AFTER TITANIC
BOOK TWO
Chapter Ten
Rose is immersed in a dense
fog. Nervously, she keeps walking. The farther she walks, the
clearer it becomes until she finds herself in a beautiful garden.
Standing up ahead, on top of a hill was Stacey and her mother.
Both stared grimly at her.
"Stacey? Mother? Where am I?" Rose asked confused.
"We're here to show you what'll happen if you let that
horried old man raise that child," Ruth holds her head up
high, then takes Rose's hand. "Come Rose. You must see
this."
"No..." Rose tries to protest, but it's useless. Ruth
forces her up on the hill and forces her to stare out into the
horizon. Suddenly, like in a moving picture, Rose sees Lindsey.
It's night time and she's in bed crying. She's desparately
clutching the ring that Jack had given her. It was clear that she
missed Jack and Rose.
"What is it now!" A grumpy voice explains. "She
keeps calling for a Jack."
"Those damn Dawsons again! I'll fix this!"
"That's when Albert Linningston storms through the door, his
face twisted in rage. "Now what is this all about?!"
"I want daddy!" Lindsey cried.
"Your father's dead! Now go to sleep!" the old man
declared turning for the door.
"No he's not! I saw him yesterday! He gave me this to keep
monsters away," Lindsey looks down at the ring.
Albert Linningston reaches out and snatches the ring away from
his granddaughter's hand. "I'll be taking this worthless
piece of crap and have it mailed back to Boston. I will not have
such foolishness in my house!"
"No it's mine!" Lindsey begins to wail. "It's
mine!"
Rose stifles down a sob as she remembered how she had sobbed like
that when her mother had grabbed the cufflinks her father had
given her before his death.
"These pay for the funeral," Her mother had coldly
replied.
"No! It's mine!" Rose had cried.
"Sounds familiar doesn't it Rose?" Ruth looks sadly at
her daughter, who now has tears freely streaming from her eyes.
"Why are you showing me this?" Rose sobs.
"Just watch," was the only answer Ruth gave, turning
back to the horizon.
This time the scene is changed. It's now twelve years later and
Lindsey's now the same age as Rose was when she had boarded the
Titanic with her mother and Cal. Lindsey had grown up to be a
beauty. She had beautiful light brown hair, pulled up into a
french twist and gorgeous hazel eyes that gleamed with
unhappiness. She was talking to a young man modestly dressed.
They were outside her door.
"Lindsey, you can't do this. I don't care what that old man
says," the young man sighed, grabbing her shoulders.
"You marry for love...not for money."
"In this case it's money. Matt please...just let it
go," Lindsey sobbed. "Vincent will take care of me.
That's why grandfather chose him."
"I'll take care of you..."
"But not like Vincent."
"Lindsey please don't..." The man known as Matt pleads,
but is cut off by a soft kiss.
"Good-bye Matt. Please don't call here again." With
that Lindsey disappears back into the mansion, leaving a
shattered Matt on the doorstep.
"Poor Lindsey," Rose's hand flies to her mouth.
"Why did she do that?"
"Because there was no one there to help her follow her
heart," Stacey sadly shakes her head. "My poor Lindsey
will marry that awful Vincient Byron."
"Look Rose," Ruth points again to the horizon.
It's five years later and a pregnant Lindsey is huddled in a
corner, terrified of her husband who's ranting and raving about
her not wanting to go to a social function. A now ancient Albert
Linningston is in a wheelchair in the corner, but his eyes still
shine with the same meanness.
"Listen to your husband Lindsey. He's always right,"
the old man coldly replied. "Get off that floor and get
ready to go to that gala. It's too important for you to
miss."
No grandfather! No!" Lindsey cried. "Vincient please, I
need rest. All this party going isn't good for the baby. Don't
you care about that?!"
"The baby? All you ever think about is that damn baby!"
Vincient screams. "When are you ever going to think about
me!?! Now get up and let's go." The angry man bounds to his
wife and forces her to her feet.
"Vincient please," Lindsey sobs once again, moving to
the stairs.
"That's enough I said," Vincient sends a hard slap to
her face, knocking her back and toppling down the stairs, where
she lays in a still heap.
"Lindsey no!!!" Rose screamed, reaching out for the
fallen girl, but the scene fades away until there's nothing left
but an empty sky. "No! Lindsey!"
"Calm down Rose. Getting hysterical is not going to help
anything," Ruth sternly replies. "We showed you this so
you can come to a decision. We showed you what could happen to
Lindsey if Albert Linningston raised her. But we didn't show you
is what could happen if you and Jack fought for her."
"What are you saying?"
"Rose...I left my daughter with you because I knew you and
Jack could teach her about life...what it meant to really live
and not take anything for granted," Stacey sighed.
"What we showed you...do you really want that to
happen?"
"Of course not," Rose sniffed back her tears.
"And you don't want her to grow up to be a refined princess,
obedient to what her elders say so much so that she misses out on
her only chance for true love?" Ruth asked.
"No I don't."
"Well then you know what to do Rose in order to stop this
from happening. You know what to do," Stacy said, beginning
to drift away from Rose. "You know what to do."
"Wait Stacy don't leave...not yet!" Rose reaches out
for her friend.
"Good-bye my beautiful Rose. Take care of my beautiful
grandchildren!" Ruth follows Stacy.
"Mother wait! Wait!" Rose cries some more, but her
cries go unanswered. She bolts awake in a cold sweat. Molly
asleep in her lap and Jack and Tommy right beside her. Her cries
awake Jack.
"Rose?" He asked, setting up.
"Jack it's Lindsey...We have to get her back Jack! We have
to!" Rose cried.
"Shhh Rose calm down. What happened," Jack asked,
stroking her hair.
"It's Lindsey. If we let the man raise her...she'll end up
the way I almost did. Oh Jack, we can't let that happen. We have
to fight for her!"
"Ok Rose. If that's what you want. I'll call the lawyer
first thing in the morning," Jack nods.
"Thank you Jack," Rose wipes away her tears and settles
back down into bed, but not really going back to sleep. For the
rest of the night her mind was on Lindsey and the hope that they
could get her back before it's too late.