(A/N: First update of the New Year! Happy 2017 everyone! I come offering an update. I wasn't too pleased with this chapter, plus there's no Jack and Rose in the flesh, but it'll move the story alone where Rose's boys are concerned. I hope that you'll enjoy.)

The walk to town was a long and exhausting one. Jacob regretted not calling for a car to pick him up once he had arrived at the small grocers where his mother and siblings had stopped when they first came into town.

"Oh my, you look awful," the girl known as Sarah stated as Jacob entered the store. His clothes were now dusty and his hair was damp from sweat. He looked a far cry from the well dressed young man that she had seen yesterday.

"I walked all the way from the Dawson farm, so I guess I do look very worn out. At least I feel it," Jacob shrugged with a half smile. The girl was just as pretty as she was the day before. Just looking at her made him blush a little and look away.

"You poor thing. Come, sit for a few minutes. There's a chair right here behind the counter. You can't shop properly if you're about to collapse," Sarah beckoned him forward.

"I think I will take you up on that offer. For a few minutes anyway," Jacob chuckled, accepting the offered seat.

"May I ask you a question?"

Jacob shrugged, not seeing why not. "Sure."

"The Dawson farm is quite a ways away from here. Why did you not just call a car to bring you?"

Jacob chuckled. That was a question that he had asked himself over and over again on his way to the store and he still had no answer for it. "To be honest, I can't tell you the answer to that. I've asked myself that very question a number of times myself. I guess it was just the artist in me. Wanting to take in everything so I can draw it later."

"Oh, so you're an artist?"

Jacob nodded, happy to talk about his most favorite subject. Art. He wondered, would Jack talk to him about art? Would he like to check out some of his work? He was almost afraid of that answer. What if Jack didn't want to talk about art or anything else with him? Not that it should matter. Caledon Hockley was his dad. He loved and raised him. Jack was just a stranger that had helped create him, but that was it. He shouldn't care about what the man may think of his work. But somehow...he did.

"Yeah. I draw pretty much anything."

"Maybe you can draw me sometime. There's someone here that I heard was a very good artist. His name was Jack, but people say he doesn't show off his work anymore."

"Really?"

Sarah nodded, unaware that he knew who she was talking about. "My mother, she said that he was quite an artist when he was young. She went to school with him, so she would know. She says it's sad that he doesn't show off his work. She said that the man probably has a broken heart. Some long lost love that probably sapped his passion for art away. She's a bit of a romantic, my mother."

Jacob frowned, thinking of his own mother and her adventures on board Titanic, where she had met Jack and fallen in love. He supposed the story could be deemed romantic by some. But how it ended...the heartbreak...to love so much that you never really move on, especially in Jack's case, he didn't think that romantic at all. It was rather sad.

"I'll never lose my love for art."

"Maybe you can show me some of your work sometime. I'm more of a writer, but I do love artwork. I'm always eager to peruse something new."

"Sure, I'll bring my portfolio sometime. Maybe I can even draw you something."

"I'd like that."

Jacob was never really a flirtatious gentleman, but like his biological father, he had a natural charm that seemed to draw people towards him, especially girls. Sarah was no different. She was very curious about this new young man in town. She wanted to get to know him better. She already had a boyfriend, well on his way to being her fiancee, but that didn't mean that she couldn't be friends with Jacob too. This was the 1930's. It was very modern for men and women to be friends. At least she thought so. Even when the young man was as handsome and charming as this one.

"Well, I guess I better let you get back to your shopping," Sarah blushed, feeling a bit bashful now that she had accepted his offer.

"Yes, mother will be unhappy if I forget to purchase what I came for," Jacob chuckled, standing from the chair, just as a tall young man a few years older than him with black hair and brown eyes entered and frowned to see Sarah talking to a young man that looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place.

"Sarah?" The newcomer questioned, walking up and placing a possessive arm around Sarah's waist, sending a clear message that she was his. "Who is this?"

"This is Jacob. He and his family arrived in town yesterday," Sarah explained. "Jacob, this is my boyfriend, Thomas."

Jacob felt a stab of disappointment that Sarah had a boyfriend. It wasn't that he necessarily had it in his mind to court her himself, but he liked considering her an option. It looked like that wasn't going to happen now, which was a shame, because he really liked her. Really, she was the first girl that he had felt such a strong attraction towards. Pushing back his disappointment, he offered his hand to Thomas, who simply frowned, not accepting the offer.

Feeling awkward, Jacob lowered his hand. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I'll just get to shopping now. Mother is probably wondering where I am."

"Do you want me to call for a car? Save the walk?" Sarah asked, taken aback by her boyfriend's rudeness. Yes, Thomas was a possessive and treated her more like a piece of property than an actual person most of the time, but that was no excuse to be rude.

"That'd be nice. It shouldn't take me too long," Jacob shrugged, eyeing Thomas curiously. The man was looking at him as if he was something that had came crawling out from under a rock. It was a look that he was not accustomed to and didn't care for.

