THERE YOU’LL BE
Chapter Thirteen
Jack and Rose decided to call
their newborn Megan Louise Dawson. Meggie for short. It was a name they had
discussed during Rose’s pregnancy.
Little Meggie certainly was a
handful. She was a right little screamer but she was loved by her parents
dearly.
Daily, both Jack and Rose thanked
God for this precious gift they had created together. This miracle.
Jack didn’t return to work right
away. Phillip handed him a package days after Meggie was born, when he opened
it he found six months wages in advance. He couldn’t thank him enough.
"Its nothing." Phillip would reply not wanting the situation to
become sentimental by any means, he had never been one for showing emotion
properly, it had always made him feel uncomfortable for some reason. Phillip had
been like a father to Jack, he loved him dearly, as a friend and a father
figure and he wanted Meggie to grow with him around as a grandfather.
With the money which Phillip had
given him in advance, Jack had decided to suggest to Rose to take a little
trip. To Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. It was no Santa Monica, but he would love
Rose to see where he grew up but he had no plans to move back there, it held
too many memories. After six long years away, Jack decided that maybe it was
time to go back there. See what changed and what hasn’t. Maybe even visit his
parents graves if he could pluck up the courage to do it. It was hard when his
parents died. He had no other family, they all lived out in Colorado and it was
his uncle who lived there but by marriage not blood.
He had felt alone in the world,
he felt like he was the only person in the world. Trapped in a small town which
held no meaning to him anymore. Before his parents deaths, he was sure he would
have settled there and married and raised his children there but now Meggie was
three months old now and old enough to travel even though he didn’t like the
idea of it. Even though he didn’t want to leave his child here, he felt this
was something he had to do.
He now felt old enough to deal
with the grief and to face this head on. He was tired of running away from his
problems, he knew there would come a time he would have to face the past and
the time was now here.
Today Rose was out shopping with
Jean and Anne for dresses for the upcoming summer, so Jack thought maybe they
could take the trip then. It would be nice to get away from things around here.
He loved New York but it never really felt like home. He was still a drifter at
heart but with little Meggie now he knew that wouldn’t be happening for a very
long time.
His daughters gargles disturbed
him from his thoughts. Dressed in a crisp white shirt and black pants, Jack
placed an apron around his waist and begin to peel some potatoes, he knew Rose
wasn’t keen on him cooking but he made the effort.
Meggie gargled again, dropping
his knife and potatoes on the counter, Jack wondered over to his daughters
crib. She gazed up at him puzzlingly with those big light blue eyes. Laughing
to himself, he reached down and picked her up. Dressed in a pretty white dress
with bows, she began to wave her fists around in the air.
"You little adventurer
aren’t you?" Jack laughed to himself. She wanted to see everything. He
gently began to tickle his daughters belly as she began to giggle hysterically.
He loved that sound, of his daughter so happy. He tickled her again this time
she began to kick her legs about as she giggled more.
At that moment, Rose emerged
through the door. She looked pretty today, she was wearing a light yellow dress
which highlighted her new curvy post baby body. She had chopped her hair weeks
before to just above her shoulders, but she still was as attractive as ever.
"Good day shopping?"
Jack questioned. Placing Meggie back in her crib leaving her to gurgle to
herself.
"Yes. It was what I needed some
time away, just the girls and me. I like the time away sometimes." Rose
eyed the bowl on the counter suspiciously. "Are you cooking?" She
laughed.
Jack knew he was in trouble now,
as she laughed before kissing his nose lightly. The thing that Rose just said
about liking to get away really made Jack think about bringing up the point of
going to Wisconsin earlier.
"Hey Rose?" Jack asked.
Rose heard his tone of voice and how serious it was compared to the playfulness
minutes before.
"What’s wrong darling?"
Jack pulled Rose to sit beside
him on the sofa.
"You know we’ve talked about
going away sometime? Maybe to Santa Monica? Or to see your mother one
day?" Jack asked, slowly. Not knowing what her response would be.
"Yeah"
"Well maybe we could go in
the next few months. Just me and you." Rose stood immediately.
"What about Megan? We cant
just go gallivanting off now Jack we have a responsibility, we have a
child." Rose fumed. How irresponsible could he get?
"I know, I know." Jack
tried to calm her. "Anne has promised to look after her just for a few
weeks. Its just…I’d really love to show you where I called home." Jack
sighed.
"What do you mean?"
Rose was puzzled. Home? He was home.
"I’d love to take you to
Chippewa Falls, show you where I grew up. I’d like you to visit my parents
graves with me. I just don’t have the strength to do it alone. We have the
money right now, I want to go while we can. " Tearing pricked in Jacks
eyes and Rose could see how much this meant to him. She would love to have gone
but they had a baby now.
"I cant just expect Anne to
have Meggie for a few weeks, its not fair." Rose sighed.
"But she offered." Jack
stated. He had been telling Anne that afternoon about how he had wanted to go
back to Wisconsin but now they had Megan and it would be impossible to travel
with a baby. Anne had seen how much Jack had wanted to go and had offered to
look after Meggie while they were away.
"She did?"
"Yes."