LOVE THAT NEVER FADES
Chapter Four
A Changed Man
Rose looked around the deck and
saw survivors sitting around, either crying or cuddled up against each other.
Rose sighed as she sat down on a vacant deck chair and looked out at the ocean.
Rose saw a small family just a couple of feet from her crying. There was a
mother and two small children. One boy and one girl. But the father was
missing. Rose assumed that the father had perished on the Titanic. Rose
immediately felt sorrow for them.
Rose suddenly heard two men
talking by the staircase. Rose’s head turned in the direction of the
conversation, and there she saw a man that she really didn’t want to see.
Rose’s heartbeat quickened as she frantically looked around to find someplace
to hide. Someplace where Cal wouldn’t be able to find her. She got up and tried
to go back into the infirmary, but was stopped by Cal, who held onto her wrist
in a firm grip. His grip was a little too tight, so Rose turned and faced him.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
"What do you want,
Cal?" Rose asked coldly, looking at Cal with pure hatred.
"Rose…" Cal began.
"Save it, Cal," Rose
said. "I’m not interested in talking with you right now."
"Rose, I…I love you,"
Cal said hesitantly. Rose shook her head.
"No, you don’t," Rose
said. "You don’t love me at all. You only want me so you can show me off
as your possession."
"Rose, I love you for who
you are," Cal said.
"Really?" Rose asked,
looking into his dark eyes. "Then why do you abuse me? Why don’t you ever
let me speak for myself?"
"Because I know what’s best
for you, my dear, and I want to protect you," Cal said.
"Protect me?" Rose
asked.
"Yes. Protect you from other
men," Cal said. "But that steerage trash had to ruin
everything."
"His name is Jack,"
Rose pointed out. "And he’s not trash. He’s a gentleman, unlike you."
"He can’t be a gentleman. He
isn’t rich like me," Cal said. Rose just laughed.
"Cal, you’ll never learn,
will you?" Rose asked. "You don’t need to be rich to be a gentleman.
To be a gentleman, you need to respect women and not abuse them like you did
me. Cal, as far as I know, the engagement is off. It has been ever since we
stepped onto the Titanic. And I thank God that I have met Jack."
"What will he do with
you?" Cal asked. "He doesn’t have any money to protect you, to
provide you with precious jewelry."
"Cal, he doesn’t need to
have money," Rose said. "Understand that? All he has to do is love
me, and I’ll be the wealthiest girl in the world."
"Love isn’t everything,
Rose," Cal said. "Money’s everything."
"You’re wrong, Cal,"
Rose said. "Money isn’t everything. Money can’t buy love. You have to earn
it. And Jack earned my love. You…you, on the other hand, tried to buy love from
me, and I didn’t return that love for you, because deep down, I knew you didn’t
love me. Don’t try to deny it, Cal. I never loved you. I couldn’t bring myself
to love you. The only man I’ll ever love is Jack. Live with that, Cal.
Nothing’s going to stop me from loving him. Not even you." Rose pulled her
arm from his firm grasp. She turned, beginning to walk away.
"Rose!" Cal said.
"You’re precious to me." Rose turned and shook her head.
"Jewels are precious, Mr.
Hockley. Good-bye. Have a nice life." With that, Rose turned and walked
back to the infirmary, leaving Cal to stand there, wondering what he should do.
Without thinking, Cal followed Rose inside the infirmary and found her sitting
beside Jack’s bed, holding his hand. His face was pale, and he was unconscious.
That was when Cal knew that she really loved Jack. He sighed, wondering what to
do.
"Rose…" Cal said
softly. Rose looked up.
"What is it, Cal?" Rose
asked, looking back down at Jack. Cal sighed.
"I’m sorry for all I’ve done
to you in the past year," Cal said.
"Cal, I…" Rose began,
before she was interrupted.
"There’re five stacks of
twenty dollar bills in a pocket of the coat you have on, along with the Heart
of the Ocean," Cal said. "You may have them, if you wish. They’re
yours now. I have no use for them." Rose looked up at him.
The thought that Cal was giving
up a large amount of money and the Heart of the Ocean to her sounded sort of
suspicious. Cal was never one to give a person a large amount of money to help
them. He would only give them money to bribe people, to show how wealthy he
really was. The Heart of the Ocean…the one necklace that held so many memories
for Rose--memories that held Jack’s love for her, or so she supposed it did.
She remembered that Jack had never uttered those words to her personally, and
she only hoped that he did love her, like she did him. If he didn’t, she
wouldn’t know what to do. She glanced at Jack’s sleeping face, then turned to
face Cal.
"Cal, that really isn’t
necessary. You really aren’t one to give that much to a person. It’s especially
unlikely to a person who had a love affair with someone else," Rose said,
not fully believing that Cal would actually give her those items.
"No, Rose," Cal said.
"You may keep them. I have plenty of money in Philadelphia. It seems to me
that you need it more than I do, anyway. I couldn’t possibly see you sleeping
out in the streets when we dock."
Rose had a perplexed look on her
face. Had her ears played tricks on her? Had she really heard that Cal was
giving her money to help her survive? Had Cal really changed through the
sinking? Rose closed her eyes to think things through. She had no idea what to
do. She didn’t know if she should really accept the offer of her having the
money and the Heart of the Ocean. She knew Cal, and she knew that he could just
be bribing her so that she would go back to first class with him. As much as
she didn’t want to accept the offer, she knew she needed the money, and she
wanted to keep the Heart of the Ocean as a memory from when she was on board
the Titanic with Jack.
"All right, Cal," Rose
said, making her decision. "I’ll keep the possessions, although I hope to
never see you again. I still haven’t forgiven you for what you did to me on
board the Titanic and even before that. And I don’t know if I can ever forgive
you for what you did."
"I understand, Rose,"
Cal said. "I just hope that you live a happy life with Jack. It has been a
pleasure knowing you…Miss DeWitt Bukater."
"The pleasure is all mine,
Mr. Hockley," Rose said, giving him a small smile. With that, Cal turned
and left Rose’s life for good. Or so she hoped. Rose turned back towards Jack,
and once again held his hand as she tried to talk to him, just to keep herself
company. Telling him how much she loved him.