Chapter 55

November 4, 1912

The telephone rang in Cal's office, as he was reading his telegrams his father had sent him. He picks up the receiver.

"Hello."

"I have received word your fiancé may be somewhere in the southwest…"

"What the hell is she doing down there?!" Cal yells in the handset, as he scrunches the papers in his hands.

"Whoa, slow down. The word is maybe, but we don't know yet. All we have is a description of a redheaded woman wandering somewhere in the desert southwest, and that description fits your fiancé very perfectly."

"How did you get…"

"Let's just say you and I both get what we wanted. I also know Jesse." the mysterious man says, before he quickly hung up the telephone. Cal looks at the receiver, trying to cast his mind back who the other person was on the other side. The man talked in a low voice, as if trying to disguise himself from being recognized. At least this was the break he needed, as he was going nowhere himself. He decided to let go of the detective, and then inform Ruth of his big break. He decided to go to the southwest to start his search of Rose there, and ask Robert to get the tickets for the train there.

Marion and Jesse arrived back in Albuquerque, while his father and Rose were waiting for the couple at the platform. His father was in tears that his son is finally getting married, and Rose congratulated her former maid, and on proposing to Jesse. Marion excitedly climbed on Jesse's back while his father carried the couples' belongings, and followed the couple. As they left the train station Marion began looking around at her new surroundings, while piggybacking on Jesse's back. She tried to sniffle, but her nose began drying, despite the cooler air, and her throat began to burn a little.

"So this is-" Marion began, as she tried to clear her throat.

"Albuquerque, New Mexico. AL-BU-QUER-QUE," Jesse slowly pronounced his hometown, as he ran his hand over the town. Marion got off of Jesse's back, then they locked hands before going in for a kiss, then they held hands once more as they made their way to the car. Once at the car, Jesse tried to be the gentleman once more, but Marion held the door.

"You first," Marion says, gesturing to the cab, as Henry loaded their luggage in the back of the car.

"No, I insist. Ladies first." Jesse smiles, ready to take the door. Marion playfully shoves Jesse into the car, then followed right after, gently tickling Jesse in the process. They soon snuggled as they left the train depot, back to the farmhouse. Rose and Henry looked back, then at each other, as they smiled. Now they needed to focus on the wedding and other plans.

...

Jack returned back to being the sketch artist at the local marshal's office, and work was getting slow again, typical for a small-town police. The chief suggested Jack that he should transfer over to a city where there was work. Even his new camera sitting on his desk had started to collect dust and small cobwebs. Jack told him he'll think about it, but in the meantime, he sat at his desk, tapping his pencil, as he heard conversations in Spanish in the lobby. Suddenly he heard a fight break out, and he peeks over his door. A gruff traveler had gotten into a scuffle with the receptionist, and officers were trying to restrain him. Something about Indians taking his land was shouted as the man was hauled off somewhere in the station Jack was not familiar in. An officer was brushing off his clothes as he made his way to Jack's office. Jack hurried back behind his desk, as the officer knocked on his door.

"We may need your help, Mr. Dawson." the young officer says.

"Sure," Jack says, hands clasped in front of him, on his desk. He raises his eyebrows.

"Do you know some Spanish?"

"Just a little." Jack says, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, you're going to learn a lot here. We may need help interrogating this suspect. He thinks Indians are taking his land, but we're thinking otherwise." He continues to lead Jack into an interrogation room. The man that had gotten into a scuffle earlier was sitting in the opposite side of the room. Jack swallowed hard, as he tried to think up something to say to the man, in Spanish. The interrogator had a day off, thinking he would have a slow day again, leaving the marshal's office short of one man.

The man rambled on about the local Indians that were taking over his land, as he bangs his fist on the wall. Jack looks puzzled, but the officers shrugged their shoulders. They have tried their best to bring back their best man to the office, but he was nowhere to be heard, as the man continued his story in Spanish. Jack was beginning to sweat with anxiety, as he knew very little, if any, Spanish, since staying with Jesse, and from his late father. Just then his Pueblo friend came in, saving him from extra anxiety. He patted Jack's shoulder, before grabbing a chair and sits in front of the man. Meanwhile, the man continues his rant about the nearby Indians, which seemed to go nowhere at this point. Jack was relieved, and went outside to take in a smoke.

Jack took in a long drag of his cigarette, when the officer joins him on the steps.

