Chapter 14

It was two o'clock in the afternoon, although it felt like nighttime. Mia, for whatever reason, couldn't entertain herself at all, so I was going from activity to activity with her. Jack had taken over for quite a while, playing cards (he promised me he'd wait until she was at least ten to teach her to play poker) and reading books.

Now, it was my turn to entertain her again, and I was just about out of activities. She had taken a break for a nap, but I could hear the footsteps upstairs and the pitter patter coming down the stairs. "I'm up!" Mia walked over to me, and I lifted her onto my lap. "Can we play a game?"

I sighed, wishing she could've stayed asleep for just a little longer. I looked at Jack, who was sitting across from me, and rolled my eyes. "Okay, I have an idea for a game." Mia looked at me happily. "Why don't we play hide and seek?" I asked, and Mia nodded happily. "Okay go hide. Just don't leave the house."

Mia jumped off my lap and ran away. "Hopefully this'll keep her busy for at least two seconds," I smiled, walking over to kiss Jack. I leaned against his chest and felt his arms wrap around me. "Mia can wait a few minutes, can't she?"

Jack chuckled. "I can definitely picture Mia hiding in some little corner for five minutes waiting for you to find her."

"You're probably right," I reluctantly pulled away from him, standing up. I looked at Jack and smiled. "Want to help me look for her?"

Jack smiled and kissed my cheek. "Sure." He took my hand, and we walked from the living room to the bottom of the staircase. "You look downstairs, I'll look upstairs?" I nodded and watched him start to look. "Mia, come out come out wherever you are!" He walked around, turning his head back and forth, his semi-floppy hair moving with him. I laughed and walked upstairs to start looking.

I checked everywhere: My room, Jack's room, the office, all over. I then checked Jack's room, and didn't see anything. Then, I looked under the bed and found something strange. It was a black leather book: his portfolio. I had forgotten about his art so far, and I realized I hadn't seen his art this entire time. I opened it, not considering that it could've been something private that Jack wouldn't want me to see.

I flipped to the first page and gasped. It was a drawing of me, hanging on the back of the ship, my hair flying wildly in the air, and tears running down my cheeks. The next page was a drawing of me smiling at the first class dinner. Then there was one of us at the party, of Jack holding up my dress while I balanced on my tiptoes. Then there was one of me when I went to find him in the third class area after he saved me. Then there was one of us kissing at the bow of the ship. I flipped through the rest of the pages: me with an ax over my shoulder, me looking up from the lifeboat, me holding Jack's hand while he almost froze to death. "Holy shit," I whispered.

"Rose, did you find her?" He was coming up the stairs. I quickly closed the portfolio and put it back where I found it, standing up. He entered the room then, and I looked at him. I figured he had drawn those pictures before I had found him again. "Rose? What is it?"

I shook my head, focusing on him and not on the portfolio. "Nothing, sorry. I haven't found her." I paused for a second. "Wait, you said she's not downstairs?" I asked, my heart starting to pound. "Well, she's not up here, so where is she?"

We looked at each other one more time, both starting to panic. "Mia?" We yelled at the same time. We started running around upstairs, searching everywhere. My heart was pounding in my chest. "Seriously, Mia. Come out please." No response.

"Rose! I found her!" I sighed in relief, following the sound of his voice to my room, where Mia was sitting in the corner of the closet, hidden by my dresses. I looked up at Jack, who was smiling. "She's quite the master at hide and seek."

I laughed and lifted her into my arms. "Well, aren't you sneaky, hiding in the back of the closet?" I held her in my arms, trying to force the anxiety I felt out of my body. Mia was okay, she was safe. "No more hide and seek."

Mia looked at me. "Why not?"

"Because if we play hide and seek again, Mommy is definitely going to have a heart attack," I smiled, though it was true. Suddenly everything made me nervous. I tried to hide it, bury it deep inside, but it was still there. "Let's do something else instead."

Mia finally settled on playing with a doll that Jack had bought her, and Jack and I were sitting in the living room. Jack had his arm around me, secured on my waist, and I leaned against him. I decided at that moment to be honest with him about finding his portfolio. "I have to tell you something," I said quietly. I turned to look at him, taking a deep breath before asking him. "When I was looking for Mia before, I looked under her bed, and I found your portfolio."

Jack nodded. "Ah."

"I'm sorry," I took his hand, holding it in mine. "I shouldn't have looked at it without your permission, I know that. I wasn't really thinking, to be honest." Jack didn't say anything for a few seconds, and I couldn't bear the suspense. "Jack, say something."

