Jack was home alone with Lily the next time Enid Dawson came for a visit. It was a day after the girls had the confrontation with Cal and Nathan Hockley. Rose was at the Flowers, Tommy and Fabrizio were at work and Leah and Sarah had gone out to search for jobs of their own. So that had left Jack on Lily watch, which had suited him just fine. He had spent the day playing tea party with her and sketching yet another picture of her to hang on Rose's wall of sketches, a name that Both Jack and Rose had come up with for an area of blank space on their bedroom wall. Rose had wanted to fill it with sketches by Jack. This picture of Lily was to be the latest addition. He was just finishing up when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Papa Jack, someone's here!" Lily happily announced, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

Jack chuckled and lifted the little girl up into his arms. "Let's go see who it is, shall we?"

Lily happily nodded and rested her head on Jack's shoulder as he carried her to the door. He opened it to see a smiling Enid Dawson, this time she was on her own. "Oh, hello...Ms. Dawson…"

Enid laughed indulgently, amused by the formality. "Oh, my dear boy! You are my brother's son which makes me your Aunt. You may call me Aunt Enid!"

Jack blushed and chuckled, feeling awkward. He wished that he knew this woman as well as she should with her being his aunt. "Oh, alright...Aunt Enid. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to call you that or not…"

"Of course, I do, Jack. My, you do resemble my Eric so much," She placed a gentle hand on his cheek, her eyes brimming with affection. She just couldn't help herself. She adored this boy already, even though she barely knew him. There were so many similarities between him and her brother, it simply delighted her. She suddenly noticed that Jack wasn't alone. "This must be the child you had adopted...what's her name again?"

"Lily," Jack cuddled the little girl some, sensing her shyness. "Hey, it's okay Lily. You can say hello."

"Hello," Lily mumbled, the thumb in her mouth muffling her voice.

"Oh, how adorable. Her accent, it's Irish, right?"

"Yes. Her parents were coming here from Ireland when the disaster happened...I knew them. They were good people. Lily misses them, but Rose and I are loving her through it. I just wish that we knew more about them so we could tell her about them as she grows, so she won't forget."

"Hmm...maybe it's best if she does. That way, she won't remember the disaster and what had become of them, the poor thing," Enid sighed.

Jack of course disagreed with that, but he didn't want to argue in front of Lily. "Oh, I'm being rude. "Come in, come in. I do apologize. My mother raised me better than that," Jack stood to the side to allow his visitor in.

"Oh, that's perfectly alright, Jack. It seems that you have your hands full here. Wherever did your wife get off to?"

"Rose is at the Flowers. She's helping their daughter with her French lessons," Jack explained.

"Oh. How...quaint. I'm surprised that they're even allowing her to do that, with the scandal and all," Enid sighed, not realizing how tactless she was being.

Jack sighed. This was looking to be another long day. He was in no mood to listen to this woman put his wife down for wanting to live her own life on her own terms!

"We don't usually pay attention to stuff like that here," Jack frowned.

"I see," Enid cleared her throat. "I suppose it's just as well. That way you two can have a happy marriage without having to worry about all of that ugliness."

Jack motioned for her to take a seat on the loveseat while he got Lily situated in the big living room chair, handing her the doll that he had brought down earlier and a brush. He kissed the child's red curls then took a seat across from his newly found Aunt.

"So, Aunt Enid...you and my father must have been really close with you two being twins and all," Jack decided to take the conversation away from Rose and into another more palatable direction.

"Oh yes! We were the best of friends! We did nearly everything together when we were children...then adolescence hit and...well I was to go into training to be a proper young lady and he a gentleman...even though he remained a mischievous young rascal."

Jack chuckled, "I bet."

"Oh, no one could say no to Eric! He'd come up with some lavish scheme and we'd all follow him. There was just something about him."

"That's what my friend Fabrizio claims about me when we were traveling Europe and England. He'd claim I would get him into trouble. I told him that he could always refuse, but he claimed that there was no refusing me. I don't get why he thinks that" Jack shrugged, chuckling at the memory of all his arguments with Fabrizio after they got out of whatever trouble they had gotten into.

"Ah, you inherited that Dawson charisma that your father had! It's good to know," Enid happily smiled, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

Sitting there talking to his Aunt, Jack could almost forget about her rude behavior towards Rose. He liked the woman and she was another link to his father. She probably had all kinds of stories that she could share about him. It made him want to get to know her and perhaps the rest of the Dawsons more.

