THE CHIPPEWA FALLS DAWSONS
Chapter Ten
Jack sat in the wagon bed; Rose snuggled up
next to him. It was the middle of April, but at seven in the morning, it was
still cool. He would gladly keep her as close to him as she wanted to be.
Neither one of them had wanted to risk a pregnancy, so they hadn’t been that
close. Jack could easily remember that night in the Renault. It had been the
first time for both of them, and it was special to Jack. It was then that he
had known that Rose truly loved him. He was still unprepared to hear her say,
"When this ship docks, I’m getting off with you." A jerk of the wagon
brought Jack back to the present. He looked down at Rose and smiled.
"I’ve never ridden in the back of a
wagon before," Rose said.
"I could tell. When we get to town,
after I go to the bank, I want us to go and see how soon we can get
married."
Rose looked up into those beautiful blue eyes
and realized how much she loved him, needed him, and that she couldn’t wait to
be his wife. She was speechless; his eyes did that to her. She could get lost
looking into them. She moved closer, and kissed him with all that she felt
inside. She put all of her emotion into that kiss, telling him that she
couldn’t wait.
Michael looked back at his friend, and
started to blush. He hadn’t meant to catch them kissing. How they managed to do
that in a swaying wagon, he had no idea. He had never met any girl that he felt
special about. Mr. Leary nudged Michael and motioned towards Jack and Rose.
Michael took the hint, and loudly cleared his throat. "Jack, we’re at the
turn into your driveway. Let’s get ready to look this house over."
"I’m ready when you are. Mr. Leary, why
don’t you pull up close to the house? That’s all I need to look at for
now."
"Whatever you want, Jack," Mr.
Leary said. "Why don’t you two young ones look at the house? I think I’ll
look over at the barn, see how much we can save."
That afternoon, after a quick picnic lunch,
the four headed into town. Jack and Mr. Leary sat on the bench, leaving Michael
and Rose in the back. They were talking about what it was going to take to
rebuild the house. Most of the main floor could be saved, but all of the second
was lost. They were arguing over whether to pull down all the outside walls, or
to build the new ones up from the existing ones.
Michael and Rose sat in the back, not even
talking. They had tried, but the argument going on in front was too interesting
to talk over. Michael shrugged his shoulders, telling Rose that he didn’t care;
he was willing to do either. Rose was happy when they stopped. She carefully
rose up, and peered over Jack’s shoulder. Good, she thought. We made
it to town.
Mr. Leary pulled the wagon up in front of the
bank, and he went inside. Jack made sure Rose was okay before following Mr.
Leary in. "This shouldn’t take too long, Rose. The bank will have to draw
up a new deed, that’s all. Then we’ll go over and talk to the judge."
Rose was surprised at how little time it did
take. She and Michael had talked about his life, and just as he was going to
tell her a funny story about Jack, they walked out. Jack was smiling, and he
showed Rose the new deed. The bank’s owner had heard that Jack was back in
town, and had been expecting him.
Rose was able to send a telegram to her
mother, and then they went over to see how soon the judge would be able to
marry them. As they walked through the small town, Rose thought about how
different this town was compared to Philadelphia. It was a bigger town, but
still not as big. In this town, everyone knew everything about everybody. This
certainly was a town still growing.
At the courthouse, Jack and Rose went up to
the main desk. They asked the lady there about weddings. The lady told them that
the judge did weddings on every Tuesday. Tomorrow was Tuesday. Even though most
people got married in a church, Jack and Rose didn’t want to wait. The church
usually only married members, and Jack knew that it would take at least a month
before the reverend there would marry them. Jack told the lady that tomorrow
was fine, and they filled out the forms for the marriage license. Tomorrow Rose
would finally be his wife. It wasn’t even the end of April yet, and they had
met on the twelfth.
They left the courthouse, and Rose was so
happy, she felt like she was floating. Tomorrow she would become Mrs. Jack
Dawson.