Nine:
It was a morning, just any old morning for a regular person but for the Brown family, it was one to feel thankful for. For survival, for love and for living. This past year had brought an entire different meaning to everyone.
Molly poured herself a coffee, her husband JJ sat to her left. He was a tall man, with brown hair, parted to the middle, deep set blue eyes and a greying beard. His cravat sat beside him on the table, as he had removed it just before tucking into his oatmeal. Their mutters were quiet as they both ate their breakfast. Jack entered the dining room, followed by Rose, her black and pinstriped dress flowing behind her. Elizabeth slept on Jack's shoulder and he placed her gently in the crib, pushed to the far side of the dining room which had been left especially for her to lay in whilst they dined at various point of the day. Her lips parted as soon as she lay in the crib and Jack smiled, cocking his head to the side to take in just how beautiful she was. Still, he couldn't believe that he was a father and he wondered whether or not that feeling would ever leave him.
''Good morning.'' Molly beamed, from behind her floral teacup. ''It is still a little early, did the little bug keep you awake this morning?''
''Actually, no.'' Jack moved towards the table, moving the hair from his eyes. ''Good morning, JJ.'' He placed his hands on the older man's shoulders, nodding to him.
''Son, it is. How are you both feeling?'' His eyes darted between the young couple.
''Tired.'' Rose sighed.
''As expected. Not just with an infant, but one's dreams are bound to be interrupted on days such as today.''
''Indeed.''
Jack pulled out an upholstered dining chair for Rose to sit at and she sat herself, slowly. They exchanged a smile between the two of them and Molly didn't let it go unnoticed.
''Well, now that we are all here. I would like to say a Grace. Not that one is particularly religious.'' Molly set down her cup at the table, clasping her hands together. ''But, I would like to give thanks for all that we have, especially today.''
Rose glanced across the table, to their child laying in the crib, sound asleep. She clasped her hands together on the table in front of her.
''What a wonderful idea.''
Through one open eye, she glanced to Jack. She knew just how little faith he had, but his hands were clasped and his eyes were closed. Just like Molly and JJ. She closed her eyes, feeling just how powerful this moment was. She could see nothing but darkness and nothing came into her mind but in her stomach, she felt the sickening pull she had experienced the day she had boarded Carpathia.
''Dear Lord, we thank you for the food upon this table, for how enriched and full our lives are,'' Molly began, ''we thank you for the gift of love, of our children and of the friendship. But, we also, give thoughts to those poor, beautiful lost souls who suffered when they shouldn't have. One year ago, today we witnessed loss, Hell and grief. That will stay with us for the rest of our lives, but we thank you for giving us the tools to move forward with our lives, keeping those who lost their lives with us, in our hearts and their memory will forever be cherished by all. Amen.''
Molly's eyes sprang open, she picked up her cup of coffee quickly before any tears had chance to come to her already watering eyes.
''Amen.'' Jack, Rose and JJ chorused.
''That was lovely.'' JJ nodded, ''fitting, we are blessed.''
Beneath the table, Rose felt Jack clasp onto her hand, entwining their fingers intimately. She knew that the prayer would have been hard for him. She squeezed his hand tightly, a sign of her love for him and that she understood.
''JJ and I had a thought today.'' Molly spoke over the top of her coffee cup. She glanced sideways to her husband, whose face held a lopsided grin.
''Yes?'' Rose raised her eyes to meet Molly's as a maid came at that moment to. She offered a teapot to Rose who nodded graciously. Been waited on, after leaving her own household was something which she was still to be accustomed to.
''How would you like to take Rose out today, to church to perhaps say a proper Grace. Leave Elizabeth in our capable hands.'' Molly asked Jack, with an underlining meaning to the gesture, he was sure of it, but he couldn't have seemed to sense just what it was.
Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise at such an offer. He turned to Rose. ''Would you like to?''
Rose felt Jack squeeze her hand once more and, in that moment, she felt how torn she was. Not that she didn't trust Molly but to be parted from her daughter for an afternoon was a little much. ''I guess, maybe.'' She glanced to Elizabeth, sound asleep in her cot. She hadn't left her for long periods alone.
''Just a walk for a little while?'' Jack suggested, his eyes urging her to agree. ''We could do with just a bit of separation.''
Rose softened, her smile was genuine.
''Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.''
With entwined hands, their footsteps matched the other. Jack's hair fell into his face as he watched their feet take the same steps.
''What a beautiful day.'' Rose squinted her eyes in the early afternoon sun. She cursed herself for not fetching a hat or a parasol. Her hair fell to her waist in lovely waves, causing her to feel warmer with it around her neck.
''It is.''
