02.09.09

Chapter 4
It's a beautiful day

Rose awoke early the next morning to the sight of the sun peeking through a gap in the red velvet curtains, casting glittering golden shadows across the room.
Birds were singing sweetly outside, and as Rose lay there, she smiled to herself and couldn't help thinking how wonderful her life had suddenly become.
She loosened the grip of Jack's arm around her waist, and turned around to face him.
His stunning sapphire eyes were still closed, and his breathing was undisturbed, Rose almost didn't want to wake him.

'He must be exhausted' thought Rose sadly. The terror of two nights ago was still apparent in their eyes, it had been such a long night, and Rose knew they would never forget it.

She shuffled closer to Jack and kissed the tip of his nose gently.
No response.
She wrapped her arms around his neck delicately, and began to kiss his soft lips.
He twitched and mumbled 'too tired...'
Rose smiled to herself. She tickled his neck teasingly, and kissed him until she began to kiss back, eyes still closed.
She began to grow impatient, and eventually gave in, realising that Jack wasn't going to get up yet. She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece.
Ten past 8.
Deciding to run a bath for Jack and her, Rose dragged herself out of bed, away from Jack and into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later Rose was about to wake Jack up, when everything went dark and she felt someone's hands covering her eyes.
'Guess who?' a sleepy voice asked.
Rose smiled and turned around to kiss her mystery man.
'I was just about to come and wake you honey, you looked so peaceful before, so I thought I'd let you have ten more minutes'.
'Aw well aren't you kind?' Jack grinned cheekily.
'Don't get used to it Dawson, I can't always be Mrs Nice Guy' Rose winked, with mock annoyance in her voice.

They climbed in the hot bath together, talking and enjoying each other's company. Both Jack and Rose had grown up as the only children in their families, so they weren't used to having somebody always there.
Rose had been much lonelier than Jack growing up, many days, the only company she would have was her mother and Trudy, their maid, after her father died, whereas Jack had made friends easily wherever he travelled.
Rose washed Jack's dirty blonde hair, and then Jack returned the favour, which took considerably longer as Rose's hair was so long.

'I love how your hair looks down Rose, you look free...like the night you were gonna jump. You were breathtaking, but I thought you would be another debutante, not interested in a guy like me. But when I spoke to you for the first time, I realised you were wild, it just needed to be unleashed from you, you had a fire about you Rose, and I love it.'

'Thank you Jack, I hated wearing my hair up all the time, and dressing like my mother. But I had no choice, my mother would say 'we're women Rose...we must live to please men in any way we can, that's just the way the world works'. The first time I spoke to you I knew there was something special, but I never imagined it would end up like this... and the day you told me about all the things you have done in your life, I thought wow, this man has really lived, you brought a sudden spark of excitement and danger into my life and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to live like you have, making every day count.' Rose replied, and her eyes began to well up with tears.

'And we will sweetheart; we'll make every moment together count, because we're so lucky to have each other right now.'

Half an hour later, Rose had just finished drying her hair and looked again at the clock.
9 O'clock exactly.
She thought back to three nights ago, and could clearly see in her mind the large clock chiming 8 O'clock as she walked up the Grand Staircase to meet Jack. He had looked so handsome in his suit, like a new man.
'Make it count', she thought.

'Hey Jack honey, we've missed breakfast, it finished at nine...' Rose picked up some earrings from the dressing table, the only jewellery she had been wearing the night the Titanic sunk, and slid them through the holes in her ears.
'Oh that's ok, I was kinda wanting to do something a little different today anyway, how do you feel about going out for breakfast?' Jack replied, slipping his still damp shoes onto his feet, and tying the laces.
Rose smiled at the look of anxiety in Jack's eyes, as if he were asking her approval, when she couldn't think of any other way she would rather spend her morning than eating breakfast with the man she loved.
'That sounds great Jack! You don't have to ask me anyway, you know I'm happy to do anything with you.'
Jack smiled with relief.
'Good, cause there are a few other things I would like to do today, but I just thought I'd make sure you were ok with that first,' he said, and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth, leaving Rose in suspense.
She quickly followed him.
'Hey, Jack! Jack? What have you got planned huh? Tell me... please?', she opened her eyes wide and Jack couldn't resist the puppy dog look.
Rose tugged on his shirt sleeve in a way that resembled a child tugging at a parent's clothing for attention.
Jack chuckled and gave in.
'Well Rose, first I thought we could spend some of that money Cal oh so generously gave us, we can't stay in these clothes forever! And then I thought perhaps taking a closer look at the Statue of Liberty, and then maybe a picnic in Central Park...maybe?' he said uncertainly, 'but we can do something else if you want...' he trailed off.
For what felt like the millionth time that morning, Rose felt a smile slowly creeping across her face, lighting up her eyes and showing off her bright white teeth. It was the kind of smile that made Jack's heart swell with pride and happiness at the thought that Rose was all his, and that he would be spending so much time with her over the years, growing to know and love her more than he already did.