He felt a little guilty because the woman was awful to Rose and it was obvious that she didn't like Rose and her mother, but Jack couldn't help wanting the information about a part of his father's life that he hadn't been privy to.

Jack spent another hour talking to Enid, telling her about his own childhood and his father's life here in Chippewa Falls when Rose finally returned home to find Lily sound asleep in the chair and Jack and Enid still talking.

"And Pa just pulled me out of the lake. I had pneumonia afterward. Needless to say, Ma was furious with him," Jack finished off the story when he noticed Rose coming into the door. Rose stopped and blinked in surprise to see that Jack wasn't alone.

"Rose, sweetie, you're back!" Jack got to his feet and kissed her cheek. "Aunt Enid had stopped by and were we talking about my pa. She told me about some of his adventures as a kid and I was just telling her the story about how I had fallen through thin ice after ice fishing."

"Oh yes, I remember that story quite well," Rose forced a smile, telling herself to be polite. She was not going to ruin this for Jack today. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Dawson."

Enid forced a smile herself. She did not care for this girl at all, but looking at her brother's son, she knew that he seemed to adore her, so she'll make herself be nice. For now. She did not want to anger the boy by letting her dislike of this girl show. "Likewise."

Rose simply smiled, then frowned when she saw Lily asleep in the chair. "Jack, why didn't you put her to bed!"

Jack winced and looked extremely guilty. "She must have fallen asleep. She was playing with her doll while I was visiting with Aunt Enid. I didn't mean for her to fall asleep there."

"You should have taken her up to her room, Jack. At least there she could have crawled into bed and fallen asleep more comfortably," Rose sighed, shedding her coat and hanging it up before lifting the sleeping child up into her arms. "I'll take her upstairs…"

"No, I'll do it. You had just gotten home and you look tired. I'm sorry, Rose," Jack took Lily from her. "Sit. Relax. I'll be right back."

Rose's eyes widened, realizing that she was going to be alone with Enid, someone that she did not want to be alone with. "Jack...that's…"

"I'll be back in a few seconds. I promise," Jack kissed her cheek one last time before carrying Lily up the stairs, leaving Rose alone with Enid.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean for him to take her upstairs," Rose apologized, feeling the woman's cold gaze on her. Gah, how could someone as warm and friendly as Jack be related to someone like this woman? It confounded her!

"Hm...I suppose it's to be expected. A proper nanny would solve such a problem," Enid commented, sitting back in her seat.

"Jack and I Prefer the more hands-on approach. Besides, we can't afford a nanny."

"All you have to do is ask, dear. I can probably arrange for someone."

"That will not be necessary, but thank you for the offer," Rose refused, keeping her voice polite and even. Her mother had taught her how to wear the mask of a polite and yielding debutante well. It was taking all of her patience to put it to good use.

"Still, with both of you working, you may want to consider it."

"Ok, she's in bed," Jack came back down. "Poor thing is exhausted from all the playing we've done today...and the drawing. I made another one for the wall," Jack picked up his portfolio and handed it to Rose, who looked so uncomfortable. He knew that a drawing of Lily would most likely put her in good spirits.

Rose's eyes widened at the picture Jack had drawn. "Oh Jack, this is gorgeous! She looks so happy here. She comes right off the page."

Jack simply blushed.

"Oh, so you're an artist?" Enid asked.

"Yes. I draw people whenever the inspiration hits."

"He's really talented," Rose smiled happily at the picture, getting up out of the chair. "I'm going to go hang this on the wall right now. I love it, Jack. Thank you."

Jack watched Rose disappear upstairs with the picture and felt a sense of relief. With her safely upstairs, there was no chance that his Aunt could say something rude to her.

"Well, I suppose that I must be off back to the hotel. I stayed for a good hour or two. You probably want to spend the rest of the day with your wife now," Enid got to her feet.

"It was really good of you to come by and tell me about my father," Jack slid his hands into his pocket, not knowing what else to do with them. Things were feeling so strange and awkward right now. That wasn't something that he was used to.

"I'll come again with more stories, I promise. Perhaps you can even show me some of your drawings. Eric wasn't an artist, but our father sure was. We'd catch him sitting on the promenade just sketching us playing in the garden. He had such a talent. It's good to see that it's been handed down."

