RUNAWAY ROSE
Chapter Seventy-Four
June 20, 1917
Over the month that followed, Jack and Rose saw
each other every day. Some evenings, if he worked late, Jack would meet Rose at
the café when her shift ended, and they would eat dinner together, talking
about what had happened that day and anything else that came to mind. Other
evenings, Rose would walk out to Jack’s house, bringing dinner with her, and
they would sit together at the table or sit on the front step. When they
discovered that they both had Sundays off, they took to spending the day
together, walking slowly around the town or meeting in the park, spending hours
just enjoying being together. Jack showed Rose some of the city’s sights,
including the magnificent architecture of the Mission Inn, the grounds of the
Sherman Indian School, which had been moved to Riverside from Perris in the late
1890’s, and the orange groves around the city, the pride and joy of the growing
California town.
On the day before Jack was to leave for Los
Angeles, he and Rose borrowed a wagon and horses from one of Jack’s neighbors
and drove up to Mount Rubidoux. There weren’t many people around on the warm
summer day, with most people being at work and others being discouraged by the
heat and dryness of early summer. Since 1909, Mount Rubidoux had been the site
of an annual Easter Sunrise Service, the tradition first started by Frank
Miller, one of Riverside’s pioneers and the owner of the Mission Inn. Jack had
attended the service himself that year, riding along with the neighbors he had
borrowed the wagon from.
Rose had taken the day off from work to go
with him. She still hadn’t decided whether or not she would go with him to Los
Angeles, though the question was on her mind constantly.
When they reached the base of the hill, Jack
unhitched the horses, led them to a small spring to drink, and tied them to a
low tree branch where there was enough grass to last a few hours. He and Rose
started hiking slowly up the hill.
Both were silent, lost in thought, as they
slowly made their way uphill. Leaning heavily on his walking stick, he walked
beside Rose, his mind going over whether he should ask her again to go with
him. He had watched her over the past month, observing how she was settling
into her life in the small city. She had a good job, and had made several
friends. He didn’t know if he would be fair in asking her to leave this place
behind and head for yet another new home. For that matter, he wasn’t sure that
she would want to make a life with him. What did he have to offer her, really?
He had more money than when they had met on the Titanic so long ago, but he had
changed since then. He had seen a lot more of life, and beyond that, he was
crippled now. Not badly, but enough that he would always have some difficulty,
and it had been long enough that he doubted that he would ever get any better.
Would she really want to go away with him, knowing how things were?
Halfway up, they stopped to rest. It wasn’t a
horribly long walk for Rose, who had walked thousands of miles in the past few
years, but the climb was difficult for Jack, with his bad leg. Finding a low
boulder in the shade of some tall brush, they sat down together, each still
lost in their own thoughts.
Rose didn’t know what to decide. She had
found peace for the first time in a long time in this place, and she had a
steady job and a few friends. The sense of impending doom that had hung over
her like a cloud for so long had eased, and she seldom thought about the
consequences of her presence to others. She was content.
But she didn’t want to part from Jack. She
had mourned him for years, though she had gone on with her life, and she had
never stopped loving him. Now that they were together again, she loved him more
than ever, but she had found peace and contentment, and she wasn’t sure that
she wanted to leave the new life that she had established and go to yet another
place. She loved him, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She had to
make a decision soon, though. He was leaving tomorrow, and if she didn’t go
with him, there was no telling when, or if, she would see him again. She wished
that he could stay in Riverside, but knew that it was impossible. He had to go
to Los Angeles and take the easier job offered to him. The work he was doing
now was too hard.
After about fifteen minutes, they resumed
their climb. Rose tucked her canteen back into her bag and stood, then waited
while Jack pulled himself to his feet with the help of his walking stick. They
hadn’t gone three feet when he stumbled over a rock with his bad leg and
pitched forward into the dust.
"Goddammit!" he swore, then looked
at Rose apologetically.
She reached out a hand to help him to his
feet. "I’ve heard worse."
"I hate it when this happens," he
complained, taking her hand and letting her help him up.
"Does it happen often?"
"Only when there’s something to trip
over."
Rose handed him his walking stick. "Just
take it easy, all right? Don’t go falling over any cliffs."
"I’ll do my best."
Hand-in-hand this time, they made their way
to the top of the hill. Jack showed Rose the cross atop the hill before they
found a shady spot and sat down to eat the picnic lunch they had brought with
them.
It was pleasant in the shade of the sycamore
tree they had found. The day, while warm, was not horribly hot, as it would be
later in the season, and they leaned back against the tree trunk, admiring the
view from this altitude and talking and laughing comfortably with each other.
The camaraderie that they had known from the moment they first met was as
strong as ever.
When they had finished eating, Rose wrapped
up the scraps and tucked them back into her bag. She leaned against the tree
trunk in contentment until Jack spoke up.
"My train leaves at seven o’clock
tomorrow morning," he told her, twirling a blade of grass in his fingers.
"So early?"
"It won’t take long to get to Los
Angeles, and my employer has paid for my train ticket there."
"I see."
