The quiet that had fallen over the Dawson house was unnatural to Rose. Usually, there would be someone laughing, talking, or singing. Some sign of life. But at that moment, she could barely hear the chirp of the birds outside as they all tried to keep busy and not think about Caledon Hockley and when he may show up on their doorstep.
Rose had walked into the kitchen to find Jack aimlessly drawing unidentifiable figures in his sketchbook. She sat across from him and just quietly looked at him. For the first time in a long time, she couldn't tell what he was thinking and it worried her. Did he blame her for any of the tension that now existed in his childhood home? Did he regret even meeting her? Did he wish that she had never found him again in this little town?
"What are you thinking?" Rose asked, having enough of his silence.
Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair, giving up the notion of drawing anything he could recognize. "Nothing much. I guess I'm just waiting. I don't think that meeting with Harold and Hockley is going to go well. In fact, I expect that bastard to show up here."
"What for? I gave him back that stupid necklace," Rose gripped the table, trying to keep the fear she felt at even having to face Cal at a workable level. She'll never forget the anger and hatred in his eyes as he shot at them, chasing them deeper into the bowels of the sinking Titanic.
"He's going to want more than the necklace, Rose. He's going to feel like we made a fool out of him. He's going to want...some kind of comeuppance. Men like Hockley always do."
"Well, then we should leave. You, me, and Lily. We should go far far away right now. What are we waiting for?" Rose got back up from her chair, wincing at the sound of it scrapping across the floor. "We can go anywhere. California is really nice. We always wanted to go to Santa Monica. We can do that now."
"Rose…"
"We can see the pier! We can ride the roller coaster until we throw up as we talked about," a wide grin stretched her lips, but there was a manic gleam in Rose's eyes as she began to pace.
"Rose."
"You can teach me how to wide like a man! Just like we talked about! It'll be wonderful Jack! Just you, me, and Lily!"
"And what of our friends, huh? Tommy and Fabrizio? Sarah and Leah? Harold, who's put his neck out on the line for us? Do we just abandon them like that?"
"Jack…"
"I can't do that again, Rose. I ran away from this town once. I can't do it again. Not when I'm aware that we have people here who care about us. Who are willing to stand by us. People who are in as much danger from Hockley as we are. I can't just leave them, Rose. You know that. You wouldn't love me anymore if I did."
Rose stopped her pacing, the manic smile faded from her lips and tears appeared in her eyes. She was frustrated and scared and so tired of waiting for Cal to show up and rip her world apart. Jack was up and taking her in his arms as he saw her tears. He held her tight, wishing that he could promise her that everything would be alright. Cal would listen to Harold and go home. That the man was out of their lives for good. But he couldn't make that promise. It would have been a lie, and he had tried his hardest never to lie to Rose.
"How about we read some more Anne of Green Gables? Take our mind off of everything. Maybe that will make you feel better?" Jack suggested, wanting to do anything to make this alright for Rose.
"There's no point. Sooner or later, the story will end and We'd still have to deal with this reality," Rose shook her head, knowing that trying to lose herself in a manufactured story would be useless. "You know, I'm tired. I'm tired of hiding in this house, waiting for him to come to us. Why don't we just bite the bullet and go to him? We know where he is staying, right? Why are we just sitting here waiting for him to show up in all of his terror?"
"Rose is right."
Both Jack and Rose turned to find Sarah standing in the doorway. Fabrizio was right behind her, his hands on her shoulders, supporting her. The couple came deeper into the kitchen, both of their faces set with determination.
Honestly, Sarah had been thinking about their situation and she knew that she was the real reason Cal was here in Chippewa Falls. If she hadn't run away, Cal would have remained a distant memory for Rose, not an imminent threat.
"What do you mean by Rose is right?" Jack asked, having a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Cal is here for me, right? He also wants to confront Rose for deserting his abusive behind, right? Well, why don't we take the confrontation right to him, because right now, Cal is doing what he loves to do best. Making us wait and live in fear until he's ready and by the time he is ready, we'll be too much of a mess to defend ourselves properly."
"Sarah, are you serious?" Rose frowned, not really liking this idea.
"Deadly serious. Come on, Rose. You know that I am right. He's feeding off our fear. Gaining strength from it! Us showing up on his doorstep will give us the element of surprise and cut off his feeding frenzy! We'll be taking him on with our own terms, not his!"
"Oh my god...she has a point, Jack."
"Rose?"
"We should go confront him ourselves. Get all of this over with so we can go on with our lives! I mean...I can't go on like this much longer. The waiting, the wondering when he'll show up and what he'll do. We need to get this over with Jack."
"But what about Sarah and Leah? He can't take you away, but...he can take Sarah."
"Not anymore he can't," Fabrizio stated, his hand tightly clenching Sarah's in his.
"What do you mean by that, Fabri?"
Fabrizio blushed, then looked at Sarah, who simply nodded. He took another deep breath and met Jack's eyes. Forgive me, amico. I know you would have wanted to be the best man, but we thought it best you didn't know. So Tommy and Leah stood for us as witnesses…"
"What did you two do?" Rose stared with wide eyes.
Sarah's smile was bright and happy as she held up her hand to show a golden band. "We got married!"
"What?!" Both Jack and Rose exclaimed in unison. "When was this?"
"This morning. We woke up, feeling trapped and anxious. We care so much about each other and knew that what we had was something worth keeping," Sarah explained hurriedly, still feeling a little heady from it all. "I wanted to keep my relationship with Fabrizio and knew I wouldn't be able to if Cal made me go back to Pittsburgh. I knew that he couldn't if I was already married, so Fabri and I discussed it, and...well we couldn't think of a reason not to."
Jack laughed and walked over to hug his friend. "Congratulations, Fabri! Now I'm not the only old married guy anymore!"
"Oh wow, this is quite surprising. Cal is going to be so angry, not to mention your father," Rose gave Sarah a hug of her own. "But Sarah, are you sure? Take it from a former debutante, this life is not easy. Hardly any of what we learned in finishing school is of help."
"I have never been more sure of anything in my life! I am so happy, Rose and Fabrizio...he's like a dream come true. I really do care about him...I want to say love, but it feels so early for that."
"Well, I fell in love with Jack after knowing him for three days. When you know, you know," Rose giggled. "This is such happy news. We finally have a reason to celebrate something!"
"I should go get some of my father's homemade currant wine that he keeps in the cellar."
Rose giggled at that.
"What?" Jack frowned, not getting why Rose found that amusing.
"Oh, it's just that...drink is in Anne of Green Gables. I don't want to spoil you."
Jack just rolled his eyes and went to get the wine.
"I wish you and Jack had been there, Rose. Truly," Sarah gripped her friend's hand. That had been the only thing she had missed during her little adventure that morning. Rose's presence.
"Oh, it's alright. You had Leah there and she's your best friend. I'm just your almost sister-in-law," Rose giggled. "I am so happy for you, Sarah. Fabrizio is a great man. You both deserve all of the happiness in the world."
"Here we go! My father's currant wine! It should be really good now since it's over five years old, right?" Jack entered, holding up a wine bottle, a bright smile on his face. "Ok, where are the glasses?"
Suddenly three loud knocks sounded at the front door, startling the occupants. It was Tommy who ran into the room with Lily in his arms, his eyes wide. "Rose's former fiancee is at the door, boy-o and he looks pissed!"