AN OCEAN FULL OF MEMORIES
Chapter Two
Cal accompanying her, Rose walked daintily
the length of the ship. Convincing him that she wanted to see the illuminating
and romantic ocean from a closer viewpoint, she stepped slowly down the steps
to the well deck and climbed the stairs to the poop deck. There, looking ragged
and charming, was the man of her dreams. She couldn’t believe it! She now was
sure that what had happened was not a figment of her imagination and that all
that she had experienced was true--she had grown old and now she had been given
a second chance. Stepping to the railing, where he himself was leaning, his
thoughts on the ocean, she ached inside as she forced herself not to cry out
his name. She was not noticed by him as she peered over to study his features,
even as Cal warned her not to stand next to people like that and ushered her
away. Rose cried out inside. She was that close to seeing him. At least she
knew he existed, though, that he was real. And the fact that he was standing in
the very spot that had meant so much to her and the man in her dreams was
evidence enough that she should try again to find him after dinner. The
daunting memories of their time together made her smile at the very thought.
Preparing for dinner and going to dinner, she felt the seconds tick by, each
one a long and painful tug at her heartstrings. She would have gotten up and
run to him if only she knew that he knew who she was. There were a great many
rich people aboard, and friends of theirs were eating dinner with them that
night. It was funny--she could almost recite what they were going to say. When
the dinner was over, she passed around to the remaining women sitting at the
table that she was feeling a little light-headed, and soon excused herself to
get some air. Rushing down the empty corridor to her B-deck suite, she opened
the door and picked up her coat--a brown one with embroidery around the round
neck--and set off for the poop deck, almost falling as she ran down the empty
corridor silently.
*****
He had waited all afternoon for Rose, and he
was down in the dumps. Dressed in his cord pants, worn cotton shirt, and
embroidered suspenders that had once belonged to his father, he went to lie
down on a bench on the poop deck and stared listlessly at the stars. Suddenly,
his concerns about this woman became obsolete and he imagined himself as a
star, looking down on this tiny patch of light moving across the ocean. He
heard footsteps--more of the dream? he wondered. His heart raced at the thought
of meeting this woman. He was about to move when he saw her face appear over
the side of the bench, a pale, beautifully sculpted face with blue eyes and
deep vermilion lips. Without thinking, he uttered her name.
"Rose."
A smile appeared on her face, and she sat
down on the bench on the other side as he sat up and gazed into her eyes, the
smile remaining. She felt lost in his gaze--blue eyes that were reassuring and
kind were her focus on a face with soft, boyish features and pale skin, thick,
beautiful brows, and etched features. He made her smile.
"Jack?" she uttered. "I…"
She wanted to reach out and kiss him, to feel
his strong arms around her, but she didn’t need to. He leaned over and gave her
a passionate kiss that brought the realization that her dream was real. She
couldn’t explain it, but she had traveled back in time for some reason, and he
had, too.
"So it wasn’t a dream…it was real?"
he asked, his heart pounding.
He just wanted to hold her, but the
realization of what had happened restrained him. He had died before, after this
ship had sunk, and he had saved this woman’s life. There was a rush of panic.
All that would happen again--something must be done. Rose must have been sent
here to help him save lives and prevent the disaster that would see…what
happening? He didn’t know, but he knew Rose did, and he wanted to hear every
detail of the aftermath. She, after coming to the same realization as Jack,
knew that she had to tell him everything, and fast. Changing the destiny of the
largest liner in history would need time to plan, and a lot of thought, too.
Maybe these people had to die for a reason. Remembering what had happened all
those years ago, with the disaster bringing certain changes to make shipwrecks
almost obsolete--such as the national ice patrol, a change in the law stating
that there must be adequate lifeboat room for all aboard, compulsory
twenty-four hour radio watch, and all those damn movies being made on the
disaster--made her think twice. Of course, so many people thought that if they
could travel back in time, they would stop the ship, but there was more to it
than that. She knew that she and Jack desperately needed more time--something
that they happened to be very short of.
*****
Jack listened for hours to the stories that
Rose told him of how many people had died, the Carpathia, and what the
inquiries found while they sat on a bench on the poop deck. She told him of her
torment in losing him and her eventual marriage to a man she greatly respected,
and she told him about Lizzy, her pride and joy. He loved the fact that she had
done as she had promised and had lived her life, and reassured her that if they
were in the same situation, he would do exactly the same thing all over again.
Their joy at being reunited, though, was stronger than ever. Rose longed to be
held by Jack, who was being held tighter than ever before, much to the surprise
of a few passing third class passengers. Rose suggested a few ways of
preventing the disaster. Deep down, she knew that despite everything else, it
was the right thing to do, and Jack believed this, too. All those people snug
in their beds, totally unaware of the possible fate to befall them, should have
a say in whether their lives continued, and this was not the way. Even Cal and
her mother deserved better than this. There were several ways of preventing the
ship from sinking. They could try and stop the boat from turning so that it
suffered less damage and could stay afloat, they could try and tell their story
to the officers, which was sure not to work, or they could give the lookouts
some binoculars to see the iceberg from farther away. To Jack, all the options
seemed impossible until Rose mentioned the pair of binoculars that she had
secretly packed along with her things.
*****
That night, as Rose returned to her room, she
met Cal in the long hallway. Suspicious of where she had been and why Lovejoy
hadn’t located her, he recommended that she stop taking nightly strolls along
the decks by herself. She felt secure, though, unmoved by his attempt to try to
restrict her freedom. A life as Mrs. Jack Dawson awaited her, and she knew that
apart from sentencing Jack to death, a death she would have readily shared, Cal
could do nothing to tear them apart. He didn’t even know that Jack existed. She
was now more careful than ever not to alter events of the past too much, in
case the sinking came either too early or much later than they were expecting.
The plan all revolved around timing, and if role-playing was what they had to
do, then tomorrow night she would attempt to jump to her death from the stern
of the RMS Titanic. Adding also to her worries was how she would manage to
disappear before the ship docked so that she could begin the new life she
longed for. The disaster had been useful in that area, at least. These thoughts
stayed with her and haunted her even as she got changed into her nightdress and
laid down to sleep. Jack, on the other hand, was acting strangely about the
situation. He wanted to spend more time with Rose, and he wanted to dance with
her, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to show her everything on the ship and do
everything with her, yet he was compelled to do what they had already done. And
the thought of that didn’t worry him as much as to compensate for his anxiety,
but he still felt at a loss.