LOVE THAT NEVER FADES
Chapter Five
A Loving Mother
Rose was now sitting on her bed,
trying to get herself to eat the food Annie had brought for her earlier, but
she just couldn’t convince herself to eat. Giving up, Rose placed the tray on
the small table, shifting to a more comfortable position as she kept looking
over at Jack, who was still unconscious. Rose sighed, praying that Jack would
wake up soon. Rose didn’t know what she’d do if Jack never woke up. She knew
she’d be heartbroken and hurt, but if he didn’t wake up, she had to keep her
promise. Just as she was about to get up, she heard a few people mumbling to
themselves. Rose turned around to see what all the commotion was about, and
there she saw a person who she had never expected to see again.
There, Rose saw her mother
looking around, probably for her. She was wearing the same dress she had worn
the night the ship sank. Rose’s heart began beating rapidly, fearing that her
mother would force her to go back to Cal, despite the fact that she already
told Cal that the engagement was off once and for all. She saw her mother
looking in her direction, a smile appearing on her lips and tears glistening in
her eyes. Rose saw her mother walk towards her with a worried expression on her
face.
"Oh, Rose!" Ruth said,
bringing her daughter into a hug. Rose was surprised, because her mother hardly
ever hugged her. Slowly and reluctantly, she hugged her back, fearing of what
she was going to hear from her mother. "I thought I’d lost you," Ruth
said, looking into her daughter’s eyes.
"Mother, I…" Rose
began.
"Rose, you don’t need to
explain," Ruth said. "Mr. Hockley explained everything." Rose
looked down, afraid her mother was going to be upset with her for what she had
done.
"I’m sorry," Rose said.
"I didn’t mean to do this to you, but I don’t love Cal…I love Jack."
Rose turned her head to face a motionless Jack. Ruth followed her gaze and
sighed.
Ruth saw how pale and motionless
Jack was. His chest was rising and falling every time he took a breath, and
blankets covered his whole body, only leaving his head free. His hair fell in
his closed eyes, his head turned sideways, as if he was staring at Rose. If it
weren’t for his breathing, Ruth would’ve thought that he was dead. She turned
her attention back to Rose, who was staring at Jack with sorrowful eyes. Ruth
grasped Rose’s hand gently as she saw her daughter turn her head and face her.
Ruth gave her a small smile.
"I know you do," Ruth
said. "And I…I’m glad that you found someone who will care for you…I’m
sorry for forcing you to get engaged to Cal. At first I thought he was a true
gentleman, that he would take good care of you, so that you wouldn’t go hungry
or cold. Cal explained to me a while ago that he wasn’t as loyal to you as I
thought he was." Rose looked at her mother, then down at her hands.
"Rose, after I heard that, I knew I had to go to you. I couldn’t just
watch you leave before I said good-bye." Rose suddenly looked up.
"Good-bye?" Rose asked,
surprised. Ruth nodded.
"Well, it’s better for me to
leave you now," Ruth said. "I ruined your life, and I know you won’t
want me to stay with you."
"But, Mother, you don’t
understand," Rose said. "I do want you to stay with me. Even though
you made my adolescent years misery, I still love you. You’re my mother. I
understand that you wanted us to live in the upper class world, and I
understand that you wanted me to marry someone of high quality, but that didn’t
stop me from loving you." Tears welled up in Rose’s eyes as she was saying
this. She loved her mother with all her heart, and despite what her mother had
done to her, she couldn’t just let her mother walk out of her life forever.
"There’s a nurse here whom I’ve become friends with. She lives in New York
in an apartment. If there is an apartment available for rent, I…Jack and I
would love it if you joined us." Rose looked into her mother’s eyes.
"Oh, Rose," Ruth said,
bringing her daughter into a tight hug. "I would love to." Rose
hugged her mother back, tears falling down her cheeks.
Annie was carrying a couple of
blankets for the survivors when she found Rose hugging a middle-aged first
class woman. She also saw that Rose hadn’t touched her food. Sighing, Annie
made her way towards Rose, putting the blankets down on a small table beside
the tray.
