Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Nineteen
Scarlett and Wade walked around the grounds after dinner. She regaled him with stories from her youth. Scarlett was not one to get pensive or even philosophical, in fact, when most people talked that way, she never understood. While walking around the fields of Tara, she thought, 'The worst part of losing our privileged life is that none of us children, and we were children playing at being adults, knew how truly privileged we were. Pa knew how lucky he was.'
Scarlett said, "Race you back to the house."
Scarlett let her son win, sort of. Because of her corset she couldn't get a deep breath therefore she could not run. That made her think of her childhood. She resolved to make Wade and Ella's childhoods as wonderful as possible. That was the first positive to her returning in time. Wade and Ella didn't have the memories of her and Rhett being married.
While Scarlett was at Tara, she did the books. She didn't understand how Suellen could do such a poor job of maintaining them. Scarlett decided the less dead weight she had in her life the better her life would be. Soon her life would be easier because Ashley and his family would be moving to New York. As she got up to leave her mother's office, she picked up her father's bible. She would read the words he had underlined again. Maybe it would make her feel closer to him. Maybe she would feel like Pa was giving her advice once again.
Over supper Scarlett and Wade told Frank about their day at Tara. Because Scarlett was a mean person, she made sure not to mention Suellen at all. She knew Frank knew what she was doing because she had mentioned everyone else, even her two aunts. Wade mentioned his aunt a time or two but because he didn't like her, he didn't want to talk about her at all.
Scarlett was beginning to show and Frank thought to himself, 'I guess she really was with child. Good. Something good out of my marriage with Scarlett.'
Frank said, "When will you go into your confinement?"
"The first of August. Did you hire Hugh Elsing?"
"Yes, for all the good it does me. The man is a lousy clerk."
"Then you don't mind if I hire him to run my other sawmill."
"What other sawmill?"
"The one I bought Friday. William Grainger was going bankrupt. I gave him a good price."
Frank had heard rumors about Scarlett being tight-fisted. She would admit to it. She was tight-fisted, but she had all these people to support. Soon three of those parasites would be off her back when she let Ashley go to New York. Scarlett refused to let herself think about Pa.
Frank replied, "Does Mr. Grainger think it was a good price?"
"I guess. It was enough for him to start building steam engines for the railroads."
"Does the railroads know he is building steam engines for them?"
"I think so. It doesn't matter, Frank. He is not our responsibility."
"Of course. Come get Hugh tomorrow."
"Alright."
Scarlett did come to Kennedy's and hire Hugh Elsing. She told Hugh, "Frank said that even though he will miss you, he understands I need you more."
"Yes, Mrs. Kennedy."
"Come along. The convict labor starts today."
Hugh wasn't sure how he felt about using convict labor, but since he had known Mr. Kennedy didn't think he was a good clerk he would just go along with Mrs. Kennedy. He wouldn't say anything to upset Mrs. Kennedy. After they got out to the sawmill, she inspected everything. She spent the afternoon explaining to Hugh what his job duties were. She spent a considerable amount of time going over his mistake from last timeline, although, of course, Hugh didn't know it was his mistake from last time.
As Scarlett left the sawmill, she stopped by Johnny's mill. Everything was running smoothly as usual. She looked around at the prisoners and felt a twinge of guilt that not only had she not done anything to help them last time, but she also wasn't going to do anything this time.
As Scarlett walked to the buggy, she said to Big Sam, "Let's go sell some lumber."
Scarlett had made a couple of sales when she saw three Northern women who she knew were building new homes. One of the women said, "Mrs. Kennedy, do you know where I can find a free woman to work in my home?"
"Go to an employment agency."
"I wish I could find a servant that is as well-behaved as your driver. He just sits there like a trained dog."
"Take that comment back."
"Did I hurt his feelings?"
"Of course, you hurt his feelings, you nitwit. He has feelings just like everyone else. He is a human being. Take your comment about him being a trained dog back. He is extremely important to me as an employee and as a person."
"How can he be important to you when you held him in bondage most of his life?"
"I have never owned a slave in my life."
"But your family did."
"Yes, Pa did. I would have given them their freedom once I inherited Tara if the war hadn't happened. Now take that comment back."
"Alright. Sir, I apologize for calling you a well-trained dog."
"Good day, women. Drive on Big Sam."
After Big Sam and Scarlett had driven a few blocks, Big Sam said, "Was that the truth that you would have given us our freedom once you inherited the plantation from your father?"
It was the farthest thing from the truth that Scarlett could imagine but she had learned a trick or two from Rhett. Not at the time but when she had analyzed their conversations that first year after Melly had died. Trick #1: Don't ever admit what you said was a lie. No matter what."
Scarlett said, "Yes, of course. We would have set-up some sort of system where you were paid for your labors."
"Thank you, Miss Scarlett. And thank you for defending me."