"He's still alive?" Jack asked, not remembering if she had said that his grandparents were alive or not.

"Oh yes, he is. But he is very old and frail. Much too frail to make a trip here. He is wanting to meet you. He had missed Eric so. To meet Eric's son before he leaves us...it'd mean the world. Not that I'm pressuring you by any means."

"Maybe I can come to Boston for a visit. I'd like to meet him and my grandmother and other family members," Jack smiled.

"They would all love that, Jack. Well, I must be going. Take care, dear," Enid patted Jack's cheek before walking out the front door.

…..

Jack found Rose standing in front of her wall in their room, just looking at the sketches already hanging there. Her expression was unreadable, so he couldn't tell if she was angry with him or not. He knew that she had been annoyed about Lily falling asleep in the chair, but he had a feeling that wasn't all that she was annoyed about.

"Rose?" He simply stated, walking in to stand beside her as she looked at the wall.

"Yes?" her voice also revealed no emotion.

"Are you angry with me? I'm really sorry about Lily…"

Rose turned her head to look at him and any anger she felt melted away. His blue eyes were so sad and his mouth was down turned in a small frown. How could she ever be angry at someone who looked so lovely, even when they were sad?

"I'm not exactly angry...I...I don't know how I'm feeling Jack. Scared, maybe?"

"Scared? Why?"

Rose sighed and turned to face him. "You looked pretty friendly with her. You were actually having a good time...with someone that hates me. What if she makes you hate me too?"

"Rose, that's impossible! I could never hate you!"

"Really, Jack? Because there's an awfully thin line between love and hate and...I know that I love you so much and…"

His arms were around her and pulling her close to his chest. Warm lips rained kisses along her cheeks, forehead, and lips. When the kisses stopped, blue eyes gazed into her with total adoration. "Does it even look like I could feel anything but total love for you?"

"I just don't want to lose you."

"You won't. And ok, I was getting along with her. She was telling me about what my pa was like as a boy and I told her what he was like as a father. I made damn sure that the conversation went nowhere near the subject of you and what happened on Titanic. That's not any of her business anyway."

"Of course, you'd protect me…."

"Always…"

"I'm sorry, Jack. I shouldn't be so freaking insecure like this. We've spent a year apart and still love each other just as much as we did in those few days after we met. Our bond is strong. I should know that and not even fear anything Enid Dawson might have to say. You were strong in the face of my disapproving mother, right? Now it's my turn. I should be like you and stand tall instead of wanting to run to our room and hide."

Jack sighed and pulled her closer. "Rose...it might be because I'm used to bad treatment from women like your mother and Aunt Enid...most high society women that I've met always looked down their noses at me and treated me like I was lower than dirt. You and Molly Brown were the first ones that didn't look at me like that. So it's a treatment that I'm used to. You're not used to such treatment, so it makes sense that you'd want to avoid it. I want you to avoid it."

"You shouldn't have had to deal with that treatment either, Jack."

"It was what it was. At the end of the day, it didn't matter...just like it doesn't matter what Aunt Enid may think of you. I love you anyway because you're my Rose. We're a part of each other, a packaged deal. Like I told you, despite wanting to know the others...if they can't accept you, they can't accept me. You and Lily are my family. I'm not about to forsake you for a group of strangers that my father made good and sure that I never knew."

"I don't want you to turn away from them, though. They are your family and as a whole...the Dawsons aren't bad people. Not all of them anyway. My father had done business with a few of them and they've always been kind to me. Your Aunt is probably an abnormality...which makes sense because she lost her twin brother at such a young age. That must have done something to her…"

"You may be right there. She did seem to have been awfully close to my father. It must have torn her apart when he had run away and didn't get back in contact. Which is why...I kind of feel for her. But I won't have her talking down about you, Rose, and I think she knows that."

"I'll be fine, Jack. Just as long as you still love me."

"I'll always love you. That is not even a questionable fact. It just is. Jack Dawson loves Rose Dawson. That is not something that can be disputed."

Rose smiled. Jack was such a kind and compassionate man. His heart was so good and pure. She didn't deserve him. Neither did Enid Dawson. But luckily for them both, only Jack could be the true judge of who was deserving of his company and it looked like he deemed Rose to be the most deserving of them all.