JOHN AND ROSE
Chapter Seventeen
June 18, 1927
New York City
After getting off the train in New York, John
and Rose accompanied John’s relatives to the ship that would take them back to
England.
May, John’s mother, fussed over him, sorry to
be leaving her son again.
"John, we see you too seldom. This is
only the fourth time we’ve seen you since you first went to America. You must
visit London sometime soon."
John’s father, George, agreed. Clapping him
on the shoulder, he told him, "We’ve made the last two trips to see you
here in America. You haven’t been to London since the war. It’s high time you
visited us."
John sighed. "I will, Father. One of
these days."
"Make it soon. Your mother and I aren’t
as young as we used to be. Now, you have a good honeymoon with your bride.
Congratulations, son. Your mother and I always wondered if you were ever going
to get married again. I just hope she lives longer than your first two
wives."
John grimaced, looking at Rose
apologetically. He had a great deal of love and respect for his father, but he
knew that the older man lacked tact, something that had proven embarrassing
more than once, and one of the reasons why he had rarely made an effort to see
his parents.
May salvaged the situation. Tugging on her
husband’s arm, she told him, "George, you’ve embarrassed him enough. We
need to board the ship before it leaves without us." After forty-two years
of marriage, she was familiar with his shortcomings, and knew how to handle
them.
After George and May had boarded the ship,
John stood talking to his brother, James, and his sister, Lauren Jones. As they
had discussed before, James wanted to immigrate with his family to the United
States, and Lauren also wanted to immigrate, but her husband, Bernard, wasn’t
so sure that he wanted to leave England permanently.
"James, when you’re ready to come to
America, write to me and tell me. I’ll do whatever I can to help, and you’ll
have a job waiting for you at Anders Cedar Rapids if you want it."
"Thanks, John. I do appreciate it. I
don’t know how long it will be before we’re ready to come here–Amanda thinks
she might be expecting another baby, and I don’t want to make the trip with her
in a delicate condition. But after that, when the baby is old enough to travel,
we can probably come here. I’ll let you know what our plans are."
"I’ll be coming here, too, if I have my
way about it," Lauren added. "I know that Bernard is reluctant to
leave England, but if I push him enough, he’ll probably give in. He has an
established job in London, though, so he really doesn’t want to leave it.
Still, America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. He could probably do
better here than back in London."
"Well, tell him that if he wants it,
there will also be a job waiting for him here in Cedar Rapids. And he will have
a chance to move up in the company, if he can prove himself."
Lauren hugged him. "Thank you, John.
I’ll be sure to tell him. Now, when are you going to come to England to see us?
Don’t wait for the next war to make a trip over there. God only knows what will
happen before then. Until I came to your wedding, I hadn’t seen you since you
were injured in the Great War and stayed in England for a few weeks. I’d rather
see you under better circumstances."
"She’s right, John. You need to visit
soon. Even if all of us wind up coming to America, Father and Mother won’t.
They don’t want to leave London, and it’s unfair to ask them to travel back and
forth across the ocean so often. You know that Mother suffers from
seasickness."
"I know." John sighed. "There
just never seems to be time."
"You found time to get married and go on
your honeymoon. Just take a month or so off. You’re the company president; you
should be able to. Bring Rose and the children. I bet they’d enjoy it,
especially Mary."
The brothers shook hands as the whistle
sounded, letting everyone know that the ship was about to leave. John laughed,
a little ruefully.
"All right. You’ve convinced me. I’ll
come to visit sometime in the next couple of years, and maybe sooner, if a
faster way to cross the ocean is found."
*****
As the ship prepared to leave, John and Rose
found a place to stand on the pier where they could see the people waving from
the railing. They had to catch a cab to their own ship soon, but they could
still take a few minutes to wave good-bye to John’s relatives.
Just before the ship pulled away, the
Calverts and Joneses crowded their way to the railing, taking up a considerable
amount of space. Catching sight of John and Rose in the crowd, the waved wildly
to them, shouting good-bye.
John and Rose returned their waves, shouting
bon voyage as they did so, although they couldn’t be heard over the noise of
the crowd. Nevertheless, they held their place, waving good-bye until the ship
began to sail away.
When they returned to the street, John hailed
a cab, having the driver tie their luggage to the back of the vehicle. Settling
into the back seat with Rose, John leaned forward to tell the driver where to
take them to.
"Pier 43, please."
The driver nodded, easing into traffic and
moving quickly through the streets, honking and cursing at people who got in
his way.
Ignoring the driver’s rudeness, John turned
to Rose, who was watching the city outside the window. "Are you nervous
about sailing?" he asked her, watching as she adjusted her hat and turned
to him.
Rose shrugged. "A little. I’ve always
been a little nervous about sailing since the Titanic sank, but since my trip
to Scotland two years ago to film a moving picture about the Titanic, I haven’t
been nearly so fearful. The trip there was uneventful, and making the picture
helped me to come to terms with what happened. Sailing still bothers me a
little, but I can tolerate it." She paused, wondering if he wasn’t a
little nervous about sailing himself. "What about you? Are you worried
about sailing?"
"I...well...I have to admit that sailing
isn’t my favorite thing. I haven’t been on a ship since I was sent home from
the war, although I was so badly injured that I didn’t really care about much.
Going to Europe that time was unnerving, since there was a constant threat from
enemy torpedoes. And, of course, I survived the sinking of the Titanic–not an
experience I would care to repeat."
"We probably don’t have much to worry
about for this trip. The likelihood of there being icebergs in the South
Atlantic in the summer is very slim, to say the least, and since it’s
peacetime, there shouldn’t be any torpedoes to worry about."
John laughed, conceding her point, as the cab
pulled up to the pier. Opening the door, he helped Rose out of the vehicle and
went around the back to pay the driver and collect their luggage.
A few minutes later, bags in hand, they
headed for the Stateline, the ship that would take them on their honeymoon.