Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Forty-Six

The night the group found out that the Civil War was over Rhett and Scarlett were lying in their bed, when she said, "What does this mean to us?"

"It means that within the month we are moving to Galveston, I think. Texas was not hurt as badly by the war as Georgia and South Carolina."

"Rhett, your family."

"I will help them when I can. Right now, I have to get my wife and children to a safe place."

"Children?"

"You know as well as I do that you are with child."

There was a long silence and finally in a quiet voice Scarlett said, "Yes, I am."

Rhett hugged her tight. He let out a breath he had been silently holding. He had not known how much he had wanted it to be true that Scarlett was with child until she had confirmed that she was. He would be with her every step of the way making her time when she was with child as easy as possible.

Scarlett said, "The baby should arrive in October."

"Wonderful."

The next day Rhett went out and sent a telegram to his London attorney. He instructed him to wire a hundred dollars to his bank in Charleston. He then telegraphed his Charleston attorney, Charles Mobbs. He asked Mr. Mobbs to get a hundred dollars out of his Charleston savings account as soon as Mr. Marley had deposited it into his account. Mr. Mobbs needed to take the money to his parents. Rhett didn't know if his family was in Charleston or still at the plantation, Middleton Acres. Mr. Mobbs was to tell his mother to telegraph him with news of how the family was doing.

There were no replies that afternoon, but Rhett had not expected any. It would take a couple of days to get the money into The First Bank of Charleston.

Over supper that night, Rhett said, "Now that the war is over, we need to start talking about where we want to move to. I think Scarlett and I are going to move to Galveston. It is in Texas. It is on an island named coincidentally Galveston Island. It is the fourth richest city in the state. There were no major battles in Texas so the people will be able to bounce back quicker. It is on the water which is something that is important to me."

Ashley looked at Melly then back at Rhett. He said, "We can't stay here with the death count they have every summer so we will move on with you to Galveston."

Melly said, "How would we get there?"

"On the train. We can take the train now because we no longer have to worry about crossing the battle lines."

"Alright."

"But everything still has to fit into one trunk. We will be able to buy food on the train so we will not have to take all those chickens with us."

"Or the piglets"

"When do you want to leave?"

"In June before Yellow Fever season is upon the inhabitants of New Orleans. That will be soon enough for the Yankees to get the trains running again. That is one of the beauties of going to Texas. Most of the train tracks are in one piece."

Gerald looked at Ellen and said, "What do you want to do?"

"Go to Galveston. I bet it is a lot like Savannah."

"I guess we are going to Galveston."

"We will continue to live together until you all can afford places of your own."

During their stay in New Orleans, both Suellen and Careen had several men calling on them. While both girls thought the men were great fun, none of them were anything special to them. They were happy to be going to Galveston although they would have been happy staying in New Orleans also.

One night after they had gotten into the bed, Scarlett said to Rhett, "As soon as we get to Galveston, let's get our picture taken."

"I agree. We are both at our normal weights now."

"For a while then I will balloon up."

"I tell you who ballooned up was Melly. Did I tell you that I almost buckled under Melly's weight when I picked her up at Twelve Oaks?"

Scarlett giggled and said, "No, you didn't. You didn't appear as if her weight was any big deal."

"Well, it was. I almost fell to my knees under that load.

Scarlett giggled and said, "Rhett!"

"Well, it was a heavy load. How could such a small woman weigh so much?"

"I don't know what was wrong with Melly, but she was swollen. She told me that there were several days that she didn't feel the need to go to the privy. She was probably twice as heavy at the end of her time as she normally is."

"I can attest to that. She was quite the load."

"Rhett! I bet you were glad you had quit smoking."

"Yes, if I couldn't even carry a woman up the stairs, I needed to improve my health and I had not been smoking for almost a month."

"Not to mention your stamina when we are making love."

"Was that a complaint?"

"No."

Scarlett started giggling and Rhett started laughing.

Rhett loved to hear Scarlett giggling. It was almost the most beautiful sound in the world. The most beautiful sound in the world was either her saying she loved him or her calling out his name when she reached her satisfaction.

When Rhett looked at his wife, she was smiling at him with an invitation in her eyes. He accepted her offer. He always would.

The next day, Rhett heard from his family. His mother thanked him for the money. They certainly needed it. Everyone had survived except Luther. They would be staying at the townhouse. She would write him all the news.

Rhett telegraphed back that he was glad everyone had survived. He told his mother that he was moving to Galveston. It was kind of like Charleston except not so old. He invited his family to move with him.

A week later Rhett got a letter from his mother. She didn't know how Robert or Marshall were going to earn a living now. The plantation would not be profitable now without slave labor. Marshall was leaning toward moving to Galveston, but they would not decide until Robert got home. Charleston and South Carolina were shells of their former selves. It would be many years before either recovered. They had survived by eating yams, black-eyed peas, and rice. If she ever saw any of them again, she would scream.

