AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY
Chapter Forty-One
Cal was pacing around the hotel suite when
Mr. Buff finally arrived. Rose was with him, and she didn't look happy. But Cal
was confident that he could change her attitude. After all, he was Caledon
Hockley, and he was worth millions. He didn't believe that she could actually
prefer Jack to him. How could she? He believed that he was what every woman
wanted.
But he knew that she did care for Jack
nonetheless, and he was using that to his advantage. Her feelings for Jack
would be what would persuade her to marry him in the end. If she still refused
to marry him, he would simply have Jack and his family killed.
Cal thought back to his conversation with Mr.
Buff the night before. "Mr. Hockley, I think that you are missing the
point here," Mr. Buff had said after Cal had ranted about the upcoming
marriage between Jack and Rose. Cal had been steamed that she was actually
planning to marry that gutter rat.
Cal had turned to him angrily. "What do
you mean? She is going to marry that--that street trash tomorrow, and we
haven't even found a way to get to her! She's always with someone. I expect you
to find a way to bring her back where she belongs! And she had better tell me
where that diamond is!" Cal had yelled angrily.
Mr. Buff had looked at Cal patiently. He was
getting used to Cal's tantrums. "The point, Mr. Hockley, is that we can
use her misguided love for Mr. Dawson to our advantage. Do you think that she
won't try to escape again once we've kidnapped her?"
Cal didn't answer, so Mr. Buff continued.
"What I'm saying is that we can blackmail her. If she comes back to you
and marries you, then Jack and his family will live. If not…well, I'm sure you
can see the picture now, Mr. Hockley."
Cal had smiled in understanding. He had not
thought of it in those terms before. He was truly grateful to have found Mr.
Buff. He thought that his new manservant was absolutely brilliant! Cal couldn't
have come up with a better plan himself.
Although Mr. Buff didn't understand why Cal
insisted on marrying Rose, he did understand that Cal was a very influential
man, and he was more than pleased to help him with his agenda. He was also very
pleased with what he was being paid.
So now here he was, facing the woman he
loved, and he couldn't help but notice the hatred in her blue eyes.
"Welcome back, sweetpea. I have missed you, dear, just as your mother
has."
Rose continued to glare at him as Mr. Buff
ushered her into the hotel suite. She sat down on one of the immaculate
couches, her arms crossed over her chest in defiance. "You can cut the
niceties, Mr. Hockley. Both you and I know that I am not happy to be back. And
I don't appreciate you calling me sweetpea or any other pet names. My name is
Miss Dawson, and I expect you to use it," she said, as she looked him in
the eyes. Fire spit from them in pure hatred.
Cal had never seen her quite so angry before.
But he could feel his own blood boil at her insistence that she be called Miss
Dawson. He hated Jack with a passion! If it hadn't been for him, he would still
have the control he so desperately desired over Rose.
"I will never call you by that name.
I'll will call you what I please. You will be my wife and you will obey me! Do
you understand, Rose? I will not tolerate anything less than obedience from
you!" he yelled. It irked him even more when she showed no signs of fear
at his outburst. What has that dirty filth of a family done to you? he
wondered. He wanted her to fear him, and more than anything he wanted complete
control over her. And he was determined to get just that. Caledon Hockley
always got want he wanted!
"Mr. Hockley, you can blackmail me all
you want. I will marry you, but only because I love Jack enough to do it. I
will not allow you to harm him or his family; you will win in that way. But…you
will never have my heart. Do you understand that?" Rose stared him boldly
in the eyes.
He knew that indeed he had won in that way.
She would marry him. But to him he had failed miserably. The woman sitting
before him was not the same passive woman that he had fallen in love with, the
woman that he loved to have complete control over. He realized then that her
fiery spirit was even stronger now. He knew that he could not break her, and he
hated it! Yet he was still enthralled by her, unable to let her go. The same
fiery spirit that drove him to madness also made him desire her all the more.
He turned to his manservant without answering
Rose. "Take her to her room. She is to get some rest before we leave
Chippewa Falls this evening. I will expect her to be ready and decent by lunchtime.
Make sure that she has a maid to attend to her," Cal instructed Mr. Buff
before stalking angrily out of the room in frustration. Rose watched as he
left, pleased that she had rattled his plans for a robot wife. He had no idea
what he was getting himself into. Rose would not make it easy for him.
As Cal stalked out of the hotel, a smile
slowly crossed his face. She may never surrender to him completely, but he knew
that he would force her to surrender to him in another way. She was not strong
enough physically to fight him off in bed. He would get what he wanted, one way
or another. At least he would have some control over her.