'That sounds like so much fun Jack! I've never been for a real picnic in a park before, mother always said it was common, and dining in a gazebo outside is the closest I've come to that kind of thing.' Rose smiled with excitement in her voice.
'Then that's what we shall do, my princess.' Jack kissed her on the forehead, 'Dawson style'.

***

After a long morning of shopping for clothes and other necessities, and a little bit of sightseeing, Rose was glad to be settling down for a picnic.
It had been several hours since they had eaten breakfast at a small intimate cafe just two minutes from their hotel, and Rose was getting quite hungry.
She set a picnic blanket down on the ground while Jack had popped to a local supermarket to buy some food, and admired the scenery around her.
Many different coloured birds were singing; perched on beautiful trees, all different shades of green. Children were playing happily; fathers were running around with kites and their kids in tow, while mothers looked on worriedly in case their child tripped or got into some kind of trouble.
A young couple who could not be any older than Rose and Jack sat on a bench nearby, with only eyes for each other.
An old man reading a newspaper was batting away a wasp every few seconds, while trying to eat a sandwich at the same time.
Rose smiled at the different sights, smells and sounds of the city. She had only been to New York once before, to a gala with her mother, and she had certainly not experienced the beautiful, bustling city like this. Jack could show her things in a different light; that she wouldn't have had the chance to notice in her upper class life.
Stretching out across the checked blanket, Rose noticed Jack was returning, two paper bags in hand.

Five minutes later, they were tucking into a hot dog each; Rose had never tried one before and thought it was delicious. They also had sandwiches, potato salad, apple pie and lemonade.
After they had finished most of the food, they lay down on the blanket together for a while, staring up at the clouds and pointing out funny shapes to each other.

'Jack, that one looks like a train, with steam coming out the top, don't you think?'
'Yeah now you mention it Rose it does, I thought it looked more like something else at first' Jack blushed.
Rose giggled, 'Lets take a walk over to the pond, there's some bread left to feed the ducks right?'
'Yep, you go on honey and I'll pack this stuff up.' Jack replied, sitting up and squinting in the sunlight.
Jack and Rose spent the remainder of the afternoon in the park, just enjoying being together, laughing and talking. They decided to return one day as there was so much to do there.

At about half past five, they returned back to the hotel, and Jack had another surprise in store for Rose.
He set the bags full of clothes down on the bed and turned to face her.
'Rose would you like to go out for dinner tonight? I noticed a small Italian place while I was at the store. It looked really nice and not too expensive. Not that money is an object now but I would really rather spend that on a house when we've decided where we would like to live.'
Rose felt her heart miss a beat and her cheeks flushed when she hear Jack mention buying a house together. She wanted nothing more than to live with Jack.
'Yeah I would love to go out for dinner, I love Italian food.' She smiled, 'Oh and Jack? We are going to have to talk about what we plan to do after this you know, maybe tomorrow?'
'Sounds good honey. How long will you take to get ready?'.
'Umm, give me half an hour. I'll wear one of my new dresses!' Rose said excitedly. She loved her new clothes, they were not as posh and restricting as the attire she had been forced to wear while living an upper class life. Most of her new dresses were made of floaty material and were beautiful pastel colours like lavender.
She slipped one of her more formal dresses over her head. It was dark green with a black sash and black netting over it, and slipped on a pair of comfortable yet stylish heels. Twenty minutes later, she was satisfied with her appearance, her hair flowed freely down her back and she had only a little make up on.

Jack took her hand and they walked outside the hotel, where they hailed a cab.
They soon arrived at the restaurant.
'Now would you guys like picking up too?' the friendly cab driver asked.
'No thanks, we'll walk back. It's a beautiful night.' Jack handed the driver the money and Rose and he walked into the restaurant.
It seemed like a friendly place, a man not much older than Jack led them to their table, which was next to a window overlooking a river.
Shortly after they had ordered, their food came, with a complimentary bowl of bread rolls.
Italian arias were playing softly in the background, and both Rose and Jack felt very happy.
'May I take your plates?' a young man came over to their table as soon as they were finished.
Neither Jack nor Rose noticed, as they were too busy gazing into each others eyes.
'Ahem.' The main half coughed, half spoke, and Jack jumped out of his trance, looking embarrassed.
'That was great, thank you!' he smiled, and paid the man.

The air was a bit chillier outside, and Rose wished she had brought a shawl. Jack gave her his jacket, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She leant her head on this shoulder, and they walked down the street together in a world of their own.
They walked down the river, and all they could hear was the gentle splashing of water and cars in the distance.
When they came to a secluded place, filled with trees, Jack stopped. His face shone in the moonlight and his eyes were filled with warmth and love for Rose.
'I just want to say thank you Rose.'
'What for Jack? You've done so much for me today...' Rose asked confusedly.
'For changing your mind, for choosing me, and making me so happy. I know I can't offer you much but I want to make you the happiest woman in the world.'
'You already have' Rose whispered, before kissing Jack passionately. 'Let's go home Jack'.
And together they walked hand in hand, back to the hotel, where once again they would spend the night in the stars.