LOVE LASTS FOR ETERNITY
Chapter Seven

Jack's POV

I breathed in deeply, smelling the salty sea air of the Atlantic coast. I was back home. After five years away, I had been everywhere, seen everything, experienced and been through so much, but nothing compared to the joy of being home again. Rose seemed happy to be back, too, which I couldn’t quite understand, since, as far as I knew, she hadn't been very happy in this country. Nevertheless, she looked happy to be here.

Luckily, the reporters had cleared out, running after the rich and famous for interviews, statements, and photos. They didn't want anything to do with us lowly third class people, which was a good thing. The last thing we needed was Cal spotting a photo of me or Rose in the paper and somehow tracking us down. Fortunately, he, too, was nowhere in sight, nor was Ruth. They must've left for the hotel the White Star Line was putting survivors up in for the next few nights, free of charge.

Fabrizio and Helga were standing over to the side waving at us, huge grins on their faces. They were both clearly overjoyed to have made it to America. We went over to them.

"So, how d'you like America?" I asked Fabri.

"Belissima!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air in a very Italian way. I laughed.

"So, where are you guys headed?"

"We stay in the city for Helga to learn English. We will stay in the free hotel from the White Star Line, but then we will move to Florida. We both wish to live in the sun. It's thanks to your Rose that we can. She gave us the money." Fabri smiled at Rose. I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Ah…it was nothing," she said. "There was more than enough for both of us anyway."

Fabri and I exchanged glances. We both knew what was coming next.

"Well, I guess this is where we part, my friend," he said sadly.

"Yeah," I replied, equally sadly. We had been on the road together for nearly four years now. We'd traveled everywhere together, even been though a deadly shipwreck together. Just parting so quickly after all we'd been through seemed so wrong. But it had to be done. We had both found love on the cursed Titanic. We had commitments now. Fabri held out his hand to me. I took it and we shook hands, but we ended up embracing tightly.

"Well, good-bye, Jack."

"Good-bye, Fabri."

Rose and Helga exchanged good-byes in French and hugged, too. Then we parted, them walking in one direction, us in the other.

Rose and I made our way through many busy streets packed with people and what seemed like hundreds of shops and department stores until we finally arrived in the middle class part of the city. We did our best to avoid the richer parts of town, not wanting a run-in with Cal. We were successful, luckily.

Springwood Lane was a nice road with rows of modest, tidy houses. Rose led the way down the road towards number 56. A few children were playing in the street, throwing balls, skipping rope, or playing on chalked hopscotch courses. The children weren't dressed in rags, nor were they dressed in the finest clothes in New York. They were comfortable middle class children, perfectly average. The whole street had a friendly vibe to it.

Rose paused outside a house that was no different from the ones around it. It was a red brick building with a red slate roof and a dark red front door. A pretty, well-kept flowerbed lay under the front window and the lawn was freshly cut. A small doll lay abandoned under the window and a couple of dog toys lay scattered about.

Rose walked up the garden path and knocked on the door. I followed and stood beside her. The door opened, and a man stood in the doorway, a man who I assumed was Nathan Calvert.

He was a tall, skinny man with pale skin and freckles up and down his arms and face. His hair was thick and wavy, a dark auburn color. His eyes were almond-shaped and a wonderful mix of every shade of blue and green possible. If only that color could be mixed up in a paint, it would be an artist's dream. He smiled widely at us, revealing white, slightly uneven teeth.

"Rose!" he said delightedly when he saw her.

"Nathan!" she yelled delightedly. They hugged one another tightly.

"Gosh, you've changed since I last saw you!" he said, looking her up and down.

"You've changed, too," she replied. "I see the freckles never did die down."

He swatted her playfully. "Hey! Well, I see you're still a frizzy redhead."

Rose swatted him back. "You're turning into my mother!"

"Oh, gosh, that is a scary thought. Speak of the devil, where is she?"

Rose's smile faded. "Well, it's a long story, Nathan. I'll explain later. But first--" She beckoned me forward. "This is Jack Dawson, the love of my life." Nathan smiled and held out his hand. I smiled back and shook it.

"Ah…yes. Rose told me you were coming, too. Right. Come in, then. Selina isn't in. She's gone shopping with Lucy and Rosie. She should be back soon, though." I wondered who Rosie was. A friend, perhaps? I dismissed the thought without an answer.

We all went into the house. The parlor was spacious and bright, with a light blue carpet, cream walls, and a white brick fireplace. Above the fireplace was a beautiful portrait of a tropical beach. The sofa was white fabric and there was a wooden bookcase in the corner. Photos of various people, family, I guessed, stood on top of the wooden cupboards and on the coffee table. I felt my stomach clench at the sight of a newspaper on the coffee table bearing the headline Titanic Sinks: Great Loss of Life, but tried not to think about it.

In the corner of the room was a large dog bed lined with blankets. I wondered what sort of dog the Calverts had. Rose hadn't mentioned one. I was interrupted from my thoughts by a gasp from Rose. I didn't need to wonder where the gasp came from. Speeding towards us from the kitchen was a black stampede.

