AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rose awakened to find Jack still asleep.
Kissing his lips softly, she got up and dressed. She was going to make Jack a
wonderful breakfast, his reward for what he did for her yesterday.
She was breaking an egg into the skillet when
there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to Kathy holding the twins
and a elderly man who looked slightly familiar. Rose couldn't help but think
that Jack was about the same height and build.
"Hello, Kathy." Rose smiled.
"Jack told me you kept the twins for us. I'd like to thank you."
"Don't worry about it, Rose. I wanted to
watch them. They're so gorgeous. You and Jack sure do make beautiful
babies." Kathy forced a smile.
"Is everything okay?" Rose was
suddenly concerned, seeing the worried expression in Kathy's eyes.
"I'm fine. Can we come in?"
"Oh, of course. I'm sorry. I don't know
where my manners are. My mother would die if she knew how rude I'm being. Come
right on in." Rose stepped aside as Kathy and her companion entered.
"So, you're the woman that my grandson
has decided to settle down with." The old man looked her over.
"Grandfather! Don't be rude!" Kathy
glared. "I'm sorry, Rose. He just got in last night and just learned that
Jack has returned. Oh, yeah, this is our grandfather, Emmanuel Dawson.
Grandfather, this is Rose...Jack's wife. They've been married for a year
now."
The elderly man nodded. "So, where is my
free-spirited grandson?"
"I'm right here." Jack appeared at
the top of the stairs. His expression was very serious and wary.
"Good morning, darling." Rose went
to greet her husband.
"Morning, Rose." Jack smiled down
at her. "Why don't you go put the twins in their beds now? I'm sure
they've missed them."
Sensing the bad vibes between Jack and his
grandfather, Rose immediately agreed and took the children upstairs.
"It was funny, Jack. I'm sure you'll
have a laugh." His grandfather smiled. "I ran into Madeline Astor
after JJ's funeral and she mentioned a young man she had met aboard the
Titanic. Said his last name was Dawson, of the Chippewa Falls Dawsons. She was
wondering if I was any relation. I, of course, asked for a description, and
realized that my grandson was on board the Titanic and was most likely dead.
When I came by yesterday...I found out that I not only had great-grandchildren,
but my grandson was actually alive and well and had returned."
"Oh, Jack, why didn't you tell me you
were on the Titanic?" Kathy asked.
"Katherine, please." Emmanuel held
his hand up for silence. "I'm talking to your cousin here."
"What do you want me to say,
Grandfather? You want me to explain why I didn't say I was of the Boston
Dawsons? Well, I will, because I wasn't. I never was. Admit it. Every time you
look at me, you see the woman you hated more than anything...you see my
mother." Jack stood face to face with his grandfather.
"Listen, Jack, I'm not going to deny
that I hated the woman you called mother, but that has no hold on how I feel
about you. You're the only son of my Jonathan. You're all I have left of him,
and so are your children...his grandchildren." Emmanuel sighed tiredly.
"I love you, Jack, and I love your twins. You're my family. I don't want
my feelings about Emma to stand in the way of that."
"Even though, if it wasn't for her, we
wouldn't exist? I don't get it. Besides, Grandfather, I want my children to
hear nothing but good things about their grandmother. I don't want you to
slander her in front of them like you've done a million times in front of me,
regardless of how I felt."
"So is that why you're so angry? Why you
took off without saying good-bye? Why you let me believe you were dead for a
full year now? Because of how I felt about your mother?"
Jack didn't say anything. He just stared
straight out the window at the pier.
"Jack, please...I promise I won't even
bring her up to the children. Just let me be part of the family."
Kathy had had enough. Jack had to know the
truth, and he needed to know it now. "Jack...Grandfather's dying."
"Katherine!" Emmanuel glared at
her.
"What?" Jack asked, his brow
furrowing. "You're dying?"
"I have a brain tumor, Jack. The doctors
only give me a couple of more months to live. Now, don't be sad for me. I'm an
old man and I've lived my life. The only thing I want now is for my grandson
and his family to come back to the family...for my family to be complete."
Jack stared down at the ground. He was not
able to believe this recent news. His grandfather was going to die, he had
wasted so much time being angry, and here he was being a hypocrite and
encouraging Rose to make things right with her family. Well...he had to do the
same thing. He had to set things right with his grandfather.
"Jack?" Kathy asked uncertainly.
Jack nodded and looked up at his grandfather.
