Chapter 59

November 28, 1912

Cal Hockley was in a worse mood than the day prior. He went to the detective's office, hoping the detective had a lead all the times he had hired him, since he first arrived to New York. He eventually fired the man, after losing what had appeared to be Jesse, his potential lead that would've led him to Rose, wandering the streets of New York a month prior. Cal brushes his hair away from his face, and sighed deeply. He also fired his servant, not because of him fighting, but over his emotions that had gotten in the way, and had taken him by surprise. He pours himself a glass of brandy, as he sits in his disheveled apartment, that he never bothered to straighten. He takes a slow sip of his brandy, as he watches his life start to unravel. The main steel plant back in Philadelphia was threatening to go on strike if the employees don't get better pay and safety should be improved. He was still seething with anger that the gutter rat was still alive, and also Jesse. Worse, his anger also frightened away Ruth and her new maid, and he was unable to find new ones. He was mad that Ruth and that maid had run away in that cab, maybe to go back to their home in Philadelphia.

Cal picks up what was left of the remains of his expensive new coat, and hangs it on the couch. The windows were broken, letting in the cold New York winter into his room, as the winds swept snow inside. Just as he was about to leave back for Philadelphia, there was a knock at the door. Cal goes to answer it, trying his best to control his temper.

"Telegram and newspaper for you, sir." the young attendant says.

"Yes. I'll take it." Cal calmly says, despite the anger slowly rising within him, as he takes the papers from the young boy, then closes the door in his face. Cal tosses the newspaper on the couch, where the wind blows out the pages, and some blow away outside. He reads the telegrams as he takes a swig from the small glass. He spews the liquid as he reads the telegrams. His father urgently needs him back in Philadelphia, as the situation there had turned ugly. Apparently, his father told the employees that they must work through the Thanksgiving holiday, as they have new orders to process the steel, for overseas customers. Some of the employees threatened to burn down the steel company, and others threatened to quit altogether.

"SON OF A –" Cal screams at the top of his lungs. Things couldn't get any worse for him anymore! First his fiancé left him for that gutter rat, Jesse was still alive, Ruth left him, and now the employees were threatening strike and destroying his business. He hurls the brandy bottle across the room, instead, it flew out the broken window and onto the street below. He crumples the paper in his fist, then starts shouting every obscenity he could think of, making sure everyone in that apartment heard him, even the people down the street below him. Cal smashes more things, he even jumps on the couch his servant punched him into, and tries to break that. He hurls a chair across the room, breaking down the door in the process. People looked from their rooms, curious and scared about what has happened to their neighbor.

Cal had completely gone bonkers at this point. He literally tears out his hair, screaming in agony, then his head begins to throb. The pain resulted from the frustrations and anger that was bottled up within him, and the rage that was coursing through his veins. His adrenaline was also racing, as he tried to find more things to fling across the destroyed room. He put a fist in an adjoining wall, as some of the ceiling starts to collapse from the load that was missing. He was breathing hard, his clothes became tattered rags, and the room was filled with dust and shredded papers flying about.

Both the gutter rat and Jesse were thrown overboard, he had seen them with his own two eyes. No way they would survive the freezing Atlantic! That pretty boy Jesse became a thorn on his side now that he was still alive. First he needed to get rid of him, once and for all. He had to be the one, filling Rose's head with silly little fantasies when he boarded the Mauretania, and Rose was smiling and giggling with him. He had thought having a little get-together would work, and ultimately shoot him would get the point across, but that plan backfired. But he knew ultimately, that Rose ran away with that rat, and he too will be dealt with as well. And damn that Mr. Williams for leaving his company! He tears apart his apartment, from the kitchen to his bathroom, shouting more obscenities, and even screaming at the top of his lungs. It was a while before the place was quiet once more. Once the dust began to slowly settle, his apartment looked like something the war generals had used, in the combinations of the Civil War, and the War of 1812, with some tornadoes thrown in. The snow was blowing in even more relentless now, and his room was dark.

Cal sits on the tattered remains of what was left over of his couch. His clothes a tattered rags now, his fists were black and blue from hitting and smashing various objects in the rooms. He pants as the adrenaline begins to slowly decrease within his system, enough to gather his composure. His mind begins to slowly come into focus so that once again, he can start thinking clearly once more.

He begins to laugh, the evil laugh, that he wanted to find Rose, bring her back, after killing both Jesse and that Dawson boy. Then Mr. Williams brought back to Philadelphia, to be his permanent employee there. He had wasted every cent on that detective who had nothing better, but he assumed he was protecting them, and Ruth knew this, which is why she left him, and took her maid as well. He will never be made a fool once more, after this was all accomplished. He had always won, no matter who got in his way. Ruth was already a thorn on his side, as much as Jesse's, only the pain from that pretty boy was much more painful, and he wanted Jesse to pay. He puts on a devilish smile, as a thought crossed his mind. He saw Ruth being a seamstress, in a dusty old warehouse, making clothes as she struggled to make ends meet, or something awful of that nature.

No doubt those two were certainly back together, and were more than likely were to be married sometime soon, now the holidays had arrived, and that it was now Thanksgiving.

