ESCAPE
Chapter Twenty-Three
A beautiful night was setting in as Rose
finished her story. Jack gazed at her, rubbing her sides to comfort her as
emotion after emotion swept over her.
Rose’s hair had dried long ago from the
loveliest hot bath she had had in months. She had emerged smelling of
strawberry and with gleaming hair, the most magnificent creature Jack had ever
beheld and a thousand times more beautiful than he could ever capture on paper.
He had led her to the balcony leading out
from his bedroom and pulled her onto a chair. So, with a breeze blowing through
their hair, they exchanged their stories and watched the sun rise higher and
higher in the sky, then begin its descent, and finally disappear in a violet
and pink sky.
*****
"So…so Jayvelin…Jayvelin’s really
my…uh…daughter?"
Rose couldn’t manage to stifle a laugh before
she answered. "Yes."
"Where is she now, then?"
"With Nana Bobo. I didn’t want to risk
being seen with them."
"Could…do you think…would it be possible
to get the kids...do you think?"
"Jack. I’m so, so sorry. Of course you’re
going to want to see them. How could I have not have thought of it?"
"It’s okay. So it would be all right for
me to go pick them up?"
"Yes, of course."
*****
Rose had asked Nana Bobo to watch the kids
that morning when she would go to ask her friend if she might stay with them.
"Are you sure it’s safe, Rosie-girl? Who
is this friend? Can they be trusted?" Nana Bobo usually didn’t ask such
unpractical questions, but she had a strong liking for Rose and didn’t want to
see her get hurt.
"Don’t worry."
"I don’t like to pry, but the future of
these little kiddies is at stake. The reward for turning you in is high. Can
you at least tell me who this friend is?"
"Okay, Nana. It’s Jack Dawson."
Like most people, Nana Bobo knew exactly who
Rose was talking about. The idea that this girl should know such a prestigious
character didn’t surprise her; Rose had always had a high-class feeling about
her. As Nana Bobo had said earlier, she didn’t like to pry, so she nodded her
head once, got permission to tell this interesting gossip to the other tenants
under the bridge--they all knew better than to tell that Rose lived among them,
even the children--and agreed to look after Jayvelin and Jacob.
The news had spread quickly among the
dwellers. Some nodded their heads and said, "I knew that girl had an
unbelievable past," while a great many shook their heads and said,
"The girl was locked up for a reason. She’s raving mad if she thinks Jack
Dawson knows who she is."
With so many disbelievers, the excitement was
a living, breathing fixture in the air as a shiny black car pulled to a stop
near their haphazard homes that night. And who should step out of it--and from
the driver’s seat, too--but Mr. Jack Dawson himself. But that wasn’t all. He
then proceeded to nod a greeting at the onlookers, a smile forming on his lips,
and his eyes rested on Jayvelin. He went to the other side of the car. He
opened the passenger’s door and helped Rose out. A little gasp came out of
everyone. They all knew that Rose was unmistakably beautiful, but in a clean,
crisp dress and with glowing skin and hair, she was dazzling. Of course, these
were the features that would have led them to this conclusion at first glance.
But if they gazed a little closer, anyone could see that this wasn’t it at all.
It was the rekindled fire that burned through her once again and the gleam of
hope afresh in her eyes that made her breathtaking.