The Calm before the Storm
Part 2
By springtime, everything was in full bloom, including Rose. By March, she looked huge and was uncomfortable. She still worked, but now it was only when she had the energy. Rose was terrified that her boss was going to say that she was too slow and then fire her. But fortunately that never happened, what did happen was that the boss arranged for another girl to have Rose's workload in the first few weeks of April (around the time she was due). Jack was scared that Rose would go into labor while he was away at work. By, April, Jack and Cora treated Rose as if she was a ticking time bomb due to go off at any second. Rose found that irritating but she liked the attention.
By the second week of April, Rose was tired and huge and all she wanted was for the baby to come out. That wish was going to come true soon.
Rose's labor came one afternoon when she had been sitting out on the stoop watching Cora and her friends play jump rope. It came suddenly with one big pain roaring through her and then the breakage of her water. Cora saw that Rose looked like she was in pain so she ran up and asked if she was ok.
" No, help me up, the baby is coming" said Rose
Cora carefully helped Rose up, walked her to the apartment, and then called Mrs. Gaddis to help. Mrs. Gaddis then sent her son Henry (Elsie's older brother) to get the midwife.
Cora was shooed away from the apartment so she went to play outside. Around 6pm, Jack arrived and Cora ran up to him and told him that the baby was coming. Suddenly, they saw Mrs. Gaddis stick her head out the window and heard her shout that supper was ready and that Cora and Jack were welcome to stay.
Jack and Cora didn't eat much at dinner because they were so nervous. Each time they heard Rose yell, they got increasingly nervous. Jack thought of his mother who had died giving birth to his youngest brother Christopher. Jack remembered how his father was a changed man after the loss of his wife, all sullen and gray. For a time it was almost as if Jack and his older brother Bill were on their own. It got even worse after Christopher had died at the age of three. Jack and Bill were the only two Dawson brothers to live to adulthood. But tragically, both Bill and his father died when their town was hit by a flu epidemic, Jack was one of the few who had made it out alive. He decided that if the baby was a boy then they would name him Bill.
Suddenly, Mrs. Gaddis said that the midwife was asking for Jack. He was scared, what if Rose was sick or dead? He couldn't lose her.
" Well, how is she?" he asked the midwife.
" Your wife is fine, she is asleep. Your wife had a healthy baby girl"
A daughter He though I have a daughter.
" Can I see her?" asked Jack
The midwife said yes and so Jack went into the bedroom to see Rose. She was asleep and in a basinet next to the bed was the baby. He carefully took the baby out of the basinet and took her over to the Gaddis apartment to introduce her.
By the time Jack and Cora returned to the apartment, Rose was awake and mad at Jack for taking the baby without telling her.
" You were asleep. What was I supposed to do wake you up?" said Jack
" You could have left a note" said Rose
" what is the baby's name?" asked Cora
" That is a good question" said Jack, turning to Rose
" I say we call her Molly Elizabeth Dawson" said Rose
Everyone agreed that that was a good name and it was settled. Rose wanted to introduce Molly to her grandma Ruth, because Molly didn't have any arguments with Ruth, Rose did so why should Molly be robbed of having a grandma. Rose managed to find Ruth through some cousins that lived in Philadelphia. They told her that Ruth lived in New York City and was working as a seamstress. They gave Rose a current address for Ruth and wished her luck. So, Rose took Molly and Cora and went to find Ruth. She wondered what her mother was like now and how she would react to seeing her again.
Ruth was in shock when she opened the door to find her daughter standing there. She welcomed Rose warmly and it was as if nothing ever happened between them.
Ruth adored her new granddaughter and her adopted granddaughter. She even accepted Jack as Rose's husband. The sinking of the Titanic had changed Ruth Dewitt Bukater into a new person and Rose liked that new person.
Meanwhile Cal Hockley had found out that Rose was alive and he was angry. Sure, he was married to another woman, but it was still Rose that he wanted. So he began plotting. He would have Rose back even if it was the last thing he ever did.