Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Nova – Yes, this is the same time as Rhett's father died in the canon.
Laina Lee – The story is going to end soon. I have three more chapters after this one. And the epilogue, of course.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Rhett and Elizabeth had made all the preparations for the funeral. Mr. Crowder informed them that the funeral could be held in two days. They had gone to the funeral home and picked out a coffin. They had gone to the cemetery and picked out two lots.
Rhett and Elizabeth had gone by The Smuggler's Cove and informed the bartender that Mr. Butler was dead. Mrs. Butler would be putting the saloon up for sale. The only day they were going to close the saloon would be the day of the funeral. Rhett would be managing the saloon until it was sold. The bartender said he would inform the night manager. Rhett told the bartender that both he and the night manager would be welcomed at the funeral.
Mother and son then returned to the mansion where they saw Rhett's mother-in-law and sister-in-law walking away from the house. Rhett said, "Let me give them a ride to wherever they are going."
"Of course."
"Careen, Mama, get in let me give you a ride."
"Thank you. Back to the store, please."
"I was so sorry to hear about your loss Mrs. Butler."
"Thank you. I don't know what I am going to do without him. We had been together for almost forty years."
"It will be an adjustment."
"Almost as much of an adjustment as leaving Charleston and moving here."
"We are still adjusting. I know Gerald still misses Tara."
"Marshall didn't really seem to miss Middleton Acres. I guess it doesn't matter now."
"Careen, Mama, we are here."
"Thank you, Rhett."
On Rhett and Elizabeth's way back to the mansion, she said, "After dinner let's go out and tell Robert. I don't want him to be the last to know."
"Of course, Mother."
There wasn't much conversation over dinner except by Meg and Wade. That was simply the children telling about Ellen and Careen's visit. It seemed the children had a really good time playing jacks with Careen.
As soon as dinner was over, Scarlett took the children upstairs to Mammy. Rhett and Elizabeth rode out to Ferry Road. Rhett helped Elizabeth down out of the buggy, and they walked into the big building.
When Robert saw them, he walked over to them and simply said, "Who?"
"Father."
Robert closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Finally, he said, "When is the funeral?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Alright. Is everything arranged?"
"Yes."
"Scarlett got material for mourning clothes so come over tonight after supper and we can get started on making those clothes."
"Of course. I am incredibly sad that Father has died but I am at a spot in the process that we can't stop. At least ten things can go wrong, therefore I have to monitor the process. Can we talk later tonight?"
"Yes, do you want us to tell Daphne."
"No, I will do it. Goodbye."
Robert turned back to his process. Like everyone else he knew they were still struggling to survive, and they had to keep moving forward. They would just have to grieve later.
On the way back to the house, Rhett stopped by the telegraph office. He was surprised to see Clyde there but then he remembered Scarlett telling him about the young man's new career choice. They waved at each other, but they didn't speak. Clyde was busy doing his job.
The counter clerk stepped up to the mother and son, and asked, "How can I help you?"
"I need to send a death notice to the Charleston Daily Reports."
"Let me find out how much they charge for that service?"
The man walked to a telegraph station. He tapped the key a couple of times. When he got a response, he tapped a much longer message. After a few minutes of them going back and forth, the man got up and walked back over to Rhett and Elizabeth. He said, "It is fifty cents minimum for ten words and a dime for each word after that."
Rhett said, "Give me a piece of paper."
Rhett wrote down: Marshall Butler dead on June 30, 1866 in Galveston Texas STOP Rhett Butler STOP
Rhett handed the paper to the man. He said, "Very good, Sir. It is fifty cents for the message and one dollar for the telegram."
"Why?"
"Because this is what you are going to have to send: Place death notice in Charleston Daily Report STOP Marshall Butler dead on June 30, 1866, in Galveston Texas STOP Rhett Butler STOP
Rhett took out his wallet and gave the man the money. After the transaction was completed, the man said, "The telegram will be transmitted today. I don't know when the newspaper will print it."
"Very good. Come along Mother."
"Yes, Dear."
The funeral was well attended probably more for the free food as opposed to people wanting to pay their respects to Marshall Butler. Elizabeth had remained dry-eyed through the entire service displaying all of her Charleston breeding. Of course, none of the rest of the family was crying either. They would miss their father but in a lot of ways they thought he was the lucky one and could finally stop struggling.
Scarlett again invited Elizabeth to move into the mansion. Elizabeth again said no.
Within a week, Elizabeth had cleaned out Marshal's clothing from the little purple house. She had given the clothing to Robert because she knew Rhett would not take it.
Within a month, Rhett had sold The Smuggler's Cove. He reimbursed himself for the money Marshall had borrowed to buy the saloon then gave his mother the rest. Rhett had also assured his mother that he would support her if she wanted to continue living in the little purple house. That was what Elizabeth wanted to do but she didn't want to take a support check just yet. She wanted to look around and see if there was some way, she could support herself.
Rhett had quipped, "I wish Scarlett's aunts felt that way."
"Dear, they are just doing what is proper."
"Don't I know it."
Rhett and Elizabeth had laughed.
At first Elizabeth would just come over to supper two or three times a week but she found that supper time was when she missed Marshall the most. He was usually gone all day, so she didn't miss him during the day, but they had always had supper together and discussed their day. By the end of July Elizabeth was having supper at the mansion every night.
Elizabeth had no problem returning to her home after supper was over. She wanted to return to her peace and quiet. Therefore, every night Rhett walked his mother home. He decided it was the most exercise he had gotten in years except his activities in the bedroom.
At the end of July Gertrude's dream had come true. Simmons Shipping had closed their doors. Rosemary had not wasted a minute trying to get the captains of Mr. Simmons' three ships to sign with her. Unfortunately, only one of the captains, Elmer Miller, would sign up to work for a woman.
