IN THE ARMS OF A STRANGER
Chapter Nineteen

Three Months Later

Jack was downstairs, putting away the breakfast dishes, while Rose was outside on the porch with Rebecca, singing her to sleep, when the telephone rang. Placing the last plate in the cupboard, Jack went to answer it.

"Hello?" Jack asked.

"Is this Jack Dawson?" a voice asked.

"The one and only."

"This is Brinkley, the detective Cal Hockley hired to find your wife’s father."

Jack came to attention. "Yes?"

"I found him."

Jack swallowed. "Alive?"

"Yep. Living it up in California. Very rich man with a very beautiful wife with three kids. Two boys, one girl."

"Oh, God. This is bad." Jack sighed, glancing out the window, where he saw Rose and their daughter. "And you’re sure this is Ralph Bukater?"

"Black hair, green eyes, full beard. A mole on the back of his neck. You can barely see it," was all the detective had to say. He had found Rose’s father.

Jack sighed. "Which part of California is he living in?"

"Los Angeles. The City of Angels. Lives in the best part of town, too. Big house with a pool and all."

"Well…thank you, Mr. Brinkley. How much do we owe you?" Jack asked.

"Mr. Hockley said to tell you not to worry about the bill. I was returning a favor for him. This one is on the house."

"Thank you, Mr. Brinkley. My wife and I appreciate this."

Hanging up the phone, Jack sighed sadly. He didn’t know whether he should go to give Rose the news or not. She had been lifted out of the depression over her father in the past three months, and this news was just going to make it worse.

"Hello, Jack," Rose greeted, coming into the house with their sleeping daughter cradled in her arms.

"Rose…I have some news…"

"Wait a minute while I put Becky to bed, and I’ll be right back down," Rose interrupted him, heading for the stairs.

Sighing again, Jack sat down and waited for his wife to return. Five minutes later, she came down. "What is it, Jack?"

"Come here, Rose." Jack pulled her into his lap. "We have to talk."

Rose grew nervous when she noticed how grim Jack seemed. She had never seen him look so serious before. "Jack? What’s wrong?"

"That was Cal’s detective on the phone a while ago." Jack looked down at the floor. "He found your father."

"Alive?"

Jack nodded. "He’s living in Los Angeles, California."

"Oh, my God. Is he all right? Is he healthy?"

"Yeah. He’s very well off, or so says the detective. He’s living in a big house with a wife and three kids. Two boys and a girl."

Rose didn't say anything to this. She just looked up at Jack, her eyes showing no emotion. "How does Mr. Brinkley know this man is my father? I mean, it could be a mistake."

"He had a mole on the back of his neck. You can barely see it." Jack stroked her hair. "I’m sorry, Rose. I wish that he was wrong, but by the description, your father’s alive and well."

"Mother was right." Rose looked down at the ground. "She was right. I guess I owe her an apology."

"You don’t owe that woman anything, Rose. Don’t ever think that." Jack pulled her closer to him.

"I want to see him, Jack." Rose sighed. "I need to talk to him and get his reasons. I mean, maybe what my mother said is still a lie. Maybe he didn’t leave. Maybe she kicked him out or something."

"I don’t know, Rose…I mean…California’s a long way. Plus, there’s Becky. I don’t think we should take her on a long trip when she’s so young."

"Susan will watch her while we’re gone. I know she will. And we’ll use the money we saved from when I pawned Cal’s ring. We were saving it for California, anyway. Please, Jack. I have to do this…please."

Jack sighed. He had no choice but to give in. "Okay, Rose. We’re going to California. I just hope you don’t regret this after it’s all over."

"I won’t, Jack. I just want to put all this behind me. All this wondering…I just want to get to the truth." Rose laid her head on his shoulder.

"We will, Rose. We will." Jack nodded, pulling her closer into a hug. "Just remember that there are people who do love you. Becky and me…we’re just two of them."

Two Weeks Later

Rose and Jack stepped off the train and looked at their surrounding. California was even more beautiful than Jack remembered, and he knew Rose was immediately fascinated with the place, just by the sparkle in her beautiful green eyes.

"Oh, Jack, it’s so beautiful here!" Rose gasped.

"Let’s go check in at the hotel." Jack grabbed her hand and led her down the street toward the hotel they were staying at. "Rose…I still don’t know about this. I mean…all that will come of this is you getting hurt."

