The Dawson house was exactly how Grace remembered it. It wasn't fancy, but it was homey and comfortable. She stepped inside, setting down Viola as she entered into the living room that held two couches and two chairs. To the left, she saw the kitchen, and in the back of the room was a hallway next to a staircase.
"Has anyone been in here in the last five years?" Grace asked, running her finger over the couch, a thin layer of dust appearing on her finger.
Theodore looked around. "No one's lived here. A few of us have come in to clean it, in the hopes one day you'd return," he answered. "Been a few months, though."
Grace nodded, walking into the kitchen. She'd been thirteen the last time she had been there, and wanted to take everything in once more.
"This is a nice place, Grace," Rose said, looking at the home. It felt much more family friendly that where she had lived as a child, where everything seemed to be for decoration and not for Rose to ever touch.
"It's nothing like what you're used to, but it'll have to do," Grace replied, checking in the empty cabinets. She looked down at Lilly, who was standing near her. "This'll be your home for a few days, Lilly," she told the girl.
"Are we not staying here?" Lilly asked innocently, her brown eyes round.
Grace opened her mouth, hesitant on what to answer. "You and Viola will go somewhere else. I know some really nice people in town, and you can probably live with them. You can see Rose and I whenever, though," she told the girl.
"Why can't we stay with you?" Lilly questioned, her eyes growing sad. Grace's heart ached, and she wished she could keep the girls, but she and Rose were too young, and Grace saw Titanic whenever she looked in their eyes. Sometimes it was all she could do not to break down when she talked to them.
"Rose and I just… need some time alone right now," Grace said. "You weren't bad or anything. You are both very sweet girls."
Lilly nodded, still looking sad. Grace felt bad for how much change the girls had gone through in the past week, but she knew she couldn't keep them It wasn't fair to them, who needed a stable family, and it wasn't fair to her, when the last thing she wanted to do was think of that godforsaken boat she was reminded of every time she looked at them.
Of course, she thought of Titanic when she saw Rose too, but she'd had good times with Rose. She and Rose were a year apart, and could understand the pain and heartbreak the other was going through. They had known each other a few days before the sinking, and hadn't even been together for most of that night.
"Care for a tour?" Grace asked Rose, Viola, and Lilly.
"Show us around," Rose said, nodding.
Grace took them through the house, showing the dining room accessed through the kitchen, the bathroom and two bedrooms down the hall, and the other two bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs.
"You girls can stay in these rooms, unless you want to share, in which case you can take just that one," Grace instructed the girls as she showed them the rooms on the bottom floor. "Rose, I'll assume you want his old room?" she asked, avoiding Jack's name. She didn't know if she'd be able to even set foot in there.
Rose looked at the door. She wanted to take that bedroom, be reminded of Jack and his presence, sleep in the bed he had once slept in, see if he had left any clothing there. But she didn't quite know if she was ready, feeling as if sleeping there would make her too emotional.
"Could I possibly take a different bedroom?" she asked, avoiding Theodore's curious eyes.
Grace nodded, knowing Rose had grief similar to what she felt. Of course, the girls had very different relationships with Jack, and had known him for different amounts of time, but Grace didn't like to think that the time you knew a person was a big factor in how much grief someone could go through while losing them.
"You can share the master bedroom with me," Grace offered. "Or if Vi and Lilly want to share a room, you can take the other one."
Rose nodded, giving her friend a thankful smile.
"What happened to Jack?" Theodore asked after a moment of silence.
Grace looked at Rose. Theodore had been close with Jack too, and it was unfair to keep him in the dark about all of this. Grace didn't quite know if she was ready to relive everything yet, however, and knew telling Theodore now would mean he got a modified version of the story.
"It's a hard story to tell," Grace answered. "But Rose and I will try our best. It's just… so soon, and so you may not get much," she warned him.
Theodore nodded understandingly, a bad feeling settling into his stomach. This couldn't be good.
"Lilly, Viola, go play out in the yard. You haven't got to do much of that recently," Grace instructed, pointing the girls to the door. They looked at her before nodding, and walking outside.
Rose sighed, looking at Grace and Theodore, wondering where to start. "It's a rather long story, if you don't mind," she cautioned.
