma for his friend, Rhett had quickly agreed. Scarlett had said, "If she hadn't kept you from starving when you were disowned then you wouldn't have been around to loan me the five hundred dollars to buy the sawmills. The sawmills that kept all my family fed."
"That is true, my love," Very casually Rhett added, "We could give her the middle name Elizabeth."
Scarlett had said, "Of course, Dear. It is perfect."
Rhett had felt he should honor his mother in some way but had not felt strongly enough about it to demand they give their last daughter his mother's name.
Scarlett knew it was all part of the complicated relationship Rhett had with his mother. He loved her. She loved him. Yet Elizabeth Butler with everyone else had turned her back on him in his time of need.
She remembered what Rhett had said in their other timeline. Rhett hadn't married the girl because he hadn't done anything wrong. It had been a broken buggy wheel. He had proof that the wheel had broken.
When Scarlett knew that Rhett was feeling remorseful and at the same time angry about that incident, she would make love to her husband. She would hold him long into the night. She would tell him with her body that she loved him and would stand beside him no matter what. She would never speak the words for she now knew Rhett would reject the words because accepting the words would make him feel weak.
She would just smile into the darkness at her complicated, adorable, ignoramus that obtuse Scarlett would have never figured out.
They talked about remaining in London but finally Rhett decided that they needed to return to New York in order to be close to their families. Scarlett didn't argue.
They sailed back to New York in the spring of seventy-six. Scarlett and Rhett had an incredibly good life in New York. They were included in all the social events of the rich in New York.
Rhett owned a yacht. He would spend hours with fellow yacht owners talking about sailing and which boat was the best.
Scarlett joined a bicycling group of ladies, but she soon dropped out. There was a strong component of women in the group who wanted equal rights, not the least being the right to vote. These women told her that Rhett was the epitome of everything wrong with men. They kept urging her to throw off her shackles of servitude and straighten her husband up. In Scarlett's opinion her husband didn't need to be straightened up. She didn't want to change her husband in any way. She could manage this Rhett.
More than anything else they belonged. There were lots of other people who felt and thought the same way they did. They were no longer unwanted people with their faces pressed against the window hoping for a crumb of kindness. Unwanted people who could never behave properly.
Author's Note:
The Astor 400 was a group of high society people led by Caroline Schermerhorn Astor. The phrase the Astor 400 was coined by Ward McAllister. He declared that there were only 400 people in fashionable New York Society who really mattered.