Rose stared at her reflection in the water. She brought a hand up to her face. "How can you look at me?" she asked.
Jack stood in the doorway. "I can't stop looking at you," he said. "I don't want to ever stop looking at you."
"That sounds like what he would say," she said to herself.
He ignored the implication that he didn't exist. "Well, I'm gonna just—I'll be out here if you need anything," he said.
He collapsed into a chair in the kitchen. How could he convince her this wasn't just something in her head? He wished he knew where she'd been, what had happened to her. He knew whatever it was had been bad. He sat there until the silence began to unnerve him. He tiptoed to the bathroom door and peeked in.
She was lying in the water, eyes closed, a serene smile on her face. She was so still he was afraid she'd drowned, but the slow rise and fall of her chest reassured him that she was still breathing. He reached his hand in and grabbed her dress from the floor. He wondered if it was the same dress she'd worn the night of the sinking. There was really no way to tell. It was little more than a filthy rag. A moment later, he slipped his hand through the door, leaving a clean set of his own clothes where hers had been.
He returned to the kitchen and concentrated on calming his nerves. He covered his face with his hands and sighed. Not once in all the time he'd spent looking for her had he allowed himself to think about anything bad happening to her. It was naïve, he knew, but he'd been telling himself all along that wherever she was, she was safe and happy.
"Jack?"
His head popped up at the sound of her voice. She was standing just a few feet away from him, almost lost in his clothes. Now that it was clean he could see where her face was bruised. Her wet hair hung down her back in tangled curls.
"Hey," he said, trying to smile. "You look better in my clothes than I do."
She looked down at herself. "I didn't think you were that much bigger than me."
I wasn't, he thought sadly. You got smaller.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, motioning for her to sit in the chair opposite him. She nodded and sat. "I am...I didn't realize it before, but I really am." She ate like she'd never seen food before. It hurt Jack to watch her. You did this, he thought. You brought her to this.
"I know what you must be thinking," she said. "How could you have ever even tried to love me. I don't blame you. I think it, too."
"That's not what I was thinking," he said, gently but insistently. "And I never tried to love you. I did love you—I do love you. Rose, I've spent every day for the last three years trying to find you." He reached toward her and waited to see if she flinched before touching her hand. "I was thinking that I did this to you," he continued. "If I'd been stronger we wouldn't have been separated. Whatever happened wouldn't have happened."
Rose smiled sadly. "You've never said that before."
"That's because I'm real." He pressed her hand. "Rose, I am here. You are here. None of this is any kind of dream or vision or anything else. I'm not going away. I'm never leaving you again."
"I don't know if I can believe that," she said quietly.
"You don't have to believe it yet, but...you trusted me once. Can you try to trust me again?"
"I'll try. I can't promise anything. I've barely been able to keep the last promise I made you."
"I can't ask anything more."
It wasn't long before her blinks began to get longer and longer. "You need to rest," he said.
She shook her head. "No. I don't want to go to sleep. I don't know if you'll still be here when I wake up." Her speech was slurred.
Jack didn't argue. He just waited for sleep to overcome her. When it did, he carefully lifted her up and carried her to his bed. He set her down gently. She buried her face in the pillow and curled into a ball, wrapping her arms around herself. He laid down beside her, careful not to touch her. She was still so beautiful. Even beaten and half-starved, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
*****
He awoke suddenly in the dark to the sound of terrified screams. Beside him, a still sleeping Rose fought some unseen enemy.
"Rose!" he cried, taking hold of her shoulders. "It's okay. It isn't real."
She looked up at him in disbelief. "Isn't real?" she asked.
"No, it isn't real. It was a nightmare. You're safe." He pulled her into a tight embrace.
She didn't resist. "I'm safe," she repeated.
"Yes, you are," he said, cradling her face in his hands. "You're with me now. You'll always be safe with me."