Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Thirty-Six

When Rhett and Scarlett entered Wade's room, the little boy jumped up from his toys and said, "Daddy! Daddy!"

Rhett reached down and picked the boy up. He said, "What did you do all day while I was out?"

"Played with Mama and Mammy. When is Gerry going to be old enough for me to play with."

"It will be a while, Son."

"I want him to play with me now."

"I'm sorry, Son, he just isn't big enough yet. Let me put you down."

"Alright."

Rhett then went and woke his son up much to Mammy's obvious disapproval. Rhett said, "I will take him to our room. Don't be long."

"I won't, Darling. I just need to speak to Mammy for a minute."

Scarlett shook her head. Rhett sure could be bossy sometimes. Judging by the scowl on Mammy's face, the old woman didn't approve of Rhett's actions. Scarlett looked at Mammy she was so happy that the old nursemaid was going to be taking care of her children.

Mammy said, "Miss Scarlett, Mr. Butler being so involved with his children just isn't proper."

Although Rhett's crazy baby ways often embarrassed Scarlett, she would defend him no matter what. She said, "Mammy, I need to get this straight right now. We don't live in the South. We live in New York. Rhett and I can't live in the South and be received into any member of the gentry's homes. Rhett because he was disowned by his father and me because of Charlie's actions. I would have to disavow any connection with Charlie to be received. I won't do that for two reasons. It would hurt Wade too much for me to do that. But the main reason is that I think what Charlie did was the right thing to do."

"Miss Scarlett, you are a lady, and you have to behave like a lady."

"You are right, Mammy. I am a lady and for the most part I adhere to rules for proper behavior in the North but even up there I don't adhere to them all. I am a half owner in a dress shop, and I will continue to be as long as to do so makes me happy and Rhett doesn't mind."

"Miss Scarlett!"

"Mammy, before we leave Charleston you need to resolve to stop treating me like I am your charge and start treating me as your employer. You will get a salary and you will be free to leave at any time. I can end your employment if I don't like the way you perform your duties, what you say to me, or your attitude. I will be happy at any time to buy you a train ticket to anywhere you want to go. I can easily hire another nursemaid. I will remind you that for the last year you have been living off of A.J.'s charity but he won't take you back in. Suellen will not be able to take you in. She can't afford to. She is married to a house painter. Careen will not be able to take you in because she lives in a convent. Maybe my aunts will be able to take you in. Maybe Melly's aunt will be able to take you in."

"Yes, Miss Scarlett. I will work on treating you like the adult you have grown into over the last four years."

"Thank you. Do you know either of my aunts' addresses?"

"They are living together, after Mr. Claude died, Miss Pauline moved in with Miss Eulalie. I don't remember the exact number, but the street was Sunset Boulevard. I think it was 300 something."

"Do you think you would recognize the house if you saw it again."

"Yes, I do."

"Then tomorrow we will see if we can find it so I can make sure my aunts are alright."

"Certainly."

"We will leave after I give Gerry his morning feeding."

"I will have Wade and myself ready."

Suellen Moore was a happy lady. She had only been married for five days but they had been wonderful days. Benjamin cherished her. He thought he was the luckiest man on the earth that Suellen had married him despite the fact that he wasn't a gentleman. Admittedly, she wasn't happy about having to share her home with his mother and sister, but they had been nice to her so far. In fact, extremely nice. She knew it wasn't the fakey nice but genuine niceness. They wanted to get along with her as much as she wanted to get along with them.

The family had a cook and a washer woman, but the three women had to take care of all the other chores around the house which in a way made her glad that the other two women were living with her and Benjamin. She couldn't do all those chores by herself. Maybe if they can make the paint business successful then they could afford more servants. She knew that she was going to have to share her home with her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law because Benjamin was their only means of support. It reminded Suellen of what Scarlett had said about how poor she had been when she had first moved to New York.

One of the main reason Suellen was happy was because there was always food on the table. Benjamin had said she could go to A.J.'s store and buy some material, which she did. She would have to sew up the dress herself but her sister-in-law, Julianne, said she would help Suellen with the sewing. Julianne had a pattern that Suellen could use. The pattern was pretty enough.

The other reason Suellen was happy was that Benjamin had shown her the delights that could be had in her marital bed. Scarlett had taken the time to have the mother- daughter talk with her. Scarlett had said, "Tell Benjamin you want to have fun too. If you don't have fun, it will not be good for your marriage. Enjoy that fine body that he has. Relations should be fun and pleasurable. It shouldn't be your duty. This is a time to leave your ladylike ways outside your bedroom door."

Suellen had told Benjamin that she wanted to have fun too. Instead of appalling him, it had made him happy. He said, "We are going to have so much fun."

And Suellen and Benjamin had. She didn't know what that wonderful feeling was called but she had felt it many times on her wedding night. In truth, she felt it every time they had relations.

