UNEXPECTED THINGS
Chapter Six
Jack woke to someone bouncing on
his bed.
"Can I see him? Can I see
him?" It was Cora.
Jack smiled. He gave her a hug.
"When Mom’s awake. She needs her rest, you know." He was in one of
Cal’s many guest rooms, having stayed the night.
Rose had been exhausted after the
birth, and she had lost a fair amount of blood, but the doctor had assured him
that she’d be fine. "She just needs plenty of rest," had been his
exact words. "Then she’ll be good as new."
There was a knock on the door,
and a timid voice asked, "May I come in?"
"Um…sure. Sure," Jack
said quickly. To his surprise, Cal’s wife, Prudence, walked in.
"I trust you slept
well," she said, as nervous as Jack was. All Jack could do was nod.
"The maids are serving breakfast now, so I thought I’d show you down
myself."
As Jack followed her, he couldn’t
help but ask questions. "Rose--is she awake?"
"Still sleeping,"
replied Prudence, "as is young Cody. I think she’ll be asleep well into
the day."
When they reached the huge dining
room, Jack came face-to-face with Cal.
He was at the head of the table.
Prudence sat to his right, Jack put Cora to his left, and then himself next to
Cora. A maid came around, offering an assortment of food. Jack quickly chose
some.
Prudence began to talk nervously,
trying to engage one of them in conversation. Cal grunted now and again, and
Jack nodded politely, but neither of the two men were listening. Cal keep his
eyes on Jack throughout breakfast, and it was only when Cora left with a maid
that the silence was broken.
"For heaven’s sake, Cal.
What is going on?" asked Prudence.
Cal and Jack turned to gape at
her. Her face was red, and she looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"What’s going on?"
Prudence repeated angrily.
Jack sensed that this was her first
outburst ever in front of her husband, by the look on Cal’s face. "Jack
knows what he did," he said smugly.
"I did nothing wrong!"
Jack couldn’t help himself. He knew Cal wanted to throw him out, and he was
pushing his luck, but he just couldn’t help himself. Neither he nor Rose were
wrong. It was Cal who was wrong.
"I know you have it!"
Cal jumped to his feet, overturning the table so that china smashed everywhere.
"I know you do! It’s mine! Give it to me, you…you gutter rat!"
Prudence gave a shrill scream and
clutched her heart as if she might die. Jack backed away hastily as Cal rushed
at him.
*****
Rose woke with a start to a
horrible crashing sound. She looked around wildly. In the corner was Cody, fast
asleep, but no one else was in the room. She felt tired, like lead, but still
she struggled out of bed, almost falling over, and rushed down the hall and
towards the sound as fast as her aching head would allow.
A table was overturned in the
dining room, china smashed all around it, chairs thrown aside. In the corner
was Prudence, screaming loudly for them to stop it, and just in front of her
were Cal and Jack.
Cal had Jack pinned against the
wall, screaming at him. Jack kicked him in the gut, throwing him to the floor
before he punched him hard in the face. No one seemed to have noticed her.
"Stop it!" Her shout
startled them.
Cal looked at her, eyes flashing
in anger. He made to come at her, but Jack lunged at him, pulling him back.
"What’s going on?" She
gasped in horror.
"Where is it?" Cal’s
face was red with rage. "The Heart of the Ocean…where is it?" Jack
was struggling to keep hold of him.
Rose knew this was all her fault.
If only she hadn’t mentioned it, if only she hadn’t run into Cal, if only the
baby hadn’t come so soon…but if only wasn’t going to change the situation.
"Rose, go rest!" Jack
shouted. "I’ll pack our things. Just rest for a while. I’ll sort this
out--"
"I don’t have it."
Silence suddenly cut through the
room.
"What?" Cal said it
quietly, but Rose knew he was still in a rage.
"I don’t have it," she
said breathlessly, before quickly adding, "I threw it back where it
belonged, where it should have gone. I…I don’t have it."
Jack had actually let go of Cal
in shock, though thankfully, Cal didn’t seem to have noticed. Rose had never
told Jack that she had gotten rid of it. At first, she had wanted to sell it,
then keep it, but after a while, she had just wanted to get rid of it. She had
told this to Jack, but every time she had wanted to throw it away, she had
never gone through with it.
Except for the last time, but
Jack didn’t know about that time. She had kept it to herself, and he was never
one to pry.
"Where?" Cal’s voice
was hoarse, but he seemed strangely calm.
"The Atlantic."
Rather than explode, Cal buried
his face in his hands, at a loss for words. Jack however, realized what the
Atlantic meant. On their trip back from France, they had crossed near where the
Titanic had gone down, and that, Rose had felt, was where it really belonged.