"Jack…I’ll be fine. I promise." Rose kissed her husband. "I know that all you want to do is protect me, but this is something I have to do. Right now, I don’t need your protection. I need your support."

"Well, you know you’ll always have that." Jack smiled, pulling her into his arms. "I’m sorry, Rose. I just can’t help wanting to protect you from everything and anything. I guess I love you too much."

Rose smiled and hugged him. "Jack, I love you so much, and I’m glad you love me too much. But just simmer down on the protective thing, all right?"

Jack just nodded. "I’ll try."

Rose lightly kissed him. "Good. Now, let’s get going. The sooner I talk to my father, the better." Rose grabbed Jack’s hand and led him out of the hotel.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, they stood in front of a huge mansion. It was even bigger than Rose’s mansion in Philadelphia.

"Here we are," Jack said.

"Here we are." Rose nodded in agreement, her face not revealing any emotion. She just clung to Jack’s hand and didn't move to ring the bell.

"Should I knock or ring the bell?" Jack asked.

"If you want." Rose nodded, not making a move.

Taking a deep breath, Jack knocked on the door. It was a familiar face that answered. A young woman with blonde ringlets cascading down her back, two little boys peeking out from behind her skirt. Jack remembered having drawn a picture of her and her husband six years ago, right after he left Chippewa Falls.

"May I help you?" the woman asked, obviously not remembering Jack.

"Yes. We’re looking for the Bukater mansion." Rose forced herself to speak, not letting go of Jack’s hand for a even a minute. She even stepped closer to him.

"This is the Bukater mansion. I’m Sarah Bukater. How may I help you?"

"Yes, we were looking for a Ralph Bukater. Does he live here?" Jack asked.

"Yes. He’s my husband. He’s in his study right now. Shall I go fetch him for you?"

"Yes, please…if it’s not too much trouble." Rose forced herself to breathe. She was about to see the man she had thought was dead for the last eight years.

"Oh, how rude of me. Come in, come in." The lady stepped aside to allow Rose and Jack to enter.

Rose gasped in surprise when she looked around the house and noticed the elaborate furnishings. It was even fancier than the mansion in Philadelphia. She saw the pictures on the mantle and recognized the man with the woman and children as her father. To just anyone, it was a picture of a happy family. No one could be happier. But to Rose, it was a picture of a man who had abandoned his daughter to her mother’s mercy to start a new family. Rose pushed back her tears and filled her mind with thoughts of Jack and Becky and their future to come. She was so lucky to have Jack, and so was Becky. She knew he’d never desert them and start another family.

"Rose?" Jack asked in concern, noticing the hurt in his wife’s eyes. He wanted to take her in his arms and make the hurt go away. Take her away from this place that was causing her so much pain and fill her with joy and happiness. But he knew she wouldn’t allow that. She had to lay this thing with her father to rest.

"I’m fine, Jack." Rose swallowed her tears. "Just stay with me, all right? Don’t leave."

"I’ll never leave you, Rose." Jack squeezed her hand in reassurance. "Just remember, I’m right here if you need me."

"Sarah, what is this all about? Who would I know that would come visit me on a Sunday?" a deep, familiar voice boomed from the next room. Two minutes later, Rose was face-to-face with her father, but being that she was a lot smaller when she last saw him, he didn’t recognize her. "Yes? May I help you?"

"Yes, you can." Rose pushed back her tears and went into one of her imitations of her mother when her mother was giving her a lecture on how to be a proper lady. "You may not remember me, but then again, you might. My name is Rose DeWitt Bukater Dawson. Dawson being my married name. I was your daughter eight years ago."

Ralph Bukater’s mouth dropped wide open in shock. He had never expected to see his daughter again after all these years…after Ruth had coldly thrown him out and told him not to bother getting in contact with his daughter again. The last time he saw her, she was waving good-bye to him when he had returned home from his last visit with her at her boarding school. Then Ruth had thrown him out and he had never heard from his daughter again. In return, he had left Ruth virtually penniless. All she had was what she had brought into the marriage and a small trust fund for Rose. He had always wondered what had become of her. Had Ruth turned her into a cold porcelain doll just like herself? By the look in her green eyes, despite the cold exterior she threw up, he had to say that Ruth had not succeeded. "Rose?"

