-Captain Butler?

He raised his eyes from the papers he'd been reading. A nurse who had come was addressing him. The darkness and light from the lantern causing her face to look remind him a drawing by Rafael he had seen in his travels. Guilt flooded him. He never took her to France, was a thought that came in mind again. During Bonnie's short life, even now.

-Captain Butler?

Nodding, he shook the hazy look from his eyes and stood.

-The doctor wishes for you to come in. We are done for now.

She turned her back and headed towards their room.

The stench of blood was the first thing that hit him as he entered the room. He saw a pile of cotton soaked in blood in the corner of the drawer.

The doctor petted his arm reassuringly –

-She is a strong lady, your wife. In a few weeks-time, her body will have fully recovered.

-Please give me all the details.

Rhett looked weary, nonetheless determined. The doctor smiled

-The pregnancy developed inside the trumpet instead the uterus. It happens. We don't know why, but it does. Early this evening the trumpet exploded causing the internal bleeding. We had to amputate the trumpet, but other than that we stopped the bleeding soon enough. There is a scar along her abdomen that will heal in a few weeks and loss of blood, of course to consider. But in a few months' time she can even try and for a child; given her other trumpet is still there.

Rhett's awe was not left amiss.

- Up North, the female body is of fascination these days. I specialized in this particular field. I know that here most doctors let the women bleed to death out of ignorance, but I aim to do all the necessary to save the mother first.

Rhett thanked him. The doctor refused to be paid at the moment saying that there will be plenty of time for that the following day. He sat by her. The doctor had said she'd wake up in a few hours due to the large dose of morphine he had given her, leaving some opium for later consumption. He warned Rhett about the implications of excessive use.

He was dozing beside her. The smell of soap engulfed the room, having been cleaned by the two nurses before leaving. A small voice besides him uttered

-Is mother sick?

In her night gown and barefoot Ella stood rubbing her eyes with a fist.

He opened his arms and she climbed to his lap.

-She is healing. She was sick but the doctor came during the night and did what's necessary to heal her.

He was caressing her hair slowly, thinking of his wife's request regarding her daughter.

-Would you like me to tuck you in again? It's too early for you to be around and about.

-Can I sleep with Mommy?

-No Honey. Your mother has a wound that needs healing. She can't be rocked. That's why I have been sleeping here on this chair. Maybe in a few days we can put a mattress beside the bed, would you like that?

The child nodded as the tears began to flow. He was hugging her, making soothing sounds. The next thing he saw was his wife's smile when he woke up for a minute, with Ella still enwrapped in his arms.

****YT****

When a very frustrated Scarlett was finally let down of her bed it was the beginning of the summer.

-I can't understand why I had to lie down for eight weeks if you are claiming that I am fine!

Rhett saw the doctor exchange a scolding look that would have frightened less courageous patients, but not her.

-You said that the entire blood system replenishes in six weeks, so why the other two? Isn't it bad enough?

-As I explained yesterday and the day before Mrs. Butler, you had a lot of tissues to rebuild and heal with the scar and amputation.

-Scarlett, stop harassing the doctor, you are up and about now, aren't you?

-And confined to this floor, no stairs and no nothing! Good Gracious, I feel fine! For weeks now I feel fine, except this boredom that could kill me! The whole building must be up and…

-Hardly. Rhett laughed with true merriment - But now I know that you are better, it is the first time you've mentioned the construction.

The weeks of healing were trying ones. She'd snap at the slightest irritation. She had even rushed Mrs. Merriwether out when she came visiting, for lack of satisfaction on the figures. The evenings were the worse. Each evening she'd have to push her nightmares while being awake. It was not unnoticed. Despite her efforts she had found herself quarreling with both her husband and son. The only one who seemed to escape her wrath was Ella.

Despite her protests in front of the doctor, Rhett found her indifference to be the most alarming. He'd find her staring at the pointless space in front of her at times, or crying for no reason.

The doctor gazed at the man in front of him and took his last words to consideration. He sighed and turned to both of them

-Mrs. Butler, as far as you physical condition goes I must confess that I am beyond satisfied. You have had no complications and given my last examination I believe that you are well now. Yes, I want you to rest so that your recently healed organs will strengthen, but you are fine. How are you feeling?

-What do you mean? I still suffer from pain, especially in the evening, but, you didn't mean that, now did you? She puzzled

-How are you feeling, Mrs. Butler? It is not uncommon for a person who had passed what you have to experience a state of, how shall I put it? Shock, or severe anxiety. Be more prone to distress and…

He couldn't finish his words for the flow of tears were a confirmation to what he had suspected was the case of the lady in front of him.

-I see. Well, I shall send my friend John Pemberton a note, to send you some of his Pemberton's French Wine Coca. It might help, and it is safer then morphine for the pain and it's been found to assist with mild cases of hysteria and melancholy.

-My wife has been crying a lot.

Scarlett gave Rhett a scolding gaze, how she hated demonstration of weakness, especially her own, nonetheless he continued.

-Especially in the evenings.

At that a small snort escaped her, really! He had the goal! Why she had been the one to explain to him that the evenings were no good for both of them, and how could he make a point of her distress in the afternoons when she had been laying here for eight weeks.

-As I said, it is not uncommon. In fact, it would be uncommon if she had reacted otherwise. Your wife had passed a near-death experience, an extremely painful one, I might add. If you had been wounded by a bullet, imaging that pain and multiply it ten times. The explosion of her inner organ was one ordeal that most don't survive.

She closed her eyes and felt the tears pouring. It had been her constant nightmare, imaginings of her death or the death of Bonnie, her parents, Melanie, her childhood friends, and even worse, images of her two living children dead would cross her tortured mind. Of her husband.

She felt Rhett's warm arms enfold her. She was still shaking a long time after the doctor had left. She lift her head and pierced his eyes with a haunted look –

-I keep seeing pictures of you and Wade and Ella dead. I keep thinking that if I lose you, I'd really have no reason to keep living.

He sighed "The entire year I had been away I had these thoughts. We shall overcome this. I know we will"

Indeed, Pemberton's French Wine Coca was surprisingly sweet.

-Who would have thought that of all the beverages, you'd end up with The Intellectual Tonic, designated and consumed by scientists, scholars, poets, divines, lawyers, physicians, and others devoted to extreme mental exertion?

-Darling, don't be mean. You've managed to avoid it for weeks now, your basic character, I refer to, that is. Besides, if you behave I just might spare you some.

With his brow raised and a comical expression on his face he asked -

-Why should I want it, darling?

-It's rather tasty, and what more, Pemberton claims that it is a most wonderful invigorator of sexual organs.

************YT******************

Wow, it takes me ever so long to write this. I am still aiming towards a Yours Truly happy ending so in a few more, we will find it… And for those who want for some Wikipedia info, Pemberton was the inventor of the beverage yet to be known as Coca Cola. Intellectual indeed (Was it the cocaine that was still part of it?).