ALL THE WAY
Chapter Twenty-Five

Late May, 1933

Rose glanced up from the tiny sandwiches she was preparing and stole a glance outside. Everything was still in order, thank goodness. The tables were still perfect, the food hadn't been messed with, and the decorations were all still in their right places. She had worried earlier that the wind might pick up, but thankfully, it had stayed calm. Now all she had to do was pray that no one would show up until the food was ready.

It was Michael's graduation day. The boy had finally graduated from high school. It was amazing; nobody thought he would make it. With all of the stunts and schemes he had pulled over the past couple of years, everyone was betting he would drop out, or, worse, be kicked out. Rose had possessed doubts like everyone else, but she always knew in her heart that he would make it.

The house was quiet except for the soft noise from the radio. Mary was asleep upstairs, taking a much-needed nap, and the rest of the family was at the reception at school. Rose had been there for the ceremony, but then had left to get the house ready for all their guests. She had taken Mary, who was beginning to get bored, not to mention tired, home so that she could rest before everyone showed up.

It was certainly going to be one...interesting party. Rose could think of no other way to describe it. Everyone they knew, it seemed, was coming. The Fosters, Langstons, countless other neighbors, families from school that they had become friends with over the past four years. Not to mention a few of Michael's teachers who Jack knew and some friends of his from his office who knew Michael.

Nervously, Rose checked the clock that was sitting on the counter. It was almost four; people were going to start arriving any minute now. She sighed and hurriedly put the plate of sandwiches up so that the dog couldn't get to them. Addy had died some time ago, and for her birthday this year, Jack had gotten Rose a new puppy, a cute little pug who they named Ralph. The dog was small, but even so, it had figured out how to jump from the one of the chairs onto the table, and from the table to the countertop. Rose loved Ralph, but she was pretty sure he was some demon dog. He got into more trouble in the last few months than Addy had in her lifetime.

Quickly, she went upstairs and woke Mary, who reluctantly arose. The poor girl was tired, and, Rose feared, still cranky from lack of sleep. But even so she forced her daughter into a fresh dress and managed to run a comb through her blonde curls before dragging her downstairs. She was met at the bottom of the stairs by Jack, who was not alone. He had with him three people she had never seen before: a rugged, mid-thirties looking man with a younger brunette woman, who Rose assumed was his wife. They had with them a little boy, about seven or eight years old, with blonde hair, who was standing in front of them, his hands on his hips.

"Ah, hello," Rose said slowly and cautiously. She couldn't stop looking at these people, whoever they were.

Jack winced. He was a bit worried about how Rose might react when he showed up with the O'Connell's. But, he was confident that she would be fine with it once he explained who they were. She broke her gaze after a minute and looked at him, her eyes holding a mixture of confusion and a sort of anger.

He reached up and took her hand, leading her down the rest of the stairs. Mary, acting uncharacteristically very shy, followed her and hid behind her mother's skirts. "Rose, honey," he began, "these are the O’Connell’s." He paused for only a minute before going on with his explanation. "Ah, Rick here is from Chippewa Falls originally. His parents were friends of my parents and we were kind of friends before I took off. He and I met up in Europe again in…what was it, Rick?" Jack didn't wait for an answer. He just kept talking. "Oh, early 1912, I would say. We were on the same train from Rome to Paris, both of us stowaways in the baggage compartment." Jack laughed and gave Rick a friendly slap on the back. "Kid here was just fifteen and on his own, so he followed me around for a while before we parted ways and he took off by himself again."

Mr. O'Connell thrust out his hand for Rose to shake. Her head was still spinning, trying to take this in. And she was still confused on why they were here. Even so, she shook his hand and then said, "Well, any friend of Jack’s..."

"Thanks, Mrs. Dawson. Alex, my son here, and I were walking toward the park when I saw Jack. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I ran over and made sure it was he. Course, it was, and we got to talking. Last time I saw him was in the spring of '12...he was heading for England with some little Italian fellow. What was his name again, Jack?"

"Fabrizio," Jack said quickly before changing the subject. "I invited them to Michael's party, Rose. Is that okay?"

Rose forced a smile. Damn it, there was no escaping Titanic, was there? "Of course it is, Jack. You don’t need to ask me."

