ONE LAST TIME
Chapter Four
Rose awoke during the night,
finding Jack by her side. She thought about the things she needed to say and
wanted to know about. She had so many unanswered questions. She turned on a light,
and Jack was sound asleep. She began to wonder how many sleepless nights he had
had. For all she knew, maybe he never slept.
He opened his eyes and yawned. He
got up to stretch. "Hmm…I haven't slept like that in years."
"Looks like you needed it. I
am so glad you’re here. It's like a dream or something." She smiled,
leaning against his shoulder.
"It's not a dream, Rose. I
am here." He smiled at her and hugged her. "So, how have you been? I
mean, since I have been gone?" Jack asked.
"Without you, it's been pure
hell, Jack. I missed you terribly after you left. I was hoping you would come
back. Some of my friends told me to forget about you, to move on. But I didn't
listen. I knew you would come back to me someday." Rose hugged him.
"I needed to come back even
if you were with someone, even if you were married. I just had to see if you
were all right," Jack explained.
"Jack, I would never betray
our love. I mean, this guy Eric--he's been trying to date me, but I always turn
him down. I don't want him. I want you." She got on top of him and started
to kiss him.
"You've got me, Rose. One
hundred percent." He meant every word.
"So, you lived in New York.
How are your parents?" Rose asked.
"I have no clue. For all I
know, they are probably dead. You see, I was living with my grandma. She
recently died, but I haven't heard anything from my mother or father. They just
left me with my Oma, and I haven't seen them since." Jack never wondered
where they were.
"So sorry to hear
that." Rose looked down.
"Yeah. So, this guy, Eric.
Do you like him?" Jack looked at her.
"He's okay, but I would
never sleep with him," Rose said out loud.
"Why not?" Jack
wondered why he asked this.
"Because you’re the only one
I want." Rose lay by his side. He was all she ever needed.
"I see my Rose has missed me
just as much as I missed her," Jack said in baby talk.
"You bet your ass, Mr.
Dawson." She smiled and blinked her eyes.
"Ah…my Rose wants to play
games?" Jack looked at her as if going in for the kill and started to
tickle her.
"Jack, don't!" Rose
pushed him away.
"Come on. We used to do this
when we were kids," Jack said.
"We're not kids anymore,
Jack," Rose said.
"So, do you wanna
play?" Jack saw cards on her dresser.
"Fine. We’ll play, then.
What do you get if you win?" Rose sat on the bed.
"Anything you want."
Jack shuffled the deck.
"Okay. I'm game." Rose
nodded.
He shuffled the cards again.
"All right. What do you want to play--blackjack, Texas hold'em?"
"How about bullshit?"
Rose asked.
"Huh?" Jack had no clue
what that was.
"It's a game me and my
friend made up." Rose took the cards away from him.
"Oh. How do you play?"
Jack asked.
"We’ll split the deck in
half. You take one half, I take the other, then put all your pairs together.
Okay? Now, whoever is the first to lose all their cards wins. Now for the
bullshit part. You put one card down--for example, an ace. I try to match your
ace, but if I have all the aces, I call your bluff, and then you have to pick
up all the cards we dealt and you have to start all over again." Rose hoped
he understood.
"Okay. I see." Jack
thought he understood what she was saying.
"Why don't we make this
interesting?" Rose asked.
"All right. What are the
terms?" Jack asked.
"Terms?" Rose looked at
him.
"Yeah. What are we playing
for?" Jack asked her.
"How about whoever loses
gets to tease the other person?" Rose asked.
"In what way?" Jack
touched her thigh.
"Any way you see
possible." Rose looked at his hand and caressed it.
Abby knocked on the door just as
Jack and Rose were going to play. "Jack, someone is here to see you."
"Who? No one knows I am
here." Jack hadn't told anyone he was leaving.
"I don't know, but she
claims she knows you." Abby shrugged. She didn't know what Jack had been
keeping from her daughter.
