Chapter 21

Rose shivered against the cold night air as she began the trek home. She couldn't stop thinking about the meeting with her mother. She couldn't believe that they had called a truce and that her mother had finally accepted the fact that she was not going to marry Cal and that she was now married to Jack and that they were going to have a baby. She had expected harsh words and recriminations from her mother. Not tears of regret. She didn't know what to make of it. In fact, it scared her.

"A penny for your thoughts," a voice spoke up from behind.

Rose whirled around, expecting to see Caledon Hockley, ready to drag her back to Philadelphia. After all, her mother had shown up unexpectedly. Why not him? Instead, she found Jack, his blue eyes full of love, which turned into concern when he saw how pale she was and the fear in her eyes. He quickly came to the conclusion that it was time to insist that Rose quit her job if it was causing her this much stress.

"Rose, what is it? How hard did they work you at that party?"

Rose's voice held no emotion. "My mother's here."

Jack's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting that. "The one from Titanic?"

"That's the only mother I've got Jack."

"What did she want?"

"Another chance to be my mother."

Jack was speechless. He didn't know what to say to Rose. A part of him wanted to tell her to forget about the meeting with Ruth. That they could go on with their lives and pretend that the meeting had never happened. But the more logical part of him, the one that always made the hard decisions, wanted to tell Rose to give her mother another chance. The woman couldn't do anything to harm them or their child. He wanted to tell her that perhaps Ruth really had changed and wanted to be with the only family she had left. In the end, it was Rose's decision, not his.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to go back to the way it was before she had shown up here. I don't want to have to think of her at Molly's waiting for me to get in touch with her. I wish…I wish that she had been a real mother to me from the start so there would be nothing to think about now. I wouldn't have to forgive her," Rose burst into tears, falling into Jack's waiting arms. "What am I doing? What am I going to do?"

"Well, first you're going to come home with me and go to bed and get some much needed sleep. No more thinking about the situation with your mother tonight. You can think about it in the morning, when things will seem a whole lot more manageable than they do now," Jack gently stroked her hair, comforting her the best way he knew how. "It'll be alright, Rose. I promise. Things are not as dire as they seem right now."

Rose just clung to her husband. She didn't even let go of his hand as they walked home. When she fell asleep later that night, Jack slipped out of the house and silently sat on one of the chairs that he and Rose had sat out on the porch the night before so they could look at the stars.

What was he going to do? Everything seemed to be piling on top of his marriage. First there was discovering that Eliza and Rose were friends and getting Eliza to agree to keep quiet about their romantic past and now it was Rose's mother showing up here in Chippewa Falls. He knew he was encouraging Rose to work things out with her mother, but he didn't think that Ruth would be back in their lives so soon. She must have freaked out when she saw Rose not only pregnant, but working as someone's maid. She probably couldn't wait to send for Cal and have him take Rose and their unborn baby away.

Jack was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the figure walking up the path and stepping upon the porch until she spoke. "Hello Mr. Dawson."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise to see Rose's mother standing only a few feet away from where he was sitting. She hadn't changed a bit from the last time he had seen her. She still had an arrogant vibe to her. "I am sorry to have disturbed you, but I had to beg Molly to bring me here so that I could see how Rose was living. She would probably kill me if she knew that I was here."

She had that right. Rose would be livid. But hopefully Rose was sleeping peacefully, leaving him to deal with her mother's surprise appearance at their home. "She'd be surprised."

He couldn't help but be civil to her. She was his elder and his mother had always hammered it into his head to respect his elders, whether they deserved that respect or not. "So Mrs. Dewitt Bukater…what do you think? Do you think that I'm doing right by your daughter?"

Ruth looked around at the surroundings, her eyes drinking it all in and making a judgment. "A house by the woods in a quaint little town like this, it is far better than how I first pictured you two living. I was certain that you had her living on the streets if not in some run down shack with no running water."

"That's what I had thought you were thinking," Jack smiled, satisfied that he was right.

"Mr. Dawson, that's not the only reason that I came here. I came to talk to you as well. I wanted to apologize for my behavior on board Titanic. I was desperate, you see. Rose must have told you about her father's debts taking all of our money and why that was the reason that I wanted her to marry Cal."

Jack nodded. Rose had told him everything the night that she had posed for him. He knew that she had worried about her decision to be with him, how it would affect her mother. But he was glad that a larger part of her hadn't cared. She was done being responsible for her mother's problems. "She told me everything. I understand where you were coming from. You were scared and was willing to do anything to remain secure. I hope you see now that Cal wasn't right for Rose and that I truly love her."

"I do see that Cal wasn't right for her. But Jack, is this life right for her? I mean…she's working as a maid for goodness sake and in her condition…"

"I tried to get her to quit, Mrs. Dewitt Bukater," Jack got to his feet, pushing down the anger that threatened to push its way to the surface. "But you know your daughter. She refused to listen. As for this being the life the right one for her, it's the life that chose.

"But you are her husband. Surely she must obey…"

"We are not about that, Mrs. Dewitt Bukater. I am not about that. I am not here to make Rose's decisions for her. I am here to love and support her as she makes her own decisions. I am here to share her life, not control it," Jack's voice was firm and solid, leaving no room for argument. "I am sorry if you don't agree with that, but that is the way it will always be in our marriage and we're both happier for it."

"And my grandchild?"

"Your grandchild will be just fine. I love Rose. I would never harm or allow harm to come to her."

"Mmm. I can tell that you mean what you say. For some reason, I do trust you. I suppose that there is no other choice, then. I would like to accept you on both mine and my husband's behalf. Welcome to the family," Rose did something totally unexpected then. She gave Jack a quick hug. "My husband would have liked you from the start. In fact, the two of you are quite alike. Both of you are free spirits. I am thankful that Rose had found you to share her life with."

Jack felt happy tears in his eyes. This development was going to please Rose. Her mother had finally accepted him.

Rose, herself, stood at the window, watching the scene below. She could feel her heart begin to soften towards her mother. The scene between her mother and Jack was proof that her mother was indeed trying to change.