LOVE LASTS FOR ETERNITY
Chapter Eighteen

June 5, 1912
Rose's POV

"Honey, no! Down!" I said firmly as the excited dog jumped up on me as I walked through the door. It was hard, but I had to be firm with her. She was starting to get the message and was jumping less often, but we still made sure she didn't get away with it.

It was around four o'clock and I had just come back from work. My boss and friend, Rachel, had let me shorten my hours slightly from eleven until five to twelve until four. I was starting to get tired more easily now that I was nearly two months pregnant.

Jack and I had settled into a daily routine that worked for both of us. As it was only four o'clock, I was alone in the house for another hour and a half or so until Jack got home from work. This suited me fine. I would use the time to read, write in the diary I had started after our arrival in Chippewa Falls, or simply stroll around the fields with Honey. I enjoyed this time.

I went upstairs to the bedroom, where a desk now sat in the corner of the room. It stood next to a bookcase and a shelf of stationery. This small space had become a sort of study area. It was where I liked to sit and read or write in my diary. I sat down at the desk and pulled my diary out from the drawer. I had bought the diary in the small stationery shop in town a few days after we arrived. I had always liked fancy notebooks, and as a child, had often purchased books because they looked lovely--but had had no idea what to write in them. This one had a blue-green marble cover and was tied shut with a blue ribbon. I carefully untied the ribbon, opened the diary to the next available page, took out my fountain pen, and began to write.

Dear Diary,

Today was a great day at work. I love working there. It feels so good to see the how far the children have come with their acting. It helps that they really seem to like me, as well. I sometimes don't feel like they are the students and I'm the teacher. It feels as though they are my friends. They are all so kind and funny and friendly. If this is what it's like to be a mother, then I can't wait!

Nearly two months along and my stomach is not yet starting to form a round shape--the one downside of pregnancy. In a few months I'll look like a whale! It'll be worth it, though. It's worth all the morning sickness I went through--which has fortunately passed now--all the dizzy spells, and it'll be worth feeling like a whale, too. It still doesn't seem that real that in seventh months’ time Jack and I will be parents. Yes, I know that there is a baby inside me, but it still hasn't sunk in yet.

Changing the subject, Jack and I have decided to get married sometime next month. I've always wanted to have a summer wedding and I'm desperate to have my big day before my stomach inflates too much! It won't be a huge wedding--nothing like the one that was planned for Cal and I. That wedding was to be the grandest wedding of the year with all of Philadelphia society attending--over five hundred guests--and expensive trimmings, including a horrible dress that Mother picked out. I detested it. It had a long, frilly train, horrible lacy sleeves, and I could barely breathe in the thing! I haven't picked out a dress to wear for this wedding, one I actually want, but I know I will love it because I will be picking it out!

So far, the guest list isn't that long, just Molly, Nathan, Selina, Lucy, Mrs. Ryan, and Rachel and her husband, who have become good friends to us. I have decided to ask Selina, Lucy, and Rachel to be my bridesmaids. I'm sure they'll be thrilled. I haven't thought about the subject of who will walk me down the aisle, as both our fathers are dead and there are no male relatives I can ask without blowing my cover. I did think about asking Nathan. When he, Selina, and Lucy come for the wedding, I'll try to find the courage to ask him.

Rose Dawson

Indeed, Honey was pawing my leg, her leash gripped in her mouth. I put my diary away and clipped her leash onto her collar. I can use a walk myself, I thought.

Honey led the way downstairs, pulling on her leash, her golden tail lashing furiously. I noticed how much more relaxed she had become in these surroundings. She was much more laidback now she was in a routine, in a quiet country environment. But her fear of anything new, such as a new stranger or visiting a new place, was still there.

We went down the walk and walked down the path to the paddock where we kept the horses. Thunder and Kara now got on well. They enjoyed one another's company and we hoped that maybe, once the season was right, they would have a foal together. I let Honey off the leash and she leaped forward, running around the wide paddock with amazing grace. She was a beautiful dog, growing a little taller every day now. She was turning into a beautiful, graceful creature. Though still nowhere near fully grown yet, she was developing quite nicely, with a delicate tail and a perfectly shaped head. She was a lovely dog. I couldn't think what we'd do without her in our lives.

