"Jack no! Put me down!" Rose squealed as she found herself being scooped up off her feet and carried into the house. They had just returned to Chippewa Falls. Jacob and Sarah had gone to inform her family of their marriage and to gather her belongings and Maxwell and Olivia had decided to go stay overnight with friends so that the newlyweds can have the house to themselves for the evening.
"This is tradition, is it not?" Jack grinned as he carried his new bride into the house.
"It is! But we're both too old for this!" Rose laughed, clinging tightly to her new husband as he carried her upstairs.
Jack stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at her with a teasing gleam in his clear blue eyes. "Which room will you have be ours, Mrs. Dawson?"
"Hmm, yours will do," Rose leaned in and claimed his lips in a passionate kiss as he blindly headed for what was his/their room.
Once inside the room, Jack kicked the door closed behind them and gently laid Rose down onto the neatly made bed and settled down next to her before claiming her lips once more for a passionate kiss. After a few minutes, they pulled apart thanks to the need for air.
"You are so beautiful," Jack happily smiled, his fingers playing with her red curls. "Even more so now than you were when you were seventeen."
Rose blushed and shrugged. "You're just as handsome and charming as you were the first day we met."
"I was charming? I thought I was rude, uncouth, and presumptuous."
Rose rolled her eyes and laughed. "You were all of those and you were charming too. But no more talking about the past. We've done enough of that. The question now is what about the future? I mean...Jacob is married now...so are we! How does this change things?"
"Who says that things have to change?"
"We're married. Our son is married. He's going to want to go off on his own and start his own life. Do we stay here or do we get a smaller house? Do we even stay here in Chippewa Falls? There's so much to decide on..."
"There is. But we don't have to decide on it right away. Let's just enjoy today for what it is. The first day of the rest of our lives."
Rose smiled, liking that. "The first day of the rest of our lives. I like that."
Looking into each other's eyes, they could no longer hold back the passion that now filled them. Their lips met and their tongues danced together as their fingers unfastened their clothes and pushed them off their bodies, exposing themselves to one another.
Jack's artist hands ran along Rose's exposed flesh, marveling at the changes. The last time he had seen her like this, she had been a seventeen-year-old girl, her body untouched by childbirth and life. Now she was an older woman whose body told a different story from the seventeen-year-old version. There were stretch marks where once there was none. Her hands and body moved with the experience of a woman who had been loved plenty of times before instead of the youthful hesitance of a seventeen-year-old virgin. But there were some things that were the same. The softness of her mouth, the brightness of her eyes, the neediness of her touch, and the blaze of desire and adoration that she lit up inside of him.
Jack's body had also changed. His hands were more calloused, the naive youthful optimism was gone, replaced with a sense of wisdom that only age can bring. But the gentle way he touched her, the intensity of his blue eyes when he looked at her, the taste of his mouth, the sound of his voice when he said her name, that hadn't changed a bit. Jack still made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world and that the sky was the limit. The world was once again an open horizon.
Their first time in the Renault, where they had conceived their son, it had been a rushed, passionate affair. There had been no time to explore and savor the moment. It had been rushed and the excitement of the danger of getting caught had clouded their senses so they hadn't really relished the moment of their lovemaking, but this time was different. There was no angry valet chasing them, no jealous fiance, and no snooty mothers. There were no class barriers. There was only Jack and Rose, together at last, together forever. As they came together at that moment, they both knew that nothing would ever come between them again. At last, the future was theirs for the taking. All obstacles were forever gone.
Together, they reached the stars and came back to earth, cradled in each other's arms, secure in the knowledge that for them it would be smooth sailing for now on.
….
Happily sated after a good two hours of lovemaking, hunger sent Jack and Rose downstairs to throw together a quick dinner for themselves and perhaps Jacob and Sarah as well. It was assumed that Jacob and his new bride would be returning to the house after gathering her things and sure enough, they found their son and his new bride in the sitting room. Jacob's arms were tightly wrapped around Sarah's shoulders as Sarah sat beside him with tears in her eyes. Things with her parents had not gone well at all it seemed.
