LOVE FOR LIFE AND BEYOND
Chapter Sixteen
Rose gagged and sneezed as a vial of smelling
salts was waved under her nose. This seems familiar, she thought.
"Thank heavens," said a voice.
"She’s back in the world of the living."
Rose opened her eyes and saw two concerned
faces leaning over her. "I’m fine," she said weakly. "It was the
shock."
Jack gave her a hug and kiss. "We’re
seeing a doctor as soon as we’ve got this matter cleared up," he said. He
turned to Mr. Saunders. "What else is there in this…um…matter?" he
asked.
"Nothing apart from the fact that your
uncle has left you approximately one million dollars."
In his worry about Rose, Jack had barely
given a thought to the money. Now the full force of the news hit him. A
million dollars! he thought. He could barely imagine so much money, let
alone believe he and Rose possessed that much now.
After recovering from the initial shock, Jack
became curious as to how his uncle managed to earn such a sum of money.
"How did my uncle earn a million dollars?"
"Business deals with the now deceased
John Jacob Astor, Mr. Dawson," said Mr. Saunders. "His death was
quite a tragedy—he was on the Titanic."
Jack cast a glance at Rose out of the corner
of his eye. She returned the glance and they burst out laughing. Jack knew it
wasn’t funny, but he couldn’t help laughing anyway—what would Mr. Saunders say
if he knew how he and Rose had met?
Rose regained her composure first as
something clicked in her brain. "Do you have a picture of the deceased,
Mr. Saunders? I’d like to see what he looked like."
Mr. Saunders nodded and rummaged through his
desk. A few minutes later he handed Rose a somewhat blurry photograph. Rose
peered at the fuzzy picture; it was clear enough as to who Jack’s uncle had
been. The kind old man who kept her entertained through the dreary dinner party
at the Carltons in the summer of 1910. Rose recalled vividly what a brilliant
conversationalist he had been. Jack has the same gift, she thought,
smiling at the recollection of that dinner party on the Titanic.
Rose turned to Jack, who was fairly composed
now. "Jack, I knew your uncle. I never found out his name, but he kept me
from going mad at a dinner party some years ago. He was absolutely wonderful—I
now see where you got your desire to travel."
Now it was Jack’s turn to be utterly
dumbstruck. "You knew Uncle Henry?" he asked incredulously.
"You’re kidding!"
Rose shook her head. "No, I’m not. It’s
true, really."
Mr. Saunders shook his head. "Our world
is one of strange coincidences," he said.
Jack grinned. "That’s true. Now, can we
go? Rose fainted three times this week and we should see a doctor."
Mr. Saunders nodded. "Yes, of course.
I’ll organize the money concerns with Mr. Barnes and he can give you the details."
Jack nodded and thanked Mr. Saunders for his
time. He and Rose left the office and departed the building.
When they were outside, Rose breathed a sigh
of relief. "We’ll be able to visit all those places you’ve been wanting to
visit now."
Jack smiled at Rose. "I still can’t
believe I just inherited so much money," he said, and continued in a
sadder, more solemn tone, "and I still can’t believe Uncle Henry is really
gone."
Rose gave his hand a comforting squeeze.
"Were you saying something about going to the doctor?" she asked.
Jack gave a start. "The doctor! Of
course! You don’t faint very often, do you?"
Rose shook her head. "Mother always
complained about it—she said it wasn’t right that I never fainted around mice
and other furry rodents. What she didn’t know was that Robert kept pet mice up
his sleeves and he would have let me have one if there was a way of keeping
them from Mother."
Jack laughed. "I used to keep pet mice
like that as well. Now, where’s the nearest doctor?"
Rose frowned. "I seem to remember a
doctor near one of the tailors Mother insisted I buy dresses from. This
way," she said, turning down the main street into a smaller road branching
off from it.