"Yes. Enjoy your meals. I hope you all choke on your chicken bones." Cal sneered, his feelings matched those of the cold winters blowing into his war-like apartment. He knew he had Rose first, and wasn't likely to go down without a fight. He wanted very much to ruin their plans, make their little pathetic lives way more miserable, to make them feel the pain he was suffering in. He would make them all pay, pay for his pain and suffering.

November 29, 1912

Eric helps Ruth board the train early the next morning, as the cold winter wind whips around them. She embraces Eric, before the train let out a whistle. The conductor shouts "All aboard!" Ruth gently kisses Eric on his cheek, before she boards the train with assistance from the conductor, and takes her seat. She looks out the window, as the train finally pulls from the platform, with Eric waving his hat in the air. She finally got to leave her old life behind, as she makes her way to Topeka, Kansas, and from there, she doesn't know where she's going, as she never been away from Philadelphia her whole life, with the exception of New York and Europe, mainly Paris and London.

...

The sun was shining through the clouds as Ruth's train steams its way through America's midsection. She had never seen so many fields. She began to wonder if she was in farming country, as she sees fields as large as the eye can see. The train chugs along small towns, towns Ruth had never recognized, or states she's never heard of. She felt like a little girl once more as she saw cattle grazed about in the fields, and men on horseback; one even took off his hat and waved it at the train's passengers. Little children patted their hands against the glass windows behind her, as she began to wonder what her own grand-baby would be like, and a tear rolled gently down her cheek. Ruth knew Rose will handle being a mother very differently than she was when Rose herself was a baby. Mostly her former maid Trudy handled being the motherly duty to Rose, from changing her diapers, bathing her, and teaching her manners, manners that were soon gone, just like her daughter. Ruth had missed Trudy, very badly. She began to sob slightly, even as passengers were all around her. She pulls out her handkerchief from her handbag and dabs her eyes with it.

The conductor walks along the corridor of the car.

"Next stop! Topeka, Kansas! If you are disembarking at Topeka, please say so." he says, as Ruth began to stand. He looks at her ticket, then hands it back to her, then makes his way to the front of the train, to inform the engineer that there were at least three passengers that were getting off at Topeka station, while the rest would steam on to Denver.

...

Jon stood at the platform, waiting as the train began to blow its whistle in the distance. He looks at the clock inside the depot, as the train had arrived thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Meanwhile Jesse had to leave for the hospital back in Albuquerque, as Marion came down with a little illness, and he couldn't be with Jon.

Most likely a cold. Jon thought, as the train slowly comes to a stop, letting out the steam when the brakes were engaged. He had gotten a frighteningly sounding telegram from his brother back in Philadelphia that Ruth was coming to Topeka, and that Eric wanted him and Jesse there, to meet Ruth. They had just finished a large turkey at the house when his father-in-law came home with telegrams, as usual, when he took one that was out of the ordinary.

It had said Ruth's life was in danger, and that Jesse's father left the Hockley business over their constant outbursts towards their employees. Eric told him to meet Ruth at the Topeka station post haste, in case Cal had followed them back to Philadelphia. Meanwhile Eric described back at the Hockley business that it was deteriorating due to employee wages and that two workers were killed during the strike. Jon made the haste to catch the earliest train out to Topeka, and to wait for Mrs. Dewitt Bukater. Unfortunately, the train took a northerly route, taking him through Santa Fe and on to Denver, and had a two-hour layover in Denver before he continued on to Topeka. He had hoped to take the train that had gone through Oklahoma City, like he and Jessica and their son did when they heard the news Jesse was getting married.

Mrs. Dewitt Bukater and Jon walked into the depot, expecting to be on the train the following morning. There was more bad news, as the next train back to Denver wasn't available until the beginning of December, as they were needed in the northern routes, and even longer if they took the Oklahoma route, with a layover in Wichita. Jon sighed, as he knew he needed a hotel, and Ruth was getting more desperate about Rose's whereabouts.

They arrived at a hotel, with a weary Ruth and tired Jon. There was only one bed, and Jon offered it to Ruth, and he took the couch. Ruth sat on the bed, tears began to fall from her eyes. Jon looks at her, and wanted to comfort her, then decided against. He went to the lobby to send a telegram to Jesse, Jack and anyone back at the house that he and Mrs. Bukater were going to stay at the hotel, as the trains were not going to be available anytime soon.

"Oh Rose." sobs Ruth, as she looks over the folded, and crumpled and creased paper, which felt like tissue paper now, as she has done many times. Jon came back to the room, with Ruth still sobbing, wondering where her precious daughter had run to. Jon wanted to tell her, until there was a knock on the door. The front desk attendant had told him the train would be leaving the early morning, giving Jon the needed break, and to surprise everyone back at the house. He was excited, and told the attendant his thanks. Meanwhile Ruth had overheard, and was finally getting closer to see her Rose once again.

Jon decided to sleep in his clothes, while Ruth had gone to another part of the room to get ready for bed herself. She turns out the light, dreaming happy dreams that soon, she and Rose and that Dawson boy would be reunited.