JACK'S ROSE
Chapter Sixteen
Rose smiled as William entered the house,
carrying a bottle of wine.
"Happy New Year's," he said, kissing
her cheek.
"Thank you," she responded,
smiling. She took the bottle of wine from him and took it to the kitchen where
Julia was finishing off the last details of the meal. "William brought
wine."
"How nice of him." Julia finished
covering one of the pies. "You know, Rose, William is a really nice young
man," she said, as she turned to face Rose.
A somewhat startled look crossed Rose's face.
"Yes, he is."
"It's been eight months."
"Julia, I don't want to discuss this
right now. I'm not ready to—to let go of Jack yet. Not yet. Not
completely."
"Jack?"
Both women swung around to see that William
had just entered the kitchen.
"Jack. No one. Just my cousin."
"Ah…that's good. Leaves it open for me
then." He blushed immediately at his words—though playful they had been.
Rose was blushing as well as she made her way
past him and to the parlor to tell Henry and the girls that supper was ready.
*****
Rose stood in front of the mirror, struggling
to pin her hair up. She and Julia had both retreated upstairs for a moment
after dinner to "freshen up." But Rose's hair absolutely refused to
stay up. She frowned, let the bobby pins fall onto the dresser, turned, and
opened her door to leave, but stopped as she found Julia standing there.
"Is something wrong?" Rose asked,
backing into her room.
"Well—ah—I had a bit of an
accident," she whispered, showing Rose the red spot on the dress. She was
in nothing more than her slip.
"Oh, of course. You can borrow one of my
dresses," Rose said, moving swiftly to her closet. "A maroon one, I
think would be best." She turned with the dress draped over her arms.
"Oh, it's beautiful, Rose! Now if only I
can fit into it."
"It'll be fine. It should fit just
fine." Rose smiled.
"Well, thank you. Thank you very much,
Rose."
"Of course."
And with that, Julia hurried back to her
room.
It was then that Rose realized she had not
menstruated since before her voyage on the Titanic.
The rest of the night passed in a blur.
*****
She found herself once more standing in front
of her mirror, her hand resting lightly on her stomach.
She was pregnant.
She was eight months pregnant.
Oh, how stupid she had been! Not to see the
signs! Eight months this child had been inside her and it was just now that she
was realizing it!
Jack's child. Jack's child was growing
inside. It had been just one night. But it had only taken one night. And now
she was pregnant with his child. She was happy. God, yes, she was! But how
could she bring a child into this household; another child? Yes, they had
inherited some money, but not enough to support three children and three
adults. She had just under five hundred dollars, but even that only went so
far. But that didn't matter. She was having this child. And when it got here,
they would figure out the financial situation.
Suddenly, she heard her door open and she
spun around to face Julia and Henry.
They stared at her.
"Rose...why didn't you tell us
earlier?" Julia whispered breathlessly.
"I—I didn't know."
"Jack's child?" Henry ventured
tentatively.
Rose nodded.
"Well, the more the merrier,
right?" Julia said, straightening herself, and handing the borrowed dress
back to Rose. "It's Jack's child. This is good. Now we'll have a living,
breathing—sort of a link to Jack." She smiled. "But it's late. Good
night, Rose."
"Good night, Julia, Henry."
"Sleep well, Rose," Henry said,
stepping forward and kissing her cheek.
Rose watched them leave, then replaced the
dress in its place in the closet, and then sat down in the chair, gazing out of
the window at the white-covered world.
“Where to, Miss?”
“To the stars.”
Her hand wandered to her stomach again.
"Now I can truly never let go,
Jack."
She smiled.