Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Chapter Eighty-One

When the couple got to Bubba's General Store, Rhett handed Scarlett the bill of lading which listed everything that Rhett had brought in. He handed her another piece of paper which had very neat handwriting on it. She knew that was Rudy's handwriting. It was a pricelist. Rhett said, "Rudy updates it every week."

"How does he know the going rate?"

"He just adds five percent to everything. A year from now he will add ten percent. A year after that twenty percent. Come along. Let's talk to Mother."

"Good afternoon, Mother. Would you like to buy some supplies?"

"Yes. Sugar, Flour, corn meal, hair pins, fabric, thread for sure. Let me see what else you have."

Thirty minutes later, Ellen had bought a fourth of the load Rhett brought in. All she bought were necessities of life. Rhett said, "I will get someone to bring it over."

"Let me give you your money."

Rhett took the money and said, "Your supplies will be here later this afternoon."

After Rhett and Scarlett left the store, he said, "We will get Mr. Matthews to get some of the crew to deliver the supplies to your mother then we will go see a broker about the rest of my load."

"A broker?"

"Rudy and I usually sell all our cargo to a broker, and he resells it. With all of my loads I sell part of it to your mother, then whatever she doesn't want I sell to a broker."

"Do you buy items with her in mind?"

"Of course, I am the best son-in-law she has."

"I don't think anyone would argue with you about that."

By the end of the day all the goods Rhett had brought in had been sold. As Rhett and Scarlett were heading back to the office, she said, "Will Mr. Matthews deliver those goods also."

"No, it is Mr. Landry's job to get his goods off my ship. After all, I already have his money. I only have Mr. Matthews deliver them to Mother because she is my mother-in-law."

"Thank you, Rhett. I don't think I am going to have any problem covering for Mr. Saade until he gets well again.

"It should be fairly easy for you. We do business with four brokers. We rotate between them. I will get you the list when we get back to the office.

"Yes, I will do this until Rudy gets well."

"Alright."

Rhett sailed out of Charleston the next day. Scarlett went down to the office and ran the shipping line for the next week. Despite being six months with child, Scarlett still enjoyed flirting with the men. Although she enjoyed flirting with the captains and the brokers, she was still a tough negotiator. She was tough because she thought they were trying to take advantage of her being new and her being a woman. She was determined to pay as little as possible for the load and then resell them for as much as possible. She believed that as soon as Rhett reached his goal of a million dollars, he would stop doing dangerous things. Maybe the best she could hope for was not as dangerous and not as often.

After a week when Rudy wasn't back at work, Rosemary and Scarlett paid him a visit. Rosemary didn't know exactly what was wrong with him. All the maid who was caring for Rudy could tell her was that he was running a high fever, he was throwing up, and he had diarrhea. Rosemary told the maid to give Rudy lots and lots of fluids.

Rosemary talked to Steven about Rudy's condition, and he said, "That is what I would have recommended."

"Should we move him to our home so we can take better care of him?"

"No, you don't want to bring that disease into your home. Just go visit him every day."

With Rudy still being sick, Scarlett had to make a decision. Did she continue running the shipping line or did she go into her confinement? She decided to continue running the shipping line because there was no one else to do it. No one they could trust completely. Scarlett thought, 'It won't be the first time I have been talked about and we need to make money now while we can make it.'

A week later Rudy died. Scarlett called the undertaker, Mr. Lynch, and planned the funeral. She contacted Rudy's lady friend and informed her of his death. Bertha was sad, but not grief stricken. She had been fond of Rudy, but she would never have married him for two reasons. He was too finicky for her, but the main reason was she had money her father had left her which she did not want to give up control of. Bertha was able to tell Scarlett who Rudy's lawyer was. It was Glenn Hefner, Hugh's father.

The funeral was nice, but small. There was a reception at Rudy's house. The cook had put out extremely little food which was good because there were very few mourners.

Scarlett contacted the lawyer and set up an appointment. After she introduced herself, she said, "My husband, Rhett's business partner, Rudy Saade, has died. I need to find out who inherited his half of the business."

Glenn stood up and said, "Of course, you do, Mrs. Butler. Why are you here instead of Rhett?"

"Rhett is halfway across the ocean. He is running the blockade."

"How patriotic."

"Yes, it is, isn't it. So is his father. His brother lives in Plymouth, England now so I have to get all this straightened out."

"Let me get a copy of Mr. Saade's will."

"Thank you."

When Glenn returned, he said, "It appears that Mr. Saade left everything to your husband. His house, his half of the shipping line, and his savings."

"Thank you. When Rhett returns, I will have him come see you and sign whatever he needs to sign. Will it take exceedingly long to tie up the estate?"

"No, probably about six months. I have to announce his death in the newspaper then wait for people to come forth with any debts he may have. I will go ahead and get started. When Rhett is back in Charleston, tell him to come see me. I will also have to find out the balance of any bank account Mr. Saade had."

