RUNAWAY ROSE
Chapter Ninety
October 1, 1917
"Oh, Debbie, I’m going to miss you so
much!" Rose hugged her best friend, who was standing precariously,
supported by her crutches and her husband’s arms.
"I’m going to miss you, too,
Rosie," Deborah told her. "Write to me as soon as you can. And for
God’s sake, come and visit sometime soon. Don’t hide away the way you have
these past few years."
"Don’t you hide either, Debbie."
Rose looked at her seriously. "I think we’ve both learned a lot about life
over the years. It’s not good to hide away and not let people know where you
are or what you are doing. I’m not going to run anymore, but—"
"I’m not going to hide away, Rosie.
There’s too much in the world to hide from. Hiding means that you miss the best
parts of life. Life is too precious to hide from." She sank back into her
wheelchair.
The Dawsons and the Hutchisons were both
leaving Philadelphia, heading for their respective homes. Will, Deborah, and
Grace were returning to San Francisco, along with their servants, while Jack
and Rose planned to return to Los Angeles, after first making a stop in
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Jack had insisted upon this stop, though he hadn’t
told Rose why. She was curious, but knew that he would tell her eventually.
The two families were taking separate trains,
each going their own way—but Rose and Deborah had each faced so much, together
and apart, that they had formed an inseparable bond. They would write as often
as they could, and each knew that they would be welcome in the other’s home,
wherever that home happened to be.
The Hockleys had accompanied them to the
train station, Ruth sorrowfully seeing her daughter off. She and Nathan had
promised to come to visit after the baby was born, but for now Rose was once
again leaving. Until the Dawsons found a home, there would be no way to contact
them.
The Dawsons and the Hockleys stood watching
as the Hutchisons boarded their train. Deborah hung onto the window, waving, as
it pulled out of the station. Rose waved back, teary-eyed and yet happy as her
best friend headed for home with her husband and daughter. Debbie is truly
blessed, she thought, in spite of all the trials life has thrown at her.
She has prevailed over misfortune, coming out on top in spite of everything.
Rose sighed as Jack came to stand beside her,
putting an arm around her waist. Deborah wasn’t the only one who was blessed.
She had been just as fortunate, though life had given her different trials to
overcome. There were so many things that she had gone through, some that she
didn’t want to think about or remember, but she, too, had prevailed. She had
survived, had come home after years of wandering—and she had found Jack again,
the man she had loved from the moment she had met him. Circumstances had forced
them apart, but those same circumstances had brought them back together.
The warning whistle on the Dawsons’ train blew,
breaking her from her reverie. Looking at Jack, she began to gather up their
belongings, carrying most of their bags toward the train, while Jack followed
behind her more slowly, carrying what remained. As they gave their bags to the
porter, Ruth stopped her daughter.
"Rose." Ruth hugged her, sorry to
see her go, and yet happy that her daughter had found happiness at last.
"I’m so glad you came back. You don’t know how much I missed you."
"I do know, Mother. I...missed you, too.
I wasn’t sure, when I came here, that you would welcome me—or if you would even
be here. I didn’t know what had happened."
"I was angry when you left, Rose. I
won’t deny it. I had counted upon you to make a good marriage that would keep
us solvent—but if you hadn’t left, I would never have learned to rely on
myself, never have made a good marriage for the right reasons. Yes, Nathan has
a great deal of money—but by the time I married him, such things had ceased to
mean anything to me. I realized, after you left so abruptly, just how much I
had hurt you, and how selfish I had been. You once accused me of being selfish
because I insisted that you stay away from Jack, and instead turn your
attention to Cal. It was only when you tossed your bouquet aside and ran from
the church that I knew how right you had been. I had been pushing you into the
marriage for all the wrong reasons. I wanted a good marriage for you—but Cal
wasn’t the right man for you. Maybe he wasn’t right for anyone. There were
things about him that I never understood, some shadow that seemed to hang over
him in spite of his polite manners and gentlemanly demeanor. Rose, I’m glad you
didn’t marry him. I think he would have hurt you."
He did hurt me, Mother, Rose thought, but kept this thought to herself.
"It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone now, dead and gone. He won’t hurt me
or anyone else. When I came here, and was told that you’d married Mr. Hockley,
I was afraid you had married Cal. After all, you’re only a few years older than
he was. I almost turned and ran when we came to the house, but I was afraid
that you were with him, that he had harmed you in some way—and I wanted to keep
you safe. I worried over what had become of you all the years I was away. In
spite of my shock at seeing you remarried and with a new baby, I was relieved
that you were all right."
"I’m more than all right, Rose. I’ve
known more happiness the past few years than I had ever known before. When I
was a girl, we lived on the crumbling remains of what had once been a great
fortune, and then I married your father—a Yankee, much to my family’s dismay—because
he had wealth and power, things that I had always heard about and wanted. They
proved to not be what I had thought, but I didn’t know how to look for anything
else—or maybe I didn’t want to know. It’s hard to let go of a lifelong dream,
even when that dream proves to be less than what you wanted."
"Someone told me how intelligent,
strong, and resourceful you had been, back when I was living in New
Orleans."
"Who was that? I’m surprised that anyone
remembered me, except for my family, and they would have told me that you were
there."
"It was a family member—but not one who
had ever been acknowledged. It was Tom DeWitt, our uncle."
"Tom? You met Tom down there?" Ruth
smiled. "I remember him. He was one of my favorite people when I was
growing up—he could talk for hours about any number of things, and he always
listened to me. He was one of the few servants that we had, but I realized
early on that he was family." She sighed, remembering. "He could play
music beautifully, too—the banjo was his instrument."
"He was still playing it when I was
there. We formed a street performance duo and tried to promote civil
rights."
Ruth nodded, thinking. "Yes, that sounds
like Tom...and like you. Caring about other people always seemed to be second
nature to both of you."
The warning whistle blew again, signaling
that the train was about to leave. Rose hugged her mother one more time.
"Good-bye, Mother. I’ll write to you as
soon as we find a place to live. I’ll tell you as soon as the baby is born,
too. I love you, Mother, and I’ll miss you." She paused. "Mother,
thank you for...for forgiving me for running away and leaving you alone."
"There was nothing to forgive, Rose.
Slowly but surely, I came to realize that you had done the right thing in
leaving. I only wished that I hadn’t pushed you into it. Rose, my prodigal
daughter, I was foolish to push you so far that you had no choice but to leave—but
maybe it was for the best for both of us. I learned what is really important in
life, and you—you saw a lot of the world, both the good and the bad—and you’ve
finally made the good marriage I wanted for you."
Rose smiled. "I’ve made two good
marriages—but I think that this one is going to be for a lifetime. There’s been
something between Jack and me, right from the start. I loved Robert—but we
didn’t quite have that. It was a good marriage, and I was happy—but Jack was
always in my heart. I didn’t think of him when I was with Robert—but after
Robert died, I realized what had been there all along."
The final warning whistle blew. Rose stepped
away, going to stand beside Jack. Together, they stepped onto the train. Jack
went to find his seat while Rose stood at the entrance to the train, waving,
until they pulled away and were out of sight.