"Sorry to put you in a precarious situation today." the officer says, as he patted Jack's back. Jack shrugs, as he takes in more of his cigarette.

"Mind if I join you?" He takes out his cigarette, and Jack lights him up. They both stood outside, smoking at the bottom of the steps, watching the day unfold before them. A train whistled in the distance, as he hoped Jesse and Marion were making their way back to town, and they would waiting back at the house later on. Just then they heard shots ring out from within the building, and they both rushed in, after throwing their stubs out. The man had tried to escape, only to be wrestled back to the ground. This reminded Jack of being back on the Titanic once more, fighting off Lovejoy as the ship's dining hall began flooding. One of the younger officers stood there, gun still pointed to the ceiling, as stucco pieces broke off where bullets pierced through. It took six officers to subdue the man before he was led to a cell in handcuffs. He was still yelling obscenities in Spanish as he was led away.

"Even as we have achieved statehood, we have many things to do, and crime will continue unabated," the officer says, as he thought back at the time Billy the Kid terrorized the then territory some years back. Jack was fascinated by western tales of lore, as his father used to tell him the west was uncivilized, even as New Mexico had achieved statehood many months prior now, and Arizona soon followed the following month. Jack had wondered if Billy the Kid was fictional, but turned out to be an actual gunfighter and outlaw who once lived just south of the city, as his father told him tall tales of wild west and gun fight stories between his whisky and newspapers.

...

Jack arrived back at the house later that evening, weary but glad, as he turns off his car, followed by clicking of the parking brake. He heard laughter as he walked up the porch, through the sounds coming from the river as it flowed past. A lone coyote howled in the distance, as Jack opens the door. Inside, Fabrizio, Karl and Jesse were playing a card game of sorts. Jesse had his chair tipped back, arms extended as he studied his cards. Karl gave a sneaky glance at both Jesse and Fabrizio, while Fabrizio puts down his hand. Marion and Rose were giggling and laughing in the corner, where the old bed used to be. They sat on the small nightstand as they talked. The elderly couple were in the next room, making Marion's simple yet elegant wedding gown. The sewing machine could be heard clattering from the other room, as Jesse's grandmother was making the dress.

"Agh! You got me again!" Jesse says, throwing down his cards, then straightens his chair. He gets the cards to be shuffled. "Hey! Look who's here!" he says as he turns to the door. Jack smiles at the crowd in front of him. The house now looked smaller with almost everyone there. Mr. Williams sat on the opposite corner from the girls, reading a paper and smoking a pipe. Jack goes to Jesse, giving him a huge embrace, with tears in his eyes, then hugs Marion the same way he hugged Jesse. Everyone turned when Stanley emerged from the room, while his wife was making the dress. He closes the door behind him, and he pulls up a chair.

"Gather 'round, people." He says, then grabs a blanket himself before he spreads it on the wooden floor. He uses the chair to lean against as he sat on the floor, groaning in pain as he does, while Henry carefully guides his father the rest of the way. Jesse pokes at the fire in the stove, before adding a small wood to the fire, then joins the crowd, with Marion wrapping her arms around Jesse, and places her head on his shoulder.

"I have some stories to tell you. Not the wild west, not that kind. But your backgrounds." Stanley says, as he lights a pipe. Henry frowns at his father for doing so, but the old man gave him a returning glaring look. Jack and Rose held hands, as Marion looks up at Jesse's chin, then back at the old man. First the old man eyed Rose, which made her uncomfortable. Then he puffs out another smoke, before saying, "You look familiar. Have I seen you?" he asked, taking the pipe out of his mouth, and pointing it at her.

Rose looked at him in bewilderment. "I-I-I" she stammered, as Stanley looked at her, harder now. Henry tries to get his father's attention, but he simply ignored him.

"Ah. Now I know. Your green eyes. They're just like your grandfather's. Tell me, is your mother Ruth Dewitt Bukater, nee Calvert?" Rose was shocked. How did this man, who lived hundreds of miles from her, know her mother? Was he a stalker? Or was this some sort of strange, twisted coincidence? Rose wanted to get out of the house, but Jack got ahold of her, as the man continued.

