Chapter 2- Rose's Decision

Rose walked down the street looking for the shelter the man at the statue had mentioned. He didn't have to know she was taking his advice. Rose was an independent young woman who didn't like accepting help from anyone even when she needed it. She wanted to handle things her own way. She wanted to prove she wasn't weak. Again her thoughts drifted to Jack. He hadn't just thought of her as some spoiled little rich girl. He had actually understood her, tried to treat her like a real person. Now he was gone.

" Excuse me, Miss? Do you need some help?" a young woman was standing next to Rose.

" Yes," Rose replied. It was beginning to rain harder and she needed to find the shelter. " Could you help me find a shelter? A man just said there was one a few streets down from here."

" He was right. Come follow me. I'll take ye there." The woman spoke with what rose recognized as an Irish accent. Rose followed the young woman who couldn't have been more than 17 herself through the winding streets of New York. Soon they reached the shelter. A short wide building with people crowded around the front waiting to get in from the rain. Rose thought she recognized a few from the 3rd class party Jack had taken her to, but there were so many she couldn't be sure. Rose and the young woman joined the crowd and waited. Meanwhile the lady began a conversation. " Me name's Colleen. Colleen Galvin. I came over from Ireland a few months ago with me husband. We'll be havin' some wee ones soon enough. I got a job through the shelter. I work uptown for a wealthy family doing laundry and such. They need some more help if you need a job I can get you one."

Rose smiled. The woman didn't even know her, but was being so friendly. " My name's Rose, Colleen. Yes, I need a job. If you could get me one I'd be most grateful."

" Aye, I can do that for you. Just need your name is all."

" Rose Dawson."

" All right. I'll see what I can do. You know something Rose, why don't you just come stay the night with me and me husband, and I'll take ye to see about the job in the mornin'."

" That's sounds like a fine idea Colleen. I think I'll do that instead of hanging around here." Rose was surprised at how easily her tongue changed from sounding as if she were royalty into sounding like a normal person.

Again Rose followed Colleen around corners and through alleyways, which she assumed were short cuts, though they didn't feel that way. Finally, after rounding several more corners and cutting through one more alley Colleen came to an abrupt stop.

" This is it. We're here. Welcome to me humble home." Rose looked up and saw a huge brick apartment building in front of her. " See that window thar" Colleen said pointing. " The third one in on the fifth floor?" Rose nodded. " That's where me and me husband live."

Rose followed Colleen up the many flights of stairs. Up and up they went passing tenement after tenement. Finally, just when Rose thought the stairs would never end Colleen came to an abrupt stop. " This is the one," she said opening the door. Rose looked inside. It was what she had expected. A bed, a sofa, a table, and a few wooden chairs were all that there was for furniture, but the apartment was different somehow, from the places where she had lived. Though there wasn't much here and it was slightly grimy this place looked lived in. It looked loved.

" Come on Rose. What are you waitin' for? Me husband don't bite." Rose had just noticed that Colleen was wrapped up in the arms of a tall, husky man with brown hair and shining green eyes like Colleen's. It made her think of Jack. She was disgusted; she couldn't believe she had let him go. " Rose this is me husband, Michael. Michael, this is Rose."

" Nice to meet ye, Miss Rose. Where 'bouts are you from? I know Colleen is always helping out girls from that Red Cross Shelter. I assume that's wherein she found you. She likes to bring people home."

"Yes," Rose answered feeling like a stowaway being questioned by the police.

" So Miss Rose, do you have a last name?"

" Michael!" Rose stifled a giggle as Colleen gave Michael a dirty look telling him to butt out of Rose's life. Seeing the longing look Colleen gave Michael made Rose feel like a Peeping Tom privy to something she should never have seen.

" I'm intruding; I should leave." Rose made her way toward the door.

Colleen was instantly in front of her. " And where would you go? Sleep on the streets? Michael ain't half as rude as he seems. No, you're staying her tonight." At Colleen's insistence Rose allowed herself to be steered back into the house.

Seeing Rose's eyes beginning to droop Michael said, " I think Colleen and I'll head off to bed. We'll see about getting you a job and a place to stay in the mornin'. Tonight you can sleep on the sofa."

Rose decided even though she didn't know these people very well it would be easier to sleep here than on the streets. Here she only had to keep track of two people to see if they would try to steal anything, on the streets, she would have to keep track of God knows how many. It wasn't like she had anything to steal…other than the necklace. Why on earth did she still have that necklace? What good would it do her now? Michael and Colleen didn't know she had it, so for tonight she would be safe.

" Good night and thank you," Rose answered falling asleep before her head hit the arm of the sofa. She was so tired she didn't even feel the hard spring sticking out into her back. It had been a long night. The longest of her life.