AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Sixty-Three

It was the night of the charity ball when both Jack and Cameron came down in their tuxes to meet Rose at the door. Rose couldn't help but notice that Jack wasn't actually smiling. She was curious about what was going on.

"Jack?" Rose asked, glancing sideways at Cameron.

"Uh…Rose...Cameron's going to be joining us, and so is James. You see, one of the important clients came in tonight and wants to talk business and I was needed to be there. I told him that I had already make plans I just couldn't break, so he decided just to have us meet at the ball."

"Jack!" Rose exclaimed angrily. She and Jack hadn't been out by themselves in ages, and she was looking forward to tonight.

"I know, Rose, and I tried to get out of it. But he wouldn't budge," Jack quickly explained. "Please understand. Besides, it shouldn't take too long and we'll have the rest of the night to ourselves. I promise."

"But..." Rose began to protest, but sighed in defeat. This was better than nothing, she supposed, and she would at least have some of the night to be alone with Jack. "Okay. Fine. But I'm only giving you two hours at the most. The rest of the night better just be the two of us."

"That's a deal, sweetie." Jack grinned, holding out his arm for her to take.

"Okay. Let's go." Rose accepted his arm. They left, followed by James and Cameron.

*****

The ball was well underway when they arrived. Dozens of pictures were set up for guests to look at while they strolled around the room.

"This is great." Jack took in his surroundings with wide blue eyes. Rose couldn't remember when he last wore that look. She thought it was the first time he saw the first class saloon aboard Titanic.

"I know. The paintings are extraordinary." Rose gasped.

"I think I see Mr. Reynolds over there now, Jack." Cameron nodded to a balding man wearing a tuxedo. "Come on, Jack. Let's go get this meeting started." Cameron grabbed his cousin's arm and pulled him away from Rose.

"I'll be right back," Jack reassured Rose as he followed his cousin.

James stayed behind for a minute with Rose, who was staring in Jack's direction, longing in her eyes. He felt deeply sorry for his cousin-in-law. He knew this night had meant a lot to both Jack and Rose...especially Jack. He had been bending over backwards these past few weeks to make sure he had time for his family, and now this happened. "I'm sorry, Rose. I wish there was a way out of this meeting."

"Don't be sorry, James. It's not your fault." Rose forced a smile. "So, I won't have Jack all night, but I'll at least have him for the rest of the night, once the meeting is over with."

"James!" Cameron called over to his cousin.

"Coming!" James called back. "Well, I'm being paged."

Rose watched him leave, and began walking around, looking at the paintings. Each one was beautiful, and seemed to be drawn from a different dimension of beauty. It was too bad that she and Jack weren't poor anymore. He could've shown off some of his best drawings in this gala. She was so caught up in her daydreams that she didn't hear Cameron come up behind her.

"Hi, there." He smiled. "Lovely paintings, I must say."

"They are." Rose nodded. "Where's Jack?"

"Still in the meeting. He sent me over to make sure you were okay." Cameron tilted his head and crossed his arms. "It doesn't look like it's going to be over anytime soon."

"Oh." Rose's face fell. "But maybe you're wrong. I'm going to wait."

Cameron laughed. "You're determined to spend the night with Jack, aren't you?"

"What can I say, besides I love my husband? He's everything to me." Rose smiled.

"I can tell."

"Well, you better get back over there." Rose looked over at the small group. "I think you're being missed."

"I guess I am." Cameron nodded, leaving for the meeting.

Two hours later, the ball was almost over, and still Jack was in that meeting.

"So much for tonight being about us." Rose sighed in bitter disappointment.

"Rose." Cameron came up behind Rose. "Jack said to escort you home. He won't be getting out of that meeting in time after all."

"Oh, no." Rose's head fell in disappointment. "Oh, well, at least he tried. Right?"

"Right. Come on. I'll take you home." Cameron took her arm and led her out of the building.

*****

Jack has just closed the meeting and turned around to find Rose, but didn't see her anywhere.

"Have you see Rose?" He turned to James.

"Cameron said something about the meeting lasting longer than expected and taking her home," James answered.

"Oh, man, she's going to kill me." Jack shook his head. "It was supposed to be just the two of us tonight."

"Come on, Jack." James smiled. "Let's make our donation and get out of here while the night is still young. Maybe you can still make it up to her."

"Maybe." Jack sighed, following his cousin.

*****

Rose sighed as she entered the quiet mansion. Sylvia had the night off and had agreed to take the children for the night, since the adults were going to be out. It was just her and Cameron.

"I love it when it's like this." Cameron grinned. "Peace and quiet."

"Yeah." Rose snorted, hanging up her coat.