"I will gladly do it again no matter what it costs me."
Sales were down the next week when news traveled about Scarlett's behavior but the woman, Gladys, who had insulted Big Sam had a habit of insulting other people also. Therefore, other people were happy to give Scarlett their business. She was the woman who had made Gladys back down.
Soon it was July first and Rhett did not come to call. Scarlett thought that was strange, but she decided he was out of town on business and when he got back, he would come to call. Then she remembered that he said he was going to Charleston to try to make peace with his father, which she thought was very strange for the Rhett Butler she knew never made amends. It was his way or hit the road.
Scarlett was right, Rhett was out of town. He had managed to make peace with his father.
The day that Langston and Rhett reached a truce. Langston had Rhett sneak into the house under the cover of darkness. He came in the back door. The only servants they had were former slaves and they all knew who the man was even if he was quite a bit older.
The rest of the Butler clan were shocked at Langston's forgiveness of Rhett and him letting Rhett stay at their townhouse. During the next three weeks, Rhett never left the townhouse. He talked with Elizabeth, Rosemary, Langston, and even Robert. He talked with his sister-in-law Daphne and his two nephews.
Finally, June twenty-fourth arrived, and Langston was still alive. Over the breakfast table, Langston said, "You got me, Rhett. I really believed that I was going to die today. I will let you stay the rest of the day, and you can leave in the morning."
"Sure, Father."
Rhett was not going to argue. He was not going to beg his father to let him stay in the family circle. If Langston didn't die, then so much the better. At least, he had these memories. He wished he had memories like this with Bonnie.
By nightfall, Langston Charles Butler was dead. The undertaker, Thomas Lynch, had taken the body away to prepare it for Langston's final trip. After Rhett knew his father was dead, he left the townhouse and returned to John Rutledge Home Inn. He told his mother that he would contact his attorney, Charles Mobbs, and set-up a trust account for her. Mr. Mobbs would write her a check every month for thirty dollars. If she needed more just let Mr. Mobbs know, he would know how to get in touch with Rhett.
Rhett spent the next week in Charleston. He rented a sailboat and sailed all around the bay. He was remembering his childhood. He was looking back on his life. He had made so many bad decisions, but he was doing his best to fix that. These last three weeks with his family would be some of his favorite memories. It would never be repeated. He could tell that although their father had let Rhett into the townhouse for a visit, Rosemary and Robert still had a lot of resentment towards him. He could understand why. By no fault of their own they had become infamous as Rhett Butler's siblings. He guessed the same was true for his mother. It was alright. He would visit every now and then but only for a couple of days.
Rhett was very proud of himself. Despite the fact that his father and his brother were smoking and drinking the entire three weeks, Rhett was able to restrain himself from indulging. He kept telling himself that with his second chance he wanted to be able to walk Bonnie down the aisle.
On July the first, Rhett was on a train back to Atlanta. Back to Scarlett. He just couldn't understand why she was behaving so differently. He had heard the sob story she had told Mrs. Elsing. He decided it had been a smart move on her part. To let them know why she was doing what she was doing. She wasn't a girl out of control behaving mannishly. She was a girl desperately trying to support ten people plus their servants. The part that surprised Rhett was Scarlett sharing anything with the matrons. Usually, she didn't share anything with anyone. In that moment, he knew the honor he had received by her being completely honest with him. He felt shame that he had never even been somewhat honest with her, much less completely honest. He would work on that.
Rhett had heard some talk about her supporting Ashley Wilkes and Mr. Wilkes did not come off looking good, which pleased Rhett. He had heard that Mr. Wilkes was still at Tara to help them plant cotton since nobody else had ever been through the cotton planting. Most people would say, "It is nice that Ashley is helping the residents of Tara out but couldn't someone else in the county help them? Then Ashley would be free to come into Atlanta and get a job."
Of course, if the Wilkeses came to Atlanta then they would stay at the Hamilton House until Mr. Wilkes got a job. Rhett had decided that if Scarlett gave Mr. Wilkes a job, he was going to come down hard on her and make her fire him or pay back the entire loan at once. He was not letting her back out of another deal with him.
Scarlett had worked with Frank to get him to support her running the sawmills. Frank begrudgingly tried to be supportive of Scarlett, but his heart wasn't in it. Furthermore, he was embarrassed she was so good at selling lumber. Hopefully when the baby arrived, she would be so filled with motherly love that she wouldn't want to leave her baby for any reason. She certainly did love Wade.
Frank would make her sell the sawmills then. Or maybe he would run them.
While Frank was lost in his daydreams of Scarlett becoming the perfect wife and mother, she was out there making another sale. In her first timeline, Scarlett had tried to hide her growing midsection. She hadn't fooled anyone. Least of all Rhett. That made her think of when he had casually mentioned her baby bump. She had turned beet red. She now thought, 'How silly to be embarrassed about being with child.'
