A FATHER'S RESCUE
Chapter Twenty

"But, Rose, that could create more problems than it solves. Your mother is a hard woman. What if she decides she wants you to stay there, and marry that...beast? Then what?"

"I'm not really worried about that. I should be, but I'm not. You will be there. That will help. It isn't her that makes me nervous. I am going to be moving on with my life, but she should at least know I'm alive. I think she would be happy to know that. That way, if she has been dwelling on losing me, she can move on, too. Mostly, there are just things I need to tell her. Well, try to explain to her is more accurate. I have to try. It's important that we both make our peace with her, Daddy. Part of us will always be trapped in that house with her if we don't."

He said nothing for a moment, only stared at her thoughtfully.

"Daddy? You think I'm wrong, don't you?"

Michael smiled. "I think my daughter has proven herself to be a thousand times smarter and braver than her father." He swiftly and unexpectedly drew her into his arms. "And she has a kind and forgiving heart."

"Thank you, Daddy," Rose whispered.

Before she even realized that she was crying, he was rocking her, soothing her as if she were once again the frightened little girl who ran to him for solace after feeling the sting of her mother's tongue. She cried for the loss of her innocence over the past few weeks; she cried with fear of her uncertain future and facing her mother and possibly Cal again; she cried with joy over finding her father.

She cried for Jack.

And then she realized that she hadn't shared him with anyone since starting her new life. Jack was too special and the pain too fresh...but now here was her father, and she knew that Jack wanted her to tell him.

"I had help," she said. "Someone taught me to be brave. I met him on the Titanic. His name was--"

"--Jack," he finished for her.

She sat up and looked into his face anxiously.

"You always talked in your sleep," Michael apologized. When she didn't respond, he asked, "He didn't make it, did he?" Rose's face crumpled again.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean--"

"No, it's all right. He told me I was strong and I am. I promised him I would live every day to the fullest." She laughed suddenly, wiping her face with the handkerchief Michael offered. "He would be quite vexed to see me carrying on like this."

The sudden light in her eyes warmed Michael's heart. "Tell me about him," he said.

Rose thought a moment about where to start. "I was just so surprised to have someone to listen to me. I had been without that since you left. And Jack didn't listen to be nice, either. He was interested. We were very different, in some ways, but in others it was as if we were of entirely the same mind. He loved art, and was an artist himself. I can only wish to be able to draw as well as he. One night he actually took me to a party. Our kind of parties had stopped being enjoyable for me a very long time ago, but that one...I felt so alive there with him. I never wanted to leave. But everything ends sometime. We did stay together right up until he...we both had to try so hard even to make it that far together. He made me promise to survive it. If only I had made him promise me, too. He might still be here, with me."

"You were with him...when he...?"

Rose nodded. Michael took her hand in his as she continued, more softly now.

"We stayed on the ship until it went under. He found a piece of driftwood that looked big enough to hold both of us, but it couldn't take my weight and his, too. He stayed in the water so that I could be saved, Daddy."

He sat silently, contemplating the enormity of what she'd just told him. Something about her story nagged at him, and he finally realized what it was.

"But Rose, your mother and Cal made it to the lifeboats in time. Why couldn't you?"

"Because I wanted to stay with Jack," Rose said. She wondered, briefly, if she was going to have to spend the rest of her life explaining her actions that night. Someday she'd tell her father everything. But not now.

"It might sound crazy," she added, "but I had two chances to save myself before the ship went under. And I couldn't get into the boat either time. I refused to leave without him. And...it didn't make a difference."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Michael comforted her. "He wasn't alone in his last moments. He died knowing your love. You did love him, didn't you?"

"Of course! Still do." Rose smiled and closed her eyes as a sudden image of Jack standing at the bow, hand outstretched, flashed through her mind.

"Well, then, it wasn't all in vain. He convinced you to survive, and you'll live a grand enough life for the both of you."

"I hope we do all right. His life wasn't anything like mine used to be. As you can imagine, Mother didn't like him. But she didn't change my mind about him. He was wonderful."

"I'm sure I would have liked him, Princess. I know this must have been difficult to tell me. Thank you for doing it. I understand much better now why you've been having a difficult time, why you dream so much. That part I know about myself. After I left, I would dream about you almost every night."

"You...you did? I'm sorry to sound so surprised. It's just that Mother had me thinking you really wanted to go. But only for a while. Soon I was getting angry at her for the things she would say about you."

"She was just always a difficult woman, Rose. I dreaded leaving you with her. I think going to see her will be good for both of us, after all. And her as well. She can't be so heartless that she won't be glad to see you are alive."

"I suppose she will be glad. I wasn't exactly the most agreeable daughter, either. But I think she loved me anyway."

She paused, then continued without looking at Michael. "Do you think it was wrong to make her believe I died?"

He said nothing for a moment, until he realized she was staring at him expectantly. "I think you did what you felt you had to do to keep from being forced into a loveless marriage. The question is how to set things right?"

"You're coming with me, aren't you?" Rose asked. "You have to set things right, too."

Michael nodded and then stood slowly, pulling her to her feet beside him. "I wouldn't let you go alone. Cal's surely on his way to her right now with the news. The sooner we face her, the sooner we can move on with our lives. Given any thought to when we'll leave for California?"

His eyes sparkled; with a surge of joy Rose realized just how much he was looking forward to a new beginning.

"As soon as possible," she said. "I can't wait to see that pier in Santa Monica."

Michael just smiled. Then they both went downstairs, knowing it was close to mealtime. After they had eaten, Michael said he knew the train station wasn't far, and he wanted to go get their tickets for Philadelphia. Rose agreed, and brought along as much money as she supposed two tickets would cost. The entire roll of money Cal had left in the coat would be far too conspicuous.

The station was a further walk than the hospital, but the walk did them both good. Soon enough they were at the ticket window, hoping they had brought enough cash. As it turned out there was more than enough, and they returned to the boarding house with tickets in hand.

By the time they returned, Rose was feeling thoughtful, and she spent the evening in her room until her father came to hug her good night. She still seemed distracted, and he asked her what was on her mind.

Chapter Twenty-One
Stories