A LOVE REBORN IN THE STREETS
Chapter Eight

Rose kept on thinking about what Jack had last told her. "Rose, I mean it. You and Jenny are off on the next train." She thought so much about it that it was beginning to give her a headache. She had to prepare to meet Molly for dinner. So she took a nice, suitable dress and put it on and even dressed Jenny as nicely as she could. Jack hadn't come home yet. She figured he was still trying to find out more about Cal to see if the rumor was true. After all they had been through, why did he have to focus his time so much on Cal? Why not her and their brand new baby?

Jack came through the door, wearing his top hat and a nice brown jacket. He wanted to look presentable for Molly. He hadn't seen her in so long. He had to thank her and make it count.

He remembered his speech that day at the dinner table. "You can't wait around, because you never know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. Something like that teaches you to take life as it comes at you. To make each day count."

Rose looked at Jack. He was so handsome. "So good of you to make it home for once."

"Rose, don't start. I wanted to look nice for Molly." He took off his hat and sat down.

"Well, you do. We’d better get going. We're a little late," Rose said, picking up Jenny.

"Yeah." He got up, helping Rose with a bag she made for Jenny.

A horse-drawn carriage was waiting for them outside. Jack had gotten one for them at the last minute. He knew it would take a while to reach the rich part of town. The place none of them were ever allowed.

*****

It was a little dark as the sun began to set. Molly had just finished the stew she had prepared for dinner. She hadn't seen them since the dinner so long ago on the Titanic. It was going to be great to hear how they had survived. She looked at Jack as if he was her own son. She cared about him. After fixing her sister a plate of the stew and giving it to her, she ran downstairs and put some fresh bread in to bake.

*****

Rose looked at the address on the paper Molly had given her. They were coming close to it. Rose gave Jack Jenny and looked out the window of the carriage. "Someday, Jack, we are going to live like them."

"Someday." He smiled at her.

As they approached the residence, Rose was the first to get out. Then Jack handed Jenny over to Rose. He got out, taking his hat with him, placing it on his head, and carrying Jenny's bag.

The gate was open, so they stepped up to the front door. When they knocked, Rose began to remember to stand straight like she had when she was a proper lady.

The butler appeared and smiled. "Hello, and who might you be?"

"Jack and Rose Dawson. Margaret Brown requested our presence," Rose said with manners.

"Ah…yes. I remember she said someone by those names would come. Please enter. You can wait for her in the parlor." The butler stepped aside to let them in.

Jack and Rose stepped inside. The house was beautiful. Jack was a little embarrassed that his hair was longer than it had been when he was on the Titanic. He didn't want to cut it, either, and Rose never told him to get it cut. So he didn't bother. It made him look older and more mature. He liked that.

Rose felt thin. She felt like she could break apart at any moment. On the Titanic, she had had little weight on her, but she had never been like this. Jenny cooed in Rose's arms. She was a beautiful baby. Rose couldn't imagine her life without her or Jack.

Molly came downstairs. The butler had told her that they had arrived. Molly straightened her dress and went into the parlor.

Rose saw Molly. "Molly, I would like you to meet Jenny, our daughter, and…well…you remember Jack."

Molly looked at Jack. He looked so much older than before. He was a man now. He looked like a hard core gangster. She hugged him. "Well, Jack, you sure have grown."

"Thanks, Molly." He smiled, taking off his hat out of respect.

"Your daughter is absolutely darling. I have a room all set up for her. May I hold her?" Molly smiled at the infant.

"Sure." Rose handed over Jenny to Molly.

Molly held the infant. She could see the familiar blue eyes. They were Jack's, and the reddish hair was from Rose. "Well, shall we?" Molly walked with Jenny to the dining room.

"Fredrick!" Molly called the butler.

"Yes, ma'am?" he answered.

"Take sweet Jenny to the room I fixed for her and tell Regina to make sure she's fed and changed," Molly instructed.

Fredrick took Jenny upstairs. Rose didn't say a word. It would be good for them to talk without any interruptions. She knew Molly had her best interests at heart. She knew Jenny would be all right. The rich always knew what to do and they always took care of their own.

Rose and Jack walked to the dining room and sat down. Molly sat down across from them. "Well, it's so good to see both of you, especially alive. I thought you two had perished with the Titanic."

"We almost did," Rose replied.

"What happened, Rose?" Molly asked.

