Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Scarlett got to the store, she showed Emily how to do the books. She told the younger woman, "You need to start doing the books every day, while I am still here to answer any questions you might have. As soon as the papers are signed, I will no longer be coming down to the store. My children don't want to come to the store anymore. They want to spend time with their father."
"Yes, ma'am. Dad and I can handle the store."
"Let me show you how to order stock and where I purchase items. They are the same places as the previous owner. Of course, all the records are in the desk."
Thirty minutes later Emily knew basically how to run the store. She was confident that between her and her father they could muddle through everything. When Scarlett was finished showing Emily everything the young woman said, "Thank you again for doing this for me."
"You're welcome. Now go on out front and I will start cleaning out this room."
"Mrs. Butler, if I have some questions while you are still here in Sydney, can I come to your home and ask you them."
"Of course. Let me write my address down for you. It is within walking distance of the store. We weren't planning on buying any horses therefore we were either going to have to walk or take a cab everywhere. Then we decided to buy our sons ponies, so I had Rhett buy me a horse and buggy also. After all, we were going to have to hire a stable boy anyway."
As Emily was walking back to the front of the store, she thought, 'It must be nice to have so much money that one can buy anything they want. I am a little bit jealous of everything Mrs. Butler has that I don't have, but then again if she wasn't that wealthy, she would never have given me the store at such a low price. Also, if the Butlers weren't wealthy, they would not be moving back to the United States.'
The next morning Rhett and Wade went with Scarlett to work. They both had a box. They were going to carry the books, snacks, board games, and toys back to the rental house.
Tom Jefferson had the contract ready to sign in two days. Scarlett picked Emily up at the store and they signed the contract. When they got back to the store, Scarlett said, "Let me tell your father goodbye, then I will be gone. You will do fine. You will be a success."
After Scarlett had told Sid goodbye, he said, "Thank you for what you are doing for my girl. I have always worried about what would happen to her once her mother and I died. Now she can support herself and not take charity from our relatives."
"Yes, she can. She will be fine."
Emily did go to the rental house to ask Scarlett some questions three times. The last one the day before they were going to leave. Rhett managed to sell the yacht at his asking price because it was a bargain even if Rhett had asked for twenty-five pounds more than he had paid for it. Rhett and Wade took the ponies and the horses back to the man they had bought them from. He didn't give Rhett what he had paid for the ponies and the horses, but Rhett felt like he had gotten a fair price.
When the staff found out that the Butlers were moving back to the United States, the butler quit. After the butler quit, Scarlett told Donna and the scullery maid that she would give them two weeks' pay as a bonus if they stayed until the end. Both women had agreed. Scarlett couldn't take the chance of losing Donna. Scarlett knew which of her dishes were good and which weren't.
On April the first the family boarded the ship. Wade had started trying to call Rhett Dad. He wasn't as successful at it as Ella was, but he had been calling the man Uncle Rhett for almost eighteen years. It was going to be a hard habit to break.
That night over supper Scarlett said, "Wade, as soon as we get to the Palace in San Francisco, you have to write the dean of admissions at Harvard. Tell him you had a family emergency and could not attend last year. Hopefully, in the fall he will allow you to matriculate at Harvard."
"I'm sure he will. I did pass the entrance exam after all."
"At age seventeen."
There was so much pride in that statement that Rhett had to smile.
Rhett said, "Go ahead and telegraph him. We don't want you to lose an opportunity by being too late."
That night everything on the dining room table was something that everyone liked. As the family was walking back to the cabin, Wade said, "Judging by how good the food was tonight, life is getting better already."
Everyone laughed.
Scarlett and Rhett shared a room, Ella had a room, and Wade, Kenny, and Gerry shared a room. The twins thought they were big boys now and didn't want to sleep with their sister. Scarlett knew that Ella had been hurt by the rejection, but she never let the twins see her pain. Scarlett was so proud of her daughter.
When the twins were in bed, they wanted Wade to tell them stories. Although Wade could have told them a few stories, he told them, "I don't know any stories. If you want stories, you must sleep with Ella."
"Kenny said, "We will go sleep with Ella."
"How about Ella and I just change rooms?"
"Gerry said, "We like that idea."
"Let me get my trunk. See you in the morning."
Soon a smiling Ella was moving her trunk into the twins' room. She was proud of her ability to tell exciting stories and she enjoyed taking care of her younger brothers. Wade was happy to leave the twins in Ella's care. He still couldn't tell them apart unless they had a bruise or a scratch on their face. Besides, he liked to sleep late. His younger brothers were always awake early and always making a lot of noise.
As Scarlett and Rhett watched all this happening, they smiled at each other. She said, "They really are good kids."
"Yes, they are."
Later while in their bed, Rhett said, "Ella has grown into an amazing young lady."
