"…happy birthday, dear Jackie and Jackson, happy birthday to you!"
The seven-year-old girl and boy with blond curls blew out the candles with help from Rose, their mother. Their friends clapped and cheered, then bombarded Rose with cake requests.
Rose took off the candles and cut the cake for the overeager children, hardly believing that seven years had passed since she had had Jackson and Jackie. Seven and three quarters years since the Titanic had sank. It was January 10, 1920.
When the party was over, all the children left. Jackson, who looked like a small version of Jack, but with his mother's nose, and Jackie, who looked like a mix of both parents, saw two children be picked up by their father. After they waved, they went over to Rose.
"Did you have a good time?" Rose asked, putting the plates away. The twins nodded.
"Hey, Mom?" Jackson asked.
"Where's Dad?" Jackie finished. Rose knelt down to their eye level and looked at them. She was still sad. She had told her close friends a basic overview of her story, but she had never mentioned it to the children. It had taken them seven years to piece it together. If they were old enough to figure that out, they were old enough to hear what had happened.
"Well, you’re both old enough now for me to tell. Sit down," Rose said. "It’s a long story, Jackie and Jackson. And it doesn’t have a happy ending like in your picture books."
The twins nodded. They were ready for the story.
"If you have any questions, ask. You’re old enough to understand."
More nods.
Rose took a deep breath, then began. "First of all, there is something called a class system. Not like classes in school, though. What class you’re in depends on how much money you have. Upper class people have a lot of money and fancy clothes. Middle class is regular people like us. The working class is people who have very little money. And people from different classes aren’t supposed to talk to each other."
"Why not?" asked Jackie.
Rose opened her mouth to answer, but then realized she had absolutely no idea. It was so stupid. She and Jack had discovered that. She finally answered, "I don’t know." She had heard that someone, somewhere had said it was really hard to admit not knowing something, but to Rose, it was a blessing. "Well, I was in the upper class. My mother and I had lost all of our money, but I was going to marry a rich man so we wouldn’t be poor."
"Why did you need to be rich?" Jackson wanted to know.
"Some people think money is everything. My mother was like that. It’s strange, but some people do."
A nod of understanding.
"I didn’t like the man I was going to marry. I didn’t choose him, but no one asked me. His name was Caledon Hockley."
The twins snorted. "That’s a funny name," Jackson said, grinning.
Rose smiled. "I know. But he wasn’t a nice person. We went to Europe on a big boat. Do you know where that is?"
"Isn't that the place where Italy is? The boot country?" Jackie asked.
"Yes. Italy is part of Europe," Rose said.
"Where did you come from, Mom?" Jack asked.
"I came from Philadelphia," Rose answered. "We were coming back here on another big boat called the Titanic. Your father wasn’t going to go on the boat, but he won a game and got a ticket. He was very poor, and in the working class. I hated my life. I couldn’t keep going. Your dad and I met while I was trying to jump off the back of the ship."
Both children looked horrified. "But wouldn’t you have gotten hurt?"
Rose nodded grimly. "I wanted to die."
Jackie still looked a bit scared. Jackson was a bit confused as to why his mother had wanted to kill herself. Rose felt a little bad about exposing her son and daughter to such horrors at the age of seven. It was still young for them to know about this, but they had asked for the story. And this was the story.
"He saw me and helped me not to jump off. We became friends after that, and then I fell in love with him." Jackie grinned. Even at age seven, she was a sucker for romance. Jackson wasn't really into romance. He stuck his tongue out. "Caledon Hockley--Cal--didn’t like that. He tried to keep me away from him. But it didn’t work. He hated your father. The Titanic was very big, and everybody knew about it. But it hit a big block of ice, filled with water, and sank. It took a very long time, and I was with your dad for most of it. We were on the ship until it was completely underwater. He found a piece of wood that would only hold me, and he froze waiting for a lifeboat. A lifeboat is a smaller boat that they have on big boats so that if the boat sinks, the people can get off. People thought the Titanic could not sink, so there weren’t enough lifeboats. More than half of the people on the ship died."
By now, Rose was crying, lost in memories. Jackie and Jackson weren’t so involved, but they hugged their mother, who squeezed them back.
"The lifeboat came back, but your father had already died. I got in the boat, and we were picked up by another ship, and we finished going to America. Then I found out I was going to have you. I found out I was having twins, which made my life full of happiness."
Jackie was silent for a moment. "What was Daddy’s name?"
"Jack Dawson."
"That’s our last name!" she said.
"And my name is Jack...well, sort of," Jackson said.
"Yes, it is. After he died, I took his name. My old last name was DeWitt Bukater."
"If that were my name, I wouldn’t be able to spell it," Jackie said.
"That’s what your dad said when I met him."
Later That Night
When the twins went to bed, they were still awake. They didn't mind sharing a room, but one had to leave while the other was changing.
"Jackson?" Jackie asked. Jackson looked at her.
"Yeah, Jackie?"
"Is something telling you to leave here and go out into New York and look for someone?" Jackson smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. I think we should do it! But what about Mom?"
"Well, we'll leave a note for her to read in the morning. We'll come back once we find this strange man I’ve been dreaming about. Somehow, I know he knows Mom."
"And I see this man in my dreams every night," Jackson said as they pulled out clothes. "He looks like me, except he's got a different nose." Jackie left the room. Jackson put on short black pants and a white shirt. He took out his green coat and left the room. Jackie walked in and put on a red dress on and a black coat. They grabbed some food and left a note for their mother.
Morning
Rose woke up the next morning. She went to wake the children up, but they weren’t there. Then she saw the note on the bed.
Mom,
We went out tonight to find a stranger in my dreams and Jackie has a feeling you know. Be back soon.
Jackson
Rose dropped the letter, got dressed, and went out to look for her children.