A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Thirty
"Has anyone seen Allison?" asked
Diane, one of Rose's bridesmaids.
Rose was sitting at a vanity in her dressing
room connected to the church, with her bridesmaids Diane, Rebecca, Samantha,
and Regina, all childhood friends of hers.
"Not today," answered Samantha,
concerned.
"Well, she's the maid of honor,"
Regina answered. "She'll come. Who would miss their best friend's wedding?
She's probably running a little late. You know how she is."
"She'll be here," Rose replied
flatly.
Rebecca looked at her friend, concerned.
Something was different about her. Rose had been so cheerful on the evening of
the wedding shower, and now she looked so melancholy, so distant. Rose's skin
looked ghost white and her hands seemed to be trembling mildly.
"Rose, you look beautiful," Rebecca
complimented. "The wedding gown looks lovely on you, and that
necklace--oh! If I ever had a diamond that big, I wouldn't ask for anything
else the rest of my life!"
Rose smiled sadly at her friend and nodded.
"Thank you."
Rose was finding it harder and harder to keep
her composure. It had never been a challenge to her before, but now it was
nearly impossible.
"You must be so excited, and so nervous,
too!" Diane commented. "When I get married I will dread going up to
the altar, because I'll be too nervous that something will go wrong! If
everyone from society is watching, I'm sure I'll just go crazy. I'm not much
for going in front of crowds. It seems so romantic, too. Going up there, and
staring into the eyes of the person you're going to spend the rest of your life
with. I suppose it will be the most exciting moment of my life!"
"Do you remember in school, when we used
to get annoyed with our friends when they talked about who they were going to
marry when they got older?" asked Samantha, off the subject.
"Of course," replied Regina, in her
best "what does this have anything to do with what we were talking
about?" look.
Samantha continued. "If I do recall
correctly, we promised each other that we would be original, that we wouldn't
listen to what our parents said. We promised to marry for love. Rose, I just
wanted to make sure you were keeping our promise. Are you?"
Just then, the girls were interrupted by a
knock on the door. "Girls?" came Ruth's voice through the threshold.
"You have fifteen minutes until the ceremony begins. Please hurry
up!"
The five listened nervously and began getting
ready for the big moment. Rose looked at her reflection through the vanity in
horror. This had to be a nightmare. It was something straight from hell. Jack
had been her angel from heaven, and now the devil was pulling her down under.
The talk from her four friends around her was much too casual for Rose's
liking. She wanted to scream out, "I am breaking our promise! I don't want
to marry Cal!" but kept her mouth shut. How was she going to go through
with all of this? It was impossible to stop the wedding now with hundreds of
members of society waiting for Rose to come down the aisle in a white dress.
There had to be something that she could do, but nothing crossed Rose's mind.
*****
Molly Brown entered the lobby of the church,
bewildered. Why hadn't the wedding been called off? When she read about Caledon
Hockley's wedding to his fiancée, Rose DeWitt Bukater, four days ago, she was
flabbergasted. What had happened to Jack? She had given him money to go rescue
Rose and nothing happened. Was he all right? Did Rose know that Jack was alive?
Molly didn't know.
Almost instantaneously, Molly bought a ticket
to Philadelphia from Denver. It was quite a trip, but Molly was determined to
break off the wedding by talking to Rose. It was the only way.
Ruth had told Molly on the Titanic that if
she was in town for the wedding she was welcome to come, assuming that Molly
wouldn't be able to show up. She had assumed wrong.