MEMORIES
Chapter Eight
Falling in Love Again
Present Day
Rose looked at the picture of
Jason, Jack, and Jake and sighed happily. She had made him so happy that day.
Even though it had brought up feelings that she had thought would remain
dormant forever. She sighed as she remembered the day she had discovered
herself falling in love with Jason Calvert, and how she had dreaded it.
*****
The night was stormy, and Jason
and Rose were sitting on her couch, reading the local paper and talking about
the day’s activities. It had been two months since Rose had told Jason the
truth about Jack, and since then, they had grown very close. Jason was over at
Rose’s apartment practically every day. She, of course, thought it was because
he wanted to see Jake as much as possible, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Jason was over there all the time because he wanted to see Rose and spend as
much time with her as possible.
At first, he had felt guilty
about his feelings for Rose. She, of course, was Jack’s true love and the
mother of his child. In fact, he was going to forget about it and put as much
distance between himself and Rose as possible, but then he had had a dream…he
remembered it so clearly.
*****
He was on board a ship…the
Titanic, he presumed…and there was Jack, standing at the bow. His eyes were as
bright and blue as ever, and he had that devil-may-care grin on his face.
"Jack!" Jason
breathed in shock.
"I brought you here to
tell you it’s all right." Jack grinned.
"What’s all right?"
"Come on, Jason. This is
me, Jack. We were always able to tell what the other was thinking. You’re in
love with Rose and you’re not sure if it’s right, but it is. Trust me. I
wouldn’t have brought you to her if I didn’t think so."
"But, Jack…she’s yours. I
couldn’t possibly…"
Jack’s voice was stern.
"She’s not mine, Jas. She never was. She doesn’t belong to anyone except
herself. Besides, I’m dead, but you’re not."
"But what if she doesn’t
feel the same way?"
"But she does. She’s just
scared. You have to reassure her…tell her it’s all right. That it’s what I
want," Jack said. "I’ll try my best to tell her, but my powers here
are growing weak, and I won’t be able to contact her through her dreams for
much longer. That’s why it’s so important that you and her get together…so she
can let go and be free from the past."
"But, Jack…"
"Jason, I don’t have much
longer. I have to save my strength for Rose, but do me this one thing, will
ya?"
"Anything."
"Promise me you’ll take
good care of them. That you’ll raise Jake to be a good man and take care of
Rose and love her as much as I do."
"I already do love her,
Jack." Jason grinned sheepishly. "But I promise, Jack. I will take
good care of them, and I’m going to make sure that Jake knows everything there
is to know about his father. I promise."
The dream began to break up
and Jack began to fade out, but before he went, he whispered a thank you.
*****
That was when Jason had woken up
all sweaty. Jack’s last words stayed in his head, and he knew it hadn’t been an
ordinary dream. Jack wanted him and Rose together, and Jason was going make
sure to honor his cousin’s wishes.
Jason looked at Rose longingly.
Her red hair was falling over her shoulders as she bent down to give Jake his
toy. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. She looked up,
surprised at the touch and the electricity it had caused.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"I’m sorry I startled you like that."
"That’s okay," Rose
whispered, her face so close to his, she could feel his warm breath brush her
face, and when she looked in his eyes…she saw desire…raw, burning desire. No
one had looked at her like that for over a year, and seeing it now brought up
something in her that she had thought was dead. "Jason…"
"Rose." Jason took her
hand. Looking into her eyes one more time, he kissed her gently. A warm, sweet
kiss. Tingling with pleasure and desire, Rose kissed him back and moved a
little closer, not wanting the moment to end. She hadn’t felt this way since
the last time Jack had kissed her. Jack! What was she doing?
"Stop!" Rose quickly
pulled away from the kiss, her cheeks burning furiously.
"Rose…" Jason
stammered.
"I think you’d better go
now." Rose got to her feet and moved to the door.
"Rose…"
"Leave, Jason! Leave
now!" Rose demanded, pointing out into the hall.
"Okay." Jason sighed
heavily and exited the room. Then he turned around before Rose could close the
door. "But you know where I’ll be when you want to talk about what just
happened."
Rose slammed the door and her
hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, Jack, what have I done?" She ran to her
room and fell on the bed, sobbing. The horrible feeling of guilt refused to go
away. She fell asleep like that.
*****
The ship was blinking in and
out, like it was having trouble staying in the same dimension as her. She
walked through the ship until she reached what looked like a fading oil
painting of the bow, and there, standing out clearly, was Jack. He didn’t
smile. In fact, he looked rushed. He quickly strode to her and took her in his
arms.
