A/N: Someone mentioned that they felt Rhett was out of character. We are seeing a Rhett who has experienced a lot. In a relatively short period, he has lost Bonnie, divorced Scarlett, married another (with guilt about his still caring for Scarlett), and had another child. His wife died, and his son is now also dead. I'd challenge anyone to be themself after that.
Ch. 11- Scarlett
Of all the ways Scarlett would have predicted her conversation with Rhett going, it was nothing like what had just occurred. As she walked back upstairs, less than ten minutes from when she first walked down them, she was in a state of complete confusion. Scarlett also felt a pain in her chest at the thought of Rhett losing Anne and their child as well. Scarlett remembered bitterly how he had reacted when Bonnie died. She'd never seen the man so broken before. She was surprised he was out and about at all, knowing that the loss couldn't have been more than two or three months ago.
Scarlett vowed to send a letter to Sally the following day, but she was still deciding what else to do. Should she seek him out to see if he was okay? Clearly, he didn't want to be in her presence, which wouldn't have been very shocking except that he had sought her out both this evening and before in Ireland.
When she returned to her room, she could hear the cries of Junior from within the second room of her hotel suite, and she hurried in, knowing he would wake Cat if left to cry too long. Inside, Jenny cradled him while trying to single-handedly assemble the feeding device. "Give him here, Jenny, I'm awake anyway."
Jenny looked up gratefully and handed the crying infant over to Scarlett. As soon as she took him in her arms, he immediately settled. Scarlett walked to a nearby chair and began situating herself and her clothes to feed him. Jenny watched on from nearby. "Have you heard anything from the orphanage?"
"Not a word." Scarlett looked down at Junior as she placed him on her breast, and he began to suckle. "I can't imagine how no one could be looking for this little guy. Did his parents not have any family at all?"
Jenny looked at the baby sadly, "There was an awful lot of commotion that day. There were people dead and injured on both trains."
Scarlett nodded. "That's true enough. I just- well, even my family would have asked about Cat if the situation was reversed. I know they would."
The trio fell into silence, and Scarlett looked down once more at the small child she held. She'd done a lot of thinking since taking Junior home with her, and while she wouldn't even admit it to Colum, there was a small part of her that hoped no one would come to claim him. Scarlett found that she was quickly growing attached to him. Even Cat adored him. She would lean over and place wet kisses on his forehead while holding them both in her lap. Cat had begun toddling more steadily in the last month, no longer the only child to be carried around at her whim, and Scarlett loved watching it.
The following day, Scarlett met Colum for breakfast. They planned to see Careen directly after, and Scarlett found that her stomach was in so many knots she almost couldn't eat. Almost.
"How was your evening, Scarlett?" Colum asked between bites of food.
"Bewildering." Scarlett sighed. "Rhett came by the hotel last night to visit."
"Good lord. Did he see-?"
"Cat? No. She was upstairs with Jenny, and I came down to meet him."
"Do you think you should tell him, Scarlett? This is twice where he's shown up somewhere you were staying with Cat. Wouldn't it be easier if you told him rather than have him find out on his own? His wife-"
"Is dead. Their baby, too, it would seem. He told me before all but running away from me."
Colum crossed himself. "May they rest in peace."
Scarlett nodded. "I've thought about it, Colum, really. I stayed up half the night thinking about it. I swore not to tell him once he married Anne, but now...especially now... I don't know."
"If all goes well, we'll sort this mess with Careen out today, and you could leave tomorrow if you wanted to. Do you really want to leave without telling him? You might never see him again."
"Oh, I can't think about that right now. I need to focus on Careen. If everything goes well today, we'll talk tomorrow about that."
Colum nodded. "Shall we go, then?"
Also- some math. In the Scarlett TV series, Scarlett went into labor upon receiving news that Rhett and Anne are engaged. Google says engagements were typically 6 months to 2 years long (some as short as 1 month). I decided Rhett and Anne would have a 6-month engagement. She got pregnant almost immediately after the marriage and delivered one month early. Then, the crash happened just over a month later. So, Cat is roughly 16 months old at the train crash and 17-ish months old in this chapter.
