Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The contractor, Calvin Hobbs, had come over the very next day after Scarlett had sent him the note. She had told him what she wanted. He had said, "I think I understand what you want but let me go home and draw up some sketches. I will have them drawn up within a week at most."
"Just send me a note telling me when you can drop by. I am not going out in the heat."
"Yes ma'am."
A week later Mr. Hobbs had brought his sketches to the Butlers' home. Scarlett knew what time he was coming by so she had Rhett wait with her until Mr. Hobbs arrived. She wanted him to see the sketches before she started on the remodeling.
When Rhett saw the sketches, he said, "That is not the way I imagined it but I like it well enough."
"Thank you, Rhett."
"You are welcome, my dear. Now I will leave you. You and Mr. Hobbs can work out all the details. Just send me a bill, Mr. Hobbs."
Scarlett had screens put on each window in the entire house. She had rolling shades put on all the windows that faced the west in order to keep the sun out in the afternoon. She had a local artist come paint some scenes from nature on the shades. She had Mr. Hobbs paint the house white with turquoise trim. She ordered furniture and area rugs out of the catalogs that her mother and her mother-in-law had given her. She felt that almost everything in those catalogs was boring. Her working theory was that anything in those catalogs Rhett would deem tasteful so she just had to find something in those catalogs she could live with. For the first time in her life Scarlett wished she lived in New York or Boston where her avant garde taste would not be out of step with everyone else. She also copied a lot of the ideas she had seen in the other homes she and Rhett had attended social functions in since their arrival in Galveston.
The master bedroom included a sitting room. The bedroom overlooked the back of the property with a porch off of the bedroom. Two full-length windows were installed on either side of the porch doors. She had changed the porch doors to French doors. The back of the house faced the Gulf of Mexico, and it was a beautiful view in the evening when Scarlett and Rhett were getting dressed for supper. The windows had shutters on the outside that Scarlett always closed up at night to protect her from the morning sun. At first, Rhett had objected to this because he wanted the breeze during the night. She informed him that what breeze they got would be from the other two windows that faced North and South respectively.
Scarlett was getting tired of her mother-in-law and her mother telling her what they would do as far as the décor was concerned. She didn't need them telling her. She already knew. She had visited enough homes in Charleston and Atlanta to know what those women would consider tasteful. She had to bite her tongue so many times to not snap at those women.
Scarlett had everyone over for dinner every Sunday after church. The Wilkeses went to the Baptist church, The O'Haras went to the Catholic Church, and all of the Butlers including Rhett and Scarlett went to the Episcopal church. Neither Rhett nor Scarlett wanted to attend church, but it didn't matter they knew they had to go for their children's sakes.
Everyone got to visit with everyone else over these meals. The Wilkeses and the O'Haras went home with leftovers despite the protest that they didn't need them. Neither Scarlett nor Rhett paid their guests any mind.
Before Scarlett went into her confinement, she visited Melly. She visited Melly to be able to praise her on how nice the Wilkeses' home was decorated. It was perfect for the Wilkeses. It was bland and boring.
Scarlett, Melanie, and Ellen had drove around Galveston in Scarlett's buggy looking for people selling furniture. Times were still hard for most of the people of Galveston therefore, the ladies were able to find some bargains.
The O'Hara's apartment over the store was becoming a home. Careen agreed to become the family's cook instead of having to be a clerk in the store. Ellen had started cleaning the house every day. Both Careen and Ellen did the laundry. Suellen was happy being a clerk. She enjoyed getting to talk with all the customers, just as Gerald did. Ellen did the books in the evenings after the store was closed.
India had told Melly that Frank Kennedy now owned a store in Atlanta. Melly had told Suellen over Sunday dinner. Melly said, "Do you want me to get his address from India?"
"No, I am either going to find a husband here in Galveston or I will just continue living with my parents. If I have to work in a store, I would rather work in Pa's store."
Suellen had already met a nice young man, Sam White through the store. He was missing the lower half of his left leg. It was going to be hard to find a single man in the South with all his body parts. Sam worked for the newspaper. He was a typesetter and ran the printing press. She knew he was sweet on her because he always waited until she was free to make his purchases. He came into the store a couple of times a week. If for no other reason than to buy some candy. He would always loiter after his purchase and talk to her until she had to go wait on another customer. Gerald had seen what was happening with Suellen and had always tried to wait on any customer when Sam was in the store. He wanted both Suellen and Careen to get married.
The Butler women didn't think they would be able to have their own places at least for another year therefore they didn't want to go shopping for furniture until they had some place to put it. It was also depressing to them to be reminded how bad their lot in life was now. Although the Butlers were still living in the lap of luxury, they all knew that as soon as they were on their own that would no longer be true. Although, Robert, and Marshall were making small profits. They wanted to build up a nest egg before they moved out of Rhett's house. They also wanted to give the economy of Galveston more time to bounce back.
