UNTIL I FOUND YOU
Chapter Thirty-Six
Five months have passed since
Andrew’s birth. It’s been a busy five months for Jack and Rose as they settled
into parenthood. Midnight feedings and diaper changes kept them both very busy;
and then there was Jack’s job, demanding more and more of his time. There was
barely any time left for themselves.
It was Saturday and for once,
Jack didn’t have to work. He entered the nursery and smiled at the touching
scene before him. Mother rocking child to sleep. He wondered where his
portfolio was when he needed it.
"Jack?" Rose’s voice
brought him out of his thoughts.
"Hey," he grinned,
walking into the room. "I just thought I’d come in and check on our
son."
"You don’t have to work
today do you?" Rose asked, missing the days when Jack was able to spend
hours on end with her.
"No. I’m off finally. I’m
off until Monday."
Rose sighed, getting up to put
the baby down in the bed. "We need a vacation," She sighed, only half
serious.
"Well then let’s take
one," Jack shrugged, knowing that the impulsiveness of the decision would
surprise Rose. He missed surprising her.
Rose looked at Jack as if he had
grown two heads. "Jack. I was kidding. We can’t go on vacation. We have
Andrew now…you have a job."
"I can take a few weeks off.
Our mothers can watch Andrew for us, or we can take him with us," Jack sat
in the chair across from Rose and held her hand tightly in his. "Come on
Rose. Let’s do it. Let’s get away from here for a while. Just name the place
and we’ll go."
Rose laughed, amused by the old
idea of picking up and heading for the horizon. Especially now that they have
so much responsibility. Her smile faded as she thought of how they hardly saw
each other. A vacation would do so much good. "Let’s go to Santa Monica.
We’ll do all the things we ever talked about doing.”
"Good idea. Santa Monica it
is then," Jack squeezed her hand. "This is going to be fun Rosie.
Just me and you and the pier."
*****
Jack and Rose found Lily and Ruth
in the kitchen preparing lunch. After much discussion, they had decided to
leave Andrew with their mothers.
"Mother? Lily? Can we talk
to you, please?" Ruth asked, standing hand in hand with Jack.
"Sure," Lily motioned
for everyone to set. "What is this about?"
Jack and Rose looked at each
other and then back at the women before them. They didn’t know how well this
was going to go over. Ruth was old fashioned and believed that children should
accompany their parents everywhere. Lily probably would want to check with Dean
first.
"Rose and I have been
talking. We’ve decided to go ahead and take our belated honeymoon. We wanted to
know if you'd take care of Andrew for us, while we’re away?" Jack
explained.
At first Lily and Ruth just
looked at one another, speechless. They didn’t know what to say. They had never
thought that Jack and Rose would ever trust them enough to allow them to keep
the baby. But obviously they did, which made both mother’s deliriously happy.
"Why of course we’ll watch
Andrew," Ruth smiled, tears in her eyes.
"Mother, don’t cry,"
Ruth took her mother’s hands. "What’s wrong?"
"It’s just that…I never
thought you’d trust me to keep Andrew. I thought I had lost your trust
forever."" "You’re not the only one Ruth," Lily dabbed at
her eyes. "Jack….you’ll never know how much this means to me. Trusting me
with your son like this."
"Well…Rose and I think it’s
time we started treating you like the grandmother’s Andy deserves. He loves
you…and so do we."
"Thank you," Lily got
up and hugged her son and Rose, tears spilling freely from her eyes. That was
when a loud cry disturbed the silence of the house.
"Oh dear," Rose sighed,
standing from her seat. "I better go see what’s wrong."
"I’ll come with you,"
Jack got up and took her hand. "Mom. Ruth. We really appreciate
this."
"Well you two deserve a nice
honeymoon," Lily smiled, happy that it looked like her son truly forgave
her for the fire.
"See you two later,"
Jack escorted Rose up the stairs.
Rose went right to the baby and
cradled him in her arms. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to leave
her baby behind. She loved him so much.
"I’m going to miss this
little guy," Jack stroked the baby’s soft cheek.
"Me too. But I think it’ll
only be momentary. I’m really looking forward to it being just the two of us. I
think we need this."
"Yes we do," Jack
kissed her tenderly.
*****
Two hours later, Jack and Rose
were at the boarding house visiting George and Cillie. They were telling them
about the coming trip. George wasn’t happy at all with the arrangements that
were made for Andrew. He was right now making his feelings known when Rose and
Cillie had left the room.
"So you’re allowing that
murderess to keep my baby cousin, huh?" George angrily glared at Jack as
he paced the room.
Jack sighed, setting back on the
couch. He knew George was going to be mad about the decision; but George had to
understand that Jack had to let go of the anger. It would have destroyed him if
he hadn’t.
"I can’t stay angry forever,
George," Jack sighed. "She’s my mother. The only one I have."
"So…does this forgiveness
extend to Dean as well?" George’s voice was cold and bitter. He hated Lily
and her husband with a passion. They were both murderers and were getting away
with the crime. Now it looked like Dean was going to get his claws into his
Uncle’s grandson.
"I’ll admit that I still
don’t care much for Dean. But I can’t tell my mother how to rule her life.
Besides, pa wouldn’t want that. He wouldn’t want revenge either. He would just
want us to be safe and happy. And that’s the kind of world I’m trying to give
my son. A world that he can be safe and happy in. Do you understand?"
Sighing, George nodded. He wanted
the same thing for his cousin as well. But he was sure that as long as Lily and
Dean were free, the world would never be save and happy for his nephew.
*****
Meanwhile, Rose and Cillie were
in the kitchen making lunch. Cillie looked over at Rose and thought once again
how lucky she truly was. Cillie did love George, but he didn’t want children
and was often pretty grumpy…which caused her to go and search out love
elsewhere…outside her marriage. Unknown to Rose and Jack and especially George.
If George ever found out…
"Rose you are so blessed to
have Jack and Andrew."
"I love them so much Cillie.
Jack’s a dream come true, and the baby he gave me…he’s the most beautiful baby
in the world. I don’t know where I’d be without them," Rose sighed.
"Never let him go Rose.
You’ve found something special in Jack," Cillie sighed, stirring the
bubbling liquid on the stove.
Rose frowned. She didn’t like the
sound of that. "Cillie…aren’t things going well with you and George? He’s
not hitting you again is he?"
Cillie sighed and shook her head.
"No Rose. George isn’t hitting me. It’s just that…he’s angry all the time
now. He’s obsessed with Jack’s mother and her husband. It’s kind of scaring
me."
"Maybe I should tell Jack to
wait on the trip. Help you two work things out."
"No Rose. I can’t have you
canceling your plans for us. You two have held back on this trip for way too
long already. It’s time for you to go on a romantic get away."
"Are you sure?" Rose
asked. "I mean, we can go to Santa Monica anytime."
"Rose, I’m positive. You and
Jack go. Have a great time," Cillie hugged her friend tightly, just as
Jack and George entered.
"Rose, are you ready to go?
We have some packing to do," Jack took her hand.
"Ok, I guess," Rose
followed him to the door. "Cillie, George. We’ll call when we get
there."
"Take care," George
waved as they left to pack for Santa Monica.