FROM NOW UNTIL ETERNITY
Chapter Seventeen
It was a beautiful day for a
wedding. That was Jack’s thought as he stepped outside to wait for Rose. They
had an appointment with the justice of the peace at four, and they had to leave
right away if they were going to make it on time. Jack looked at his watch and
frowned. She should have been there by now. Maybe she wasn’t coming. Maybe she
had changed her mind and didn’t want to marry him after all.
"Jack!" Rose called,
pushing her way through the churning crowd. "Jack!"
"There you are." Jack
rushed to meet her. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to
come."
Rose giggled, surprised by Jack’s
insecurity. She had thought he knew that she’d follow him to the ends of the
earth by now. "Why wouldn’t I come?"
"I guess I’m the one being
silly right now." Jack smiled, pulling her to the car. "Come on.
Let’s get married."
*****
"I now pronounce you man and
wife." The justice of the peace smiled at the young couple before him.
When they had come to him, he had known at once that they were in love and were
meant to be together. "You may now kiss the bride."
Happily, Jack and Rose kissed,
sealing their union. The perfect moment was immediately shattered by shouting
voices and slamming doors.
"What is the meaning of
this?" The official stepped in front of the newlyweds, just as Ruth and
Chloe stormed into the room. Both women were glaring furiously at Jack and
Rose.
"Stop the wedding!"
Chloe yelled.
"What are you doing
here?" Jack glared at his sister. She just couldn’t let him be happy. She
just had to ruin everything. Maybe he should have just taken Rose and left
Chicago.
"I leaned on Moira. She told
me everything!" Chloe glared angrily at her brother. "What is wrong
with you two? Getting married?"
"Why, Rose?" Ruth
asked. "Why did you do such a thing?"
"You wouldn’t
understand." Rose shook her head, frowning at the tightness she felt in
her lower abdomen. Suddenly, she didn’t feel very well.
"You’re too young for
this!" Chloe continued yelling at Jack, who glared angrily at his sister,
momentarily forgetting that they weren’t alone.
"No, I’m not! I know exactly
what I want! I want to be with Rose!"
Chloe opened her mouth to say
more, but was interrupted by a painful gasp from Rose, who was clutching her
abdomen, her face pale and sweaty.
"Rose? What is it? Is it the
baby?" Jack gently took her arm.
Rose couldn’t answer. She ended
up collapsing in the pool of blood beneath her.
"Rose!" Ruth screamed,
dropping to Rose’s side.
"This girl needs medical
attention." The justice went for the phone.
"What’s going on?"
Chloe asked, not knowing what to do, her anger momentarily forgotten.
"Jack…our baby…" Rose
groaned, tears forming in her eyes as another pain gripped her. "It’s too
soon."
Jack gently stroked her hair,
trying not to look at the blood, trying not to think of their baby. A baby that
was very likely gone.
"The ambulance is on its
way." The justice returned. He placed a comforting hand on Jack’s
shoulder. "I’m sure she’ll be all right."
*****
Her baby. Gone. Gone forever. How
could she still be here while her baby was not? Its life had ended before it
even began. Rose stared up at the ceiling, drowning in her own devastation. It
had been ten hours since she had been brought in and told that she had suffered
a miscarriage. At first, she had been overcome with grief. Now, all she felt
was numbness and emptiness. Her tears were all cried out, her heart in so much
pain that she couldn’t feel it anymore.
"Why didn’t you tell me.
Rose?" Ruth stepped out of the shadows. Rose could read nothing from her
blank expression.
"Where’s Jack?" She
ignored the question. She couldn’t talk about anything concerning the baby now.
It was too painful.
"Outside with his sister.
Now, why didn’t you tell me about the baby, and did you really think that getting
married would solve anything?"
Rose sighed and stared back up at
the ceiling. "I don’t know why I didn’t tell you, Mother. I really don’t.
As far as getting married, we would have given the baby a family. If
only…" Rose sighed, closing her eyes against the new onslaught of tears.
"The baby wasn’t our only reason for getting married. We love each other.
We wanted to be together forever."
