CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
Chapter Ten
Rose awakened on the Santa
Monica beach. She smiled as she spotted her husband, Jack, and their little
girl, Josephine, playing in the ocean. She sighed, leaned back on her blanket,
and looked up at the baby blue sky. She could never imagine such a perfect day.
"Mommy! Look what Daddy
drew me!" Josephine ran up with a picture clutched in her hand. Rose
smiled as the little girl showed her a sketch of her and Josephine together,
sitting on a horse with one leg on each side.
"This is beautiful."
Rose smiled. She looked up and saw Jack further down the beach, arguing with
someone. By the build, Rose could tell it was a woman. Rose got up and headed
down there, dread building in her heart. She had a feeling that if she didn’t
hurry she would lose Jack forever. Then, she and Josephine would be alone.
"Jack!"
Jack turned to her, and Rose
gasped. Instead of being full of happiness and optimism, his eyes were now full
of resignation and grief, like he was mourning someone he loved very much, and
standing next to him, grasping his hand tightly, was Caroline, dressed in a
bridal gown.
"Jack?" Rose asked,
tightly grasping Josephine’s hand. "What’s going on?"
"It’s over, Rose."
Caroline smiled evilly at her. "I win."
"No. We’re married…we’re
meant to be together…Jack?" Rose turned to him, but he was gone…he wasn’t
there. She turned back and glared at Caroline. "Where is he? What did you
do with him?"
Caroline laughed evilly.
"I win, Rose! I win!" Then, she, too, disappeared, leaving Rose and
Josephine alone.
"Jack! Jack!" Rose
called out. She kept calling until she heard a baby’s cry. She looked down to
see that her little girl was now a screaming newborn baby. "Oh,
Josephine." Rose began to cry herself, picking up her little girl and
holding her close. What was going on? Suddenly, it began to rain. She looked
down at Josephine and tried to cover her as best she could. She looked back up
to see her father walking towards her. Rose was now very confused. Her father
had been dead for three years now.
"Daddy?" Rose asked.
"Rosie, darlin’, take
care of my granddaughter." Her father gently touched Josephine’s head,
which was now bald with a little patch of blond fuzz. "She’s beautiful,
Rose. You did a good job."
"Daddy, where’s
Jack?"
"Rose, have you ever been
to Chippewa Falls? They have some of the coldest winters around." Ralph
Bukater grinned, backing away from Rose.
"Daddy? Daddy, where are
you going? Where’s Jack?"
Her father just waved and
disappeared, waving good-bye to Rose.
"Daddy, wait! Where’s
Jack? Where’s Jack?" Rose called out over the baby’s cries. "Daddy!
Daddy!"
*****
Rose bolted upright in her bed
and sighed a sigh of relief. It had been the same dream she had been having for
the past six weeks. The six weeks that had passed since the sinking…since the
loss of Jack.
"What’s happening to
me?" She buried her head in her hands, hot tears coursing down her face.
"Why do I keep dreaming about Jack, our would-be child, Caroline, and my
father? And why does Chippewa Falls have anything to do with it?"
"Rose, darlin’, are you
okay?" Molly appeared in her bedroom door. "I heard you calling for
Jack again. Is it the same dream?"
Rose nodded and looked down at
her hands. "Why do I keep having the same dream, Molly? What is it trying
to tell me?"
"I don’t know, darlin’. I
don’t know." Molly came over and put a supportive arm around her
shoulders.
"And you know, each time I
have it, I get this strange sense of urgency. Like if I don’t do something
soon, something awful will happen. It gets stronger and stronger each
time."
"Oh, Rose…do you think it’s
trying to tell ya something?"
"I don’t know. I mean, what
can it be telling me? I mean, it can’t be telling me that Jack’s alive, because
he’s dead. He died holding my hand. I don’t know what it can be telling me that
can be so urgent."
"I don’t know, Rose. I don’t
know."
Suddenly, Rose began to feel
nauseous. She placed her hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom, where she
lost her meal from the night before into the toilet.
"Rose?" Molly appeared
behind her. "I think it’s time to call the doctor. Don’t you?"
Rose looked up at Molly and
nodded. She’d be leaving Denver in three more days, and she wanted to leave
healthy. It wouldn’t do to travel while she was ill.
*****
The doctor exited Rose’s room,
his face blank of emotion. Molly ran up to him, deep concern in her voice.
"How is she, doc?"
"She’s fine. She’s perfectly
healthy. She’ll just be a little out of it for the next eight and a half
months."
"Eight and a half…what are
you talking about?"
"Mrs. Dawson is with child,
madam. I suggest you tell the father right away." The doctor just looked
at Molly like she’d lost her mind, and then left.
"Oh, Rose." Molly
placed her hand over her mouth as she entered the room and saw her niece
sobbing uncontrollably. "Darlin’, it’s okay."
"No, it’s not, Molly. I’m
pregnant, and the father’s dead. Jack will never get to know his son or
daughter."
"Oh, Rose…"
"And my baby will never know
its father. It’ll never know what a wonderful man he was."
"Shh, Rose. Don’t cry. Of
course it’ll know how wonderful its father was, because you’ll tell him or her.
You’ll tell them who their father was and what a wonderful man he was. They’ll
know, Rose. They’ll know."
"Oh, my God, Molly. That’s
the dream! That’s what the dream was all about. It was telling me that I was
pregnant with Jack’s child!"
"You think so?"
"I know so, Molly. That has
to be it! Jack was trying to tell me that I’m having his daughter! Oh, Molly,
she’s going to be so beautiful! She’ll have my curls and eyes, and have Jack’s
blond hair and smile! She’s going to be so beautiful!"
Six Months Later
Rose clutched her train tickets
in her hand as she hugged her aunt good-bye. "I’m going to miss you, Aunt
Molly. Thank you. Thank you for being such a rock for me in these past months.
I don’t know what I would have done without you."
"You would have gotten
through it, Rose. I know you would have. But I’m glad I could be there for you.
Now, take care of yourself, and take care of that baby. And if you come across
that Caroline…I don’t know…just don’t push her while you’re still carrying this
child. Do you hear me?"
"Don’t worry, Aunt Molly.
I’m going to stay out of her way. The last thing I need is for her to blame me
for Jack’s death." Rose shrugged. "But it would be fun to point out
that I’m having his baby and she’s not."
"Rose…"
"Don’t worry. I won’t rub it
in." Rose laughed as the last whistle for boarding passengers sounded.
"Well, that’s me. I better go."
"Wait, Rose! There’s
something I want to give ya! Take this!" Molly handed Rose a leather box.
"Go ahead. Open it."
Rose gasped when she opened the
box to her mother’s precious necklace…the Heart of the Ocean. "Molly,
how?"
"Oh, I sneaked it out of
that old coat she was wearing. This necklace was your grandma’s pride and joy,
just like you were. She wanted you to have it, you know. But Ruth saw it and
claimed it for herself. I’m just glad that I’m able to give it to the rightful
owner." Molly smiled.
"Oh, Aunt Molly, thank you!
This means so much to me!" Rose cried, hugging her aunt. She wiped her
tears as she pulled away. "I better get going. I don’t want to miss that
train."
"Write me!"
"I will." Rose waved as
she boarded the train to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Jack’s hometown. She was
determined to learn more about Jack, so that when the time came she could share
the stories with her daughter.