Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Six

Ashley arrived home early that afternoon. He found Melly and Scarlett beating the rugs. It looked like a lot of hard work. He hoped he could start making some money so he could afford to hire some servants. He didn't want Melly working that hard but at least she had Scarlett. It was good that they were all living together.

Ashley walked out into the back yard and said, "Hello."

Melly said, "You are home early, Darling."

"Yes, I am. I got myself another job. Starting tomorrow I will be working for The New York Times. I'm going to be a reporter. I am going to work on reporting local news. I will work with another reporter for a week than I will be on my own."

Melly put a smile on her face and said, "That is wonderful, Darling."

"Best of all my salary will be the same."

Scarlett was thinking, 'That bag of hot air will fail at being a reporter. Nobody else cares about what he is talking about.'

Ashley said, "Let me go send John a note telling him that I am quitting."

Melanie said, "Will this cause problems between you and John?"

"No, he is the one that told me to get another job. It seems I have problems adding up a column of numbers. So much so that from now on you will have to take care of our budget sheets."

"If you wish."

Scarlett thought, "What a useless man. How can someone have trouble adding up a column of numbers?"

Scarlett managed to hire a midwife, Ina May Gaskin, but Charlie would not let her hire a wet nurse. She thought her husband was a tight wad. In truth, he was not a tight wad. They just didn't have a lot of extra money. Scarlett's attitude regarding Charlie spending money on her was another example of the privileged life she had led.

The first week in November, just five months after the family had moved to New York, Charlie was involved in a carriage accident. He was severely injured. The doctor saw that Scarlett was with child and he gently told her, "I doubt if he is going to survive. He is in a lot of pain, so give him laudanum. Don't be surprised if he passes blood."

Scarlett and Melanie nursed Charlie through until the end. Ashley sat with him every evening while the women ate supper although neither woman had much of an appetite.

At the end, Charlie told her he loved her and in a moment of compassion rare to Scarlett, she told him she loved him too. She had been holding his hand and she felt his grip loosen. She didn't need to be told that she was now a widow.

The next several weeks were a fog for Scarlett. She let Melanie and Ashley take care of everything. Melanie decided not to ship Charlie's body home. It was expensive and she wasn't positive it would get there. Besides, she wanted Charlie's body where she and Scarlett could visit it. Although Melanie wasn't sure Scarlett would visit Charlie's grave but at least the child could visit its father's grave when it got old enough.

Ashley spent a lot of time pondering Charlie's death. It wasn't like in the first timeline. Charlie had died two months after he and Scarlett had gotten married from measles. This time Charlie had lived an extra four months and had died from a carriage accident. Ashley wondered if some things would happen no matter what he did. As he looked at Melly, he hoped not.

Melanie did her first improper thing in her entire life. She wore a black dress to the funeral but only wore it again when she left the house. They could not afford for her to spend a bunch of money on clothing she was only going to wear for six months.

Scarlett had not worn black to the funeral because none of her maternity dresses were in black. Melly didn't even scold her sister-in-law about not wearing black. Melly knew that Scarlett needed to save all her money now that Charlie was dead.

The funeral itself was quite simple. The coffin was inexpensive, and the plot Ashley found for Charlie was inexpensive. They only got one plot because Ashley was pretty sure Scarlett would move back to the South as soon as the war was over.

Despite Melly telling Scarlett not to worry about the cost of the coffin, funeral, and plot, Scarlett made a point of paying Ashley back every penny. Ashley knew it was because Scarlett didn't want to be beholden to him in any way.

Melanie had written to her aunt and uncle about Charlie's death. She had even written to Scarlett's parents informing them of the death of their son-in-law.

Ellen wrote Scarlett back. In the letter Ellen had said, 'As much as we would love for you to return to Tara, if there is any way you can stay in New York until the war is over it would be much safer for you.'

That made Scarlett sad, but she had agreed with them. She remained in New York.

Scarlett told Ashley about the insurance policy. Ashley went to the insurance company, but they wouldn't give him the check. Scarlett had to go down and get the money herself. Melanie had gone with her to the insurance company. Scarlett got her money. It was a check for ten thousand dollars. Melanie went with Scarlett when she went to the bank to open up a savings account.

Scarlett would have preferred to keep the money with her, but she was afraid of them getting robbed.

After Scarlett had deposited the check in the bank, she realized she was on her own. There wasn't anyone to take care of her anymore. She would have to take care of herself or find another husband. She didn't want another husband.

Melanie over supper said, "Charlie asked me to watch out for you and the baby, therefore, you must continue living here."

That was the last thing Scarlett wanted but she couldn't return home in her condition, especially knowing she would have to cross a battlefield. She would stay in New York until the war was over.

"Of course, I will stay with you."

