Once Jack had disappeared inside, Emilie took a seat next to Rose. She had to shake her head. Her cousin really had messed up. Rose must be so pissed and confused right now. She knew that she would be if she was in the situation.

"I'm sorry about my cousin. He's cute, sweet, but a total idiot sometimes. Of course, he's a man, so we shouldn't be surprised," Emilie chuckled, wanting to lighten the mood.

Rose didn't know how to respond. Her emotions were too mixed up. So she just sat there, staring at the ground, waiting for everything to become clear again.

"I know that you probably think that it was some big joke or that he was trying to trick you or something. But I can tell you, that's not Jack. He does not have that in him. When he said that you know him, you do. He just was so comfortable being a normal person for once...it just didn't occur to him to tell you that he was really an heir to a fortune. It wasn't that he didn't trust you...it was because it just wasn't who he was as a person. All of this...it never was something that Jack cared about. From what he told me about you, you feel the same."

Rose sighed and looked at the girl who was sitting by her side. She could see the family resemblance to Jack. In a way, it made it easier to talk to her. "I'm just so confused. I feel like I don't know him at all. I don't know what was real and what wasn't. I was...I was really beginning to have feelings for him. I just want to know if the person I came to care for really even existed. Or was it all just a facade."

"Did you know that he loves to draw? That his best friend is Fabrizio and he loves him like a brother? Those two go everywhere together? That he believes in making each day count and that the key to happiness is not money but just the act of being alive and doing what you love?"

Rose simply nodded.

"Well then, you do know him. He may not be dirt poor and have to sleep under bridges because he has to, but he told you all of the important things about himself," Emilie sighed and gave Rose a pointed look, wishing that she did know this girl better. "Tell me, Rose. Would it have made a difference if you had known? If Jack had shared with you that he was a Boston Dawson? Would that have changed your feelings for him? Your opinion?"

Rose paused and thought about it. Would it have mattered if she had known who Jack really was? How would she have seen him differently? Would she have been more or less willing to spend time with him if she had known he was the heir to a fortune? There was only one answer to that question. It would have mattered to her mother. Her mother would have been more friendly and wouldn't have looked down her nose at Jack like she had. Even Cal would have been more respectful if he had recognized who Jack really was. But as for her...

She shook her head. "No. It wouldn't have mattered. I am just...shocked. I had never expected to see him again, much less find out that he was richer than my fiance..."

"Most of us girls would be over the moon to find that a guy we fancied was one of the richest people in the country," Emilie gave a wry smile.

"I am afraid it takes more than that to impress me. If money was all I cared about...well I wouldn't find the fact that I'm engaged to Caledon Hockley so distasteful."

"How did that happen anyway?"

Rose sighed and shook her head. "My mother. She just loves the fact that he's so rich and is such a respectable gentleman. She doesn't care how I feel or how he treats me. Just as long as he's rich."

"That makes more sense. I know that we didn't know each other very real in finishing school, but you just never seemed like the other girls. You know, the ones that wanted a rich husband and that was it. You always seemed to like the simpler things...kind of like Jack."

"My mother and Cal both hate that about me. For them, the bigger, the fancier...the better. I guess that's why I was so drawn to Jack. He didn't have any money. The parties he went to were simple and small and the people there, they were like him. They didn't need money to be happy. Just being alive and together...that was what impressed them. Not fancy clothes, or sparkling jewelry. Jack once said that all he needed was air in his lungs and a fresh sheet of paper and he was the richest guy in the world. Little did I know..."

"That is Jack, though. All of this...it's not important to him. It never was. He had a hard time relating to his peers because they were all about how to make money and how a friendship with him would benefit them. No one was genuine, so it was hard for him. His closest friend was Fabrizio. They grew up together and their friendship didn't change when Fabrizio became his valet. But it was still hard for Jack, so Uncle Ralph allowed him to enjoy his freedom before taking his place in the family. He kept an eye on him of course, made sure that he didn't get in trouble, but he allowed Jack the freedom to be a normal person for as long as he could. We weren't really expecting to see him back here until he was thirty. You can imagine my surprise to see him back after only a year."