"Okay, Grandfather...if that's what you want, you've got it. Consider us
home." He went over and hugged his grandfather tightly.
"This is wonderful." Kathy laughed
happily.
"Jack, is everything okay?" Rose
appeared at the top of the stairs and smiled to see her husband hugging the old
man.
"Everything's fine, Rose." Jack
smiled. "Don't worry. Come down and meet my grandfather."
"We've already met." Emmanuel
nodded as Rose came down to join her husband. "But this does call for a
celebration. I insist on taking all of you out to breakfast. What do you
say?"
"How about the twins?" Rose asked.
"Eliza will watch them," Jack said.
"Let me go up and let her know we'll be gone."
"Don't be too long," Emmanuel
called after his grandson. "So, Rose, where are you from? I can tell from
your accent that you're high society and most likely from Philadelphia."
"You're correct, sir. I'm from Philadelphia.
My maiden name is DeWitt Bukater," Rose nervously replied, knowing that
most of society thought she had died aboard the Titanic.
"DeWitt Bukater? There's only one DeWitt
Bukater I know of, but her daughter perished aboard the Titanic. Plus, she was
engaged to Nathan Hockley's son, Caledon."
"That's because on the Carpathia my last
name wasn't DeWitt Bukater anymore. It was Dawson. You see, I had fallen in
love with Jack. Caledon wasn't very happy with that, so when I decided to stay
aboard the sinking ship with Jack, Cal chased us into the very heart of
Titanic, shooting at us. On the Carpathia...I didn't let him know we had
survived. Then I married Jack, and when they asked for my name, I, of course,
said it was Dawson."
"Oh, I see." Emmanuel nodded.
"That must have been horrible for you. To be shot at by the man you
thought loved you. I knew there was something I didn't like about that man.
It's funny. He winced every time my last name was mentioned...now I know why.
It must remind him of how he had lost his fiancée."
"How is Cal, by the way?"
"He's married that one girl that was
after him. They're very unhappy together."
Jack soon reappeared down the stairs.
"She'll watch them." Jack smiled. "So, shall we go?"
Rose nodded and followed Jack out the door.
*****
They had just finished breakfast and now were
just seated around the table, discussing Jack and Rose's wedding day.
"I do hate it that they didn't have a
wedding." Kathy sighed. "I haven't been to a wedding in so
long."
"That would be something to see before I
died." Emmanuel smiled fondly at his grandson. "My grandson's wedding
day."
"Well, I don't see why you
couldn't." Jack shrugged. "I mean, I'm sure Rose wouldn't mind
renewing our vows...would you, Rose?"
Rose looked at Jack and saw a begging
expression in his eyes. The only time she saw that expression was when he had
asked her to marry him aboard the Carpathia.
"I don't mind." Rose shook her
head. Then, she had an idea. "Only if it can be a double wedding. Me and
Jack and Eliza and Maxwell."
"Eliza and Maxwell?" Emmanuel
asked. "Who are they?"
"Our roommates. They're engaged and want
to be married as soon as possible," Jack explained. "I must say,
Rose, that's a great idea. They'll be ecstatic. Of course, it has to be all
right with Grandfather."
"Yeah, since he's paying for the whole
thing." Kathy smiled at her grandfather. "Please, Grandfather, this
is very important to all of them."
"Why, of course it's okay. Money is no
object when it comes to my grandson. But we'll have to get prepared today.
Katherine will take the girls to the dress shop to pick out dresses, and I'll
take Jack and this Maxwell to the men’s store to pick out tuxedos."
Emmanuel nodded. "We're going to make this the grandest wedding that the
Dawsons have ever seen!"
Rose smiled nervously, wondering who all was
going to be there. Of course, there was going to be her mother and Molly and
Amanda and Jack's friends from Chippewa Falls. Kate, of course, was going to be
there. There were only two people she didn't want at her wedding. Caledon
Hockley and Hagatha Hitcherman, the woman who had forced her to leave her
husband. That old woman would have a heart attack if she knew that Jack came
from a wealthy family, after all. And Eliza definitely wouldn't want her mother
and Lee Conway at the wedding.
"This is so exciting." Kathy
giggled. "We can take Molly with us and the guys can take Tommy. Give them
their first taste of California shopping."
"It looks like Katherine has a new
project." Emmanuel laughed at the light in his granddaughter’s eyes.
"Well, I say we go and get started. We
all have a long day ahead of us." Jack stood from his seat.