Mr. O'Connell started talking again. "Well, we appreciate it, Mrs. Dawson." He paused, smiling a bit, and then motioned toward the woman. "This is my wife, Evelyn."

"So pleased to meet you," the woman, Evelyn, said, sticking her hand out to Rose, shocking her with her British accent. She was shorter than Rose was, but not by much. Strangely, she was wearing pants and a nice blouse instead of a skirt or a dress. It was odd, considering it was hot outside, but even so, Rose was a bit jealous. She would love to wear pants all the time. Maybe these people weren't so bad after all. In fact, she rather liked them already.

"Likewise," Rose responded warmly. She smiled at all of them and then crouched down to the little boy. "You must be Alex," she stated to him. He nodded and then broke into a bright smile. Strangely, he reminded Rose of Michael when he was about that age.

"Yeah, that's me. I’m eight years old," he explained. And then, more excitedly, he went on. "And I've been to Egypt. Do you know that? We’re going back in just a little bit. And Mum is teaching me to read hieroglyphics." He said all of this very proudly, boasting an accent like his mother’s.

Rose couldn't help but burst into a little fit of laughter. "Well, Alex, that's quite impressive," she managed to say.

He continued to grin up at her as Rose stood. "Who are you?" he asked Mary, who was still hiding behind her mother. Poor Mary didn't really know what to do. One, she had never heard a British person speak to her, and two, she wasn't used to people being this talkative. She looked from Alex, to Rose, back to Alex, and then at her dad. Rose nodded an encouraging glance at her daughter. "You can tell him, darling."

"I'm Mary Rose Dawson," she finally said, quite proudly, as she finally came out from behind Rose. "And I'm almost three years old," she added after a moment.

This time it was Rick who crouched down. He smiled at her. "Mary, have you ever seen someone throw a hamburger up in the air and catch it with a spatula?"

Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

"Well, from what your dad told me, he's in charge of cooking hamburgers tonight. And," he added, standing up again. "I just might be able to show your dad how to do that."

"Really?" came Mary's excited shout. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands together.

Jack starting laughing. "That reminds me," he said as he reached down and picked her up, kissing her on the cheek, "we better go start those hamburgers before everyone gets here." Mary nodded seriously and buried her head next to her dad's neck. He motioned for everyone who wanted to come along to follow him and then started toward the kitchen for the back door. Rick and Alex followed, leaving the women behind.

"Do you need help with anything?" Evelyn asked politely.

Rose shook her head and started walking toward the kitchen. "Oh, no. Thank you, Mrs. O'Connell. Everything is pretty much ready." She got out two mugs from the cupboard and set them on the counter. "Do you want anything to drink? I have coffee almost ready."

"I'm fine," Evelyn said, taking the liberty of sitting down at the table. "And please, call me Evelyn, or Evy. Either one is fine." She smiled at Rose for a moment and then started talking again. "I'm so sorry about just barging in like this. Your husband just invited us, and well, he wouldn't take no for an answer. I think he and Rick are rather good friends."

Rose came over and sat down next to Evelyn. "Oh, don't worry about it. The more the merrier. Like I said, any friend of Jack's is welcome here. God knows we have more than enough food."

Evelyn laughed. "Well, thank you." She was silent for a moment. "Now, who is graduating again?"

"Our oldest, Michael. You didn’t meet him?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I met a Jillian, a Luke, and a Danielle; they all ran around back once we got here. And of course I met Mary. But no Michael."

Rose rolled her eyes and waved her hand in the air. "Oh, he probably got a ride with one of his friends. He'll show up soon enough." She stopped and thought for a moment. "So, are you from England?" she finally asked.

"Yes," Evelyn responded. "We live in London."

"What are you doing in the States?" Rose didn’t mean to pry like she was, but she was extremely intrigued by these people.

Evelyn broke into a tiny smile. "I am an Egyptologist and well, a couple of years ago we got into a rather..." She paused for a moment. "...interesting situation concerning a...dig," she finally finished. "And well, it’s a long story, but the museum here in New York accidentally got something that was meant for the British museum and now they won't give it back. And so, I was sent over here to convince them that it’s ours and just for fun we decided to take a trip to California since neither Rick nor I has ever been here. But I have to go back to New York next week for one last try before going home. Of course, we’re only going to be back in London for a few months before it’s back to Cairo again, I’m afraid."

