CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Sixteen
Ruth was shocked to hear someone
at the door. She was also shocked when she saw that Rose wasn’t there. She got
up and found herself face-to-face with her daughter.
"Rose…where the hell have
you been? It’s two in the morning!"
"Oh, Mother. You wouldn’t
believe it, even if I told you!"
"What do you mean?"
"I found him. He’s
here."
Rose was smiling. Her mother
didn’t understand what was going on.
"Who’s here? Who did you
find?"
"Jack."
Ruth’s mouth fell open.
"Jack? Jack Dawson? Where is
he? Are you sure?"
The young woman told her the
story. She also told her that Jack had seen an officer and that he had gone to
talk to him. Rose didn’t know what he wanted to do, but she trusted him.
Suddenly, there was a knock on
the door and Rose opened it, hoping to find Jack. But the man wasn’t Jack. It
was an officer.
"Excuse me. Rose DeWitt
Bukater? I have orders to take you somewhere. Would you mind following me?
Someone will take care of your luggage."
The two women were very
surprised, but they followed the officer through the corridors. It was almost
three in the morning, so they were the only ones who weren’t sleeping.
They finally arrived in the first
class corridors. The officer called at Door 159 and a male voice told them to
come in. Neither of them could believe it when they saw Jack and a middle-aged
woman waiting for them.
"I assume this is Rose,
isn’t she?" the woman asked. "Hello. I’m Caroline Turner."
"Caroline is a very
well-known fashion designer. I met her during this voyage," Jack said.
"Jack…what’s going on? The
officer said something about luggage…" Rose said.
"Well, I finally found you.
You don’t expect that I would leave you in the basement, do you? This time
we’re traveling in the same class. I asked the officer if you could come here,
and he had no problem with it. I asked Caroline to come because she has some
dresses she can lend you."
"You mean…you mean we’re
back in first class?" Ruth asked, very shocked.
"Yeah. You’re back in first
class. What do you think?"
"Jack, this is…"
"More than I deserve. Thank
you, Mr. Dawson, but no thank you. You, Rose, may stay if you like. Now, if
you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to the steerage section."
Jack saw Rose’s face, and said,
"May I have a word with you, please? Meanwhile, Rose can try on some
dresses."
The older woman agreed, and both
of them left the room.
"Now…will you tell me why
you don’t want to take my offer?"
"Mr. Dawson…"
"Jack."
"Fine. Jack. I did something
very wrong. I hurt you and my daughter. I made both of you spend two horrible
years. Now you want me in your life again?"
"Yes! You are Rose’s mother.
Nothing will change that. I would love to have my parents with me, but I don’t
have them. Rose has you, and I won’t be responsible if she loses you. Besides…I
want my kids to have a grandmother. Oh, come on. Don’t look that way. Rose will
have kids eventually. You’d better face it."
"I know. I know. It’s just
that I don’t feel old enough to be a grandmother."
Jack laughed. She laughed, too.
"So…what do you say? Are you
coming with us?"
She looked at him for a second,
and then replied, "You know…for the last…year, I guess, I tried to think
why Rose preferred you over Cal. Now I have my answer. You are a better person
than he is."
"Come on, let’s face it, I’m
way more good looking than he is, too!"
Both of them laughed again and
went back to the room, where Rose was waiting for them.
*****
The wedding took place a month
later in Paris. It was a small ceremony, with just a few friends. The only person
who was on the Titanic who attended was Molly Brown.
Jack and Rose had three children,
and Ruth quickly got used to being a grandmother.
The End.