"I must say, Rose, tonight wasn't a total waste. I got to spend more time with you." Cameron smiled flirtatiously, causing warning bells to go off in Rose's head for some strange reason.

"I better go upstairs now. It's been a long night." Rose backed up towards the stairs, but Cameron quickly moved to block her way.

"But the night's still young, Rose. We have plenty of time to ourselves. How about I go in the kitchen and get some champagne and crackers and cheese? Have ourselves a little picnic," Cameron suggested.

"I don't think so, Cameron." Rose shook her head.

"Why not, Rose? I mean...what's a little champagne between friends? Huh?"

"Will you please move?" Rose asked angrily. She could see that Cameron had quickly slipped back into jerk mode again and she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

He grabbed her shoulders and forced her into the living room. He couldn't control his desire anymore. He wanted her and he wanted her now. "Well, then, let's forget about champagne and food. Let's get down to what we both basically want."

"What? And what's that?"

"Oh, come off it, Rose. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. I've wanted you from the moment I first saw you, and I know you feel the same about me." Cameron laughed.

"What? I wanted no such thing! I'm your cousin's wife, for goodness sake!"

"So? People have affairs every day." Cameron shrugged. "Why should we let the fact that you're married to my cousin stand in the way of how we feel?"

"Number one, I don't feel that way about you. In fact, I hate you. Your touch makes my skin crawl! And another thing, I'd never cheat on Jack! Especially with pond scum like you!" Rose struggled to get free, to no avail. Cameron was too strong. She shivered as his lust quickly turned to rage.

"Okay, Rose, that's the way you want it, that's the way you'll get it." Cameron took his fist and punched her, causing her to not only see stars but to also fall back onto the couch. "I'll just have to take what I want."

He grabbed Rose again and pushed her down on the couch. He slapped her harder and harder every time she struggled to get away. He had his pants down now and was ready to make his move when she brought her knee up and kicked him. He howled in pain as he let her go. Quickly, Rose got off the couch and dashed out the door, running away into the dark night. She didn't stop running until she was in the seedier side of town. She couldn't believe she had forced herself to run this far. Looking around, everything was unfamiliar. She was about to walk on when she spotted a familiar building. Sobbing uncontrollably now, she entered the building. Silence fell once again as she entered.

"Mrs. Rose?" A familiar black man came up to her, his eyes widening as he saw the bruises on her face and arms. He wondered what had happened to her.

"Help me." She sobbed, collapsing into the man's arms.

"Shh. Shh, now. It's okay. You're safe here now. No one's gonna hurt you." The man stroked her hair and led her to a back room, where there was a bed she could lay on to rest. Looking back, he hollered, "Go on with the music! There's nothing to see here!"

The band leader nodded and went on with the music.

Wishbone Jenkins took the sobbing girl into the room and has her sit on the bed. "Good lord, child, what happened to you? Where's Jack?"

Rose looked up at the kind man and just shook her head. She wasn't ready to go into what happened.

"Shall I call the mansion and have someone come get you?"

"No! Please don't. Not yet. I'll call later...when I'm sure Jack's home." Rose wiped away her tears and winced when her hand brushed against a bruise.

"Let me go get some medicine for you. Get you cleaned up some." Wishbone headed to the bathroom, where he kept his medicine cabinet.

Rose leaned back against the bed and wondered what she was going to do. What was she going to tell Jack? How would Jack react when he found out what Cameron had tried to do to her? Would he blame her rather than blame his cousin? Would he think she was a whore or a slut? After all, she had slept with him after knowing him for only a few days. Why should now be any different? At the last thought, she began to cry. Soon afterwards, she fell into a troubled sleep.

*****

The next morning, after a sleepless night of worrying about his wife's whereabouts, Jack got up and just stared out the window. He had come home last night to find Rose gone. He had asked Cameron where she was, but all he said was that after they got home, she went to her room and he went to his. He hadn't seen her for the rest of the night. He called Sylvia, thinking that maybe she went to get the children, but Sylvia said she hadn't shown up there, either. Jack had asked Sylvia not to come in for the next couple of days and to keep the children with her until he found out where his wife was. But he had no clue where to start looking.

He jumped when the phone rang. He quickly picked it up. "Rose?"

Silence at first. Then, a familiar voice came over the phone. "Jack, this is Wishbone Jenkins. I have your wife here. She's sleeping right now. But I thought I should call you and let you know she's safe."

"Thank you, Wishbone. Is she okay? I mean, I came home last night and she was gone...I don't know what happened."

"Well...by the way she looked last night when she showed up at the joint, she looked as if she was roughed up some. I asked her if she wanted me to call the mansion, but she said not until she was sure you were home. Then she fell asleep, and has been asleep ever since."

