NO MORE 'IF ONLY'S'
Chapter Four
Jack’s Trip to Europe
Jack Dawson was once again heading for
Europe. He had spent almost ten years looking for Rose and was ready to believe
that she had really died. The first few years he had not been willing to give
up hope. He had gone everywhere they had talked about going and had even tried
to visit her mother. But when her mother had died last year, and Rose was still
missing, he gave up. He worked hard at selling his drawings so that he could go
to Europe. He felt that in Europe he could finally forget her. When he went to
buy his ticket, he noticed that the Olympic was sailing in a few days.
He decided to sail on her as a tribute to Rose. He had been in his stateroom the
whole first day, thinking back to the Titanic. But now his thoughts were
of his friends and especially Fabrizio. A knock at the door interrupted him.
"Yes?" he called. "Who is it?"
"It’s your steward, sir. I was wondering
if you were ready to go out on deck."
Jack opened the door. "I have been
staying in my cabin, haven’t I?" he asked sarcastically, remembering how
the third class stewards were on the Titanic.
"There are quite a few entertainments
going on up on deck, sir. There are games, and if you would be interested,
there is a ceremony the other passengers have staged. They will be honoring the
dead of the Titanic, when we pass close by to where she went down."
Jack was immediately interested. He asked the
steward to leave, and put on some clean clothes. He realized that he had been
wearing the same clothes for several days, not something he had had to do for a
long time.
Out on the deck, Jack was shocked at the
resemblance to the Titanic. His heart ached a little. If only…and then
he stopped. No more if onlys for Jack. Rose was dead. He would say good-bye to
her close to where he had lost her. Jack was leaning against the rail watching
the other passengers. One man walked up and seemed upset by the proceedings.
Jack almost went over and asked the man if he had been on the Titanic.
The man walked away before he could. As Jack was waiting for them to start, a
woman ran up yelling.
"Wait! Don’t start yet!" She looked
familiar to Jack. "Hello, folks," she started. "My name is Molly
Brown. I was on the Titanic, and I’d like be a part of this little
ceremony. If’n you all don’t mind."
Jack almost went up to her, but instead he
tried to hide behind the man next to him. The ceremony started and Jack became
lost in thought. He was swept up in thoughts of everyone who had died that
night, and he didn’t even realize that tears had started. He wasn’t the only
one crying. The man’s speech was very moving and several people were affected.
Molly asked if she could say a few words also. Hearing her voice again was hard
for Jack, and he waited there until she was done. He was fighting a battle
inside. He wanted to talk to her, but at the same time he felt that he should
let go. He turned and looked over the rail.
Molly finished her speech and said good-bye
to everyone. The only person left was a young man looking intently over the
rail. Molly looked at him, and then she started to smile. But she really wasn’t
sure, so she decided to find out. She walked over to him, and asked,
"Jack? Jack Dawson?"
Jack turned around, knowing what he was going
to have to face. He was sure Molly knew that he was the reason Rose stayed on
the Titanic, and she wouldn’t know how hard he had tried so she would
live. "Hello, Molly," was all he could say.
"It is you. I thought you were dead. You
survived." Molly really didn’t know what to say. Rose is on this ship,
Molly thought. Is it fate? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Molly
took Jack’s arm. "Let’s you and I go have a long talk. It’s so good to see
you again. I often wondered if you two really died." Jack had no choice
but to follow Molly. She had a grip on his arm he wasn’t prepared to break.