"Well, I will tell you from the time I left you and Mother in the boat. After I left, Cal tried to stop me. He asked if I would rather be with a gutter rat than him and I told him I would rather be Jack’s whore than Cal’s wife. He got angry and tried to drag me back to the boat, so I spit in his face and ran away. I went down into the ship looking for Mr. Andrews, hoping he would tell me where Jack was. When I found him, he told me where to go, so I went ,and when the lifts weren't operating, I got a man by the collar and told him to take me down. When we got to the bottom, it was already under water. I went searching for Jack, had to call out his name so I could find him, and when I found him, he was handcuffed to a pipe. He asked me to look for a silver key, but I didn't find any."

"Yeah. Lovejoy had taken the key and punched me in the stomach. He knew that I had slept with Rose down in the cargo area," Jack interrupted.

"Well, I knew he wasn't right from the start for you, Rose. Jack was your lifesaver. " Molly nodded her head.

"I knew it, too. I just kept telling myself something good would happen soon, and it did. I found Jack." She smiled at him and patted his thigh. "Well, on with the story. I had to search for someone to help us, so I looked everywhere. No one would help. I finally found a steward and he dragged me, trying to take me to the top of the ship. I told him about Jack, but he wasn't listening. So when he looked at me, I punched him in the face and he just told me ‘The hell with you’ and left. I turned around, found an axe, went back to Jack, and cut him loose."

"I had no idea that you had to go through that." Jack was amazed at her story.

"Well, you see, I would have done anything for you, because I knew way back then that you and I were supposed to be together. It was fate." Rose believed in destiny and fate.

Jack realized now more than ever that she was strong and she loved him more than he ever expected.

"So, what happened after you cut him loose?" Molly asked.

"We started making our way up toward the deck, but before we could, Jack had to push his way through a few doors. In fact, he had to break them down." She looked over at him.

"How else were we gonna survive? I wasn't gonna let some stupid little man tell me that I had to be behind bars and die. I'm so glad Tommy punched him in the face." Jack remembered that day. It had been a total nightmare.

"You broke down a gate?" Molly was surprised.

"Yeah. Tommy, Fabri, and I used a bench and crashed through the gate with it." He sat back, proud of himself when they had done that.

"Well, you gotta do what you gotta do," Molly said, taking her spoon.

"Yeah. We should dig in before our food gets cold." Jack was starving.

"Oh, sure," Molly said.

Jack was starving. The food looked so good, he felt as if he were a king dining with a queen. His queen of England, Rose Dawson.

*****

As it came closer to night, Molly offered to let them stay, since they were there. Jack and Rose climbed the stairs to the room Molly had told them they could stay in. She told them to not worry about Jenny, that she would be taken care of for the rest of the night. It would be the first time that they were alone in a nice place.

Gowns, nightclothes, and the like were in the closet in various styles and sizes. Molly had told them to pick whatever they had liked. Rose saw the bathroom and the fancy tub. She bent over and turned on the water. She felt the warm spray as it poured into the tub. It was so relaxing to her that she undressed without noticing Jack standing behind her.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Great. You should come in, too," Rose said as the water touched her toes as she got in.

"All right." He began to take off his clothes.

It had been a while since he had been in warm water. In the Points he often used cold water. Sometimes it would remind him of the ocean on that fateful night way back when. His drawings back then had become just a hobby. Now, he didn't even draw. He had begun drawing a portrait of Rose, but stopped, thinking that it was stupid and a waste of time. He didn't know if he would ever get back that talent or if he would ever draw again.

Rose moved over as Jack came into the water with her. He stepped behind her, and when he sat down, he pulled her close to him. She leaned against him, feeling his well-built muscles against her back. The water began to reach her chest and she moved forward to turn it off. When the water stopped, she moved back to where she was and leaned against Jack.

"Jack?" Rose turned around, facing him.

"Yeah?" He looked at her.

"Do you love me?" Rose knew it was a stupid question to ask, but she asked it anyway.

"Of course I love you. Why do you ask?" Jack looked at her, curious as to why she would ask such a thing.

"Because you hardly say it anymore." Rose got the soap and rubbed some of his chest.

"I love you, Rose." He took her hand and stopped her.

"I love you, Jack." She looked into his eyes, feeling that love come back to her.

She poured some water over his chest to clear off the soap she had rubbed on him previously. He took the soap from her hand and washed her hair and her body. She did the same for him. He liked it when she touched the very part of him that made him insanely turned on. Rose noticed it, too. So they got out and dried each other off.

Rose climbed into bed and didn't bother to put a single thing on. She smiled at Jack. He got into his side and lay down. Together they climbed to the stars yet again for another chance at love as their souls become one. Not once looking back at the past, but going forward to their future together.

Chapter Nine
Stories