Chapter 19

From picture to person

"I'm fine, Henry. Truly." Rose said in an almost annoyed manner. She was sitting on the edge of the bed whilst he was standing right in front of her. He gazed at her with a worried expression before he let out a deep sigh.

"You fainted last night, Rose. You don't faint when nothing is wrong."

"It must have been the alcohol."

"You weren't drunk."

Out of a sudden, Rose pushed herself up. "But I am fine now, you see?" She said whilst rushing towards the vanity. As Rose looked at her reflection in the mirror she saw that she looked worse than she had thought before. Her face was as white as a bedsheet and her eyes looked puffy and red. "I am fine." She whispered once again almost to convince herself.

Henry then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you think you are fine enough to join my cousin for brunch?"

Rose wanted to shake her head. Not because she physically couldn't handle the social occasion, but mentally she was in a total different place. Rose softly nodded whilst still thinking she was being caught in a dream. "But I still have to get ready." She then murmured.

"I'll wait for you in the lobby in about half an hour." Planting a soft kiss on the top of her head, Henry walked out of the room leaving Rose alone in her web of thoughts. The newspaper was still laying on Henry's bedside table. It was closed, not revealing the picture that revealed the truth; the truth that was still so hard to believe.

The moment she saw his face so clearly, Rose truly believed that her heart had stopped. To see someone who had been dead for years must mean she had passed on to the other side as well where he was waiting to receive her with open arms. But the arms that were wrapped around her lifeless body were not those of a suspecting ghost, but of her fiancé who was desperately trying to wake her up. Rose couldn't speak when she eventually regained her consciousness and she was simply placed into bed. For the whole night, her eyes were glued onto the ceiling. I must be dead, she thought. But as the warmth of the sun hit her face through the glass of the windows and she could her the faint chatter of people that passed the corridors, Rose immediately started to doubt that assumption. Mrs. Taylors words also started to echo through her head.

"My husband used to own an art gallery, therefore he has taught me a lot. Unfortunately, it got shot down after his death in 1919. I never dared to set a foot inside of it again, which has made the building turn into a complete ruin. But now, a dear family friend has offered to renovate the place and reopen the gallery."

A family friend… Jack…

She slowly took hold of the newspaper once more and held her breath each time she turned a page. It didn't take long for her to find the picture again, although this time she noticed how small it actually was. You could barely see him. But he was there, that warm and charming smile which made her fall in love with him many years before. Rose let out a laugh, followed by tears streaming down her face.

Artist Jack Dawson has taken it upon him to renovate the old art gallery. She gently touched the letters of his name. It was nothing but ink printed onto paper, but as her fingers caressed it, her heart skipped a beat.

Still looking like a ghost, she met Henry moments later downstairs in the hotel. He tried to smile at her, but Rose's expression remained emotionless when she saw him.

"The taxi is waiting outside." He said whilst leading her out of the hotel. His hand was slightly resting on Rose's back, afraid that the event of the previous night might happen again. He had his eyes fixed on her every move until she was carefully sat inside of the car. The ride didn't take long. Within five minutes they arrived at the restaurant. The interior decorations looked grand and luxurious. Servers in tuxedos rushed around to bring the food to the tables. It was a scenery Rose hadn't seen in a very long time.

Then, a few feet away from them, a man stood up from a table and waved at Henry. To Rose's surprise the two almost looked identical. The man's dark hair was neatly combed back and even he was dressed in an expensive suit.

"Henry, Henry," the man smiled as he shook Henry's hand, "How long has it been? Three years."

"I believe it has. But now I can finally introduce you to my fiancee, Rose Cartmell. Rose this is my cousin Tony Calvert."

They both shook hands before Rose was also introduced to Tony's wife. The couple's then proceeded to take seats in front of each other and the ladies observed how the men reminisced their younger years together. Rose tried to listen intensively, afraid that her mind would wonder off to some on else once more, but it was almost impossible. For a second she was afraid she was going to faint again. Taking a sip of her tea, the waiter then placed their meals in front of them. It sickened her to her stomach.

"You should drink a lot and just eat plain toast to get rid of your nausea." Tony's wife then said to her.

Rose looked up at the woman and raised her eyebrow. "I'm sorry."

"Henry said you were at a party last night and I recognise the face of someone who've had maybe a few too many drinks."

"Yes." Rose laughed nervously before she took a bite of her toast.

"And how is the business going?" She heard Henry ask his cousin.

Their was a grin plastered on Tony's face, almost mischievous and conceited looking. "To be fair, it is going better than I could have imagined. Everybody wants it, especially the upper class folk from all over the country," Tony leaned closer towards the table and lowered his voice, "I even got invited for a dinner next week; the perfect place to sell my product among the American aristocrats."

