17
It was a beautiful day for a wedding. That was Jack’s thoughts as he stepped outside to wait for Rose. They had an appointment with the Justice of the Peace at four and they had to leave right away if they were going to make it on time. Jack looked at his watch and frowned. She should have been there by now. Maybe she wasn’t coming. Maybe she changed her mind and didn’t want to marry him at all.
"Jack!" Rose called, pushing her way through the churning crowd. "Jack!"
"There you are," Jack rushed to meet her. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come."
Rose giggled, surprised by Jack’s insecurity. She had thought he knew that she’d follow him to the ends of the earth by now. "Why wouldn’t I come?"
"I guess I’m the one being silly right now," Jack smiled, pulling her to the car. "Come on. Let’s get married."
~*~
"I now pronounce you man and wife," the Justice of the Peace smiled at the young couple before him. When they had come to him, he knew at once that they were in love and were meant to be together. "You may now kiss the bride."
Happily, Jack and Rose kissed, sealing their union. The perfect moment was immediately shattered by shouting voice and slamming doors.
"What is the meaning of this?" The official stepped in front of the newlyweds, just as Ruth and Chloe stormed into the room. Both women were glaring furiously at Jack and Rose.
"Stop the wedding!" Chloe yelled.
"What are you doing here?" Jack glared at his sister. She just couldn’t let him be happy. She just had to ruin everything. Maybe he should have just taken Rose and left Chicago.
"I leaned on Moira. She told me everything!" Chloe glared angrily at her brother. "What is wrong with you two? Getting married?!"
"Why Rose?" Ruth asked. "Why did you do such a thing?"
"You wouldn’t understand," Rose shook her head, frowning at the tightness she felt in her lower abdomen. Suddenly she didn’t feel very well.
"You’re too young for this!" Chloe continued yelling at Jack who glared angrily at his sister, momentarily forgetting that they weren’t alone.
"No I’m not! I know exactly what I want! I want to be with Rose!"
Chloe opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by a painful gasp from Rose, who was clutching her abdomen, her face pale and sweaty.
"Rose? What is it? Is it the baby?" Jack gently took her arm.
Rose couldn’t answer. She ended up collapsing in a pool of blood beneath her.
"Rose!" Ruth screamed, dropping to Rose’s side.
"This girl needs medical attention," The justice went for the phone.
"What’s going on?" Chloe asked, not knowing hwat to do, her anger momentarily forgotten.
"Jack…our baby…,"
Rose groaned, tears forming in her eyes as another pain gripped
her. "It’s too soon."
Jack gently stroked her hair, trying not to look at the blood;
trying not to think of their baby. A baby that was very likely
gone.
"The ambulance is on it’s way," the justice returned. He placed a comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder. "I’m sure she’ll be alright."
~*~
Her baby. Gone. Gone forever. How could she still be here while her baby was not? It’s life ended before it even began. Rose stared up at the ceiling, drowning in her own devastation. It had been ten hours since she was brought in and told that she had suffered a miscarriage. At first she had been overcome with grief. Now all she felt was numb and empty. Her tears were all cried out, her heart in so much pain that she couldn’t feel it anymore.
"Why didn’t you tell me Rose?" Ruth stepped out of the shadows. Rose could read nothing from her blank expression.
"Where’s Jack?" She ignored the question. She couldn’t talk about anything concerning the baby now. It was too painful.
"Outside with his sister. Now, why didn’t you tell me about the baby and did you really think that getting married would solve anything?"
Rose sighed and stared back up at the ceiling. "I don’t know why I didn’t tell you mother. I really don’t. As far as getting married, we would have given the baby a family. If only…," Rose sighed, closing her eyes against the new onslaught of tears. "The baby wasn’t our only reason for getting married. We love each other. We wanted to be together forever."