*****
When Ruth arrived in Chippewa Falls, she
looked around the small town in disdain. I can't believe that I'm actually
here in this dreadful place. I swear, when I get my hands on that daughter of
mine! she thought angrily as she entered a small shop named Farmer's
Produce Company. Ruth knew that Cal wasn't telling her everything. She was not
pleased that he had left for Chippewa Falls without her. So Ruth had decided
that she would try to find her daughter on her own before informing Cal of her
arrival. She felt that the first place to start looking was the Dawson
residence. But first, she had to find it. So after checking into the nicest
hotel she could find, she had decided to seek out the Dawson residence, which
brought her to this little store. She had been told that everyone shopped here.
Surely the store owner would know the Dawsons.
When she looked around the small grocery
store she wrinkled her nose in disgust. How could her daughter even think about
stepping into a place like this, let alone shop here? Everything about Chippewa
Falls disgusted her. Ruth tried to put a fairly pleasant expression on her face
before facing the older man behind the counter.
"Hello. My name's Mr. Baker. What can I
do for you today?" he asked kindly. He could tell by the way the woman was
dressed that she was not from around the area.
Ruth looked him in the eyes. "I'm
looking for the Dawson residence. Could you be so kind as to tell me where I
might find it?" Ruth asked, looking at the man expectantly.
Mr. Baker looked at her in surprise.
"Why, I sure could. It's not too far from here." He quickly gave her
the directions. "Are you a friend of the Dawsons?" he asked.
Ruth shook her head. "No. I'm here to
see my daughter, Rose. I'm sure you've met her." Ruth watched for his
reaction.
Mr. Baker nodded. "Why, yes, I have.
Such a lovely young lady. I see you've come into town for the wedding, then.
Today is one special day, isn't it? Jack's like a son to me. He's lucky to have
a wonderful lady like your daughter."
At his words, Ruth's eyes grew large.
"What? She's marrying him? TODAY?" She looked as if she had just
heard that the world was dry of money. Mr. Baker knew that he had made a
mistake by telling her, but he knew that it was too late to take his words
back.
"Ah--ah…I'm--I am terribly sorry. I
thought that you knew," he said in a quiet voice. Ruth's glare was
intimidating.
"How would I know? How dare my daughter
run away from home to marry that--that…boy!" Ruth cried in a shrill voice.
Realizing that she was starting to make a
scene, she lowered her voice. "I must go. I will go and talk some sense
into my daughter now." Ruth turned quickly away before her anger caused
her to make any bigger of a scene. Like hell she'll marry that low class
nothing! Over my dead body! With that last thought Ruth left the store and
headed toward the Dawson residence.
*****
Jack was both frustrated and disappointed.
They hadn't found a clue as to where Rose might be. He was desperately trying
to figure out what to do. He knew that he had to find Rose, and he had to do it
fast. He couldn't stand to think about what Cal might do to her. Jack knew it
was likely that Cal was still in Chippewa Falls. A train didn't leave town
until that evening. "But where would he be staying?" he asked himself
out loud.
Nora looked at him. She was looking over the
room again, hoping to find something that they had missed when they had first
searched Jack's room a few minutes ago. Diane started looking through the
drawers. They were grasping at straws, and they knew it. How could they
possibly go up against the Hockleys? But Jack knew that Rose's life depended on
them finding her.
"What did you say, Jack?" Nora
asked as she walked over to Diane.
"Oh, I was just thinking out loud. I was
wondering where Cal would be staying. Probably in the most expensive hotel in
town," he said thoughtfully, as he joined Diane and his sister over by his
desk.
Katherine poked her head in through the
doorway. "Did you find anything, Jack?" she asked as she came into
the room.
Jack shook his head. "I'm so scared,
Katherine. He's such a monster. You--you don't know what he did to her."
Katherine gave Jack a comforting hug. They
were both startled when Diane gasped.
"Where did this come from?" she
cried out as she held up the Heart of the Ocean.
Jack looked at it in surprise. He had
completely forgotten about it. He took the jewel from Diane; tears came to his
eyes as the necklace reminded him of so many wonderful memories. "He gave
this to her. She kept it after Titanic because--because it held so many
memories for her…and for me."
He looked up into the faces of his family.
They looked at him in confusion. "She wore this the first time I drew
her." He thought that he'd leave out that she had been wearing only the
necklace. As he looked at the sparkling jewel, an idea came to him. He
remembered how she had mentioned that Cal had wanted his precious diamond back.
A small smile formed on his lips. He looked at his family once again.
"I think I know of a way to get Rose
back. Mr. Hockley is a businessman, and the last I heard he was interested in
getting this diamond back into his possession. Let's hope that he wants it
badly enough. Maybe we can make a deal…"
His words were cut off by a knock at the
front door. Jack put the necklace in his pocket before following his family out
to the sitting room. But nothing could have prepared him for the shock that he
felt when he saw who was standing on his front porch. Ruth DeWitt Bukater stood
there, and she didn't look happy.