LIFE AFTER JACK
Chapter Four
"Rose, darling, wake
up," Cal said to Rose, standing beside her bed.
"Cal, what is wrong?"
"Nothing, sweetpea. I just
thought you might want to get up and go to the library."
"Well, I have to feed Opal
first," answered Rose.
After Rose got up, fed Opal, and
got dressed, she, Cal, and Opal went to the library in town. When they got
there, Cal told Rose that he was going to look in another section of the
library. Rose replied with a simple all right. Rose took Opal over to the children's
section to pick out a bedtime story. After that, she went to the novels and got
a book about a young girl who had given up being rich for a poor man. Rose felt
that this was the story of her life.
Cal walked back over as she was
heading to the desk to give the lady her name so she could check out the book.
Rose asked Cal what he had found, and he replied, "It is about a man who
wanted revenge on his cheating wife."
"That sounds very
interesting," Rose replied nicely.
"May I have your name,
Madame?" asked the lady at the desk.
"Rose Dawson."
"You took Jack’s last
name?" asked Cal, seeming upset.
"Yes. Is that a
problem?"
"No, sweetpea, not at all,
if that is what makes you happy."
Rose found it a little funny to
know that Cal was a little jealous and angry that she had taken Jack’s name.
When they returned home, Rose
began cleaning the house. While cleaning the parlor, Rose found the book that
Cal had gotten from the library. It was not about getting revenge on a wife. It
was a book of robbery techniques.
"How could I be so
stupid?" Rose asked herself out loud.
"What did you say,
sweetpea?" asked Cal with an annoyed look on his face.
"Nothing. I was just saying
that the apartment looks good cleaned up," said a now red-faced Rose. She
was embarrassed about lying.
But why should she feel guilty
about telling a lie? After all, that was what he had been doing since he got
there.
All of a sudden, Opal started
crying again and Rose had to go check on her. "Cal, where are you?"
There was no answer. "Cal, are you here?" Still no answer.
Rose ran very quickly to where
she had hidden the necklace. "You unimaginable bastard!" exclaimed
Rose when she saw that the necklace was gone.
Rose could not believe that the
necklace was gone. She looked everywhere to make sure she hadn’t misplaced it,
but she could not find it anywhere.
"It was all a trick, a trick
just to get the necklace," Rose said to herself. Rose dropped down on her
knees and started praying. "Jack, what should I do? Why are you not here
when I need you most?"
All of a sudden, Rose heard a
voice behind her, a voice that she had been longing to hear for three years.
"Jack?"
Rose felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Is that really you,
Jack?"
"Yes, Rose. Turn around if
you don’t believe me."
Rose turned around and jumped
into Jack’s arms.
"Jack, you were dead. How
could you have been gone for three years ago and be back now?"
"I was not dead when you let
me go. I was just asleep. I woke up and swam to the surface as you got into the
lifeboat, but I could not shout loudly enough for anyone to hear me. There was
another lifeboat that came back about ten minutes later. I looked on the
Carpathia, but I could not find you."