CHANGES
Chapter Fifteen
New Year's Eve
"Welcome! Hello! Its good to see you
again!" Ruth said warmly as the long line of guests began filing into the
house. As they did every year, the DeWitt-Bukaters were hosting their New Years
party. And as usual, the entire town of Knollwood was in attendance. "I'm
so glad you could make it!" Ruth exclaimed as Nathan and Caledon Hockley
walked through the door.
Nathan smiled. "It was nice of you to invite
us, Ruth."
Just then Rose and Jack came up from behind.
Cal's face turned livid when he saw Rose's pregnant state. Having left for
Texas a week after graduation, he had not been informed of this development.
Rose smiled tensely and Jack put his arm possessively around her. "Ah,
hello Cal. Mr. Hockley. Mother."
Cal muttered a hello, glancing down at Rose's
left hand. No ring. So how was she pregnant? Her excuse for them never having
sex was that she was saving herself for marriage. What made Jack so different?
They had been together for three years! Her and Jack couldn't have been
together much more than a year. Suddenly an unknown feeling came over him.
Jealousy.
"Um, excuse us, would you?" Jack
said, pulling Rose out of the group. They stopped a few feet away from
everyone, speaking lowly to each other, casting a few looks in Cal's direction.
This made Cal uneasy. He sighed, knowing he shouldn't have come. Now he'd have
to watch them play love birds all evening.
*****
"And so, we were looking all over the
place..." Mayor of Knollwood and one of the DeWitt-Bukaters closest
friends, Molly Brown was saying. Rose closed her eyes as the baby kicked. It
had been going crazy all week, kicking non-stop. As much as she loved knowing
her child was active, she just wanted to be done with carrying it.
"You okay?" Jack asked quietly.
Rose opened her eyes and gave him a small
smile. "I'm fine. The baby seems to be having a celebration of its
own."
Jack smiled and spread his hand out over her
stomach. The experience of feeling the baby moving within her was amazing to
him. The thought that they had created that...it was just incredible. "Few
more weeks. I can't believe its been nine months already."
"I know. By the time January is over,
we're going to have a baby. We're going to be parents."
And though the prospect of parenthood scared
them both to no end, they were confident they could do it.
Cal, who was sitting no more than two feet
away from them, heard this exchange. So she was due soon. Which meant she got
pregnant in...April. "So, um, Rose...when are you due?"
Rose looked up at him in surprise.
"January fifteenth."
"Oh, I see. How are you doing to work
that out? With you living apart and all."
"Uh...actually, we have a place
together. In Minneapolis."
Cal felt his heart lurch. They were living
together? "And when did this come about?"
"August."
"Oh." Cal nodded and turned away,
not wanting to hear anymore about their relationship. Rose and Jack shared a
confused look, but shrugged it off.
*****
"Hey Jackie-boy." David hollered
over the roar of the crowd. It was twenty to twelve and everyone was stoked.
The band was playing, people were dancing and Joseph was handing out bazookas
and hats.
"Hey, Dave." Jack replied, catching
up to him as he made his way outside.
"When are you going to do it?"
Jack ringed his hands nervously. "Now, I
guess. I want to do it before the year is over."
David grinned. "Then you better get in
there. Go get 'em tiger."
Jack rolled his eyes and went back into the
house to find Rose.
*****
He found her talking to Lauren and Robby.
"Hey, I want to talk to you. Can I steal her away from you guys for a
bit?"
Lauren shrugged. "She's your
girlfriend."
Jack smiled and pulled Rose with him until
they were alone in an upstairs bedroom. Rose gave him an inquisitive look.
"What's so important that you had to drag me all the way up here?"
Jack ran a hand through his hair and led her
to the bed, holding her hand. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face her.
"I love you. I--"
"I love you, too. Did you really have to
bring me up here to tell me that?"
Jack shook his head. "Let me finish,
would you?"
Rose grinned. "Sorry. Go ahead."
"I love you. I never thought it could be
possible to love someone as much as I love you. Especially not you." He
paused, smiling slightly. "But it happened and here we are, expecting a
baby...this just feels so right. You bring the best out of me and I never want
to stop feeling like this. I never want that sense of incompletion like before,
to return. So...Rose, will you marry me?"
Rose gasped when he opened the ring box, her
eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. Then a stunning smile spread
across her face. "How could you think my answer would be anything but
yes?"
Jack broke into a huge smile and pulled her
into his arms, kissing her passionately. They broke apart, laughing when Rose
received a hard kick from inside. "I think the baby approves." Jack
said, sliding the ring onto her finger.
As he did that, Rose noticed the time.
"Oh!" She gasped, jumping up. "One minute before midnight!"
Linking hands, they ran downstairs just as
everyone started counting down. They joined in immediately.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five!
Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!"
*****
After everyone had wished everyone a happy
new year, Jack pulled Rose up the makeshift stage, where the band was getting
ready to start playing again. "Come on, lets announce it now. Excuse
me," He said to the bands lead singer. "Can I borrow the microphone
for a minute?"
The man nodded and Jack helped Rose step up.
He turned it on and tapped it lightly. "Can I have everyone's attention,
please?"
All the guests stopped talking and gathered
around the young couple. Rose slipped her hand into Jacks and smiled brightly.
Jacks face radiated the same glow and he winked at his brother, who was
grinning.
"We have an announcement to make."
He paused, pulling Rose in front of him and putting his arms around her.
"Tonight I asked Rose to be my wife and she agreed. We're getting
married."
There was a stunned silence in the room until
Rose's sisters squealed in delight, running up to her and hugging them both.
Then they were surrounded by hundreds of people, hugging them, congratulating
them and giving them well wishes. Once the excitement died down, Joseph pulled
Jack into his office. Jack obediently sat in the chair he had indicated and
sighed inwardly. Here it came. Joseph's lecture. He had it coming, he'd just
proposed to this mans daughter, after all. Joseph came around to the front of
his desk and sat on the edge. "So you and Rose want to get married?"
"Ah, yes sir."
"You know, in the old days, the young
man was required to ask the girls father for her hand in marriage." Joseph
said meaningfully.
Jack gulped, he hadn't expected that one.
"I...uh...well, we..."
Joseph held up his hand. "No need to
explain. I just have a few questions to ask you."
"Okay."
"First, out of concern for my daughters
future, once you get to Boston, how do you plan on providing for her? You'll
have a baby and be attending college."
I can't really answer that without talking to
Rose first. Its something we'd have to discuss."
"All right. What about the baby? Rose
will want to be going to school full time, if not overtime to make up for this
year."
"Rose and I decided that the baby will
stay with a baby-sitter until one of us gets off school. I'll only be going
three days a week, so it'll work fine."
"I see. Seeing that you'll be getting
married, I'd assume you'll want more kids. What about that?"
"We've talked about having more, but we
both agreed that we're going to wait until she graduates college. Her education
is important to both of us."
Joseph nodded. "I'm glad to hear that.
One last thing. Are you marrying her out of love or out of duty?"
Jack's mouth dropped open. "Love, sir.
Its the twenty-first century, just because we're having a baby doesn't mean we
have to get married. I want to spend the rest of my life with her."
Joseph smiled and pat him on the back.
"Good, good. Welcome to the family, Jack."
Jack grinned. "Thank you."