"I thought you were dead. At least, that’s what Mother said…"

"That figures." Ralph rolled his eyes angrily. If he ever saw that woman again, he’d wring her neck. It was totally unnecessary for her to lie to poor Rose like that. He had to wonder what had made Ruth come out with the truth. He had to ask. "How come she told you the truth?"

"She got angry with me for ruining her plans to remain in the lap of luxury. You see, I married below myself, as she puts it," Rose coldly replied, stepping even closer to Jack. It was getting to the point that, if she stepped any closer to Jack, she’d step on him.

"What did she say?"

"That you left us for another woman and that you never even loved me…that you hated the fact that I was a girl and not a boy, and that you left us penniless," Rose explained. "At first, I didn’t believe her, but I had to find out, so I had a private detective find you. And by the look of things…Mother was telling the truth."

Ralph felt his anger build towards Ruth DeWitt Bukater. That woman had lied one too many times, and he was going to set things straight. "Rose, you have to know that’s not true. I mean, true, I left, but that was because she threw me out and she told me I’d never see you again. I tried to get custody, but it was refused. But I didn’t leave you penniless. I left you a trust fund that your mother was in control of. Didn’t she even tell you that?"

Rose’s icy exterior was beginning to melt at this explanation. It sounded just like something her mother would do. "I never saw one cent of that money. Mother must have depleted it."

"What else was your dear mother up to?" Ralph asked. He wanted the whole truth.

"She almost forced me to marry one of the richest men in Philadelphia. Caledon Hockley. "

"You mean Nathan’s boy? That man is a cold fish, and from what I’ve seen of his son, he raised him the same way! Oh, my poor Rose," Ralph stammered over unshed tears, thinking of what a nightmare his daughter’s life had been.

"Fortunately, I got lost in Southampton, England, when we were on our way home from a tour of Europe before the wedding. There I met my husband, Jack Dawson. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me." Rose squeezed Jack’s hand and looked lovingly up at him, her icy exterior already melted. She couldn’t keep up the Ruth act any longer when she looked at him.

"So you didn’t marry Hockley?"

"No, I didn’t. Needless to say, Mother was furious, since she didn’t see any of that Hockley money after all." Rose turned back to her father. "She said you had died and left us with a lot of debts, and she’d have to become a seamstress if I didn’t marry Cal. But once I met Jack…none of that mattered anymore."

"Well, I’m glad." Ralph grinned and turned his attention to the blond man, who looked a little familiar. "I guess I owe you a thank you. Say, have I seen you before?"

"Well, I used to draw portraits down in Santa Monica for ten cents apiece." Jack shrugged.

"Oh, yes, you drew my wife’s picture for me. I remember she kept raving about how this artist was going to make it big someday." Ralph laughed. "Who was to know that such a talented artist to capture my wife’s attention would end up marrying my oldest daughter?"

"Father…I just want to know one thing. Why didn’t you ever try to contact me? Let me know that you were alive and had married? That I had two brothers and a sister? Why did I have to find all this out from a total stranger?"

"Rose, I wrote you a letter every day. All of this was in those letters. I thought you were getting them. I didn’t think that Ruth would be so cold-hearted as to keep those letters from you."

"Well, she was." Rose turned away from her father to hide her tears. "I can’t describe how much it hurt me to hear from Mother that the man I thought was dead for years was actually alive and never really loved me, then to have a total stranger tell me that he had started another family…a family I wasn’t a part of. While I was left to Mother’s mercy, you were out living it up with another woman who could give you better children."

"Oh, Rose." Ralph took his daughter in his arms and cried himself. "That’s not how it was at all. I loved you with my whole heart, and I did fight to get you back. But when I lost, I knew it’d be even harder for you if I appealed the court’s decision. I had no idea she had told you I was dead and that she practically sold you to the highest bidder. If I had…I’d never have given up. I’m sorry, Rose. I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to be hurt."

He pulled away from the hug and wiped away her tears. "How would you like to meet your little brothers and sister?"

Rose smiled, her tears gone. She had gotten to the truth and had found out that it wasn’t as bad as her mother had made it. "I’d love to." Rose smiled, allowing her father to lead her upstairs. "Coming, Jack?"

"Of course." Jack ran to keep up.