I walked across the paddock to where Kara and Thunder were grazing together. I patted Kara's neck and she lifted her head. She was a very serene horse who was quite trusting. I could ride her easily and she knew I wouldn't hurt her. She had settled in well on the farm. I gave her nose a stroke and walked off after Honey, who was racing in a wide circle, waiting for me to catch up.

By the time we got back to the house, it was about a quarter past five. I let Honey off the leash and walked into the parlor. Jack was home earlier than usual, and was sitting on the sofa reading a letter, the envelope still on the coffee table.

"Hello," I said, sitting down beside him.

"Hi," he replied, giving me a quick kiss on my cheek. I peered over his shoulder at the letter. I saw that it was from Fabrizio and Helga--well, written by Fabrizio. Helga couldn't write in English very well yet.

"It's from Fabri and Helga," Jack said, though I already knew who it was from.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"He says they've saved enough money to travel down to Florida and rent a small apartment. Helga's English has improved, too. She's bought a few books to help her carry on learning when they're in Florida."

"That's wonderful," I replied. "We should reply. We haven't told them about the wedding yet. We'll have to have them here for it."

"Yeah. We should. I'm gonna ask Fabrizio to be my best man."

"Good idea! I've decided to ask Selina, Lucy, and Rachel to be my bridesmaids."

"That's great, too. Lucy will love wearing a bridesmaid’s dress." I knew she would, too. That little girl had a thing for fancy dresses.

"She would have done much better in first class than I did at her age!"

"Yeah, she probably would have. I doubt she would have sneaked out to play in the trees with the stable boy."

I couldn't help but laugh. "No, she wouldn't," I said. I paused for a moment, and then sniffed the air. "Do you smell something?" I asked.

Jack sniffed the air, too. "Yeah...smells like...fish?"

We looked at each other and darted into the kitchen--but we were too late. In the kitchen, Honey had nosed open the ice box and was eating the salmon we had bought for dinner that night, oblivious to the fact that she had been caught. Jack and I just looked at each other.

June 15, 1912

"How about this one?" Rachel asked, holding up a wispy white wedding dress with long, lacy sleeves and a short train.

I considered. "Um...no. It's not really what I'm looking for," I replied.

Rachel and I had gone to the boutique in a nearby town, looking for the perfect wedding dress. I knew I wanted my wedding to be the best day of my life. Didn't every bride? But I wanted my dress to be something I wanted to wear, not to be something I had to wear because it was the latest fashion or made me look good. We had been shopping for about two hours now, with little luck. In my mind, they were all the same. All the same traditional white dresses with trains and lace. I wanted something different.

"How about one that isn't white?" I asked Rachel.

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, maybe, but white is supposed to be the traditional wedding color. It symbolizes purity."

"Well, I want my wedding to be something unique that I will remember forever. And, well, the white would be a bit of a lie. I'm not exactly pure anymore."

Rachel's eyebrows raised further still. "You mean, you and Jack have already...you know?" I nodded timidly. Rachel looked a little shocked--and a little impressed. "Before I married Richard, my parents insisted we be supervised all the time."

"Well, we haven't exactly got parents to make us do that."

Rachel looked a bit pitiful. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are they dead?"

"Well, Jack's parents and my father are. And I don't really stay in contact with my mother. Anyway, how about a light blue dress?" I was quick to change the subject, not wanting to go into detail about my mother. Rachel took the hint and we moved on to a different section of the shop.

We browsed through the dresses, pulled one out every so often, tried on a couple, but without much luck. Until my eyes fell upon a vision of beauty. It was a truly gorgeous dress. It was sky blue with a low cut neckline. Sky blue chiffon was used to make a tight top that ended just below my bust, and the rest was several layers of loose, wispy chiffon forming a loose skirt that would hide my stomach if I was nine months pregnant instead of two. The skirt ended at my ankles, making it easy to manage while walking. The layers of chiffon used in the skirt were slightly different shades of blue, creating a wonderful color effect. The sleeves were tight around my shoulders but loose and wispy around the rest of my arms. Right then, my mind was made up. This was the dress I wanted to wear on the happiest day of my life. I asked the salesgirl for one in my size and rushed to the fitting room with it.

