THE AFTERMATH
Chapter Eight
A while later, Ruth and Cal
reached Chicago. They asked all the ticket men about Jack and Rose. None of
them said anything, but a man who had watched Jack and Rose board the train to
Butte told Ruth and Cal. Cal caught the next train to Butte, Ruth opting to
stay in Chicago.
Rose felt uneasy as the train
pulled into Butte hours later. When they arrived, there was a telegram at the
station for them. Jack read it quickly and grabbed Rose’s wrist a little too
tightly. "Cal is on his way to find us!" he told Rose.
"How?" she gasped.
"One of the ticket men saw a
man telling Cal and Ruth something after the ticket man refused to tell them
anything. Cal managed to buy a ticket to Butte and is on his way here. We’ve
got to get a move on, Rose."
"Jack, where do we go?"
Rose asked. "Maybe it would be better if we confronted Cal. It would be so
much easier than running, Jack."
Jack looked right into Rose’s
eyes. "If he catches up to us, he’ll have me arrested. Rose, I still have
marks from those handcuffs on my wrists. The handcuffs were why the police were
so quick to believe Cal on the Carpathia instead of asking questions."
Rose set her jaw. "I am
tired of running, Jack," she said. "We might as well let Cal have the
satisfaction of catching up to us. I would testify in your favor, I
promise."
"Rose, you know perfectly
well that Cal Hockley wouldn’t let you take the stand in a million years! We
have to make a run for it! There’s no other way, Rose!" Jack exclaimed.
"Jack, listen to yourself.
Why do we have to run?" Rose realized then what the confusing feelings
she’d been having for the past few days were. Those feelings hadn’t been
because she didn’t want to marry Cal--even though she didn’t--they were because
she knew, deep down, that what she and Jack were doing was very wrong. He had
seduced her aboard the Titanic, and the worst part was that she had gone along
with it!
"Jack." Tears filled
her eyes. "I don’t care if Cal finds us. We probably, from all the sermons
I’ve heard preachers in Ireland give, are doing something very wrong. Sure, Cal
planted the necklace on you and you were arrested unjustly. What were we doing
when that happened? What we were doing was very wrong, Jack. You need to leave
now if you don’t want to get arrested, Jack, but I’m staying here. We should
own up to our actions, and even if you don’t, I will."
They sat in silence for a time on
the bench in the station. Then Jack stood. "I can’t spend the rest of my
life in prison, Rose," he whispered, planting a final kiss on her cheek.
"I just can’t." Jack walked away and disappeared into the crush of
people.