Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
After Mammy had left the room, Pauline said, "Scarlett, I am so glad to see you. I so want to hear the news of your mother and your family."
By this time Eulalie had gotten to the parlor. Scarlett stood up and hugged her aunt.
"Let me introduce you to my sons. This is Wade and this is Gerry. Wade, this is Aunt Eulalie and Aunt Pauline.
Wade had stood up but just to get closer to his mother. Scarlett sat down with Wade beside her. She put her arm around him.
Pauline said, "They are fine boys."
Eulalie said, "I thought your husband died."
"My first husband died but I have remarried. I have married Rhett Butler."
Pauline and Eulalie gasped and shared a look then Eulalie said, "That dishonorable man. How could you?"
With considerable outrage and bite in her voice, Scarlett said, "Why is he dishonorable because he wouldn't marry a girl over a broken buggy wheel? A damn broken buggy wheel which was obviously broken."
Pauline said, "Scarlett! Ladies don't talk that way."
"Southern ladies don't but Northern ladies sure do. I live in the North now. I cannot live in the South anymore because of my first husband's actions. Charlie turned his back on the Confederacy and everything that entailed. Everything that has happened since have proven his actions were the correct actions. I'm proud that Charlie did that. That took courage and conviction. Rhett turned his back on Charleston society. That took courage and conviction also. I am proud of both my husbands for making such a momentous decision when they were just in their early twenties. They both stood by their beliefs while full well knowing that their lives would never be the same."
Eulalie said, "Scarlett, I can't believe what you are saying."
Scarlett took a deep breath. She had let her temper get away from her. Something that hadn't happened in a long time except with Rhett, but she knew he liked it. He liked aggravating her then coaxing her back into a better mood. She said, "How are you financially?"
Pauline said, "Scarlett, it is improper to speak of money."
"Fine then I will keep the twenty-dollar coin that Rhett gave me to give to you in my pocket since we aren't speaking of money."
The women were quiet. Wade had scooted closer to his mother. Scarlett put her arm around him. Gerry was peacefully sleeping. Finally, Scarlett said, "Mother is dead." The sisters gasped. Scarlett went on by saying, "We lost Tara. Pa's mind has broken because of Mother's death. Suellen is married to a house painter who lives in Savannah. I think she will be happy. Careen has entered St. Catherine's Convent. I will be returning to New York. I will send you a monthly check of thirty dollars because I want you to give half the money to Rhett's mother. Let me leave you my address so you can write to me when one of you dies or if anything happens to Rhett's family. Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?"
The older women hurried to get Scarlett a piece of paper. They knew that their niece was their only lifeline. Scarlett quickly wrote their new address on the paper. She took the twenty-dollar coin piece out of her pocket and placed it on the tea table. She said, "Giving you money each month will be the last ladylike thing I do in the South, but I don't do it for any fondness of you two old bats. Everything I do for you is because my mother would want me to do it. If it was up to me, I would cut you off without a penny. Just remember that the only reason you have food on your table tonight is because of this daughter of an Irish peasant. Let's go Wade."
With that Scarlett and her sons left the residence of Eulalie Williams and Pauline Boykins with the old women squawking behind her for her to not rush off. Scarlett would never return again. In truth, she would probably never return to the South.
Once Scarlett got into the cab, she handed Gerry over to Mammy. She sat Wade on her lap and pointed out buildings to him. She didn't know the names of the buildings, but she made up grand stories about the structures. Anything to return Wade to a relaxed, happy state.
The group returned to the hotel. She left the boys with Mammy and went to check on her father and tell Pork or Dilcey what time the family was eating supper that night. They were going to eat in the hotel restaurant so they would eat around six o'clock. She did not bring the boys with her because Pa kept hurting Wade's feelings. Pa never remembered Wade's name and that hurt the little boy's feelings. Wade knew the man was his grandfather, but the man wanted nothing to do with Wade. Therefore, Scarlett tried to limit the boy and the man's time together. She couldn't limit it completely because Pa had to eat his meals with them but when Rhett and Scarlett when out to eat for supper both the boy and the man ate their supper in their own suite.
Scarlett knocked on the door and Dilcey answered it. Dilcey said, "Good morning, Miss Scarlett."
"I am going to have room service bring some food upstairs for dinner today. I have had an exhausting day and it is not even noon yet."
"Certainly, Miss Scarlett."
"How is Pa doing today?"
"Same as usual."
"Alright. We will eat supper at six. Please have Pork have Pa ready to go down to dinner."
"Certainly."
Scarlett looked at Dilcey's dress and said, "This afternoon I will take you to a General Store and get you some fabric and everything else for you to make you, Pork, and Pa some new clothes."
"That would be nice."
"And fabric for coats."
"Thank you."
"You are definitely going to need a coat in New York."
"Yes ma'am."
"As soon as I am finished nursing Gerry, I will come get you."
"Very good."
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
When Scarlett returned to her own suite, Rhett had returned from his visit with his mother. Scarlett didn't need to ask if he had been able to make contact with his mother. The big smile on his face gave it away. Over dinner, Rhett told Scarlett about his conversation with his mother and finished it by saying, "She wants to meet you, Wade, and Gerry. So, I arranged it for tomorrow morning at eight-thirty in Gramercy Park."
