CLASS OF 2000
Chapter Fifteen
July 15, 2000
Rose continued
performing throughout her pregnancy. In addition to occasional appearances on
talk shows and MTV, she also performed in one solo concert and two concerts
with Jack. Her advancing pregnancy forced her to slow down somewhat, but it
didn’t stop her from recording a new album with Jack.
On July 15, 2000,
two days after her due date, Rose and Jack were scheduled to perform at Casino
Morongo, near Palm Springs. Under most circumstances, they would have been too
young to go into a casino, but Casino Morongo was on an Indian reservation,
and, as a technically foreign country, the reservation could make its own rules
about who was old enough to enter a casino.
The casino was
crowded by the time the concert was scheduled to start. People milled around,
eating, drinking, and gambling, and more than a few waited eagerly for the two
young stars to come on stage.
Rose had her
reservations about the concert. She had been having back pains all day, though
she had tried to ignore them, but her obstetrician had told her enough about
what to expect that she was beginning to suspect that she was going into labor.
Still, the concert
was only going to be an hour and a half long, so what harm could it do? She
would finish the concert, tell Jack what was going on, and have him take her to
the hospital. Another pain struck her as she and Jack walked on stage, but she
still ignored it.
The crowd cheered
as they came on stage and began their first song. Ten minutes into the concert,
Jack noticed that Rose had stopped singing. Her lips still moved, but silently,
and she looked more like she was counting than singing.
He nudged her
gently in the side with his elbow. She glanced up, plastered a smile on her
face, and tried to resume singing.
It didn’t work too
well. She got to the end of the verse before the pain overwhelmed her, causing
her to end the verse in a shriek.
The music stopped
as the musicians looked up at her in surprise. The audience murmured, wondering
what was wrong. Jack stared at her for a moment, then led her away from the
microphones.
"What’s
wrong?" he whispered, leaning his face close to hers.
"I...I...think
I’m going into labor," she whispered back, her face breaking out into a
sweat.
"Now?!"
"Since this
morning, actually, but I thought I could get through the concert."
"Rose! Why
didn’t you say something?!"
"Because I
thought it would take longer than this."
The casino manager,
who had been watching from backstage, gestured to them. Jack hurried over.
"What is going
on?" she asked, looking from Jack to Rose. The tickets for the concert had
sold out, and if something was going to go wrong, she wanted to know what it
was.
"Rose is in
labor," Jack told her. "I need to take her to the hospital."
The manager looked
over at Rose, who was giving a sheepish smile to the audience.
"All right.
Go. Is it possible to book you for another concert in the near future?"
Thomas Andrews had
come to the edge of the curtain at the commotion, and he readily agreed.
"Of course. In
about six weeks, perhaps? To give Rose a chance to recuperate from the birth?
If it’s okay with the two of you," he added, as Jack and Rose came up to
him.
Jack looked at Rose
and shrugged. "It’s okay with me."
Rose nodded.
"Yes. In about six weeks. Right now, though, could we please get out of
here? I think these babies really want out."
"We’ll get out
of here in just a moment," Jack told her. "But first, let’s tell the
audience what’s going on. They need to know why the concert was suddenly cut
short."
"Good
idea."
Jack and Rose
walked back to the microphones, followed by the manager. Jack tapped on one
microphone to get the audience’s attention.
"Can we have
your attention, please?" he asked. The audience stopped talking amongst
themselves and turned their attention toward the stage.
"We’re sorry
to cut the concert short, but the Dawson twins have chosen tonight to come into
the world," Rose told them. "Since I’d just as soon not give birth on
stage, we’re going to have to stop now and go to the hospital. I hope you
understand."
The audience was
silent for a moment. Then, someone began to applaud. Others soon joined him,
and soon the room was filled with cheers and applause.
Rose beamed,
grateful for their acceptance of the situation. As she and Jack left the stage,
she heard the manager announcing that another concert would be scheduled in six
weeks, and those who had bought tickets to this concert would not have to pay
for new tickets.
Thomas Andrews met
them backstage, along with Molly Brown. They hustled Rose past the security
guards and into the car, getting her on her way to the hospital.