STARTING ANEW
Chapter Four
It was still a bit chilly on this May
morning, and Jack walked briskly as he headed toward the hospital to get Rose.
As he walked, his thoughts, as they often did these days, went back to Titanic
and what led up to his meeting with Rose. When he and Fabrizio had joined in
that poker game in Southampton, he had never imagined winning that ticket on
the ship, any more than he could have dreamt that the beautiful girl he had
seen standing on the deck above him, would become such an important and
necessary part of his life. And while Titanic had taken his best friend
Fabrizio, it had given him the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of
his life.
Jack knew that he wanted to settle down with
Rose. But with no prospects of a job, the idea of marrying her right away had
seemed unlikely. It was Molly Brown who had come to his rescue again. Jack
would be eternally grateful to her. She had found him and reunited him with
Rose, after all. She had been his benefactor since the dinner on Titanic,
helping him out in one way or another.
While Rose had been sick, he and Molly had
many long talks. She recognized their deep love for one another and she too
felt that should marry and soon. Jack had listened as Molly proposed a plan to
him. She had sent out some feelers in Denver and had found someone at the
Denver paper who would be willing to hire Jack to draw ads. She had even
located a tutoring job for Rose. Molly also mentioned that she knew of a small
house that was available. The young minister and his wife who had lived there,
had moved on and it now stood vacant.
Jack had digested all this information. Maybe
starting out in someplace new would be good. And without all this help, Jack
knew he would have a hard time supporting Rose. He just hated to take charity.
But Molly explained again that he would be working, not taking anything. And so
Jack decided that if Rose was willing, they would give it a try. But Jack put
his foot down about one thing. He and Rose would accept the money for a wedding
trip from Molly, because to do otherwise would be rude, but the rest of the
money she was spending on them now in New York, would be paid back and soon.
Molly accepted his hard driven bargain and felt a strong sense of admiration
for this proud young man.
Suddenly, the hospital loomed ahead of him.
Jack turned his mind to the situation at hand. He loved Rose, of that he was
sure. And he was also certain that Rose cared for him. He'd had enough
wandering to last for a lifetime and he wanted Rose with him. The only certain
way to keep her, was to marry her. But would Rose feel the same way?
She had an adventurous spirit. Hadn't she
said that she was going to get off the boat with him? Well, that had happened,
only not quite as they planned. But regardless of Rose's ideas, she was not the
kind of woman a man lived with. She deserved the respectability of marriage.
But as he thought about this, his heart was pounding. Both he and Rose were
changed by the experience of Titanic. She had been ill and had time to think
things over. Did she care enough about him to marry him? Jack knew that before
the day was out he would know their fate. He was going to propose to Rose
tonight. What was the point in waiting? Either they would have a future
together or once and for all, go their separate ways.