CHAPTER 2

Rehearsals started the week after her encounter with Richard for his play, 'Dining with Destiny,' where a young women working as a waitress meets a mysterious gentleman who whisks her off her feet and shows her that there's more to life than the normal 9 to 5 way of living, but he also teaches this beautiful waitress the greatest lesson of all... how to live, laugh and love.

Rehearsals were long and tiring and were mostly weekends and evenings during the week. She took some time off from her REAL waitressing job, which Antonio completely understood. The regular customers missed her smiling face, but her boss was so proud of his red headed wonder. He knew that she deserved more than he could give her. The play opened in the late Autumn of 1922, and the posters that had been created to advertise the show attracted a lot of attention, with Roses' face being right in the centre of the page. Walls on the street, shop windows and restaurant doors all showed of Roses' face, and it was hard to see the poster over all the heads of passersby who took an interest in the new talent on the acting scene.

Tickets sold like hot cakes, and on the second night of showing, a theatre critic from 'The New York Times' came to view the play, expecting nothing but a pretty face and an empty head. He couldn't have been more wrong. His review wasn't to slate the play, but to "congratulate Richard Calvert on his inspiring, wonderfully touching and unique script." Also, to "welcome the divine Rose Dawson into the industry. For her first play, she was astounding! Believable, loveable and memorable! These aren't the usual reviews I give out, but I was moved by her performance. She had me glued like a bee to honey, or a moth to a flame. If she keeps this up, she'll go far in this game!"

And the review didn't go unnoticed. More and more directors from New York were appearing out of the woodwork, desperate to have Rose onboard for their next play. She loved acting, and really enjoyed taking on a new and challenging role. One of her next roles was to portray a woman who dressed as a man in the early 20th Century in order to get a well paid job, only to look after her younger siblings, but in the process she falls for her boss who still thinks she's a young man. This play was particularly challenging for the fact that she had to make herself cry, but for Rose that wasn't a problem. Thinking of that dark, cold, life changing night on April 15th 1912, a decade ago, helped the tears to run down her face in seconds. "Petticoats and Waistcoats" opened in the Winter of 1923, and as her third play, with ANOTHER leading role, she was paid triple what she was paid for "Dining With Destiny." She was so sought after in New York that directors would bid for her like a priceless vase at auction. But Rose didn't choose her roles based on the wage. She read all the scripts and chose the one that jumped out her as being the best or most interesting and enjoyable.

However, by this time, she was romantically involved with Richard Calvert, so she didn't look through all of these scripts on her own. Richard was not only her lover, he was her manager. He stayed with her most nights in her apartment across the road from Antonio's Diner. There, business had exploded unlike anything the Italian boss had ever seen before! They all wanted a glimpse of "the red head with the curves." Antonio would simply reply, "That's Rose to you lot!" He still looked out for her, and since he wasn't exactly short of staff, he was happy to let her pick and choose her own hours to work. She never left the place, for she had made memories and friends there. Leaving would be hard to do after all they had done for her since the sinking.

Late 1924, and Rose and Richard are sitting in their new apartment overlooking the Hudson River. It was further away from The Diner, but the fact that Rose had bought a new car and Richard had taught her how to drive it meant this wasn't an issue. She was the happiest she had ever been. She was in love, she was living with the man of her dreams, and what was simply a request from a wannabe director had become a career in the making, and it wasn't over yet. Far from it! Richard had been secretly writing a screenplay, telling Rose that it was "just some possessed scribbles from his overactive imagination... nothing at all!" But on that Summer afternoon in 1924 when the phone rang, Rose answered it and got the shock of her life.

"Hello, this is Robert Marshall from The Hollywood Observer, I'm looking for a Rose Dawson."

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're speaking to her."

"Ah great, well, we've had a film script sent to us in the mail from a Richard Calvert, and we're in love with it!"

"That's great news!" giving him a thumbs up, she looked over at Richard, who knew all about this phone call, and what was to come next. "He's a fabulous writer, there's no denying it."

"He's recommended a few actors and actresses to play the roles in this particular piece and your top of the list, Miss Dawson."

Her jaw hit the floor. "A... film script? ... ME?" She gasped and looked over at Robert, who was smiling smuggle and reading a newspaper, pretending he had no idea who was on the phone. Rose knew he was behind all this, and she threw a cushion at him in excitement.

