Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Seth Findley is the front man for the band Honest Man.

My plan is to take this story all the way through until the end of the war at least.

Chapter Eighty-Two

Everyone celebrated Grace's seventh birthday. Scarlett and Rhett were not happy about their children getting older, but soon they would have another baby. Everyone watched Steven and Careen spend time together at the party. This was not the only time the couple spent time together.

Steven had started buying household supplies from the O'Haras. He would take his cook, Kristen Kish, with him to buy the supplies for the meals. They would go to the open market and buy various kinds of meats on their way home. By doing this he got to see Careen twice a week. There was a lot of talking between them and Ellen didn't mind, but if the store got busy, she would say, "Goodbye, Dr. Kiley."

Steven would smile and say, "Goodbye, Mrs. O'Hara, Careen. Come along Kristen. Let us finish our shopping."

Steven was only gone from the hospital for an hour, but he always came back refreshed and renewed when he returned from his shopping trips.

Stuart had been back from the war for four months when he decided to ask India to marry him. He decided to ride over and ask her. He realized he could no longer ride a horse because he only had one full leg and a half leg. He had lost his leg from mid-thigh done. He had survived the surgery. The surgeon had saved the leg. At least, he had thought so. By the time he had arrived in Atlanta, it was clear to the doctor there that gangrene was eating up his leg. His leg had to go. To be sure the doctor got all the gangrene he cut off more than he thought was infected, but he had to be sure and get it all didn't he. Stuart wasn't so sure of that.

Stuart wasn't sure he wanted to go on. He had lost his twin and his older brother Boyd. He had lost his leg. The war was going on much longer than anyone had thought. It was becoming clear to everyone that the North was not just going to let them go. Maybe having a wife and family would give him a reason to go on.

Stuart felt like a eunuch having to ride in the buggy instead of being able to ride his horse. His horse. His mother had sold his horse, Brent's horse and even Boyd's horse to the army. He sighed. He was at Twelve Oaks. A slave came out to greet him and took the reins of the buggy. Stuart got out the crutches he needed to walk.

When Stuart got to the front door, Albert, the butler opened the door. The butler said, "Go ahead and have a seat in the parlor Mr. Stuart. I will go get Miss India for you."

Stuart didn't answer. He just hobbled into the parlor. After about ten minutes, India entered the parlor. He did not stand up. It just took too much effort. She sat next to him on the sofa. They talked about the war, what was going on in the county, how good their yields were, and what kind of shortages they were enduring.

At last, Stuart said, "India, I have been calling on you for over ten years. I think it is time we got married."

India looked at Stuart and she felt such pity for him. He was a young man who never grew up. Maybe because he didn't have to or maybe because he never wanted to, but it didn't matter. She was not going to marry him for so many reasons. Not the least being that Stuart had left her for Scarlett. She knew in that moment that was why she had never given Stuart her heart. He could not be trusted. She gently said, "No, I no longer want to get married. I am happy being an old maid."

"How can you be happy being an old maid? Don't you want a husband and children?"

India thought, 'No, I don't after watching Ashley and Suellen's relationship. He treats her so badly and there isn't anything she can do about it. Admittedly Father doesn't care about anyone else on the plantation except Ashley or George. At least, with being an old maid I would not have to endure having relations. I have heard that hurts.'

India said, "No, I don't want a husband or children or I would not have been content letting you call on me for ten years. No, I will not marry anyone."

"Is it because I am not a complete man now."

"No, that has nothing to do with it. I just don't want to be married." India stood up. She said, "We can't go back now. I will understand if you stop calling on me."

With that India walked out of the room. Stuart struggled to stand up. Now he didn't even have India. He had lost everything because of the damn war. He got to the buggy and drove back to Fair Hill. Once he got to the main house, he got out of the buggy. He left it in the clearing. One of the slaves would take care of it. He was going to have himself a drink. He was going to drown his sorrows and he had a lot of sorrows.

Scarlett went into labor with baby Jude on December tenth. She sent a note to Rosemary at the hospital. The note said: Come home and bring your chloroform. You are getting a niece or a nephew for your birthday.

Scarlett also sent a note to her mother telling her to come to her house and bring Mammy. Four hours later with little fanfare Jude Percy Butler came into the world. He was a healthy baby with an impressive set of lungs on him.

Scarlett had not arranged a wet nurse because she wanted to be able to sail with Rhett now that she was no longer with child. She would not be able to travel for at least six weeks. Unfortunately, now her biggest problem was that she had not found anyone to run the shipping line that she thought they could trust. It would be one thing if she or Rhett were here to watch over the new employee, but by the time they had gotten back six weeks later the employee could have robbed them blind. She might just have to stay and manage the shipping line. They were making such a profit from selling the cargo.

