NIGHT TRAIN
Chapter Eleven

Wedding Day, 1948

“Joe,” cried Rose, “what are you doing here?”

She flung her arms out and hugged her red haired son, who towered over her.

“Your telegram said that you couldn’t come. How did you get here, and so fast?” she marveled.

Joe straightened up after embracing his mother and grinned.

“It was quite an adventure. I flew. Made it in about 12 hours. We only had to stop in Chicago. Pretty amazing. Jack thought it would be a great idea to surprise you.”

She wondered to herself how many other surprises Mr. Dawson had in store for her. First, the carriage ride. Now, Joe’s appearance. This was truly going to be a day she would always remember.

“Oh, Joe, it’s so good to see you. You know how important this is to me, to us,” she smiled. “How is Sue? I guess you know that now I will be there for sure when the baby comes, since we will be living in New York too.”

This tall, gentle looking young man, who so resembled Rose, nodded knowingly.

“I can hardly believe that I am going to be a father. It’s a little scary. She is probably better right now than I am.”

She looked up at her son, wondering where the time had gone since she had first become a mother herself. So much time, and now it was gone so fast. Here she was about to marry again, this time the love of her life.

“Have you met Jack?” she asked, still breathless from the shock of seeing Joe.

“Yes, and I am really happy for you. He is great and I can see that Richard and I have a real partner in Jeannie when it comes to making mischief.”

Rose laughed, thrilled that they were all going to get along. This wonderful day was made even better knowing that everyone was happy to be one big family. That meant everything to her and Jack.

“Come on, you two,” said another voice.

Joe and Rose looked up to see that Richard had come out from behind the opening.

“Hey, little brother, we have to get Mom in there. The groom is getting kind of nervous,” Richard said, kidding his younger brother.

Rose looked at Richard, swallowing hard.

“Is Jack here? Is he really nervous?”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Richard assured her. “He is here and he doesn’t look nervous to me. I think he must have nerves of steel.”

They all laughed, but Rose’s stomach was still doing cartwheels.

“I wish I could say the same for myself,” thought Rose, as she rubbed her icy cold hands.

While Rose was not nervous about actually marrying Jack, it was the thought that she wanted to look perfect for him and the disbelief that this was really happening that contributed to her anxiety.

Richard and Joe both offered Rose their arms and she curled her hands around them, carefully holding her bouquet in one hand and Jack’s letter in the other. She took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect when she entered this private haven that Jack had created for their wedding.

They walked behind the canvas partition and Rose tried to see everything at once. There were people standing here and there. She stopped and looked carefully. Louise and Peter, Jeannie and Doug, her fiancé. With them was another couple that she surmised must have been Doug’s parents. She knew they were from nearby Riverside. She scanned the area again and she also saw Louise’s parents.

“Gracious, they must have come down from Seattle. And, oh my, there is Lily and that must be her boyfriend.”

From somewhere behind her Rose heard the strains of violin music. She listened for a minute and realized the song was from the popular musical OKLAHOMA, “People Will Say We’re in Love.”

A long table had been set off to the side. In the center of the table stood a tiny wedding cake. Tall palm plants that had been placed along the sides of the railing, swayed gently in the wind. In another corner, two waitresses dressed in black and white fussed over some trays of food. And there, at the very end of the pier standing and conversing with a man she did not recognize, was Jack. Her wonderful Jack, looking resplendent in tails. He looked calm and thoughtful.

“God, he looks like he did that night at the bottom of the staircase. In fact, he looks even better,” decided Rose, her heart starting to beat wildly.

She let go of Richard and Joe and smiled at them.

“Do you want to have us walk you over there?” asked Joe, looking at his mom with some concern. He had felt her cold hands shaking.

“Thank you, both. But, I think I want to do this alone. Could one of you please hold this for me?” she asked, holding out the letter.

“Sure thing,” said Richard, tucking it into the inner pocket of his suit coat.

They kissed her and patted her on the back.

“You’ll be great mom. This whole thing will be great,” said Richard sincerely. “I think I better go help Louise deal with Peter, unless we want him to take over the whole wedding.

Rose and Joe chuckled.

“Good luck, Mom.” Joe winked at her, before he too headed off to join the rest of the guests.

Her eyes reverted back to Jack. He was still talking to the other man. She supposed that perhaps he was a judge or justice of the peace. Jack was resting his chin in his hand with his index finger on his cheek. His head was bent down slightly. He had not yet seen her.

