Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The next day while Rhett was checking on his businesses Scarlett went to the dress shop. She tried all the dresses on and none of them needed to be altered so she was able to bring them home with her. It was good because she could not fit into any of her other dresses anymore.
Over the next two weeks, Scarlett saw her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law's dresses. Neither woman's dresses were the same color as hers. Beth's was sky blue while Rosemary's was baby blue. One day when Scarlett had sat down at the dinner table, she saw that Beth had her new blue dress on. As soon as Beth saw Scarlett, she said, "I will change right after we get finished eating."
"No, it is alright, Mother. Our dresses don't look anything alike."
"Thank you, Dear."
At the end of April while the men were having their whiskey, Robert said, "Rhett, may I speak with you privately after we are through here?"
"Of course."
Percy stood up and knocked his drink back. He said, "I will leave so you can talk about whatever you want to talk about."
"Thank you, Father."
After the door was closed, Robert said, "Will you be my best man?"
"Of course. I would be honored."
"You are a pretty good big brother."
"You are an excellent brother. Who else are you going to get to stand with you?"
"Nobody. Daphne doesn't have that many friends. She would like Scarlett to stand with her, but that would be completely improper."
"Yes, it would. Besides, Scarlett would refuse to stand up there where everyone could see her in her current shape."
"Everyone will be able to see her as she walks around the reception."
"I know. One more peculiarity of the female brain. I don't understand it, but I know how women think."
Both men laughed, finished their drinks, and joined the women in the parlor.
The first week in May Rhett was taking care of the day-to-day business of the shipping line while Rudy was in New Orleans. Rudy was no more impressed by New Orleans than he was the first time he visited. The truth was that Rudy didn't like to travel. Although Rudy and Rhett were just about the same age, Rudy acted like he was forty years old. He was also a slave to his routine. He went to bed at the same time every night. He woke up at the same time every morning. He ate the same breakfast every morning that he fixed himself because nobody else could get it right. He wasn't married and had no plans to marry. He liked his life exactly the way it was. Rhett knew that Rudy's peculiarities were what made him so good at running the day-to-day part of the business. Nothing fell through the cracks because he was always checking and double checking everything.
The second week of May Rhett had started trying to find out information about labor and delivery. He at first had tried to interview midwives, but the women were reluctant to talk to him about that subject. He then started taking Scarlett to these interviews. He had given her a long list of questions to ask the midwives. At first, she hadn't wanted to do it, but Rhett explained, "You must do it, Sweetheart. They won't talk to me about it because it isn't proper to talk to a man about that subject."
"Couldn't you ask your mother about it?"
"Yes, but she wouldn't discuss it with me either. Besides, I want to ask these questions to women who have experience." Scarlett had stared at Rhett. He added, "It is the only way to get the answers that you asked me to get for you."
"If Mammy was here, she would give me the answers."
"But Mammy isn't here."
Scarlett sighed and said, "We will start tomorrow morning. It will just be in the morning. I am too tired in the afternoon."
At first Scarlett asked all Rhett's questions and a couple of her own. It got where she started with asking the midwife, "Is there something you can do about the pain?"
Far too many women told Scarlett, "The pain is God's will. It is the pain of the curse of Eve therefore you must endure it."
If the midwife answered Scarlett that way, she left the interview. She was not going to use anyone who thought it was alright for her to suffer.
The first time a midwife told Scarlett that she asked Rhett as he was driving her to the townhouse in her buggy, "What is the curse of Eve?"
"Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve and how they got thrown out of the Garden of Eden?"
"Yes, Eve took a bite of the apple that God had told them not to eat. Then she got Adam to take a bite also. God threw them out for disobeying him."
"Yes. Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' We will just keep interviewing midwives until we find one that will give you something for the pain. If we can't find one, I will just give you some laudanum."
"No, Rhett, that might hurt the baby."
Rhett started interviewing doctors, but most of them didn't know anything about labor and delivery. Most considered delivering babies ungentlemanly work and refused to have anything to do with childbirth as a whole. Rhett persisted in his search. He finally found a young doctor, Steven Kiley, who although he knew nothing about delivering a child had an interest in anesthesia.
Dr. Kiley said, "Doctors are starting to use ether on the patient during surgery."
"I wonder if it would be safe to use it on my wife while she is in labor."
"I read something about a woman getting ether while in labor. What was her name? I don't remember her name, but she was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife. I read about it in one of my medical periodicals. I will look for it over the next several days. Give me your address. I will send you a note when I find it."
"Sure, 502 Mulmar St. Thanks."
A couple of days later Steven sent Rhett a note telling him that he had found the article. Rhett sent a note back asking to stop by the next morning. Steven wrote back: Be here by eight-thirty. I open the clinic at nine.
After greeting Rhett, Steven handed him the periodical open to the article. Rhett said, "It is only one page."
"Yes, go ahead and read it."
After a few minutes Rhett said, "It doesn't give me any information except that on April 7 of forty-seven Mrs. Longfellow delivered her child under the influence of ether."
"True."