"All right. I will be right
down. Rose, I promise to tell you everything when I get back. All right? Stay
here." Jack didn't know who it was that had come to see him.
"Okay." Rose looked at
him, wondering what he was keeping from her.
Jack went downstairs. He saw a
blonde standing in the kitchen, waiting for him.
She heard footsteps, his
footsteps.
"Jack?" Amber ran to
him and hugged him.
"Amber? What are you doing
here?" He wondered how she had found him.
"I need your help,
Jack." Amber pushed her son into his arms.
"Wait! How did you find me?"
Jack asked.
"That doesn't matter. Our
baby needs you," Amber explained to him.
"How many times have I told
you it's not mine?" Jack handed her the baby, but she wouldn't take him.
"Yes, it is yours. Don’t you
remember? We had sex. I am positive he's yours." Amber remembered that
night.
"I told you I don't
remember." Jack had no idea what had happened that night she was talking
about.
"Well, you were drunk. Of
course you don't remember. You were hot that night. You even called me
Rose." She smiled.
"There's someone you have to
meet. My fiancée," Jack said.
"Your fiancée? You’re
engaged? But what about Jack, Jr.?" Amber was surprised that he was
already engaged. He had never told her that he was leaving New York when he
left, but she found out through his neighbor that he was leaving.
"Amber, no. He's not
mine." Jack tried to give her back the baby. She took him.
"He is yours! Here."
She handed him back over to him.
"Amber, where are you
going?" he asked.
"I gave birth to your son. The
least you can do is take care of him," Amber said.
"For how long?" Jack
asked.
"Just until my ex-boyfriend
leaves. You see, he beats me. And I don't want him to hurt Jack." She
didn't want to leave Jack, Jr., but she had no choice. She had to fix up her
life. She was tired of being used as a toy by her ex-boyfriend.
"Amber, I told you to leave
him." Jack felt sorry for her.
"That's why I need your
help." She hugged him.
"What do you need me
for?" Jack asked.
"You’re gonna play my
husband for a while," she told him.
"No. That's out of the
question." He wouldn't lie to Rose. He couldn't.
"Jack, do you want me to
tell your fiancée the rest of our story?" Amber asked.
"No!" He never wanted
Rose to know she wasn't his first.
"All right, then. Will you
help me?" Amber asked.
"I guess I have no
choice," he said sarcastically.
"No, you don't." She
winked at him.
Jack had no idea what to do. For
all he knew, she was leaving Jack, Jr. with him forever. "Can I trust you
to come back?" he asked.
"You have my word on it. But
since I know you don't trust me, I will leave something behind." She took
off her mother's earrings. They were the only thing she had that her mother had
given her before she died. She put them in his hands.
"I trust you to take care of
these. They are the only thing I have left of my mother. You remember what I
told you about her," Amber said.
"Yes, I remember." He
nodded.
In the Past
When Jack went to New York, he
met a girl named Amber. She was his neighbor. He saw her through his bedroom
window almost every day. She would say hi to him. Then, one night, he drank
heavily because he missed Rose. Amber saw him and waved. He was crying, and she
took him in her arms and comforted him.
He pulled away and kissed her.
When he pulled away, he took her upstairs and made love to her that night.
A few weeks later, she realized
she was pregnant by him. She didn’t tell him about the baby until after the
birth. She never asked him for anything. She brought the baby home. He had
strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She knew it was his. She had been with
her ex for years and never gotten pregnant. When she comforted him, he didn't
remember a thing. All he remembered was waking up without his underwear on.
She tried to get him to admit
that he was the father of her baby, but he never did. She even tried to get
close to him, but he pushed her away. So she forgot about him and started
dating again.
*****
She went up to him and kissed his
cheek. "Thank you, and take care of him. Bye, Jack."
She kissed her baby. "Good-bye,
sweetie. Daddy's gonna take care of you now."
Jack saw her take off. He carried
the baby in his arms. The baby did not cry. He carried him upstairs and took
him to see Rose.
Jack looked at her, and she just
stared at him with the baby in his arms.