CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Two
Rose was helped out of the
lifeboat by another survivor from the Titanic. She would have said thank you if
she hadn’t been feeling as bad as she felt. Just the thought of her only true
love in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was enough to make her feel dizzy.
When one of the crewmen asked for her name and the class where she belonged,
she couldn’t answer, because someone who was standing beside her spoke first.
"Hockley," a man’s
voice said. "She is Rose Hockley, and she is traveling in first
class."
Rose didn’t want to turn around.
She couldn’t believe her luck. Could it really be possible? The last time she
had seen Cal, he was on the Titanic, trying to get into a boat. Jack and Rose
had seen him when they were with Tommy and Fabrizio. Cal wasn’t a good swimmer;
Rose knew that, so, if he was alive, it was because he had found a boat which
let men in. Maybe Jack was inside it, too. She saw the rest of the lifeboats
getting nearer to the Carpathia. Surely he was in one of those boats waiting.
Her excitement must have been too obvious, because when she tried to get nearer
to the rail, Cal stopped her.
"I wouldn’t be so confident
if I were you," he said.
At this point, she had to turn
around. She saw her former fiancé smiling at her. It was a cruel smile, as if
he was enjoying what he had to say.
"What do you mean?" she
asked.
"Jack’s dead."
Rose’s world crashed around her.
That couldn’t be the truth. It had to be a cruel joke. Jack was a survivor; he
couldn’t have died on the Titanic.
"You don’t know," she
said, trying to hide her tears from Cal. "You are alive. What makes you
say that he isn’t? I bet you that he is already here, looking for me."
"I don’t think so, sweetpea.
Have you seen him around? Did you check the survivors’ list? Well, I have, and
let me tell you, there isn’t any Jack Dawson on it. Look at the boats. There
are only women in them. He is dead," he said, and after a pause, he added,
"I told you, I always win."
"You’re lying. You are just
trying to get me back, aren’t you? Well, guess what? You lost. I will never
marry you. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to look for Jack."
"You will marry me, as it
was arranged. In a month’s time, you will be Mrs. Caledon Hockley. Is that
clear to you?"
"What makes you say I will?
The fact that Jack is supposed to be dead doesn’t change the fact that I don’t
love you. I can manage by myself. I don’t need you or your money to
survive."
"You need me, Rose. You
wouldn’t last a week alone in New York. You don’t have anywhere to go, anyone
to turn to. You don’t have any money, nor the skills to earn it."
Cal is right, Rose thought. She needed money to survive,
and the only one who could help her in that way was the man standing in front
of her. But she wouldn’t give up without fighting first.
"I’ll manage," she
said, trying to sound confident.
"I would love to see that.
All right, let’s suppose that you find a job. Will it pay enough to support you
and your mother?"
She froze. She hadn’t thought of
that. She had been more than happy to leave everything to follow Jack, but she
didn’t think her mother would accept living without a maid.
"Come on, sweetpea. Your
mother is waiting."
She didn’t want to do it, but she
realized that she had to. Cal was right. The boats were getting nearer, and
there were only women in them. Of course, she would take a look at the survivor
list, but for the time being, she had to follow Cal.