Chapter eight.
Entering the sitting room in B52 was an easy task. Cal's darkened eyes narrowed as Rose clasped onto Jack's hand, almost clinging to him like a child would its mother, not out of fear but of comfort from the other. The returned stare was chilling. Despite the nerves, determination coursed through Rose like she had never felt. After cleaning Jack's cuts and changing his shirt, they had made their way to First Class one final time. After returning the key to Thomas Andrews via placing it beneath his stateroom door, Rose had led Jack to the place she knew they would face Cal.
''I must converse with my mother, just once, I owe her that much,'' she had told Jack whilst pressing an ice-cold rag to his lip to reduce the swelling. He had refused to allow her to enter that world once more without his presence by her side. Truth be told, she needed his strength. There, with his hands reaching out to her, the sun and moon had risen in his eyes as his face had tucked itself within the materials of her dress near her stomach, the place which clenched with such knots just from a close proximity.
Extinguishing his cigarette in a nearby ashtray, Cal nursed a brandy in his tumbler as the door had opened unexpectedly for a late hour. Upon seeing that Lovejoy was not the person who entered, those dark eyes narrowed and scowled upon seeing the figures right there before him.
''Well, well,'' he raised an eyebrow, ''the wonderer does return.'' A glance to the clock atop the opulent mantel told him that midnight had well passed.
Rose stiffened at his voice. ''Yes, not for long.''
Painfully slow, Cal made his way to the divan couch. The one which Rose had lain naked on just the day before to allow Jack to capture her right there on paper. ''I see.'' His moves were slow, lethargic.
''Is my Mother abed?''
''Yes, darling, Rose. The hour is late and one does like to sleep. Not cavort about the ship like some lunatic with a man one doesn't even know.''
Aggression started in Jack's stomach, growling away but he remained outwardly calm. He promised not to speak a word, to support Rose and that would be all. This was not his battle to fight, though he did have more than one reason to want to connect his fist with that cocky, arrogant face just once. A slow exhale calmed him temporally.
''Well, then you will be happy to hear that I will be leaving to cavort with that man.'' Rose told him low, firm and with a raised chin.
''Very well.'' Cal crossed his leg over the other, casually and rested his arm atop the divan couch. A man of such extreme arrogance that it could have been nauseating if Rose hadn't known the man better than perhaps, he knew himself.
Rose shifted her feet, expecting an outburst. Something. A reaction. There was nothing. With a squeeze of Jack's hand within her own, it told her to not expect this to be the end.
''What shall I tell your mother?''
''Tell her the truth. I wished to speak with her myself.''
''Return to speak with her by the morning. I have no doubt she would love to hear the wonderful news from you herself. How she will be left and ruined.''
Rose stiffened. ''My conscious is clear, Mr. Hockley. I am a free woman and my mother is a woman old enough to fend for herself.''
''A laughing stock I believe is the term for a widowed woman retorting to work in a menial job to afford breakfast when one is used to fine dining, fabulous wealth and happiness.''
''Perhaps then she would have a back bone of her own. One to support herself rather than rely upon the money of others. Rather than implying it was my weight to take the role of unhappy house wife just to ensure her survival.'' There, the words which one had held inside for so long were spewing out one by one at such a rapid rate she had to take rein of herself, knowing the correct ears to out it to were her mothers, but perhaps Cal needed to hear it, too.
''Yes, sitting about being provided for is quite the hard task, Rose. You barely committed to our courtship, now here you are four months into our engagement about to become a whore to a man who can barely support himself.''
Jack's body stiffened, tensed and then Rose squeezed his hand just once to keep calm. It didn't help to relax the energy coursing through his veins or the flare of his nostrils as he breathed as easily as could be. If only Cal knew just how honourable his intentions had been toward her since the start.