Rose nodded, impressed with what she had just said. Lucky O’Connell’s! Rose had always wanted to travel to exotic places like that. Sure, she had been all over Europe, but that was with her mother and Cal. They had basically restricted her to hotel rooms and a few stores. Maybe, someday, after all of their children were gone, she and Jack could take a trip to Egypt or someplace. Paris had been great, but that was so long ago, and everything had been confusing because of the war beginning to start. And they had hardly had an adventure there...save the little deal in the cave. Rose unknowingly broke into a smile.

"What’s so funny?" Evelyn's question broke through Rose's thoughts after a minute. She came out of her little trance and then saw Evelyn grinning at her.

Rose chucked. "Oh, it's nothing," she promised. She quickly thought up a way to change the subject. "I've never heard Jack mention Rick before. Has Rick ever said anything about Jack?"

Evelyn nodded as she sat back in the chair and fiddled with one of her many bracelets. "A couple of times, yes." She paused for a moment. "You know, Rick’s parents died when he was about thirteen, almost fourteen, and he took off. I think he was feeling pretty lonely when Jack showed up in Europe and I think it meant a lot to him to have a familiar face. He still talks about some things Jack taught him. It’s strange though, that Jack hasn't said anything about Rick. They seem like they're good friends, chatted the whole way here."

Rose sighed. "Well, Jack doesn’t like to talk about that time after his parents died. He's still pretty wounded by it, I think." Besides that, she wanted to add, the trip back to America had been tragic, too. Rick had probably just slipped his mind with all the events that had happened.

"Hmm. Well, yes, I can understand that. Rick’s got lots of things he doesn't like to talk about," Evelyn said, sounding distant. She was quiet for a moment and then said, "Well, it’s nice to finally meet the infamous Dawsons."

Rose smiled, trying to forget about Titanic. This was Michael’s graduation day; they should be celebrating, not dwelling in the past. "It’s nice to meet you, too, Evy."

*****

Hours later, the party was in full swing. A couple of the dads had built a bonfire down on the beach and so Michael and all of his friends were down there, most likely doing things they were not suppose to be doing, with the men chaperoning. The women who had not left were inside, helping Rose wash some of the dishes and sharing gossip from around town. And Alex O'Connell had somehow managed to round up every child under the age of ten, sat them down on the grass, and now had them spellbound by his story, whatever it was about.

Jack and Rick sat on the back porch, each with a Coke in their hands. They hadn't really gotten to talk much about serious things; it seemed people were always around. Now they were both quiet until Jack finally asked, "So what the hell you been up to, O'Connell?"

Rick chuckled and took a drink of his soda. "Oh, you know," he said after swallowing. "The French Foreign Legion, bank jobs, Egypt, prison, saving the world...that sort of thing."

Jack wasn't sure if he should believe Rick or not. He just sat there for a few moments, staring at Rick, a confused look on his face.

Rick started laughing and good-naturedly slapped Jack on the back. "Course, that's in the past now. Things have pretty much settled down, what with Alex and all. Nope, bank jobs and prison are definitely behind me. Although Evy...she’s something else. I have trouble keeping up with her. Well, Alex too. That kid is impossible. I can just ground him, though. Not Evy..."

"Hmm," Jack mused. "Yeah, somehow I never pictured you settling down with a wife."

"You should talk..." Rick muttered.

Jack had to admit he was right. But even so. "Yeah, but Rick, you joined the French Legion, for God’s sake. How the hell did you ever get involved with someone like Evy?" She seemed so sweet, so innocent. As amazing as it was that he ended up with Rose, Jack still couldn't imagine what had happened to them happening to anyone else.

Rick shrugged and took another swig of soda. "She saved my ass more than once, I saved hers," he said, not divulging any more information about exactly why or how they saved each other's asses. And then, as if to read Jack’s mind he said, "Evy's not as innocent as she looks…believe me. That girl can literally raise more hell then you could imagine. But what about Rose, huh? She's not from Wisconsin either, Jack."

Jack shook his head. "Nope, thank God," he agreed. He paused and then went on. "Well, same as you, I saved her ass, she saved mine...it kept going and well after Ti--afterward, we just couldn't let each other go." Jack breathed a sigh of relief, glad he had caught himself before saying fully saying Titanic.

"Hmm," Rick mused after Jack finished his story. "I guess we both ended up with women who we don’t deserve, eh?"