Rose snorted, remembering her mother's words the day the invitation had arrived. "My mother thought that he returned because he found third class life too hard."

Emilie rolled her eyes, not at all surprised. The gossip pages were ridiculous. "What do you think?"

"I think that he's a fool. I mean...it's so easy for men to do something like that. Can you imagine the scandal if I decided to live life in the lower classes? My mother would faint from all of the gossip. Jack was living what I could only dream of and he just...he just walked away. I just don't know why. I know that it can't be because of what my mother assumed. Especially after what you've told me about him liking the simple life. So why give up the life he wants to live? Why did he come back?"

"You haven't guessed, yet? Isn't it obvious?"

Rose simply shook her head. She could not, for the life of her, think of what could Jack find worth giving up the adventure of his dreams for.

"When he came home...he told me that he had met a girl. A beautiful, first class girl. Which surprised me, because I always thought he'd find someone in the lower class, but no. He met a first class girl that spirit seemed to match his own. He said that she was amazing and spirited, and kind. There was only one problem. She was engaged to a man she didn't love. She was trappd in a bad situation. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't as Jack Dawson, penniless artist. But he knew that he could as Jack Dawson, heir to the Dawson empire. It was a hard choice to make...but he really cares for this girl. He may even be in love with her. To him, she's worth all the freedom of a simple third class life. So that's why he came back. To fight for her."

Rose blinked, the answer to her question hitting her like a brick. "He came back...for me?"

Emilie simply nodded. "Jack's crazy about you, Rose. I've seen him court a few first class girls and he had always seemed bored by them. But with you, just now...I've never seem him come to life like that. His face just...lit up. I'm glad that I was able to help him reach out to you and maybe even help you understand why he did what he did. He never meant to keep anything from you, Rose. He just got caught up in everything and he didn't have time to reveal his true status. But you do know the person that he is. He had never lied to you about that.

"I know that you're angry with him, and I don't blame you. But don't push him away. Not only may he be your only way out of marrying that Hockley jerk...but he truly more than cares about you and to be honest, I see how you look at him. You more than care about him too."

Rose couldn't deny it, despite her hurt feelings. She did more than care about Jack, which was why it hurt so much that he hadn't told her who he really was. It spoke of mistrust and it hurt her to think that Jack didn't trust her.

"I do have feelings for him...but how can I trust him when I feel like he didn't trust me? I know, you say that he hadn't meant to keep the truth from me, but he did and...that hurts. I had told him everything about myself. Things that he didn't even have to know...things that no one else in society knows...I had trusted him completely...just to find that he had kept things from me."

"It wasn't on purpose," Emilie shook her head, keeping her voice gentle and understanding. She was also beginning to feel a little annoyed, even though she understood Rose. She was hurt and sometimes hurt feelings weren't so easy to get over. "Rose, I know that we aren't really close friends. Not like we should have been. I don't know why we weren't, because I see why Jack likes you. I like you too and I would like us to get to know each other better. But I would also like to see you and my cousin be friends again. I mean...this whole gala was for you. Not every guy would do all of this for a girl, you know? I mean, my cousin is ruining all men for me right now."

Rose couldn't help but chuckle. "Jack is one of a kind...okay. I'll talk to him..."

"Great. I'll go send him back out here," Emilie winked, getting to her feet.

"Emilie?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like us to get to know each other better as well. It's not every day that I meet another girl that I actually like talking to."

Emilie smiled happily. "You know, I think this is the start of a brilliant friendship."

Rose watched Emilie disappear back into the mansion and sighed. She still had no idea what she was doing, but if what Emilie said was true...if Jack really did give up his freedom to free her from Cal and her mother's plans...if he really cared that much...she should at least listen to him. See what he has planned at least. Maybe...maybe it was something that could work. After all, Jack was from a family that was even more prestigious than the Hockleys. Surely her mother wouldn't look down her nose at that, right?

"Rose?" Jack came out, approaching her with some hesitation. Emilie said that Rose was willing to talk, but he was sure that the red head's anger couldn't be gone that quickly.

