LET’S LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND
Chapter Twelve

Two Days Later

Jack came up on the porch, where Rose was shelling peas alongside his mother and sister, carrying a giant basket of strawberries. Rose resisted the urge to laugh as Jack almost lost his balance.

"Jack, be careful!" Rose exclaimed.

"For the town's spring picnic, I assume." Nancy Dawson shook her head.

"Pa insisted that I bring these in so you can put them on ice." Jack sighed, setting the basket down. "I forgot how heavy these big loads are."

"Getting lazy, Jack?" Jacquelyn laughed.

"My Jack, lazy? Never." Rose shook her head and smiled at her husband.

"Thank you, Rose. In fact, that earned you an extra helping of these." Jack grinned. "You can have Jacquelyn’s share."

"Hey!" Jacquelyn exclaimed, laughter sparkling in her blue eyes.

"Oh, have you got your gifts together yet?" Nancy asked.

"Gifts?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Every spring, at the annual picnic, everyone gives someone else a gift. I'm surprised Mrs. Summers haven't come over yet with the bowl of names so we can draw a name," Jacquelyn explained.

"Why, speak of the devil." Nancy grinned as an elderly lady carrying a clear bowl full of small card envelopes walked up the path.

"Hello, Dawsons! Lovely afternoon, isn't it?" the woman greeted cheerfully.

"Yes, it is. That time again, Grace?" Nancy asked.

"Yes, it is. And since Rosie is new, I'll allow her and Jack to share a person." Grace smiled politely at Rose. Would the newly married Mr. Dawson like to draw and announce the name for him and his wife?"

"Sure." Jack grinned, excited. This was one of the traditions that he had missed most about Chippewa Falls, and he was glad that he was sharing it with Rose. Jacked reached in and pulled out an envelope. He opened it, looked at the name, and then looked at Rose. "Kimberly Smith."

"Oh, I bet Mrs. Smith will just love that." Jacquelyn rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure that you and your wife will get her something nice." Grace fondly patted Jack's cheek. "Now, everyone else, don't be shy. Draw a name."

After the names had been drawn, Grace Summers went off to the next house, one mile down the road.

"Well, this is interesting." Jacquelyn sighed, glancing at her brother.

"What?" Jack asked.

"My brother and his wife have to get a gift for his ex-girlfriend. So, what are you two going to give her?"

"Jack wrapped in silver paper with a red bow stuck on his head." Rose got up and stormed into the house.

"Good going, Jacquelyn." Jack glared at his sister, going after his wife.

"What did I say?" Jacquelyn looked at her mother, who was staring at her disapprovingly.

"Jacquelyn, really. That was unnecessary."

Jack found Rose in their room. She was sitting on the bed, staring at the sparkling Heart of the Ocean clutched in her hand.

"Why do you have that out?" Jack asked curiously, sitting next to her.

"Just thinking. Cal thought he could buy me with this. I was thinking about requesting another drawing with me wearing only this, but then I realized I would be doing the same thing." Rose sighed.

"Rose…I don't get where you're going with this." Jack cleared his throat.

"Jack…do you really want to stay with me? Or do you feel obligated?"

"Rose, we already went through this." Jack moved closer to her.

"I need to know for sure."

Jack sighed. He hadn't realized how needy Rose was right now. She was so insecure in his love for her…why? "Rose. You are the most amazing woman that I've ever known. There's no need to feel threatened by Kimberly. She's the past and you're my future."

"Then why won't you tell me about her? Why won't you tell me how you two met, how deeply in love you were, why you left her?"

"Because it's not important, Rose. It has nothing to do with you and me."

"But it has to do with you, Jack. Therefore, it deals with me, because you are my life and I love you. I mean…you know everything about me and Cal. Don't you think it's fair that I know about you and Kimberly?"

Jack sighed. Rose was right. It was only fair that she knew about Kimberly. But it hurt so much to even think of that time, much less talk about it.

"Okay. Fine. I'll tell you everything. But not now. I need time, Rose…it's not easy to go through again."

Rose sighed and nods. She understood why this was so painful for Jack to talk about, and she hated having him do something that caused him such pain, but she had to know, because not knowing was eating her up inside.

"We'll talk later tonight." He kissed her forehead and looked intently into her eyes. "I love only you, Rose. Please believe that."

"I do, Jack. I do. I just need to know what she meant to you. Why you look so sad when she's mentioned."

Jack smiled at her and kissed her tenderly. "We'll talk after dinner tonight. But right now, I have to get back out there. Dad's probably out there right now, throwing a fit because I've been gone for so long."

"See you tonight." Rose smiled, watching her husband disappear down the stairs. Sighing one more time, she looked down at the Heart of the Ocean, then got up and slipped it back into the jewelry box that Jack's mother had given her yesterday as a wedding present.

*****

It was two hours after dinner. Jack and Rose are in their room cuddled close together. Jack sighed deeply, knowing that it was time to tell Rose the entire morbid tale of himself and Kimberly Smith.

"We were fourteen years old," Jack said.

"What?" Rose looked up at him, confused, not catching what he was talking about.

"Me and Kimberly. You did want to know everything about that time, didn't you?" Jack had a hint of hope in his voice, hope that she'd changed her mind.

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry. Go on," Rose urged, holding his hand tightly, giving him her support, knowing that he was about to talk about a heartbreaking time for him.

