Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Thirty-Two

Probably to banish Bonnie from his mind one more time, Rhett said, "How much did you sell the mansion for?"

"Eighteen thousand. I made another thousand off the furniture."

"It was worth twenty thousand."

"Maybe nineteen with all the cigar burns in the carpets, but I sold it at below market value because I just had to get out of the mansion."

"I was shocked when Mr. Poe told me you had sold it. Why did you sell it?''

"It was a house of horrors. Not the way you always meant it, but all the memories."

"I guess it was. And my sapphire jewelry?"

"Let me think. That was a while ago. I think I got three thousand for it all, I think."

"How much did you get for my desk?"

"A hundred dollars. And I got another fifty for your clothes."

"It surprised me when Mr. Poe told me you had sold everything you owned in Atlanta."

"I had sold the mills when Gerry was two, I think. They were just too much work. Ashley got fired six months later. I got him a job at your bank working as a Teller. He will never be Head Teller, but he can perform his job adequately. He is even more melancholic now than he was before Melly's death which makes sense. Except for Beau he has nothing."

"True."

"I gave him those parcels of land that Charlie left me. With his salary and the rental income from those lots, the Wilkeses and Hamiltons will survive."

"That was nice of you."

"No, it was so I could leave Atlanta with a clear conscience."

"I am certainly glad you decided to leave Atlanta, whatever the reason was."

At the bank Rhett told the teller, "We need to open an account."

The Teller said, "Of course, let me get someone to help you with that."

While Rhett and Scarlett were waiting for a bank officer to help them open an account, she said, "Why don't you exchange your pound notes here?"

"Because I can get a better rate at the exchange house."

"That makes sense."

Soon a young man was escorting the Butlers to his office, he said in way of greeting, "I'm Frank Pierce."

"I'm Rhett Butler and this is my wife, Scarlett. We need to set-up both a savings account and a checking account."

"Certainly, Mr. Butler. Why did you choose our bank to open an account in."

"I have banked with you before. We had decided to move to Sydney, but we didn't like it so now we have moved back."

"Sydney?"

"Sydney, Australia."

"That is halfway around the world."

"True, that is why we didn't like it."

"You will need at least twenty dollars to open an account."

Rhett smiled. He said, "I will be opening an account with one hundred dollars. Then I will be having some money transferred from New York and London."

"Yes, sir."

Fifteen minutes later Frank said, "What names do you want on the checks? Mr. and Mrs. Rhett Butler."

Rhett said, "No. Rhett and Scarlett Butler."

"That is unusual."

"We are unusual people."

"Yes, sir. Let me give you some temporary checks. Yours should be back from the printer in two weeks. I will send you a note."

"Would you hold off on placing our order for checks? We haven't got a permanent home yet." Rhett stood up and helped Scarlett up. He continued, "As soon as we do, I will drop by and let you know."

"Very well, sir. Let me give you a passbook."

"Yes, we will walk with you to the Teller."

As Rhett and Scarlett were leaving the Exchange House, he handed her five hundred dollars which she put in her purse right away. She said, "Will you bring me back over here so I can exchange my pound notes? I would like to go back to the bank where I can buy savings bonds."

"Certainly."

Rhett hailed them down another cab and he and Scarlett went to Mr. Crane's office. They had to wait a few minutes to get in to see the lawyer, but they got in to see him in less than fifteen minutes. Rhett said, "We both liked the brownstone on Sommerville. I would like to offer the seller nineteen five which includes the drapes and area rugs."

"I will let the seller know and get back to you."

"Thank you. We are staying at Kimpton Marlowe House."

The couple left the lawyer's office and returned to their suite.

That night for supper, Rhett took them to another of his favorite restaurants. It was a steak house called, Night Hawk. They also served chicken. Everyone enjoyed their food, and the conversation was pleasant.

Rhett's offer was accepted. They gave the current residents two weeks to get out of the brownstone. Scarlett said, "Let's put screens on the windows and slowly redecorate. One room at a time."

"Alright."

Within a month, the Butlers were living in their new brownstone. Rhett and Scarlett had let the children have a say in the decorating of their room. She had smiled when she saw that Wade had hung his father's sword on his wall. Most of the people who lived in the brownstones were upper middle class.

After the contract had been signed, Rhett had gone by to see William Kelly. Rhett had asked William to contact his former employees and inquire if they would like to return to working for him. Rhett added, "I no longer need a nursemaid now that my stepdaughter is living with me again."

"I thought your wife was dead."

"No, she is very much alive. She will be running the house."

"I will send notes around to your former employees to ask them if they would like to return to working for you."

"Thank you. I will need them in two weeks. You can reach me at Kimpton Marlowe House."

"I will be in touch with you."

Julia, Hazel, and Jonathon had returned. Rhett had told William to find him another scullery maid. William had asked Anna if she would be willing to go to work for Mr. Butler as his scullery maid. Although Anna was currently unemployed, she didn't want to return to the Butler household until William said, "Mrs. Butler is going to be running the household."