"Jack," She looked at him. He certainly looked different from the Jack that had taken her to little Cora's birthday party, but he was still incrediably handsome and his eyes shone with the same spirit. Jack may be dressed like a gentleman tonight, but he seemed to be the same Jack she had always known.

"Emilie said that you were ready to talk to me?"

Rose took a deep breath and nodded. "I am. She seems to have a rather high opinion of you."

"Well, she's a bit biased," Jack chuckled wryly, shrugging his shoulders.

"She said that you came back for me. Is that the truth?"

Jack simply nodded. "It is."

Rose frowned. She had to wonder if Jack even knew what he was doing. This was a serious matter. This was marriage and their future. "Why? You were free Jack. You had the freedom to be who you wanted to be and do what you wanted to do outside of the confines of high society. Yet you came back for a girl you barely knew. Why? Why would you give all that up for me?"

Jack slowly approached her and looked into her eyes. "I did it because you are the most amazing girl...woman, that I've ever known. You have this fire in you that...I love really and when I saw that you were engaged to Hockley and you told me all that your mother and Cal were doing...I couldn't just stand by and let it happen. They've got you trapped Rose! You'll die if you don't break free! Not right away, because you're strong, but some day...that fire is going to burn out. I can't let that happen."

Rose found herself getting lost in his eyes, his words filling her head and her heart. He spoke with so much passion and emotion. His eyes burned with a light that she had never seen before. He believed what he was saying and so did she. But still...

"It's not your job to save me, Jack."

"You're right. Only you can do that," he was standing so close...too close now, but he couldn't step away. "But I'm hoping that you'll at least let me help."

She sighed, tearing her eyes away from his, knowing that if she didn't she'd be lost, and she refused to lose herself. At least at that moment. She needed to keep her feet on the ground if she was going to follow through with whatever Jack had in store.

"Do you even have a plan? Or do you think that mother will just give up her dreams of Hockley money when she found out that you're not a penniless pauper after all?"

"Well...for one, I'm hoping that you'll accept my invitation for a dance. Let her see that you belong here with me. Not with Hockley."

"And after that?"

"Ok, I'll be honest. I don't have a well thought out plan here. What I do hope to do is to get her permission to court you. Show her that I'm the better man."

Rose sighed. Jack meant well, she knew he did and he must really care about her an awful lot in order to give up his dream like he had, but...she was afraid to hope. She didn't want to get her hopes up and have them dashed by her money hungry mother, who simply adored Cal for a reason that Rose couldn't fathom.

"I don't know, Jack. What if she insists on the engagement to Cal? What if you're giving up your dreams for nothing?"

"Well then it's all up to you, Rose. No matter what that woman says, you still have the final say. Like we both agree, I can't save you. Only you can. All I'm doing is giving you a more...palatable choice? I know that I'm being presumptuous, but I kind of think that you like me a whole lot better than Caledon Hockley."

"Oh I do," Rose quickly said and then blushed, embarrassed by how fast she said that and in the tone she said it. Like she was back in finishing school, discussing the boy she liked best...except it was to the actual boy!

Jack just smiled in reply and held out a hand. "Well then dance with me. Let her see who you prefer. What do you have to lose?"

Taking his hand, Rose realized that she had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Not only her freedom from Cal and her mother, but also perhaps life with this man who was a paradox of himself. A gentleman and a adventurer. Someone who seemed to be a kindred spirit and was determined to help her escape. Perhaps even someone that she already loved.

"Alright. Lead the way, Mr. Dawson."

Jack smiled and kissed the back of her hand before leading her inside.

That evening, Ruth Dewitt Bukater didn't only rub elbows with the Boston elite, but she watched from afar with a calculating mind as her daughter spent the evening in the arms of the heir to the Dawson fortune. Was she seeing things? Was her daughter willingly spending the evening with a wealthy gentleman? Was she actually being the daughter that she had raised her to be? And if so, what did this mean? If there was a spark between the two, where would that leave her deal with the Hockleys? She was going to keep a close eye on the situation. If this...flirtation lead to something more...well she may have to let the Hockley's down gently. After all, the Dawsons were far more respectable and their wealth was far more older than the Hockley's. She would be a fool to pass it up.