ONLY HALF THE MAN I USED TO BE
Chapter Six
Jack was able to leave the
hospital and join the rest of the steerage passengers a day before they were
due to arrive in America. Rose felt happy to be with him, and he felt happy to
be with her, but she knew that something was still terribly upsetting him. Rose
didn’t need to ask. It was his arm. Drawing had been his passion, his life, his
love, and now it was gone. Jack felt that, in time, he would be able to cope.
After all, he still had Rose, and she was all he needed.
"Can I take your names,
please?" a man asked them. He was holding a clipboard. Rose quickly worked
out that it must be the passenger list from the Titanic. She could see where
many names had black lines through them, the names of the dead.
"Jack Dawson," Jack
replied.
"And you, Miss?" the
man asked after writing Jack on the list.
"Um…" Rose stalled. She
didn’t want to tell him her real name, Rose DeWitt Bukater. It held so many
lies, such a terrible, painful past. She wasn’t Rose DeWitt Bukater anymore,
and she never would be again. As each day went by, she felt more and more like
Rose Dawson. The name sounded good in her head, but would Jack mind? Finally,
she replied, "Rose. Rose Dawson."
"Thank you," the man
replied, walking to the next group of people. He was shocked that a couple
still remained alive together. Most of the families had been completely
destroyed or ripped apart in some way, especially down in steerage, but at the
same time he couldn’t keep a small smile from creeping across his face in congratulations
to them.
Neither Rose nor Jack said
anything for a while. Rose was waiting for a reaction from Jack, who was trying
to put it into words, amazed, happy, and honored that Rose would want to use
his name. The look on Jack’s face seemed happy, so Rose sighed in relief.
"I hope you don’t mind that
I used your name," she said timidly.
"Mind?" he asked,
shocked that she even had to ask. "I don’t mind at all, Rose, because I
love you."
They sat in happy silence as Jack
pulled Rose into a tight hug.
"Want to make it
permanent?" he whispered into her ear.
Rose swore her heart stopped at
that moment and did several somersaults. Had Jack just asked if she would marry
him? The answer was clear. How could she ever say anything but yes to such a
wonderful man?
"Did you just propose, Mr.
Dawson?" she asked, putting on an overly posh accent as she pulled away
from him and smiled.
"You know what?" he
asked, his steel blue eyes meeting her deep green ones, giving her a look that
made her insides melt. "I think I did."
"Then I think I’ll say yes,
then," she said. She felt embarrassed, like a schoolchild with a crush,
and couldn’t help but grin widely.
Jack looked at the beautiful,
breathtaking, incredible woman in front of him who had just said she would
marry him. What on earth had he done to deserve such an amazing woman? He could
hardly breathe for happiness.
All he could do in response was
pull her into one of the most spine-tinglingly passionate but lovingly tender
kisses Rose had ever experienced.