FALLING STARS
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Dawsons and Cal did become friendlier,
but they were still wary of each other. It wasn’t easy to bury twenty-one years
of enmity and distrust. However, things changed with the arrival of Gregory and
Emily’s first child, Moira Rose Dawson, on April 15, 1934. There had been no
sign of Laura since she had left Cal in 1929, but the three remaining
grandparents were charmed by their tiny, red-headed granddaughter, and spoiled
her outrageously, as did her one remaining great-grandparent, Ruth. With the
arrival of the child, the Hockleys and the Dawsons were at last able to put
away the last of their distrust and enmity, coming together because of mutual
adoration for their grandchild. Moira’s birth also gave them a reason to
celebrate April 15, rather than remember the sinking of the Titanic, which had
lingered in the minds of all of them.
Life went smoothly as the years passed, in
spite of the Depression. Libby left for college in Wisconsin in August of 1933,
to study biology. While there, she met another biology major who was a year
ahead of her, Harold Calvert, Jr., the son of Harold Calvert and Louise Brown
Calvert, who Jack and Rose had known in Chippewa Falls. The Calverts had since
moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and had long since lost contact with the Dawsons,
but Harold, Jr. and Libby brought them back together. Harold and Libby were
married in August of 1936, just before Libby was to begin her senior year of
college. It was the first time that the Calverts and the Dawsons had seen each
other since Jack and Rose left Chippewa Falls, and they were glad to see their
old friends, and renew their acquaintance. Though they never did see each other
much, even after their children married, they still stopped to visit
occasionally when visiting the young Calverts, who moved back to Chippewa Falls
after Libby graduated from college.
In 1937, Jack and Rose left their younger
children in Nancy’s capable hands, and went on a trip to Santa Monica alone.
Though they had been there twice before, with their children in tow, it was
different going there without them. It had taken them years to get to this
point, but they finally did some of the things that they had talked about on
Titanic, such as riding horses in the surf. They had never had the opportunity
before, because they had always had the children to look after, and they hadn’t
been there since 1924, when all of their kids were young.
After they returned from Santa Monica, Rose
indulged herself in flying lessons, and, after she knew what she was doing,
bought a plane. In 1939, Jack and Rose traveled to Europe, just as they had
talked about years before, but they flew instead of traveling by ship. They
explored several of their old haunts, in Italy, France, and England, but left
after only a short time, as tensions from the burgeoning war made things
unsafe. They returned to America refreshed, but worried about this newest war.