Rose nervously straightened the ribbons on her bouquet, as she waited for Jack to look up.

“What will he think of my dress? Will he even remember?”

Jack lifted his head back and laughed. Then he saw Rose.

He had to look twice. It seemed impossible, but she appeared to him the same way she had the very first time he had set eyes upon her. Her age, rather than detract from her appearance, had only enhanced her loveliness. For the wisdom and understanding in her soul, were reflected in her eyes. Eyes that had seen tragedy and joy, sadness and love. Eyes that now were on him.

Somehow she had managed to find a dress that, while maybe not identical, was very close to what she had been wearing the day she had stood above him on the deck. The day they had first made eye contact. The antique looking lace set off her creamy skin to perfection. The delicate ruffles at her wrists, made it seem as though her arms were floating at her side. And her lovely hair was loosening in the wind, some tendrils already freeing themselves from the confines of her chic hairdo. She was a vision of elegance and beauty. How well she hid the fiery spirit that burned inside of her.

“That is something for me alone to know about.”

Jack smoothed his hair back and felt in his pocket for the ring.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” he thought to himself, eager at last for he and Rose to be joined together.

In an almost imperceptible movement of his head, Jack nodded at the violinist. The man began to play a classical number. It could have been Bach, or Mozart. But to Rose, it didn’t make a difference. To her it only meant that her wedding to Jack was beginning. She knew that she was supposed to move forward, to walk to Jack, but she felt rooted to the place where she stood. As the music began, the guests ceased their talking and looked back at her. She had her head down, trying to will her body forward.

“I am so afraid,” she said to herself. “What if I start walking and I get there and wake up and this whole week will have been a dream? What then? Could I ever go on?"

She was breathing rapidly and she knew that dream or reality, she had to do something. Rose raised her head and her eyes connected with Jack’s. He wore a serious look that she had never seen before. As if in slow motion, his hand moved and she saw him stretch it out, reaching for her. With that small movement, she somehow gathered her strength and slowly began to walk to Jack. It was as if his hand was a lifeline, pulling her to safety.

The music stopped and Rose was at Jack’s side. He took her trembling hand and brought it to his lips.

“God, you look beautiful, Rose,” he whispered, his words meant only for her.

He slipped his left hand around her waist, his feelings of joy catapulting to desire as his fingers made contact with the delicate lace of her dress and he smelled the fragrance of her perfume.

“Take it easy, Jack,” he warned himself. “You still have a long day ahead.”

Rose rested her head against his shoulder.

Almost silently she whispered, “Is this real?”

For the first time, he smiled.

“This is as real as it gets. We are going to belong to each other forever now, Rose. Forever.”

“Oh, Jack, I wish it could be for even longer than that.”

She suddenly became aware of someone clearing their throat and they were brought back to reality by the voice of the man Jack had been speaking too.

“Rose, this is Judge Farley. He is going to marry us. He is a friend of mine from New York and lives here now,” Jack explained softly.

Rose smiled at the man and put her hand out to shake his. Never forgetting her well bred manners, she said, “Thank you very much for coming here this morning. We both appreciate it very much.”

The judge smiled, enchanted already with the woman his friend Jack was about to marry.

“Ready?” he asked.

They both looked at each other and nodded. Then they were lost again in their own world.

Jeannie watched with Doug next to her, their arms linked to one another. Joe and Richard and Louise stood on the other side of her. In spite of her happiness and love for Doug, she doubted that even her own wedding would be this romantic. She watched as her father gently kept his hand on Rose’s waist, as if to give her strength and to support her. Rose’s head still rested lightly against his shoulder. Their bodies were almost molded together as one. She had never seen such intimate behavior between a bride and groom at a wedding ceremony. And yet it was not objectionable. It was instead tasteful and loving. So like Rose and Jack themselves.

“By the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you man and wife. Jack, you can ah, kiss the bride now.”

The family and friends who had gathered to watch Jack and Rose be married, all had a look of anticipation on their faces. This was everyone’s favorite part of the ceremony. The kiss. They wondered if it would be an embarrassingly quick one or one that told of the passion they all knew this couple felt for one another.

To their delight, Jack put both of his hands around Rose’s waist and bent his head down to meet her. It was a long, tender kiss that bespoke years of yearning and separation and clearly demonstrated the happiness that soared through them.

“Rose, shh, everyone will hear you moaning,” whispered Jack, teasingly. She felt the warmth of his breath in her ears.

She ducked her head against him, blushing.

“You can do that all you want later,” he told her.