"Well…Kim and I…we grew up together. We were best friends, much to her mother's dismay. Mrs. Smith never did like me. I don't know why. I guess I wasn't rich enough. Anyway. We were best friends. She was swell for a girl. She did everything us boys did, like climb trees, play stickball. Even wrestle. She'd get in trouble for coming home with her dress all muddy and her stockings torn. She'd be grounded, but the guys and me would go and sneak her out of the house. Well, anyway, the years passed and we remained friends…then, when we turned fourteen, I began to notice different things about her. Like how blue her eyes were or the way her hair blew in the wind. The way her dresses now looked on her. We were out playing by lake Wissota when it first happened…our first kiss. We were wrestling again, I tripped her, and then I tripped and fell on top of her. Then we kissed. That was the beginning of the longest and fastest year of my life."

"What happened?"

"Well, I asked her on sort of a date. She said yes, but we had to meet at the place because of her mother. We tried to keep up the pretense of being just friends, but the kiss kept getting in the way. There was no avoiding it. So, we came to the decision to follow our feelings and see where the chips might fall. The first eleven months were great. We'd meet at Lake Wissota, the nickelodeon in Eau Claire. My house, out by the old fort we had built when we were kids. Everyone in town except for her parented knew we were together. We were so happy just being the two of us. But of course, in our twelfth month, her parents found out, and to say they were furious was an understatement."

"What did they do?"

"They tried everything to keep us apart. Nothing like framing me like Cal, but other things, like sending her to her grandmother's house on weekends, occupying her time with tea parties, and setting her up on dates with rich boys like Brendan Lakesworth. There was a time when I thought that she was actually interested in one of those boys, but she assured me that she wasn't. Through all of that, though, we still found ways to be together. Even if it was only for a couple of minutes, it was better than nothing."

"What did her parents do then, Jack?" Rose was completely enthralled by Jack's story. She had thought that their story was the saddest…but obviously it wasn't, because she and Jack were thankfully still together. Unlike Kimberly and Jack. Not that Rose was sad about that…if things had been different, Kimberly would be Jack's wife, not her.

"Well, they saw that occupying her time wasn't helping, so they went to the bank and bought the deed to the house out from under my father, who was saving to buy it. It was the day that Kimberly had arranged an hour free from her parents. We were so happy that day. We had thought nothing could touch us. Fifty minutes we had together. We talked, hugged, all the couple stuff. Plus, I drew her picture. She was sitting by the lake, smiling. I had finished the drawing when her smile faded and she stared behind me. I turned to see her mother looking very angry. She told Kimberly to get her things together right then and there, and that she wouldn't be seeing me anymore. By that time I'd had enough of Mrs. Smith's bullying Kimberly around, so…"

"You stood up to her," Rose guessed, already well acquainted with Jack's inability to be bullied.

Jack smiled. Rose knew him so well, and to think they'd only known each other a little over two weeks. "I told her to leave Kimberly alone. That she wasn't going anywhere. Mrs. Smith just stood there and smiled. A thin, arrogant smile that should have warned me right there that something was up."

"What happened?"

"She told me that I should be getting home to help my family move out of her house. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, until Jacquelyn came running to me in tears. She told me that the Smiths had purchased our house and were evicting us without notice. Just throwing us out in the cold. My mother, at the time, was in middle of a difficult pregnancy, and Father…he had just been called from the fields."

"Oh, no. What happened?"

"Well, once Jacquelyn led us to the house, I found my mother unconscious on the front porch, bleeding. The doctor was called. All the strain had caused her to lose the baby. But despite all of that, Mrs. Smith still wanted us out, despite all the pleading from my father and Kimberly. She was adamant about throwing us out. Then she coldly stared at me and smiled. She said she'd show mercy and give the house to my father, all in good will, if I left Chippewa Falls immediately and never attempted to contact Kimberly again. I had no choice. After looking at my mother's still form and my father and sister in tears…I had to leave."

"Oh, Jack, that must have been heartbreaking for you. And your poor mother. She lost her baby, and then her son." Rose felt the tears come to her eyes.

"Kimberly begged me not to go, but I didn't dare stay. I knew her mother was serious. My mother was ill…she couldn't just be thrown out in the cold like that, and I was the only one who could stop that from happening. So I tearfully agreed. I said a tearful good-bye to Kimberly and went to pack my things. Jacquelyn was so angry that she was seeing red. She pleaded with me not to give in, but I had to. So I said good-bye to my family, took one last look at the house, and left. I left Chippewa Falls and didn't return until five years later, after meeting my soulmate and surviving the worst shipwreck in history." Jack squeezed Rose's shoulder. "So, there you go, Rose. That was the whole story."

"I'm sorry, Jack. I should have been more understanding…"

"No, Rose. You were right. I knew everything about you and Cal, and it was only fair to tell you about Kimberly and why I left town in the first place. In fact, I'm glad that you made me tell you. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I guess I've been carrying that around for a long time and didn't even realize it."

"Whatever happened to that picture?" Rose asked, not recalling seeing it.

Jack laughed. "Don't you remember? That was the picture I let blow into the ocean. It was symbolic, I guess. I was letting go of the past so I could move on with the future."

Rose smiled tenderly and gently touched his cheek. "I love you, Jack Dawson. Forever and always."

"I love you, too, Rose Dawson. Forever and always. You know how I know this is real love?"

"How?"

"Not even an iceberg and below freezing waters could separate us." Jack laughed. Rose smiled and snuggled closer to him.

"And nothing ever will."

At that moment, Jack passionately kissed Rose, and soon they were making a return visit to the stars, unaware that Jacquelyn had just listened in on their conversation, hatred for the Smiths burning in her eyes. The Smiths had almost destroyed her family, and she was going to make sure they never had the chance again.

Chapter Thirteen
Stories