''Perhaps you would have preferred me to stay? Lie of our existence as soon-to-be husband and wife. Attend the engagement gala in New York City where hundreds of people would be able to see our façade crack slowly. Marry you and bear meaningless children who would have barely an existence aside from the same unhappiness and misery that I have lived through all of my life. You may have gotten an heir. You may have gotten five daughters. Then what would happen?'' Rose bore her eyes into his, knowing that she was beneath his skin even just slightly. ''Would you have been faithful? Of course not. You were unable to stay out of the whorehouses and gentleman's clubs whilst engaged to me so I very much doubt that you could after reciting those vows. Marriage to you is just to solidify your image as a well-respected, wonderful man, about to inherit the most profitable and largest steel company in America, who's steel was made to create the wondrous Titanic. Your ego must be fed, your reputation must not be tainted, but let me tell you something Caledon Hockley; outwardly you appear to be the perfect picture of a man but beneath that I know you. I know just how scandalous this will be when you arrive in New York tomorrow night sans the bride that you boarded with. I know that you hired the press to be there to welcome your arrival like the King. I know that your fathers brand new private train would be the one to take you home. That your room at the Waldorf is the most luxurious. That a party for three hundred would take place Friday night to celebrate the engagement, but what will happen now that I am no longer with you? You needed me as part of your façade and now that I have removed myself, you are going to become something of a spectacle. What did you call it? A laughing stock.''
The tumbler of brandy smashed within Cal's hand before clattering to the floor as he stood abruptly. It was unclear if he had discarded it or shattered it with his own hands but there no was blood about to tell. It startled Jack, and he pulled Rose's body behind his own immediately to protect her with himself. With no warning, Cal came to Jack, with widened red eyes like a man who had not slept for months on end. There, within in eyes, a spark of fear crossed him. A flash that perhaps another man may not see but Jack was satisfied enough to take a note.
''Stay back,'' Jack held out one hand, extending it with flexed fingers as a warning.
''Move out of the way.''
''No.''
In four strides, Cal had reached Jack, with Rose pressed against the door behind him but as Cal extended his arms to perhaps clutch onto Jack's lapels there was something cold and metallic against Cal's ribs, poking through his shirt. It startled him enough to stop in his tracks right there on the wooden floor. Silence flooded the room for a second until it dawned on him. Lovejoy's Colt was pointed to his ribs. Glancing up, he spied the multiple cuts across Jack's face, the burst lip and then—his breathing, it was calming and steady. There was no other erratic person within this room but himself. Cal. A gun pressed to his ribs. A loaded gun.
''H-how did-''
Jack backed Cal away from him, still aiming the Colt, with no intention of using the damned thing. It was wonderful just how a man could have such power just standing behind the weapon. Rose pressed her lips together as she gathered her wits; Jack thought on his feet, his mind severely clear despite their lack of sleep.
''He was pretty easy to take down. Your next valet needs to be agile, younger, perhaps with more time on their side. It was easy to swipe, would have been easy to use if he wasn't easier to kick in the teeth.''
With a tense jaw, Cal knew that he was cornered. The dark circles of his eyes narrowed, and Jack watched the cogs of his brain turn through a brandy induced haze. Cal was predictable in one way, a man so limited in knowledge of the world and everything about it. They were wrapped up in cotton wool, seeing the world through rose tinted windows and fancy carriages. What utter nonsense that was. How could one think highly of oneself when they had experienced very little? When they were waited on foot, hand and mouth.
''I see.''
''He found us,'' Jack continued, ''I think he may have been searching a while.'' Jack continued, ''he was in pretty bad shape when I last saw him. If his ego is as battered as I think it could be, then I very much doubt you would be hearing from him again.''
''Is that right? You think you're a smart guy.'' Cal spat out, his mouth tight at the edges and his body swaying from either the adrenaline or the drink.
''No, Mr. Hockley. I don't think anything of myself, I think even less of you but I do care about her, so I will do anything that I can to make her happy.''
''And a life on the streets will be good?''
''Who knows. Perhaps freedom will make her happy rather than caged into a world full of horse shit. Full of hypocrisy, misery and fantasy. A life which entails caring what others think of you, more than you think of your own wife, your own family or friends. Feelings mean nothing, only the way others treat you. How rich or how poor. How beautiful they look. Value of house, of vehicles...'' Jack laughed, taking a long exhale. ''It's pathetic horse shit.''
