November 20, 1932
The Hockley's stepped off the train from New York City and took in their surroundings with wide curious eyes. This was Rose's second time being to Chippewa Falls, but it was the twin's first. It was also Jacob's second time, but he couldn't remember, so he counted it as his first time as well. The town didn't look any different than it had in 1912. There were some new buildings and more cars, but other than that, it still had the same small town charm that Rose remembered.
"So where to now?" Jacob asked, turning to his mother. He had no idea where to go or what to do. This was all new to him.
"We'll get a car to take us to the house. It's in the countryside and is quite a walk," Rose sighed, not really in the mood to walk all the way to the Dawson farm. "There's a corner store. Let's go in and see if we can call someone."
Rose lead the way over to the store. She looked up at a small bell that jingled as she and walked in followed by her children. The store was just as she remembered it with shelves spaced throughout the room with their items on full display. On the right hand wall was the counter and register where a girl with blond hair and brown eyes was standing behind a register.
"May I help you?" She asked, eying the newcomers curiously. The blond guy especially looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she might have seen him before.
"Oh yes. You wouldn't happen to have a telephone, would you? We need to call a car to take us to the Dawson place?" Rose asked with a kind smile. The last time she had been in this store, it had been ran by a Mrs. Peabody, a woman that had known Jack's family well and had taken a liking to Jacob.
"We just had one installed. It's about time if you ask me. Just about everyone has them these days," The girl smiled. "My name is Sarah by the way."
"Whatever happened to Louise Peabody? I remember her from when I was last here. She was very kind to me."
"Oh that is my grandmother. She passed away two years ago. Now my father and I run the store. We miss her so much," Sarah answered, placing the phone on the counter.
"Oh that's too bad. I am sorry for your loss."
"I'm Jacob and this is my mother Rose," Jacob introduced himself as Rose called for a car.
"Hello Jacob. Welcome to Chippewa Falls. How long are you in town for?" Sarah questioned, finding herself blushing from the attention.
"We're moving here. The depression has hit our family hard. I had inherited a house here so we're moving here from New York," Jacob explained.
"I'm sorry that you're experiencing hard times, but happy that you've come here. You're going to love it."
Jacob nodded, feeling at ease with this girl. "Well, if everyone is as friendly as you, I am sure that I will."
"Okay, a car is on the way," Rose hung the phone up. "Thank you for your help."
"Anytime. I hope to see you all here again soon," Sarah smiled, giving a little wave to Jacob as they left the store.
"She was nice," Rose smiled.
"And pretty too. I think Jacob likes her," Maxwell teased, just to receive a glare from his brother.
"Shut up, kiddo."
"Come on you two. No arguing, especially out here in public. We want to make a good impression."
It didn't take long for the car to pull up in front of the store and for the small family to pile in. It was a quiet ride to the Dawson place. Rose looked out the window, letting the memories of her brief visit to the town run through her head. She remembered being excited when she had first stepped off that train. She had looked around had been instantly charmed by the small town feel. She relished the fact that she was in a town that Jack had once occupied. That this was where he had begun and this was where she could learn more about his past.
She did learn a little, but not much. She had left soon after her arrival, terrified of losing her one last link to him. She glanced over at that link. Jacob had been a small child back then. The only father he had heard about had been Jack. It had been before she had even considered Cal an option. She had thought that she would always be alone, that Jacob would be the only man in her life from there on out. Then Jack's Uncle and Aunt tried to take Jacob away, hungry for the inheritance that had automatically became Jacob's, thanks to Jack's death.
She closed her eyes, again wishing that it hadn't happened. That Jack had lived to see and raise his son and protect them both from those horrible people. Then she pushed aside that wish, because what happened had brought her to a changed Cal, who had given her Maxwell and Olivia and years of love and security. Who had given Jacob a flesh and blood father to love. She wouldn't trade those years for anything. It was because of Cal that she had been able to even consider fulfilling her promise to Jack.
"Mother, I think we're here," Jacob's voice disrupted the trip down memory lane as the car pulled up in front of a two story Victorian farm house.
For some reason, it looked in better shape than Rose had imagined it would look like. She was sure that Edith and John Dawson were long gone from the place and had never returned. Maybe it was just her eyes. Maybe time hadn't been so tough on the Dawson place as a kindness to the memory of Jack and his parents. Who was to know?
"This is it. Everyone out," Rose dug into the small purse she had with her and paid the driver. "Thank you sir."
Once the car was driving off into the horizon, Rose turned her attention to the house. This was it. The legacy that Jack had left his son.
"So, this is what my biological father left me?"
"Yes. Even though I doubt he even knew that he inherited it from his own parents," Rose sadly smiled at the memory of the young man with beautiful blue eyes and a smile that had lit up her entire life. She loved Cal dearly, but she had never gotten over her love for Jack. He had always occupied a place in her heart that she had kept to herself for all these years. It wasn't fair that she was destined to love twice and lose them both.
Catching a hint of sadness in his mother, Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll go ahead, mother. You just take your time."
