A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jack diligently sketched the face of the
little girl on the street below him. It was the first time he had truly drawn
in weeks, and he was a little bit rusty. His fingers dashed across the sheet of
paper animatedly as he tried to draw all of his emotions at once.
When he had first arrived in Philadelphia, he
had attempted to draw again, but was unsuccessful. His drawings were childish
doodles compared to the beautiful works of art that used to spew out of him.
Jack was appalled and distraught at the quality of his work and would simply
not give up drawing. As he felt farther and farther away from Rose, his
drawings worsened.
Now Jack's gift had returned and he was
drawing at a mile a minute. Rose was back in his arms, and somehow the world
just appeared to be a better place.
However, Jack was a little concerned when
Rose insisted on going over to Allison Courtwell's house one last time. Jack
had beseeched Rose not to go, unable to take the risk of someone recognizing
her, and the events of the last three weeks happening all over again. Rose
insisted on going and left at three. Jack had become a nervous wreck, praying
to God that Rose would return soon, and he tried to preoccupy himself with his
artwork. It had calmed his nerves down a little, but Jack found himself
constantly looking out the window to see if Rose was in sight.
'Stop it!' Jack thought to himself, angrily.
'Rose is a big girl. I'm sure she's fine visiting her friend's house by
herself. She's been through so many obstacles in the past few weeks, I'm sure
she can take one more. I just wish she had let me come with her. I don't feel
right sitting here drawing pictures while Rose is off on a dangerous task. What
if she runs into her mother or Cal? What am I talking about? This is Rose here!
The woman that was strong enough to dump her fiancé at the alter alone, the
woman who ran away from everything in her life just to be with me! Why am I
doubting her?'
Jack sighed in relief when he saw Rose
walking down the street, and he tried in a frenzy to make himself look busy. He
turned back to his drawing and continued to sketch the little girl. Footsteps
ascended up the stairs and Jack didn't turn around when he heard the key slip
into the lock and the door open.
"Nice try, Jack." Rose started with
a laugh. "I saw you looking for me down the street!"
Jack got up and gave Rose a passionate kiss
on the lips. "How couldn't I?"
Rose giggled. "I have a surprise. Well,
actually it's from Allison."
"Is this what your little trip was all
about?" Jack mused with a smile.
"Maybe," Rose teased. "Let's
go out for dinner, then I'll talk."
Jack played along and took Rose's hand as
they left his flat.
Rose and Jack walked over to an Italian
restaurant that was just a few blocks south of Jack's flat. It was a small and
tranquil middle class restaurant in a peaceful area of town.
They were already eating their salad when
Jack couldn't stand the tension any longer. "Rose, you can't keep me
hanging like this. What is it?"
Rose giggled softly. "I thought you'd
never ask!"
"Well?" inquired Jack, growing more
curious by the minute.
"Well," Rose replied, "we're
going out of town."
Jack look at Rose, perplexed.
"What?"
"We have to have everything packed up by
Friday," Rose continued, ignoring Jack's last comment.
"Rose! Rose!" Jack stated.
"Slow down a bit. What are you talking about?"
"I told you, Jack," Rose replied
firmly. "We're leaving town."
"That's great, but where are we going
and how are we going to afford this?"
Rose rummaged through her purse, pulled out
the train tickets, and slammed them on the table.
Jack slowly reached over and picked up the
tickets and stared at them in awe. "Rose, how did you--how could you,
wh--"
"They were a gift from Allison,"
Rose interrupted, smoothly. "She made me take them. Obviously, she
couldn't stand having us live in Philadelphia for another minute."
Jack's hands trembled softly as an ecstatic
grin arose on his face. "These are from Allison?"
"Yes," Rose continued. "I
guess that's why she wanted me over at her house. She had to give me these. She
knew that we wanted to get away from here, and she knew that we wanted to go to
Santa Monica, so she took the liberty of buying us the tickets. Ali gave them
to us as a gift. She said that if she paid for the tickets, we would have
enough money to get settled."
Jack laughed. "I can't believe she would
do that! Now we can get away from Philly and really start our life
together!" Jack leaned in and gave Rose a kiss.
"I have a surprise for you too,
Rose," Jack teased.
Rose smiled. "How can this day possibly
have any more surprises?"
Jack shrugged, and took a small black velvet
box out of his pocket.
Rose gave Jack a cunning stare as she
accepted it.
Rose opened the box slowly, trying to savor
every second of the moment. Inside the box lay a diamond ring with a golden
band. The diamond was small and the ring was quite modest compared to the
extravagant one that Cal had given her, but Rose loved it and started to cry.
"Oh, Jack!" Rose let out, barely
making out the words.
Jack wiped away a few tears that were
gathering on Rose's cheeks. "Don't cry. You don't have to say anything. I
just wanted to buy you something so we could get married. I know you once wore
a ring as your chains of slavery, but I was wondering if this time you could
wear one as a sign of freedom."
"Yes, Jack! Yes!" Rose said,
hugging Jack.
Jack slowly took out the ring and placed it
in the palm of Rose's hand. Rose held the ring with excitement and began to
examine it thoroughly. It was simple but elegant and engraved very small inside
the golden band was a message that read, "Keep the fire burning."
Rose smiled as Jack put the ring on her
finger. "I will, Jack. I will," she promised.