"Sounds like a real achievement, Tony." Henry admitted.

His wife leaned closer towards him at looked up at him with admiring pride. "I already have five evening gowns waiting for me at the dressmakers." She then grabbed her purse and took out her lipstick.

After listening some more and the couple's absurd idea of the so called American dream, Rose scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. "Believe me when I tell you that there is nothing fun about spending night after night with the same mindless people," she said fiercely, "the same mindless people who have nothing interesting to talk about other than whose house is bigger and think they know more about your life than you do yourself by gossiping behind your back whenever they get the chance."

The table fell silent for a minute before laughter broke loose.

"And how would you know, miss Cartmell?" Tony pierced at her, "You speak as if you have dinner with the Astors and Van der Bilts every single night, but the last time I checked you were still a librarian."

Like a defeated dog, Rose looked down at her lap. There was nothing more for her to say. Even if she decided to tell the truth about her past, she was certain that no one would believe her. But in a strange way, now knowing that Jack was still alive, she wanted to stand up and tell everyone who she really was. So Rose stood up, yet kept herself quiet about her hidden past.

"Excuse me for a minute." She simply murmured before heading towards the entrance. Within seconds, Rose could feel Henry's shadow behind her and he placed his hand on her shoulder, making her turn around.

"What on earth is going on with you, Rose?" He sounded irritated.

"Nothing, Henry. I just need some fresh air."

"Oh stop that nonsense, Rose. First you drop to the floor just before we go to sleep, you wake up saying you feel fine, but your mood is nothing but bad and now you are making a horrible first impression whilst meeting my cousin and his wife."

"I am making a horrible impression?"

"You know what I mean, Rose."

Throwing her hands up in the air, she stepped away from him. "Well, if I am making such a horrible impression it might be better for me to leave right?"

"Rose, please. Come back inside. We can talk about this later."

Rose didn't listen to him and simply said she was going for a stroll. Her feet stumped against the pavement, heading towards Cora's house. It took her more than an hour, getting lost along the way multiple times. The heat crept underneath her clothes droplets of sweat travelling down her body. Strands of hair falling out of her up do. Lauren's eyes widened when he saw her standing completely worn out in front of his door.

"Is Cora home?" Rose asked desperately.

Lauren nodded his head and led her towards the backyard.

"Rose!" Cora exclaimed excitedly as she put her book away. Her delighted expression quickly faded when she saw the state Rose was in.

"Can I speak to you for a second?" Rose asked. She then looked at Lauren, "in private."

"Of course." Cora said before walking them towards the living room. Before leaving the hotel, Rose had ripped the correct page out of the newspaper and put in in her purse. Now unfolding the paper, she placed it on the coffee table in front of Cora and pointed at the picture. Cora could feel her stomach drop and held her breath. She didn't know what to say. It didn't surprise her altogether that Rose had found out about the reality of it all, but to found out like this was something she never could have imagined.

Rose voice turned soft, but was firm with a noticeable hint of anger. "Did you know, Cora? Did you know that he is alive?"

Cora's mouth remained shut, she found it impossible to find the right words to say, therefore she simply nodded her head.

"For over ten years, I believed this man to be dead only to find out that he is well alive by a picture in a newspaper? And all the while you are spending the summer here knowing about it the entire time?"

"I'm sorry…" Cora murmured.

"You're sorry? Have you see him? Have you talked to him?"

Again, Cora only nodded her head.

"Jesus Christ, Cora, you knew all along and you didn't say?!" Rose started to march around the room, "Why would you keep that from me?!"

With the women not knowing that he had been listening this whole time, Lauren burst through the door. "Don't you dare to blame this on Cora." He quickly interrupted, "You have no idea how this has been for her." Then standing next to girl who had captured his heart, his eyes pierced at Rose. "She in fact did want to tell you and has hated the fact that she couldn't because Jack didn't want her to?"

Rose's eyes grew wider. "What?"

"Jack didn't want Cora to tell you he is alive." Lauren repeated.

It did take quite a while before the words landed in Rose's heart and it left her even more hurt and confused. She dropped down onto the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. "I… why on earth wouldn't he want that?" It didn't take long before she burst out in tears.

"I'll get you some water." Lauren said before them alone again. Feeling her heart ache for the woman in front of her, Cora kneeled down and tried to comfort Rose. How within seconds she had turned into a vulnerable girl. The roles were now reversed where it was upon Cora to care for Rose.

Rose then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's all right, Rose. I get it." She softly caressed her red curls, "But trust me when say that I can explain it all."