"Rose, meet your brothers, Andrew and John. We call John Jackie for short." Ralph laughed once they reached the nursery, where two little brown-haired boys were playing. "Boys, this is your big sister and your brother-in-law. Jack and Rose."

"Hello." Little Jackie came up, his blue eyes lighting up with interest. He turned to Jack. "We have the same name."

"I know." Jack smiled down at the little boy, who had already taken his hand.

Suddenly, a seven-year-old girl with blonde pigtails and a dirt-stained dress came running into the room, Sarah chasing right behind her. The little girl ran right to her father, who scooped her up in his arms. "And this is Cindy. Your little sister. Cindy, this is your big sister, Rose, and her husband, Jack."

"Hi, Cindy." Rose offered her hand and smiled. She remembered having the exact same stains on her dress when she was Cindy’s age.

"Hello." Cindy’s big blue eyes looked Rose up and down. "You’re pretty."

"Why, thank you." Rose smiled.

"It’s too bad Becky’s not here," Jack replied, rejoining Rose.

"Becky?" Ralph asked curiously.

"Oh, yes, Daddy. You’re a grandfather. Ten months ago, Jack and I had a baby girl. We named her Rebecca, after Jack’s mother. She’s so cute, and looks so much like Jack. She has his hair and eyes. You have to come visit us so she can get to know her grandpa and aunt and uncles."

"You hear that, Sarah? We’re grandparents!" Ralph happily announced. "I definitely have to get out to Wisconsin. In fact, I think we’ll take our family vacation there this year. It’s only in a couple of months."

"We’ll be glad to have ya." Jack grinned.

"Where are you two staying?" Sarah asked, coming to her husband’s side.

"Oh, at a hotel a couple of blocks from here," Rose explained.

"Well, that’s about to change. There’s no use in you two staying in a hotel when we have plenty of room here."

"Oh, no, sir. We couldn’t impose…" Jack interrupted, but Ralph held up his hand.

"You’re not imposing. We’re talking about my daughter here, Jack, and I will not have my daughter staying in a hotel when she can stay here in my home. So, I’m not taking no for an answer."

"There’s no use in resisting, Jack. When my husband makes up his mind, there’s no changing it." Sarah laughed.

"Now I know where Rose gets it from." Jack grinned, just to be punched playfully in the arm by Rose.

"Sarah, go have Alfred go collect Rose and Jack’s belongings from that hotel, please," Ralph ordered. "I’ll show them to their room."

"Yes, dear." Sarah nodded.

That night, Rose cuddled up to her sleeping husband and went over the day’s events. It was totally amazing how things had worked out. Her mother had lied to her, and she had just gained not only her father back, but three younger siblings and a wonderful stepmother. She had to wonder how she had gotten so lucky. Then she looked over at her sleeping husband and suddenly knew. It was Jack. A little bit of his luck must have rubbed off on her. She sighed happily as she thought back to her life with him. He was the most amazing person she had ever met. She knew that there would never be anyone else for her.

Jack yawned as he opened his eyes to find Rose staring at him. He could read the love she felt for him in her eyes, and he immediately gave her a passionate kiss. "I’m glad things worked out for ya, Rose."

"Thanks to you." Rose lightly kissed him. "You have brought so much into my life, and I’m positive that you had something to do with this, too."

Jack laughed. "Rose, some of the things you say are crazy. I had nothing to do with this."

"Oh, really, Mr. Dawson? Well, why is it that none of these great events ever happened before I met you? I mean, first I got Rebecca, and then I got my father back, with siblings to boot."

"Well, there’s an explanation for both of those things. With Rebecca, you needed me to get her, but as far as your father, you would have met up with him again eventually. Fate had her hands in that."

"It was fate meeting you." Rose turned serious. "I don’t know how I got so lucky, Jack. I really don’t. One day, I’m the most unlucky girl on the planet, and the next I’m the luckiest. I’m so glad I found you."

"I’m glad I found you, too, Rose." Jack kissed her tenderly. "You’ve changed my life so much. When I first met you, I had no intention of settling down. But when I fell in love with you…settling down was all I wanted to do. Settle down and make a living by drawing my beautiful angel."

"Oh, Jack." Rose sank into the meaning of his words.

"I love you, Rose Dawson." He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"I love you more." Rose kissed him passionately. They never stopped kissing. They spent the remainder of the night up in the stars, where they were the only people in existence.

Chapter Twenty
Stories