Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Sixty-Two

When Elizabeth woke up on the last day in June, she was surprised that Marshall was still in bed. In all their years of marriage, he had always woken up before her. When she turned and looked at her husband, she knew she was now a widow. She broke down and cried. What else was going to be taken away from her? She had lost her partner and her best friend. Besides her children and her grandchildren, she had lost everything.

After she had finished crying, she got dressed. She tried to decide which son was closer then, she realized that Robert would be at work so there was no other choice but to walk to Rhett's home. Her clothes were simple clothes that she could get in and out of by herself therefore she quickly got herself dressed.

When Elizabeth got to Rhett's home, Mr. Ward let her in without any question. He knew who she was. She was Mr. Butler's mother. He said, "They are having breakfast in the small dining room. Let me show you where it is."

"Thank you."

Mr. Ward couldn't help but notice how fragile Mrs. Butler looked therefore he made sure she was inside the room before he left her.

When Rhett saw Elizabeth, he said, "Mother, what are you doing here?"

"Rhett, send the children away."

"Meg, Wade, take your breakfast plates to the nursery. Tell Mammy I said it was alright."

After the children were out of the room, Rosemary said, "Mother, what is it?"

"Your father…. Your father is…"

Rhett said, "Is father dead?"

Elizabeth nodded her head up and down. She then collapsed into the chair that Meg had just vacated.

Rhett said, "You stay here. I will take care of everything."

"Rhett, go by the boarding house and tell Miss Stein and Mrs. Toklas I won't be in today and why. They will wait for me on the porch of the boarding house all day if you don't. Tell Miss Stein she is in charge."

"Of course, let me go tell Scarlett then I will go tell Miss Stein."

"Of course."

Rhett hurried up the stairs but despite his urgency he stopped by the nursery. He squatted down next to Wade and Meg, he said, "Your grandfather is dead, but Mama and Dada are still here. Meg, your mother is still here also. You are safe. You both have the rest of your relatives. For now, Mammy will take care of you."

"Alright Dada."

"Alright Uncle Rhett."

The children didn't really understand what Rhett had told them. They had never known anyone to die before. Meg knew her father was dead, but he had never been part of her life. So, neither child knew how their grandfather being dead was going to affect their lives.

Rhett kissed Wade's forehead then he stood up. He looked at Mammy. She said, "I gots this Mr. Rhett."

"Thank you."

Rhett stopped long enough to pick Kenny up and hug him. Then he was out the door to begin an awful day.

As Rhett walked into his bedroom, he saw that Scarlett was still asleep. He shut the door and for a minute admired the scene in front of him. Scarlett would not think it was a beautiful scene. Her hair was in her face, but he could still see that she was sleeping with her mouth open. Her mouth was open and there was drool coming out of her mouth. It was just such a candid moment when she was not at her best and he was the only person in the entire world who would ever see her like that.

When Rhett felt himself responding to seeing his wife naked in his bed, he chastised himself for being a pervert. What man can think about romance when he had just found out his father was dead. He shook off all his thoughts and walked over to the bed.

Rhett shook Scarlett's shoulder and said, "Sweetheart, you have to get up now."

Scarlett looked at him with a sleepy confused look on her face and said, "What?"

"You have to get up now. We have a lot of things to do today. My father is dead."

With those words, Scarlett was wide awake. She sat up and said, "Your father is dead?! How?"

"I don't know. I will have to find an undertaker and arrange the funeral."

"Ask Mr. Ward for a name of an undertaker here in Galveston then send him to get him."

"Yes, I will do that. I will have him meet us at my parents' home."

"Rhett, your mother can stay with us for a while."

"I think my mother will be moving back in with us."

"Alright."

While Rhett and Scarlett had been talking, she had been getting dressed. She said, "Tighten up my corset." Rhett proceeded to do that. She said, "What do you want me to do?"

"Go take Rosemary's keys to Miss Stein at the boarding house. It seems all the ladies walk to work together. Rosemary meets them on the porch of their boarding house."

"Alright. Do the children know?"

"Yes, but I don't think they really understood. Mammy is taking care of them."

"Good. Button up my dress then I will pee. I will be right down. Get the keys from Rosemary."

"Of course."

In the next thirty minutes there was a lot of scurrying around at the Butler mansion. Mr. Ward was sent to tell the undertaker, Mr. Crowder, to meet them at the little purple house. Elizabeth had recovered from the shock and had steadied herself. Her Charleston breeding had taken command. She had her emotions under control. She made the decision to not tell Robert until he got home. There wasn't anything he could do that wasn't already being done. She also decided there wasn't anything Rosemary could do that she and Rhett weren't capable of doing so she sent her daughter to work. Rosemary protested by saying, "Father.."

"Would want you to keep that shipping business healthy. Go. Miss Stein and Mrs. Toklas are probably worrying about you."

Rosemary started to protest again, and Elizabeth said, "Shoo, shoo. Go!"

"Yes, Mother."

"Miss Elizabeth, you will spend the night here tonight."

