LET’S LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND
Chapter Twenty-Five
Two Months Later
After two weeks of searching,
Jack was pronounced dead. A week afterwards, they held the memorial service.
Everyone got up at the altar and shared their memories of the bright young man
with the artistic talent and the laughing blue eyes. Poor Rose was devastated.
Molly had rushed to Chippewa Falls to be by her side, and Ruth had sent a
sympathy card. All Rose could do was stare into space, lost in her memories.
After the service, Molly took
Rose back to the house and sat with her while she cried over her loss. Molly
left a couple of days later, leaving the Dawsons to deal with the young widow
by themselves.
During those two long months, Old
Man Bill tended to his mysterious patient. The young man woke up two days after
he was rescued. Two weeks later, the man was well again. All physical signs of
his illness were gone. Only one thing remained…the only thing he could remember
was his first name, and he was haunted by nightmares. Nightmares of running
through a sinking ship with a beautiful redhead. He couldn’t remember her name,
only that she had meant more to him than life itself.
"Another nightmare
kid?" Bill grunted, hobbling into the front room, where his young guest
had made his bed for the time being.
"I’m sorry I woke you up.
Really, I don’t know where they’re coming from. Sometimes I even wonder if it’s
just a dream or a memory instead." The man sighed.
"Listen, Jack…whatever it
is, it’s now in the past. It’s time to move on. Now, get some sleep, because
I’m going to need your help bringing in firewood tomorrow morning. Good
night." Bill hobbled back into his bedroom.
Jack laid back, his mind still on
his dream. A sinking ship? What could that have to do with him, and who was the
woman he couldn’t get out of his head? Who was she to him? His sister? Girlfriend?
Did she even exist? She was like a ghost, haunting the fringes of his mind. So
close, yet always out of reach.
Unable to get to sleep, Jack sat
up and picked up the newspaper sitting on the table. On the front page, it
read--Titanic Inquisitions Winding Down.
Titanic? At the word Titanic,
Jack felt a shiver go up his spine. The name obviously meant something to him,
but what? Oh, why couldn’t he remember? Was he a passenger? Someone who worked
on the ship? What?
Laying the paper down, Jack
leaned back and drifted back into a dreamless slumber. Tomorrow was a new day
to try to figure things out and find out who he truly was.
*****
They were back in the freezing
waters. Rose was again on the board, and Jack was in the water, clinging
tightly to her hand.
"I can’t feel my body."
Rose choked back a sob. It was the truth. Ever since he disappeared from her
life, she couldn’t feel anything. Only her deep sorrow.
"Don’t you do that. Don’t
you say your good-byes." Jack intently stared at her. "You’re going
to get out of here. You’re going to go on. You're going to make lots of babies
and watch them grow. You’re going to die an old, old lady. Warm in your bed.
Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me
to you. And I’m thankful Rose."
"Jack…I can’t do this
without you."
Jack tightened his hold on her
hand. "You must do me this honor, Rose. Promise me that you’ll survive.
That you won’t give up, no matter what happens. Promise me now Rose and never
let go of that promise."
"…I…I promise Jack."
She would promise him anything.
"Never let go."
"I’ll never let go Jack.
Never let go." Rose sobbed as Jack smiled at her, then closed his eyes for
the last time. The North Atlantic had come out of nowhere and reclaimed her
love, taking him into its cold depths. This time, there would be no rescue for
Jack.
"I’ll never let go."
She sobbed.
"Rose?" A gentle voice
entered her dark world. She opened her eyes to stare into Jolene’s concerned
brown eyes. "Are you okay?"
It had been a dream. She wasn’t
back in the North Atlantic with Jack. The only thing real was that Jack was
gone. Even though they had never found his body, the North Atlantic had reclaimed
him.
"I just had a dream."
Rose forced a smile. "I’m sorry I woke you up."
"That’s okay. The baby woke
me up, anyway. I’ll be glad when this baby is out of me." Jolene softly
smiled, attempting a joke, but Rose only smiled sadly in return, remembering that
her baby would never know its father. Jack will never see his son or daughter.
He’ll never hold it, sing to it, or draw it in one of his sketches. Tears
appeared in her eyes as she thought of how unfair it was. After all they’d been
through, Jack deserved to be here with her now. To raise his child and head out
for the horizon with them both.
"Oh, Rose I’m sorry."
Jolene wrapped her arms around Rose’s shivering shoulders.
"I miss him, Jolene. It’s so
unfair. We went through hell to be together, and this is how it ended!"
"Shh, Rose. Jack wouldn’t
want you so upset. He’d want you to be happy for the time you did have
together. It could have been worse. He could have died that night, and then you
wouldn’t have all these memories and a baby on the way. Rose…this baby is a
part of Jack, too. He left you a part of himself to keep forever. Most of those
widows don’t even have that."
Rose pulled away from Jolene and
wiped away her tears. "You’re right. Jack would want me to be happy. But I
can’t, Jolene. I see him everywhere and realize that he’s gone forever and I’ll
never see him again."
"Oh, Rose." She hugged
her friend again. She felt guilty because she had Richie and Rose was all
alone.
"You two, breakfast is
ready." Jacquelyn said flatly, sticking her head through the doorway. Like
Rose, Jacquelyn’s world was turned upside down with the death of her twin. It
was unfair. Jack was so vibrant and full of life. He had everything to live
for. A beautiful wife, a baby on the way…it just wasn’t fair that he was taken
from them so young and when he was needed the most.
"Come on Rose." Jolene
helped her up, and the three women went downstairs with the rest of the family
to start another day without Jack.