STARTING ANEW
Chapter Sixteen

Ruth stood staring at the initials at the bottom of the drawings. The letters, JD, were weaving back and forth in front of her eyes. Her legs felt weak. She grabbed for the table and she felt darkness surround her.

Molly walked into the parlor and saw her bent over the table. She instantly knew what was the matter. Ruth had found Jack's pictures.

"Hey Ruth, let's get you sitting down." Molly put her arm around Ruth's shoulder and guided her to a couch. "Now you just rest there and catch your breath," said Molly.

Ruth closed her eyes and slowly things started coming together in her mind, the initials on the drawings, the red haired bride in the carriage, Molly returning from a wedding. "My God, could it be that they survived and have run away and gotten married?"

As this thought crossed Ruth's mind, Molly brought her a glass of water. "Here drink this."

Ruth sat up, took the glass and swallowed some of the water. Then she tried to speak, but words would not come. Instead she pointed to the drawings on the table.

"Ruth, you're not gonna like what I'm about to say, but you have to listen to me." Ruth looked at Molly and knew in her heart what Molly was going to say. "I don't want you to interrupt me, Ruth. Just hear me out."

All Ruth had the strength to do was to nod her head.

"Rose and Jack are married. This afternoon in fact. They're leaving here tomorrow, headin' west. They love each other, Ruth. They're young and strong and they're gonna make it whether you like it or not."

Ruth put her hands over her eyes and she felt as if all the blood had been drained from her. She thought of her beautiful, headstrong daughter Rose, whom she had tried to cultivate into a lady. But Rose, who had so many of Edwin's traits, could only be molded so far. To have thought her daughter dead was horrible enough, but now to find that she had been snatched from in front of her eyes by that vagrant Dawson was beyond comprehension. God only knew what a man like that was capable of. What would he want from Rose? Use her and leave her diseased or maybe dead? She felt ill at the thought of someone like Jack Dawson touching Rose.

Molly sat quietly watching Ruth. She knew for a fact that Ruth had no kind thoughts where Jack was concerned. Tomorrow Jack and Rose were coming to say goodbye, and now here she was with Ruth. If she didn't do something fast, there were going to be fireworks. After all, she couldn't keep Ruth locked up until after they left, tempting as the thought was.

Suddenly Ruth sat up and looked accusingly at Molly. "You, you knew about all this, you helped them, didn't you! Don't you know the damage you've done?"

"I sure do," said Molly. "If you call helping Rose escape from a life she hated so that she could be with someone she loves doing damage."

"What do you know what's best for her, I'm her mother after all," shouted Ruth.

"Listen Ruth, calm down. I've just gotta say what's true. I understand about the money and all, but was it still right to force Rose into a marriage with a man she disliked? A man who was capable of shooting his own fiancée?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ruth irritably.

Molly looked at Ruth and then spoke, "No, you wouldn't know would you, that Cal fired shots at Rose and Jack shortly before the ship sank. That's what you wanted for her, someone capable of murder?"

Ruth sat thinking how unbelievable this all sounded. What was this Brown woman up to?

"You know Ruth, Rose and I had time for a few woman-to-woman talks. She told me how Hockley hit her, insulted her and called her names. Rose had to get away from all that. Jack awakened something in her. For the first time, she found out who she was, and what she was capable of. And now with him, she'll have the freedom to do that. She's an intelligent girl, she wants to learn and see and do. The life you had planned for her didn't allow for any of that."

"You don't understand, Molly. We had no money. That marriage was our only way out." Molly looked at Ruth sourly. "So you just sold your daughter? Is that it, Ruth?" As Ruth heard the words "sold your daughter," she felt as though she had been slapped in the face. Suddenly it sank in. Yes, that was exactly what she had done. But she'd thought this arrangement would be for the benefit of both of them. She had never thought beyond the balls, the trips, the polo matches and the servants. She had never considered what Rose might have to endure with Hockley behind the bedroom door. If he had hit her in front of others, what might he do in private?

"Ruth," asked Molly quietly, "you didn't know about Rose when you came here, did you? That's not the reason you're here is it?"

Ruth stood up and began to pace the room. "No, no it's not." She shook her head sadly. "Do you remember when we got off the Carpathia? You gave me your calling card. You said that you didn't trust the Hockleys and that if I ever needed help I could come to you."

Ruth twisted her hands together. She looked down as she spoke. "You are the only one I can turn to. I need help. You know Molly, I haven't always had the best feelings for you." Ruth swallowed and took a deep breath. She had nothing to lose now. So she continued, "I tried to avoid you on the ship. I...I felt that you were not as good as us."

Molly nodded. "Come on Ruth, out with it."

Ruth looked into Molly's eyes and instead of hate, she saw compassion and understanding. "We used to laugh at you and your airs of being a lady even though you weren't."

"That's okay Ruth, I understand. I have that effect on lots of folks. But you know what, I don't care. I can't change who I am. I happen to walk around in the trappings of a rich woman, but down inside, I'm just Margaret Tobin from the poor side of Hannibal, Missouri. And you know Ruth, I'm proud of that. So what is it you want?" prodded Molly.

"I need your help," Ruth repeated. She bit her lips and wondered if she could find the courage to go on. She was silent for a minute and then everything started pouring out. "The Hockleys have thrown me out." And she proceeded to tell the story of what had happened this morning. "I still had so many debts from Edwin. They wanted me to pay them all off. But with my own money. So they had me sign some papers and before I knew what was happening, everything was gone, my home, my possessions, everything."

Ruth pulled a handkerchief from inside her sleeve and started wiping her tears. "I was too ashamed to go to any of my friends. And Edwin's family really never wanted much to do with me after his death. I remembered what you had said. I kept that card. I thought that maybe, well even though I was not always nice to you, that maybe you could help me. I don't know what to do anymore. Now everything is really and truly gone. Even my daughter. All on account of the fact that Jack Dawson didn't die with the other hordes of people that night."

Molly's jaw dropped when she heard Ruth utter that last comment. Ruth's mind was really in a muddle. She could see that Ruth did not have the same strength that Rose had. Yes, Ruth needed help. But first Molly had to make Ruth understand a couple of things. Molly went over to where Ruth stood. "Don't you ever call those people hordes. They were like you and me, like Rose. They had names and faces. They wanted better lives. They were mothers and fathers and children. It was our society that packed them in the bottom of that ship with not enough lifeboats."

Molly stopped for a moment wanting to be sure that her point was getting across. "They are not hordes Ruth, they were all individuals. Don't ever forget that."

Ruth put her hands to her head. "Please don't shout at me. I can't take anymore."

"Listen Ruth, I'm sorry. I just don't want to hear talk like that. You hear me?"

Ruth nodded numbly. "But first, Ruth, I can't help you if I don't know you. I'm gonna order some sandwiches and coffee and we're gonna sit down and have a real heart to heart talk." Molly started to walk to the other room, then stopped. She looked back at Ruth and said, "You know Ruth, for some reason, I think that just maybe there is a warm, caring woman, buried somewhere deep inside that steel case you walk around in."

Ruth had never been treated or talked to like this in her entire life. She had always been handled with kid gloves. First it was her parents, who wanted her to know nothing of real life, only what they chose to tell her. And then there was Edwin, who tried to pamper her. Somehow, in spite of her brusqueness, perhaps Molly had been the right person to come to.

"Just one thing Ruth," called Molly from the next room, "I want you to keep an open mind about Jack. I somehow have a feeling that he is not the problem here. You are!"

Ruth stood with her mouth open. What would happen next?

Chapter Seventeen
Stories