Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
Chapter Ten
When the children got back, they were all in high spirits. Kenny threw himself into his mother's lap and she hugged him. She stood up and said, "Let's go to the train station and get our train to San Francisco."
Gerry said, "I thought we were getting on a ship."
"We are getting on a ship in San Francisco."
"All right."
On the way to the train station, Wade said, "Driver, take us back to that delicatessen."
"Yes, Sir."
As the carriage turned around, Scarlett said, "Good idea, Wade. Take this ten-dollar coin piece and buy meat, bread, vegetables, and fruits. As much as you can get. We have our train bag with our dinnerware, but you need to get another set for Kenny. Get another glass also. Also get a jug to put water in after we get on the train.
"I can't carry all that."
"Ella, go with Wade."
"Yes ma'am."
Fifteen minutes later when Ella and Wade got back to the carriage, they both had two large bags of food items.
After the carriage was moving again, Ella said to the twins, "I got us some jellybeans and some marshmallows."
Gerry said, "I don't like jellybeans. Did you get any candy sticks?"
Scarlett said, "Gerry, that's not polite. You say thank you and wait for the other person to tell you what they have."
"Yes ma'am, but I really like the candy sticks."
"Gerry."
"Yes ma'am."
Kenny watched all this in fascination. Daddy always bought him whatever he asked for. He had never been told he was behaving impolitely. No, that wasn't right. That nursemaid he had back in the winter had told him he was being impolite. That he was being rude. That had made him cry. Daddy had fired her the next day. He didn't know what an impolite and rude person was but by the way the woman had said it, it wasn't anything good. He didn't want to be that kind of person, whatever that was. He had also been told by one of the boys he had once played with that he was selfish.
When he had asked Daddy what selfish meant, Daddy had said, "Why?" Kenny had said, "John called me selfish." Daddy had said, "Don't worry about it. It is a good thing." Kenny didn't think it was a good thing and he had decided that he would ask John what the word meant next time they played. A week later when Kenny had asked to go play with John, Daddy had said, "You will never play with that gutter snipe again." Kenny didn't know what gutter snipe meant either, but he knew better than to ask Daddy about it. Kenny had been sad. He had liked playing with John. John had been one of the few other boys who would play with Kenny more than once. He didn't have very many friends because for some reason they never came back to play with him.
Kenny was glad he now had his twin. His twin would always want to play with him. Furthermore, he now had a mother to help him be a well-behaved young man. That was something one of the other nursemaids had asked. She had said, 'Don't you want to be a well-behaved young man?'
Kenny had known by the way she had said it that it was a good thing. He had said that he did want to be a well-behaved young man. When he had asked Daddy what a well-behaved young man was, Daddy had said rather meanly, "Someone who is a loser. You don't want to be a loser, do you?"
Kenny knew what a loser was and no he didn't want to be a loser. Daddy had fired the nursemaid a couple of days later, so he never learned what a well-behaved young man was.
Kenny said, "Mama." The word sounded good to Kenny. His mother was beaming at him.
Scarlett said, "Yes, my son?"
Scarlett called Gerry and Wade that, but it was an awfully special word when she said it to Kenny. Her son who had come back from the dead like Lazarus.
Kenny said, "Will you teach me to be a well-behaved young man like Gerry?"
Scarlett smiled at Gerry and said, "Your brother still needs to learn how to be a well-behaved young man so you two can learn together."
Gerry had grinned at his mother and then at his twin. Kenny had grinned back with the same grin. After Gerry said, "Yes ma'am." Kenny had said it also. He was not used to having to say, 'Yes ma'am' and 'No ma'am.' Daddy had never made him. Yet, Kenny knew Mama would expect it from him. He would do it because he wanted to make Mama proud of him.
Kenny said, "What does selfish mean?"
"It means that the person is only thinking about themselves."
"Daddy said that was a good thing."
"Sometimes it can be, but most of the time it isn't. In order to get along with other people one has to take their feelings into consideration."
Scarlett truly wished she had done that before Rhett stopped loving her. He would still love her if she had, and they would be living together happily in Atlanta. Instead, she was trying to get as far away from him as possible.
Scarlett stopped her thoughts and said, "Ella, give the twins and me a handful of jellybeans each."
Ella said, "Alrighty, but I did get Gerry a candy stick because I know how much he likes them."
Scarlett said, "Did you get one for Kenny?"
"No, I didn't know if he liked them or not."
"Hand me the candy stick."
Scarlett hadn't sighed at Ella's statement. She was used to her daughter's limited thinking. She took the candy stick and broke it in half. She gave each one of the boys a half. She could tell by the boys' expressions that they were not happy with only getting half of a candy stick.
Scarlett said, "This is where you say thank you."
Kenny said thank you immediately. Gerry begrudgingly said thank you. Scarlett smiled. Both the boys were in for a rough several weeks if not months. Neither one had ever had to share, and Scarlett knew without a doubt that Rhett had let Kenny run wild. Scarlett knew the one thing she had in her favor was that Kenny wanted to make her happy. In truth, Gerry wanted to make her happy also. He was just already secure in her love.
