LOVE BY CHANCE
Chapter Nine

Ruth’s taxi pulled up in front of Rose’s house at exactly nine o’clock. Ruth stepped out and paid the driver, noticing with displeasure that another car was parked in front of the house. Apparently Rose had invited her boyfriend to breakfast, too.

She sighed in annoyance. She’d had everything planned out so perfectly, but it would be hard to talk Rose into anything with Jack Dawson around. He seemed to bring out the defiance in her daughter.

Squaring her shoulders, Ruth marched up to the front door, bakery bag in hand. So what if Jack was there? Rose had never been able to resist her manipulations for long.

She rang the doorbell.

*****

Rose cringed as the doorbell rang, dreading her mother’s arrival. Jack squeezed her hand reassuringly, trying to understand Rose’s fear of her mother. To be sure, Ruth DeWitt-Bukater could be rude and manipulative, but she wasn’t someone to fear. Was she?

Slowly, Rose got up and answered the door. Ruth was standing there, tapping her foot, annoyed at having to wait.

She looked Rose over, noting that her daughter’s clothing was casual and her hair unstyled, not at all how she had taught her daughter to look when guests were expected. That Dawson boy was affecting her even more than Ruth had thought possible, or was it only Rose’s increasingly strong-willed personality that made her behave so?

"Well, at least you’re dressed," she remarked, knowing that Rose knew exactly what she was talking about. "The way you’ve been treating me, I almost expected you to greet me in a bathrobe."

Rose scowled at her, turning and walking toward the kitchen. Ruth followed after her, an angry look pasted on her face, although she was secretly pleased, knowing that she had won this round.

She followed Rose into the cozy-looking kitchen, her eyes taking in everything around her. At least Rose still had good taste. The house was nicely decorated, the walls, furniture, and carpets coordinated. Smiling smugly, she gave herself another point for teaching Rose good taste.

Well, Rose had good taste in some things. Ruth eyed Jack in annoyance as she entered the kitchen. She couldn’t approve of Rose’s taste in men. Why in the world would her daughter choose a nobody like Jack Dawson when she could have had someone like Caledon Hockley?

"Good morning, Mrs. DeWitt-Bukater," Jack greeted her.

Ruth eyed him suspiciously, sure that Rose had invited him for the express purpose of defying her, but answered him stiffly. "Good morning."

Rose got a stack of plates from the cabinet. The sooner they ate, the sooner she could find an excuse to escort Ruth out of her house.

"Sit down, Mother. Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes." Ruth spoke as though it were expected. "You know how to prepare it."

"Of course."

Gritting her teeth, Rose went to get Ruth’s coffee. Her mother was extremely picky about how she liked her coffee—it had to have just the right mix of cream and sugar, or Ruth would take one sip and set it aside, then glare at the server contemptuously until another cup was served.

Rose held her breath as Ruth took a sip, then nodded coolly. She had gotten it right on the first try.

She sat down, smiling at Jack as he served the pastries her mother had bought. In spite of the fact that they were her favorite cream cheese Danishes, she had little appetite as she watched her mother peruse everything with a critical eye.

"So, Mother, what do you think of my home?" Rose asked, wondering if it measured up to her mother’s exacting standards.

"Well, Rose, you’ve decorated it tastefully, but it is rather…small."

"I live here alone. I don’t need a big house."

"Did you buy it, or do you rent it?"

"I rent it, of course. Houses are so expensive."

"If you’d done things like I told you, you would have considerably more money."

And considerably more bruises, Rose thought, but to Ruth she said, "I’m content with the way things are."

"Are you, now? Rose, do you have no ambition whatsoever?"

"Of course I do, Mother. I want to be a journalist, not just design the layout of the paper. I like what I do well enough, but I want to do more."

"You could have such an easy life, so much more than what you have here. If you played your cards right, you could work for a major paper back east, in Philadelphia or New York, perhaps. You could get a nice apartment instead of this cramped little house."

"If I wanted a nice apartment, Mother, I could get one here. However, I happen to like living in this house."

"You would have so many more opportunities if you came home."

So that was what Ruth wanted, for Rose to come back to Philadelphia. She should have known. Ruth couldn’t stand to relinquish control over anyone, and if Rose moved back home, she would have a much easier time manipulating her.

"I thought I wasn’t welcome in your house."

"If your attitude improves, Rose, you’re welcome anywhere. There are so many people I could introduce you to, people who would be good to know in your career, people who send you places…"

"Men that I could marry and increase your fortunes with," Rose continued dryly. "Mother, I am not moving back to Philadelphia."

"Suppose your company decided to send you there?"

"Since I work for the San Francisco Times, I doubt there’s much chance of that."

"You never know what might happen with a merger."