"We should sit somewhere," Grace added, and walked back into the living room, taking a seat on one of the old couches, Theodore and Rose copying her. "Where should I start?" Grace wondered aloud, looking at Theodore as she said it.
"Where have you been for five years? What have you been up to? Where is Jack, and where did you meet Rose? And how did you end up with Lilly and Viola?" Theodore asked.
Grace took a deep breath. Only she could answer the first two questions, because Rose hadn't yet been with them. "Well, we traveled a lot," she started. "We went to California, all down the coast. Monterey, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Francisco… all of the places people tell you about. Then we made our way across the United States and ended up on a ship to Germany, where we stayed for a little while before going to Greece," Grace continued. "We stayed there for a while, seeing all the sights. It was beautiful. Then we went off to Paris. We stayed there for a while, and there's a lot of good memories there," Grace explained.
Rose noticed Grace didn't mention Claude, and knew that must be on purpose. From the way Grace described their relationship, it sounded as if the pair were the loves of each other's lives, and one doesn't just forget to mention the love of their life.
"After that, we headed to Italy, where we met a man named Fabrizio. Fabrizio became Jack's best friend, and I was pretty close with him too," Grace explained. She knew the word 'was' would raise a few red flags for Theodore, who was very observant about everything. "We were in Italy for a while too, stayed with Fabri's family and went to all sorts of places. Then, we made our way to the United Kingdom, and eventually Southampton." Grace hoped Theodore would remember why Southampton was important, and she would see the familiar spark in his eyes when he realized something.
Unfortunately for her, no such spark came. Theodore was watching her and Rose intently, waiting for them to finish the story.
Grace took a deep breath. "We boarded a ship. Jack, Fabrizio and I. It was where we met Rose. She and Jack… they fell in love. I made a new friend, Tommy. Fabrizio met a girl, Helga. They didn't speak the same language, but they tried," she explained. "Of all those people, only Rose and I live." Grace looked at Rose, wanting her to tell her story. Theodore seemed to have an idea of what this was all about, but he needed to be sure.
"They called it the grandest ship in the world," Rose started. "But it was a slave ship to me. Taking me back to America where I was to wed a fiance I did not love. Jack was my escape. My knight in shining armor. And now everything is at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean."
Grace swallowed back her tears, looking at Theodore to make sure he understood. She was thankful to see that familiar spark in his eye that meant he knew what Grace and Rose were talking about without either having to mention the name.
"You were on Titanic," Theordore said. It wasn't a question; he wasn't asking if the girls had been on that dreadful ship. He knew now that they had been, and didn't need further confirmation. "I'm so sorry."
Grace looked at him sadly, wanting so badly to break into tears. "I miss him, Theo," she said, and threw herself into his arms, grateful for a shoulder to cry on who hadn't gone through the same thing she had.
Rose watched this as it happened, wishing Jack was there so they could lean on each other.
"Rose… if you need anything…" Theo said awkwardly, one arm around Grace, whose face was hidden, pressed against his body. "It's good to cry," he told her, inviting her to lean on him too.
Rose knew her mother would consider it improper, hugging and being so informal with a man she had just met, but Rose didn't care about what her mother had to say anymore. She needed to cry again, and she broke down in Theo's arms, next to Grace.
Upon Grace's request, Theo quickly went to his home, which was only a few houses down, and grabbed all of the newspapers he'd received with Titanic survivor lists, bringing them back for Grace and Rose to go through.
Jack's name was nowhere to be found. Rose was crying again, her body shaking as she sobbed. Grace felt empty and lost, as if part of her was missing and she couldn't be whole again. She couldn't cry again; it was impossible for her to do so. She instead stared lifelessly at the newspaper in her hands, wishing she could go back in time and stop herself, Jack, and Fabrizio from ever boarding that ship.
She knew she couldn't do that, and even if she could, she knew she wouldn't. She had met Tommy and Rose on that ship, and she had rescued Lilly and possibly others. Grace knew she just had to accept Jack was gone. It hurt her to do so, to live as if he never existed, but she didn't have any other choice.
"He's really gone…" Grace muttered, defeated. "I had… I had a little bit of hope. No one really saw… but he would be in this list if he wasn't…" she said softly.
"The good people are taken too soon. Jack was one of the kindest people I knew. He should be here," Theodore said, giving Grace a sad smile.