Scarlett said, "Give me a handful of jellybeans, Wade, do you want some?"
"Sure."
Scarlett was able to get them a compartment that had four bunks. She had booked it under the name Katie Lincoln. She would have to think of another first name. She had forgotten that the ticket agent was going to ask for a first name. She knew she couldn't say Scarlett so she had blurted out the first thing she could think of. She would be all right. Rhett's investigators would never look further than the last name.
Scarlett knew from their trips to visit Wade that the cabin was just one large room. There were sofas that turned into sleeping bunks. There was a table with four chairs by the window. She was fine with just one big room. It would just be for two or three nights. Furthermore, she wanted to be able to see both Kenny and Gerry at all times.
When the family was boarding the train Kenny had a moment of doubt. He said, "I need to ask Daddy if I can go with you."
Scarlett looked Kenny in the face and said, "You can't ask him because he is in a business meeting. If we wait for him to get home, we will miss our train. I will telegraph him and tell him to meet us in San Francisco. If he doesn't want to meet us in San Francisco, I will bring you back."
"If you bring me back, would I no longer get to live with you and Gerry?"
"No, you wouldn't."
"If Daddy doesn't join us in San Francisco, I will just continue to live with you and my twin."
"I hope Rhett wants to live with us so we can be one big happy family."
Kenny smiled a big smile which included his dimples. Scarlett said, "You look just like me when you smile. Now go on and catch up with Gerry."
Kenny was thinking, 'Everything is fine. Daddy will soon join us, and we will be a happy family.'
The train left the station heading for San Francisco at one. Almost two hours before Rhett even knew his child was missing.
Scarlett had made Gerry and Kenny lie down for a nap after they had dinner. They had eaten dinner after the train had left the Boston train station. After the train had pulled out of the station Scarlett had relaxed. She had been afraid the police would burst onto the train and pull her and Kenny off the train. She knew she had a long way to go before she was relatively safe from Rhett but getting out of Boston had been the first major hurdle. All she had to do now was move as fast as she could until she found a safe haven.
Scarlett knew the boys weren't going to sleep but she wanted them to settled down and rest. Gerry still got cranky if he didn't at least rest in the afternoon. She supposed Kenny did too.
After about fifteen minutes of Scarlett continuing to tell the boys to lay down, Ella said, "I usually tell Gerry a story when he lays down for his nap."
"All right. Anything to get them to stay in the bunk."
Ella told the boys several exciting stories that Scarlett knew the girl was making up as she went along. Scarlett was amazed at how thrilling the stories were.
After a couple of stories, despite the excitement of them, both boys were asleep. Scarlett smiled. Ella was really incredibly good with children. That was good. Scarlett was going to need both hers and Wade's help if she was going to escape Rhett somehow.
Scarlett said, "Ella, go ahead and read your book."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Wade come sit on the sofa with me and let's figure out what happened.
After Wade sat down, he looked at Scarlett and said, "The other baby wasn't dead."
"No, he wasn't. He is sleeping with Gerry in that bunk right over there."
"Uncle Rhett thought he could get away with stealing Kenny because everyone thought the baby was dead."
"He did get away with it. It was just the fickle hand of fate that messed him up. I wasn't going to go looking for Kenny because I thought he was dead. I wouldn't go looking for Rhett because if he didn't want to be found, I wouldn't find him. Rhett would have assumed I would never leave the South or Tara."
"A reasonable expectation of the person you were when Aunt Melly died."
"Yes. What are the odds that Gerry and Kenny would find each other in a park in Cambridge, Mama?"
"Not, very great."
"No, not very great."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I will have to find you a college then a law school. I can't take the chance of Rhett finding you."
"I can go on to Harvard. I can find a boarding house to live at. I can continue with my studies. I wouldn't tell him anything."
"I know you wouldn't but as my husband, he has custody of you until you reach your majority which is when you turned twenty-one. That would be four years of hell."
"True. We both know how mean and cruel he can be."
"Yes, we do. No, you will have to stay with me. That way I know you are safe."
"Fine by me. We are stronger together."
"If he finds us, he won't just take Kenny back, he will take Gerry too."
"And cut off all your funds."
"He probably has already done that. It doesn't matter I can't accept any more money. Rhett would be able to follow the money."
"True. That is an axiom in detective novels – Follow the money."
Scarlett smiled. Wade certainly did enjoy his detective novels. That was good. They needed all the help they were going to get, no matter the source, to avoid Rhett finding them. She needed Wade's intelligence. She was clever but Wade was smart, smart like Rhett. Wade would think like Rhett thought. Scarlett needed that insight. With Ella and Wade's help she might get away with stealing Kenny away from Rhett. That and a hell of a lot of luck.
Wade said, "Let me go finish reading my book."
"Yes, my son, go ahead and read your book."
Scarlett didn't say it but she thought, 'My wonderful son.'