Authors note: This Chapter is dedicated to IWRY-ALWAYS. I wasn't originally going to write another chapter, but since she loves the story so much, I've decided to include one more just for her. Enjoy! As Always, R&R. J
Epilogue
Rose felt the cool May breeze through her thin white hair as she created another vase on the pottery wheel. She smiled. The simple things always made her happy these days.
Her granddaughter, Elizabeth, playfully nicknamed Lizzie by her father, was filling the cups in a cupcake pan.
She looked over at the small television set, which still seems odd to her, even now and caught the news story about something.
"Turn that up dear." Rose asked, Lizzie leaned over and turned the notch for volume control.
Rose got up, wiping her hands on her apron as she watched the set and then she gasped. There on the television was a picture. A very old drawn picture. And it was of her.
"What is it Nana?"
"Well I'll be God damned."
"Are you comfortable Mrs.Buckman?" Lovett asked. Rose looked up from her set of pictures she set on the side board.
"Yes. I always have my pictures when I travel." Rose was on a ship, a ship that was right now, floating in the same spot that titanic had sank in more than 82 years ago.
"Is there anything we can get you nana?" Lizzie asked.
"Oh, have you met my granddaughter Lizzie, she takes care of me."
"We met on deck, remember nana?" Lizzie asked.
Rose shrugged. "Right."
"If there is anything to make your stay more conformable, anything you would like?"
"Yes, I'd like to see my drawing."
The picture looked the same as she had remembered it last.
"We're being very careful about preserving it." Lovett walked around Rose to a table. "These are a few things we recovered from your state room."
"Oh, these were mine." She picked up the comb and touched the brush. "They look the same as the last time I saw them." She picked up the mirror. The broken shards showed back her tired, aging face. "The reflection's changed a bit." She chuckled softly. These seemed like another life ago. She was still amazed at the advancement of technology and how lucky she had been when she had seen it all come into play.
Rose watched as the crowd's faces showed the different emotions as she told her story. Even her granddaughter hadn't known the whole story. She stopped after she mentioned Jack "dying" and how she made it to a lifeboat.
"What happened next?" Mr. Bodine asked, eagerly waiting for her next words.
"I saw Cal again. I always went up to him, but I remembered all the horrible things he did and said to me. I would be a slave if I had gone back to that life. So, I started over and I became an actress."
"You know we never found Jack on any of the passenger lists." Mr. Bodine responded.
"You wouldn't have, would you?" she smiled. "Four years went by and I was perfectly happy, or so I thought. I was in a picture, I was known for the plays that I had done and I had a man that I thought would be the best part of my life, until, I ran into Jack."
"Jack…but…" Mr. Lovett said startled.
"He survived. He was picked up by the ship that collected the bodies afterward. He went on to sell his drawings in a gallery. I didn't know, he didn't know I had survived either. One night I went into that gallery, with my new fiancée on my arm and there he was. At first, I wasn't going to leave Harry. But I told Harry everything. You see I hadn't told anybody about Titanic. He understood." She sighed. "He had said 'Rose, I love you and I want you to be happy. I always knew there was something you were hiding and I knew that you would eventually tell me. We'll always be good friends.' And so, I found out where Jack lived and I went up."
"Then what happened?" Mr. Bodine asked, his eyes lighting up with anticipation.
"We married. 2 years later, I had my daughter Crystal. And we lived very comfortable in Jack's hometown for a number of years. He died of course. Peacefully, in his sleep. He has a bad heart, and although he had come back from death to be with me, death still had a grip on him. He was 40. I was sad when he died, but he told me to go on with my life and be happy. I mourned for months and months."
"But your last name, It isn't Dawson." Mr. Lovett replied.
"No. That's because I met John. John was gentle and kind and he loved me. He loved Crystal too. He died last year. I was happy, and I still am. I had a short time with Jack, or so it may seem to you, but those few years we had, it was a lifetime to me. I wouldn't change anything because we spent everyday as if it were our last. We traveled, we laughed and cried. To this day, I still remember his smile, his eyes, and his voice. He lives in here." She put a hand to her heart.
"My grandfather, my real grandfather," Lizzie began. "He was a very generous and loving man. I never got to meet him, but I see him in every piece of work that is on the walls of my grandmother's house. Granddad John, he never made nana take down the work. He appreciated it and he respected Jack." She turned to her grandmother. "Thank you for telling me the whole story nana."
Rose smiled and took her granddaughters hand.
