TITANIC CONTINUED
Chapter One
Jack and Rose, hand-in-hand,
walked toward the rail of the great ship, Titanic. The brisk Atlantic breeze
ruffled their hair. Together they stood, watching the final stages of the
orange sunset, and when the sun had disappeared into the water, they stared
deeply into each other's eyes.
"You're so beautiful,"
Jack whispered, stroking Rose's hair and giving her a gentle kiss on the
forehead. She rested her head on his shoulder, and they both looked out toward
the sea.
I can't wait until we dock, Rose thought. We'll be so happy.
As if reading her mind, Rose felt
Jack's lips against her ear, and closed her eyes and smiled as he whispered the
sweet words. "I love you, Rose." Each time he said that, or sometimes
when he just looked at her, her heart soared like an eagle, she felt her pulse
quicken, and she got this feeling like she was melting.
She looked up at him. It was
approaching darkness.
"Getting a little chilly out
here, wouldn't ya say?" He immediately removed his jacket and draped it
over Rose's shoulders. Once again, Rose couldn't help but look at him with a
smile on her face. He's so perfect in every way, she thought. She kissed
him deeply.
The serenity was interrupted by a
brisk voice heard from behind them, where the first class passengers were being
served dinner.
"Miss Rose DeWitt
Bukater?" the steward called to Rose.
"Yes?" Rose answered,
without even bothering to pull away from Jack's arms, which were still around
her.
"I'm sorry to bother you,
miss, but your mother has sent me to fetch you."
Rose scowled. She looked at Jack.
"This shouldn't take long. Whatever she wants, I'll humor her and be right
back."
Jack winked at her. "I'll be
waiting right here."
With that, Rose followed the
waiter into the dining room. The warm air felt good on her chilled cheeks. It
had been quite cold outside.
Finely dressed aristocrats filled
the room, and the smell of cigarette smoke and perfume swallowed Rose. She
recognized her mother's laughter as they approached the table where her mother
and several other ladies were seated.
"You sent for me?" Rose
asked patiently. She didn't want to upset her mother. She was already angry
that Rose had flat-out refused to stop seeing Jack. Rose remembered her own
words when her mother had told her she was never to see that boy again. Mother,
she had said, I'm not a child. Let me be.
"Where have you been? You
aren't even dressed for dinner yet!"
Rose rolled her eyes. Typical,
she thought. She drags me in here to tell me this?
"I've been out on the deck,
watching the sunset," Rose replied.
Her mother, Ruth, lowered her
voice. "Were you with him?" She had obviously noticed Jack's
not-so-fancy jacket around Rose's shoulders.
"Mother," Rose replied
impatiently, "he has a name. It's Jack."
"Yes, well," Ruth
answered. "If you're going to eat, you'd better get dressed right now.
You've already missed the first course! And for heaven's sake, child, do
something with your hair. It looks awful!" With that, Ruth turned back to
the ongoing dinner table conversation.
Interrupting her mother in
mid-sentence, Rose said, rather loudly, "I'm not eating. I'm not hungry.
I'm going back outside if you need me."
Before her mother could reply,
Rose was almost to the door to the deck. Jack was out of view. He must have
moseyed down the deck to look at something.
As Rose walked out onto the
wooden planks of the first class deck, the wind hit her, and she wrapped Jack's
jacket tighter around her.
The past few days had been
something else. Just this afternoon, Jack had been handcuffed and carried off
down below after being accused of stealing a necklace given to Rose by her
fiancé, Cal, who Rose hadn't spoken to since the incident. The necklace, which
was a fifty-six karat blue diamond and called Le Coeur de la Mer, or the Heart
of the Ocean, had been planted in Jack's jacket as an attempt by Cal to have
him arrested. It had worked, until Rose had spoken actually to the warden on
board herself, and convinced him, with, to put it lightly, a little pocket change,
to release Jack.
Rose rounded a corner and scanned
the area for Jack, but he was still out of sight. She kept walking. I've
gone the wrong way. I should've headed in the other direction, she thought,
but decided it would be nice to walk around the long way; she was enjoying the
fresh smell and the sound of the waves splashing against the massive ship.
Rose had been in love with Jack
since they met. Well, there were a few sparks at first, but Jack was the most
perfect man she'd ever known, and they had promised each other that when
Titanic docked in New York, they would get off the ship together. Rose silently
wished the majestic ship all of God's speed, for she couldn't wait to begin her
new life as Mrs. Jack Dawson.
Suddenly, Rose felt a hand on her
shoulder.
"There you are!" She
turned around to see Jack's familiar face smiling at her. With a sigh of
relief, she leaned up to give him a kiss.
"I was just thinking about
you," Rose told him as Jack put his arm around her.
"Well, what do you know? I
was just thinking about you, too." He grinned and planted another kiss on
Rose's lips.
They walked a few steps, and Jack
stopped suddenly.
"What is it? What's
wrong?" Rose asked.
Jack looked at her, and said
foolishly, "I left my damned drawings on the bench back there..."
"Where? I didn't know you
had them," Rose said.
"Oh, I set them down on a
bench back there close to where we were standing a minute ago. I just
completely forgot."
Rose said with concern, "I
hope they haven't blown away. Should I go help you look? Are you sure you left
them?"
Jack just looked at her with that
shy smile, and she got that melting feeling.
"You stay here. I'll go
after them. Surely they haven't blown away. I had them in a thingy...what do
you call it…a...a…"
Rose finished it for him.
"Your portfolio, you mean?"
Jack snapped his fingers.
"That's it, the fancy name for it. I just call it a folder."
Rose laughed.
"I'll be right back. Don't
budge, beautiful." Jack turned.
Rose called after him. "I
miss you already!"
Once again, Rose was left alone
with her thoughts. She couldn't help but think about the future, being Jack's
wife, being with him always, all day, every day, waking up beside him every
morning. It was like a dream come true.
She had to figure out a way to
break off her engagement to Cal.