"They're drawings of you, Rose," he said finally. "You have no reason to apologize. You were always on my mind, filling my thoughts. I needed to put it on paper, to have something to look at when times were tough." He looked away, taking a deep breath. "I hope you don't mind that I drew you obsessively."

I smiled, leaning forward to give him a light kiss. "Not at all."

•••

"Alright, let's go over this again," I began. Jack and I were sitting side by side on the porch swing. We each had a glass of wine Jack had poured in an attempt to calm my nerves. "Cal is getting back from his business trip today, and someone is going to tell him that we aren't there anymore. He'll start looking for us, and things could get complicated."

"Okay," Jack wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer. I leaned my head against him and closed my eyes, feeling just an ounce of the safety I felt before today. "Going back to Hockley isn't an option. I won't allow it." I smiled, a flutter in my chest arising from Jack's protectiveness over me. "I'm also not letting you leave Mia with me or Molly and then go back to Hockley. I won't allow that either. So…" he paused, taking a long sigh. "Listen, we could live a normal life here, where you could be free and we could say you were some distant relative or something, but you know it's risky. There are gossips here, and I don't trust that it won't get around town that a mysterious, beautiful woman and her daughter appeared in town."

"So we're back where we started," I looked at him sadly and saw the same sadness looking back at me. He took my hand, and I turned to face him. "I refuse to believe it's this difficult to figure out a solution. We're finally together, Mia and I are finally free… and there's still this cloud of possible complications hanging over our heads. How is that fair?"

Jack sighed, pulling me closer and holding me in his arms. I knew he liked having me close to him, holding me in his arms. I leaned against his chest; I too wanted to be as close to him as possible. "I know you're not really worried about yourself here. You're worried about Mia. And believe me, Mia remembers what it's like to be in that prison, and she'll always just be grateful that you made it out. Trust me." Jack wrapped his arm around me and kissed my temple. "Once Mia's old enough, we can be less careful. She can say her last name is Dawson. We can… travel. Mia can live a normal life once there's no threat of ending up back there."

I smiled at him. Maybe this would work. "Are you sure it's not too risky?" I asked. I still had his hand in mine, and I was sure with the amount I was squeezing it that I was breaking his fingers. "I really can't risk anything happening, especially not to her. What if-"

"What if what?" Jack asked. "Seriously, think about it, Rose." I realized then that he was right. No one had seen her face, especially not in Chippewa Falls. No one knew who she was. Once she was older, she would be clear. "How could someone possibly find out her name was Mia Hockley? She'll be older by then!"

I chuckled. "That's not even her name," I said quietly. Jack looked at me, and I realized then that the way I phrased that made it sound like I had lied to him, like I had kidnapped Mia and pretended she was someone else. "No, I mean… her name is… Mia's a nickname. Her real name is Amelia. Everyone called her that, other than me. Well, me and you."

Jack paused for a moment. I knew that it was hard for him to hear about my traumatic life, I knew he wished that he could've saved me from the traumas I went through and that Mia went through. "If it's a nickname only for you, I could call her Amelia too…"

"No, you don't understand," I shook my head. "No one loved her, no one cared about her other than me. No one else cared to call her by a nickname. But then she met you… and she knew immediately that you were different than anyone else. She was too afraid to talk to anyone other than me and possibly her nanny. And she met you, and not only could she introduce herself to you, but she gave you her nickname."

Jack looked emotional again, just like he had a few times before now. I pulled myself closer to him, looked into his eyes and smiled, and pressed my lips to his. "I love you," I whispered. "I just wish there was a way we could live a normal life."

"I wish there was a way I could give you a normal life," Jack sighed. I felt terrible for complaining about the life we had now, when really, it was a miracle we had this life at all. "I really do, Rose. I mean, we could go somewhere else, change our names, but… we'd have to be moving constantly. If anyone found out who you were, we'd need to move again with no warning, or Cal would find us first. That's no life for Mia either."

"I know," I sighed. I leaned against him again and closed my eyes, inhaling his familiar scent. It was a quiet night, dark enough that you could see the stars. The sound of crickets and the creaking from the swing kept me feeling warm despite the freezing weather. Jack's arms around me and the warm blanket over both of us helped too. "So… I guess staying here is the best option." I looked up at him. "I'm sorry for complaining about this all the time. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to be out of that house, and to be with you."

Jack kissed my forehead. "Don't apologize," he said quietly. "You're in an impossible situation, and you're handling it the best that you can. And you're doing great. So, you can complain and cry and scream if you have to." I laughed. "It's alright, I promise."

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm redoing some of my cover images, and the ones I've done so far are for this story and Lost Souls (which I plan to update soon, I promise). Thanks for reading!