"Hey, you two are back," Jack lead Rose into the room, feeling grateful that they both had decided it was best to be dressed since there was a good chance they wouldn't have the house entirely to themselves.
"Yeah. We hope you don't mind. I know this is a honeymoon to you guys and all," Jacob forced a sad smile, feeling a little awkward, especially noticing the messed state of his mother's normally perfectly styled hair.
"Of course we don't mind. It's your honeymoon as well, darling. We were expecting you to come back. I take it that things did not go well with Sarah's family?" Rose lead Jack over to the loveseat across from Jacob and his new bride.
"My father was furious. He called me an embarrassment. He kicked me out and disowned me...as if I was going to inherit anything anyway. He doesn't want to see me anymore."
"He ignored the fact that he was forcing you into marriage anyway. You just took control away from him, that's all," Jacob pulled her closer, wanting to soothe away the hurt. "He wanted you to be in a marriage where you had no dreams of your own. One where you could be controlled. He didn't like that you took that control away from him."
"I know. It just...it still hurts and mother...she was what hurt most of all. She just sat there and let him do it. She didn't say anything to defend me at all. It was like I had no mother. Heck, I don't! Not anymore. I might as well be an orphan."
Rose took Sarah's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Dear, I know that things seem bleak right now. Your parents have hurt you terribly. But someday, they will come around and want you to be a part of the family again. Especially when the grandchildren start arriving. But until then, if you like...I'll be happy to take you on as another daughter."
"You don't have to do that," Sarah tearfully looked at Rose, trying to read the older woman. Was she serious, or was she just humoring a girl who had just lost her family?
"I am. I know what it's like to walk away from the only life you have ever known and to start over. But you're luckier than I was. I was alone. But you're not. You have Jacob and you have me and Jack. We'll stand by your side for however long you need us. You are not without family, Sarah. We're your family and we Dawsons/Hockley's stick together. We'll always be here for you."
Blinking back tears, Sarah allowed Rose to wrap her arms around her in a comforting hug. For the first time since waking up that morning, she felt at home. She had finally found a place where she belongs. She may not have married into a family rich with money, but she had married into a family rich in love and that was all that mattered.
...,
Night had fallen and everyone had retired to their separate corners. Rose sat at the vanity brushing her curls, her mind going through the day's events. She had woken up that morning a widow with two sons and one beautiful daughter. Now she was going to bed a married woman with two sons and two daughters. She couldn't help but smile and think of how spontaneous life truly was. You never really knew what was going to come around the corner next. Back in 1912, before she had boarded Titanic, she had believed that her life's path was set in stone. Then Jack had freed her, just to disappear from her life, leaving her with a son to raise. Then she was forced to return to her old life, just to find love again with a man she had thought she could never love, but he had changed and she did love him. Then she lost him again and now, after all these years, her Jack was returned to her and now they could finally have the life they should have had from the start.
Jack stepped behind her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as his eyes met hers in the mirror. She could see the sadness in those blue depths and wondered why? Did he regret their marriage now? Did he miss his freedom and wanted it back?
"I am so sorry that you were alone. I wish I could have been there for you through all of it," Jack sighed, looking away from her gaze.
"Jack, don't be. It's okay. It had all happened for a reason. What that reason was has been met and now we can be together at last. Truly, I don't regret a thing."
"Really? Don't you think it would have been easier for you if we had never been apart?"
"Of course it would have been. But like we've discussed before, if you had been, Cal would never have had reason to change the way he did. He would remain trapped and died alone and bitter. No one to have a kind memory of him. I wouldn't have learned to forgive as I had. And I bet there are some experiences that you would have missed out on as well. It's okay. We're together now and that is all that matters."
Jack met her eyes again and silently agreed. Things had happened the way they had for a reason and they were good reasons. It may have been a long time coming, but he had his family back and he was completely grateful.