Miller had already heard about Butler Maritime Shipping through the grapevine. He also knew personally how many of Simmons' customers Mrs. Bradberry had already stolen away. Miller had already experienced some lean months because of not being assigned cargo to deliver to other cities. He had decided woman or not Mrs. Bradberry's company was going to be successful.
Rhett had handled the negotiations to purchase the ship that Miller captained from Clem Simmons. Both Rosemary and Rhett knew that Clem would not have dealt with her for two reasons. She was a woman and she was the woman who had run him out of business. Rhett had gotten an incredibly good deal.
Scarlett and Rhett celebrated their second wedding anniversary by going out to supper. As normal when they went out to supper, they did not leave until Wade and now Kenny had finished their supper. Kenny had gotten where he cried every time his father left him. While flattering to Rhett's ego, it was also an inconvenience because he left the boy several times a day. Mammy kept reassuring Rhett that Kenny would grow out of all of this display of emotion. Rhett wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
After the children had finished eating Scarlett had walked them to the nursery. Surprisingly, Kenny didn't cry when he left Rhett, just when Rhett left him. Rhett and Scarlett were soon out of the mansion on their way to Shearm's. Shearm's had a small dance floor and usually a three-piece band. They each had a steak. They drank champagne. They marveled at how different their lives were from the day they had gotten married. They danced several dances and then went home and celebrated again.
On the Sunday closest to Beau's birthday, Scarlett threw the little boy a birthday party. The Wilkeses had some friends they had met through the church but very few. These days they were both so tired at the end of the day that they rarely wanted to go anywhere after supper. In addition, Ashley was spending most of his evening reading law books which was paying off. Now when Mr. Stone told Ashley about his case, Ashley could follow along.
By the first of September, just one year after Butler Maritime Shipping had opened their doors, they were a tentative success. They had four profitable months in a row. That meant there were going to have to be some changes.
Rosemary was going to have to stay in Galveston to manage the operations more closely. Gertrude had been promoted and even given a small increase in pay. Alice was going to become Rosemary's assistant. Rosemary hired another employee to be their shipping clerk.
The man had been the shipping clerk for Simmons Shipping. It was not the man that Clem Simmons had hired over Gertrude. In truth, it was the fifth man Clem had hired to replace Gertrude. When the third man, had turned out to be incompetent also Clem had tried to hire Gertrude back, but she had refused even after Clem had offered to double her salary. Later when Gertrude was telling Alice about it, she said, "Why would I return to someone who has already proved he is not an honorable man when Mrs. Bradberry has gone out of her way to make us feel wanted and secure."
"I know, not the least that she lets me bring my children to work with me. What man would allow that?"
"None."
It was a good thing Gertrude refused to return to work for Clem. She didn't know it, but she had dodged a bullet by refusing to work for him again. Clem had planned on paying Gertrude the higher salary for one month then informing Gertrude her salary was what it was before. He could promise her the moon and then renege on that promise. Clem knew that Gertrude didn't have a man to stand up for her. He thought he would have her in a position where she would have to take the lower salary or lose her job altogether after she had burned her bridges with Butler's. Gertrude's loyalty had saved her from making a bad mistake.
The only problem with their new arrangement at Butler's Maritime Shipping was that there wasn't anybody to travel with Gertrude. Gertrude had decided that she could travel by herself. She was a mature woman of twenty-six. She didn't want Rosemary to hire someone just to travel with her. She didn't want the company to incur all the extra expenses.
When Elizabeth had found out that Gertrude was planning on traveling by herself, she had said, "No! No, she isn't. That sweet girl will get taken advantage of every time she turns around. I will travel with her. You just have to cover my expenses."
Rosemary looked at Rhett and he nodded his head. She said, "I will accept your offer but while you are traveling you will be paid ten cents a day for your time. You will have to go with Miss Stein to her sales calls."
"Alright."
"Alright."
Rosemary knew that Rhett would reimburse the company for Elizabeth's salary. The siblings knew this was a way their mother could make money and feel independent.
It was all arranged for Elizabeth and Gertrude to sail with Captain Matthews as he sailed to New York a week later. They would then return with Captain Miller in two weeks.
When the women sailed out of Galveston, Elizabeth was not wearing black. She had told her family on the day of the funeral that nobody was to wear black for Marshall. They couldn't afford to spend all that money on clothes they would only wear for a limited time. They were going to go on with their normal lives.
The ladies had stood on deck watching the ship slowly leave the dock. When Galveston was nothing but a speck they returned to their cabin.
The cabin was small. Elizabeth was nervous. She had never shared a bed with anyone but Marshall in her entire life.
Gertrude said, "It was extremely nice of Captain Matthews to give up his cabin for us. He usually doesn't do that."
"Where did you and Rosemary sleep."
"In the seconds' cabin."
"What is a second?"
Gertrude smiled and said, "The second in command."
"Where will Mr. Matthews sleep?"
"I don't know. I never knew where the seconds slept. I think we just need to appreciate what they are doing for us."
"Of course, of course."
"The meals aren't very good while we are on board the ship because of the limitations of being on the water but when we get to New York we will have the best food."
"Sounds wonderful."
"Mrs. Butler, …"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for traveling with me. I would have been so scared…"
"Ssh. Ssh. I am finally having an adventure. I can finally enjoy myself and not be a Charleston stuck up snob."
Gertrude laughed and said, "Mrs. Butler, nobody would call you a snob."
"Ah, my dear, you should have seen me in my heyday. I could freeze boiling water with just a stare."
Both women burst out laughing. The women got undressed and got into the bed. Elizabeth would miss Marshall the rest of her life, but she was also going to enjoy the rest of her life.