TITANIC CONTINUED
Chapter Eighteen
"Rose, how do you
feel?"
Rose opened her eyes and looked
up at Jack. "Jack, tell me why."
Jack didn’t have to ask to know
what she was talking about.
He cleared his throat. "All
right. I’m gonna shorten this up a bit. Cal, even though the guy’s a fool,
could give you a better life than I could. I realized this, and decided that I
care about you too much to take away the life Cal would give you, the life you
were raised to live."
Rose began shaking her head
furiously.
"I know, I know," he
said, gently putting a finger to her lips. "I see now. I understand. It
took some…persuasion, but…well, I guess the reason I got scared and started
backing out was because I made a mistake, a bad judgment call. I started
thinking you only wanted to go away with me to get away from Cal and your
mother. I thought you were scared to leave them on your own, scared to be
alone, period. But I see now how wrong I was. I was the scared one. You’re the
brave one, Rose. And I’m so, so sorry."
He raised her hand and kissed
each finger.
Rose studied him as he caressed
her hand, looking down the entire time, as if afraid to meet Rose’s gaze yet.
She could sense that he was afraid she would reject him. But that was the last thing
in the world she would do.
Rose mustered her strength and
sat up slowly. Jack jumped up and started to help her. "Rose! What are you
doing? Lay back down! You have to rest!"
Rose looked at him. His eyes were
so full of concern, so full of love, she couldn’t stand it any longer. She
threw her arms around him and held him so tightly that it consumed every ounce
of strength she had left.
"I love you," she
whispered strongly.
She could feel Jack’s sigh of
what seemed like relief. Rose pulled away from him and stared deeply into his
eyes.
"I’ve never loved anyone
else, and I never will," she said, her eyes never moving from his.
"I’m so sorry," Jack
said with pure sincerity, and he pulled Rose back to him and held her close.
"Please never scare me
again. Please never leave me alone, Jack," she said in his ear.
"I swear." He turned to
whisper in her ear. "I’m lost without you, Rose."
For a while, they just held each
other. No words could describe the joy either of them were feeling during those
glorious moments.
Jack helped Rose lay back down.
"The doctor said you’ll be fine," he told he reassuringly. "But
you have to get some good rest."
Suddenly, Rose pulled Jack down
to her and put a slow, passionate kiss on his lips. When they pulled apart,
Rose was teary-eyed.
"What’s wrong? Where does it
hurt?" Jack asked, concerned.
Rose shook her head. "It
isn’t physical pain. It’s just the pain I’ve been feeling for the last
twenty-four hours. The pain of thinking about getting off this ship with anyone
besides you…of never seeing you again…and worse, of living my life without
you." She paused. "But it's all right now, isn't it, Jack? Oh, it's
all right. It's all right."
Jack kissed her and held her. How
did I get so lucky? he was thinking the entire time. Thank you, Lord.
Oh, dear God, thank you for this angel.