SWING
Chapter Six

The next day, Jack stood in front of the DeWitt Bukater house, contemplating what he was going to say when Rose came to the door. He didn't want to come off as a jerk, or anything of the sort. Taking a deep breath, he continued on to the front door and rang the bell. Much to his surprise, it wasn’t Rose that answered the door, but a redheaded woman that resembled her. Rose’s mother?

"May I help you?" The woman icily stared at him, her voice matching her gaze.

"Yes. Is Rose in?" Jack cleared his throat, pushing down his nervousness. The woman just gave him an even icier glare before disappearing back into the house. Two minutes later, Rose appeared in the door. She was even lovelier than last night.

"Jack?" Her eyes shone with surprise. She wasn’t expecting to see him again, that was for sure.

"Uh…you left this last night. I would have given it to your mother, but I didn’t know if she knew where you were or not."

"Thank you, Jack. I really appreciate this. I completely forgot." She accepted the offered purse.

"Rose! I need you in here, please!" Rose’s mother called from inside the house.

"I guess I better go." Jack sighed. "Listen…I was wondering…if maybe we can go out tonight. Not to another swing joint, but there’s this nice little restaurant up the way and…"

"Jack, I…" She was about to turn him down, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to spend more time with the handsome artist/swing kid. She had such a wonderful time last night. One more outing couldn’t hurt.

"Okay. Be here at six." Rose smiled.

"Rose!" her mother again called.

"Great. I’ll see you at six." Jack happily grinned, backing away from the house.

"Thanks again for the purse." Rose waved before disappearing back into the house.

"Who was that boy?" Ruth cornered her daughter as she shut the door.

"A boy I met in the library. I had accidentally left my purse, and he returned it."

"You are not to see that boy again, Rose," Ruth sternly replied.

"Oh, stop it, Mother. You’re going to get yourself a nosebleed…"

Ruth roughly grabbed Rose’s arms and glared at her daughter. "Do I need to remind you of our situation? Of why it is vital to marry Caledon? Do I?"

"No you don’t." Rose jerked her arm out of Ruth’s grasp. "But I don’t like being told who I can talk to and who I can’t. If I want to talk to a boy at the library or not, that’s my decision. Not yours and certainly not Caledon Hockley’s."

"As of this morning, it is. I have given Mr. Hockley express permission to call on you. You are to give Mr. Hockley your undivided attention, Rose. Is this anyway unclear?"

"But…"

"He’ll be here tomorrow afternoon to take you on a carriage ride. You are to be dressed in that purple striped dress that I bought you earlier this year."

"Mother, I’d appreciate it if you’d consult with me before setting up these dates." Rose crossed her arms.

"There is no need to consult you, Rose. You will make room for Caledon whenever he wants to see you. End of discussion. Now go get freshened up. It’s almost time for lunch, and the women from my club are joining us."

Glaring at her mother one last time, Rose ran upstairs and slammed the door shut. Realizing that from now on, her life was no longer her own, she fell onto her bed and began to sob. She was at a loss at what to do about the turn her life was taking. It just wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair that due to her father’s religion she had to hand her life over to her mother and a Nazi in the making!

"No!" Rose screamed with anger and desperation She was not about to let her life be taken over like this! There was a way to take her life back and even though she really didn’t want to do it, she would. Just to show them that they couldn’t control her. That Rose DeWitt Bukater was her own person, no matter what they may have thought. Digging a pencil and notepad out of her dresser drawer, she scribbled a note to her mother, telling her that she was taking a walk, then headed out of the house and towards the raging river that ran near the local park. Yes, she was taking her life back. One way or another.

*****

Jack was out by himself, walking through the park, and thinking about Rose. He couldn’t wait until that night, when he’d meet her to take her to dinner. He was determined to make another big impression on her. He had a feeling that she was the one for him. No one else would do.

Sighing, Jack sat down on a nearby bench and lit a cigarette. Life was good, and it was getting even better. Jack leaned back, and was about to close his eyes, when the sound of running feet darted past him. He turned his head towards the bridge to see the figure of a woman climbing over the railing of the bridge. Frowning, he got up and approached the sobbing girl. He frowned as he got closer and saw a mass of red curls bouncing in the air. For some reason, this girl reminded him of Rose.

"Don’t do it," was all he could come up with to say, then gasped in horror when the girl turned to face him. It was Rose!

Rose’s eyes widened when she saw Jack. It was clear that she wasn’t expecting to see him at that moment. "Jack…go home, Jack."

"Rose, what are you doing? You can fall like that." Jack took a step towards her, his arm outstretched. "Take my hand. I’ll pull you over."

"Come any closer and I’ll let go," Rose threatened, leaning away from the railing to prove her point.

Jack’s eyes widened, at a loss at what to do. He had no idea what had happened to Rose from the moment he left her house until now, but he was going to find out. But first things first. Getting her to come back over to safety. Looking in her eyes, he saw the fear and despair underneath the fiery determination. She didn’t want to die.

"No, you won’t," he simply replied, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"What?" Rose was thrown off guard by this statement for a second, then became angry. At that moment he was just another person telling her what she could and couldn’t do. "How dare you tell me what I can and cannot do? You don’t know me!"

"Well, you would have done it already," Jack simply replied.

"Go away. You’re distracting me." Rose turned away from him, not able to bear looking at the concern in his deep blue eyes.

"I can’t. I’m involved now. If you jump in there, I’m going to have to jump in after you." Jack sighed, beginning to take off the jacket he was wearing.

