CHAPTER TEN
George leads Rose and Molly down the street and around the block just to stop at a small brick cottage. He turns to Rose and Molly, clearing his throat.
"This is Jack’s best friend’s house. I don’t know if he’s home yet, but he’ll be able to tell you all about Jack’s time here," george nods before ringing the bell. Molly looks over at Rose and notices how pale she’s become.
"Rosie are you ok? We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to," Molly squeezes her friend’s hand.
"I’m fine Molly. I have to do this. For Jack. It’s only right that his friends know what happened to him."
Molly nods. "Okay sugar. But if it gets too difficult just let me know and We’re out of there. Ok?"
Rose only smiles and nods. She closes her eyes, silently asking Jack to give her the strength to do this. She didn’t want to break down in hysterics in front of strangers.
"Yes may I help you?" a petite blond woman answers the door, her green eyes examines Rose curiously. Her eyes dim when she sees George. "George Dawson. Whatever do you want?"
"I’m here to see Thomas," George’s voice is twice as cold. "this young lady here needs to talk to him."
"Why?"
"That’s none of your concern," George crossed his arms. "Now can you let the leash off Thomas for a couple of hours or is that asking too much?"
"Come in," The blonde steps aside, glaring at Rose intently. She was of course suspicious of the beautiful redhead. What can she want with her husband? "Thomas! Company!"
"Yeah?" A man with ebony black hair and brown eyes jogs into the room, his full attention on his wife.
"George Dawson is here claiming that this…" The blond give’s Rose a disgusted look. "Needs to talk to you."
Thomas turns to the small
group. "What is this about?"
"Let me introduce ourselves first," Molly steps in.
"I am Molly Brown and this is Rose Dawson."
"Yeah?" Thomas crossed his arms. Oh boy, another Dawson cousin. Just what this town needs. "Well I’m Thomas Downs and this is my wife Patricia. What can I do for you?"
"She’s the widow of young Jack Dawson," Molly nods. "Of course you can tell she’s carrying his child."
"Jack Dawson," Thomas gasps. "Widow…that means…"
"My God," Patricia’s hand flies to her throat. She had also known Jack Dawson. She wasn’t really fond of her husband’s best friend with his bright attitude and crazy ideas, but she didn’t dislike him either. Unlike Thomas’s other friends, Jack had always treated her with the utmost respect. "How?"
"We were on the Titanic…Jack died a hero’s death," Rose holds back her sobs.
"Titanic...," Thomas grips onto the nearest chair, the news of his best friend’s death was hitting him hard.
"I’ll take it from here Rosie. George, why don’t you take Rose out for some air, she looks rather pale."
"Yes mam," George take’s Rose’s shoulders and leads her outside.
"Sorry, Rose is still in mourning. She cries for Jack about every night. What makes things worse is that she’s not only a widow but with child as well if you haven’t noticed already. The thing is Jack never talked about his past much and Rose is looking for information about him so she can tell their child about it’s father when he or she gets older. She wants to make sure that Jack’s memory never dies. That the child will know that it’s father was a kind, good man."
"Oh. Ok. We’ll share all we know, won’t we Pattie?" Thomas nods.
Patricia nods. "Of course. This is awful news. Just awful."
"Well have George bring
her back in. Pattie here will prepare some tea and scones and
we’ll go into the living room and talk about Jack."
Molly smiles, "Thank you," She heads out to retrieve
George and Rose.
Everyone is seated in the livingroom. Rose’s hand trembles a little as they set, ready to talk about her beloved. It was still hard to believe that she was here and he wasn’t.
"So where should I begin?" Thomas asked. "Well…Jack Dawson was my best friend, even though he got me in tons of trouble. Especially in school with Mrs. Scrowls, our third grade teacher. Jack was always joking around and schemeing. Of course, I’d get drawn into his schemes. I didn’t want to take part of course…but with Jack…he was just so…"
"Irresistable," Rose silently replies.
"Yes. Irresistable. He’d make anything sound like perfect sense. When we got caught with his schemes, which usually backfired, we’d get detention. But Jack never letted it get him down. He enjoyed each and everyday like it was his last."
"That sounds like Jack," Rose smiled. "He made everyday count. He had such a love for life."
"His art work…he drew so beautifully," Pattie nods. He sketched Thomas and I a couple of times. I still have those sketches put away somewhere upstares."
"I can go up and get them if you like," Thomas offers.
"Oh would you?" Rose’s eyes light up. Any thing her Jack had created, she wanted to see.
"I’ll be right back," Pattie smiled, getting up and heading upstairs.
"So…was Jack’s death…was it painful?" Thomas nervously asked. He didn’t want to bring up bad memories for Rose, but he had to know if his friend was in pain.
"Well…at first…the waters were freezing…like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. But come to think of it now…near the end, Jack was starting to relax. He wasn’t shivering anymore. He just fell asleep and slipped away."
"So he wasn’t in any pain?"
"Not for long no."
"Jack," Thomas sighed. "Of all the people to go first it had to be him. It’s not fair you know. He had such a love for life and he was so talented. He had a lot to live for and to have it all snuffed out like that…"
"The good ole Dawson luck didn’t hold out for Jack I guess," George sighed. "It’s too bad that we don’t have his body. He deserves a decent burial."
"Well who says we can’t give him one huh? I mean…Rose here is his widow. She deserves a chance to say good-bye and so do we all. I can go down to see old Mister Ravens and have a headstone made. I can get in touch with the rest of Jack’s friends and they can stand up and share their memories of Jack before he left. That way Rose gets to bury her husband and get a bunch of memories without a lot of traveling."
"Now that’s a good idea Thomas. I guess you’re not useless after all," George clapped him on the back. "Rose you don’t mind us doing this do you?"
"Oh no. Of course not. It’s just that…I didn’t think I’d have to say good-bye to him so soon," Rose swallowed.
"You’re not saying good-bye darling. You’re just giving him a place to rest. Plus a place where the people that loved him can come and cherish his memory. Something that says remember me. Who I was and who I could have been," Molly placed a comforting hand on Rose’s shoulder. "Really, I don’t think it’ll ever be good-bye between you and Jack. He’s always going to be with you, making sure to keep that promsie."
Rose forced a smile. "You’re right. I’m fine with this. So when do you want to have it?" Rose asked.
George made a face, knowing just how the town was going to react to the news of Jack’s passing. "As soon as possible."