"Would you be interested in coming on over here and doing a few screen tests, a photo shoot, a script run through and-"

"Wait!" she interrupted him. "You want me to come to... Hollywood?" she was almost crying, sitting with the phone in her hand, shaking, filled with disbelief.

"I'd be honoured. Miss Dawson, I hope you don't mind my saying so, but the photos he has enclosed of you are simply stunning, and I've had talent scouts tell me that you're the talk of the town! You'll fit right in over here!"

For the next few minutes on the phone, Rose couldn't breathe let alone speak. When she got off the phone, she had times, dates, free train tickets to be delivered in the mail within the next two weeks and a whole new wardrobe waiting for her after she gave them her sizes. She put the phone back onto the receiver, look over at Richard, and flew off of the sofa and on top of him, smothering him in kisses, thanking him with tears in her eyes. When he finally managed to break free he got down onto one knee, dug deep into his coat pocket, and produced the shiniest rock that Rose had ever seen... well, the shiniest rock on a ring. Necklaces were a different story. Her eyes began to well up again, and without any hesitation, apart from the brief second when she stepped back and took in the beautiful image before her, she quietly replied, "yes, Richard... of course I'll marry you." The last time someone proposed to her, it was all staged by her mother to ease their debts. But now she was in love, and had never felt this way for anyone, and she knew that he loved her too.

Rose said goodbye to all of her friends, the hardest of all being Antonio, who cheekily asked her to sign a photo of the two of them for when she was "A brighter star than the Sun in the sky." Rose thanked him for everything to which he replied, "My dear... you did this all by yourself." She showed her friends the engagement ring, and they all gasped over its enormity and dazzling shine. They were all so proud of her, but tears were shed. These girls had all helped her through the most difficult of times, and so, in memory of the City that, in Roses' eyes, had raised her to be the woman she was today, she order two large paddy-wacks and a wigwam to go from Rhonda, who was pushing 60 and was still working in the same diner she always had.

Rose took one last stroll around New York, Richard buying her a horse drawn carriage to do so, and as the sun began to set over the City that had been so kind to her, she and her new fiancé made their way to the train station. Rose felt a strange sensation as she watched the New York skyline fade into the distance with each click of the horses hooves. It wasn't the feeling she felt when she left Philadelphia to head for England back in 1912, or even the feeling she felt when she had swam clear of the Titanic and found refuge on floating debris. It was the feeling of leaving something behind that, wasn't only a part of you, but had MADE you. Of course, Philly was her birthplace, it would always be in her blood, and surviving a shipwreck never leaves your mind completely, but New York had been so kind to her, and it hadn't broke her... it had built her into a strong, fierce, independent, entirely new woman. She had met so many fascinating wonderful, loving people... she had met her fiancé, and now as she held Richard's hand in the back of the carriage she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Richard turned to see his blushing bride to be and noticed her tears. "Is everything alright, sweetheart?" He wiped away her tear and put a strong hand on her face, caressing her gently. "Are you sure this is what you want? We don't have to go, not if you don't want to. We can stay right here if you'd like."

"No, no... it's not that... I don't know what it is. I'm just being silly." Rose tried to laugh it off, but she couldn't help but feel so emotional and upset about leaving the City.

"This is a big change for you, I know... but it's also gonna be a big chance... for both of us."

She put her hand on top of his and felt his strong hold on her... but not possessive. It wasn't the kind of strength that Cal embodied, which was built upon money and temper. Richard's strength was different. It was more like magnetism. When Rose was around him, she felt drawn to him, like a beautiful orange moth towards a burning flame. Cal dragged her into his clutches, making her want to break free. Richard held his arms out for her, and allowed Rose to decided when she would fall into his embrace... She had already fallen for him, and the dazzling diamond on her finger was the icing on the cake. The shimmering blue rock in her handbag however, hidden away in a secret pouch that only she knew about, was insurance. A constant reminder of what she once was and what she now had... and as far as Rose Dawson, soon to be Rose Calvert, was concerned... she had EVERYTHING.

But the past always has a funny way of catching up with you when you least expect it... This was a lesson that a 45 year old Rose Dawson knew all too well. The year is 1939, and Germany and Britain are having heated discussions over a possible declaration of war.