1912
He walked away.
She remembered standing alone amid the chaos on the deck of the sinking ship as she watched her lover walk away from her. "This is for your own good," he’d said. "I’ll see you again soon," he’d said.
"Nothing can keep us apart," he’d said.
She remembered watching the Titanic slide slowly beneath the surface of the water from her lifeboat, wondering if he was there. Wondering if he was trapped as the lavish ocean liner dropped gracefully into the freezing Atlantic.
She’d never found out.
1941
She lived alone. Her mother was gone. Her fiancé–gone. All her friends, family, everything she’d ever known had disappeared that night. They may have survived, sure, but to her, they were dead. Everything died with him. She had no interest in finding out the whereabouts of anyone she had associated with before her life-altering voyage on the Titanic.
But she thought about him from time to time. Were his last thoughts of her? Did he die painlessly? Or possibly, was he still alive, and if so, did he still love her? She still loved him. It was an eternal ache how much she loved him—a heavy thudding in her chest, her heart leaden with memories that could never stop hurting.
Every once in a while she would go to the shore. Her small cottage on the New Hampshire coast was only a walk from the beach, and she’d stand for hours on end, just staring. The sun would set behind her and twilight would turn to darkness and still she’d watch. As if she was waiting for her lover to rise from the depths to see her once again. And to keep his promise that nothing could keep them apart forever.
1947
The sun had long since set. She walked back towards her cottage in the dark. It was late, and night had set in, the stars out. Her cottage was dark.
She opened the door, turned on her light.
"Rose."
She jumped at the voice. The man at the table did not turn around. He did not look at her, and she could not see his face. But she felt it.
"Jack."
He turned slowly and sadly. "I told you nothing could keep us apart."
She ran for him, was caught in his arms. And she felt his tears on her shoulder. "Jack, no. Don’t cry. We’re together again. Like you said. You said we’d be together again."
Rose felt him nod his head. "We’re together. But it’s too late. Too late for us to have a life together. We can never have children. We can never have a family or anything that normal people have. It’s too late."
She pulled away from him. Gazed into his eyes. They were different. There was no more of the youthful joy in them. They were hard, dead eyes. Something had happened.
He knew she saw it. "The war. The horrors. The things I’ve seen, been put through. I can never forget them. I didn’t want you to be tied down to that. There’s no more emotion in me, Rose."
"When you saw me, put your arms around me, you cried. I felt your tears. You can’t cry if you have no emotion left in you."
He closed his eyes, stood up, and walked out the door. She followed. The night stretched over them, peacefully blanketing the country in darkness. She could no longer see his eyes.
"I can’t do this. I hold only sadness now. But you still hold life. I can feel it, and I long for it with all that I have. I just wanted to put you at rest. I’m okay."
She knew what he was doing. "Jack, you can’t leave me again. You said nothing could keep us apart. You promised me!"
He turned slightly toward her. "Just live, Rose. Promises don’t always mean forever."
Something in her heart felt lighter then. He walked away, but she knew this time it really was for the best. A single tear slid from her eye, and she blew him one last kiss.
"You have given me my heart back," she whispered. "Thank you, Jack. Thank you."
He disappeared from sight, and as she turned back toward her home, a bright twinkling star caught her eye from the heavens and she smiled.
The End.