"Are you sure?"
Jacob smiled and nodded. "Max can come with me. It'll be like our own little adventure."
Rose looked at her son, wondering if sending him in with just Maxwell for company would be wise. They both were so young, with Jacob being only twenty years of age. Jack had been twenty and would have been twenty one by time Jacob was born. So she was being silly, treating her son as if he was still a child. She smiled and placed a hand over his. "Go on. Olivia and I will be right behind you."
Looking so much like his father, Jacob smiled and kissed Rose on the cheek before grabbing Maxwell and heading up to the house.
"We don't have a key, do we?" Maxwell asked as they mounted the stairs leading to the front door.
"We do. Mom gave it to me earlier," Jacob reassured his brother, taking the key from his jacket pocket and inserting it into the keyhole. "Let's see our new home, huh?"
Jacob unlocked the door and stepped into the house and looked around with wide blue eyes. He frowned a little. The place didn't feel deserted and didn't look like it had been empty for Sixteen or seventeen years. It looked well lived in.
"Are you sure no one is living here?" Maxwell frowned, sensing the same thing that his brother was.
"Quite sure. Or at least that's what mother's been told," Jacob walked deeper into the house. He gasped, spotting a portfolio on a coffee table that sat between a couch and a fire place. He walked over and picked it up, opening it to it's first page. He gasped in shock.
"What is it?" Maxwell asked, hurrying over to see what his brother was looking at.
"It's a drawing! It's mother!" Jacob showed his brother the drawing. "When she was young...but that's impossible. I mean...I don't think that the people who were here were artists. How did this get here?"
…
Jack Dawson was no longer a young man of twenty. In fact, he had just turned forty years old, but as some women in the town would claim, his good looks had gotten even more stunning throughout the years, despite the sinking and the war. His eyes were still a bright blue and his hair was still blond. He had a few laugh lines, and he was muscles were more developed and his shoulders more broad and his eyes held the tale of all of his experiences. But he was still a very handsome man. But despite that, he had declined numerous advances from interested women. None of them was the woman he had lost all those years ago. The one woman that he could never forget or get over. She had been the only woman he had ever loved and he was determined to keep it that way.
After the sinking, he did not return to Chippewa Falls. After failing to find Rose on the survivor's list after he was finally allowed to leave the infirmary, he had remained in New York, hiding away in a rented room that he had rented with the money he had received from a charity for Titanic survivors. After that, he had traveled to Canada then down South, avoiding Chippewa Falls as much as he could. He was already living with Rose's ghost. He did not want to be joined by his parent's ghosts as well. While in the South, he visited New Orleans, Orlando, and numerous other cities. Finally, the great war broke out and he was drafted. After he finally returned from war, he had lost all desire to travel. But he had nowhere to go, except back home and that's where he went and where he had stayed, barely communicating with the townspeople unless he had to. He became the very opposite of the young man Rose had once known. He was more a hermit, happy to live with his memories of Rose and the love they had shared.
So it was a surprise to be in the kitchen just to hear movement in the front room. He never had visitors, plus the door was locked, so that meant whoever it was must be burglers. Probably some young people completing some dare to break into the old Dawson farm. He had nothing of value except his portfolio, so if they were hoping to find something of value, they were going to be disappointed.
Grabbing his father's unloaded rifle, he headed for the front room. He never kept it loaded, but just the sight of the gun should be enough to scare off the intruders. He entered the living room, expecting to find a few chuckling teenagers. He did not expect to find his younger self holding his opened portfolio in his hands with a short version of a young Caledon Hockley by his side.
He stared in disbelief, not sure if he was seeing what he was seeing, because it was impossible! Finally he cleared his throat, knowing that he had to say something. With trembling hands, telling himself that he was not crazy, he aimed the gun.
"Okay, I know I've been alone for quite some time, but this is ridiculous. Who are you? What are you doing in my house? And why in the hell do you look like me? Did Hockley send you as some sort of joke?"
The boys looked up startled. The Hockley doppelganger's eyes grew wide, but not as wide as the younger version of himself.
"Does the cat have your tongue, boys?" Jack asked.
…
Jacob was speechless. Before him was an older version of himself, but that was impossible! Surely this couldn't be John Dawson! He and his wife Edith had to be dead by now, if not elders! This man was only a few years older than his mother and the only Dawson he could think of to be anywhere near that age was his deceased biological father! But this couldn't be him! Jack Dawson had died nearly twenty years ago in the Titanic sinking! At least that is what his mother had told him.
"Jacob...he looks like you..and I think he knows dad," Maxwell whispered.
Before Jacob could answer, Rose came in her head turned as she was talking to Olivia. When she turned around, her eyes widened to see a face that she had never expected to see again. She gasped, trying to find words, but her mouth ran dry and the world began to tilt.
Jack froze as he sat eyes on Rose for the first time in twenty years. He couldn't believe what he was seeing! His eyes went to Rose, then to the boy with the portfolio, then to Rose again and his mind made the connection and his gun fell to the floor as Rose fell back in a dead faint.