Anna replied, "What?"

"It seems Mrs. Butler wasn't dead. It also seems they have reconciled."

"I will give it a try, but if he yells at me again, I will quit."

"As you should."

On the first day Anna showed up to work, Rhett said to her, "I was unkind to you the day my wife stole our son back from me. If I had let you talk, I would have saved myself a lot of pain and agony. You will be happy to know that you will be dealing with my wife and not me. She is excellent at running a household." As he walked out of the kitchen, he said, "I raised your salary by a nickel an hour."

Anna was stunned. She had never had an employer apologize to her. It felt rather good. The raise was great also.

In the two weeks Anna had been working for Mr. Butler again, no that wasn't right, she was working for Mrs. Butler, it had been great.

The rest of the staff was equally stunned. Mr. Butler never acted embarrassed or uncomfortable about having told everyone that his wife was dead.

Julia liked working with Mrs. Butler better than Mr. Butler. She never got annoyed or short with her. Mrs. Butler would ask the cook all sorts of questions, but they were more to find out what Julia could and could not cook.

One day Mrs. Butler had sighed and said, "I don't miss much about our time in Sydney, but I do miss Chicken Parmigiana."

With pride Julia said, "Ma'am if you can get me the recipe, I can make it."

"Let's work together to make it. It is a thin piece of chicken fried, then covered in tomato sauce, but it is not plain tomato sauce, it has spices in it. Then it is covered in mozzarella cheese. It is baked. I don't know how long. I wish I had gotten the recipe before we left."

"Mrs. Butler, let me test out some ideas."

"Thank you, Julia. You are wonderful."

Julia had a friend who was also a cook, who had emigrated from Australia. Maybe her friend had a recipe. Mrs. Butler didn't need to know the truth.

After the family had been in the brownstone for a month, Scarlett saw Ella talking to a young man. He was an attractive young boy of sixteen or seventeen. Scarlett had seen that look of desire enough to know that the young man was smitten with Ella.

Later in the day Scarlett said, "Who was that young man I saw you talking to?"

"Bob Goddard. He lives four doors down."

"You are too young to be having gentleman callers."

"Bob isn't calling on me. We just like to talk. He is an inventor. He talks about what he is trying to invent, and I give him suggestions."

Scarlett almost burst out laughing. She was so happy. If anyone could appreciate Ella's unique way of thinking it would be an inventor. Scarlett assessed her daughter. Her hair was no longer that frizzy red it had been when she was born. It was now a rather attractive shade of red. Ella had beautiful green eyes that her mother had gifted her. That thought made her smile when she thought of Rhett calling them the most beautiful green eyes in the world. She had dimples. Also, a gift from her mother. Scarlett suddenly realized that her daughter was going to be mesmerizing. Just like she was. Scarlett finally said, "When you turn fourteen, you can start having gentleman callers."

Ella smiled at her mother. She didn't know why, but Ella felt her mother truly loved her. No, that her mother admired her. Tears rushed into her eyes. It was a dream come true. Scarlett said, "Hug me."

The mother and child hugged for a long time. Neither female mentioned the tears in the other one's eyes.

Ella said, "Mama, are you and Dad finally going to be happy?"

"Yes, Baby, we are. As long as Rhett doesn't do something stupid again."

Both Ella and Scarlett laughed.

Later in the afternoon, Scarlett saw Wade talking to a very pretty girl. She watched him. She marveled that the confident man she was watching was the same frightened child who had escaped with her from Atlanta. Yes, Mammy and Melly had made Wade a well-behaved young man, but she had made him into a confident man. He had more confidence at eighteen than his father had at twenty-five.

Scarlett smiled. Maybe Charlie had more confidence than she had realized. He had asked the belle of five counties to marry him with little to no encouragement. Yes, he had effeminate ways, but that didn't mean he was effeminate. Like most people, he had not known he was coming across as effeminate. If he had lived, they could have had a good life, that is if the war hadn't come. Of course, she would never have married him if it hadn't been for the war.

That night in their oversize bed in the dark, Rhett said, "I always compared them to you, and they always came up lacking."

"That's amazing considering you said I came up lacking to a whore."

"Most of our time in Atlanta I was spewing poisonous darts. I wasn't really thinking about what I was saying. I was just saying it to hurt you."

"You did."

"I never knew. You never showed it, so I hurt you more trying to get you to show your pain."

"You never showed your pain either."

"You are all I have ever wanted. I know I went about winning your heart the wrong way, but in my defense, I had never been in a proper relationship."

"Truth be told, I had never been in a proper relationship either."

"I had always been in charge of the relationship."

"Me too."

"I'm certainly not in charge of the relationship now."

Rhett heard the laughter in Scarlett's voice as she said, "Neither am I."