Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rhett met his associates in saloons. Saloons that were often also a brothel. One night Rhett realized that if anyone knew about preventatives it would be the whores. He had asked one of the girls, "Do you know anything about preventatives?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about them."

"Pay me for my time."

Rhett laughed but he got a ten-dollar coin out and handed it to her. She said, "Shall we go to my room?"

"No, you can tell me right here."

"Very well. There is condoms, pull-out, douching, and iron sulfate."

"I know about condoms. What is pull-out?"

"Just as the name implies. You remove yourself before your big moment. I understand it isn't easy to do and after you remove yourself you might need some help achieving your big moment."

"Alright. Douching?"

"The woman douches herself with hot water and vinegar immediately."

"She has to get up right away?"

"As soon as she catches her breath. Oh, and everything has to be ready to go."

"And the last one. This is the method I use. You take a piece of sponge about the size of this coin and tie a piece of ribbon to it. You soak the sponge in a weak solution of water and iron sulfate which you get at the pharmacy. Then before there is any action, I insert the sponge inside me. The higher the better. After everything is over, I use the ribbon to remove it. The iron sulfate kills the seed."

"Thank you."

"Not any of these methods is one hundred percent."

"But if none of my seed gets into her, how can I get her with child."

"I don't know. I think with any of these methods you are just lowering your odds."

"I guess that is all I can do."

"There is always abstinence. That is one hundred percent."

"I think not. Thank you."

The girl laughed and said, "Easiest ten dollars I've ever made."

"Best ten dollars I've ever spent."

On April second, Jacob and Eliza docked in New York City. The next day, Rhett got his money from Jacob. Rhett told Jacob, "I have paid for your room and your food for a week. Anything over that is your responsibility."

"Of course, Mr. Butler. I have a ticket to sail to London on the ninth."

"Goodbye, Mr. Marley. I have no idea when I will see you again."

Rhett left the hotel none the wiser that Jacob had brought his wife with him. Jacob had wanted to keep his wife's presence a secret because he wasn't completely sure Mr. Butler would not think that Jacob had taken advantage of him. Jacob truly didn't think he had but clients could get some strange thoughts in their heads, and one often couldn't talk them out of that crazy idea.

The day the Marleys were sailing out of New York was a momentous day but not because of the Marleys actions.

Over supper that night Rhett said, "Lee has surrendered to Grant."

"Where?"

"Appomattox Court House."

"When can we go check on our families?"

"Not until after the baby is born. There are still Confederate Generals fighting. We must wait for all the generals to surrender. The South is still not a safe place to be if for no other reason that food supplies are scarce. We need to give the Union time to get law and order established. We need to give them time to restore the infrastructure."

Scarlett had wanted to argue with her husband, but she didn't. She knew he was right. She could not help her family until maybe November. She wasn't happy about it, but she knew it wasn't safe for her to travel to Georgia just now or probably not in the next several months. She had to think of herself, her baby, Wade, and even Rhett.

Mr. Lincoln had read Ashley's letter because at the time Mr. Lincoln had been reading Ashley's book that was being published in the Monthly Anthology. Lincoln did not have a lot of time for reading but he made time to read the Monthly Anthology every month. The stories in the magazine took his mind off the war for a few minutes. After reading the letter, three nights in a row Lincoln dreamed he had been assassinated.

Mr. Lincoln abandoned his plan to go to Ford's theater that night after General Grant cancelled on him and he could not find anyone to accept his invitation. He had invited Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax and even his son Robert Todd Lincoln. When his son turned him down, Mr. Lincoln decided not to go to Ford's theater. Instead on that fateful night, he took his wife on a buggy ride. Mary Todd Lincoln had not been feeling well but she felt much better after the buggy ride.

When Booth heard from Mr. Ford that Lincoln had cancelled his plans to attend that night's performance, he called off his plans to kill General Grant, Vice-President Johnson, and Secretary of State Seward.

Unfortunately, John Wilkes Booth and his band of crazies were determined to assassinate Mr. Lincoln and other important men. One of Booth's associates was sent to kill General Grant, but Grant was still in New Jersey visiting his children, one was sent to kill Mr. Johnson but the assailant lost his nerve, and the last one was sent to kill Mr. Seward but the older gentleman was much recovered from his carriage accident and between himself and his son were able to fight the assailant off.

Booth did succeed. He had just walked into the White House and into the President's office. The president's bodyguard, William Crook, was not alarmed at the man's presence in the room. After all the man was the famous actor John Wilkes Booth. As Crook watched on in horror, Booth pulled his gun out of his pocket and shot the president. Booth jumped out the window, breaking his leg in the process.

Ashley agonized over his decision not to include John Wilkes Booth's name in his letter. He hadn't because he thought that would be too much information from a psychic vision. He finally decided this was another one of those things that was just going to happen no matter what he did.

At the Wilkeses and the Butlers bi-weekly supper, Ashley said, "With the death of Mr. Lincoln things just got worse for the Southern states."

"Yes, the North now has a martyr for their cause."

"Everyone is looking for the assassin. They are looking in Maryland and Virginia. The authorities believe that he is heading South looking for people who will help him."

A week later Ashley shared that Booth killed himself instead of letting himself be captured. Later it would come out that Booth had been killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett.

