A LOVE NEVER FADING
Chapter Thirty-Five
"He's outside the door," Brian
whispered to Maggie. She was still holding Rose. She was relieved to hear Jack
had come back.
"Rose, I'm gonna go downstairs now.
Everything's going to be fine. I know it will be." Maggie gently let go of
Rose and walked out with Brain. She smiled and nodded at Jack as they walked
down the stairs.
Maggie's little sign of affection gave Jack
the confidence he needed to face Rose. He slowly opened the door. Rose was
hugging her knees and staring across the room. He knew she heard him come in
because she shuddered. Jack sat down on the couch. He realized it was the exact
same spot that he had started yelling at her in. Rose looked up at him. Jack's
heart ripped into a million pieces. Her eyes were beet read. Her face was
stained with tears. I'm the cause of all this, he thought.
"I'm so sorry," Rose said, and put
her face in her knees and started to cry.
Jack inched closer to her. He was almost
afraid to touch her. He felt like he shouldn't be allowed to. He took hold of
her hands. She looked up at him. She had stopped crying but was sniffling
gently.
"Rose, you need to know something.
Before, I was scared. When you said you weren't happy with the way things were
going, I thought you were talking about the marriage..."
"Jack...no...I..."
"I know. I know. Now that I had time to
think about what you were saying. Before, everything just hit me so fast. And I
was scared. Scared of losing you."
"Jack, I meant I wasn't happy with how
you just went to work every day and we never had time to ourselves. I hated the
idea of us not getting to share all those things with each other." She
looked down. "I was scared, too. I was scared that when you walked out you
weren't coming back." She looked back up at him. "Jack, you'll never
leave me, will you?"
"As long as there's a breath in my body,
I'll be with you." He ran his fingers through her hair. Then his eyes
changed. "But the things I said to you." Jack started to cry.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it. You do care about other people. I
do want to see all those places with you."
Rose put her arms around Jack. "I'm not
going to say it didn't hurt. But I know you didn't do it on purpose. You were
hurt, too. We both made mistakes. I shouldn't have been so distant. I was like
that because I was thinking about everything. I was going over everything in my
head. I shouldn't have just sprung it on you like that. I should have explained
myself."
They sat holding each other for a long time.
They were just glad that that was in the past. It was behind them. They knew
what they had done wrong and wouldn't do it again.
"Rose?"
"Yes?"
He lifted his head. "What do you say we
go?"
"What? Go where?"
"Go off. You know, and see the world.
We'll got to Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. It'll be fun."
"Jack, you have work."
"I can quit. We don't need the money. We
have more than enough."
"But it's work. It's important."
"I never planned on the job getting so
big. It's gotten so important that it's in the way of us. All those things I
promised. I really meant it. I want to see all those places with you. Work is
work. I'll quit and when we come back I'll find a new job."
"Jack, before I was just upset. We don't
really have to go. It had just been building up inside me." Jack looked at
her and something inside her melted. "I would like to go."
"Then we'll go. We'll start planning it
tomorrow and then we'll go."
"This doesn't make any sense," Rose
said gently.
"I know. That's why I trust it."
Rose smiled brightly when she heard him say
that. She put her arms around his neck and started to pull him towards her.
Just before their lips touched, she said, "I trust it, too."