Grace nodded. Jack could annoy her, sure, but every brother annoyed their sister at times. She'd never, ever wanted him gone.
Those next few days were, again, very strange. Grace and Rose had to settle into what was to be their new life in the place Grace had once called home. She didn't know if it was possible to call Chippewa Falls home ever again, though. Almost everyone she loved from there was dead, and it was no longer the safe place Grace had envisioned it as when she was a child.
At Grace's request, Theodore didn't tell people much about the return of Grace. All he said was that Grace was back, Jack was not, and Grace had brought her friend Rose along with two orphans. Nothing was said about Titanic, and Theodore refused to go into any more detail than what was necessary.
Five days after returning, though, Grace knew she had to talk to some people. She couldn't stay locked up in her house forever, and as little as she wanted to do them, things needed to be done. She needed to ask the Smiths if they could take the girls, and she needed to find her friends she hadn't spoken to in so long and be reintroduced.
First stop was the house of Jane and Carl Smith. They were a kind couple who had been friends with Grace and Jack's parents, and they'd always talked about how they wished they could have children, but had found it impossible. Grace hoped Viola and Lilly could complete their family, and the couple would agree to care for the children.
Grace was alone as she stood on their porch, waiting for someone to answer the door. After a few seconds passed, Jane came and answered the door, and looked strangely at Grace.
"Mrs. Smith, hi," Grace said nervously. "It's Grace Dawson."
"Grace… I didn't think you and your brother would ever come back," Jane Smith said, smiling warmly.
"Jack… isn't coming back," Grace said with a sigh. She hated explaining this all to people.
"Did he decide somewhere else you two went was the place for him?" Jane asked, not understanding what Grace had meant when she said that.
"The North Atlantic, evidently," Grace told her. "We were on the Titanic, and… I need to ask you and your husband something," she explained.
Mrs. Smith gasped. "Oh, dear. I'm so sorry to hear that," she said. "Come in, why don't you." She held the door open as Grace walked inside their home, which looked exactly as she remembered it. "Carl! Grace Dawson is back!" she shouted to her husband, who came down the stairs a few seconds later.
"Well, I'll be damned. Grace Dawson in the flesh. If I'm honest, I didn't expect you to be back here again," Carl said. He and his wife were still young, in their mid thirties, a few years younger than Grace's parents.
Grace tried to smile, and hoped it didn't look terribly awkward. She took a deep breath, knowing beating around the bush would do her no good. "I need to ask you two something," she said, swallowing nervously.
"What is it, honey?" Jane asked, her eyes pitying.
"Well… Mrs. Smith, as I said, Jack and I were on the Titanic," Grace told them, trying her best to make her voice remain stable. "Jack, he didn't… make it. But, we met and befriended a girl named Rose, and while the ship was sinking, I found two little girls, Lilly and Viola. All three are here in Chippewa Falls with me. Rose and I… we talked about it a lot, and we just can't take care of them. There's too many memories… it can be a challenge to look after ourselves, and we don't feel like we're giving the girls what they should be getting. And I was wondering… if you two could possibly take them in?" Grace did her best to explain it all briefly. "They're lovely girls, of course. So kind and sweet."
Jane looked at her husband, longing in her eyes. "Carl, we'd finally have our family," she said, a small smile coming to her face at the thought.
Carl looked at his wife, knowing how badly she had always wanted children. He turned back to grace and nodded. "Alright. We'll adopt those girls," he agreed.
Grace couldn't help but smile, glad that the pair could finally care for children. "Would you like to come back to my house for them with me, or should I get them myself?" she asked.
"We'll go with you, of course," Jane said happily.
Grace had talked to Lilly and Viola before this, telling them of the fact that they were going to live with people who could care for them better that Grace and Rose were able to at that point. The girls had seemed rather nervous, but Grace promised them this would be the last big change in their lives for a long time, and hoped they wouldn't hate her.
After safely seeing the girls off, and saying a goodbye that was harder than either Grace or Rose expected, Grace collapsed onto the couch, hugging a pillow to her chest as she took in what had just happened.
"I feel bad," she said to Rose, running her fingers through her hair.
"It's better for them," Rose replied, sitting on the couch as well. "It makes me feel like I'll be a terrible mother though. Who gives up their daughters because they feel too young and are grieving?"