Rose sighed. "Mother, what are you really getting at?"

"My boss has a son just a few years older than you. If you were to give him a chance, I think you might really hit it off."

Jack looked at the arguing women, a little nervously. He hoped that Rose wouldn’t be manipulated into meeting this young man. If they did indeed hit it off, that would be the end of their relationship, and he had missed her all the years they had been apart. But he also knew how adept Ruth was at manipulating her daughter, and worried that Rose would once again give in.

Rose’s next words heartened him, though.

"Mother, I’m already with someone. I’m with Jack." She moved closer to Jack, putting her hand on his. "I love Jack."

Ruth scowled, obviously not happy with the way things were going. "That’s a switch. When he left you, you swore that you hated him, that going out with him had been a mistake, and that you never wanted to see him again."

"That was several years ago. I was angry and hurt that he never contacted me, but I’ve since learned that he lost my address and phone number."

"How convenient. Rose—"

"And I have every reason to believe that you threw his address and phone number away so that I couldn’t contact him. I’m willing to bet that you did that just so that you could set me up with Cal."

"Rose, I have never interfered with your personal life."

"Mother, you’ve been interfering since the day I was born. Why do you think I chose to move so far away from you? I need my independence."

"I always tried to give you the best of everything."

"I don’t want the best of everything, if it means having to conform to your standards and the way you want me to live my life."

"Don’t you speak to me that way, Rose. I’m trying to have a reasonable conversation with you, but you simply don’t want to listen."

"You’re right. I don’t want to listen. I’ve been listening to you for far too long, and it’s cost me more happiness than you could ever dream of."

"You’re wrong, Rose. I gave you everything that you could ever want, but you’re so selfish that you never appreciated any of it—or tried to return the favor."

"If returning the favor means marrying some man that I can’t stand in order to get his money, then you’re the one who’s being selfish, trying to push me into something like that."

"There’s plenty of good, well-to-do men out there. You could have come to an amicable arrangement with Caledon Hockley, I’m sure, but you let him slip through your fingers."

"Thank God I did. He’s a wife-beater, you know."

"I never thought much of the girl he married. She undoubtedly made that accusation simply to get his money in a divorce settlement."

"Don’t you want the same thing for me?"

"I want you in a good marriage."

"Then leave me alone and let me make my own decisions!"

Ruth stood stiffly. "Rose, I will not put up with this attitude from you…"

"Then leave my house. Nobody’s making you stay here."

Ruth looked at her daughter, her eyes furious. "I am leaving now, Rose. I will see you tomorrow."

"I’m working tomorrow."

"We’ll meet for lunch. You decide where, and then call me."

"And if I don’t?"

"Rose, how can you treat me this way after the effort I made to come out here to visit you?"

Rose sighed, staring at her mother. Ruth was trying to give her a guilt trip—and succeeding. She gritted her teeth, knowing that her mother would only be in town for a few more days—and Rose had no intention of returning to Philadelphia anytime soon.

"All right, Mother. We’ll meet for lunch tomorrow. But I only have an hour, so be on time."

"Fine. Where will we meet?"

"I haven’t decided yet. I’ll call you tomorrow morning."

"Good. I will see then. I just hope your attitude has improved some."

Rose clenched her fists. "Mother, I think you’d better go now."

After Ruth was gone, Rose turned back to Jack, only to see him staring at her, a strange expression on his face.

"Jack, what is it?" she asked.

"Did you really say those things after we were separated—that you hated me, made a mistake in going out with me, and never wanted to see me again?"

"Jack, I was angry and hurt that you never contacted me after graduation. That’s why I said those things."

"And what changed your mind?" He couldn’t help but remember that they had met again when Rose was on her way to visit her mother. Could she have been using him to defy her mother?

"It had been several years. I got over it."

"And over me?"

"Of course not. Why would I have gotten back together with you so quickly if I’d gotten over you?"

"Maybe to show your mother that she couldn’t control you? It was pretty convenient that we were both on our way to Philadelphia when we met again."

"I didn’t know you would be there!"

"I know that, but you certainly ran to me quickly enough when you couldn’t get along with her."

"You can’t honestly believe that I would use you to get back at her!" Rose stared at him, her expression hurt and shocked.

"Actually, I don’t know what to believe, Rose. You claim to not want to be around her, but you’re quick enough to do what she wants you to do."

"No, I’m not, Jack. Not anymore."

"We’ll see." He turned and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the front door. "Call me when you’ve made up your mind."

He walked out. Rose stared after him, tears filling her eyes. Stumbling back into the kitchen, she sat down in one of the chairs, putting her face in her hands.

"Damn you, Mother," she mumbled. "Now look at what you’ve done."

Chapter Ten
Stories