Chapter 23
Rose slowly wakes up, as she slowly notices the heavily wrapped blankets and the warmth around her is comforting. She blinks a few times, trying to take in her surroundings. Just a couple hours prior she had been out on the deck, sitting amongst the steerage passengers as she tried to avert from Cal, who had tried to look for her, to no avail, and a few minutes earlier, she was in one of the dormitories and the third-class dining saloon.
Suddenly she perked! Someone must have recognized her back at the saloon and had brought her in to this cabin. Just then a door opened. In walked the doctor; the same doctor who treated her earlier for mild dehydration and hypothermia. He had given her something warm to drink. Little did she know this is the same doctor who had earlier treated a young man with a dislocated leg, and two young men who had been nearly frozen to death.
Jack! she thought. She knew she had saved him, and she knew both of them made it to the rescue ship.
"Ah, you're coming along pretty nicely." The doctor says, as Rose was beginning to sit up. He checks her forehead, and finds it a little warm. Suddenly she heard a door knocking. Rose's eyes followed the doctor as he made his way to the door, then he opens, as Ruth comes in. She has tears in her eyes as she quickly makes her way over to Rose, then embraces her tightly.
"Oh Rose! I am so glad I found you!" she says, still holding onto Rose like a child holds onto a doll.
How did she...Rose began to wonder.
"Mr. Hockley checked the survivors' list. Out of all the survivors on this ship, you're the only one on this ship named Rose." she says, as if reading Rose's mind.
"Please, ma'am. She's still recovering from the shock of what has happened." The doctor begins.
"Don't you know I know that!" her mother hisses, still embracing Rose. Rose tries to block out everything around her, as she tries to process what had happened. Rose tries to get out of the bed, and shudders when she sees she has been in an unknown gown and is barefooted. "Who the hell would take the time to—" Rose thought.
"Rose, you need to stay in bed." She hears her mother say, trying to wrangle her daughter back in bed. "Rose! I forbid it! You need to get some rest!"
"I need to find Jack!" Rose says, her mother still trying to get Rose back in the bed.
"Rose! I forbid it! You are not to see that boy again. Do you understand? Rose! Control yourself!"
"Mother! You'll give yourself nose bleeds…"
"Ahem. Why don't you get your daughter some cup of tea?" The doctor says, trying to keep the situation from deteriorating in front of him.
"If only Trudy were still here to…"
"Mother!"
"Please, Mrs. Bukater. It will be in the interest of your daughter if you got it." The doctor says. He digs in his little bag and gets out his stethoscope, and places it on Rose's chest, then her back.
"Your breathing is very good. No gurgling like the first time you were brought to me." He gets his reflex hammer, then taps it at Rose's knees. She kicks.
"Excellent reflexes." Finally, he prodded a little stick on her tongue to check the back of her throat. "Excellent. There is a red spot back there. Probably just inflammation from the cold sea. Otherwise you have a clean health." The doctor says, as Ruth came in with a steaming cup of tea. He then continues. "I had to help other people who are in much worse condition than you. I had to help a gentleman with a broken ankle, another with a dislocated knee, as well as a couple of men who had severe frostbite, and another who had fainted. Those are some of my examples."
"Please, I need to find Jack," she says again.
"Please, Miss Rose. You need to get some rest. Don't fight it. You'll find him, you just need to get your rest first." Rose knew it was hopeless. She was still trying to comprehend what had happened, and if she was in some sort of a weird dream, one that she was hoping to wake up with Jack by her side, back on Titanic, in his third-class cabin. She was still weak and knew she had to take care of herself before searching for Jack once more.
"Your mother," he gestured at Ruth, as she gave the doctor a sour look. "has insisted I keep monitoring you every hour or so, but I told her I have other patients I need to tend to, as she thinks you're high on her priority list." the doctor says.
"Yeah, she's like that." Rose sighs, then rolls her eyes, before she crawls back in the sheets, even though the room was too stuffy.