Jack looked at her. "I’ll understand if
you don’t want to come with me. You have your life here. You’re happy."
"I’m content, yes."
She fell silent, thinking. Yes, she was content,
but a great part of the peace she had found, she realized, was as a result of
finding Jack again. She had mourned for him for five years, thinking him dead,
and now that they had found each other again, she couldn’t bring herself to let
him walk out of her life once more. She would miss the friends she had made in
Riverside, but she had walked away from many friends in her life, and it was
always possible that she would see them again. Riverside and Los Angeles were
only some seventy miles apart, not too great a distance by train or automobile,
and she could find another job. If she went to Los Angeles, she would also have
the opportunity to try film acting once again.
"I’m coming with you," she told
him, making the decision right then and there.
Jack’s eyes lit up, but he still felt the
need to ask her about what she thought she was getting into.
"Are you sure, Rose? Are you sure you
can leave your friends and your work?"
"I’m sure. Los Angeles and Riverside
aren’t that far apart, and if I go to Los Angeles I can try to get work in the
moving pictures again. I could probably find a job as easily in Los Angeles as
in Riverside, anyway."
"You’ve established yourself
here..."
"Jack, I lost you five years ago. A part
of me always missed you, no matter how much time had passed or how many things
had happened. I never completely stopped mourning your loss. And now...now that
we’ve found each other again, I can’t just let you walk out of my life as
though nothing had happened, without knowing when, or if, I’ll ever see you
again." She stopped, moving away from the tree and scooting over to face
him. Embracing him, she whispered, "I love you, Jack. I’ve loved you since
the night we met, when you talked me out of jumping off the Titanic."
She lifted her head, looking into his deep
blue eyes, waiting for a response. Jack didn’t say a word. He just pulled her
into his arms and kissed her as though he would never stop.
*****
On their way back through town, Jack stopped
to let Rose off at her hotel. To his surprise, she refused to stay there.
"We need to get an early start tomorrow,
and that will be easier if I check out of the hotel now and go with you. Just
wait here while I get my things."
"People will talk."
"So? We’re leaving. Who cares what they
say?" Now that she had made up her mind to go with him, she was no longer
concerned about her reputation in Riverside. Those who were truly her friends
would not condemn her for her decision, and others would undoubtedly have
turned their backs on her if they had truly known her anyway.
Jack couldn’t help but smile. This was the
Rose he remembered, unconcerned about what other people thought if she believed
that what she was doing was right. She had defied society to be with him on the
Titanic, and she would do the same now.
"All right. Go get your things. You’ll
want to stop by the café, too, so that you can give notice—that is, unless you
plan to travel back and forth between Los Angeles and Riverside every
day."
"I think that would be a bit too far to
travel. No, I’ll give notice here, and find a new job in Los Angeles." She
gave him a quick kiss. "I’ll be down in a few minutes."
After Rose had checked out of the hotel and
given notice at the café, she rode with Jack to his house, which a new renter
would soon be occupying. Since Jack looked tired, she dropped him off at the
house and drove the wagon back to the neighbors’ home herself.
Always mindful that the animals needed to be
cared for, Rose unhitched the horses, brushed them down, and fed them before
leaving, much to the surprise of their owners, who hadn’t expected her to know
how to drive a wagon, much less take care of the horses. Rose just smiled as
she walked back towards Jack’s house. She had learned a lot of useful skills in
her years of wandering.
By the time she got back, Jack had already
packed most of his belongings. He didn’t have much, just a few clothes,
personal belongings, and some household goods. The furniture had come with the
house and would be left behind.
Rose greeted him with a smile and a kiss,
then took over the task of making dinner while Jack walked around, checking to
make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Everything was packed, except for the
few items they were using tonight and early in the morning. They would have to
be up early in order to get to the train on time.
They ate dinner on the front step, enjoying
the cool evening breeze and each other’s company. After they had washed and
packed the few dishes, they sat down again together, talking quietly. There was
still enough light to see by, so Jack brought out his portfolio and leaned back
against the step, sketching Rose.
She looked peaceful and content in the last
light of the day, relaxed after the work of getting ready to leave. By the time
it had grown dark, he had finished the drawing and tucked it into the
portfolio, to be taken along with the rest of their belongings.
"Rose," he called softly.
She looked up, smiling at him.
"Yes?"
"You should make yourself a place to
sleep. We need to be up early. I’d offer you the cot, but it’s hard to get up
and down from the floor."
Rose hesitated a moment, an idea that had
been on her mind suddenly coming to the forefront. Taking a deep breath, she
told him, "I want to stay with you tonight."
For a moment, Jack looked at her in
confusion, but quickly realized what she meant when she moved to sit beside
him, kissing him and toying with the buttons on his shirt.
He paused, not knowing quite how to respond.
There had been no woman for him since Amelia had died. He had no way of knowing
that Rose was just as nervous. She had not had a lover since Robert’s death
over two years earlier, and she firmly pushed the thought of the bandits in the
Mexican desert from her mind.
At last, they embraced, their kiss deepening.
After a moment, they broke apart and stood, making their way into the house and
shutting the door behind them.