Chapter 29

"Rose!"

Rose was sitting in the library curled up on a sofa reading a book when she heard Jack yelling from downstairs. She closed the book over, setting it down on the table before making her way out of the room and walking down the stairs.

"Rose!" Jack yelled again.

Rose finally made it to the bottom of the stairs where she saw Jack standing, a massive smile plastered over his face.

"Jack? What's going on?" Rose asked.

"Look, you're not going to believe this." Jack grabbed her hands, pulling her gently down the last few stairs.

"Not going to believe what? Jack? What's going on?" Rose asked again.

"Stand here." Jack said excitedly before walking back over to the door. He smiled back at her before slowly opening the large wooden door. Rose watched him intently until her eyes rested on a figure standing in the doorway, his back to her.

"Who's this?" she looked at Jack and then back at the figure. Slowly it started to turn around. As he turned, Rose's eyes glanced over him before finally resting on his unshaven face. But through the beard and moustache that had grown, Rose only had to look into his eyes to know exactly who he was.

"John?" she whispered, trying to take it all in.

He smiled, nodding at her. Suddenly she was in his arms, holding him tight to her. John laughed softly as he wrapped her arms tight around her.

"I don't...I don't understand." Rose gasped, pulling back from him and walking back to Jack, taking his hands in hers. "How is this possible?"

"It's a long story." Jack laughed. "Come on, dinner should be ready. Father why don't you go upstairs and get dressed and cleaned up. Take a bath or something. Come down for dinner and we can all sit down and talk."

John nodded, slowly walking up the stairs before he finally disappeared from sight.

"Jack, how did you find him?" Rose asked, unable to take it what was going on.

"I bumped into him. He had been wandering around town trying to find his way home. Luckily I was out today otherwise he might never have got here." Jack sighed. "Come on, let's go into the dining room."

Rose nodded, glancing back up to the staircase before following Jack through to the dining room and sitting down for their meal. John eventually came down stairs looking a lot more like his old self. He was dressed in one of his suits and he had managed to wash and shave. He sat down at the table and they began to eat their dinner. Rose was full of questions but Jack had asked her to hold off until John showed that he was ready to talk. When they had finished eating, Rose became more and more agitated the longer they sat in silence.

"So I can only imagine you all have some questions." John finally broke the silence, smiling at them both.

"We didn't want to push you father." Jack smiled.

"Not at all." John laughed. Over the next couple of hours John explained what had happened. How he had finally managed to swim to a set of stairs after he had probably been carried the full length of the ship by the wave that had come crashing down on him. The little boy he had found had died from the force of the water, no doubt drowning when he couldn't get to the surface and John had no choice but to leave him. He had managed to get to the boat deck just as the almighty ship had begun its descent into the Atlantic. He had managed to cling onto the railings before jumping before the ship finally went under. He had swam as hard as he could before reaching a collapsible lifeboat when a third class man had hauled him into it. He had sat in the boat whilst the Titanic had gone under to her watery grave, watching, knowing that likely, somewhere on that ship was his son. When their boat was finally picked up by the Carpathia, John had wandered around the ship trying to avoid everyone he might know. He kept his head down and refused to speak, most people just assuming that he was mourning the loss of someone and left him be. When they finally docked in New York, he avoided the crew who were going around asking for names. He didn't want to feel like he survived when he thought it likely that he had lost his only son. Over the next couple of months, he slept rough or on the odd occasion that someone took pity on him, he stayed in some motels and on the floor of some peoples houses. On several occasions, he thought about taking his own life, thinking there was no point in him living now. He had lost his wife and now he was without his son. Eventually he made it back to Wisconsin after telling his story to a man in New York who had given him money for a train ticket. He knew that he couldn't walk into a bank and expect them to know who he was. He looked completely different and had no form of identification, anyone in a bank would likely call the police. He had finally managed to get back to Chippewa Falls that morning and it was only by luck that he had bumped into Jack, both just as shocked as the other to see they were both alive.

"I have a whole new respect for people Jack. People who don't have everything handed to them. It's changed my whole outlook on life. No longer will I turn my nose up at a beggar in the street because I've been there. Maybe only for a short time but now I know how it feels." John announced.

Rose smiled at his change of heart. He had never seemed like someone who would turn away from someone in need but Jack had insisted that he would never been seen to help someone like that. They had soon enough moved into the sitting room where John had insisted on opening up their most expensive bottle of champagne.

"Are you sure you want to do that? You said you were saving that for a special occasion." Jack had warned.

"What else could be more special than life?" John had laughed. "Don't waste a moment Jack, you never know when you'll be taken from this world. Don't take anything for granted."

Jack thought for a moment at his words. He was right. Jack didn't intend on letting anything go past him now. He had Rose with him, Grace was long gone and now he had his father back.

"You're absolutely right father. I'm not going to let anything slip through my fingers." Jack was sat in an armchair in front of a large fire place with Rose sitting in the chair opposite him, his father in between them. He didn't move from his chair, not the most traditional of methods, but he turned in his chair to face Rose and pulled the velvet box which had been burning a hole in his pocket all afternoon. "Which is why I would love it if Rose would agree to be my wife."