"Rose, you’re seventeen years old. You don’t know what love is! Do you know what you’ve done? The Hockley’s will never let us back in their social circle now…"
"I knew it! I knew the Hockley’s and their money was there somewhere!" Rose laughed sardonically.
"What’s so funny? Rose, this is very serious…"
"Get out!" Rose glared at her mother, not wanting to ear anymore.
"What?"
"Get out! I am so sick of hearing about the Hockley’s from you, so get out! Go tell it to them!"
"Fine Rose. I’ll leave. But we still have a lot to talk about and yes, the Hockley’s are one of them," Ruth grabbed her purse and left Rose alone to her thoughts.
~*~
Jack sat in the lobby, his head in his hands. This was all his fault. The pregnancy, the miscarriage…if he hadn’t been so thoughtless. So selfish and needy…Rose wouldn’t be here, morning over the loss of their child. He looked up at Chloe, surprised that she hadn’t insisted on dragging him home and locking him in his room…that she was there at all.
"So…I guess you’re happy now," Jack’s voice was both bitter and sad. He didn’t know why he felt so angry really, but he had to take it out on someone.
"Jack…this is not my fault," Chloe looked at her brother, knowing that he was grieving and didn’t mean what he was saying. "I never wanted something like this to happen. This what what I was trying to prevent."
"I’m not leaving her Chloe. I don’t care what you say. I love Rose and she loves me. I’m not leaving her," Jack’s face was set with determination, daring her to disagree.
"Fine. I agree. I see now that any attempt to separate the two of you is fruitless. SO for now on, I’ll leave you alone. You and Rose are allowed to see each other whenever. You’ll have no more problems from me."
Jack opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrrupted by the nurse.
"Mr. Dawson?" She asked hesitantly. "The young lady will see you now."
"Will you still be here when I come back?" He turned to Chloe, his anger completely gone. Now only his grief remained and he needed someone to be there for him while he was there for Rose. He needed his sister.
"If you want me to be," Chloe nodded.
"I want you to be," He smiled slightly before following the nurse into a separate corridor.
"How is she?" Jack asked as they approached Rose’s room.
"As well as can be expected after such a loss. Poor dear," the nurse shook her head in sympathy. "She’s right through the door."
"Thank you," he watched the nurse walk away, his thoughts all jumbled. What was he going to say to Rose? What was she going to say to him? Did she blame him? After all, if it wasn’t for the problems he had caused, Rose wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
Taking a deep breath, he entered and stopped, his eyes wide in shock. Gone was his vibrant, beautiful Rose. So full of life, love and happiness. In her place was this stanger. So full of sadness, hopelessness, and devastation. Her normally bouncey red curls now laid flat and lifeless against her shoulders. Her face was as white as chalk and her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying she had done.
"Rose?" Jack asked, not really sure it was her.
She looked up at him and then looked away as if she was ashamed. Jack inwardly sighed. It wasn’t Rose who should be ashamed. It was him. He should be the one ashamed. After all, he had been the cause of all the stress. "T-they finally let me see you…"
"Do you hate me?" Her eyes shone with renewed tears.
"Do I hate you? Oh Rose no. Of course I don’t hate you. Why would you think such a thing?" Jack knelt next to her. "I love you."
"But I…I killed our baby," a tear fell.
"No Rose. You did nothing. You did not kill the baby If you want to blame someone, blame me. All the stress I’ve caused…"
"Oh Jack no! Don’t," She laid a cool hand on top of his. "Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t cause the stress."
"Rose…"
"No Jack. No. You did not kill our baby."
"Neither did you. The baby’s death…it was just one of those things that happen. The important thing is that you’re ok. The doctor said that you’ll be able to bear children until you’re sixty."
Rose smiled slightly, feeling a bit better. She touched Jack’s face tenderly and asked, "What would I do without you?"
Jack grinned brightly. "You’ll
never have to find out."
Looking into each other’s eyes, Jack and Rose knew that
nothing on earth could ever come between them. They were going to
be together forever.