AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Eighteen
Rose shivered against the cold air as she
stepped out into the cold night air to walk home. Her mind was on the meeting
with her mother. She couldn't believe that they had called a truce, that her
mother now accepted the fact that she wasn't going to marry Cal and that she
was now married to Jack and was going to have his child.
"Penny for your thoughts," a voice
spoke from behind her.
Rose whirled around, expecting to see Caledon
Hockley ready to drag her back to Philadelphia, to face Jack instead, his blue
eyes filled with love and concern. He couldn't help being concerned about
Rose's condition and how she was working, and when he saw the look in her eyes,
he came to the conclusion that it was time to insist that Rose give up the job.
"Rose...what happened? How hard did they work you today?"
"My mother's here," was Rose's
simple answer, her voice flat.
"Your mother? You mean the one from
Titanic?"
"That's the only mother I've got,
Jack."
"Well...what did she want?"
"Another chance. She wants me to give
her another chance to be my mother."
Jack was speechless. He didn't know what to
say to Rose. A part of him wanted to tell her to forget about the meeting with Ruth.
That they could go on with their lives and pretend that it never happened. But
another part of him, the logical part, the one that always made the hard
decisions, wanted to tell Rose to give her mother another chance. That the
woman couldn't do anything to harm them or their child, that perhaps she really
had changed and wanted to be with the only family she had left. "What do
you want to do?"
"What I want to do is go back to the way
it was before she showed up here. I don't want to have to think of her at
Molly's, waiting for me to get in touch with her. I wish...I wish that she was
a real mother to me in the first place, so there would be nothing to think
about now...I wouldn't have to forgive her." Rose finally burst into
tears, falling into Jack's waiting arms. "Oh, Jack, what am I doing? What
am I going to do?"
"Well...first you're going to go home
with me, and go to bed, and get some sleep. No more thinking about the
situation with your mother tonight. You can think about that in the
morning." Jack stroked her hair gently. "Rose...everything will be
okay. I promise."
Rose just clung to her husband. Even when
they walked home, she didn't let go of his hand. When she fell asleep that
night, Jack slipped out of the house and silently sat on the chair that he and
Rose had set out on the porch when they wanted to look at the stars.
What was he going to do? Everything seemed to
be piling on top of his marriage. First there was discovering Eliza and Rose
had become friends, and getting Eliza to agree to keep quiet about their past
relationship, and now it was Rose's mother showing up in Chippewa Falls. He
knew he was encouraging Rose to work things out with her mother, but he didn't
think Ruth would be back in their lives this soon. She must have freaked out
when she saw Rose not only pregnant, but also working as somebody's maid. She
probably couldn't wait to send for Cal to come and take Rose and his unborn
child away.
"Hello, Mr. Dawson." A familiar,
proper voice spoke up from beside him. He turned his head and was surprised to
see Ruth. She hadn't changed a bit from the last time he saw her. She still had
that arrogant proud stance to her. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I had to
beg Molly to bring me here so I could see how Rose was living. She'd kill me if
she knew I was here."
You’ve got that right, lady, Jack thought to himself. What did Ruth DeWitt Bukater
want with them at this time of night, besides seeing how Rose was living? And
did she approve? He could tell nothing by the expression on the woman's face.
"She'd be surprised," was Jack's
answer. He couldn't help but be civil to her. She was, of course, his elder,
and his mother always bored it into his head to respect his elders. "So,
Mrs. DeWitt Bukater...what do you think? Do you think I'm doing right by your
daughter?"
"A house by the woods in a quaint little
town like this...I say it's not bad. It's far better than how I pictured. I was
certain that you two were living on the street, if not in a rundown shack with
no water."
Jack smiled. "That's what I thought you
were thinking."
"Mr. Dawson...that's not the only reason
I came here. I also came here to talk to you...to apologize for my behavior
aboard Titanic. You see...I was desperate. Rose must have told you about her
father's debts taking all our money and why that was the reason I wanted her to
marry Cal."
Jack nodded. Rose told him everything the
night she posed for him. He knew she was worried about how her decision to be
with him would affect her mother, but he was glad that a larger part of her
didn't care. She was done being responsible for her mother's problems.
"She told me everything. And I understand where you were coming from. You
were scared and were willing to do anything to remain secure. But I hope you
now see that Cal wasn't right for Rose, and that I truly love her."
"I do see now that Cal wasn't right for
her. But, Jack, is this life right for her, either? I mean...she's working as a
maid, for goodness sake, and in her condition..."
"I tried to get her to quit, Mrs. DeWitt
Bukater." Jack stood up, pushing down the anger that was now rising in his
voice. "But you know your daughter. She refuses to listen. And as for this
being the life for her...this is the one she chose."
"But you're her husband. She has to
obey..."
"We're not about that, Mrs. DeWitt
Bukater. I'm not about that. I'm not here to make Rose's decisions for her. I'm
here to love and support her in her decisions. I'm here to share her life, not
to control it," Jack said, his voice firm. "I'm sorry if you don't
agree with that, but that's the way it is and the way it always will be."
"And my grandchild?"
"Will be fine, just like your daughter
is fine. Trust me, Mrs. DeWitt Bukater. I love Rose, and I would never harm her
or allow harm to come to her."
"For some reason, Mr. Dawson...I do
trust you and believe you when you say you would never harm her. Mr.
Dawson...Jack...I'd like to accept you on both myself and my husband's
behalf...welcome to the family." Ruth did something totally unexpected
then. She gave Jack a quick hug. "My husband would have liked you, Jack.
In fact, you two are quite alike. Both of you are free spirits, and I'm
thankful Rose has found you to share her life with."
Jack felt tears of happiness come to his
eyes. He knew this development would make Rose so happy. Her mother had finally
accepted him.
Rose watched the scene from her window and
couldn't help but smile. She could feel her heart begin to soften towards her
mother. This scene between her mother and Jack was evidence in itself that Ruth
DeWitt Bukater was indeed trying to change.