NOBODY SAID LOVE WAS GONNA BE EASY
Chapter Seventeen
"Father, I need to talk to
you." Matt O’Connor strode into the parlor, a worried look on his face.
Ronald put his newspaper down and
looked at his son. "About what?"
"Dawson."
"What about him?"
"I saw him and his wife
leaving the doctor’s office in town, and when I asked I found out that Jack is
beginning to recover from his injury. He may soon be walking again."
"And?"
"And if he regains his legs,
he’ll be able to investigate our role in his parents’ deaths again. It probably
won’t be long before he’s walking again, either—the nurse says that he’s been
coming in for physical therapy for about two months."
Ronald looked at his son
scornfully. "He won’t walk again. He was shot in the spine. Those injuries
don’t heal."
"His has."
"So what do you want me to
do?"
"Father, don’t you
understand the importance of this? You’re more guilty in this matter than I
am—I was only fifteen at the time of the Dawsons’ deaths, and all I did was
close the barn door so that they couldn’t get out. It could easily be argued
that I was trying to keep the fire from spreading. You, on the other hand, were
the one who set the fire."
"By knocking over a lantern,
which is a common enough accident."
"But Jack suspects that it
wasn’t an accident, and if he finds out the truth—"
"He’ll go straight to the
authorities." Ronald sighed. "You’re right. We do need to do
something. The question is—what?"
"We could arrange for
another fire," Matt suggested.
"Too obvious. It would be
too much of a coincidence if all of the Dawsons died in fires—but the second
fire was years after the first one."
"Some other kind of
accident, then?"
Ronald thought for a few moments.
"No. He’s suspicious now, and if he survives, he’ll know who was behind
it."
"Then what should we do? We
can’t just let him discover the truth and turn us in." Matt paced back and
forth across the floor, trying to think of a solution. "Wait! What about
Hockley? When we contacted him the first time, he sent Rose’s mother to take
her back to Philadelphia."
"No one knows where he is.
I’ve tried to contact him, but it’s like he’s disappeared."
"He’s dead, then?"
"No one knows. He hasn’t
been seen since Dawson took his wife back. I tried contacting his father, who
owns Hockley Steel, but he says he has no idea where his son is. If he was
dead, there would have been a funeral and a lot of attention in the newspapers,
because he’s the son of a Pittsburgh steel tycoon."
"So Hockley is out, then.
But we need to think of some way to stop Jack from investigating us—some way
that doesn’t implicate us."
"I know that, Matt. But
Dawson isn’t out of the woods yet—he still has a long way to go, if he ever
regains his legs. So we have time to think of something."
"Yes. But whatever we do,
this time we have to make sure it’s permanent."
*****
Jack rolled the wheelchair into
the kitchen, where Rose was sitting and nursing Emily. She smiled as he came
in, leaning over to give him a kiss.
Jack grinned at her, his face
more animated than it had been in a long time. "I have something to show
you," he told her, setting the brakes on the wheelchair so it wouldn’t
roll.
"What is it?"
"Watch."
He pushed the footrests of the
wheelchair aside, reaching for the crutches that were strapped to the back of
the chair. Rose watched curiously.
Jack maneuvered his leg braces so
that they were almost straight, then rested the crutches on the floor near his
feet. Holding onto them and using the wall for support, he struggled to his
feet, finally standing.
Rose stared at him for a moment,
her mouth hanging open. "Jack! You’re standing!" she exclaimed, her
eyes lighting with happiness.
"I’ve been trying for a long
time, and finally managed to do it this morning. I kept practicing until I
could do it without falling."
Rose set Emily on her blanket on
the floor and came towards her husband. "You are getting better! Sometimes
I wondered if it was ever going to happen, but your hard work has been worth
it. Look at you!"
Jack laughed. "Amazing,
isn’t it? I can’t walk yet, but isn’t standing the first step towards
walking?"
"That’s how babies do it.
You may not be a baby anymore, but—you’ll be walking soon. I know you
will."
"I hope so."
Rose laughed with delight,
throwing her arms around Jack. He wobbled, nearly falling, before he leaned
against her, letting her hold him up.
"I’m not very steady on my
feet yet, I’m afraid," he confessed, trying to hold onto the crutches and
hug her at the same time.
"You will be." Rose
steadied him, standing back to admire his feat before helping him sit back
down. "You were right, Jack. Things are looking up for us."
"I’ll be able to go back to
work soon, I hope. Then…" His brow furrowed. "Rose, where have we
been getting the money to live on all this time? It’s been months since you
were kidnapped, and I haven’t worked since then. How deeply in debt are
we?"
Rose looked away. "We’re not
in debt yet. I…had some money stashed away."
"You did? Where did you get
it?"
"Cal."
"Cal gave you
money?"
"Not on purpose, but…I found
several stacks of bills in the inner pockets of the coat when I was cleaning it
not long after coming back here, thinking that I might sell it to pay the
bills."
"How much money was
there?"
"About five thousand
dollars."
"Five thousand
dollars!"
"I think he must have
cleaned out his safe before the ship sank. He always did believe in being
prepared."
"And when he put the coat on
you…he gave you the money."
"Yes. He didn’t ask me about
it when…when I was with him. He must have thought I’d lost it, or sold the coat
or something. Actually, it was here all the time, and now what’s left of the
money is hidden in several places so that if someone steals it, they won’t get
all of it. I also wrapped the Heart of the Ocean in oilcloth and buried it in
the yard so that it won’t be stolen."
"You have that, too?"
"It was in an outer pocket.
Cal probably put the coat on me to keep it safe."
Jack looked at her, wide-eyed.
"If you sold that, you would never have to worry about money again."
"I don’t want to sell it,
Jack. It’s a reminder of those days we spent together on board the Titanic—a
reminder of happier times. The drawing that you made of me was lost, but one
day you might make another."
"Maybe. In fact, I hope so.
But not until I’m better. I want to save that until I’m walking again."
"Why?"
Jack shrugged. "I don’t
know…I just do." He grinned. "I might even make a drawing of you
wearing it fully clothed this time, too."
Rose blushed slightly, but didn’t
get angry. "I’d like that. I’ll keep it for as long as I am able. If you
can’t get another job soon, then maybe I can go to work…I could work in a store
or a restaurant, or take in sewing, or even clean houses…I’ve learned to do a
lot of things since that day I left you."
Jack sobered at the reminder.
"Rose…I’m sorry for hitting you that day. I told you…and myself…that I
would never do that, and then I went back on my word. I acted no better than
the bastard who you were engaged to."
"Jack, no. You shouldn’t
have hit me…but it’s over and done with. I’ve forgiven you. You never did half
the things to me that Cal did. You’ve never burned me, or beaten me, or caused
me to miscarry…or raped me. You are nothing like him. I don’t think you could
be so vicious even if you wanted to be. You stuck by me even after what he did
to me…and I’m grateful for that."
"I stuck by you because I
love you. Cal can’t change that. I’ve loved you since the moment I first saw
you on board the Titanic…and that’s not going to change. And you’ve stuck with
me all this time, even though I’ve been in a wheelchair and might have never
gotten better. I still might never be able to walk the way I once could. Robert
said that you visited me every other weekend in the hospital, even though it
was a long drive to get there. You slept on a cot at my side sometimes, and
refused to give up on me."
"I love you, Jack. That’s
why I stayed with you. I couldn’t bear the thought that you might wake up and
I’d miss it—or that you might die alone. I was so relieved when you finally
woke up…and now you’re getting better, and you’ll soon be walking again. Things
are going to be all right. I’m sure of it."