Rose looked up at him. In his eyes she saw tenderness, understanding, desire and love. The silence of that moment said more than any words.

Without regard to the fact that anyone was watching, Rose then clasped her hands around Jack’s neck and brought his lips to meet hers once more.

“Oh, Jack,” she murmured softly, “Will tonight ever come?”

Louise felt a little poke in the ribs and looked up at Richard.

“What?” she asked with a smile on her face.

“Can you imagine, that I told Jack that he had his nerve disrupting Mom’s life and that she probably didn’t have the nerve to tell him. I must have been blind.”

“You didn’t!” she giggled softly. “Looks like your mother can do plenty of disrupting herself. Maybe I need to take a few lessons from her.”

Richard smiled and grasped her hand tightly.

Jeannie leaned her head against Doug’s arm.

“You know, if we try that at our wedding, everyone will think we are scandalous. And they are getting away with it.”

“Maybe when you are older, you can do stuff like that,” Doug suggested, his eyes still on Rose and Jack.

“I just want to forget that I even gave Dad a hard time about this at first. This is so right, so perfect.” Jeannie had tears in her eyes, tears of joy that for the first time, she was going to be part of a complete family.

“Hey, come on, Jeannie. Don’t cry,” he said, slipping his arm around her. “Don’t even think about that, because it sure looks like your dad has forgotten.”

Joe stood in the bright sunlight smiling to himself, his thoughts a few thousand miles away, on his wife Sue in New York. He alone, the child that resembled Rose in so many ways, had always felt that his mom’s heart and sometimes her mind had been elsewhere. And today, he saw just where. For since that time on Titanic, both Rose and Jack, had been consumed by a love, that would smolder for all these years and ignite again on a pier, an ocean away from where it all started.

The cry of a seagull overhead brought them out of their spell. And they remembered where they were.

“Jack, let me be the first to congratulate you.” Judge Farley put his hand out to Jack and shook it.

“Thanks, Tom. It was great that you could help us out like this.”

Tom Farley gave Jack a questioning look. “Can I kiss the bride too?”

Jack laughed. “That’s up to Rose.”

She reached up and gave Jack’s friend a tiny kiss on the cheek and a hug.

“Thanks for everything,” she said with a big smile on her face.

“My pleasure. I think I’d better be going. I’ll see you on your next trip out here, Jack.”

Jack nodded and waved goodbye. Then he and Rose went to greet their guests. There were warm hugs and kisses from everyone.

“Mom, told you it would be great.” Richard and Louise came up to them first to offer their congratulations. Close behind were Louise’s parents.

“Is he Grandpa Jack now,” asked Peter, pointing at Jack.

“Don’t point, Peter. And yes, he is now Grandpa Jack.”

Peter succeeded in wiggling from his mother’s grasp. Jack, who was meeting Louise’s parent’s for the first time, felt a tug on his legs. He looked down to see Peter.

“I can call you Grandpa Jack now,” he announced. “Wanna pick me up?”

Jack reached down for the charming little toddler. “Are you having fun, Peter?”

Peter gave an emphatic nod of his head. “Yep, but I want to eat, Grandpa Jack.”

Rose looked over from where she was talking to Louise’s parents. Grandpa Jack. Hmmm. She would get back at Jack for calling her a grandma earlier this week. But she would save that for later. Jack glanced at her and wondered why she had that dangerous look in her eye.

“Mrs. Dawson, Ma’am.” She heard a voice at her side.

“Mrs. Dawson,” the voice repeated.

Rose looked around for a moment and then realized that she was the one being addressed. “Oh, yes.”

One of the waitresses stood next to her holding a tray of champagne glasses.

“Would you like some?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” replied Rose, lifting a glass off the tray.

Jack joined her, having deposited Peter back with his parents. He was also holding one of the fluted goblets.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“It’s wonderful. Jack, you are amazing.”

Rose moved closer to him to that their glasses touched.

“And so are you Mrs. Dawson. So are you.”

He looked at her with such tenderness in his eyes, that Rose felt short of breath.

“That is who I am now, isn’t it?” she said in a small voice.

He shook his head in wonder at this amazing turn of events in his life.

"Yes, you are. Do you like that?” He lifted his hand and pushed some strands of hair away from her face. “There, now I can see you better. You really look beautiful today. More beautiful than I have ever seen you.”

She wanted to answer, but she felt tongue tied. All she could do was lean against him and give an affirmative nod of her head.

Chapter Twelve
Stories