"What does this mean? 'Her courage and pioneering spirit left an indelible mark on medical practices and the delivery of babies.' Is it not safe?"
Steven sighed. He said, "It is safe enough, but nobody in the United States had ever used it to relieve the pain of labor. As long as the doctor knows what he is doing."
"Do you know what you are doing?"
"Of course."
"You better be sure you do because if something happens to my wife, I will hold you personally responsible."
"Mr. Butler, I have not agreed to administer the ether to your wife and if you continue threatening me, I won't do it. I can't guarantee that nothing will happen to your wife. She might have a bad reaction to the ether, or a hundred other things might go wrong."
"I understand. Will you administer ether to my wife while she is in labor?"
"I will be happy to do it. When is the baby due?"
"Late August early September."
"Perfect. That will give me time to do more research."
Rhett shook Steven's hand and walked to the door. Rhett was thinking, 'Me too, Dr. Kiley.'
That night Rhett told Scarlett all about giving ether to women in labor to ease the pain. She said, "Are you sure it won't hurt the baby?"
"Mrs. Longfellow did it in forty-seven. She had another child last year and she used it again. If it was unsafe to herself or the baby, she wouldn't have done it."
Rhett was lying, he didn't know if Mrs. Longfellow had used it with her last child, but he wanted to ease Scarlett's suffering as much as he could.
"I don't know, Rhett."
"Just keep an open mind. If when you go into labor the pain is not that bad then you don't have to use it, but if it is horrible then you can get some relief from your suffering."
"Alright."
"If you don't like it, then you don't ever have to do it again."
Scarlett smiled at Rhett. That is what he always said when he was trying to talk her into trying something new in their bed. She said, "Alright, but not until the pain gets unbearable."
"Alright. What are you going to wear to Robert's graduation?"
"I don't know. That is two weeks away."
"You might want to get a new dress made."
"No, they are all ugly."
"What about a new dress for the wedding?"
"No."
"Let's go down tomorrow and let me look at the patterns. You might have overlooked something that would be very pretty."
"I didn't, but I am happy to go with you to the dress shop."
The next day over breakfast, Rhett said, "Scarlett and I are going down to Claiborne's this morning. We are going to look for something for her to wear to Robert's graduation and the wedding."
Beth said, "Would you mind if I tag along? I need a couple of new dresses also."
Scarlett said, "Of course, Mother. You are more than welcome. You too, Rosemary."
"No, I am going to wear my new blue dress to the graduation and the green dress I got for Christmas to the wedding."
Scarlett said, "Would you like to go Grandmother?"
"No, Dear. I have a couple of perfectly good dresses to wear to both events. I can still get a lot of wear out of both of them."
"Scarlett said, "Alright." While looking at Robert, she said, "How many bridesmaids is Daphne going to have?"
"Just one. She told me to tell you that she would have ask you also, but it would be improper for you to stand up there in your condition."
"That is true. It is fine. I am getting to attend the wedding and the reception thanks to your suggestion, Mother."
"I didn't want you to be left out."
Mabel didn't say that it was still improper for Scarlett to attend the wedding and reception even if it was in her own home. A mother with child isn't supposed to be seen. She didn't say anything because nobody would pay her any mind.
Soon everyone was finished with breakfast. As they were leaving the dining room, Scarlett said to Beth, "Let's meet in the foyer at nine forty-five. Claiborne's doesn't open until ten."
"Fine. It will give me time to talk to Jemina about what to serve for dinner and supper for the next several days."
"Who?"
"The cook."
"How do you decide?"
"I just name things that Percy likes and that I like."
"Do you ever consider anyone else's desires?"
"No, when someone else starts paying for everything around here, I will start being concerned about anyone else's desires."
As Rhett and Scarlett walked up the stairs, he said, "She has a point."
Later that day Rhett planned to go to the bookstore and see if he could find any books or periodicals on anesthesia. He didn't want to tell Scarlett because he had to appear one hundred percent confident in using ether.
When the trio got to the dress shop, Beth left Rhett and Scarlett alone with the pattern books. She already knew what style she wanted, she just had to find the right fabric. Scarlett sat next to Rhett while he looked at the pattern books. About halfway through he said, "You are right. There aren't very many choices."
When Rhett was almost at the end of the book, he said, "I like this one."
"I don't know."
"It would be pretty in a yellow or pink."
"Nothing is going to be pretty, but I will get a dress made up with pink fabric and another one with yellow fabric."
The couple looked at fabric. In the end Scarlett got some green fabric and some purple fabric. Beth had found the perfect fabric. It was on a red background with tiny little white flowers on it. She would wear that to the graduation. She found fabric that was brown with orange, yellow, and blue flowers on it. She would wear that dress to the wedding.
While Beth was completely happy with her choices, Scarlett was content with her choices. At least she would have a new dress to wear to the graduation and the wedding.
Author's Notes: It was a far less enlightening time in history. A lot of men and women believed it was quite alright for women to suffer through labor and delivery because they believed it was the will of God. Fortunately, there were progressive thinkers in the world who didn't believe women should have to suffer just for the sake of suffering.