In August, Rhett found Scarlett in the parlor making baby clothes. He said, "How many outfits do you think she will need?"
"These are outfits for his first year. Because I am so miserable, I don't want to do anything but sit so I will make all the clothes now. It takes all my determination to go inspect Mr. Hobbs' work every day."
Rhett picked up the outfit that was lying beside Scarlett and sat down. He said, "The house is looking good."
"Thank you, Rhett. It would have looked so much better if you had let me copy that design in Harper's Bazaar."
"I told you that was ugly." Rhett ignored Scarlett's scowl and said, "Rosemary and I have to go up North to line up some shipping business."
"When will you leave?"
"Next week."
"How long will you be gone?"
"No more than two weeks."
"Alright. Are you always going to travel with her?"
"No, we are going to hire her an assistant and the assistant can travel with her." Scarlett stared at Rhett until he said, "The assistant will be a woman."
"With all these old maids around, it should be easy to find a blue stocking to travel with her."
Rhett smiled at the disparaging way his wife had said 'blue stocking.' He said, "That is the plan. To hire someone really smart to travel with her."
"Alright. I don't want you to leave. We have never been apart since we got married."
"I know. I don't want to go either, but I have to train her how to get people interested in using our shipping services."
"Be sure and be home before the first of September. We can't have relations after the first until the baby gets here. Actually, not until he is six weeks old."
"How do you know? I know nobody told you when you were carrying Wade. There would be no reason to tell you because you were already a widow."
"I asked Dr. Casey."
"I would have thought you would be too embarrassed to ask him."
"I was embarrassed but I wanted to know so I made myself ask him."
"I'm certainly glad you did. Rosemary and I will just wait and go in September."
"The first two weeks of September. Just in case he comes early."
"Yes, just in case she comes early."
August thirty-first Scarlett held a birthday party for Beau. He was one year old. It had been a rough year for everyone, but Beau's birthday party was also a celebration of how far the group had come in a year. Everyone had given the boy fabric that was, of course, bought at The Luck of the Irish, even his parents. Scarlett also gave him a set of blocks.
Soon it was the first of September. Rhett and Rosemary were on one of their ships to New York. Rhett had helped Rosemary line up the captains for their ships.
Rosemary had gotten some dresses made that she thought someone's maiden aunt would wear. When Rhett saw his sister in one of those dresses. He thought her clothes were appropriate to the situation. They were high necked, dull, and unfeminine. She had even pulled her hair back in a bun which was not an attractive style for Rosemary. Rhett knew she was going to have to do all that to be taken seriously by the men she was going to be working with. She was going to have a hard time getting men to take her seriously. It wasn't just that she was a woman but because she was an attractive woman, it would make it that much harder for her to be taken seriously.
In all the meetings after Rosemary had stated all the reasons why the shipper should use Butler Maritime Shipping, the man would turn to Rhett and ask him the questions. Rhett would turn to Rosemary and say, "What do you think, Mrs. Bradberry?" Rhett never called Rosemary by her first name in these meetings. He also never revealed that Rosemary was his sister.
The first couple of times Rosemary had not been able to answer the question but by the time the siblings' time in the North was over, Rosemary had the beginnings of becoming a professional businesswoman. They also had gotten a few orders to ship items.
As Rhett and Rosemary had gotten on their ship to return home, he said, "You have to arrange all that. I will help you, but I want you to try to do it as much by yourself as you can. Trial by fire so to speak."
"Thank you, Rhett. When do you want to conduct the interviews for my assistant?"
"I will not be participating in the interviews. She is going to be your assistant, but you should hire a woman that has a college degree. That way you are assured she is smart, and you will also know that she is willing to defy the social norms. Both of which you are going to have to have in your assistant."
"That is true, Rhett. Thank you for taking a chance on me. You really are the best older brother in the world."
"You don't know how true that is Rosemary."
"Did you just marry Caroline for my sake?"
"Yours, Robert's, and Mother's. I guess a little bit for Father's sake. At the time he was a controlling, dictatorial social climber but I loved him. I still do."
"Thank you, Rhett. I love you."
"Of course, you do. What's not to love?"
"There is your mocking and teasing. How you can make fun of someone's cherished beliefs."
"Rosemary, that was a rhetorical question."
"I know but I wanted to say it anyway. I think this not having to behave like a lady is going to be extremely liberating."
"That and the destruction of our world. You are doing the right thing by supporting yourself and Meg."
"Thank you, Rhett."
"Besides, you would never find anyone as good as Luther was in our post-war world."
"I know. Did I tell you that his parents are dead now?"
"No, you didn't."
The siblings chatted about the Bradberrys and other people who were living in Charleston. Rosemary updated Rhett who of his friends had died in the war.