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.

Chapter Two
Stories