We were suddenly swamped by a number of squirming, yapping, wriggling black Labrador puppies. They clambered over one another to see who the newcomers were. I felt their sharp little nails digging into my skin as they attempted to climb up my legs. I picked up the one furthest up my left leg to prevent the little rascal from tearing my trousers. He was jet black with fluffy, glossy fur and hazel brown eyes, identical to his brothers and sisters. I let him lick my face and then let him rejoin the army. Rose was crouched down, playing with the pups. They clambered all over her--legs, back, arms--one was even attempting to climb up a stray curl. She was in heaven with the pups. I joined her, crouching down and letting them swamp me. We counted five black pups in total, but they weren't the only ones. Lurking in the background was one more forgotten pup.

She was the odd one out of the family, the runt of the litter. She was different from her brothers and sisters. Instead of the glossy black coat, she had fur of shining bright golden yellow.

It wasn’t unusual for there to be a mix of colors in a litter of Labrador retrievers. The breed had three color variations, black, yellow, and chocolate brown. There could be a mix of colors in a litter, and even if both parents were the same color, the pups could be one of the three variations. This pup was the obvious odd one out, the outcast.

She was shyer than her feisty siblings, and lurked at the back of the mob, hiding behind the sofa, warily avoiding the new people. I crept past the black pups to the edge of the sofa. The yellow pup whimpered lightly and cowered away from me. I held out my arm to her, encouraging her forward. She eventually crept slightly forward and sniffed my wrist, her little pink nose twitching. Then she slowly crawled out a little and inspected my whole hand, sniffing, even occasionally licking. Then she pounced. She lunged at my hand, yapping ferociously, her fluffy yellow legs clutching my wrist. She opened her mouth and began to gnaw on my hand. I gasped as her sharp little teeth sank into my skin. I jerked my hand and she fell off. I took hold of her before she could realize it and pulled her close to me. She was scared at first, whimpering and shaking, but I held her against my chest and gently stroked her. She soothed and nuzzled into me, her eyes drooping. She was asleep within minutes.

Rose came over to us, wondering where I was, and she instantly loved the yellow pup. She stroked her with the back of her fingers and I eased her into Rose's arms. Rose held the little pup, saying how cute she was. I had to admit, she was pretty darned cute. I was stroking her again when I suddenly heard a low growl behind me. I turned my head to see a large black Labrador baring her teeth at me.

She lunged at me, toppling me over under her weight. I let her do what she wanted, not wanting her teeth to attack. She climbed on top of me and gave several warning barks right in my face. Rose gave a startled scream when she saw the dog, but the yellow pup scrambled out of her arms and ran to her mother. The dog eventually climbed off of me when she saw her small daughter and licked her all over. It seemed that that was all she wanted and she went off to inspect the rest of her brood. I sat up, amazed that the dog had shown such fierceness over her daughter.

"Rosie! Bad dog!" I heard a Spanish-sounding voice say crossly. I looked around to see a slim woman with thick brown hair hanging down her back standing over the black dog, shaking her hand at her. She turned to us, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry about that. She can get very protective of the pups around strangers sometimes. Goodness knows what she'll do when we give them away!" We got up and sat down on the sofa, brushing the dog hair off of our clothes. The woman shook hands with us. "I'm Selina, Nathan's wife. And this…" she said, reaching down and picking up a small girl from the middle of the puppies. "…is Lucy, our daughter. Say hello, Lucy."

"Heggo," the toddler said shyly, waving a hand at us. Rose took a shine to the little girl.

"Hello," she said in a friendly voice. "My name's Rose."

"My name Lucy," she replied. "What your name?" she asked me.

"My name's Jack," I said.

She smiled at us. "Mommy! That Aunt Rose and Uncle Jack," she said, pointing at us the wrong way around. Selina laughed and sat down beside Rose, putting Lucy on her lap. Lucy crawled into Rose's lap instead. She tugged one of her red curls.

"You got funny hair," she said. We all laughed.

"Lucy, that's not very nice!" Her mother laughed.

"You've got pretty hair," said Rose, gently tugging one of the girl's thick brown pigtails. She giggled.

"Mommy? Where Daddy?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Can you go and look in the kitchen for me?"

"Yeah!" Lucy slid off of Rose's lap and raced to the kitchen, her skirt flying behind her. She came back a moment later, dragging Nathan by the hand. He sat down next to his wife and pulled his daughter onto his lap.

"Sorry about the pups," he apologized. "They just love strangers!"

"Well, they certainly are a cute lot," I said. "Especially the yellow one. But her mother doesn't seem to like her associating with people."

"Yeah, Rosie's a bit like that sometimes. She can be a little too overprotective and sometimes she does mad things. A bit like your mother, Rose!"

Rose laughed. "I have to agree with you there, Nathan," she said.

He suddenly turned more serious. "So, now will you explain what this is about?"

Rose looked at me, as if for reassurance. I gave her an encouraging nod.

Selina sensed the sensitivity of the subject and said to Lucy, "Sweetie, shall I take you upstairs and you can play with your dollies for a while?"

Lucy nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, yes!" she said, and Selina led the little girl upstairs and out of earshot.

When she returned, Rose told her story, starting from when she met Cal so it would make more sense.

Chapter Eight
Stories