AFTER TITANIC
BOOK ONE
Chapter Sixteen
Jack immediately releases Eliza
and turns around to face Marge Hathaway, Eliza's mother.
"Jack Dawson. I should have known you would return to ruin
my daughter's happiness," Marge frowns.
"mother!" Eliza exclaimed, her face growing bright red.
"Don't do this mother, please."
"Hello Mrs. Hathaway. It's good to see that you're haven't
changed a bit after all these years," Jack forces a smile.
He wasn't going to give Marge Hathaway the satisfaction of seeing
him sweat.
"And you haven't changed a bit either. You're still
insisting on ruining my daughter's life. And now, after she's
found herself a decent man to marry."
"Lee Conway may be rich, but he's far from decent,"
Jack said. "But it doesn't surprise me that you want Eliza
to marry a man she doesn't love."
"Lee Conway is a far
better man than you are Mr. Dawson. I'm proud that my daughter is
marrying him and she is to. Now if you don't mind, I'm taking my
daughter to her luncheon. Good day," Mrs. Hathaway grabs her
daughter's hand and begins dragging her to the door. "Come
along Eliza. We must be going."
"Wait a minute mother, I have to wait for Rose," Eliza
draws back.
"Why in the world do you insist on having that girl as your
bridesmaid is completely beyond me," Mrs. Hathaway snorts,
letting go of her daughter's hand. "But since you insist, go
in and get her. Then we'll be on our way."
Taking one look over at Jack, Eliza goes through the door where
Rose had disappeared a couple of minutes earlier, leaving Jack
alone with her mother, who's glaring intently at him.
"You shouldn't have come back Mr. Dawson. Chippewa Falls has
changed a lot in the last five years. Now that the Conway's are
in control of the town...things are a lot better."
"Is that so? Well Mrs. Hathaway, I know from experience that
new and better things tend to turn into disasters. So I wouldn't
sound so cocky if I was you," Jack replied. He learned a lot
about uppity high society women from the first class dinner with
Rose's mother. Never let them see you sweat, and he thinks that
Mrs. Ruth Dewitt Bukater was the best at cold stares. So if could
withstand the cold glares Rose's mother threw his way, he can
certainly withstand Mrs. Hathaway's cold stares.
"You have your nerve Mr. Dawson. You're just like your
mother, so sure of yourself. It must be a trait."
"I hope so," Jack smiled then glances at the door as
Rose and Eliza come out. Rose is back in her blue dress she was
wearing earlier that morning.
"Are you two ready?" Mrs. Hathaway asked. "I want
to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Uh...I'm not going this time around," Rose replied.
"I rather spend the day with my husband" She takes
Jack's hand and lovingly smiles up at him.
"Husband?" Mrs. Hathaway stares at Jack and Rose in
shock. "But you said your last name was Hockley."
"That's a long story mother. I'll tell you on the way. We
better be going," Eliza hasitly pulls her mother out the
door. "See you later Rose."
Rose waves before turning to her husband. "So I'm free for
the rest of the day. What do you want to do?"
Pulling his attention away from the door, he turns to Rose, who's
staring up at him innocently with her lovely green eyes.
"Are you hungry Rose? You left pretty early today."
"Well, I haven't eaten all day and I know that's not good
for the baby...what do you have in mind?"
"Take you back to the house and cook you up the biggest
brunch you ever saw," Jack smiled. "But first we should
stop at the grocers. I have some extra money from some sketches I
sold plus all that money Molly gave us," Jack steps closer
to her.
"You still have molly's money?"
"Yeah. I didn't anything else to do with it so I saved it. I
figured that it'd come in handy someday. Come on Rose," Jack
looks around the store and sees the saleslady eyeing them
suspiciously. "Let's get out of here. I think that saleslady
think we're going to steal something."
"Why would she think that?" Rose asked. Even though
she's been away from her high society life for months now, she
was still pretty naive about how the lower classes were looked
upon.
Jack just gently smiles at her and kisses her forehead. He almost
forgot that she was new at this. She was going to have to learn
to accept the dirty looks people would throw her way. "Let's
just go," Jack leads her out of the store and onto the
street.
Rose stretches comfortably after devouring the delicious meal
Jack had prepared. She had no idea he could cook. She can't help
but wonder what else she'd find out about him as their marriage
progressed.
"So Rose...have you given any thought about what Molly said
about your mother?" Jack enters the living room. He didn't
really want to discuss Rose's mother with her just yet, but he
thought it would do her some good to think things through before
cutting her mother out of her life completely. After all, Ruth
Dewitt Bukater was going to be the only grandparent this baby was
going to have.
"Jack...do we really have to talk about this now?"
Jack sits beside her and takes her hand in his. He looks her
straight in the eye and nods. "Rose...she's your mother. She
raised you. Think before you cut her off completely. If not for
your sake, then for our baby's. I mean, she's going to be the
only grandparent it'll know."
"But Jack, she...after all she's done to us..."
"Rose, think. What exactly did she do to us besides
forbidding you to see me again...what was the horrible thing she
did to us?"
Jack was right. There was no reason for her to hide from her
mother. Besides, she was married to Jack now and was going to
have his baby. There was no way her mother could force her to
return to Cal. But before Rose could give her answer, there was a
knock at the door.
"I'll get that," Jack gets up and opens the door to
Molly.
"Can I come in?" Molly asked, not sure if she was
interrupting an intimate moment between them or not.
"Of course," Jack steps aside.
"I just came by to say good-bye to you two. I can't tell you
how happy it makes me to see you two back together and your love
stronger than ever," Molly smiled, her eyes full of
happiness.
"We'll miss you Molly," Rose sniffed, rising up to hug
the woman who's been like a mother to her. "Thank you for
bringing Jack back to me. I really had thought I'd lost
him."
"You're welcomed my dear. And don't worry about losing him.
I don't think you'd be able to even if you tried," Molly
grinned hugging Rose closer. "I'll be in the next town over,
so if you ever need anything, just get in contact with me. I'll
be here in two shakes of a lambs tail."
"Thank-you Molly," Jack hugs her once she let's go of
Rose.
"And Molly," Rose said. "If you see my mother
again...you can kind of hint to her about my wear abouts. If she
really misses me...she'll understand."
Molly just stares at Rose with wonder in her eyes. So she's
decided to forgive Ruth for trying to force her to marry Cal.
Molly can't help but be glad about that. The woman missed her
daughter terribly and would give anything to have another chance.
"If that's what you want Rose."
"It is Molly," Rose nods, slipping her hand into Jacks.
This was the hardest thing she had to do. Thank-goodness she now
had Jack to help her through it. "It's time I made peace
with her. For the baby's sake."
"You're making a wise decision Rose. Trust me, you
are," Molly again hugs her closely. "Well, it's time
for me to depart. I'll try to drop by again in a couple of
weeks...maybe I'll have Ruth with me."
"Bye Molly," Rose sniffed, hating to say good-bye.
"Take care of them Jack," Molly nods to the boy who's
sadly smiling. He too is sad to see Molly go. She's been a
Godsend for him.
"Don't worry Molly. I will," Jack smiled.
Both Jack and Rose stand in the doorway of their house, waving to
the departing car that was taking Molly Brown back to her home.
They would always be grateful to her for all she's done.