A LOVE REBORN IN THE STREETS
Chapter Three
Rose awoke in her bed completely
nude. She thought she had been dreaming when she noticed a man asleep by her
side. She pulled the hair out of his face. Jack's hair had turned darker and his
facial hair was mixed colors, from red to auburn to blonde. She looked at him
sleep and kissed his lips. He responded.
"Hmm…to be awakened every
day just like this is heaven," Jack said, clutching the sheet that was
falling off his hips.
"Yep. I am just so glad you
aren't really in heaven!" Rose snuggled close to him.
"So, what's the agenda
today, my Rosie?" He smiled at her. His eyes glowed.
"Don't know. My usual
routine would be go to the church and say a prayer for you. Then I would go
bludgeting, and then after that get something to eat and come back here and
sleep." She pulled his hand to hers, kissing his fingers.
"Well, I guess your routine
has been changed, now that we’ve found each other," he said, hugging her
close to him.
"Yeah. What to do, indeed?"
She kissed his lips, reminding herself of what Cal had said when Jack had
rescued her.
"Want breakfast?" He
got up, holding her to him.
"Hmm…sounds nice. What shall
we have?" She turned to him and looked into his eyes.
"Anything my princess
desires." He looked down at her, knowing the coincidence of the double
meaning.
"Okay. In that case, let's
go to that cafe across the street," she said, getting up but stopping and
waiting for him to follow suit.
"All right, then. Let's get
dressed." He got up, not caring about the sheet covering the lower half of
his body.
"You first," she said,
teasing him with her eyes.
"What?" He looked at
her, getting his clothes ready to put on.
"You heard me. You
first." She stood on the bed, waiting for him to dress.
"Why, my little Rose is
naughty. You don't have to stand there just to watch me dress. Just ask if you
wanna see me naked." He smiled at her, never thinking that she would
actually be kinky.
"That's not the point,"
Rose said, staring at him and closing her eyes.
"Then why?" he
wondered.
"‘Cause I am taking a mental
note and savoring it." She held herself and imagined what she had seen.
"Aw…I will draw you a
picture of me, but only for you. I never did a portrait of myself." It was
true. He never had.
"Then it's something you
must do right away," Rose said, getting up and getting her clothes.
"You're right, but after
breakfast, all right? I am starving." He was happy that he was starting to
get an appetite.
"I can see why, after how
you were last night. You must be famished." She looked at him, noticing
that he still looked as handsome as the day they had first glanced at each
other on the Titanic.
"Very, Rose. I must admit
that I was never a person to need sex, but with you it's a requirement."
Jack was ready to have another go with her, but his stomach told him otherwise.
"Why, Mr. Dawson, I am
impressed." She was shocked at the comment.
"You should be. You make me
happy." He smiled at her and patted her behind, hinting at her to open the
door so they could go.
"Ditto," she said, and
opened the door.
*****
They headed to the cafe and ate a
small meal, which consisted of bread, cheese, and a little milk. Since Rose
hardly ate now’a days, she was full. She walked around, holding Jack's hand.
Her faced gleamed with such happiness.
"Rose, I want you to meet
someone. Come on." He took her into the alley, an alley she never went
through because the people that hung around there were thieves, killers, and
misfits. When she walked through, everyone looked at her.
"Jack, I don't
think..." She clung to his arm.
"It's okay, Rose. They know
me around here. Come on." He held her hand, calming her down.
When he brought her to a cold,
dark, tunnel-like cave, she held onto him, afraid of what could be down there.
Jack nodded to a few men, and finally found the person he was looking for. His
father.
"Dad?" Jack called out.
"Aye." Priest Vallon
came out of the darkness.
"I would like you to meet
Rose DeWitt Bukater." Jack brought her forward to meet him.
"You mean the girl that you
thought died." Jack had told his father the story.
"Yes, but she's here
now," he said, feeling proud to show her off to his father.
"Why, child, don't be
afraid. Please, sit down." He pushed over a wood chair for her to sit on.
"Thank you, sir." She bowed.
"Please, call me Vallon. So,
what have you two been up to?" he asked, sitting down himself.
"We're just getting
reacquainted, Father." Jack stood while they talked.
"Aw…well, don't let me keep
you, and oh, Jack, tell a few of the guys that we need more bludgeting. We need
to keep ahead of Bill's gang." His father always got straight to the point
when he needed something done.
"Sure, Father. I will get on
that right away," Jack said, disappearing into the darkness as he grabbed
hold of a stick.
