LOVERS LOST AND CHILDREN FOUND
Chapter Three
"Mother, I’m home!" Eva
called, now breathing heavily from running.
"Eva, I am going to tell you
everything about your father." Rose sat at the kitchen table, her eyes
filled with tears.
"All right, Mom. Let’s go
back fourteen years." Eva was excited and extremely nervous about hearing
this story.
"All right. Well, my mother,
Ruth, wanted me to marry a man named Caledon Hockley. He was rude, and didn’t
love me. I was a trophy wife for him, and as for my mother, she just wanted his
money! So I ran…ran along the ship to the stern, climbed over the rail, and was
hanging off!"
Eva was in shock after hearing
that her mother had tried to commit suicide. "Then…"
Rose continued. "Then I saw
him--your father, Jack Dawson. He tried to help, but I was rude and told him to
get away or I’d let go. I finally came back over, and to make a long story
short, my fiancé invited him to a first class dinner. Jack was cute, the way he
tried to act like he was in high society! That night, he invited me to a
steerage party. I swear, I had never in my life had so much fun, Eva! The next
day, my fiancé and mother told me not to see him again. I didn’t listen. I went
to him, and he taught me how to fly at the bow of the ship. Then we kissed and
went to my room, and he drew me. He was such a good artist. That’s where you
get it from, Eva. After that, we ran away from Cal’s manservant, Mr. Lovejoy,
found ourselves in the cargo hold, and we got into a car and…had you!"
Rose couldn’t help but giggle. "Then the ship hit an iceberg…well, you
know the story. After it sank, I was floating on a door in the ocean. Jack was
in the water in front of me. We were holding hands. After awhile, a lifeboat
came back. I tried to get Jack up, but I realized he had died, and…" Rose
felt tears start to roll down her cheeks. "I let him go to lie on the
ocean floor. Before I did this, he asked me to live my life, go on with my
dreams, and have children, and to never let go. Guess what, Eva? I never did.
Then everyone in the lifeboats was loaded onto the Carpathia when it came to
rescue us in the morning. I cried for weeks, until I found out I was pregnant
with you. You know the rest."
After Rose told Eva her story,
she had to go back to Jack. She ran, but Jack was gone. There was a note,
though. Eva picked it up and read it.
Dear Eva,
I had to go home for lunch.
I’ll be back around 1:30 PM. If you wish to come to my house, here is the
address.
Your friend,
Jack
Eva ran to his home. She had even
passed it coming there. She knocked on the door, and a little girl answered.
"Hello," said the girl.
Jack came to the door and sent
Summer to the parlor. "Come in, Miss Josephine."
"Thanks, Jack, but my last
name is not Josephine. That’s my middle name." The question Eva feared was
coming.
"Well, then, what is
it?"
"It’s…you know, I’ll get to
that." Eva looked at his home. It was cozy. It had a family touch to it.
That was very much Jack Dawson.
Jack motioned for Eva to take a
seat on the couch.
"Jack, I have a question for
you that might change the way you look at me."
Jack’s face was puzzled.
"All right. Here it goes.
Were you on the RMS Titanic?"
Jack’s face was now very pale,
and his eyes looked like he was going to cry.