THE AFTERMATH
Chapter Nine
Rose stood and tried to see where
he had gone, but he had disappeared. She sighed and boarded the next available
train. Rose had told Jack she was going to own up to her actions, but she
realized she didn’t want to marry Cal. She paid for her ticket when the
conductor approached her, but she didn’t even ask where the train was headed.
She found out much later as they pulled into a station that the train was bound
for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She settled in for the long ride and fell into a deep
sleep.
When they reached Cedar Rapids,
she saw a handsome young man waiting for someone. Her heart sank when she saw a
young woman disembarking and heading straight for the man, but then another man
appeared, and the woman greeted the new man with a kiss on the lips.
Rose realized she had absolutely
no luggage, and so she got off the train. She looked around for the ticket
window to obtain information about lodging. "Meeting someone?" a deep
voice nearby asked. She spotted the young man right away.
"No, and I haven’t any bags."
"I’m Charles. Charles
Calvert," he introduced himself. "And you are?"
"Rose D-Dawson." Rose
almost said Rose DeWitt Bukater but remembered just in time that she had
changed her name.
"That’s a lovely name,"
Charles said.