I slipped the dress on and did the buttons up. I looked at myself in the mirror, holding my breath, hoping it looked good on me. I gasped at the sight of myself in the mirror. It was like a completely different person staring back at me. The blue material really complemented the shade of red in my hair and the shape of the dress really suited my body. I had never really thought of myself as pretty. I had been put down so many times by Mother that it made me feel downright ugly, but I couldn't help thinking to myself, as I stared into the mirror, I look beautiful!

I hurriedly changed out of the dress and back into my everyday one. I left the fitting room and joined Rachel, who was waiting at the counter.

"Well? How is it?" she asked.

"I love it!" I replied with a smile. "This is the one I want. It's perfect in every way, even the price!" The price was very reasonable, considering the beauty of it and the fact that we were currently on a budget.

I paid for the dress and took it home wrapped in tissue paper in a box. Jack had taken Honey out for a walk when I got back, and I quickly hid it upstairs in the wardrobe. I didn't want Jack to see it. I believed in bad luck on a wedding day!

When the dress was safely hidden, I decided to ride Kara into town for some groceries. I saddled up the horse and rode down the dirt roads to town. There was a special area for horses to be left, where they could rest and drink from a trough, watched over by an attendant to prevent thieves from taking them. I left Kara there and walked into the grocery store to buy some food.

"Afternoon, Rose," came the cheery voice of Elizabeth Carter, the salesgirl.

"Hello, Elizabeth," I replied, and walked towards the produce section first.

A few minutes later, I was browsing through the canned food shelves, absentmindedly humming quietly to myself, when I bumped into someone. The cans I was carrying were knocked out of my hands as we collided. I bent down to pick them up.

"Sorry," I apologized, not looking up at the person. "Didn't see you there."

I expected the person to say, "That's all right" vaguely and move on, but instead, they said rudely, "You silly girl, mind where you're going in the future!"

I looked up at the person. Of course, such a rude tone could only belong to Mr. Thompson. He was looking at me like I was below him, scum in his presence.

"Well, excuse me, but I believe it’s you who should look where you are going," I said, adopting my upper class voice to match his rude, pompous tone.

He gave me a glare and started to move on. Suddenly, he stopped. He whipped his head around at me, his eyes narrowed in concentration as though he were studying every detail of me. His eyes wandered particularly towards my curly red hair. Then he gave a suspicious "Hmm" and walked away, appearing deep in thought. Odd, I thought. He usually can't wait to take his eyes off us common folk.

I paid for my groceries, collected Kara, and rode home again, thinking about the suspicious encounter. Unless he had had an episode of deja vu, Mr. Thompson seemed to find something odd about me. Or familiar, I suddenly thought. I felt my heart skip a beat in panic and began riding faster, pushing the very thought out of my mind, refusing to think it might be true.

I flung myself down on the sofa when I reached the house, leaving the groceries abandoned on the table. I held my head in my hands, wracking my brains for a reasonable excuse to prove my theory wrong. I thought the whole thing through thoroughly before I jumped to conclusions.

I suddenly remembered the posters Cal had had displayed in New York, asking for information about my whereabouts. I thought that maybe he had begun advertising wider, maybe even nationwide. And if so, the first people he would contact would be his cronies. Cal was a man with many allies. He was the sort of person who believed that you could control the world if you knew the right people. And Mr. Thompson was definitely the sort of person Cal would consider a must-know. A well-off businessman with a large farm and factory and a large chunk of money, exactly the sort of person who would be good to have in his circle of friends. So, say that Cal had good connections with Mr. Thompson, and had written to his cronies asking them to be on the lookout for an eighteen-year-old girl with curly red hair. I remembered how Mr. Thompson had suddenly stopped and studied me, particularly my red hair, which had always been my most noticeable feature. I prayed to God that I was wrong, but I had a horrible feeling that Mr. Thompson knew who I was, and that he would inform the man who had made the last year and a half of my life hell, the man who I knew would hunt me down to the ends of the earth. Caledon Hockley.

Chapter Nineteen
Stories