"Rose, you have to eat your
food. I don’t want you to end up fainting," Annie commented, watching as
Rose broke away from the hug. She smiled.
"Annie, I would like for you
to meet my mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Mother, this is Annabelle Johnson, the
nurse I was talking about," Rose said. Ruth smiled and held out her hand.
"It’s a pleasure to meet
you, Miss Johnson," Ruth said.
"The pleasure is all
mine," Annie said, shaking the woman’s hand. "But please, call me
Annie."
"I heard that you’ve become
friends with my daughter," Ruth said, smiling.
"Yes, we’ve become friends.
There’s just something about Rose that made me know that she’s a very
trustworthy person," Annie said.
"She is a trustworthy
person," Ruth said. Rose smiled.
"Uh…Rose," Annie said.
"You haven’t touched your food." Rose looked at the tray that was on
a small table and sighed.
"I’m too worried to
eat," Rose said.
"Worried about what,
dear?" Ruth asked. Rose looked at Jack.
"Worried that Jack won’t
ever wake up," Rose said, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Rose, he’s going to wake
up," Ruth assured her daughter. "I assure you. I know he wouldn’t
leave you now. Not after what you two have been through." Rose looked at
her mother and smiled sadly. Ruth brought her into a tight hug.
"So, his name is Jack?"
Annie asked. Rose looked up at her after she hugged her mother and nodded.
"Jack Dawson," Rose
said, staring at Jack’s still motionless body. She really hoped that he would
wake up soon so she could stare into his piercing blue eyes. "I just hope
that he wakes up soon. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him." Tears
started falling down her cheeks.
"Oh, Rose," Ruth said,
hugging her daughter once again. "Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry." Ruth
comforted Rose. "If you cry, you’re going to make me cry." Rose wiped
her tears away, trying to smile. Rose suddenly felt another pair of arms go
around her shoulders, and she realized that Annie had hugged her. Rose smiled
and hugged her back.
"Thank you for helping me,
Annie," Rose said, hugging her back.
"No problem. You need a
friend right now," Annie said, sitting beside her. "And I’m your
friend. I want you to know that. If you ever need me, just call my name, and
I’ll be there." Rose smiled and hugged her once again.
"I never had a true
friend," Rose admitted, tears falling down her cheeks. "And I’m sure
glad that I finally found one."
"Me, too, Rose. Me,
too," Annie said, hugging her back. She got up. "Well, I have to go
back to my volunteer job. Have to put more blankets on the survivors who have
hypothermia and stuff like that. I’ll be able to talk to you later tonight.
Okay, Rose?" Annie took the blankets from the table and left Rose and her
mother alone.
"She’s such a sweet
girl," Ruth said, watching Annie put more blankets on survivors.
"She is," Rose agreed,
smiling. Rose looked at her mother. "Mother, I love you. I always have. To
me, you’re the most loving mother any girl could ever want. I know what you did
to me the past few years was out of love, and I was willing to make you happy.
But Cal, he…he’ll never make me happy the way Jack does. I just hope that you
understand that." Rose hoped that she didn’t get her mother upset. Rose
looked up and found her mother smiling.
"Rose, I know you love Jack.
I knew you loved Jack when we were at the first class dinner aboard the ship. I
just didn’t want to believe it, that’s all," Ruth said, holding her
daughter’s hand. "But now I truly believe it. I truly believe that Jack is
the right man for you. And I want to see you two happy." Rose smiled and
hugged her mother. For the first time since her engagement to Cal, Rose felt
loved by her mother. And for the first time since then, her mother had changed.
Ruth wasn’t the person who had wanted her daughter to marry a rich man anymore.
Her mother now wanted her to marry who she really loved, and her one true love
was Jack Dawson. She couldn’t love anyone more than she loved Jack. And she
hoped that he would wake up soon, so she could finally see a smile on his face
and his blue eyes shining in happiness.