"You have no idea..." Jack trailed off. He knew Rick was hiding something about Evy, the same way Rick knew Jack was hiding something about Rose. But neither of them said anything. They were both too smart to do so. Any topics that might be brought up were obviously taboo, so they just sat in the falling darkness and chatted about pointless things. But, truth be told, you couldn't beat old friendships, no matter how much time had passed.

*****

Later that night, Rose wandered around the house picking up various things. The house was a mess...again. Even after some people had helped her clean up a bit, it was still a complete mess. She often wondered why she even bothered to clean before people came over. It should be like the camping rule...leave the site like you found it. Jack had taught her that years ago, on a camping trip up in Oregon. She sighed as she picked up another couple of water glasses and then walked back into the kitchen, turning off most of the lights as she went, save a few lamps here and there.

Jack was gone, taking the O’Connell’s back to their hotel. They really were nice people; Rose wished they lived in California. But no, they were going back to England in a few days. It still amazed Rose how much of Jack's past was still a mystery to her. And she thought they knew everything about each other...

"Oh, Jack." She sighed. "You never fail to surprise me..." she muttered out loud.

"Oh, really?"

Rose spun around, shocked to see her husband standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She started to blush a deep pink color as he started to slowly walk over.

"I didn’t know you were there…" she stuttered, trying to make up for her little comment. Jack chuckled, but didn’t say anything, just pulled her toward him and held her close.

"You smell good," he mumbled before starting to trace her jaw line with his mouth and then moving his lips down her neck.

Rose wrapped her arms around his neck, ready and prepared to let him do whatever he wanted. "I missed you…" she whispered softly.

"I was gone ten minutes," Jack pointed out, just taking his lips off her long enough to say so.

"Hmm...too long..." was all Rose could manage to get out. She was begging to lose herself in him again. She had hit that point of no return...it was pointless to try and resist him. "Make love to me," she pleaded softly, closing her eyes as he continued to kiss her neck.

Jack didn't reply right away, just pulled her closer and kissed his way back up to her ear. "Later," he promised and then pulled away.

Rose made a groaning sound as he left her and opened up her eyes. She hated it when he did that…drove her nuts. Who did he think he was, getting her all hot and bothered and then leaving? It was a cruel trick…and he knew it. And yet, it was all very exciting. Sighing, she sank down in the nearby chair and stuck her bottom lip out. Jack started laughing at the sight of her.

"Don’t look so disappointed, sweetheart…you’re making me feel guilty. I just want to get some things cleaned up around here is all." He gave her a smile and then turned his back to walk into the kitchen. This was a mistake because Rose suddenly got a sly idea in her head. She quietly got up and snuck up behind him. Before he knew what was going on, she wrapped her arms around his chest and pressed her body against his.

"You don’t really want to clean up right now…do you?" she asked in a husky voice. And before he could answer, she began planting kisses down his back, right along his spine.

Even through his shirt, Jack could feel the warmth of her lips and a soft haze began to fill his mind, clouding out any thoughts except those of her. What made it worse was that he didn’t know what was coming next…and that got him all excited.

"Damn it, Rose…" he muttered softly, turning around. He wanted her to stop and keep going all at the same time.

She laughed quietly. "Are you going to take me upstairs now?" she asked, pushing herself just a little bit closer to him.

"Well, if that’s that you want…" Jack trailed off. He started to kiss her, which again, was another mistake because Rose used it as a way to get him really excited. She somehow managed to make the whole thing a lot more erotic than it really was…and it drove him crazy. Before he knew it, he had scooped her up in his arms and started carrying her upstairs. She was going to be the death of him. He just knew it. Not that he really cared. If he had to die tomorrow, he would gladly do it in her arms. Oh, but she would pay for the little scene she had just caused. He could torture her, too, and he knew exactly how to do it.

"What are you smiling about?" Rose asked as he carried her into the room.

Jack set her down on the bed and then crossed back to the door and closed it. "Just wait…" he promised and then turned out the lights. He could play this little game, too. Oh, she would get what she wanted…but the question was of how fast that would happen. He just might have to…prolong any sort of winning in the game. Quietly, he slipped out of his shirt and took off his shoes before silently making his way back to her. This was going to be fun…

Chapter Twenty-Six
Stories