"Your daughter will be fine, Mrs. Bukater. She sustained no injuries of any kind; she just needs to stay warm and hydrated, and see that she gets plenty of rest as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed in the next cabin." The doctor says, packing his instruments into his little bag.
"Thank you." Ruth finally manages. The doctor walks out, then Ruth locks the door behind him. Ruth looks over at her daughter, tears coming to her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She says again. "I'd thought I have lost you."
Rose's resentment to her mother now resurfaces again. The life she hated so much had reared its ugly head, and was trying to take her back, like the prisoner she was, taking her back to America in chains. The chains of the social life she so desperately wanted to break free from, with the warden being Cal.
"Well-you didn't," Rose says, seething a little, trying to keep her anger in check.
Ruth sat on the bed next to her daughter, trying to converse with her. She even at one point attempted to play nurse to Rose, failing miserably, as she only had maids when she was growing up herself. Eventually a nurse had to be called in, so Rose could be hydrated while she is slowly recovering, while Ruth sat back down on the bed. When it got dark outside the nurse left, and Ruth would go and lock the door again.
There is a knock a few moments later. Ruth gets up from the bed to answer it.
"Why yes, Mr. Hockley, she's right in here, come on in." Cal looks at Rose. Her heart begins racing when she sees him. She attempts to scramble away from the man who, earlier, tried to kill Jack and Jesse. Cal sits on the bed, afar from Rose.
"I'll leave you two alone." Ruth says, then locks the door before she closes it behind her.
"You unimaginable bastard!" Rose says, under her breath.
"Yes, I think I deserved that..."
"You think?!" Rose yelled at him. "You think?! You almost got us killed!"
"I wasn't thinking right that night; I was intoxicated…" Cal says, softly, as he feigns sadness, with a fake sniffle. hoping Rose would tone down her anger, and starts feeling sorry for him.
"Dragging Jesse in and trying to 'celebrate' is hardly something you would come up with as an excuse for your intoxication!"
"I was also angry and accidently let my emotions…"
"You actually tried to kill all of us…!" Rose shouts.
"Please, you got to understand, Sw—" Cal tries to explain his side, but Rose doesn't want any more of this. "I acted irresponsibly, irrationally, and foolish. I just wanted to settle our differences, with Jesse, Jack, you and I. We'd been like a family if…"
"That's a lie, and you know it." Rose insists, and turns away, tears coming to her eyes now that Cal would try to bluff his way, telling her they wanted to have a small get-together, but she knew better. She knew of his sudden outbursts long before she met Jesse or boarding the Mauretania. She looked back at the monster of a man, who was trying his best at feigning his sadness more.
He began to play his cards. "Rose, Sweetpea. Jack didn't make it. I saw a man earlier who was buried at sea…"
"Stop! You're lying! You're always lying!" Rose snaps, her temper slowly rising over her sadness.
"Please, Rose!" She could see Cal had some tears in his eyes, but she knew better, again. She had been in this situation before. Cal tries to lean in, but Rose continues to push herself against the ship's cold iron walls, to try and get away from this maniac.
"Don't touch me!" she yells, then begins to cry in anguish, as she begins curling up in a fetal position against the cold hard hull of the Carpathia, and pulling the blankets tighter.
"I'm sorry, Sweetpea." Cal says.
"How can you be sorry?!" She musters all her strength to yell at him, between her wracking sobs. "You wanted all of this to happen! You wanted him dead! You wanted Jesse dead too!"
Cal gets back up from the bed, letting Rose cry it all out now.
"Try to get some sleep, Rose." He left Rose alone in the room, who is crying harder now. The pain of losing Jack alone is torturous; one that has opened a big hole in her heart. The pain of losing Jesse is agonizing, lost somewhere in the Atlantic, never to be seen again. She also cries for those lost at sea, their bodies floating in the ocean, cold and alone. It makes her cry even harder for those lost; families, siblings; couples who were having a time of their lives. Their screams for help did not come in time, as they were left to perish in that cold sea. All Rose wanted to do now was to die at that point; to be with carefree-spirited Jack, whose laugh she will no longer hear again. She wanted to be in the firm but warm embraces of Jesse, his beautiful thick hair hiding his intense but kind eyes, eyes she will no longer get to see, as well as Jack's blue, piercing eyes. And the others; little Cora, Fabrizio, Tommy, Mr. Andrews, and those now lost at the bottom of the Atlantic. Despite all that has happening to her right now, she knew, deep down, she is now a prisoner; her mother is the chains and Cal is the warden.
