A/N: Since I recieved two requests for a 2-shot (thanks 'Guest' and Lily), I am making it a 2-shot!
Also, thanks to Elroon for following this story!
Hope you guys enjoy the second part :)
It had been about two weeks since Rose had sent the letter to her mother, and she was beginning to worry that her mother wouldn't reply. That was, until the following Thursday, when an elegant envelope addressed to her in fine cursive arrived on her door step.
On a bright Thursday morning in New York City, Rose opened the front door of their apartment to check for any mail. She was expecting some auditions information from the local theatre, and was pleasantly suprised to see what had arrived instead.
She slung Josie over her shoulder and bent down to pick up an elegant ivory colored envelope that was addressed to her in fine cursive handwriting. It had to be from her mother, she knew.
Josie gurgled as Rose tore open the envelope. Inside, was a fancy piece of parchment with more fine cursive writing scribbled on it. She scanned over it quickly, eager to see what her mother had to say:
Darling Rose,
How incredibly shocked I was to recieve your letter. I was so pleased to learn that you are all right after that awful scare you gave me three years ago.
I'm not entirely sure what to say, it has been so long, and there was so much left unsaid. You have no idea how devastated I was to think you had drowned.
I realize now how my actions drove you away, and I suppose I deserved the suffering of thinking you were lost with the ship for making you suffer all that time.
Now that I know you are alive, I'd love nothing more than to see you again. It has been far too long and I just want to see you, Rose. I really want to see you again.
After the whole Titanic ordeal, Caledon's father donated the money that was going to be spent on the wedding to me and dismissed it as offering his condolences.
I also recieved condolences money from some of your father's old business associates and former Yale colleagues. It ended up being enough that I didn't have to become a seamstress after all. But then it didn't matter to me, because I had lost my only daughter.
I've missed you so much. Please, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me for pushing you away, I'd love to visit with you again.
With Love,
Your Mother.
Rose's eyes widened in shock, and she smiled. Her mother had actually apologized to her, and seemed genuinely concerned. The tone of the letter seemed so foreign to what Rose remembered of her mother the last time she'd spoken to her.
She shifted little Josie onto her other shoulder. The infant was awake and cooed up at her mother. Rose smiled again and bounced her gently. "How would you like to meet your grandma Ruth?" she asked. Josie just cooed again.
Rose walked over to Jack's art desk again and grabbed another piece of paper. She scribbled a note back:
Dear Mother,
I'd love nothing more than to put the past behind us. I want you to meet someone very special.
Jack and I have a daughter named Josephine Ruth. Her middle name is for you. I think you will really like her.
She is a few months shy of a year old and she is the sweetest little baby you'll ever meet. She is smart, too.
I'd really love it if you wanted to come for a visit in New York. Jack will be out of town for a few weeks.
Rose.
Josie gurgled again as Rose finished writing. "There," she said with a satisfied smile, sealing the envelope. "Come on baby girl, let's go mail this."
Sure enough, she'd recieved a letter back the following Wednesday. Ruth had said she would be delighted to come and meet her grandchild, so Rose had sent her a ticket. She would arrive that Saturday.
Rose knew that her husband would probably be a bit reluctant to have her mother as a house guest, so she was relieved that he was away at an art gala in Chicago.
On Saturday evening, as the sun was setting over New York City, Rose sat in her living room with Josie in her lap. Her mother was due to arrive any minute now.
"Josie, where's Mama?" Rose asked, covering her face with her hands.
"Ma-Ma," Josie repeated, reaching up and touching Rose's hands.
"Good girl!" Rose exclaimed. She planted a soft kiss on the infant's face.
"Can you say Grandma?" she asked.
Josie looked confused and didn't say anything. Instead, she started sucking on her tiny fist. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Rose slung the baby over her shoulder and rushed to open it.
There was a light drizzle outside, as Ruth was standing on the step with a large maroon colored umbrella. Her snobby up-turned expression was completely gone. It had been replaced by a bright and cheery smile.
"Rose, dear!" she exclaimed.
"Mother! Please, come inside," Rose stepped back and took her mother's umbrella and coat.
She almost expected her mother to make some sort of derogatory remark about how small their apartment was, but Ruth did not. Instead, she focused her attention on the smallest in the room.
"And this must be baby Josephine!" she said, softly caressing the infant's face. "Her face is yours, Rosie! It really is," she remarked, a nostalgic look in her eyes.