With teary eyes, Rose looked at her. "What is there to explain? To me, your answer sounded pretty clear."

"But it isn't. You see, during the sinking Jack hit his head making fall unconscious. He had to spend a couple of days in the hospital. After he woke up and had recollected his strength, he asked a nurse to look for your name on the survivors list, but all she came back with was…" she took a deep breath, "your obituary. Not only you believed he was that, but Jack believed you were dead as well."

"And he still doesn't want me to know that he isn't? It doesn't make any sense…"

"Perhaps he doesn't want to upset you now that you are engaged to Henry. That's all I can think of ever I told him everything about our part of the story."

"Well that plan hasn't quite worked out now has it?" Her emotions were slowly starting to calm down and she wiped her tears away before devouring her glass of water.

"The truth would have come out once or later," Cora admitted, "I don't think I could have hidden this from you for much longer."

"But you were planning on doing so."

"I promised him, Rose." Cora quickly searched for Lauren who was, luckily, still standing in the doorway. He walked back into the living room and sat down onto the sofa. It then clicked in Rose's mind that he must know everything and Rose couldn't blame Cora for telling the truth. She had put enough pressure on her for living in a lie for all these years and hated herself for it. As she saw Cora signing for him to leave again Rose let him stay.

"I should be ashamed of myself, Cora. For letting you lie to everyone only to protect me from my past. I was just scared."

A gentle smile appeared on Cora's face and she took Rose's hand in hears. "Please, don't apologise. I know your so called lie has given me a wonderful life, but you can stop hiding now, Rose."

"I do want to see him. Does he live close by?" Rose asked.

"He doesn't live that far away," Lauren answered, "but he is in San Diego for a couple of days."

"I'm meeting him this Monday to finish the last bits for the opening of the gallery," said Cora, "maybe you can come with me?"

Tears started to form in her eyes again and she nodded her head. "I would very much like that."

Cora stood up and took a seat next to Lauren. "Does Henry know that you saw the picture?"

"No," Rose whispered back, "but maybe I should tell him.

But in reality, Rose didn't tell Henry anything that mattered to the story. "I guess I just acted this way because I realised I missed Cora more than I initially thought. That's why I have decided that I want to stay here in Los Angeles and go back together with her before her school starts again."

Still confused, but accepting of her story, Henry kissed her gently. "I don't think I can arrange it with work to stay away any longer."

"You don't have to try. It's only a little under two weeks."

"And what about the wedding. it's in a month and a half. We still have to arrange so much."

"More than half has already been arranged. Please, Henry. I really need to be with her."

Henry then left for Los Angeles early in the morning, leaving Rose alone in what still felt like a dream. The remaining days before Jack's return left Rose in pure angst and agony. Her heart was racing the entire time. She couldn't eat or sleep and only let the time pass by by sitting outside in the pure sunlight. The heat warmed up her body to what felt like an unhealthy temperature, but Rose couldn't care less. In the days of waiting, parts from the past played in her head more visual than ever and she was able to relive every second of the sinking. The cold of the water burning her skin. Losing Jack in the darkness had torn a piece from her heart. And she had only known him for three days. Three days to turn her whole life upside down.

"Are you ready?" A voice suddenly brought her back to reality. Cora had stepped into the garden where Rose was sitting, again, in the bright sunlight. She quickly stood up and followed Cora to the front door. Their way towards the gallery remained in total silence, both holding their hearts for whatever was to come. Once they arrived, Cora opened the door with her spare key, but didn't walk inside.

Confused, Rose raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you coming?" She asked, her tone trembling more than every.

With a soft smile, Cora shook her head. "This is something between the two of you I don't want to interfere with. He will be here any minute." She placed a soft kiss onto Rose's cheek. "Good luck."

Rose watched how Cora disappeared out of sight before she dared to enter the building. On the inside, it looked bigger than she had thought. The space was still empty, but everything looked so brand new, even the paint smelled as if had just been applied to the walls. To her right there was a door standing slightly open. It drew her in, making her walk into a much small room. It almost looked like an office. There were loose paintings leanings against the walls and pieces of paper scattered all over a desk. As Rose looked closely, she recognised his drawings; the letters JD perfectly placed on every right corner. Without a second thought, she simply started to smile. Her moment of sweet reminiscing quickly came to an end when the loud noise of a door opening and closing brought her back to why she had come here. She couldn't see him for she was hidden in this small workspace. It was only his voice she could hear; as bright and warm as how she had remembered it. Rose held her breath and reached for her heart as she listened to his sound.

"Cora, are you already here?," Jack spoke from the other side, "The door was open." His footsteps started to come closer.