THE HEART NEVER LIES
Chapter Thirteen
Ruth
I let myself back into the
Hockleys’ New York brownstone, carrying a package containing Rose’s silk
evening gloves, ready for her to wear tomorrow night at the engagement gala.
She would be wearing a beautiful white and silver evening gown that made her look
regal. She and Caledon made such a handsome pair. And then we would leave for
Philadelphia and Caledon had kindly promised me a home for life at their lovely
country house, Crosswinds. I was so relieved. Everything was going according to
plan. I was smiling for the first time since the ship went down. Involuntary, I
shivered. I was trying hard to forget the horrors of that night, and it paid
not to dwell on it.
I closed the door behind me
softly. Bonner, the new valet, was standing in the hallway, eyes cold and hard.
"You’re back!" he barked.
"Pray, Bonner, what is
happening?" I asked, confused, the atmosphere in the house unnaturally
tense. Suddenly, the door to Caledon’s office swung open and it banged hard.
Caledon stormed out. His face was red and his eyes were bleak.
"Caledon?" I queried,
fear beginning to rise in me.
"Ruth," he said coldly.
"Have you seen Rose?"
"No," I said. "I
have been collecting the gloves that Rose is going..."
"There won’t be any party
for Rose to wear her gloves at!" he spat out. "Your daughter has
gone. She has escaped, and what’s worse, my dear Ruth, she’s stolen something
of immense value of mine."
"Oh!" I gasped. My
hands flew up to my face and the parcel dropped on the floor.
Cal was telling me Rose had run
away and stolen expensive goods. Why would she do that? I could not begin to
understand what went through that girl’s head. Tears welled in my eyes and I
was struck dumb.
"Bonner, see Mrs. DeWitt
Bukater to the parlor to regain her senses!" Caledon yelled loudly in the
background. "And then go to the station to see if you can track her down,
silly little idiot."
Rose
The noise of the train filled my
head. I had been so lucky. I had managed to slip onto a train that was leaving
straight away for California. It was fate.
I had found an empty car. I was
feeling nauseous and cold. I laid my cheek against the cool window and tears
slipped down my face as I remembered.
"Jack, we’ll go to
California and ride horses on the beach through the surf. I want to ride like a
man!" I cried happily.
His laughing voice replied,
"Yep. We’ll drink cheap beer until we throw up and then go on the coaster
at the Santa Monica pier. We’ll do it together."
I could see his blue eyes
sparkling, and he was ecstatically filled with enthusiasm and mischief.
We were clasping arms and
laughing and crying at the same time, high on life, my heart falling for this
quirky, caring young man whose spirit was so special and made me alive. The
first stirrings of love beating in my soul, that there was another way and that
my soul would be forever entwined with his.
"I will honor you, Jack. I
will become Rose Dawson and this baby will always be a part of you," I
whispered. I wiped my tears away. A sense of peace fell over me.
I had escaped my chains. I had
done it.
"Jack, you would be so proud
of me. I outfoxed the snake," I murmured. "I will never let go of
you, but I also promise that I will go on." I laid my head on the seat and
sleep overtook me.
Ruth
Caledon and I faced each other in
the summer parlor. The tension was unbearable. Caledon didn’t say a word. He
went to the liquor cabinet and poured me a brandy.
"Drink it, Ruth," he
commanded. I took a few sips and the liquid made my eyes water and my throat
burn.
He downed his in one swallow and
then poured another and turned to face me.
"Well, your daughter’s gone
and done it now, run away and taken the necklace," he said, anger making
the corners of his mouth turn down. "Why would she do that?"
"I…I don’t know,
Caledon," I stammered. "I am so sorry."
"Sorry!" he cried, his
eyes narrowing. "Oh, you’re sorry," he mocked. "Your tart of a
daughter has made me look a laughingstock after I gave her a second chance.
Wait until I catch up with her." He slammed the drink down harshly on the
sideboard.
His anger made me nervous and I
stepped backwards. He caught the movement. His eyes met mine and I had never
seen such coldness. The kind, polite, suave man I had known all these months,
through all the society parties and the trip to Europe, was stripped away
before my eyes to be replaced by a hard-hearted, mean stranger.
