Mother
Present day…
The next picture was a picture of her and her mother. She remembered the day her mother had appeared in town and their talk about the past and the future…
. She’s been married to Jason for five years now and everything was perfect. Tired of Santa Monica they had moved back to his home town of Cedar Rapids Iowa. Nine months later Rose gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. They named her Josephine. She had Rose’s red curls and Jason’s blue eyes.
Rose has taken her children to the park and is watching five year old Jake play jacks while she feeds Josephine. She’s putting Josephine back in her bassinet when she spots a familiar pale woman staring straight at her, shock in her eyes. Rose gasps in fear when she realized who the woman was.
"Jake!" Rose called. "Come on! It’s time to go!"
"But mommy I’m playing with my friend!" Jake called back.
Rose rolls her eyes for the thousandth time. Jake keeps insisting that he has an invisible friend he plays with. Rose had asked him the name but Jake refuses to tell her. Both Jason and Rose had tried to get Jake to give up the notion of the friend, but he has refused.
"Jake we have already discussed this about your friend. Now come on!"
"Ok Mommy! I’m sorry. I have to go now!" Jake turns and replies to the empty air before getting up and joining his mother, his blue eyes cast to the ground. "Do we really have to go?"
"Fraid so dear," Rose strokes his blond head. He was looking more and more like Jack everyday.
"Rose wait!" the woman called desperately. "Rose!"
"Mommy who’s that?" Jake points to the woman, who was quickly approaching them.
"No one Jake. Come on," Rose pull him along and out of the park. She doesn’t stop until she reaches the safety of the house.
"Mommy, why was that lady crying?" Jake asked.
"I don’t know Jake. Listen, why don’t you go upstairs and play in your room for a while while I put your sister to sleep. Then I’ll be in to tell you a story."
"Ok. Can I play with my friend?"
Rose sighed in defeat. "If you want Jake."
"Thank-you mommy!" Jake hugs her and bounds up the stairs.
"Oh Jack, what am I going to do about your son’s imagination," Rose sighed leaning against the door. "And what am I going to do about her?"
No answer. Jack rarely spoke to her anymore. But he was always with her. She could feel him.
"Another one I have to figure out on my own huh?" Rose laughed and laughed harder that here she was telling her son to stop playing with his imaginary friends while she stood here talking to an empty room.
Rose jumps as there’s a slight knock on the door. She looks out to see the woman she’s been dreading to run into for the past six years. She sighed. She knew she didn’t have a choice. She’d have to confront her mother sooner or later.
Josephine begins to whimper.
"It’s ok darling. Mommy won’t let anything happen to you," Rose soothed her daughter.
Taking a deep breath, she opens the door to reveal Ruth Dewitt Bukater, her tear filled eyes lighting up with happiness.
"Oh Rose! I knew it was you! I just knew it!" Ruth cried, throwing her arms around Rose who was not responding. "Oh Rose, it’s ok now. I’ve found you."
"Hello mother," Rose replied coldly, pulling away from the hug.
"Oh Rose everything’s okay now. Cal hasn’t married that girl yet so we can go stop the wedding and everything can return to normal."
Rose laughed at Ruth’s ramblings. "You haven’t changed one bit have you mother. Still trying to get hold of that Hockley money."
"Rose…what’s gotten into you talking to your dear mother that away," Ruth asked. "And why didn’t you come to us when you boarded the Carpathia? Cal had looked all over for you and couldn’t find you anywhere, your name wasn’t even on the survivor’s list."
"That’s because I went by Rose Dawson then, and I go by Rose Calvert now."
"What?"
"I’m married now mother…with children," Rose sighed.
"You mean those children at the park?"
"They’re mine."
"I guess you got married to that Steerage boy then," Ruth struggles with her temper, not wanting to anger Rose.
"His name was Jack mother. Jack Dawson. And no. I didn’t marry him…he died that night mother. He froze to death, but I do have his son."
"Then who did you marry?"
"His cousin. Jason. Jason Calvert. He loved Jack a lot and he loved his son even more…and he loves me and takes care of us. And three months ago, we had our first child together," Rose crosses her arms.
"Is that the baby?" Ruth looks over Rose’s shoulder at the bassinet.