Rhett wrote back and told his mother that with their move to Galveston he was going to set-up another shipping line. He would need someone to run it for him. Or they could start another type of business.

Rosemary and Daphne had gone to the Bradberrys' townhouse to see if they could find any of Luther's childhood mementos. Rosemary had heard that Luther's parents had not survived. The Bradberrys had contracted some disease and succumbed to it. Rosemary was primarily looking for Luther's rock collection and his seashell collection. Upon walking into the townhouse, it was clear to see that it had been ransacked by people trying to survive. As Rosemary looked around the townhouse, she noticed there was nothing left in the home of monetary value. Fortunately for Rosemary everything she wanted was of sentimental value.

The ladies were able to find both of the collections and took them home. Rosemary had also found little odds and ends of Luther's in the townhouse that she knew she would treasure forever. A book. His old watch that he had before she had gifted him with a new watch on their wedding day. A pair of pants that Rosemary remembered her husband wearing while he was courting her. All of them were wonderful memories. Wonderful memories of the man she had loved. Wonderful memories of the man who had died before his time. With a sob Rosemary thought, 'Like so many others.'

Rosemary was able to find a photo album which although didn't contain very many photos it contained Rosemary and Luther's wedding picture and Meg's baby picture. It also contained a picture of Luther when he was a boy with his parents. Rosemary took all the pictures. They were Meg's legacy. It made Rosemary smile. She could tell Meg how wonderful her father and his parents had been. Meg would never have to know her grandparents had not wanted to have anything to do with her.

Scarlett had a problem. She had read all the adventure stories that she had hid in her trunk. Her problem was she didn't know how to give them to Rhett. She couldn't tell him that she found them because they were miles away from where the books were supposedly lost. She didn't want to just throw them away because that would just be wasteful. Even though she knew Rhett had lots of money she didn't want to waste money, but she was either going to have to do that or tell Rhett she had been reading books most of her life. She was leaning more towards throwing the books away because she also didn't know how he would react to her having deceived him. Therefore, Scarlett did what she always did when facing a difficult decision. Especially if it involved another person's feelings. She would talk it over with Melly.

Scarlett found Melly exactly where she knew the woman would be. She was in the nursery. Melly had gotten better in the last nine months about not having to have Beau with her constantly, but she usually checked on him several times a day.

Scarlett said, "Will you come walk with me?"

"Of course."

Melly knew that Scarlett had something to discuss with her. She also knew that her proud sister-in-law would not want anyone to know that there was something she couldn't handle on her own. After they had gotten outside and had walked about a block, Scarlett said, "You remember me telling you that Rhett thinks he forced me to become a reader."

"Yes."

"You know I hid all those adventures stories in my trunk."

"Yes."

"I have read them all."

"Alright."

"I will either have to throw them away or tell Rhett I have been a reader for years."

"You know that I usually think that honesty is the best policy but, in these circumstances, I am going to tell you to throw the books away. Rhett is happy and proud because he thinks he turned you into a reader. If you tell him now that you have always been a reader, you will take that pride away from him. Also, if you tell him now and he finds out that everyone knows that you basically tricked him he will not take that well. Or that everyone but him knew you like to read." Melly held up her hand when Scarlett started to speak. She said, "Rhett will think Ashley knew also. What's more Rhett would never talk about it. He would just be deeply hurt."

"Yes, he would be. He would think everyone has been laughing at him behind his back. I guess I will throw them away."

"Yes, this is now a secret you are going to have to take to your grave. If you had told him when he first mentioned you becoming a reader, everything would have been fine but not now."

"I couldn't tell him then. We had just gotten married, and I didn't want him to think I was a blue stocking."

"I will ignore the disparaging way you said blue stocking because I am proud of being a blue stocking."

"Melly, I didn't mean it like that."

Melly laughed and said, "Yes, you did but I am not offended. Back to your problem. What is done is done. You can't go back and change your actions but don't compound your problem by telling Rhett that you have been basically lying to him your entire marriage."

Scarlett sighed and said, "No, I won't. You are right. I will just throw the books away."

"Don't just throw them away put them in the firepit and be sure they are burned to ashes."

Scarlett smiled. She said, "I forget how good you are at destroying all the evidence."

"I had to be, or we would have gotten caught so many times."

Both ladies laughed and Scarlett linked her arm in Melly's arm. Scarlett said, "Let's go back to the house and play with our sons."

"Certainly. One more thing, Darling. Don't be surprised when you find out that he has failed to tell you all about his past either."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because just like you he only wants you to know good things about him. Not his less than admirable actions."

"You mean like all those things the gossips are always saying he did."

"Exactly."

"Some of those were pretty sleazy but all of them were sketchy."

Both ladies laughed.