They fell silent again for a minute or two. Each had a head full of their own thoughts. When either had thought of this day, it had been pictured to be clouded with a foggy depression which would refuse to lift. Even after Molly's prayer at breakfast, Rose hadn't felt quite the pull of loss in her stomach as perhaps she should have, or maybe she had drowned it out by thinking only of what today had meant to her. One year ago, today, she believed Jack to be dead. She had lost him. Just the night before, he would have taken her into his arms in the back seat of a Renault and allowed him to love her in the way that he did, conceiving their daughter. Goosebumps appeared over her skin and she didn't know if it was from the memories of the past or their lovemaking from the night before. Either way, she felt herself blushing.
''Are you all right?''
''Yes,'' she smiled, sweetly, catching his glance, ''perhaps just too involved in my own thoughts.''
''Care to share?''
Her cheeks turned a deeper crimson. ''What if I say that one unmarried woman should not be thinking such sordid thoughts.''
A throaty laugh followed and Jack through his head back. ''An unmarried woman, huh?''
''Well, yes.''
''And I must be your lover? Just the guy who you just knock boots with, right?''
She exaggerated offense but he took her face with his hands, those rough; talented hands which she had come to know so well. She gasped to breath but nothing came out. Before she knew it, she was pressed up against the side of a cool brick nondescript building with Jack's hand aside her face, she pressed her hands flat against the brick to steady herself. There was nowhere to look but his eyes. She felt herself falling as her shallow breathing quickened.
''Jack-''
His lips were on hers, she didn't stop him. Instead, she removed her hands from the brick and found them threading through his hair, pulling at it, trailing down the back of his neck causing every nerve ending to stand up. He caught her mouth again, sucking at her bottom lip until she felt weak beneath him. She struggled to even stand as he pulled away from her and buried his face into her neck, pulling her into a tight embrace.
''I just need you to know, that, I love you, more than you will ever know.'' He whispered breathlessly into her ear and immediately she felt her eyes brim with tears.
''Jack?''
''This isn't just about today, Rose. We were the lucky ones. We sit at a table with Molly, she is lucky. Your mother and Cal, they're damned lucky.'' His voice filled with a quiet anger. ''But, when we go inside that church today, I want to thank God, for bringing you and Elizabeth back to me.''
He stroked his hands across her lips.
''I thought, I thought you had lost faith after your brother passed.''
Jack swallowed harshly. ''I did, but maybe, just maybe, freeing you, and Elizabeth, maybe that was his way to make amends.''
She ran her eyes across his face and couldn't remember the last time she had seen such pain etched across it. ''No, Jack. That was just luck. As you once told me, you told us all, there is such thing as luck but you make your own.''
''You remember that?'' He grinned, cocking his head to one side.
''I remember everything.''
Jack lowered his head. He swallowed a lump in his throat. ''You know, if your father was here, I would ask for permission to marry you.'' He stroked his hand across her cheek and down to her lips. ''I would tell him how much I cherish his daughter and the daughter which she has given me. That I won't ever hurt her, that I will love her until the day I am dead and beyond that.''
''Oh-''
''I can only hope he watches us, with my own parents, proud in some way.''
Rose felt her lip start to quiver. She was taken so far back by his sensitive and beautiful words that she felt her eyes line with unshed tears. Tears which she knew would be shed later on in the day, after church. She had to go, to pray for those who were lost and to give thanks for those who had survived. Those who lived on. And for her father. She hadn't thought of him in a little while and when she did, she felt the hole his passing had left her with.
''Daddy would be proud, of you. Of Elizabeth.''
''And of you.''
She swallowed back tears. ''Yes, I suppose so.''
Jack twitched nervously, his eyes scanning the brickwork behind her whilst his mind turned over something quickly. She waited for him to speak, to relieve himself of his burden but when he didn't she took a hand and placed it on his cheek.
''What is it?'' She asked him, softly as she urged him to speak.
His nostrils flared as he pressed his lips together. The same look crossed his face as it had in the gymnasium aboard Titanic when he had told her how he felt about her; when he had offered her a way out. Her face was concerned, urging...
''Rose, what would you say, if I took you in that church and asked the pastor to marry us?'' He finally found his voice. ''What if we walked out of that church as man and wife. What if we went home to our daughter as a family with the same name? Would you let me do that?''
Rose's lips parted. She had to remember to breathe. ''Jack, I-'' She couldn't speak. Not because she was lost for words but because she was so overwhelmed by everything and by him. There was no question of what her answer would be, but, it was simply just one of the most beautiful moments of her life. One which she had never dare dream about. His eyes were so soft and in her loving daze she took his face with her hands and pressed her lips to his, just once.
''I want to be your wife.'' She whispered to him, gently.
His eyes searched hers for a sign of a lie, but she didn't waver, not once.
''Are you serious?''
''Jack, make me your wife. Take me to that church and marry me.''
Before she knew it, she was up against the brick once more and his lips were on hers. Soon, they would be one. Husband and wife. A family.