Rose just nods, still blocking Ruth’s way into the house. "I’m sorry mother. I guess this means you won’t be getting none of that Hockley money after all."
Ruth looked at Rose sadly and noticed the haunted stare in Rose’s eyes. Rose had been through such tragedy, but yet she had risen above it and moved on with her life instead of living in the past, something Ruth’s been doing for the past six years. "Rose…I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the way I treated you before and during that awful voyage."
"Are you mother?"
"I am," Ruth nods. "I am. I ruined you life."
Rose laughs again. "Oh mother please. Let’s not be so melodramatic. You almost ruined my life. If it wasn’t for Jack making me see that I can break away from you and Cal…that I was a strong person with a mind of my own…My life would have been ruined. You see, Jack saved me. In everyway a person could be saved. And even though he’s dead…he made sure I was well taken care of by sending me Jason and for that I’m always going to be thankful to him. So you see mother, you didn’t ruin my life at all."
"But look at you. You’re stuck in the lower class married with children, one of them not even your husbands. You can’t tell me that doesn’t bother him," Ruth shakes her head.
"It doesn’t. You see like I said Jason and Jack were close cousins. When he found out about Jack’s death he was devastated. But now he’s healing better because he raise Jack’s son and tell him what a wonderful man his father was and Jason’s a wonderful father indeed. He loves Jake like he was his own."
"Well Rose. What can I say? I guess you got lucky. But life will never be as easy as it would have been if you had married Caledon," Ruth holds her head up.
"You’re right mother. It won’t be. And that’s the way I want it," Rose crossed her arms. "Now if you don’t mind, Josephine needs to be put down for her nap."
"Rose…after you put her down…we really do need to talk. I need you to understand my reasoning all those years ago…I know to you there isn’t a good enough reason, but at least hear me out."
Rose sighed. She wanted her mother gone. She didn’t really care to hear why she did what she did. But she’ll give her mother this one chance. Who knows…maybe there was a good reason for trying to force her to marry Cal. But then again, Rose really couldn’t think of one.
"Ok mother. Wait down here. I’ll go put Josephine to bed and make us some tea. Then we’ll set and you can tell me what good reason you came up with for selling me into a loveless marriage," Rose turns to go upstairs.
"Mommy!" Jake called as Rose walked pass his room. "My friend said it’ll be alright!"
"What was that Jake?" Rose stops in midstride.
"My friend. He said it’ll be alright."
"What will?" Rose asked furrowing her brow.
Jake shrugged, his blue eyes lit with innocence. "I don’t know. He just told me to say that."
Rose just shakes her head and smile. That was her son. His imagination always in action. "Jake, listen out for your sister for me okay? Mommy has a visitor and will be busy for a while."
"Yes mommy," Jake nods going back to working his puzzle, his blond hair falling into his eyes. She reminded herself to take Jake to the barber for a haircut. She remembered how Jack’s hair always seemed to fall into his face. Like father like son so to speak.
Ten minutes later, Rose emerges into her living room carrying a tray containing a piping hot tea and a coffeecake she had made that morning just as Jason returned home, unaware of their houseguest.
"Rose? Cake? What’s the occasion?" He lifted one of the slices off the platter.
"If you’d stop eyeing the food for a minute, you’d see we have company," Rose uneasily looked between her mother and her husband. What would Ruth think of Jason? Would she treat him like she had treated Jack? Or would she accept him as a part of her family? This was the moment of truth. If Ruth even showed signs of the Philadelphia snob that Rose remembered…she’ll be out of Rose’s life forever. There was no other choice.
"Mother, this is my husband Jason Calvert. Darling, this is my mother. Ruth Dewitt Bukater," Rose introduced, her eyes never leaving Ruth’s face.
To Rose’s surprise, a smile warmed Ruth’s lips as she stood and took the young man’s hand. This was the man that had given Rose back her heart and for that Ruth was eternally grateful. "It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve waited so long for this moment."
A weight had lifted off of Rose’s shoulders. By what she was seeing, her mother had truly changed for the better. There was hope after all. That night, Ruth met her grandchildren and was accepted fully back into her daughter’s heart. She died ten years later, a happy woman surrounded by family and friends.