A ROSE BLOWING IN THE WIND
Chapter Three
Rose awoke with the sun in her
eyes. Yawning and stretching, Rose turned around to see her two roommates still
asleep. She sighed softly to herself, enjoying the quiet. No ever-going engine
of a boat or ship or waves on the side of a ship. Just the peaceful quiet of a
house. She looked up at the sky and noticed the bright blue color...the blue of
Jack's eyes.
"Good morning,
sunshine." She smiled, her mood lifting for the first time since Titanic
sank. She didn't know where this new love of life had come from, but she was
glad it came. For once, she actually felt like keeping her promise to Jack.
"Wake up, girls! We have a
lot of chores to run today!" Mrs. Wilma stuck her head through the door.
"Oh, Rose, you're awake. You don't have to get up if you don't want to.
It's only these two I'm wanting."
"That's okay, Mrs.
Singleton. I don't mind helping. It'll keep my mind off things." Rose
smiled, getting up out of bed.
"No, no, dear. Just relax
today, maybe get to know some of the other girls from the ship if you don't
know them already." Mrs. Wilma smiled before sternly glancing at the two
girls now sitting up and rubbing their eyes. "Now, you two come on.
Breakfast needs to be cooked and the table set."
The two girls just mumbled
grumpily under their breaths as Mrs. Wilma closed the door.
"Enjoy this while you can,
dearie. She'll put you to work, too, sooner or later," the blonde said
before following the brunette out the door. Rose just shook her head, thinking
what a weird pair they made. What would Jack have thought of them?
Rose sat back down on the bed and
sighed deeply. This was the start of a new day, and she had no idea what to do
next. She couldn't walk around in a trance like she'd been doing for the past
couple of days on the Carpathia. She had to get out and do something...begin
living life again. She glanced at the coat that still hid the money and the
necklace. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to find a bank to
put the money and necklace somewhere safe.
Slipping on the coat, she slipped
out of the room, just to run into Laurie.
"Rose, where on earth are
you going this early in the morning?" Laurie asked, looking her up and
down.
"I have to take care of a
couple of things in town," Rose explained.
"Well, everything's closed
right now. Listen, why don't you come down with me and have breakfast? We all
go to town every afternoon, except Sunday. Why don't you just come with us? You
can do your business then." Laurie smiled.
"Okay." Rose nodded.
She might as well go with Laurie and her friends to town, since she didn't know
very much about the city.
"Great. Come on. Let's go
eat."
Three Hours Later
Rose tentatively walked into the
Great National Bank of New York City. She nervously walked up to the counter
and cleared her throat.
"May I help you?" An
elderly gentleman looked up at her.
"Yes. I'd like to rent a
safety deposit box." Rose nodded.
"Right this way, miss."
The man beckoned for her to follow him into a small room. He took out a square,
locked box and handed her a key. "I hope you enjoy our services,
miss."
Rose just nodded as he left her
alone in the room.
Rose took out the necklace and
watched it sparkle in the light. She sighed sadly. The necklace held a lot of
memories for her, and she hated to part with it, but right now she had no
choice. She didn't want anyone to know that she owned such an expensive piece
of jewelry. Anyone could easily trace it back to Cal. She also put in the two
thousand dollars. Money for later.
Nodding to the teller that had
helped her, Rose exited the bank and rejoined the group that was now entering a
general store.
"Ten pounds of flour,
Carl." Mrs. Wilma went up to the counter. "Anything for you
girls?"
"No, Mrs. Wilma."
Everyone shook their heads.
"Laurie...I'm going to go
outside to the park. I'll meet up with you later," Rose whispered to her
new friend, getting the urge to be by herself for a while.
"Okay, Rose. But be careful.
There's a lot of unsavory people in this town...and if some of them find out
you're staying with Mrs. Wilma...well, let's just say she has some
enemies."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine.
My guardian angel will look after me." Rose smiled, thinking of Jack and
how he had pulled her back over the railing on the Titanic.
"Okay, then. I'll tell Mrs. Wilma
when she's done." Laurie nodded, watching Rose leave the store.