It wasn't long before Tilly noticed that they were going to wrong way. "Mummy, this isn't the way to the park?" She said confused "I know baby, we're not going to the park today, we're going to go on a train! Doesn't that sound more fun!" Rose grinned at her, trying to fix her daughters impending disappointment. Tilly shrugged "I guess… where are we going?" "I'll tell you when we're on the train, OK?" Rose said and got a silent nod from Tilly.
—
Once they were on the train and settled in their cabin, Tilly spoke up, once again asking where they were going "mummy? Where are we going?" "We're going to live somewhere else sweetheart, away from your Father and your Grandmother… how does that sound?" "Will Father be angry?" She looked at her Mother with frightened eyes "well, possibly, but he'd be angry at me, not you, I promise… and I don't think he'll find us where we're going anyway" she tried to reassure her young daughter "OK…" Matilda said, not sold on the idea.
—
The train journey there was fairly easy, Sophia slept the whole way, aside from feeding, and Tilly flitted between sleeping and colouring whilst Rose just sat nervously, praying Cal wouldn't try and find them, despite of how angry he would be.
—
Once they disembarked, they left the station, Tilly holding on to Rose's hand tightly. "Mummy?" She said "yes?" Rose looked down at her "I'm hungry…" Rose realised it was way past Tilly's tea time and apologised "oh I'm sorry sweetheart, as soon as we've found somewhere to stay, I'll get you a meal from somewhere, OK?" She said apologetically "OK" Tilly nodded.
Rose was grateful to spot an inn more or less straight away. "Tilly? We're going to go in to that building there, to see if we can stay for a while. But don't speak OK, not until we're in our room. Promise me darling?" Rose pleaded "I promise" Tilly replied confused. "Thank you" Rose sighed and stroked her daughters cheek.
—
Rose pushed the pram in to the reception area of the inn, still holding Tilly's hand. "Good evening Miss, I'm Mary, how can I help you?" "Hello" Rose smiled "I was just wondering if you had a room for myself and my daughters?" Mary looked over the desk to see a timid a Tilly and a new born "oh aren't they adorable" Mary smiled "of course we have room… will your husband be joining you?" She asked, noticing Rose's ring "oh… no… I'm a widow. It's just the 3 of us" Rose hated lying, and felt even worse for lying about death "Oh I'm so sorry" Mary said uncomfortably before quickly moving on "it's 5 dollars a month, is that OK?" She asked and Rose replied with a nod "Brilliant, can I take your name please love?" She asked. Rose shuddered, the last time someone said that to her was when a man asked for it on the Carpathia so he could add it to the survivors list. She knew she couldn't say Dawson this time though, in case people knew of Jack and his parents, so she just said the first surname that came to her head "Smith… Rose Smith… these are my daughters, Tilly and Sophia" "well it's nice to meet the 3 of you" Mary smiled "your bedroom is up the stairs and to the right, would you like some help with your stuff? You can leave the pram down here" "thank you, we don't have much stuff with us, so we should be OK. Is there a clothes shop near by, by any chance? And somewhere I could get my daughter something to eat?" Rose asked "there's a clothes store just down the street, but I'm not sure it'll be open now, and there's a diner right by it… are you going now?" Mary asked "yes, as soon as I've put what little we did bring in our room" Rose nodded "my daughter should be home in the next 15 minutes or so, she is around your age. She could show you to the shop and diner if you like?" "Oh, yes please" Rose smiled gratefully "wonderful, I can get her to come and knock on when she's back? Save you sitting down here with the little 2" "that would be great. Thank you so much" "you're welcome love" Mary smiled and watched as Rose went upstairs with the girls.
—
Once in the room, Tilly spoke up "Mummy? Why did you say your name was Smith? Your name is Hockley… and you said Father is dead… but he's not?" she said confused "I know baby, come here" she patted her knee and sat on the edge of the bed having laid Sophia in the middle of the bed. Tilly climbed on to Rose's knee "you can't talk about Father here, OK? If people know who your Dad is, they might tell him we're here and he might come and take us back home, and I don't want that for any of us… if anyone asks about him, you just say he isn't here, OK? People shouldn't ask more than that. and we have to say our last name is Smith, OK?" Tilly just nodded, still confused "OK" she went to continue but there was a knock on the door. Rose lifted Tilly off her knee and went to answer the door, opening to her a smiley blonde girl, around her age. "Hello, I'm Lucy, my Mother has asked me to show you to the shop and diner?" "Oh, thank you" Rose smiled "come on Tilly, let's go and get you some food" she held out her hand. Tilly ran over and took it "hello" Lucy smiled down at her "hello" Tilly replied shyly. Rose just chucked and turned her attention back to Lucy "I'm Rose by the way, this is Tilly and this is Sophia" she said, gesturing at her children. "They're adorable… how old are they?" "Tilly has just turned 5, and Sophia is 3 days old" Rose said nervously, praying that she wouldn't ask what Rose was doing moving to a new place with a 3 day old baby.
—
The clothes shop was due to close soon, so Rose went there before the diner. She felt awful that Tilly was so hungry, but she knew getting the girls an outfit for the following day and a pair of pyjamas for that evening was a priority. Rose knew she would nip out the following day to buy more of what they needed, but for now was happy with what she had purchased.
"Mummy" Tilly whined "I'm hungry!" She complained "I know, we're going for tea now. I'm sorry" Rose said crossing the road.
—
Once Tilly was happy eating her beans on toast Lucy spoke up "so, what brings you to Chippewa Falls?" She asked "fresh start I guess…" Rose smiled gently "I had a friend who used to live here, he talked fondly of the the place, so I thought I'd check it out" she continued. Lucy smiled, understanding the reasoning "where did you live before?" "Boston" Rose answered quickly, she couldn't say Philadelphia in case it became clear who she was, and she didn't want Tilly to answer on her behalf. Lucy nodded, despite not believing the lie "forgive me for asking, but how did you get that?" She asked, referring to the fading bruise by Rose's eye "oh, I walked in to a cupboard… stupid really" Rose tried to laugh it off.
—
When they reached the inn, Rose parked up the pram and lifted Sophia out, whilst holding Tilly's hand, who was almost falling asleep. "I'm working the next couple of days, my next day off is Thursday, would you like to meet for a coffee at some point?" Lucy asked and Rose nodded "that sounds lovely" she replied, she could do with a friend right now and Lucy seemed like a genuinely nice girl. "Fantastic, should I meet you down here around 1pm on Thursday then?" Lucy said "yes please" Rose nodded "goodnight Rose… goodnight Tilly" "night night" Tilly replied, rubbing her eyes "goodnight" Rose smiled at Lucy then looked down at Tilly. "Come on, let's get you up to bed" she said as she kissed Tilly's head and walked up the stairs.