"Adieu, mon cheri,"
Priest Vallon said, shaking her hand.
"Adieu, Monsieur," Rose
said, and left with Jack.
Jack walked down the tunnel,
seeing the guys standing there. "Hey, fellas! Come here a sec."
They walked up to him.
"Father said we need more of
the same to keep ahead of the enemy," Jack said with a strict tone.
"We tried everything, Jack.
There's nothing here," Johnny Sirocco said.
"Then try the ships."
Jack was the smartest of the group. He knew things, but didn't let others let
on.
"What about the swap-angels?"
Johnny asked.
"Well, keep a low profile. I
will go with you later tonight. All right?" he asked.
"All right, then. Later,
Jack," Johnny said, leaving with a few men.
Rose looked at Jack. It was nice
to know she was with a born leader. She held onto his arm, smiling.
He looked over at her. She was
smiling, and her dress was very dirty.
"Rose, I wonder, have you
had the chance to get a new outfit?" he asked, looking at her torn dress.
"Not really, Jack," she
said, wondering what he was up to.
"Tell you what. Since I have
a few strings to pull, I can get you something very pretty. You should have
nice things. You were meant for them." He wore his top hat on his head and
took it off.
"Thanks, Jack, but if I
wanted nice things, I would have stayed with Cal. All I want is your
love." She knew she shouldn't have mentioned Cal, but she just couldn't
help it.
"And you have it--my love,
but I wanna take you somewhere special." He took her hand.
"Where?" she asked.
"Sorry. I am not
telling," he said, looking at a store with secondhand dresses.
"All right, then. Let's go
get me something, then," she said.
They went inside, getting the
dress that she chose. When it came time to pay, Jack looked at him and
whispered to him softly, not letting Rose hear what he had said to the store
owner.
They walked out of the store.
Jack put the dress into the bag holding it. Then he saw a girl he knew and
tried to dodge behind Rose.
"Jack Dawson Vallon! I know
it's you behind that girl. We need to talk," a blonde said, holding a
small infant.
"All right. You got me,
then. What do you want?" Jack asked, coming out from behind Rose.
Rose looked at the girl,
wondering what she could have been to Jack. Was the child Jack's? she wondered.
"Jack, who is this?"
Rose asked, tapping on his arm.
"Um…Jean, will you give us a
few seconds?" Jack turned to look at her.
"Sure." Jean nodded.
"What's wrong, Jack? Is that
your baby?" Rose asked him, waiting for an answer.
"No, Rose. This girl is my
friend, Jean. She's mad because before I left I stole some of her bludgeting
before I left for Europe," he explained.
"Oh, and the baby?" she
asked him, looking at him very curiously.
"It's not mine. Why do you
think it is?" He looked at her.
"No. I just wanted to
know." She wondered why he sounded angry with her. She had never seen this
side of him before.
"Sorry for raising my voice,
but the child isn't mine. If it had been, you know I would have done the right
thing. Okay, sure, when I was younger and my father brought me to New York, we
made out a few times, but I never slept with her and that's the honest truth.
As for the child, when I came back she was already pregnant and had the child
just last week. Turns out she was sleeping with my best friend, Johnny. So it's
his, not mine." He felt awful for raising his voice to her. He didn't want
her to have a repeat performance of Caledon Hockley.
"All right. I understand
now," Rose said, knowing that he was a gentleman and not a pig like other
men were.
He turned back to Jean, and she
looked at him with distaste.
"Okay, Jean. Now, what do
you want?" he asked again.
"I wanted to ask you if you
had seen Johnny anywhere." She held the baby as it cried.
"Not since earlier today.
Why?" Jack asked, looking around.
"‘Cause his baby is hungry
and I don't have any food or money." She tried to calm the crying infant,
but it just kept wailing.
Jack dug into his pocket and
pulled a few coins out. He handed them to her.
"Thank you so much, Jack. I
wish you had been Kevin's father," she said as she was leaving.
"You're welcome, Jean. Sorry
I don't have more," he said, wishing that he did have more money.
"It's more than enough.
Thank you," she said, grateful for his charity.
"Quite all right," he
said, feeling sorry for the hungry infant.
Rose felt sorry for the infant,
too, because she knew if she had Jack's baby he would pay attention to it and
probably not let his child out of his sight. The more she looked at him, the
more she knew he carried some dark secrets, things he had never told anyone.
Something he had never even told her.