FAMILY
Chapter Nine
"Unbelievable! The last time
I saw you, you couldn’t even afford to buy yourself some food. Now, look at
you--you are staying in one of the more expensive hotels in Philadelphia and
you have a car. A car!" said Rose when Jack opened the door of his hotel room.
"Things change, don’t you
think? Look at you. The first time we met, you were a perfect society girl, and
now…you left your fiancé in the middle of the ceremony."
They smiled and kissed. They had
been apart for so long…
"Excuse me. I’m still
waiting for some explanations here," Kelly interfered.
"She’s right," Rose
said, getting out of Jack’s arms. "What have you been doing?"
"Hey, hey, hey. Not so fast.
How did you two meet? I want details."
"You didn’t tell her? Fine.
I will. Does the word Titanic mean anything to you?" Rose asked.
"The boat that sank? I can’t
believe you were on it!"
"It was a ship, Kelly. And
yes, we were on it."
They briefly told her how they
had met and how they had fallen in love. They also told her how Rose had risked
her life to stay with Jack.
"You really did that? Now I
know why you wanted so badly to find her. If someone did that for me, I would
owe him for the rest of my days."
"He also risked his life for
me. Many times."
When they reached to the part of
the ship finally sinking, Rose said, "Now…this is the part I’m interested
in. One moment I was holding your hand, and the next, you were gone. What did
you do?"
"Well, the same thing
happened to me. I was kicking to reach the surface, and suddenly I realized
that I wasn’t feeling your hand anymore. I shouted your name, but no one came.
Then a boat picked me up and took me to the Carpathia. There I kept looking for
you, but you weren’t there."
"My mother and Cal were
faster, and they saw me while I was searching for you. I tried to break free,
but I was too weak. I couldn’t bear to think that you were gone and I was all
right."
"When we docked, I had
nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Of course, I knew Kelly had moved to New
York, but that had been seven years ago. I didn’t know if she had left, or
what. The thing is that, for a couple of weeks I got back to what I used to do,
drawing portraits of people for ten cents apiece. On one of April’s last days,
a man saw me and saw my drawings. He told me I had a gift, and that he could
make it grow. I had nothing to lose, so I accepted."
"He was the owner of the art
gallery I visited, wasn’t he?" Rose asked.
"Yeah. He gave me everything
I needed to do my drawings, and I handed him a couple of them. Then he showed
them in his art gallery, and they were a big success. Unfortunately, he began
to ask me to draw more and more. That wouldn’t have bothered me, but I came
across a newspaper that made me change my priorities."
"A newspaper? And when do I
appear?" Kelly wanted to know.
"Any minute now. Well, I was
walking one day, trying to find something to get my mind off the Titanic and
all that, when a saw a newspaper dropped in the street. I picked it up to throw
it away, but something about the headline caught my eye. It said something like
‘After Miraculously Escaping from the Sinking Titanic, Businessman to Marry
His Young Fiancée.’ I don’t know why, but I had to read the whole article.
Luckily, the first line named this guy, and guess who he was? Cal. I kept
reading, and soon I found what I was hoping I would--your name."
"So that was when you
realized I was all right, wasn’t it?"
"Yeah. I was so happy, I
can’t even tell you. I got into my car and was about to go get you--the
newspaper mentioned the address--when I thought twice. It had been two months
already. Who knew what had happened to you? Perhaps you were over me and you
wanted to marry him. I admit it, it was a stupid thought, but I had to be sure.
I had to get someone inside your house. But who?"
"And here I come
in…right?"
"Yes. I was walking to my
place, thinking only about you, when I heard someone calling my name. It was
this annoying voice I knew so well, but on the other hand, how could she be
there?"
"Hey! What’s that about my
voice?"
"I turned around, and who
did I see? My sister. That was for sure my lucky day. The two most important
women in my life had appeared out of nowhere. She looked as surprised as I did.
Apparently, she hadn’t taken me seriously when I told her that someday I would
go to New York and find her."
"First, you were thirteen.
Who takes someone that age seriously? And second, I found you, not the other
way around."
"Whatever…" her brother
said.
"Let me guess. You told her
that you needed her to work as a maid in someone’s house and promised you would
explain later. You also asked her to talk to me and find out what my feelings
were. Am I wrong?"
"That was what he did
indeed. He refused to give me any kind of explanation."
They didn’t say anything for a
while. Then the eldest broke the silence.
"I still can’t believe that
you were on the Titanic. And that you didn’t even tell me! You do realize that
you could have died there, don’t you? What was I supposed to do if that
happened? Live my whole life thinking that my brother was somewhere out there?"
"Honestly, I don’t care. I’m
alive, aren’t I? And most importantly, I found Rose. And I also found you. What
else could I ask for?"
"Jack, that’s so
sweet…" said Rose.
"You really are good with
women. Now I understand why every girl at school was sweet on you…"
"Excuse me?" asked the
youngest.
"Thank you very much, Kelly.
I really appreciate that."
"Oh, look at the time! I
have to get going now. See ya. And Rose…I was joking. As a matter of fact, I
used to think he was…you know…into boys, if you know what I mean…"
"Kelly, out! Now!" he
ordered, and then added to Rose, "she was joking. I’m not into boys, but I
didn’t spend my time seducing girls just for fun."
"I know," she answered.
"I played mad because I wanted her to leave."
"Really? What for?"
"You know…I was supposed to
be on my honeymoon by now."
"I get it…well, where do you
want me to take you?"
"To the stars," she
said, kissing him.
They were so in love…they had
missed each other for so long…now there really wasn’t anything on earth that
could come between them.
The End.