CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Thirteen
Rose and Ruth spent a year and a
half traveling from place to place, trying to find Jack, but they couldn’t.
They weren’t able to stay long anywhere, because they still had Cal’s people
after them, but they had managed to remain hidden. Everywhere they went, they
both got jobs to pay for their tickets to somewhere else. They had been almost
everywhere. They had visited Jack’s hometown, Chippewa Falls, but they had been
told that there weren’t any Dawsons left. They had also gone to Santa Monica,
where Jack had promised to take Rose, but nothing.
Ruth suggested that maybe he had
traveled back to Europe, so they returned to New York and sailed on a ship that
wasn’t as half as luxurious as the Titanic, but it was the only thing they
could afford. As neither of them could get a very good job, they could only
afford two third class tickets.
Rose didn’t mind. Money was the
last thing she cared for since they had left Philadelphia. She just wanted to
find Jack, to tell him that there had been a huge mistake, and that she loved
him, but she was starting to lose hope. Where was he?
In spite of the fact that they
had changed their last names--they now were Rose and Ruth Andrews--the elder
feared being recognized by one of her old friends, so she spent most of the
time inside their room. Rose, on the other hand, took long walks around the
deck of the ship, although it make her feel terribly sad. Everything made her
think about Jack. That’s normal, she told herself. You met him on a
ship. Now, for the first time after what happened, you are on another one. What
do you expect?
April fourteenth arrived, and
they were on the ship. Most of the passengers didn’t seem to realize that the
next day would be the second anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Rose
did, as well as a few other passengers. That night, she couldn’t sleep. At one
AM, she couldn’t be there any longer, and she woke up. That was more or less
the hour when she had last seen Jack, when she had boarded the lifeboat. Trying
to make as little noise as possible, she went to the back of the ship. That was
where everything had started, and she wanted to be there once again.
She didn’t find anyone in her
way, and she was glad of it. Maybe if she had met someone, she would have had
to explain herself, and she was unable to speak. She stepped on the rail as she
had once done. How easy it would be to jump. You can’t stop me now, she
thought.
"Jack," she whispered,
more to herself than to anyone else. "Where are you, Jack? Are you still
alive, or was my mother lying? Please, give me a sign. I won’t give up. I’ll
find you. I don’t care if it’s the last thing that I do, but I swear that I’ll
find you. Please, you have to save me. You are too involved. You can’t let go
without knowing that I’m fine." Rose repeated the words that Jack had once
told her.
She was so distracted that she
didn’t hear someone come up from behind. He was standing still, listening to
every word that the woman said and trying not to make any noise, because he
feared that the woman would stop speaking.