July 6th 1912

Rose's POV

"Come on, Rose, there must be something here you like!"

Sarah sighed as she flicked her way through the dresses on the rail. An hour and a half into our hunt for my wedding dress, and we still hadn't found one that I could see myself wearing in just over two weeks' time. Today's trip to Eau Claire to find my dress was Sarah's latest attempt at cheering me up after the encounter with Cal, but I was fast proving to be a lost cause. As much as it did help to take my mind off of him by focusing on mine and Jack's upcoming wedding, I still couldn't walk into the town without feeling the curious eyes of the crowd on me, their unspoken questions constantly dragging my mind back to that night.

I was grateful for the relief of Honey having her stitches removed and being given a clean bill of health yesterday, however. Until then I had scarcely left the house for fear of what might possibly happen to her while I wasn't there. Now that she was up and about again, almost fully-healed, I could relax just a little.

But I could not, however, be persuaded to enjoy dress shopping.

"How about this one?" said Sarah, holding up a rather plain dress with long, swirling sleeves and a high neckline.

"I don't think so" I said uncertainly, the almost exact same answer I gave to every dress.

"Rose, really. I might as well be trying to dress a man for all the help you're giving me here"

"I'm sorry, Sarah" I said with a hopeless sigh. "I don't know, I just don't feel like any of these dresses is right"

Maybe it was because I had had so little involvement in the planning of my last wedding, but I just didn't feel able to decide on anything. Any choice that I had been granted the priviledge of making had been sighed upon and disapproved of by my mother, who seemed intent on making me believe that everything I chose was wrong.

"There's a right dress for every woman, Rose" Sarah said determindely, running her hands through the rows of dresses once more. "We just have to keep looking"

She pulled out another dress for my inspection.

"This one?"

I grimaced at the sight of the hideous dress in front of me. It consisted of layers of expensive fabric to form a skirt that resembled more of a pastry than a dress. The bodice was cinched in tight at the waist, and it was bedecked with so many beads and crystals that the whole thing sparkled in the light in a very tacky sort of way. To top it off, it was one of the most expensive dresses in the shop.

"That is exactly the sort of thing my mother would make me wear" I said. "And for that very reason, I would never wear it in a million years"

"So I assume your mother is coming to the wedding?" Sarah asked as she stuck the dress back on the rail, probably changing the subject before she gave in to the urge to scream at me.

"No" I replied.

Sarah gave me a puzzled look.

The story of how my monster of an ex-fiance had come to try and kidnap me was now common knowledge, but I hadn't told anyone that my mother had also been in town, except for Mrs Ryan, who had been surprisingly inactive on the grape vine since hosting our happy little meeting.

"We don't see eye to eye" I explained. "She wasn't exactly... approving, when I broke off my previous engagement to be with Jack"

Sarah smiled.

"Then she's a fool" she said. "It's plain to see how happy you and Jack are together"

"My happiness was never high on my mother's list of priorities, I'm afraid" I snorted.

"In which case I think we're all better off without the pleasure of her company" Sarah declared before thrusting another dress out at me for inspection.

It wasn't that I didn't agree that my wedding would be a happier affair without my mother, but I couldn't help but feel saddened by the fact that the day would be celebrated with so little family present. I wished badly that my father were here, to walk me down the aisle, and so I could have at least one parent who would smile proudly at me on the happiest day of my life. The only other close family I had was my mother's sister, my Aunt Hilda, who was every bit as snobbish as my mother, and so no doubt would refuse an invitation if I decided to offer her one. And with Jack's parents both dead, and his own lack of extended family, it was easy to see how our day could be seen as a lonely one.

But then I remembered how many wonderful friends we would have with us; Fabrizio and Helga were coming up from New York, as were Nathan and his family, and even Molly Brown had joyfully accepted our invitation. Then of course there was Sarah and Peter, as well as Jim Clarkson and plenty of other people from the village we knew. Despite our lack of blood relatives, it was sure to be a happy day. As long as the bride didn't show up without a dress, of course.

On and on we went, dress after dress, rejection after rejection. Sarah was starting to get as annoyed as the sales assistant lurking in the corner looked, but I just couldn't warm to anything put before me.

"Okay, one more, and then I'll stop torturing you. For today" said Sarah in defeat as she limply pulled out the last dress.

I stared at what she held out, and I couldn't help but gasp.

I had seen that dress before. In another time, another life.

