AFTER TITANIC
BOOK ONE:
Chapter Seven
"So I see you two lovebirds are up and by
the look of things, you're ready for breakfast," Molly
greets Jack and Rose as they exit ther room. "Let me treat
you two kids to a breakfast fit for a king."
"Molly..." Jack began.
"Don't bother protesting Jack. I refuse to take no for a
answer. Besides, it's the perfect place to give you two my
wedding gifts."
"Wedding gifts? Oh Molly...you didn't have to get us
presents," Rose's eyes began to brim over with tears. Molly
was more of a mother to her than her own mother ever was. There
was no way Rose could ever repay her for that.
"Oh pish posh. Of course I did. You two are very special to
me and I'd do anything to see things go a little easier for
you," Molly shrugged off Rose's attempts to refuse the
present. "So enough chattering. Let's go down and eat."
After breakfast, Molly gave Jack and Rose their presents. A five
hundred dollar gift certificate to one of the respectable
department stores in New York and an extra thousand dollars to
get started out on life.
"Molly...this is too much...I don't know how I'll ever repay
you," Jack stammered, a thousand dollars was the most money
Jack ever had in his life.
"Don't worry about it Jack. It's my gift to you two.
Besides, a thousand dollars don't last very long when you're a
couple of newlyweds just starting out," Molly smiles. It
does her heart good to help out a young struggling couple.
Especially when that couple was Jack and Rose.
"Well, at least let me take care of the bill," Jack
insists, taking the bill that the waiter places on the table.
"Now Jack, I told you. This is my treat. You will not pay
the bill, do I make myself clear?" Molly takes the bill
back. "Now sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself."
"Yes mam," Jack sets back into his seat. By the look
Molly threw him, he knew it was no time to argue
"So what do you two kids
have planned? Are you going to be staying here in New York or are
you going to be doing some more traveling?" Molly sips her
tea.
"We were thinking of returning to Jack's hometown, Chippewa
Falls Wisconsin," Rose smiled, excited att he aspect of
seeing how Jack grew up.
But Jack wasn't excited at all. In fact, he dreaded returning to
that little town. That little town where so much pain of his past
still lingered. "Like I said last night Rose, it's a option.
It doesn't mean that we're actually going to move there,"
Jack stares dwon at the table, not wanting the pain in his eyes
to show.
"Well I don't have a place in Chippewa Falls, but I do have
one in the next town over. Look me up sometime if you two do go
there," Molly smiled. "I'll be glad to have ya."
"Thanks Molly," Both Jack and Rose smiled.
"Well, Molly...if you don't mind, me and Rose have some
apartment shopping to do. We'll talk to you when we get back I
guess," Jack gets up from his seat and helps Rose up from
hers.
Once outside, Jack and Rose headed for central park. Rose wanted
some fresh air and time to take in the city before doing any
shopping at all. Sitting on the bench, Jack's mind returns to
Chippewa Falls...back to Eliza. He really did miss her. He can't
help but wonder what she was doing right now...if she married Lee
Conway. He hoped she hadn't. Even though he had found his
soulmate in Rose, he still cared about what happened to Eliza and
knew that Lee Conway was the wrong man for her.
"Jack?" Rose's voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Hmmm."
"Why don't you want to return to Chippewa Falls? I mean...it
was your hometown...where you grew up. It sounds like the perfect
place to raise a family," Rose places a tentative hand on
his cheek.
"Rose...It's just that....not all my memories of Chippewa
Falls are happy ones. I just have to find a way to deal with them
before I can return there. Besides, I don't think you'd like the
people there. In fact, there one person who reminds me of
Cal."
"Really?" Rose's interest is peaked.
"Hmmm."
"...Was he mean to you Jack?"
"He was mean to everyone, not just me. I had a friend there,
who he had a interest in when I left," Jack's now talking to
himself mostly. "I hope to od that she didn't get with
him."
"She?"
Jack immediately snaps back to attention. What was he doing? He
had almost spilt the beans about Eliza and their relationship. He
better change the subject fast before Rose asks anymore
questions.
"How do you feel about wishes?" Jack suddenly asked,
spotting a wishing well in the center of the park.
"Well...I'll tell you one thing...my wish came true
yesterday, so I believe in them. Why?"
"There's a wishing well right over there. If we throw a
penny in and make a wish, it'll come true," Jack smiles,
pulling her over to the well.
"But what will I wish for?" Rose laughed as Jack hands
her a penny he dug out of his pocket.
"Anything. Anything at all," Jack smiled, the optimism
in his voice has returned.
Tossing the penny into the cool water of the well, Rose thinks to
herself, "I want to go to Jack's hometown. I want to go to
Chippewa Falls."
"So what did you wish for?" Jack places a arm around
her shoulder.
"I can't tell you that. If I tell it won't come true,"
Rose laughs, playfully punching his arm.
"Ok ok. I understand,"Jack laughed, but his eyes turn
serious when he stops and laughing and takes her hands in his.
"I love you Rose Dawson. Now and forever."
"Oh Jack," Rose's heart leaps in her chest at the three
words he just said. "I love you too, now and forever."
They embraced and headed for the shopping part of New York where
they put the gift certificate to good use. Then Jack takes some
of the thousand dollars Molly had given them and treated Rose to
a night of dinner and dancing. That night, as they returned to
the hotel, Molly caught a glimpse of them returning to their room
and felt the warmth of happiness in her heart.
The next morning Molly woke up with a knock on the door.
"Coming coming! Keep your shirt on!" She yelled. She
opens the door to a nervous bellboy who was holding a letter out
to her.
"For you mam, from room A45," The bellboy stammered.
Obviously he was a new kid and she was his first guest.
"Thank-you," Molly said, tipping the boy after taking
the letter. Now why would Jack and Rose leave her a letter like
this and not come by themselves? She opens the letter and smiled
to herself as she read.:
Dear
Molly,
We'd like to thank you for your kindness and hospitality for the
past couple of days. You'll never know how much your kindness has
meant to us. Not just now with the money and the place to stay,
but also on the Titanic when you helped Jack with the first class
dinner. You saved him from being Cal's first class joke. I for
one will always be grateful for that because that was the night I
first fell in love with him. Molly, if you see my mother agian,
please keep the fact that I'm alive a secret. The last thing Jack
and I need is for her and Cal to come looking for us.
Also, Jack wants me to tell you that we plan to name our first
daughter after you..."The Unsinkable Molly Brown," as
one newspaper called you. Too bad the same couldn't be said about
Titanic. It really was a wonderful ship. I shall miss it. We'll
leave off here. If we do end up in Chippewa Falls, we'll drop you
a line.
Good-bye Molly, and remember, you never saw us.
Love Rose and Jack
A
tear slipped from Molly's eyes as she realized that the two young
people were again off on their own. She was just glad that she
could give them a hand when she could.
"Good luck Jack and Rose," Molly smiled, placing the
letter in a box full of memiors, such as the newspaper article
Rose had mentioned, and a postcard with a picture of Titanic on
it. "Whatever you do, never forget Titanic. It holds a
important lesson for us all."