Chapter 12

The four of them stood in silence for what seemed like a lifetime. Grace was still as angry as ever and John was moving his eyes about the room, landing on each of them one at a time.

"Come on Jack. Answer me." Grace demanded.

"Grace." Jack finally spoke. "There has never been an "us." Think back over the past few months. Yes we have spent a lot of time together and I've grown very fond of you, but nothing has ever happened between us."

John looked at him. He was surprised to hear that, even to hear that they had never so much as kissed properly. But looking at the two women in front of him, he was sure that he knew where Jack's heart lay. He'd introduced him to many women over the past few years and none of them had captured his attention the way that Rose had.

"But Jack, I thought we were happy. I thought we would have eventually got married." Grace took his hand and placed her other hand on his cheek. "I thought that was what you wanted?"

Rose stood from her chair. She had watched enough of this and if Jack was happy with this girl then she wasn't about to come between them. "I think I should go. Thank you for the tea Mr Dawson." She said, walking towards the door. John looked at her as she passed him before quickly looking back to Jack.

"No Rose, wait." Jack shouted, pulling away from Grace, leaving her shocked. Jack quickly caught up to her, grabbing onto her hand, stopping her from going any further. "I don't even know why I hesitated there. If she wants me to choose then fine, I will."

Rose turned to face him, tears starting to well up in her eyes. Jack lifted his hands to her face, running his fingers through her hair, pulling her face to his before placing his lips against hers and wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"I think my son has made his choice Grace." John turned to her. In a way he felt bad for this girl. She hadn't done anything apart from fall for a man that clearly didn't have the same feelings for her but there was no point in her wasting any more of her time if Jack didn't care for her in the same way. She had tears in her eyes but John was sure that she was more angry that upset. "You are welcome to stay with us until we dock Grace."

Grace turned to him. "That's quite alright Mr Dawson. I believe there are a couple of cabins unoccupied. I will call a steward and ask to be moved. I don't see it as appropriate to be here any longer."

"Grace." Jack turned to her. "You don't need to do this."

"Yes I do Jack. I can't stay here knowing you are with her." Grace turned and walked towards the door. "A steward will be here shortly for my things. I thank you for your hospitality over these past few months Mr Dawson." She said, stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind her.

John turned to look at Jack, who was standing with his arm wrapped protectively around Rose's shoulder. "I don't know how this is going to work Jack. I don't have a problem with Rose occupying that room but I don't want her feeling uncomfortable, and we have no other clothes for her."

Rose shook her head. She hated when people spoke about her as if she wasn't there. "That really isn't necessary Mr Dawson. I am quite happy staying where I have been for the past two days."

Jack turned to look at her. "Rose, I don't want you staying down there. You belong here, with me."

"Jack, your father is right. I don't fit in here right now. And to be honest, I don't know yet if I want to be part of all this again." Rose looked down.

"I will leave you both alone to talk. Whatever you decide, is alright with me." John said, exiting the room to leave them.

"Come on." Jack said, leading her towards his own room. "Just in case Grace comes back."

Rose followed him into the next room and sat down in one of the large arm chairs. "What do we do then Jack? I don't fit in here any longer."

"Rose, I know you're not sure what you want to do, but please just hear me out. Think back to what your life was like before. You hated it because Cal didn't treat you right, your mother forced you to act a certain way and you had to give up your own dreams in order to please those around you. No wonder you were miserable. But I'm not going to do that. I'm due to take over my father's business but that's not going to happen for some time. I want to travel, and see the world. And I mean actually see it. Not just travel somewhere for work then come back. I spent the past few weeks in England and I only seen the town I was in and the road between there and Southampton. I want to see more. I want to live, and do things that I wouldn't normally be able to do. But I don't want to do it alone. You could easily come back to this life, but do it in a way that makes you happy. I'm not going to force you to attend business dinners and parties. I mean, I will always be happy to have you there with me but I'm not going to expect it of you. You've told me that you can't expect me to give up my life. Well maybe neither of us have to give up anything. We both have so much to gain." Jack sat beside her and took her hands, rubbing his thumbs over them.

Rose smiled. She looked up at him and could see the sincerity in his eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him gently. "You're right Jack." She smiled, kissing him again.

"I am?" he grinned.

Rose nodded. "I want to be with you. And if that means coming back to this..." she motioned to her surroundings. "Then I will. But we can't until we arrive in New York. Your father's right. I have nothing to wear. How would I fit in at dinner?"

Jack understood. He knew it made sense and he couldn't expect Grace to leave behind a couple of the hundred or so dresses that she brought with her. "Okay Rose but as soon as we get to New York, you're coming home with me." Jack smiled, pulling her to him.

...

Meanwhile Grace was staking around the ship trying to work out where everything had gone wrong. She couldn't make sense of all this. Just a few days ago, everything seemed perfect but now this woman had appeared and everything had gone wrong. She spotted Mr Andrews standing in front of her, remembering he had been talking to Rose earlier, she rushed over to him.

"Mr Andrews, do you mind if I speak to you?" she smiled.

"Not at all Miss Grace, how can I be of assistance?" He stood aside to let people pass them.

"That girl you were talking to earlier who was with Mr Dawson, who is she?" she asked, determined to find out something about her.

"Oh Miss Rose? She was due to wed Mr Caledon Hockley last year." Mr Andrews told her.

Grace's eyes widened as she heard Cal's name. She had seen him in the papers several times and knew he was extremely wealthy. What would he want with Rose?

Mr Andrews continued telling Grace the story. "And I believe she is trying to stay away from her mother because of all this. Anyway Miss Grace, I'm sorry to cut our chat short but I really must be going."

"Oh that's alright, thank you. You've been more than helpful." Grace smiled, watching him disappear down the staircase.

She wandered around for a while until an idea suddenly came to her. Smiling to herself, she quickly made her way to the wireless room. She vowed to get Jack back if it was the last thing she did.

A/N – So much for only being less than 10 chapters! I'm actually really enjoying writing this story so I'll just keep going until it naturally ends. Any suggestions would be welcome