Suellen was certainly happy with her lot in life. She would not have had such a wonderful life with Mr. Kennedy or any other gentleman. She would tell her children grand stories of the life she had once led and that she would be living except for the war. Yet, she would make sure her children knew that the life she was living now was pretty wonderful because of their father.

The next day Rhett was able to make contact with his mother, Elizabeth. She hugged him. Then they had hurried away from the townhouse. She had been so happy to see her son. Admittedly she did not understand why he had not just married Caroline but nonetheless, he was her son, and she would love him always. It had been over two years since she had seen her son. They walked to a park and sat down on a park bench.

Elizabeth said, "I can't stay very long. I was just going to the market to try and buy some food."

"Here let me give you some money. If Father asks, just tell him you got it from your friend Mrs. Williams. Afterall, you are related to her now."

"What? How am I related to her now."

"Her niece married your son."

"You got married!? And to a Southern girl. How? Which niece?"

"Scarlett. We met briefly at a barbecue I attended being given by a planter outside of Atlanta. Then I ran into her again in New York. She allowed me to start calling on her. I finally decided that I couldn't live without her, so I asked her to marry me. Luckily for me she accepted. We also have a son."

Rhett wasn't going to tell his mother of his and Scarlett separation because his mother would want to know why. If he told her why she would be ashamed that he had done something so crass.

Elizabeth said "What?! What is his name?"

"Gerald Rhett Butler"

"I still don't understand how you got a Robillard to marry an unreceived man."

"She's not received either thanks to her first husband." Upon seeing his mother's puzzled expression, Rhett laughed and said, "Her first husband, Charles Hamilton, decided that the war was wrong and refused to take up arms against the union. His cousin and he moved to New York. He unfortunately died as a result of a carriage accident. Scarlett was unable to return to her home outside of Atlanta because of the war so she stayed in New York. I saw her in the park one day. I renewed our acquaintanceship and as soon as she was out of deep mourning, she allowed me to start calling on her."

"I don't understand how she isn't received."

"She isn't received because her husband turned his back on the Confederacy. In order to be received again in the South she would have to disavow all of Charlie's actions. She refuses to distance herself from him. For her son's sake and because in the end she feels that Charlie was right. The South shouldn't have gone to war."

"Now that the dust has settled, I think there are a lot of people who feel that way."

"Probably but being the hypocrites that they are nobody will say that out loud."

"Rhett! She has a son by her first husband."

"Yes, Wade. He will turn four in January."

"I can't believe all this. Meet me tomorrow at Gramercy Park by the statue. Bring your family with you. I will try to be there by one."

"That is not good for us. Wade takes a nap in the afternoon. How about eight-thirty?"

"I think I can make that. Until tomorrow. Goodbye, I have to go."

Rhett stood up and hugged his mother. She hugged him back. Rhett hailed a cab and returned to the hotel. If Scarlett didn't find her aunts this morning, they could ask his mother tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately, Scarlett was able to find her aunts' house. It was an ugly maroon house. Once she saw it, she remembered it from the one time they had visited Charleston. It was for Grandpere's funeral.

Scarlett didn't remember much about that time. She had only been seven. They had stayed with Aunt Eulalie. She did remember the funeral. She had been allowed to go while Suellen had not, which meant Suellen had her nose bent out of shape for the rest of the month. She remembered hearing people say how good and honorable her Grandpere had been.

Scarlett remembered Mother being dried eyed the entire time. She remembered her Aunt Pauline making a joke about Pa being an Irish peasant who had succeeded. She remembered her mother turned angry. She remembered her dignified, proper, perfect mother saying forcefully, "Mr. O'Hara is the best thing that ever happened to me. Don't you ever say an unkind word about him."

As Scarlett, Mammy, and the children got out of the cab, Scarlett asked the driver to wait for her. Rhett always said she could have anything she wanted, and she wanted to be able to make a fast exit from her aunts' house. She had Gerry in his Moses basket and that made her think of Rhett, which made her happy. She didn't know why she was dreading the meeting with her aunts. No, she knew why. They had always sat in judgement of her father. She just knew the old women would sit in judgement of her also. All women in the South always sat in judgement of her.

Scarlett knocked on the door. An old man opened the door. She said, "I am Scarlett O'Hara Butler. I have come to call on my aunts. Are they home?"

"Yes, ma'am. Let me show you to the parlor."

As Scarlett walked to the parlor, she decided the outside was the prettiest part of the house. Mammy stood beside Scarlett's chair. It wouldn't be proper for a servant to be sitting in the parlor and Mammy had to be there to help with the children.

When Pauline entered the parlor, she opened her arms like she was expecting a hug. Scarlett gave her one. Pauline said, "Mammy, you may go wait in the kitchen."

Scarlett said, "I think it might be more comfortable in the cab."

Mammy said, "Thank you, Miss Scarlett. I will wait in the cab."