Together, they were taking her back to America like she was truly a slave, and the Carpathia is her slave ship.
In the dining hall, a prayer is underway for the remaining survivors, as Eric stands with his hands clasped in front of him, listening to the ship's minister. He slowly looks around in the room, at people he didn't recognize. Majority were of first-class, but some among were second-class, and only a handful of third-class, as he hoped Jack, Fabrizio, or even Jesse might have been in the room as well, while Karl was still laying in the ship's infirmary. He took a deep, shaky breath, as he tried his best not to cry, then turned back to the pastor, hoping to take his mind off of the tragedy and nightmare that had unfolded the night prior. Behind him also stood the Second Officer, with a stern yet stoic expression, as if he had also lost someone dear to him, his hands also clasped in front of him as he listened to the prayers. Eric looked on, as behind him an officer calls upon Charles Lightoller, as he is needed at the bridge, by Rostron. When he arrived the captain points to the sea.
"We're at the place now. I thought you'd like to see for yourself." Lightoller sees parts of the wreck floating, including lifebelts but no signs of life anywhere.
"Oh yes. Thank you, sir."
Rostron: "We've only found one body, I'm afraid. The rest must have been carried further on by the current. Of course, we'll go on searching for any survivors until we turn back to New York."
"Yes, sir. How many..."
"The purser's checked the figures now. We have on board 705 survivors. Several of those in the boats are dead, I'm afraid. Also, I have word that a couple of those survivors are nearly frozen, and one is slowly recovering, while the other, might not make it, I'm afraid..."
Lightoller: "So we have 1500 lost, and two frozen survivors fighting for their lives."
"That's right, yes." Lightoller looks out the bridge some more, as wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic continue to float past, including a panel where Rose and Jack lay hours earlier, and a door that Jesse laid on. The overturned lifeboat slowly floats away from the wreck site, as the Atlantic slowly claimed the boat; the same boat he helped keep it from sinking under his men's feet. Meanwhile, the last of Titanic's lifeboat is hoisted onto the Carpathia's davits, and is being drained of water before being stacked with the rest on deck. Soon, Cottam enters the bridge, with word of the Californian after hearing about the loss of the Titanic, and asking if any assistance is needed.
"Tell them no, nothing. Everything that was humanly possible has been done." Cottam retreats back into the radio room, then Lightoller turns back to Rostron.
"I'd like to see the survivors, if you don't mind." Lightoller says. Rostron led the way, from the bridge, as his passengers helped in any way they could, despite his efforts to keep them separated. They soon come to a door below decks.
"The doctor's cabin is there." Rostron points to the right, then he opens the door adjoining the doctor's cabin. Inside, there were a few men who were huddled around a small heater, and the men Lightoller wanted to see. Lying next to the heater, heavily wrapped in blankets, were Jack and Jesse. Lightoller's mouth lightly twitched at the sight of the young men, as he got on his knees to get a closer look at them. Jack's face seemed to slowly return with color, while Jesse still had a pale plaster-like face. Lightoller stifled a small sob at the sight of Jack, and especially Jesse, and he knew these men had a lot going for their lives. He knelt next to Jesse, then gently brushed his hair, then he put a hand on his forehead, as he muttered a small prayer, before getting up to leave the cabin. Another of Titanic's officer stood at the door, also seeing the men lying next to the heater, as he muttered under his breath, and balls his fists.
20 lifeboats?! Wait until the Board of Trades regulation hears of this!
Soon Rostron orders the Carpathia to leave for New York, after formally holding a remembrance to those lost at sea, and ordering his men to return to the ship, after a fruitless search of any remaining survivors.