Scarlett heard the sadness in Rhett's voice. She knew he was thinking, 'Bonnie will never get that chance.'
Scarlett said, "I am so proud of her."
"Me too, although I had nothing to do with her becoming an amazing young lady."
"But your money did."
Rhett laughed. He kissed his wife. When he felt a tingling in his nether regions he thought, 'Maybe.'
An hour later, he thought, 'Yes, once again we were one. Once again, we experienced intense pleasure together.'
Rhett had decided not to worry about the times he couldn't perform but rejoice in the times that he could. There was nothing he could do about it. It was just a matter associated with his aging.
The family did much the same things as they had when traveling to Sydney. They took walks, read books, talked, but they didn't do any sewing. Everyone had enough clothing now. Of course, Rhett teased Scarlett and the twins aggravated each other. Their two favorite things to do were take food off the other person's plate and try to wear the clothes their brother had said he was going to wear that day. After the first week, Scarlett said to Rhett, "Deal with this."
"Of course, Dear."
Scarlett would smile when she would hear Rhett getting on to his sons about not aggravating their brother. One time he said, "I know it is great fun to annoy your brother, but your mother and I don't like having to deal with the aftermath. So just stop it. If you keep doing it, I will stop buying you candy sticks."
When Scarlett saw the horrified expression on her sons' faces, she almost laughed out loud.
Kenny and Gerry both burst into tears. Scarlett still could not believe how easily the twins cried. She never spoke harshly about it to them because the one time she did they just cried harder. Gerry hadn't been a crier until he had begun to interact with Kenny. Now he cried just as often as Kenny did.
Wade would watch the twins crying and once again marvel at how much better a mother his mother was now. Whenever he had burst into tears, his mother would just start yelling at him to stop crying which, of course, he couldn't do because she was yelling at him. It was an awful memory that Wade wished he could forget, but he was afraid he never would. In some ways it made him appreciate the mother Mama was today that much more.
After Kenny and Gerry were asleep, Rhett and Scarlett would take a walk. They would talk about the stars and the constellations. Scarlett said, "What are their names?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? I thought that was how captains navigated while on the ocean. By the stars."
"We do, but stars one can see from the northern hemisphere are different than in the southern hemisphere. Once we get to Hawaii, I will be able to tell you their names."
After five long weeks the family was in Honolulu. As they walked around the island, Scarlett said, "Would you like to stay here?"
"No. It is a beautiful, tropical paradise, but far too far away from Harvard and our son. How about you?"
"No, I don't want to stay either. I don't want to eat that much fish." Which made Rhett roar with laughter.
The family enjoyed their time on the Big Island, they appreciated their meal, they went to a bookstore and bought books for everyone, even the twins, and happily returned to the ship, and their not so tiny cabin. The cabin wasn't tiny, but nonetheless it was small compared to their house in Sydney.
That night after it got dark, Rhett took everyone out on the deck. He pointed out the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and how one could always find out where Polaris Star was located. Polaris was always over the North Pole; therefore, one could always find which direction North was. Rhett was excitedly telling the family this information. When he paused for a minute, Kenny said, "Can we go back to the cabin? This is boring."
Scarlett said, "Kenny you say may we not can we. Ella, go ahead and take the twins back to the cabin and put them to bed."
A relieved Ella said, "Yes ma'am."
Wade said, "I will go with them to make sure they don't get lost."
After everyone had left a chagrined Rhett said, "I guess it wasn't as interesting to them as it was to me."
"Go on, Darling, I'm interested."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Rhett, you know I would tell you if I thought something was boring."
"True."
Judging by the number of questions Scarlett had, Rhett decided that she really had been interested.
Scarlett never initiated anything sexual. She knew that Rhett would never turn her down, but if he couldn't perform it would always be a source of embarrassment to him. She let him set the pace of their sexual encounters. One night in the dark, he said, "I will be happy to bring you satisfaction. I enjoy that so very much."
"Rhett, I don't…."
"You don't want to embarrass me, but I knew it was going to happen sooner or later."
"Oh, Rhett. When you could I…."
"No, don't think about that. We were both foolish children then. I should have refused to move out of our bedroom. I should have just seduced you and brought you sexual satisfaction."
"And it would have been one more thing that you did for me that I didn't appreciate."
"Probably. We truly didn't appreciate what the other person was doing for us. Tell me if you want me to make you happy."
"I will try."
"That is all I can ask."
Rhett knew she never would. It just wasn't lady like. In the future he would watch Scarlett as she interacted with other people. When she would begin to get short with people, he knew what he had to do. Hopefully, he would be able to obtain an erection, but even if he didn't, he would always make sure she had a good time.
After the family's arrival in San Francisco, they went to The Palace. Rhett got them a three-bedroom suite. It wasn't as small as their cabin on the ship, but it was small for the family especially considering they had two boisterous six-year-olds.