''So now you intend to shoot me? Right here in the middle of my suite?'' A knowing smile crossed Cal's lips; one which seemed to be of complete satisfaction. ''How would you explain that?''
''I wouldn't waste the bullet.'' Jack lingered for a moment; his hand as steady as ever. In his mind, he searched for an urge to kill. An urge to end the man's life. There was none. With Rose, there had been a peace he had found within her that one never knew would even exist. The urge to break his jaw, and maybe a couple of ribs, however, that was more than appealing.
''I suspected.''
Releasing his grip upon the gun, Jack allowed it to simply drop out of his hands and landing at their feet. Both watched it as went. Perhaps it was a test to see if Cal was to reach for it, to put a bullet in his own skull. The tension was palpable, Rose swallowed heavily. Pinning Cal beneath her ice-cold stare, unable to calm her own adrenaline she felt it coursing through her veins and she was unable to stop the shudders of absolute anger, exhaustion and raw emotion. The raw rollercoaster of mental changes which one had encountered in one day alone was enough to last a single lifetime.
''I shall never speak of you again, publicly or personally if you never try to find me.''
Cal raised his eyebrow.
''How honourable of you.''
Taking a step toward him, singularly and out of Jack's shadow, Rose placed her hands upon her hips as though she was about to scold a naughty child.
''Do we have a deal?''
''We had a deal, Rose. You gave me your word and I gave you a ring if you recall that, my dear.'' Cal glanced down at the Colt on the floor at their feet, as though he considered it for a second but then thought better of it. What use would it be?
''Your word meant nothing, nor did my own. We have drawn our own conclusions on that.'' Rose tried to reason with him. At first, he had seemed to be a reasonable man. He had been unfaithful as well as her. Deny it as hard as he wished, the evidence had been presented to her on numerous occasions and her own innocent mind had turned a blind eye thinking it be a regular and almost normal act to indulge in intimacies with a prostitute rather than warm the bed in his own home.
Opening his mouth to speak, Cal reached a fist to Jack's lapels to hold him still whilst his other hand came up and round to smash into his face. Jack ducked, sending the hand crashing into the door. A rip-roaring groan echoed about the formerly silent suite, and he freed Jack's collar as he cradled his bleeding and splintered fist. Obscenities followed. Ones which Rose had never heard uttered from a gentleman's mouth.
''Perhaps now, we have a deal?'' She raised her voice above his own groans, to gain some clarity.
Beneath the pathetic glazed eye, Cal's red raw and angry face twisted. Jack clutched as his lapels, straightening them out before swiping the hair from his face. It was effortless to escape the fist of a man who had probably not raised them more than once or twice and even then, if that performance was anything to go by then he would have missed.
''You may not agree, but if you come near her again, I will ensure that you wish you didn't. If you won't answer her, at least understand that much.'' Jack threatened. Earlier that day, he had wanted to kill Cal, with his own hands or at least his anger had led him to think that. Now, there was nothing but pity felt for the man. Cal still didn't answer, his groans ceased and he was exhaling sharply.
''What is going on?'' Ruth Dewitt Bukater stepped out of her bedroom, blear eyed and wearing a white laced nightdress and a gown to cover the modesty beneath. With a wide mouth, she gaped at Cal, clutching his fist to his chest and muttering a tirade.
''Rose?''
Ruth's narrowed gaze settled on her daughter, then to the boy beside her. With their hands entwined.
''Your daughter,'' Cal spat, through a rough exhale of pain,'' is leaving to become a whore to this...''
Ruth settled her eyes upon Rose. The green ice of them was enough to chill anyone. ''Leaving?''
''Yes.''
''For goodness' sake, fetch a physician,'' Ruth cried out, and Trudy came to the sitting room, her eyes wide with shock.
''Ma'am?''
Trudy eyed Rose, then Jack, moving toward them slightly before Ruth's shrill voice pierced her ears.