"No ma'am. I will not. I will spend the night in my home. Mine and Marshall's home." Saying Marshall's name had been too much for Elizabeth and a few sobs came out of her mouth. Then she rallied and continued, "But if you don't mind, I would like the funeral service to be held here. I suppose we should close The Smuggler's Cove. No, we will close it on the day of the funeral only."

"Of course, we will be happy to host the service."

"Come along, Mother, we have to meet Mr. Crowder at your home. Thank you, Scarlett, for letting me borrow your buggy."

When Elizabeth saw the worried expression on Scarlett's face, she smiled at her and said, "We have worked too hard for too long to lose everything now. I will sell the saloon because I will not be able to run it being a woman and all. Usually, women who run saloons are women without any reputation at all. I want to keep what I have still retained of my reputation. Come along, Rhett. We don't want to keep Mr. Crowder waiting."

"I will take care of selling the saloon, Mother. Goodbye, Honey."

"I will send one of the footmen to Pa's store to get everything necessary to prepare the house for the service."

"And get some material for us all to make mourning dresses. You, Rosemary, and I will have to work on that tonight."

"Yes, ma'am."

Scarlett was in a sea of confusion. She couldn't believe how matter of fact Miss Elizabeth was behaving. Rhett would just have to explain that to her. She walked out of the dining room to Rhett's office to write a note to her mother. She changed her mind and decided to walk down there herself.

When Scarlett got to the store, Gerald said, "Where are the boys?"

"Hello, Pa. I'm glad to see you too."

"Come here and give me a kiss. You know I am glad to see you. I just miss not getting to see the boys any more than I do."

"Of course, Pa. I need all the stuff to prepare a home for a funeral."

"Who?"

"Mr. Marshall."

"How is Mrs. Butler taking it?"

"Better than expected."

"She is probably thinking, 'Let me get through all this and I can grieve later."

"That makes sense. I need some black fabric also."

"How much?"

"I don't know. There is all three of us. No, wait. Daphne will need a dress."

"Just go ahead and take a bolt and some of the patterns. You can bring back what you don't use."

"And thread, buttons, and maybe some lace."

"How are you going to carry all that?"

"I guess you could help me carry it back and then you would get to see the boys."

"No, I can't leave the store. I will let your mother help you with it."

"You are a good husband, Pa."

"Go on upstairs and tell your mother what is going on while I gather everything up."

"Yes, Sir."

Elizabeth had been right. Gertrude and Alice had been worried about Rosemary because she always met up with them around eight forty-five and it had been already past nine before she had showed up at the boarding house.

Rosemary said, "Sorry to have worried you but I was unexpectedly delayed. My father passed away last night."

"I'm so sorry for you."

"What are you doing here?"

With a sad smile Rosemary said, "Come on, we have to get to work. My mother insisted I go to work. It is important to her that Butler Maritime Shipping stay in business."

"Mrs. Bradberry, do you want me to reschedule our appointments for today?"

"No, you can go by yourself but," with a smile Rosemary continued, "no discounts."

"Of course not."

As Scarlett, Ellen, and Careen walked back to the Butler mansion, they chatted about different things. They were sorry Marshall was dead especially for Elizabeth, but the man had not really been part of their day-to-day life. Despite him having supposedly given up his proper ways, he was still too stiff-necked Charlestonian for them to be comfortable around him.

When the women got to the mansion, Scarlett had the staff prepare the house for mourning. She, Ellen, and Careen played with the boys. After about ten minutes, Ellen walked over to Mammy and said, "How are you doing these days, Mammy?"

"Good. Good."

"This works still not too hard on you is it."

"No ma'am."

"If it ever is too much, you can come live with Gerald and me."

"Thank you, Miss Ellen. That's nice to know."

An hour later when Scarlett was escorting her mother and sister to the door, she said, "Mama, please don't say things like that to Mammy. I don't want her to leave me."

"Scarlett, she will never quit working. She would feel like she was taking charity if she didn't pull her fair share. My telling her she can live with me, is just my way of telling her she is loved and needed."

"Well, she might leave me if Rhett keeps making her mad."

"What does Rhett do to make her mad?"

"He spends too much time in the nursery as far as Mammy is concerned."

"Mammy and her strict ways. I'm sure her rules for raising a child are the same ones she had when she was raising me. Don't despair, Scarlett, she is not going to leave you."

"I hope not."

Careen playfully said, "Of course, she might leave you when Suellen and I start having children."

"Careen, don't say that."

"Relax, Scarlett, she is not going to leave you. You have all the luxuries of the nineteenth century."

Scarlett smiled and said, "There is that."

That statement actually made Scarlett feel better. In the course of remodeling, she realized that they would need a third water closet on the ground floor. On a lark she had a water closet installed in the servants' quarters. Rhett hadn't been happy about that, but he got happy when he found out that most of the servants were staying in the Butler household simply because of the water closet. Of course, he didn't tell Scarlett any of that.

Scarlett walked around the downstairs to be sure the servants had prepared the home for mourning correctly.