"Don’t be ridiculous. You’d be killed."

"It’d hurt. I’m not saying it wouldn’t. To be honest with you, I’m more concerned about that water being so cold."

Rose’s expression became blank. "How cold?"

"Freezing. A couple of degrees below zero. I remember when I was visiting my American cousin in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He and his father took me ice fishing, and I fell through the ice. Let me tell you, water that cold…it’s like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. You can hardly breathe or think. At least not about anything but the pain." Jack sighed and began taking off his boots. "That’s why I’m not looking forward to jumping in there after you."

Rose looked at him in disbelief. He couldn’t possibly be serious. He barely knew her. There was no way he’d risk his life for a girl he had only met the night before. If he did…well…he was crazy. "You’re crazy!"

Jack simply smiled a knowing, yet gentle smile and leaned closer to the railing. "That’s what everybody says. But with all due respect, Rose, I’m not the one hanging off a bridge above a raging river here."

Rose looked at him, and realized the seriousness of her situation. He was right. This was no way to solve her problems. As if reading her mind, he held his hand out to her.

"Come on. You don’t want to do this."

Rose looked at him, not knowing what else to say. She tentatively took his hand and allowed him to help her back over to the other side. "You’re right. I probably wouldn’t have jumped…I was being absurd, really. Killing myself is not the way to solve my problems."

Jack nodded. "Do you want to talk about it, Rose? What pushed you to this point?"

Rose sighed, suddenly exhausted from all the intense emotions that ran through her in the past hour. All she wanted to do at that moment was go somewhere warm and safe, and go to sleep, and forget the turns her life was taking. "Can we go somewhere? Somewhere private?"

"We’ll go back to my place. My mother’s gone to work, so we’ll have the place to ourselves." Jack nodded.

Rose simply nodded, and allowed Jack to lead her away from the park.

Ten minutes later, Rose was sitting on his couch, a glass of lemonade in her hand. She took another sip of the cool liquid, letting it soothe her throat, sore from all the crying she had done. She dreaded telling Jack her reasons for jumping off the bridge. It all seemed so immature to her now.

"So Rose, we’ve been sitting here for a couple of minutes now." Jack cleared his throat. "Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?"

Rose sighed. "Well…it’s my whole world, and most of the people in it. Plunging ahead, and me powerless to stop it." Rose sighed, suddenly defeated.

"Want to tell me about it?"

"My mother’s going to force me to date Caledon Hockley." Rose wiped away any remaining tears.

"You mean that Nazi in training?" Jack’s surprise and dismay was evident in his voice. No. Rose couldn’t date Cal…he wouldn’t let her.

Rose simply nodded, not meeting his eyes. "You know him?"

"We’ve had a couple of run ins." Jack nodded.

"I don’t want to date him! I told my mother how much I hate the man, but she doesn’t care what I want. She and Cal…they’ve taken over my life, Jack, and at the time, the only option of taking it back was jumping off that bridge."

"Rose…jumping off that bridge wouldn’t have given you your life back. It would have ended it."

"I know, but it would have been something I did…something I took control to do. But you’re right. My mother and her plans aren’t enough of a reason to end it all. But what am I going to do now, Jack? I don’t even want to be in the same room as Cal."

Jack sighed. He didn’t know what to tell her. He didn’t want her in the same room as Hockley, either. There had to be something he could do. "I don’t know, Rose. When are you supposed to see him again?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. Mother insists that I drop everything to go on a ride with him." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Listen, just go on this one date with him…maybe I can think of a way for you to get out of this." Jack stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Jack…" Rose paused. She wanted to tell him the truth about her heritage, but didn’t know if she could trust him. She had only known him for two days. What if he hated her because of her heritage? What if he turned her over to the Nazis? Wait, he hated the Nazis. That was why he was into swing dancing, but still…telling Jack would be too risky. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe getting involved with Cal was for the best.

"You know what you need!" Jack’s eyes lit up. "You need a way to protest, a way to rebel. And the perfect way to do that is swing!"

"What? How is that going to help?"

"Well, the Nazis hate swing music. Cal is a Nazi in training…"

"Jack…I don’t know…I barely know how to swing dance."

"You did great last night."

"That was luck." Rose got to her feet. "Jack…I’d like to thank you for talking me out of jumping, but I really can’t see you anymore. My mother’s right. Going with Cal is for the best…"

"Rose, you know that’s not true. Cal…he’d kill your spirit…"

"Jack…thank you for your help. I must be going, Mother’s expecting me, and…"

Sighing, Jack took hold of her arm and forced her to look at him. "Rose…don’t go. Stay with me, here. We’ll go to a dance hall tonight, and if it’s still not for you…we’ll come up with something else." He was desperate not to let her leave. He wanted her with him so much.

Rose sighed, at a loss at what to do. She was so scared, and at the same time, she would do anything to keep her mother’s plans from coming to fruition. "Jack…I…what if there’s another raid?"

"We’ll run like we did last night. But you did have fun, Rose. Remember?"

Rose nodded. "But…I…" How could she say no to those eyes that were staring into hers so earnestly? "Okay. I’ll go just one more time, Jack. After that…"

"Rose, you won’t regret it. I promise." He pulled her into a hug. "I’ll even invite Fabri and Helga if it’d make you feel more comfortable."

"Okay, Jack." Rose sighed. "I’ll give it another go."

"All right, then. Let me call Fabri, and then we’ll be on our way." Jack grinned, looking forward to another night of dancing with Rose.

Chapter Seven
Stories