''Good God girl, fetch the physician, and the master at arms.'' Ruth glared to Jack, ''I will have you thrown to the jail so fast, Mr. Dawson for laying hands upon-'
''Yes, that it right, mother, for it is always the fault of others, isn't it? Never your own. Never Caledon Hockley. Perhaps when I go, he can tell you the truth.'' With a raised voice, Rose started towards her mother. Trudy was about to bolt to the door before Rose stopped her. ''Trudy, please do not alert anyone. Cal is quite all right, if not a little bruised to the ego.''
Trudy stopped in her tracks. Turning to meet Rose's gaze, she nodded, a single nod of the head as a 'thank you'. An acknowledgement for helping her that morning.
''It is all right, Miss.'' Trudy replied, timidly. Feeling Cal's heated gaze on her, she scurried away into the bedroom.
Ruth started towards Rose. ''How can you speak to me-''
''Because I have held my tongue for too long.'' Rose raised her jaw, feeling the tensity within her body. Her mother wrung her hands together, a sign of her nerves. ''I have spent long months in absolute misery whilst you two have planned my life about me, my future and everything about it.''
''To protect you!''
''No, mother, for yourself.'' Rose tried to soften. ''I am sorry papa left you,'' clearing her throat she corrected, ''us, with financial matters. I am sorry that you felt the only way to correct them was for your only daughter to marry a wealthy man. I was fed to the wolves for long periods. I tried to become a perfect little bauble, mother, but I am not the daughter that you are in need of and I am unable to marry a man who I despise with my entire being.''
''Your head has been filled with such romantic, idiotic notions by this-'' Her hand waved about dramatically before catching the glare of Jack and she pulled it back to link it with her other.
''This man has a name. One which even if you chose to not use then I will because when this ship docks I will be leaving with Jack. ''
''Lovejoy will ensure-''
''Mr. Lovejoy is indisposed and I very much doubt would be re-joining your party again for fear of his ego shrivelling to the size of a pea.'' Jack's gaze fell to Cal, who had silenced, taking relief with another brandy which he had shakily filled to the brim of a new glass. ''I know how important that is to you.'' It was a tiny prod with a sharp stick. Perhaps another smaller threat to remain quiet now.
''What ever does that mean?'' Ruth looked panicked, stricken...speechless.
''Does it matter, mother?'' Rose wished to, in a way, extend her hand to the woman who had brought her into this world. Done wrong by her, yes but one could see the reasons of wishing Rose to marry so dutifully to fulfil the life which Society dictated should be led. Good Lord, she had even tried to become the daughter she should have been but utter misery had led her to the back of the ship about to throw herself from it...
Ruth's calm demeanour gave nothing away. They said her Mother had a heart of ice and that she had always ruled her household with an iron rod. The latter was the truth.
''Mother?''
''I shall be shunned by Society, but by God your fall from grace has been far heavier and brutal than my own would ever be. I thought I had raised my daughter well; I can accept that I failed-''
''You didn't fail-''
''But you failed me.'' Ruth swallowed harshly, sucking in her cheeks and then exhaling deeply. ''I shall try to forget that I had a daughter.''
Parting her lips to speak, Rose tried but there was some blockage of some sort. Jack, she knew, wished to step in, perhaps even throttle them both but he remained as he promised to be. A failed daughter, she might have been. There was a stab of cold running through her entire body, realising that her Mother had turned on her heel and retreated to the bedroom without uttering another word. She was as much as an orphan.
''No doubt there will be blame placed on Rose's shoulders once more.'' Jack broke the silence, taking Rose by the waist, breaking that reverie of perhaps shock that she could have been dismissed so easily by her own mother. ''If any ill word is spoken to anyone of her, then I shall ensure that my voice is louder than anyone's and the truth will be known.''
The tone of Jack's voice startled Rose. She thought that he might have said more, but somehow, she was whisked to the lower class to a bed, curled up in a tiny bunk surrounded by three other snoring men above her but there, lulled by the motion of the ship and the engines growl, Rose slept soundly for the first time in so long.