Rose reminisced about the past as she looked out at the pristine water. It looked the same as it had when she was 17. It was probably still just as cold too. She got flashbacks of her few days on Titanic. You won't do it. Don't presume to say what I will or will not do, you don't know me….. Water, like water down there, it hits you like a thousand knives hitting all over your body, this is if the fall doesn't get you first…. So what is this thing you've been carrying around….these are good, these are very good……I'm going to marry Cal……they're killing you rose, and soon that fire that I love about you, is going to die out.
She breathed in a breath of air to try and stop the tears. And then, she remembered her life after the great bloody ship. How her and Jack and traveled all over. How they had just spend hours in bed, talking. Then their time, running and playing with Crystal. How serene Jack had looked when Crystal and fallen asleep in his arms and he had nodded off. Most importantly she remembered the words he had spoken before she had left him, the night he had died.
"Rose. Rose don't cry." He had reached a frail hand up to touch her cheek. He had tubes coming from his hand and body and he almost looked as white as the sheet he was lying against. "It's just my time now. We knew it had to happen eventually." He tried to chuckle but started to cough.
"It's cruel. It's fate playing that cruel joke on me again."
"I don't think it was ever a joke Rose. I really think I was supposed to die then, but God, or whoever, thought that I deserved a second chance, but that chance was only good for so long. I'm being called back now."
Rose tried to hold back her tears, but they continued to roll down her cheeks. "Why isn't it my time too?" she asked.
"Because you have to take care of Crystal."
"Crystal is almost 16. If something were to happen to me too, she would be able to survive on her own."
"it would be hard. Rose, I don't feel angry, why do you?"
"I can't lose you again."
"But you're not losing me. I'll always be here with you and Crystal. I may be leaving this sick body, but I'll always be here." He put his hand to her chest, over her heart.
"I love you Jack."
"This is the time to say goodbye now." He frowned. "Even though I'm okay with dying, I don't like leaving, I don't want to leave. I love you too Rose. I know I didn't say it very often, but I do. I have since the moment I saw you and it never stopped." Rose bent down to kiss him, for the last time. She had known that it would be the last time right there but she hoped desperately that it wasn't. "Please, be happy Rose. Go on with yoru life, do more extraordinary things and still, live everyday as if it were your last. It won't take long before you're telling someone else this." Crystal had gone in to sit with her father for a while and she fell asleep in a chair in the waiting room. She had woken to the sounds of Crystal's sobs. Rose opened her eyes and saw Crystal, Long Red hair down her back ad flowing, clear blue eyes with deep red rings. Her face was blemished with red on her cheeks which showed how upset she was.
"Papa's dead, momma." She balled even harder. Rose took her into her arms.
"It's okay darling. Papa's not hurting anymore, Papa won't ever hurt again." She tried not to cry into her daughters shoulder, but her eyes refused to hold back and the floodgates spilled over.
She remembered even more how Lizzie had looked the day she was born. How proud Crystal and her husband had been. Rose had held Lizzie in her arms and marveled at how much like Jack she actually looked.
"She looks like Papa you know." Crystal said from the bed.
"I noticed." Rose looked up at her tired daughter. "He would be very proud of you. A college woman, a darling husband, a perfect baby."
"Your wrong momma." Rose looked startled. "He is proud. Proud of you too momma. You went through a lot and you're a strong woman because of it." He's always been with us. He promised to always be here, and I never felt otherwise.
Rose looked out at the water again. She didn't know how long she had been standing here, but now, the sun had set and it was dark, except for the stars. The air was chilly. From within her pocket she felt the heaviness. She reached into it and pulled out the awful blue paperweight. She laughed. After she started to make money, she had gone back to the pawn shop and reclaimed it. She didn't know why. It was a memento of her past life. It was always around to remind her of how different she was now. She was finally able to let it go. She climbed up onto the second rail and looked down once more into the abyss. "Hello old friends. I've thought about you often. I've never forgotten any of you." She smiled, remembering all those she had met that had died. She looked at the diamond one last time and then, watched as it slithered off her palm and into the water.
"I'm ready now Jack. I'm coming to be with you now." She sighed and started back toward her state room.
End Note: I know its kinda cliché about the necklace. I mean I was one of the first people to cry out in the theatre... "Moron", but hey, it is a romantic flick and romance often has some silly things happen. Anyway, just want to mention that I might be wrong a bit in some of the quotes or the years. I couldn't remember if she said 82 or 84. Anyway. This is it. The finale. Hope that you enjoyed reading as much I did writing it.