Chapter 4: The Introduction
I felt a hand shaking my shoulder.
"Dear, we're in Chippewa Falls now. You can wake up now."
A laugh. I blinked a couple times and then looked up into the old lady's bright blue eyes.
"Welcome back to the world. you slept for about 4 1/2 hours."
"Yeah, I was kinda tired."
She laughed.
"You were that. We've got to get off before the conductor blows some steam."
The old woman laughed at the pun, then backed up and helped me up.
"You never did tell me your name, dear."
"Rose."
"Very pretty. I'm Adrianna. I know it's not a name you would expect for an old woman, but that's the name my mother gave me." Again, she laughed.
This lady had so much happiness inside, she was so cheerful. Oh well, the new Rose was going to be happy and carefree. I laughed along with her. It was kind of funny, though.
"You probably expected me to say some kind of old fashioned name like Geraldine wasn't you?" Her eyebrows rose as she waited for an answer.
"Actually I did. My grandmother's name was Josephine."
Any other old woman would have said, "Now you know, Josephine isn't too bad." But not Adrianna. She burst out laughing. "Josephine!"
I laughed again.
"Yeah."
I didn't mind laughing at the name, she was my mother's mother. That meant that she was one of the meanest grandmother's that had ever existed.
"Come shall we?" Adrianna straightened her body, and then offered me her arm.
Feeling crazy, I took it and we pretend we were walking to a first class dinner together. I knew I had met a woman that would change my life. A boy about 13 came and helped us carry our bags outside. There, Adrianna climbed down first and then "helped" me get down.
I saw a young guy grinning at us. Even though it was dark, his icy blue eyes and light brownish blonde hair shined. My heart sped up. I stumbled, and Adrianna took my arm firmly.
"Don't fall now, Rose."
She looked around and understanding came into her old eyes. She winked at me.
"Looks like you've seen my grandson. Jack, come over here. He knows not to try to help me down from off of these new contraptions. I could take him in a second. Although, I'll admit he's pretty strong."
"Yes, I would never do something like try to help grandma again."
He pretended to shudder, and I smiled. His hands were in the pockets of his carpenter jeans, and his black shirt was tight, showing off his firm muscles. His hair was hanging in his face, a young face. He smiled at me, showing off his dimples and straight, white teeth.
I swallowed.
I had been in Chippewa Falls for not even 5 minutes, and I knew my life was already changing. I pushed a thought that tried to invade my mind. I would not think about how Cal was.
The guy looked comfortable, almost amused. His blue eyes started to twinkle as he turned and faced me.
"Enjoying yourself?"
He knew I'd been staring. Unlike before, I didn't feel any attitude and smart retort come to me. I actually blushed, hoping he couldn't see it in the dark.
"Well, young'uns I'm going to get my suitcase in the car. Don't leave me waiting to go home and fix you some coffee now, Rose."
What? Did she mean-
"Now don't you think I'm letting you stay in some hotel of some person you don't even know. You will stay with me until you have to leave here...or forever if you stay."
Her voice was firm, and I knew not to argue with her. She didn't let me get a chance to thank her, just walked to her suitcase and dragged it away.
"My grandma's like that. She has so much love to give out to everyone."
"I've never had anyone do that for me. I mean, we just met on the train, and she's offering me her house, her food, a place to stay..."
"It's okay...you'll see all of my family's like that."
"You mean everyone in your family is so giving?" He nodded.
"I don't know if I can digest this all at once."
"You'll be okay. Everything will work out."
"I hope so. But, how does your grandma know I'm not some juvenile delinquent trying to run from the law?"
He tried to keep from smiling.
"I don't think you're like that. Grandma is a very good judge of character. A very good woman. She won't treat you unfairly. She does have a quirky side though, always wanting to joke around. Always in a cheerful mood."
"I realized that when I was chatting with her on the train."
"Oh, yeah…she loves to talk also."
"Yeah."
He was nice. Really nice. Then he tried picking up my suitcase. I took it from him. He turned a surprised face toward me.
"I can get it." I reassured him, then laughed.
"Ok." Any other guy would've said, 'You sure? I can get it if you want,' in that way that said 'I don't really want to do anything for you, but I have to because you women are the weaker gender.'
He opened the trunk and I put my suitcase in. I opened the back door, but Adrianna was already there.
"No, no, you're sitting in the front."
She had a twinkle in her eyes that were so like her grandson's. I closed the door. Whatever she said went, I guess.
I realized then that I didn't even know his name. Or their last name. I got into the front seat, after Adrianna's grandson had opened the door for me. He closed it, then got into the driver's seat. As he started up the roomy Dodge Stratus, a cd started playing. It was Daniel Bedinfield's 'Gotta Get Through This'. Good taste, I thought to myself as he turned it down.
He pulled the car out of the parking space, and then looked over at me, "My name's Jack, by the way. Jack Dawson."
I froze. Dawson was the name I had used to get the ticket. Then I started laughing. He looked at me
"Something funny?" and then smiled.
"No, it's just that my name's Rose, and you'll never guess what I told the ticket guy my name was."
"What?"
"Rose Dawson."
He chuckled. "And that was before you met grandma?"
"Yeah, that's your last name too?"
"Yes, that's strange." She started laughing after answering.
"My real last name is DeWitt Bukater."
"As in DeWitt Bukater motors?" Jack asked softly.
"Yes, he was my father. Before he died."
"I'm sorry."
"There wasn't anything anyone could do about the accident."
"Yeah."
"How far is your house away from here?" I said, trying to say something so I wouldn't start crying. How had I changed so fast from 6 hours ago? I looked back at what I was. Spoiled, bad, and a smart aleck. Now I was so sensitive. Was this normal? Or was there something wrong with me?
"It's okay, Rose."
Jack was looking at me with such patience and empathy. How could he know what I was going through? I didn't even tell Adrianna.
"We'll help you, Rose." I heard Adrianna say softly.
A tear ran down my cheek. These people had broken down all my walls of stubbornness, of unfeeling, and of depression. Now one second I was laughing, one second I was crying. I wiped away the tear and tried to convince myself that these people would think I was a wimp if I cried.
"Sometimes it's good to cry and get everything out, dear." I heard Adrianna say to me.