All the money the shipping company made from selling the cargoes was Rhett's money. Rhett had explained it all to Scarlett. Rhett and Percy would receive an extra hundred dollars for each time they cleared the blockade with cotton which would come out of the sale of the cotton. Rhett, Percy, and Robert would split what was left of the profits from selling the cotton when they finally sold it. Robert gave the captains a hundred dollars for each boat load of cotton they brought across the ocean.

Robert kept all the profits he made from selling the supplies to Rhett, Percy, and the other captains. The shipping line paid the captains for their cargoes once they docked in Charleston which included Rhett and Percy. Like the other captains Rhett and Percy kept that money and paid their crews out of it. Whatever was left over was theirs to keep. Now Scarlett and Rhett kept whatever profit they made from reselling the cargoes from the captains. Rhett was the only captain that sold his cargo himself. That was mainly because he wanted to sell some of the cargo to his mother-in-law at a cheaper rate.

Rhett, Percy, and Robert kept meticulous records of all the transactions despite the fact they were all relatives or maybe because they were all relatives.

A week after Jude's birth Scarlett and all her children were down at the shipping office running the business. Ships with cargo were once again coming into Charleston. She had been lucky she had gotten a four-day reprieve from having to go to the office after Jude's birth, but now the ships and cargoes were once again returning to the city. So, despite the fact that Jude was just a week old, Scarlett had to return to the office. There was no one else to pay the captains for their loads or resale the merchandise that she trusted. Of course, she didn't trust very many people.

As Scarlett and her children were returning to the townhouse, she had her driver, Mike, stop and buy all the newspapers available. All the news in the papers was about a fire that had broken out at East Bay and Hasell streets. The wind carried the sparks to Council Street at the Ashley River. It destroyed six hundred houses including every public building in the city. Scarlett sighed when she read the news. It would be a while before any of the public buildings were rebuilt. She also knew that Rhett could get a competitive price for Rudy's house now that so many people were homeless.

Christmas was fun for everyone that attended. Scarlett had invited Bertha, Rudy's lady friend to attend. Surprisingly, she showed up. She told Scarlett later, "My family is such a bunch of bores. My mother is not quite right in the head, and everyone tries to pretend that she is. My two sisters and their husbands are always bragging about all the fine things they have. I live with my mother and try not to spend any more time with them than I have to."

"I know you have money of your own. Rudy mentioned it. Did you invest your money in the Confederacy?"

Bertha looked at Scarlett and knew she could tell the woman the truth. She said, "I thought seceding from the Union was a big, fat, foolish mistake, therefore no. Most of my money is in the safe investment my father invested it in. He would always say to me, 'Bert, keep your money in safe things. There are always going to be pie in the sky ideas that are going to make a person a lot of money. Unfortunately, they rarely do. Take the safe path. I always have."

Scarlett said, "Not just with your money."

Bertha smiled and said, "No, not just with my money."

There were moments when people would get sad like when Grace said, "I wish Daddy was here."

Scarlett said, "In about two weeks, he will be home."

Tommy said, "I wish Grandfather and Grandmother were here."

"We all miss them, but in probably a week they will be home. Aren't we lucky with have Mee-maw and Pawpaw?"

"Yes, Mama."

Grace said, "And Aunt Careen and Aunt Rosemary."

Tommy said, "And Dr. Steven."

The family had chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, yams, and greens. They also had rolls. There was just one pie, and it was pecan. There was no cranberry sauce because Scarlett didn't know how to get cranberries in Charleston. There was not an abundance of food on the table, but there was enough for someone to have seconds if they wished to. Scarlett noticed everyone wished to have seconds, even the children.

Scarlett smiled. Tommy and Grace had insisted that Jude be brought to the dining room during dinner even though he was sleeping through the entire thing. She had not argued with the children. It was hard enough for them to be without their father and their grandparents. Not to mention Robert and his family.

Scarlett tried not to think about the future, but she had a passing thought about where she and Rhett would end up living in the future.

The next week Percy and Beth had arrived in Charleston. Percy and Beth never talked about their voyages, which told Scarlett getting through the blockade was more difficult than they thought it was going to be. Maybe it was even getting to be more and more of a struggle each time. When Rhett talked about it, he always made light of the complications, but she knew it was difficult. Maybe it was best that she and the children remain in Charleston.

Scarlett had paid Percy for his cargo. She had paid him in greenbacks because the confederate dollar was already worthless. After Percy had left the office, she once again wondered why the South had gone to war with the North over slavery. She knew why, but she still thought it was stupid. She still thought the Southern states should have waited until Lincoln banned slavery before they seceded.