You think Kirk ever told Carol Marcus about the death of David
and what her reaction would be?
shareIt would have been difficult to get a direct line to her before the transplant ritual. Afterwards he probably would have tried to on Vulcan. Her reactions would have been heartbreak & grief and definitely anger toward Kirk for taking her son away from her. Eventually, she would forgive Kirk, realizing David was an adult who made his own choices (especially independent of any influence from daddy).
To my knowledge, there are two existing media of her reaction:
DC Comics' STAR TREK series (The noncanon 'Mirror Universe' saga): Kirk sees Carol at Regula 1, she slaps him, blames him for David's death, and leaves. Shortly after, Carol gets over her anger, apologizes to Kirk, and accompanies him to a memorial for David in the Genesis caverns (still stable).
The STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME novelization: During the events of III: SfS, Carol visits the families of the murdered Genesis scientists and pays her respects. She is with one of these families when she learns the news. She breaks down in grief. Awaiting his trial, Kirk tries to contact Carol with no reply, taking this as proof that she blames him. The VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY novelization implies that Carol has forgiven Kirk.
More than just forgiven him...in the novel (by J.M. Dillard), they'd rekindled their relationship. (I think this was a subplot that was cut from an earlier draft.) But Carol is one of the scientists at an outpost that is suddenly attacked by the Klingons--the blasts "seem to come out of thin air." (Obviously, it's the prototype Bird of Prey under Chang and his cohort.) During a chunk of the story, she's in a coma (but eventually recovers), though in the beginning of the story it's touch-and-go. This incident re-awakens Jim's hatred of Klingons and his suppressed grief over David, which feeds into the rest of the story.
I liked this a lot because it's an example of how a movie's novelization can expand upon the existing story the RIGHT way, without feeling like a diversion or an intrusion.