Ashley didn't want Scarlett living with them either, but he couldn't kick her out. She would have no one to take her in. When the war was over, he would send her back to Georgia. Besides, he needed her financial help. He laughed at the ironicness of the situation. He was once again depending on Scarlett to get by.

Melanie said, "Charlie said that if the child was a boy, he wanted him named Wade Hampton after the general."

Scarlett thought, "Great balls of fire.' She had not been planning on honoring Charlie's wish that their son be given that name. She had planned on naming their son Gerald Charles. She said, "Of course, that is the name that Charlie and I agreed upon, if it was a boy."

As Scarlett came out of her fog she had been in because of Charlie's death, she realized she had to find a way to make money. The ten thousand dollars would not last forever. She was going to have to support herself and her baby the rest of her life. She was never getting married again. She was never having relations again. She was never having another child. This child would be her only child. She just had to figure out how to make money. She would work on that project once she had the baby.

When Christmas came around, it saddened Scarlett because the season had always been her favorite, mainly because all her suitors had given her Christmas presents. Now she had no suitors. She didn't even have a husband so there was no one to buy her presents. Scarlett and Melanie had agreed to not give each other presents. They had also agreed not to have a big meal. The only thing they did in respect to the season was to have the cook make them a pecan pie.

As Scarlett laid in her bed Christmas night she wondered, 'How can I be happy that Charlie is dead? That is simple. I don't want to have relations ever again. I don't want to have another child ever again. And as soon as the war is over, I will return to Tara. I just have to figure out a way to make money until I can return home.'

Rhett made it a point for all his ships to be in Charleston on Christmas day. That way all his crews could spend the holiday with their family. Rhett, of course, had not spent the holiday with his family. He had spent the day in a saloon and bordello. He had not been alone. In Rhett's opinion, there had been too many lonely men in the saloon that night.

Rhett made quite a bit of money that night. Most of the men were dulling their pain with whiskey. Rhett wasn't drinking any more than he usually did. He had learned to live with the pain of his father's ambition causing him to be disowned. His father had wanted him to marry Caroline Crawford to cement the Butlers place in society. His father had not cared that the girl was an ugly ninny. His father had not cared about his future happiness. All his father had cared about was that his marriage to Caroline would make them a first-tier family socially in Charleston.

To get his thoughts off of that whole debacle Rhett started thinking about Scarlett O'Hara. When he saw that one of the girls had green eyes, he immediately asked her to go upstairs with him. He had a good time that night pretending that this woman was Scarlett.

Scarlett went into labor on January twentieth. She had never felt such horrible pain. As she was waiting for Ina May, the midwife, to arrive, she noticed the pain was getting worse. She and Melanie prepared the bed with several layers of towels.

After Ina May arrived, she got Scarlett into the bed. Ina May started timing Scarlett's contractions. When they were two minutes apart, Ina May gave her a couple of spoonsful of laudanum. That did ease the pain, but it was still painful. An hour later, Scarlett pushed a baby boy into the world.

Scarlett was so relieved that the entire experience was over. Ina May stayed for about an hour more to show Scarlett how to nurse her child. Scarlett had decided to nurse her own child to save money. At least until she figured out how she was going to make money.

Since Charlie's death she had started paying Ashley for her half of the expenses of the household. She had only made two payments, but she had already realized that Charlie had not been a tight wad. He had just been conservative with their money. He had not spent a penny that didn't need to be spent.

Scarlett had gotten Charlie's last paycheck soon after his funeral but that was long gone. She had found where her late husband had hidden his stash of money. She had found he had over five hundred dollars.

As time went by Scarlett found she missed Charlie. She guessed he had been a good husband except for him wanting to have relations all the time.

When Wade was six weeks old, Scarlett knew she was going to have to buy herself some black dresses to wear to show she was mourning Charlie. She visited several dress shops looking for bargains, but she didn't find any. When she heard the prices the modiste wanted. She thought, 'I could make a fortune if I owned a dress shop.'

On Scarlett's way back to her home, she thought about it. Like a flash she thought, 'I could buy a dress shop. I don't know how to sew but I do know about fashion.'

When Scarlett got home, she told Melanie about her plan. Melanie said, "But, Dear, ladies don't work."

"I have to, Melly. I don't have anyone to support me now that…sob, sob, sob Charlie has passed away.'

"Oh Darling. I'm so sorry to upset you. Of course, you will have to find a way to make money."

Because Melly took care of the Wilkeses family budget she knew that they could not support Scarlett. In truth, they needed Scarlett's money to make ends meet despite Ashley already having gotten a raise.

"I just don't know how to find a dress shop to buy."

"We will ask Ashley."

"Of course."

The last thing Scarlett wanted was to get Ashley involved in her business, but she had no idea how to find a dress shop to buy.