AFTER STARTING ANEW
Chapter Four
January 18, 1919
8:25 A.M.
Rose stood outside the hospital car arguing
with the orderly.
“There must be a Jack Dawson in here. I got a
telegram saying that he was coming. He was not fit to travel by himself.”
“Sorry, ma’am. All the patients in here have
been discharged now,” the orderly said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Well, where is he then?” she demanded to
know.
“Ma’am, I am only responsible for the men in here.”
He was running out of patience with this exasperating woman.
She gave a heave of her shoulders, then
looked down next to her. Edy, Molly and Frank had been holding each other’s
hands, standing at her side. Now they were gone.
“Edy, Molly, Frank? Where are you?” she
cried, the panic obvious in her voice.
Now, not only could she not find Jack, but
her children had disappeared as well. Rose glanced quickly around the platform.
She saw a conductor checking his watch and she ran up to him.
“Have you seen three small children?” she
asked breathlessly.
“Two little girls and a boy?”
She nodded.
“They ran down that way,” he answered,
pointing to the end of the platform. “They were shouting something about
Daddy’s whistle. I really couldn’t tell and I wasn’t paying attention. Sorry,
ma’am.”
“Thanks, thanks, very much,” Rose shouted
over her shoulder, as she took off in the direction he pointed.
She kept running until she reached almost the
end of the platform. Rose stopped suddenly when she saw him, her heart skipping
a beat. She was shocked to see Jack standing. So there had been some
improvement in his condition. He still looked pale and gaunt. But gone were the
beard and the shaggy hair. He looked more like her old familiar, handsome Jack.
But her heart sank as she realized that he looked straight ahead with lifeless
eyes and no expression on his face. The children were clinging to the legs of
his trousers. Jack was caressing the tops of their heads.
She went on a little farther and when she was
a few feet away from him, she paused.
“Hello, Jack,” she said nervously.
He said nothing, just raised his arms slowly
and reached out to her. Rose walked into his embrace, threw her arms around his
neck and ran her fingers through his short hair. He bent his head down and his
lips hungrily sought hers.
Below them the children giggled at their
parent’s passionate kiss. They squirmed from out of the embrace.
Rose laid her head against Jack’s shoulder
and savored the moment of this reunion. Even though no words had passed between
them yet and she did not know what the future would bring, she was satisfied
just to be in his arms.
She heard Jack clear his throat. “Rose, you
know how much I hate purple. That purple coat is awful.”
“Alright, I’ll get rid of it,” she answered
without thinking.
Then the enormity of what he had just said
dawned on her.
Rose looked up at him. And she saw a glimmer
of light in his eyes. A tentative smile was on his lips. She touched his face
gently with her fingers.
“Jack? It’s okay? You can see?” she gasped.
He nodded solemnly.
“Yes, it’s fine now. Everything is fine. I’m
just very, very tired. I, I wanted to surprise you Rose. I wanted to give you
something special to make up for what I put you through on that visit. I am so
sorry. I hope you can forgive me,” he said hesitantly, but looking directly
into her eyes.
She sighed and was about to say something
when she was interrupted.
“Can we go home?” begged Frank. “I’m hungry.”
“Me too,” agreed Edy.
“Daddy whistled his Byron whistle and we knew
where he was,” chimed in Molly, referring to the special noise Jack made
whenever he wanted to summon Byron home from his nightly wanderings.
Jack had wanted time to explain, to
apologize. But it would have to wait until later.
“Let’s go, then,” said Jack, smiling at the
twins. “If I remember correctly, I know two little girls who have a birthday
that needs celebrating. And I need some helpers to get a few presents out of my
suitcase. I have something for everyone, even Byron.”
The girls looked up at their father and
beamed. Frank started tugging on Rose’s hand, trying to hurry her along. Rose
bit her lip and smiled as if to herself. This was Jack, the kind and gentle man
that she had married. He had returned, not only in body, but in his tender
spirit as well. Now if he would only take her again into his heart.
As they walked along the platform, he said to
Rose in a soft voice, “We’ll talk about everything later tonight, when it’s
quiet. All right?”
“All right, Jack,” she said cautiously.
Jack stopped for a moment. He summoned up
what little energy he had. He wanted to give Rose one of those looks that she
had once told him made her feel faint. Just to see if there was a chance that
she had forgiven him. If there was a chance that things could work out for
them.
He looked down at her and it must have
worked. Because what he saw in her eyes was hope. Maybe everything would be all
right.
Rose raised her eyes to the sky and put her
hand over her chest. He smiled at her again, and for the first time since the
war began, she felt as though her world was not spinning out of control.