JACK'S ROSE
Chapter Five
Rose sat on the bed, watching as Cora slept
soundly. She smiled down at the child as she slept. She looked so peaceful. Rose
wondered what her story was. Had she gotten to a lifeboat? Had she been pulled
into a lifeboat after the ship slipped beneath the surface? What had happened
to her father? Why didn't she seem terribly upset that her father was gone? So
many questions...
"Hello, Rose!" Molly greeted loudly
as she came in the room, her arms full of boxes. Cora sat up, wiping the sleep
from her eyes.
"Molly, what in the world?" Rose
asked as Molly set the boxes on the other bed, and two bellhops came into the
room, each pulling a baggage cart full of boxes.
"Oh, since you said you didn't have any
clothes, I thought I'd go get you and Cora some..." she said, smiling.
A smile crept across Rose's lips as she shook
her head. "Molly, you are unbelievable!" she exclaimed happily, throwing
her arms around Molly. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome, Rose," Molly
answered happily. "Now, both of you, get a dress and go try it on,"
she urged.
Cora smiled, now fully awake, and leapt up
from the bed. She picked a pale yellow dress from one of the boxes and hurried
to the bathroom. Rose followed her, carrying a blue dress.
"I feel like a princess!" Cora
exclaimed as she wiggled out of the cozy robe and into the dress.
Rose laughed as she slipped into the dress.
She smoothed the skirt and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her smile faded.
The dress looked almost exactly like the dress she'd worn when she and Jack had
"flown." Rose shook herself, and turned. "Well, let's go show
Molly," she said, forcing enthusiasm into her voice.
Cora's face beamed as they stepped out of the
bathroom.
"Oh, you two look marvelous! They're
just the right size!" Molly smiled widely.
"How did you ever know what size to
get?" Rose asked.
"Ah...I don't know. I'm just a genius, I
suppose," Molly teased.
Rose laughed.
"Thank you, Molly!" Cora blatted
loudly. The young girl ran to Molly and jumped up, wrapping her arms around
her. "I love you!"
"Mmm...I love you, too, cutie!"
*****
The three sat down in the dining room, the
morning sun spilling in through the large windows. Before them were plates of
fresh fruit and steaming bowls of oatmeal. A large milk bottle and pitcher of
water was placed in the middle of the table. Both Rose and Molly had become
accustomed to this, but Cora was still in awe of it, her eyes as wide as they
had been the night before at supper.
"Eat up, Rose!" Molly said after
eating another piece of melon.
"I...I am," she stumbled.
"Are you absolutely sure you're all
right, Rose?" Molly asked. "I mean, you were doing a bit better last
night, and now you're pale as a ghost again." Cora set her fork down and
watched the two women.
"I'm fine," Rose mumbled again.
"Rose—"
Rose felt her cheeks grow hot. Anger filled
every vein in her body. She wanted to scream aloud. She wanted to break the water
glass on the table, throw the table across the room. No! She was not all right!
But she would not do that. Not like Cal had. She remembered how terrified she'd
been. Rose simply stood, hid her face in her hands, and ran to their room, only
to remember the door was locked, and she was without a key.
She leaned against the door, trying to hold
her tears back. Rose held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut. Finally, Molly
came and unlocked the door.
"It's all right, Rose," she
whispered as Rose, no longer able to hold back, burst into tears. "Hush.
Shh..." Molly rocked Rose gently.
They sat on that bed for a long time, Molly
trying to comfort Rose. Rose wept until her stomach ached, and she could not
possibly cry any more. And yet she felt no better than when she had started.
"Go wash your face with some cold water,
hon. It'll make you feel a bit better," Molly said after Rose had sat
silently for a few moments. Rose obeyed and stood up and walked slowly to the
bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water, then dabbed it dry with one of
the soft towels. When she came back, Molly was looking at her with the eyes of
a deeply concerned mother. In that moment, Rose decided to tell Molly something
she had not planned on telling a soul...
"Molly, there's something I want to tell
you," she whispered, taking her place back beside Molly on the bed. Rose
inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly. "That afternoon when
I...when I left, that was the first time I saw Jack. He gazed up at me. I saw
him and looked away, but I couldn't...I looked back. There was something in his
eyes. Something that...that just grabbed my heart and would not let go. That
night was the night I decided that I would end my life. End my suffering
forever. I ran to the back of the ship and climbed over the railing. I didn't
slip because I was looking at the propellers, Molly."
"I found that hard to believe. You're
not that clumsy."
Rose smiled sadly, then continued, "I
slipped as he was pulling me back over and by the time those crewmen got there,
it looked somewhat...different. Cal was ready to let the Master-at-Arms take
him away, but I made up that idiotic lie, and thank God he just went along with
it. The next day, I found him and we walked along the boat deck just talking.
We got on the subject of my engagement to Cal. Jack asked me if I loved Cal. I
couldn't answer him. I told him he was being rude and to leave, and then he
asked me who was being rude. Again, I was speechless, and so I grabbed his
portfolio. He was a wonderful artist."
"Yes. He was, Rose." Jack had given
Molly the picture of Cora and her father, but she wouldn't tell Rose that
yet...
"That night, after supper, he took me to
the steerage party."
"Hmm. I know. I gave him the pen to
write your little note with."
Rose blushed. "Then I must thank you,
Molly."
"Of course, Rose. I could tell from the
day we met you two on the boat deck that he loved you. I don't think it
mattered to him at all that you'd only met a day before. You had his heart,
Rose."
Rose sniffled, but a small smile crossed her
lips. "And he had mine. He always will." Rose paused, looking to
Molly, then continued with her story. "That night, he danced with Cora,
then danced with me. I felt so alive in his arms. That was the only time I felt
alive—when I was with him. When we were on a tour of the ship, he pulled me
into the exercise room. He spilt his heart out to me, Molly, and I walked away.
I told him to leave me alone. But I knew...I knew that I'd made a mistake. I
found him on the bow. We stayed together the rest of that night...the rest of
his life. When we were in the water, he made me promise I would go on. He made
me promise that I would live. Go on. But how can I, Molly? How can I go on when
he left me?"
"You can go on, Rose, because you're
strong."
"He told me that," she said, more
tears spilling onto her dress. "He told me that."
"Because you are, Rose. No one ever said
life is easy. I know that for a fact. My childhood was a hard and hungry time,
Rose. We all have bumpy roads in our life, and it seems you've just turned onto
yours. Now, you'll go on because he told you to, and because Cora needs you to.
You may think you don't have anything to live for, but you do. You hear me,
Rose? Do you understand me?"
"Where is Cora?" Rose asked,
suddenly realizing she hadn't been with Molly when she came back up to the
room.
"A woman offered to take care of her
while I came up here to talk with you."
"Oh. I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run
away like that. I...I need to leave this city. Cal or Ruth could just be waiting
around the corner. I need to go...go to...I don't have anywhere to go."
"Take a nap, Rose. I'm gonna go get Cora
and take her out to get an ice cream or something. You stay here and take it
easy."
Rose obeyed and laid down on the bed. But as
Molly stood and turned to leave the room, Rose sat up. "Molly, wait,"
she said quietly. Molly turned. Rose licked her lips and smiled. "Thank
you. Thank you for everything. You've given me more than you can ever know.
You're the closest thing I'll ever have to a mother, Molly. I love you."
Molly smiled at Rose, then said, "I love
you, too, Rose. And as your mother, I'm telling you to take a nap."
Both the women chuckled, then Molly turned
and left Rose alone in the room.