"Wonderful. I hope she likes me."
"Even if she doesn't you probably will never see her again. I don't think either one of us wants to return to the South."
"No, I don't. I have all my relatives settled therefore I have no need to return."
Scarlett told Rhett of her conversation with her aunts. She ended it by saying, "I am going to start sending them a thirty dollar check each month, but you will have to pay half because I told them to give your mother half of the money."
"Thank you, Dear. Let us go see Mr. Mobbs this afternoon after Gerry's feeding."
"I have to take Dilcey to a general store for me to buy fabric and sewing notions so she can make Pa, Pork, and herself some new clothes."
"Mammy needs new clothes also."
"And they all need a coat."
"True. We will go when you get back. Your shopping trip is not going to take all afternoon."
"Alright."
The hardest part of the shopping trip was finding a general store. That was accomplished by asking a cab driver to take them to the closest general store. Scarlett bought four bolts of fabric. The colors were black, brown, white, and gray. It was the colors that Mammy and Dilcey wanted. When Scarlett had asked why, she was told black, brown, and gray hide the dirt and the stains best. The white was for their undergarments. Scarlett bought fabric, thread, scissors, straight pins, sewing pins, several patterns and one more bolt of fabric, which was wool. The wool was for their coats. It was black also. Soon they were on their way back to the hotel. The entire shopping trip took less than thirty minutes.
As Scarlett and Dilcey were walking up the stairs, Scarlett said, "When we get to New York, I will buy you some new shoes also."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
Dilcey, Pork, and even Mammy had started calling Scarlett Ma'am. They all had soon realized that Miss Scarlett was no longer the child she had been when she had lived at Tara. No, she was a mature woman now.
As Rhett and Scarlett got into a cab, he said, "We have to stop at a bank first. I hope they have enough cash."
"Cash for what?"
"I am going to cash in one of my bearer bonds to get a thousand dollars to fund the trust we are going to have Mr. Mobbs set up."
As the couple were walking into First Charleston Bank, Rhett said, "This is where I used to keep my money when I lived in Charleston."
"Do you still have a bank account here?"
"No, I closed it after I was disowned before I left for New Orleans."
"You have always said you were kicked out of the house with just the clothes on your back and the money in your pocket."
"That is the truth. I just didn't tell people that I went to the bank and got all my money out. It wasn't much though. It was only thirty dollars. So, all I had when I left town was thirty-five dollars. I had five dollars in my pocket when I got kicked out. It wasn't enough. I would have starved if it hadn't been for divine intervention."
"I told you that was too sordid to be divine intervention."
Rhett laughed and didn't say anymore.
Rhett ended up having to deal with the bank manager to be able to cash in his bearer bond. A thousand dollars was a lot of money that nobody wanted to be responsible for giving away incorrectly. After thirty minutes, the couple was finally leaving the bank with the money.
The couple had to wait a few minutes to see Mr. Mobbs. Once they did the lawyer quickly got all the needed information. For now, he was going to write the monthly check out to Mrs. Williams. If she died first, he would start writing the check out to Mrs. Boykins. Rhett paid Mr. Mobbs' secretary and soon he and Scarlett were on their way to the hotel.
Scarlett said, "I have gotten everything taken care of that I need to get taken care of here. When do you want to leave?"
"We will go by the train station tomorrow after we get finished talking to my mother. We will see if they have a private car and when the next train to Atlanta leaves."
"Very good. Doesn't it just make you sick to see all the destruction Sherman's troops caused?"
"Yes, it does."
"But that ugly house my aunts live in survived the war just fine."
"Which one are your aunts living in? As I recall both of their houses were ugly."
"Aunt Eulalie's. It is a maroon house."
"I remember now. Yes, a very ugly house."
"You were very smart to have Mr. Hobbs continue remodeling our new home while we were gone."
"Thank you."
"And Mrs. Stewart take care of the window treatments while we were gone also."
"The only thing that isn't going to be finished by the time we get home will be the paintings on the shades."
"Yes, we still have some more arguing to do as far as the paintings are concerned."
"As Rhett and Scarlett got out of the cab at the hotel, he said, "Do you want to go see Tara?"
"I don't know. I would like to visit my mother's grave, but I don't want to see the destruction that General Sherman and his troops caused Clayton County."
"I don't think you should. It is better not knowing. I wish I could unsee the horrible state Charleston is in. Scarlett, it was such a beautiful, magnificent city."
Scarlett heard the wistfulness in Rhett's voice and knew he was remembering the city of his youth. She said, "I think you are right. That life is gone. I still have my memories. I can follow Pa's example and just pretend that Mother is at Tara waiting for us to return."
"Doing that might make it easier to deal with your father when he starts talking about your mother."
"Indeed, it might. I definitely want to go by Hamilton House and rejoice in the fact that Charlie and Melly sold the house before they left town."
"More divine intervention."
"Or just smart thinking on Charlie and Melly's part."
"Did I ever tell you that Ashley once said that Melly was the smartest person he knew?"
"When did he tell you that?"
"When we were waiting for Beau to be born."
Almost to herself, Scarlett said, "He really did want to be married to a blue stocking."
Rhett pretended he hadn't heard his wife, but he agreed with her Ashley really did want to be married to a blue stocking.