It was the exact same dress as the red and black one I had worn the night of the dinner and Third Class party on the Titanic. The dress that now lay in the ruins of the ship I had worn it on. This dress may be white as snow, but the cut and style was exactly the same as that dress. Even the style of the beaded embroidery was the same, although these beads were crystal clear as opposed to the shiny black ones on the other dress. They glinted delicately in the light, not too overpowering, just subtle enough to be a final, beautiful touch.

My mind raced back to that night, months ago, when I had chosen what to wear to dinner on the night that Jack would be joining us in First Class. For the first time in ages, I had wanted to make an effort. Usually I just let my mother or Trudy select a dress for the evening for me, but that night I specifically chose the red and black one because it was one of the few I owned that I actually thought I looked good in, one of the few that my mother didn't sigh at me when I wore because my body was all wrong. That dress was one of the best I owned. I wouldn't admit it at the time, but I wanted to look my best for Jack. And that dress made me feel my best.

And now here it was, back again, to fulfil it's duty; to make me look my best on the most important day of my life for the man I loved. It was fate.

"I'll take it"

Sarah's head jerked up in surprise.

"I'm sorry?" she asked, clearly wondering if she'd imagined my words.

"That dress. I'll take it" I repeated firmly.

"Hallelujah!" Sarah cried in delight. "Finally, we have a winner!"

I was quickly ushered to one side by the salesgirl to have my measurements taken, who was clearly overjoyed to finally have made a sale after so long.

When we finally walked out of the store with my dress wrapped and boxed up, Sarah turned to me and said, "Rose, thank you so much for choosing that dress. I know I'm supposed to say "because it looks beautiful on you", but in all honesty it's because I was one dress away from strangling you with a veil"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well I hope you won't want to strangle me when I ask you for an enormous favour"

"Well I'd say that depends on the favour"

"Would you be my bridesmaid?"

She stopped in her tracks on the street, open-mouthed.

"Do you really mean it?" she gasped.

"Of course I do!" I replied. "You're the first real friend I made since moving here. If you hadn't had the kindness to speak to me that day at the library I'd probably still be hiding behind a pile of textbooks in silence today. Not to mention the fact that you gave me a job I love"

"Rose, I'm touched, really. But aren't bridesmaids supposed to be unmarried?"

"Oh who cares? I want you with me when I walk down the aisle, married or otherwise. To hell with traditions. God knows I've broken enough of them already"

"Perhaps white wasn't the colour we should have gone for after all, hmm?" Sarah sang with a cheeky smile, collapsing into giggles when I hit her on the arm.

The journey back to Chippewa Falls was a long one, and by the time we arrived on the outskirts of the town we were both pretty tired. But as I gazed out of the window of the omnibus, I was snapped out of my daydream by the sight of activity outside the manor house belonging to Mr Harker. There were a large group of workmen hauling furniture, packing cases and trunks out of the house and into large coaches. Halfway up the drive, supervising with a face like thunder, was Mr Harker himself.

I shrunk away from the window at the sight of him. Jack had told me everything about how he had brought Cal up here to us, and how he had gotten away with it too. All of my feelings of hurt and anger resurfaced at the sight of him. But I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Before I could ask, however, Sarah had also caught sight of the goings on.

"Ha! I see Harker's finally on his way out!" she laughed triumphantly.

"What do you mean, 'finally'?" I asked.

"You haven't heard? He's been driven out! Ever since word got out about how he told that awful ex-fiance of yours where you were, not a single person in town has been buying his produce. It's like the whole town's staged a boycott. In these few days alone he's lost half a goldmine"

I was shocked. I had no idea about any of this. But then I had been avoiding the town and it's people for days. And all the while, the people of Chippewa Falls had been carrying out their own punishment on the man who had betrayed us; demanding from him payment that the law was happy to forgo.

"Oh my God.." I muttered.

"Oh yes, it's true" Sarah continued. "Folk are pretty angry. He's never been a popular man to begin with but all this has given everyone the perfect excuse to get rid of him completely. Hard as it is to admit, he's not an idiot. He knows the people won't go back to buying his goods. Looks like he's seen sense and sold up. And he'll be gone soon by the looks of it"

I craned my neck behind me as we drove past to get one last look at the man who had sold me out to Cal. The sight of his defeated, angered face lifted my spirits greatly. It felt good to know that Harker had been made to pay the price for his crimes, even if Cal would not.

True to Sarah's predictions, by the next day, word was spread about town that Mr. Harker was gone. His mansion sold, his business on the market, his grocery store shelves empty. With this knowledge I finally felt as though I could bring closure to the whole awful event. Finally, I could relax, move on, and focus on my future. My wonderful future, beginning with the day I would finally truly become Rose Dawson.