IF
Chapter One
Jack was falling. Not through
time or space, but through ice. He realized that it was water. Rose! Everything
came rushing back to him as he swam to the surface. The boat was leaving, and
Jack prayed that it would return, seeing as he didn’t have the strength to
follow it.
Rose had to move to another empty
boat so the original boat she was in could go look for more survivors. Rose
just lay in the boat with no strength to move. The only sounds were orders from
the surviving officers and people crying. Rose thought she heard her mother’s
voice, but ignored it. Time crawled by. A young man had been found, but it
couldn’t be Jack.
Jack’s gone, thought Rose. Those two words rang
endlessly in her head.
The boat returned.
"Is anyone out there?"
cried out an officer.
"Yes! Please, help me!"
Jack yelled. His voice was hoarse, but it was heard. Jack felt himself being
pulled into the boat. The sun was rising. A new day was born. Rose was gone.
"Rose. Did you find
Rose?" he asked the closest officer.
"Rose? I’m sorry, sir, but
we haven’t taken names yet," the officer replied. Jack sighed and pulled
his blanket closer around his shoulders.
The Carpathia finally arrived.
Rose had to be helped onto the ship.
"Class?" a crewmember
from the Carpathia asked.
"Steerage," Rose
replied, like it was no big deal. A cup of coffee was pressed into her hands,
and she was directed to where the few third class survivors were.
"Name?" a young woman
asked.
"Rose…Dawson," she
said.
"Thank you, ma’am," the
woman said, and she moved on.
Jack insisted on climbing onto
the Carpathia on his own. He had survived the sinking of the Titanic, hadn’t
he? Jack gave his name and stood at the back of the ship. He laughed bitterly
to himself. This was the same spot he had met Rose at, only on a different
ship. He looked over to see a hunched figure weeping. His heart went out to the
stranger immediately. He knew what it felt like to lose someone you loved.
Rose walked to the stern of the
ship and crumpled to the ground. Jack, her only love, was gone. Sure, she had
promised to go on, but how could she? How could she go on without the man who
had saved her? She wrapped her arms around her small body and began to cry
silently to herself. She wasn’t alone; at the bow was a young man with a worn
outfit on. It appeared that he, too, had lost someone. Rose looked back down at
the deck. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a comforting arm
around her shoulders.
"Are you all right?" a
male voice asked. Rose looked up immediately, and saw deep blue eyes. Not just
any deep blue eyes, but his blue eyes!
"Jack!" she exclaimed.
Jack grabbed Rose and pulled her close into a kiss. "I didn’t mean to let
go. I’m sorry!" Jack brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Don’t apologize, Rose.
We’re together now, and that’s all that matters. I thought you were dead. I
swam up the surface and you were gone."
"A boat came to get me, and
I…I had to let go. I didn’t want to. I would have stayed with you forever, but
I made a promise, and I’m not one to not keep promises." Jack smiled. They
were together again.
Hand-in-hand, they walked to the
steerage section of the Carpathia and sat down. Half an hour later, Rose
spotted a small figure crying alone. It appeared to be a child. She got up and
walked over to the figure.
"Are you all right?"
she asked in a soothing voice. The figure shook its head and looked up. Rose
recognized her as Cora Cartmell. "Cora! What’s wrong, baby?" Rose
picked up the small child and carried her over to where Jack was. Jack held out
his arms, and Cora immediately curled up in his lap.
"I can’t find my
daddy!" she cried.
"Is he on the ship?"
asked Jack.
"I don’t know. I can’t find
him anywhere."
Rose said, "I’ll go to find
out if he’s here. Cora, what’s your daddy’s name?"
"Bert…Cartmell," she
replied between sobs. Rose gently kissed the top of Cora’s head and went off in
search of a stewardess.
When Rose returned a little while
later, Cora had fallen asleep in Jack’s lap with her thumb in her mouth. Rose
sighed as she sat down next to Jack.
"Cora’s father isn’t on the
ship. Not only did I look everywhere, but I asked five different stewardesses
with lists of survivors. None of them has a Bert Cartmell on it. He didn’t make
it, Jack. How are we going to tell Cora? And what are we going to do with
her?" Jack kissed Rose’s cheek.
"I was thinking about taking
her with us, wherever it is that we end up. I know we don’t have a plan yet,
but I was thinking of finding a job in New York for a while. Then, after we get
enough money, we can go to Santa Monica together." Rose rested her head on
his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"It seems like you’ve given
this quite a bit of thought, Mr. Dawson. Shouldn’t we make sure that Cora
doesn’t have any other family before we take her?"
"We’ll ask her when she
wakes up," Jack whispered into Rose’s hair, right before she fell asleep.