Sarah just nodded and smiled in answer and then turned back to her boyfriend while Jacob walked among the shelves of goods, picking out the items on his mother's list. It only took five minutes to pick up everything and he was soon ready to check out. He noticed Thomas seated in the chair he had vacated, looking at him intently.

"The car should be waiting outside," Sarah replied as she rang up and bagged the items.

"Thank you. I appreciate your kindness," Jacob smiled, turning his attention away from the frowning Thomas, deciding to ignore the rude man. "If you still want me to draw you something, I'm at the Dawson farm if you want to drop by. We can discuss it all there if you like."

"She'll be too busy for that," Thomas spoke up, not giving Sarah a chance to answer.

Jacob frowned. How dare this man talk for someone else! That was rude and uncalled for and both his mother and father had warned him against doing such a thing. "I believe that I was speaking to her."

"Thank you for the offer," Sarah quickly stepped in, not wanting a shouting match in the store.

"Well, I'll be going," Jacob nodded his head before turning to walk out of the store, deciding to not even acknowledge Thomas. That was one of Cal's tricks to get underneath the skin of an opponent that he considered beneath him and it always worked to irritate. He never thought he'd use the trick himself, but Thomas had pissed him off, so he could not be blamed for his actions.

"I don't like you talking to him," Thomas frowned once Jacob was gone.

"Not this again. You cannot get jealous over every guy that talks to me," Sarah rolled her eyes, thinking that Thomas was being silly, even though she had to admit, there was something that drew her to Jacob, but she didn't dwell on it too much. Besides, she had Thomas and she didn't even know Jacob, really.

"He more than talked to you. You're my girlfriend, Sarah. You shouldn't be talking to other men."

"He was a customer. I couldn't ignore him and some trust from you would be nice."

Thomas didn't say anything. Trust did not come easily for him, especially when it came to other men trying to steal his girlfriend. He was glad that his mother was going to throw a party for the town come Friday. It was there that he was going to propose to Sarah. Make her his wife. Then he won't have anything to worry about at all, especially snobby strange men who showed up in town just to flirt with her.

...

Jacob found Maxwell sitting on the top step of the porch, his mouth pursed in a pout that reminded him too much of Cal. Wondering what bee had gotten into his brother's bonnet, he mounted the steps and took a seat right next to him.

"Want to talk about it?" Jacob asked, placing the bag he carried between his feet.

Maxwell simply shrugged and stared at the steps. "It won't help."

"How do you know if you don't even try to talk about it? Come on, Max. Something has gotten you upset. What is it? Maybe I can help."

Maxwell chuckled derisively. "Why would you want to help. You'll get a full family again while Livvie and I get left out in the cold! You should be happy!"

"What? What are you going on about?"

Maxwell sighed and folded his arms, sure that Jacob would not understand why he was so upset, nor would he care! It wasn't fair really! Jacob got a new daddy and momma a new husband most likely! Where would that leave him and Olivia? All alone, that's what! Besides, how could momma do that? Let another man who wasn't his father hug her like that? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Momma was hugging Jack. Like...like they were more than friends! Like...like she used to hug daddy, when she was upset! How could she do that to daddy?! Doesn't she love him anymore?"

Jacob sighed and ran a hand through his hair. So that was it. Max saw his mother hugging Jack and thought that she was somehow betraying their father. Maxwell may be sixteen, but in some ways, it was obvious that he was still a child.

"Max...for one, I am sure that it was innocent. If he hugged her like you said, he was probably just comforting her. There was probably nothing romantic about it in the least. And even if there was...daddy's been dead for a few years now. Momma had mourned him for a long time. She didn't betray him because he's not here anymore. Besides, I'm going to be gone soon and you and Livvie will be gone in a few years, leaving momma all alone. She should have someone too, don't you think? Why not someone she loved before? Would you rather she be with a stranger that she just met?"

"He is a stranger."

Jacob chuckled and shook his head. "To us, maybe. But not to her. He can make her happy again. And as for you and Livvie being alone, come on. That's not gonna happen. It'll be like it was for me. Cal wasn't my biological father, but that didn't matter to him. Perhaps it's the same with Jack."

Maxwell's frown softened a little. "I still don't like it."

"There may not even be anything to like. Sometimes, a hug is just a hug. It doesn't mean that they're going to run off and get married. Right now, Jack's our friend. Let's look at him as that. Leave all the complicated romantic stuff to the adults."

Maxwell sighed. Perhaps Jacob was right. "Livvie thinks that they're romantic."

"Of course. She's a girl," Jacob winked, getting to his feet. "She thinks that the sky being blue while it rains in the next town over is romantic."

Maxwell just chuckled at that and got to his feet as well, feeling a lot better. Jacob was right. He was making too much out of that hug. And with father being gone, their mother did deserve to be happy. Even if it was with someone else. At least it was with the man who made Jacob, and Jacob was awesome. So that meant this Jack had to be awesome as well, right?

"Come on, kiddo. Let's get this stuff in to momma before she has a search party out for me," Jacob ruffled his brother's dark hair before leading the way into the house.