CAL’S PLAN
Chapter Eight
Rose woke up the next morning in
a hospital near the harbor. She was in a bed near a window, so she could still
see the dock. She could also see the Statue of Liberty. Liberty? Right, she
thought. If there is such thing as liberty, I won’t have to marry Cal. In
that moment, the door opened and her mother entered the room.
"Hello, darling. How are you
feeling? You scared us yesterday. What happened?"
Rose didn’t reply. She was still
looking through the window, thinking about her unwanted marriage to Cal, and,
therefore, about Jack. Why was he dead? Didn’t she deserve a chance to be
happy? He had promised her that he would make it, that they would be together.
He hadn’t been honest with her, and for that, Rose wanted to hate him, but she
couldn’t. She loved him too much.
Her mother’s voice brought her
back to reality.
"Rose, are you all
right?"
Rose turned around to look at her
mother. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough to hide the single tear that was
sliding from her eye. It’s not time to cry for him. Not yet. You have to be
strong now, she thought. She had promised that when she was walking on the
Carpathia’s deck. She had decided that she would use all her energy to break
free once again, like she had done on the Titanic, except that now Jack wasn’t
there to help her.
"I’m fine, Mother," she
answered.
Ruth had seen the tear slipping
down her daughter’s cheek, but she said nothing. She was confused. At the
beginning, she had been sure that her daughter didn’t really love that man, and
if she had gone about with him during their voyage, it was only because she
wanted to show to her mother that she was no longer a little girl. Ruth was
sure that once they docked, Rose would return to her life and to Cal’s arms.
But now she was crying for a boy whom she had only known for three days. Could
it be that Rose was really in love with him? She doubted it.
Rose was told that Cal wanted to
travel to Philadelphia as soon as possible. In fact, he would have traveled
that day if Ruth hadn’t stopped him, saying that Rose wasn’t strong enough yet
to travel. Rose agreed. There wasn’t much for her to do, at least in her
condition. She decided to travel to Philadelphia and then…she didn’t exactly
know what she would do next, but she hoped that she would come up with
something.
A nurse came in and told the
women that Rose would probably be able to go home that afternoon. Ruth said she
was going to their hotel room, and that she would tell Call to pick her up
after lunch. Rose accepted.