"Rose, you’re seventeen
years old. You don’t know what love is! Do you know what you’ve done? The
Hockleys will never let us back in their social circle now…"
"I knew it! I knew the
Hockleys and their money were there somewhere!" Rose laughed sardonically.
"What’s so funny? Rose, this
is very serious…"
"Get out!" Rose glared
at her mother, not wanting to hear anymore.
"What?"
"Get out! I am so sick of
hearing about the Hockleys from you, so get out! Go tell it to them!"
"Fine, Rose. I’ll leave. But
we still have a lot to talk about, and yes, the Hockleys are one of them."
Ruth grabbed her purse and left Rose alone to her thoughts.
*****
Jack sat in the lobby, his head
in his hands. This was all his fault. The pregnancy, the miscarriage…if he
hadn’t been so thoughtless, so selfish and needy…Rose wouldn’t be here,
mourning over the loss of their child. He looked up at Chloe, surprised that
she hadn’t insisted on dragging him home and locking him in his room…that she
was there at all.
"So…I guess you’re happy now."
Jack’s voice was both bitter and sad. He didn’t know why he felt so angry,
really, but he had to take it out on someone.
"Jack…this is not my
fault." Chloe looked at her brother, knowing that he was grieving and
didn’t mean what he was saying. "I never wanted something like this to
happen. This was what I was trying to prevent."
"I’m not leaving her, Chloe.
I don’t care what you say. I love Rose and she loves me. I’m not leaving
her." Jack’s face was set with determination, daring her to disagree.
"Fine. I agree. I see now
that any attempt to separate the two of you is fruitless. So, from now on, I’ll
leave you alone. You and Rose are allowed to see each other whenever. You’ll
have no more problems from me."
Jack opened his mouth to speak,
but he was interrupted by a nurse.
"Mr. Dawson?" she asked
hesitantly. "The young lady will see you now."
"Will you still be here when
I come back?" He turned to Chloe, his anger completely gone. Now only his
grief remained, and he needed someone to be there for him while he was there
for Rose. He needed his sister.
"If you want me to be."
Chloe nodded.
"I want you to be." He
smiled slightly before following the nurse into a separate corridor.
"How is she?" Jack
asked as they approached Rose’s room.
"As well as can be expected
after such a loss. Poor dear." The nurse shook her head in sympathy.
"She’s right through the door."
"Thank you." He watched
the nurse walk away, his thoughts all jumbled. What was he going to say to
Rose? What was she going to say to him? Did she blame him? After all, if it
wasn’t for the problems he had caused, Rose wouldn’t be in this situation right
now.
Taking a deep breath, he entered
and stopped, his eyes wide in shock. Gone was his vibrant, beautiful Rose. So
full of life, love, and happiness. In her place was this stranger. So full of
sadness, hopelessness, and devastation. Her normally bouncy red curls now lay
flat and lifeless against her shoulders. Her face was as white as chalk and her
eyes were red and swollen from all the crying she had done.
"Rose?" Jack asked, not
really sure it was her.
She looked up at him, and then
looked away as if she were ashamed. Jack inwardly sighed. It wasn’t Rose who
should be ashamed. It was him. He should be the one ashamed. After all, he had
been the cause of all the stress. "Th-they finally let me see you…"
"Do you hate me?" Her
eyes shone with renewed tears.
"Do I hate you? Oh, Rose,
no. Of course I don’t hate you. Why would you think such a thing?" Jack
knelt next to her. "I love you."
"But I…I killed our
baby." A tear fell.
"No, Rose. You did nothing.
You did not kill the baby. If you want to blame someone, blame me. All the
stress I’ve caused…"
"Oh, Jack, no! Don’t."
She laid a cool hand on top of his. "Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t
cause the stress."
"Rose…"
"No, Jack. No. You did not
kill our baby."
"Neither did you. The baby’s
death…it was just one of those things that happens. The important thing is that
you’re okay. The doctor said that you’ll be able to bear children until you’re
fifty."
Rose smiled slightly, feeling a
bit better. She touched Jack’s face tenderly and asked, "What would I do
without you?"
Jack grinned brightly.
"You’ll never have to find out."
Looking into each other’s eyes,
Jack and Rose knew that nothing on earth could ever come between them. They
were going to be together forever.