THERE YOU’LL BE
Chapter Five
As the months passed, Rose’s
middle grew. In October, just before Halloween. Both Jack and Rose moved into
their own house just a few blocks from Phillip. It wasn’t very big, just a
single floor. A livable kitchen and living area with two small bedrooms. It was
cozy and warm. The big fire and stove in the parlor heated the whole house.
Jack decorated the house to make it homely when he wasn’t working. Rose helped
out where she could, but by now her back was aching and her ankles were
swollen. Jack had restricted her from climbing or lifting and warning her to
just take it easy. But when Jack was at work all day, Rose had nothing to do at
home but read. She had developed quite a passion for it in recent months. In
the years before, when she attended finishing school she had read quite a few
books, but when she began courting with Mr. Hockley, all that changed. It was
amazing how much the life of a young woman could change in just a year. From
been a sixteen-year-old society girl attending one of the finest finishing
schools in the country, to her engagement to one of the richest men in America,
to boarding the grandest ship ever built, to meeting the greatest man she’d
ever meet.
She wouldn’t go back now and she
knew it. Nothing can compare to the feeling of been in love. Money couldn’t buy
you everything. Yes it provided luxuries, but that wasn’t enough. Love could
conquer all, and that wasn’t just from a fairytale book, for she herself was
living proof that it does.
Setting down her book at the page
she was reading at, Rose hoisted herself from her living chair and headed for
the kitchen. One of her many pregnancy cravings was apples. Poor Jack has
climbed the apple tree in the back yard many times in recent weeks just to
satisfy her cravings. But it made her happy.
One of the new skills Rose was
also learning was cooking, she bought herself a very cheap cook book and began
to learn. She had cooked apple pie and a bake well tart and was very proud of
herself. All of this was new to her and she had to admit she loved it. Been
independent was obviously something Rose had took to very well. She had the
spirit and the eagerness to learn new things.
Much to Jack’s amusement,
Phillips oldest daughter Anne, had taught Rose how to knit. Jack’s jokes about
old ladies knitting had been thrown to the wind when Rose presented him a
beautiful red sweater for his twenty-first birthday. She also knitted small
mittens and socks for the baby in white as she did not know what sex she was
having.
The crib had been set up in the
spare bedroom and was now covered in beige blankets which Phillip had given to
them as a present. Phillip and Jack had also built a wardrobe, a coffee table
and dining table for their new home.
Decorated modestly, but it was
the perfect quaint family home.
On November the sixteenth, Rose
celebrated her eighteenth birthday. It was only a quiet affair at Phillips.
Jack, Rose and Phillip and his three daughters, Anne, Jean and Marie. They
celebrated with a meal and a cheer before heading out to a dancehall and dancing
into the night.
As Christmas neared, Jack and
Rose decided they were to be married before the arrival of their baby in
January. They booked the church to be a small ceremony inviting only close
friends for the twenty-third of December. It would be a perfect Christmas. But
also a sad time, Rose missed her father dearly this time of year, it would also
have been his forty-fifth birthday on Christmas day.
Her father had been the light of
her life until he had passed away just two years ago of a sudden heart attack.
James had been a good father and husband, he drank a lot the last few months
but was never the cigar and brandy type of man. It was family first and always.
Her mother, Ruth was quite the opposite. Parties and social events were her
thing wearing fine dresses and jewelry. These such events were simply
traditions to quietly boast about who’s wearing what and who has the most
money. The small talk had always bored Rose to tears who was more the
adventurous type through and through, who like her father, thrived on
adventures and excitement.
This was always an embarrassment
to her mother, who had warned them endlessly to behave more like the people
they were, society, high class people who had a reason to be in the world,
money.
But that was all in the past now.
There was now a reason to look forward and to be happy. In less than a month,
Rose would become Mrs. Rose Dawson officially.
Everything would be looking up
more.
Exhausted from a hard days work,
Jack walked home in the cool winters night air. It was soon to be December and
the wind was biting. Dressed in his beige overalls and boots, Jack wanted
nothing more than a long soak and to cuddle for the night with his Rose.
She had promised him a chicken
pie for when he returned home that night, so all day he’d been working harder
to work up an appetite for dinner.
It was almost seven o’clock and
already dark. He could see the glow of the fire through the parlor window as he
entered through the gate. Opening the door, he felt the heat hit him like a ton
of bricks. He called out to Rose. She didn’t answer. Removing his cap from his
head, he checked the oven and proceeded to the parlor. There she was. Asleep.
With her left hand placed over her swollen middle. Her engagement ring sparkled
with the flicker of the flames from the fire. Her chest gently rose and fell as
she quietly breathed in and out. Her lips were curved slightly into a small
smile, he knew she was at peace. Gently, he lowered his head and tenderly
kissed her forehead. She must have had a long day.