Indeed, things did get worse for the Confederacy.

By May twenty-sixth almost all the generals had surrendered but it wasn't until June twenty-third the last general surrendered his arms. It was at Doaksville, Oklahoma where General Chief Stand Waite laid down his arms. The Southern states were now under martial law and there were soldiers in blue uniforms everywhere. The people of the South thought life had been hard while the war was waging, but they were going to find there was a new level of awfulness. They were about to find out their world would never be the same again. Most would find out their lives would never be good again. Things would not be good for the Southern states for many years to come.

While having supper with the Wilkeses, Rhett said, "After Scarlett has the baby, she and I will be going to Atlanta to check on her family. Would you like for us to check on your family also?"

Melly said, "Yes, please, I have a lot of relatives who live in Atlanta but the two people I am most concerned about are my aunt and uncle."

"Hopefully now that the war is over, we will start receiving mail."

Ashley said, "Before you go, I will give you some money to give to my family and Melly's aunt and uncle. I can't spare a lot but I'm sure anything will help."

"I'm sure you are right."

Melly weaned Beau from the breast in August. It was a little early, but he was eating a lot of table food these days, so it was alright. After she did that Scarlett, Rhett, Melly, and Ashley went to see a French opera. Everything was sung in French. Scarlett and Melly didn't understand a word that had been spoken.

On the way home, Scarlett told Rhett, "I'm not going to another opera that isn't sung in English."

"Alright, Dear. Did you not enjoy the performance?"

"No, I did not. Those chairs were too small."

"I agree completely."

In truth, Rhett had found the seat adequate, but he would not say anything that might make Scarlett feel fat. She already felt that her body was huge which it wasn't, but he didn't argue with her about that either.

"How about you two, did you like the performance?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

Scarlett just glared at both of the Wilkeses. She turned her back to the group and stared out the window.

Melly had a first birthday party for Beau. She had invited a lot of the people she and Ashley had met since their move to New York City. A few were displaced Southerners like the Wilkeses but most of them were Northerners. At these parties, the topic of discussion would often turn to the war. Ashley would always emphatically state that the war was wrong. The Southerner should never have withdrawn from the union. They should have bided their time and waited for Lincoln and the radical Republicans to make the first offensive action. Ashley would also state that the practice of slavery was wrong. Although, he would admit that all the Southern states economies were based on the system.

Although Rhett was not as vocal as Ashley on the subject he agreed with Ashley. No man had the right to own another man. Rhett was often surprised by Ashley's words. They were not polite or genteel, everything he had believed the man to be that day at the barbecue.

At this party, a heavy-set woman named Roseanne Barr who was also a transplanted Southerner had befriended Scarlett. She said, "Your brother-in-law is quite passionate about his beliefs."

"You don't know the half of it. He gave everything up to come North. His family, his inheritance, his culture. He was so passionate about the issue; he convinced my first husband to give everything up also. I can honestly say I wasn't happy. I now know it was the best thing we could have done."

"Are you happy living in the North?"

For a moment, Scarlett thought about the question. Finally, she said, "Yes, I am. Not just because of Rhett but because I can be someone other than what people demand that I be in the South."

"I know what you mean. There is definitely more freedom in the North. Shall we have tea one day?"

"No, I work every day except Thursday and Rhett thinks I should spend my entire day being in his company."

Roseanne laughed and said, "I know what you mean. Tom is the same way."

"Come by the dress shop. We can visit there."

"Dress shop?"

"I am a part owner of a dress shop. It is a 2275 Beaver St. Come see me."

"I will. Your husband doesn't mind you working?"

"Not really and he knows it makes me so happy that he is willing to tolerate the inconveniences that arise because of my owning a dress shop." Scarlett smiled and said, "As long as it doesn't come before him."

The women laughed. Roseanne had come by the dress shop. It became a regular thing for her to drop by and visit with Scarlett. Scarlett enjoyed talking with the other woman, but they never talked about the South. It just hurt too much. Neither woman knew the status of her loved ones back home.

When Coco saw Roseanne, she had an idea. She would design a few dresses for heavy-set women. She had realized that not all heavy-set women were matrons. Therefore, she drew up some sketches and showed them to Roseanne. Most of them Roseanne had not liked but a few of them she had. Coco moved forward with her idea. She even had Roseanne pick out the material for the dresses.

After Roseanne tried one of the dresses on, she said, "This is the first time I have felt pretty in a number of years."

Scarlett and Coco had given the dress to Roseanne at a discount but more than at cost. The owners of the dress shop didn't want one of their customers to know how much their mark-up was. Their employees didn't even know how much the mark-up was. Louise knew how much the mark-up was on the hats she sold because she got part of the profits. She wasn't going to say anything to anyone, not even to her now best friend, Thelma.

Author's Notes: Lee and Grant signed the terms of surrender in the home of Wilmer McLean. In the summer of 1861 McLean and his family lived in Manassas, Virginia. His house was on the outskirts of one of the first battles of the Civil War. In order to avoid the fighting, he moved to Appomattox Court House. After the war, McLean would famously say, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor.

Also, it is true that Lincoln dreamed he had been assassinated the three nights before he went to Ford's Theater.