NOW & FOREVER
Chapter Seven
Jack couldn't…he could not believe what he
had just heard.
Rose had called him a lowlife, a scum, a gutter
rat.
He couldn't believe it…he wouldn't…but
somewhere inside him, he couldn't help it.
He had really fallen for her, too. This was
what always happened to him. Whenever he felt something for another, they
turned on him.
I must be cursed, he thought to himself.
He thought about running above decks and
demanding an explanation for this, but thought better of it.
"Jack, I'm sorry I stormed out of here
like that, but I was upset. That really scared me."
He just stared ahead.
"Jack? Are you sure you're all right?
You were so out of it earlier."
"Rose! I told you I was fine!"
He stomped above decks to the bow. When he
had been shuttled back and forth between his relatives, an uncle had had a
small motor boat and had allowed Jack to take it out sometimes. He had always
found some sort of peace just being on the water.
What have I done now? she thought. Have I just ruined something else?
She further straightened up, tried to put her
wild curls back in place, and tried to straighten her clothes. Her fashionable
clothes, she thought, were a sad affliction to her life.
Never being able to eat as much as she wanted,
or relax in them, or even allow herself to be a healthy weight.
She was imprisoned in these expensive
creations that her mother as good as forced her to wear.
When she was thirteen, she had flat out
refused to wear them, but that ended in a three hour standoff between
her and Ruth.
Ruth, of course, had won.
Why can't I be like all the other girls?
Just live a normal life without all the pressures of society. Without my
mother.
When it all came down to it, her mother was
the one who had made her life a living hell.
The latest clothes, shoes, and intricate
hairstyles had been her life since she had turned thirteen.
She had wanted to run away several times, but
knew well enough that if her mother ever found her she would be worse off than
she already was.
*****
He stared ahead at Lake Superior, watching
the sun go down. He was thinking how soon he had fallen for Rose, and how soon
he had been yanked back up just as fast, if not faster.
Sometimes he wanted to just leave it all
behind, but then he thought of Rose...she had hurt him in the worst possible
way, but he still cared. He couldn't help himself.