"Thank you, Mr. Hefner."

"I'm happy to help Rhett out. I used to be his attorney until he had a falling out with my son, Hugh. I have no idea what the fight was about."

Scarlett lied and said, "Me neither."

"Mrs. Butler, you might hire someone to live at Mr. Saade's house to be sure no one breaks into it."

"Good idea."

Scarlett knew exactly who she was going to get to do it. Their driver and one of the maids had jumped the broom. They could live at Rudy's house and keep it safe. It would afford them some privacy also. Mike and Molly could take the carriage to Rudy's house and spend the night then come back in the morning, bright and early. Furthermore, Mike could tend to the horses' needs.

As Scarlett was riding back to the townhouse, she realized that she was going to have to let Rudy's staff know they no longer had jobs. She thought, 'Might as well get it over with.'

After the carriage arrived at Rudy's small house, the house looked deserted. Scarlett found out it was. She sighed. The cook had not even bothered to clean out the kitchen or even clean up after the reception for the funeral. Everything was the same as when she had left the house the day of the funeral. She guessed the staff thought they were fired because she hadn't told them otherwise. They were right, but she would have paid them their wages. Scarlett said to herself, "Let me go get Nancy and Molly. We will be spending the rest of the day cleaning out the house of any food."

By the time it was getting dark the group had cleaned up most of the food. They had taken a lot of it to the town house. They would come back tomorrow and finish the job. Over supper, Scarlett said to Rosemary, "I can't go back tomorrow to Mr. Saade's home. We have a ship that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I will have to wait for the captain at the office. Will you go for me?"

Rosemary said, "I will be happy to take a day off from the hospital and finish cleaning out the house. It will be nice to look at something besides injured men."

"Thank you. I have to keep the shipping line running."

"Of course, you do."

Rhett now owned the entire shipping line and Rudy's house. For now, Scarlett wasn't going to do anything, but continue running the shipping line. Scarlett had telegraphed Rhett about Rudy and told him she was going to be running the shipping line for now.

Rhett had telegraphed back – Alright for now.

Rhett returned in four weeks, she asked him, "Who are we going to get to run the shipping line?"

"You are."

"But I can't. I am supposed to be in my confinement."

"Hazards of war. We need you to run the office."

"Are you sure? We could get someone else to do it."

"Who? Who do we know that we could trust? Your father? He knows less about running a shipping line than you do. Nobody knows more than you do. I don't trust anyone as much as I trust you. Let me look everything over and I will let you know how you are doing and how you need to improve."

"Are you sure Rhett?"

"Nobody cares more about the shipping line than you do."

"That's true, Rhett."

A couple of days later, Rhett said, "Why did you stop selling supplies to Mr. Ponzi?"

"He was always trying to cheat me. We would agree on a price. When he gave me the cash, he never counted it out. He was always short. Anywhere between twenty to fifty dollars. Then Mr. Findley approached me and wanted to buy a load from me. I sold him the load Mr. Ponzi had tried to cheat me on. Mr. Findley gave me the correct amount of money. He is now in, and Mr. Ponzi is out. I know Mr. Ponzi tried to cheat me because he thought I wouldn't call him on it."

"Mr. Ponzi messed with the wrong woman. Seth Findley?"

"Yes, do you know him?"

"Just by reputation. He is a shrewd, but honest businessman." With a smile, Rhett added, "He will make twice what he paid for the goods."

"Good. I liked him."

"You did a great job of running the office while I was gone. I want you to keep running it, but we will have to find someone to take over after you have Jude."

"Alright. I will work on that."

"I have to get back out to sea, but I won't leave if you think you may need me."

"No, I have Pa and Steven."

"Very well."

While blushing Scarlett said, "I do need you later tonight before you set sail."

Rhett smiled his smug smile and said, "And I need you so very badly. Maybe I will get to miss most of the six-week of you not being able to play."

"Rhett!"

"Well, I hope so."

Most of Rudy's estate had already been taken care of since his death four weeks ago, but Glenn advised that they wait another six weeks before Rhett took possession of anything.

Rhett to be polite asked about Hugh. Glenn smiled and said, "I guess he is doing alright. He has never asked me for money. He is running a magazine, and it is profitable."

Rhett noticed that Glenn was uncomfortable with the conversation. Rhett figured Hugh was doing something improper, therefore he didn't want to talk about it anymore. He also didn't want to know anything about it. Rhett laughed. He was getting to be such a fuddy duddy. All Rhett said, "If you hear from him, tell him I said hello."

"Of course, of course."

Rhett stood up and shook the older man's hand. Glenn said, "You have a beautiful wife."

"Thank you. She is a firecracker."

"Just your type."

Rhett smiled and said, "Yes, she is."