CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Eleven
Six Months Later
On October eighteenth, Rose woke
up early, as usual. She always told her mother that she was going to take a
walk or go to a friend’s house when she was really going to work, but that day
she wasn’t. She had quit because she had the money that she needed and she was
finally able to leave. In fact, she was going to the train station to buy a
ticket. It didn’t matter where. She just wanted to be far away from
Philadelphia.
She took advantage of the fact
that Cal was still in Washington and her mother was very busy throwing parties
at her house. Nobody seemed to care about her, so she started feeling as she
had felt on the Titanic, but this time she wasn’t going to give up so easily.
She was going to fight to break free. She wasn’t going to try to kill herself.
She returned by noon. She was
holding a ticket to Chicago. She tried to go upstairs as quickly and silently
as possible, but her mother’s voice called to her from the parlor. Rose hid the
ticket inside her dress and went to find her mother.
She was surrounded by maids.
"Rose, guess what? Cal has
to stay in Washington for quite a while, it seems, so he rearranged
everything."
"Rearranged what,
Mother?"
"Your wedding! You are
getting married in Washington. Isn’t it wonderful? We’re leaving tonight."
"Tonight! That’s so soon. We
have a lot of things to arrange here. We can’t just leave."
"Oh, yes, we can. Cal told
me not to worry about this. He said that we should only take what we really
need, and then he will send someone to fetch the rest. Now, go. You have to
pack. Elizabeth," she told one of the maids, "go help my daughter
with her packing."
The two young women went
upstairs. Rose sat on her bed, unable to do anything. She had been so close.
She had almost left, but now, everything was ruined. She hated Cal.
Ruth also went upstairs. Her
luggage was already packed, but she wasn’t quite sure of what the weather would
be like in Washington, so she went to fetch a coat from her wardrobe. She
couldn’t decide which one was better.
I know--my fox coat. It’s the
better one, although it’s a bit heavy. Where is it? Oh, here it is!
Ruth pulled it out. She was very
disappointed when she found that it was ruined.
What happened to it? Oh, I
remember. I wore it that horrible night in the Titanic. What a pity! I’ll give
it to charity. Let’s see if there’s something left in the pockets. Oh, what’s
this?
Ruth took out a piece of paper.
It was written in a handwriting she didn’t recognize. There were only few
lines, so she started reading it.
Dear Rose,
Your mother just told me of
your decision to marry Cal. In spite of the fact that it kills me to picture
you two together, I won’t get in the middle. The only thing that matters to me
is that you are okay, and if you think that you’ll be okay with him, that’s
fine with me. I just want to know why. Why, Rose? We could have been so happy
together. I know we wouldn’t have been a rich couple, but we would have been
happy. You made me feel like the luckiest man in the world, the most powerful.
More powerful than Cal or any of the men in first class, who you said were the
masters of the universe. As I said, I won’t get in the middle, but before I go,
I want to tell you that I love you. I’ve loved you since I saw you hanging off
the back of the ship, and I will love you until my dying day. I’m so sorry that
I didn’t tell you how I felt when I saw you, but what’s done is done. I hope
you have a long and happy life with Cal. I love you.
Jack Dawson
Ruth was shocked. Rose had been
hanging from where? She read the letter once again. For six months, she had
been convinced that Jack was with Rose only for her money, but in the letter,
it was quite clear that money was the last thing he cared about. Could it
really be that that boy had been in love with Rose? Did she love him back? She
felt terrible. Maybe she had helped to destroy the life of a young couple. She
had to know how Rose felt. She had to know what had really happened on the
Titanic.