"Don’t cry, my sweet
Rose. There’s nothing to cry about," he soothed, his voice still rushed
and a bit strained.
"Oh, Jack, how could I
have let it happen? I didn’t mean to betray you!" Rose sobbed.
"But you didn’t betray
me, Rose," Jack soothed, his voice growing more urgent. "Listen,
Rose…I don’t have much time and I need to say this. I need you to go on with
your life. You can’t mourn me forever. This thing with Jason…it’s what I want.
I told him that, too, when he was feeling guilty."
"You talked to him?"
Rose pulled away from Jack.
"Yes. I had to. Rose, I
need you to go on with your life…love someone else. You can’t go through life
mourning me…you have to get married and have a lot more babies. Remember?"
"But, Jack…I love you.
How can I possibly love anyone else?"
"But you already do,
Rose. Search your heart. What does it tell you?"
"I love you."
"And Jason? What does it
tell you about Jason?"
Rose was silent for a couple
of minutes as she searched her feelings and didn’t like what she came up with.
"Jack…"
"You love him, don’t ya,
Rose?"
Sobbing, Rose nodded.
"I’m sorry."
Jack laughed. "Don’t be
sorry, Rose. Don’t you ever be sorry for falling in love again, because that’s
what I want for you, Rose. Now, more than ever. Rose…I won’t be able to visit
you like this anymore."
"What?"
"I’ll always be with you,
but we can never be together like this again until it’s your time to join me.
That’s why it’s so important to me that you fall in love and start a family
with someone else. Do you understand?"
Sobbing, Rose nodded.
"I’ll at least have the pictures, won’t I?"
"Of course." Jack
grinned. "You just won’t dream about me anymore. Take care of Jason, Rose.
He’s still grieving. He hasn’t had as much time as you. Be there for him…and
love him well."
"I will, Jack." Rose
touched his face gently. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Rose,
and never forget your promise and that I’m with you always. This isn’t good-bye."
Rose just smiled as he leaned
down and softly kissed her as the Titanic blinked out of view. For one moment,
it was just him and her. Two people deeply in love with one another. She didn’t
want it to end. She even stepped closer, but as soon as she did, his lips were
gone. She could no longer feel them. She opened her eyes to see him staring at
her sadly.
"I love you, Rose
Dawson." He held his hand up in a wave.
"I love you more!"
Rose sobbed silently, holding up her hand in a wave of her own.
Then he was gone, leaving her
there in the darkness.
She knew now what she had to
do and what she wanted to do. She had to wake up and go talk to Jason. She had
to keep her promise to Jack.
*****
Jason got up off the couch and
answered the urgent knocking on the door. He opened it to reveal Rose and Jake.
Rose’s eyes were red from crying, but he saw something new in them. It wasn’t
anger…but he was afraid to even guess what the other possibility was.
"Rose…" Jason answered,
but was cut off when Rose stepped up to him and gave him a passionate kiss of
her own. He, of course, immediately responded.
"I love you, Jason
Calvert!" Rose breathed once they had broken away from the kiss.
"Rose…I love you, too. But
what about…"
Rose cut off his sentence by
placing a finger over his lips. "This is what he wants. What he’s always
wanted. If we don’t follow through with our feelings…I’ll be breaking my
promise to him."
"And so would I." Jason
took her in his arms once again and kissed her like he’d never kissed anyone
before. "I love you, Rose Dawson. Will you marry me?"
Rose grinned happily. "Of
course I will."
Present Day
Rose looked at her wedding
picture to Jason. He had been so handsome that day, and she had been on cloud
nine. She remembered when they had developed the film and both of them had
examined it closely. And of course they had found what they had been looking
for. Jack was behind them, a grin on his face, his eyes shining with true
happiness. They had lain in each other’s arms that night, crying with joy that
he was there to give his blessing. Jason had spoken aloud that he was going to
take good care of her and Jake, and was going to be the best husband in the
world.
*****
Rose gasped when she heard a
faint I know. Jason had heard it, too, by the unshed tears that had
suddenly appeared in his eyes and the smile of pure happiness.
"He’s with us, Rose,"
Jason whispered wonderingly.
"I know. He always is."
Rose smiled at her husband, happy to have found someone who loved Jack as much
as she did.
*****
Rose smiled at the memory.
"Oh, Jack, your cousin loved you so much. I do hope you two got to spend
time together after his time arrived." She moved on to another picture.