"Going somewhere,
Ruth?" he drawled. "Not until we have had a little chat."
He pushed me backwards into a
chair. I fell heavily into a small lounge chair.
"I will find your daughter,
Ruth, and will bring her home and marry her. She is my property. I will not be
made a fool of. If you had brought her up properly…" he shouted, then spun
around and punched the wall. The color drained from my face. I could not move.
"I will have my wife!" he screamed. "I own her body and
soul." His eyes had descended to some place I couldn’t fathom. They were
burning with an intensity I couldn’t fathom. Mad, deranged eyes.
I could hear Rose’s voice faintly
in my thoughts from the past.
"Mother, Caledon Hockley
seems very keen on pursuing me. I find him a little intense."
"Mother, he monopolized
me all night at the dance. He was very antsy with other men who wanted to dance
with me."
"I don’t know if I like
him, but he seems so charming and brings me gifts and everything, but there’s
just something..."
Then my voice. "You must
marry him, Rose. He will make everything right. The money is all gone."
"I don’t know if I love
him, Mother. He’s very possessive and smothers me. He tells me what to do, what
to say. I can’t stand it."
"He’s our future,
Rose." I saw myself in the plush stateroom on the Titanic, Rose,
white-faced, holding onto the bed poster as I laced her into her corset. She
was leading Cal a dance, and I had bullied her and threatened.
No wonder she’d run headlong into
Jack Dawson’s loving arms. She had tried to tell me about Caledon’s
callousness, and I hadn’t listened.
No wonder she had run. Cal was
mad, unhinged.
Tears ran down my cheeks.
What had I done to Rose? Oh, my
God!
Cal
Ruth sat still in the chair, her
face ashen. She looked shocked. I was done being Mr. Nice.
That little slut Rose had gone,
taking my necklace with her. Oh, she would pay! My heart was thumping and anger
was coursing through my veins. I hated the sight of Ruth’s white, tear-streaked
face. She was so uptight and proper, and why hadn’t her daughter been like her?
"I can’t believe our
family’s misfortune," she whispered. "Why didn’t I listen to
Rose?"
I grabbed her arm and hauled her
out of the chair. She gasped and tried to pull away. I dug my nails into her
arms. She moaned with pain.
"Rose didn’t know what was
good for her. I could have given her the world. You knew that, didn’t you, you
old hag? You sacrificed her for money, like a golden calf."
"Please, Caledon, you’re
hurting me," she wept. I twisted her arm savagely and laughed.
"Oh, I had you taken in,
didn’t I, Ruth? Well-mannered, nice Mr. Hockley. I played you and Rose so well.
You didn’t have to work so hard to push Rose at me. I had every move down pat
in this sordid game."
"What do you mean?" she
sobbed. I released her and she fell back into the chair, weeping.
"I knew Bukater, your
laggard of a husband, had gambled away every last penny, leaving you and Rose
destitute. But who was the brute who played Bukater for a fool? I will tell
you." I watched her eyes open wide, brimming with tears. "My father,
Nathan Frederick Hockley. He won the Bukater fortune on the turn of dice and
broke the family, leaving the only pawn your dear daughter."
"No!" she shrieked.
"Daniel…he wouldn’t…wouldn’t…"
"Oh, but he would, Ruth. He
left the way clear for me to pick off Rose at my will, and you encouraged that.
My father wanted the marriage. You were bought off with money as a lure and
Rose as my willing wife. I win. I always win, and you will always lose."
Ruth rose to her feet.
"You are a monster. You are
hypocritical and evil!" she shouted, and lunged for me. I easily
side-stepped her and grabbed her by both arms. She groaned.
"Now, I want you out of
here. You have twenty minutes to pack a bag and get out. Then I will find Rose
and she will be my wife. You’re not needed."
I threw her backwards. She
retreated, sobbing.
"You will burn for this,
Caledon Hockley!" she cursed. "I’ll tell Rose about this. You’ll
never have her."
"I’ll find her first. Get
out, you shriveled-up old prune. No wonder your husband screwed around, you
frigid old harridan."
The door slammed as she left,
crying hard.
Now all I had to do was find Rose
and make her pay. She would not make a fool of me again.