"They're not your daughters," Grace reminded her. "Rose, we're eighteen. We aren't meant to take care of five year olds we just met. I'll miss them, but they'll have a much better life with Jane and Carl, and we can visit them."
Rose sighed and looked at the floor, letting herself get lost in thoughts of Jack that she was pulled out of when there was a knock on the door. "Who could that be?" she asked Grace, who had turned to look at the door.
"Theo said he couldn't come over today," Grace replied as she stood up to answer it. She had a faint idea of who it could be, and didn't quite know how to feel about it.
Carefully, Grace unlocked and opened the door, gasping when she saw the two people standing there.
"Isadora? Myles?" she asked, staring in shock at the vaguely familiar adult faces standing before her.
"Grace, you're really back," Isadora said, a warm smile growing on her face. Her dark brown hair was pulled graciously back from her face, and her deep blue eyes still shined with joy like they had all those years ago.
"What, you thought Theo was lying?" Grace asked, a small smile breaking through her lips.
"You never know with him," Myles said, his sandy hair swept messily back and his brown eyes still sprinkled with mischief.
"It's been so long…" Grace said, looking at two of the people she had once considered best friends who had grown to be strangers, their now young adult facial features different from their early teen features, but still recognizable. "Come in."
The three walked into the center of the living room, Rose looking at Grace with raised eyebrows.
"Myles, Isadora, this is my friend Rose," Grace said, gesturing toward the redhead on the couch. "Rose, these are my old friends Isadora Davidson and Myles Anderson. Them, Theodore, Jack and I were all a friend group," she explained.
"It's nice to meet you," Rose said, flashing a fake but warm smile.
"You too," Isadora replied, and Grace could tell she knew Rose was first class when she said that.
"So Gracie, where've you been for so long?" Myles asked, sprawling out in one chair while Isadora sat in the other.
"All over," Grace responded airily, hoping they could talk about something else. All anyone wanted to talk about was Grace, Jack, and Rose, and Grace wanted to hear how the town had been, what had happened in those five missing years. She was tired of bringing all of the bad news, getting everyone down and being reminded of her own loss.
"Grace-" Isadora started, but Grace cut her off.
"If you're going to ask about Jack, he's… gone. We were in an accident and Rose and I survived but he didn't," Grace said, putting it bluntly. Her heart ached as she spoke, and her voice faltered, not wanting to say what she was saying. Tears swam to the brims of her eyes and Grace swallowed, letting her hair fall in front of her face, hopefully hiding it from others.
"Grace…" Myles said, sounding apologetic. "Theo… told us. At least about the Jack bit," he confessed, standing up and walking to the couch Rose and Grace sat on.
Grace looked up, her eyes red. "What?" she asked softly.
"We heard you were back in town, but Theo wouldn't say anything, and we kept pestering until he snapped and said that Jack… but he didn't go into detail, he regretted it the second he realized what he had said," Isadora told Grace.
"And we're so sorry, Grace. We didn't mean to be invasive, we thought maybe Jack had stayed off somewhere else, or run off with some love affair," Myles added, sincerity in his tone.
Grace sat for a few seconds, processing, her lips spread gently apart.
"Oh," Rose said softly, the first one to speak. She longed for that second one to have been true, that she had run off with Jack to travel and experience life as it should be lived.
"It's okay," Grace mumbled, tucking some hair out of her face. She wasn't sure how to feel. She knew she should be mad at Theodore for telling people after asking him not to, but she also knew she would do the same thing, and didn't know her thoughts on that. But anger was never there. She didn't feel anything but sadness over losing Jack.
Myles and Isadora looked at each other, unsure of what to say. The pair had wanted to talk to Grace again for so long, but after years apart, neither party knew the other well enough to do much talking.
Grace took a deep breath, trying to push aside her sadness so she could have a normal conversation with Isadora and Myles, people who didn't know about Titanic yet. "So, what's happened in Chippewa Falls since we left?" she asked.
"So much, yet nothing at all," Isadora replied.
"Well, start explaining. I didn't come back here to be left in the dark about the goings on of my home town," Grace told them, managing a smile. "Besides, I've been telling everyone the stories these past weeks. It'll be nice to hear one for a change."
"Alright," Myles agreed, nodding his head once. "Let's get started."