"Thank you," Rose replied with a smile. That was the nicest thing she could remember her mother ever saying to her.
"Oh I remember when you were this age," Ruth reminisced. "My baby has a baby! Oh! How much time I have wasted!" she cried, shaking her head in shame. "All that time I spent trying to teach you how to be a perfectly bred young lady, scolding you when you'd end up falling over trying to do a curtsy, I could have spent being..." she paused.
"My mother?" Rose finished for her.
"I had truly thought I was being the best mother I could be. After losing your father, I refused to let my precious girl and I live like paupers. You must believe I thought the marriage to Caledon was good for you...I had never realized that I was just pushing you farther and farther away from me," Ruth explained.
"It's alright, Mother. I understand now that you were only raising me the way you had been raised yourself. I shouldn't have criticized you so harshly for acting on all you knew," Rose told her.
"You know, I was truly relieved to recieve all of that condolences money, so that I didn't end up a seamstress after all. But at the same time, it made me realize that the price I paid on my desperate quest to keep my social status, was the one person who mattered most to me in the world," Ruth said.
"Please, let's not dwell on the past anymore. I forgive you," Rose interjected.
"Oh Rosie, you truly have a beautiful soul," Ruth mused, stroking the side of her daughter's face. "I can't believe it...I was so sure I had lost you forever...yet here you are."
Suddenly, Josie cooed loudly. She reached out and took an elegant butterfly pin out of Ruth's hair, putting it in her mouth. "Ga-Ma," she said.
Hearing the word come out of Josie's mouth shocked Rose to her very core, as it did to Ruth as well. "She knows me?" Ruth asked, a gleam of pure joy in her usually cold eyes.
Rose nodded. "Apparently she does," she replied with a smile.
Ruth beamed. "Could I... hold her?" she asked, just a tad hesitant.
"Of course." Rose handed Josie to her mother.
"Precious little Josephine." Ruth cradled the infant in her arms.
"I think she likes you, typically she cries when people she's never met hold her," Rose said.
"She is a beautiful baby," Ruth said.
"Do you know why I made your name her middle name?" Rose asked.
"No, why did you?" Ruth wanted to know.
"Because I wanted to give you a second chance. Since I knew you were only treating me the way you were because it was all you knew, I dreamed Josie would grow up to be the opposite, and redeem you in my eyes," Rose explained.
"Oh Rosie, she'll do great things! I know she will," Ruth promised, looking down at her tiny granddaughter. "She will be such a good person, far better than me."
"I don't think you're a bad person, Mother. Everyone deserves a second chance, and she is yours. Help me make her a good person, Mother. I want you to be part of her life," Rose said.
Tears were brimming in Ruth's eyes. "Really?" she asked.
Rose nodded with a genuine smile. "Really," she said, tears in her own eyes as well.
"But I live in Philadelphia, it's close, yet it feels so far away," Ruth mused, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Move to New York, I think you will really like it here. There are so many opportunities, it's the city of dreams," Rose told her with a hopeful grin.
"Are you following your dreams here, Rosie?" Ruth asked.
"Oh yes. I've always wanted to be an actress, and I've already acted in a few plays at the local theatre. And Jack, he's selling his art. He does paintings and photography now, too," Rose replied. "Don't you have any special dreams?" she asked.
"I can't say that I do..." Ruth said sadly. "But I'm so happy you're following yours."
"Oh Mother, can't you remember being a young girl yourself? Wasn't there anything you desired besides being married off to a man you didn't love?" Rose prodded.
"Well... when I was eleven... I had thought owning a bakery would have been something I'd enjoy... but my parents had just told me that dreams were for silly little girls with no future," Ruth admitted.
Rose smiled and took her mother's hands in her own. "Move here, open your bakery. The condolences money won't last you forever, spend it to open the bakery, and you can work your way up again."
Ruth looked a bit reluctant. "I'm not sure..." she started. She didn't finish her sentence however, because Josie cooed loudly again, looking directly into her grandmother's face.
"Josephine's," Ruth said, her eyes widening.
"What?" Rose asked.
"Josephine's... that will be the bakery's name. Josephine's Dutch Delights," Ruth replied.
Rose grinned. "I'm proud of you, Mother," she said.
Ruth beamed. "I always hoped you would be, Rosie," she replied.
What did you guys think?
Was that a good ending?