"Oh, my God. Okay. Thanks, Wishbone. I'll be right over there in a minute. Don't let her leave. Just keep her there."

"Okay, Jack." Wishbone nodded, hanging up the phone. He turned to see Rose looking at him.

"Was that Jack?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. He was worried about you, Rose. Didn't know what happened or where you got off to."

"Is he coming alone?" Rose asked.

"I guess." Wishbone shrugged. "Mrs. Rose, why don't you tell me what happened to you last night. Why’d you run away like that, and who beat you like that?"

"I--I can't talk about it right now." Rose turned away from him.

"Well...you know Jack's gonna want to know who marred his pretty wife's face like that."

"I know." Rose nodded, fear in her eyes at how Jack would react when she told him.

"I'll go make you some breakfast. You must be starving." Wishbone smiled at her. "Just you relax and don't worry about a thing."

Rose just smiled and did as he directed. She drifted off into another nightmare. This time she couldn't get away from Cameron and Cal was standing over them, calling her a slut and a whore.

She pleaded with them to stop, but they wouldn't. Then, Cameron, after he was done, stepped aside and let Cal have his way.

"No!" Rose screamed and sat bolt upright to see Jack talking to Wishbone. Both looked over at her in surprise. Jack was immediately at her side.

"Rose, what happened?" He hugged her closely. He pulled away and looked at her bruised face and arms. "Oh, my God. Who did this to you?"

"She wouldn't tell me anything." Wishbone shrugged.

"Rose...you can tell me anything. You know that. Who did this?" Jack asked, his voice gentle.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, when suddenly Cameron came in the room and stood behind Jack. She lost her voice as he glared down at her.

"Is everything all right now?" Cameron asked.

"Rose was just about to tell me who did this to her." Jack turned to Cameron, and back to Rose. He immediately spotted the fear in her eyes as she looked up at Cameron, and immediately knew the truth. "You did this, didn't you?"

"I didn't do anything that she didn't ask for." Cameron crossed his arms, smirking down at Rose. "She said she liked it rough. It's not my fault she's a little slut, now, is it?"

"You son of a bitch." Jack got up and punched Cameron in the nose, knocking him back into James.

"What's going on here?" James asked, as Cameron wiped blood away from his nose.

"Cameron raped Rose," Jack growled, advancing towards Cameron, but James got between the two men.

"What do you mean, Cameron raped Rose?" James asked, confused. Then, he saw Rose's bruises. He gasped. He knew his cousin had a crush on her, but he never thought he was capable of this. "Cameron, how could you?"

"She was begging for it. I wasn't going to resist." Cameron shrugged.

"And I guess those bruises got there by themselves?" James asked.

"Something's not right here." Jack turned to Rose, who was facing away from him. He took her hands and gently turned her head to look at him. "Rose, tell me what really happened. Don't worry. I won't be mad. I know whatever happened was his fault. Not yours."

Rose burst into tears. "He tried to rape me. He forced me into the sitting room, then threw me down on the couch. He punched and slapped me. I finally got a chance to knee him in his groin, and I ran away when he fell back in pain. I just ran, not knowing where I was going. I found myself here, and Mr. Jenkins took me in."

Jack just nodded and turned to Cameron. "If I ever catch you anywhere near my wife again, I will kill you, and next time, James won't be able to stop me."

"You should know by now that threats don't work." Cameron laughed. "Rose wanted it as much as I did. She just chickened out. That's all."

"Get out!" Jack pointed to the door.

"Gladly." Cameron turned on his heel and left.

"Jack, I'm sorry. It's my fault. He told me you told him to take me home, that the meeting would last for the rest of the night," Rose cried. "Or I would never have left with him."

"Shh, Rose. It's okay. I understand." Jack took her in his arms and hugged her tightly. "It's okay now, Rose. You're safe, and he'll never touch you again. I promise. I guess it's a good thing that I told Sylvia to keep the kids at her house for a couple of days."

"What are we going to do now, Jack?" Rose asked, knowing that they couldn't go back to the mansion.

"Well, I'm going to rent us an apartment for now. Then, once I get things settled here...we'll move out of Boston. Maybe we'll go to New York. I can open up that gallery Grandfather left me. We can make our living that way." Jack smiled as the idea came to him. "It's going to be great, Rose...just like it was before we ever came to Boston."

Rose smiled happily at her husband, relieved that he believed her and didn't hate her for what had happened.

"Just give me a few more weeks, Rose. A few more weeks, and we'll be on our way."

*****

Within two weeks, Jack had turned most of his shares in the Dawson family business over to James, and now he was ready to move his family back to New York...where he and Rose had just started when they got off the Carpathia.

Chapter Sixty-Four
Stories