"Your grandfather was one Mr. Herbert Calvert. And your mother married a Mr. Dewitt Bukater; so sorry he passed. Bless his soul. She took his name, and I have read in the paper she is buried in some sort of debt as a result." Rose wanted to cry now. Her father had died of a heart attack in his study one day, and her mother wouldn't let her see her father for the last time. He had been trying to pay his debts when he was severely stressed, as he had wondered where all the money had been going. Rose's mother loved to spend money as if it were growing on trees, as her father tried to get them to save every penny, but Ruth wouldn't listen. Now, here she was, trying to smear her father when he was doing his very best at trying to save every cent he had earned, and as her father was trying to pay his bills. Rose looked at the old man, who was shaking his head.

"Money can get to people in strange ways." he says, as he puffed from his pipe. "Now I have heard you're being forced into a loveless marriage to Mr. Hockley's son? What have we come to? Has the world gone mad?"

"Please, sir…" Jack began, but the old man put up his hand.

"You're Mr. and Mrs. Dawson's kid, aren't you?" the old man turns his attention to Jack, pointing his pipe in Jack's direction. Jack swallowed hard, thinking he crossed the man over. "Blessed their souls. What a terrible way to die, in a burning house. Last time I've seen your father he was a toddler; and his father, your grandfather, used to work the railroad back in Pennsylvania, before he moved just north of here, to Utah, and he was among those who witnessed the golden spike being driven in Promontory Point. Your mother was a beautiful woman, who had lived most of her life in Chippewa Falls, and I see you have your grandmother's blue eyes. I should know; Jesse has his grandmother's brown eyes." the old man takes his pipe out of his mouth, then lets out a huge puff of smoke, then looked at his wife.

Jack began to sob softly, then puts his hands to his face. He had never heard of his grandparents, until today he met Jesse's grandfather. Rose and Marion comforted him, as he sobbed for his parents who tragically died in that house fire. They never told him about his grandparents, or what they have done. All Jack knew his father worked at a factory outside of Chippewa Falls, and his mother stayed at home. Just like back at Titanic, he had a close call with death when the house burned to the ground. Stanley continued on, telling Jack that his grandfather actually left him a portion of the railroad for him in his will. Jack's eyes lit up; he was an heir to a railroad, from his grandfather. Maybe what Mrs. Brown had said back on the ship was a real thing, as he thought she was making a joke about it when they were entering the dinner room, except the part about owning a gold mine. He felt like he had a golden spike driven in his heart, that it had connected him to Rose even closer now.

"You're probably all wondering how I know all your family history." The old man says, as he puts his pipe back in his mouth. "The Civil War was going on, and I was little bit too young to fight it. But I joined in the latter part of the war, joining the Union side. Now, I'm not going into the details of the war, just how I met your families. Mr. Calvert…" The old man points at Rose, "was the artillery, and Mr. Hockley's father was a lieutenant. And I was put in as sergeant, which made me fall under his command. Meanwhile, Mr. Dawson…" Stanley points at Jack with his pipe, "Your grandfather, continued to operate his trains in Pennsylvania, carrying troops, supplies and munitions, into Virginia. After the war was over, we moved back to Pittsburgh, where we celebrated winning the war. After that, Mr. Dawson headed to Utah, working to bring the railroad to unity, and I think he's still living up in Salt Lake City. He married your grandmother there, and that's where your father was born. When he was around 17 or so, he left home and worked in Wisconsin, where he married your mother, and you were born." he tells Jack, before continuing. "Meanwhile Mr. Calvert stayed in Philadelphia, where he met your grandmother there. In 1867, Mrs. Calvert gave birth to Ms. Ruth Calvert, and when she was 19 or so, she met this wealthy mine tycoon Mr. Dewitt Bukater, and they got married, and that's where you come from." the old man looks at Rose, a twinkle in his eye, then he continues. "Mr. Hockley's father, I forget his name, was too worried about money, and he needed an heir to run his business, and that's where his son came in, and today, his grandson, where I presume you'd provide him an heir to his company?" Rose nodded her head, as a single tear began to roll down her cheek. She didn't want anything to do with Caledon Hockley; she wanted a better life with Jack Dawson, and she hugged him hard.

The old man points at Rose with the tip of his pipe, then to Jack. "Whatever you do, do not let go of him. Cherish every moment together, and you will fulfill that moment together." The old man then looks at Jack. "Remember your roots. Never forget who you are. And keep her safe, never stray from your path." They are now both crying, as they continue hugging each other. The old man looks at Jesse, his grandson, and wanted to offer words of encouragement, but decided not to. He looks at him, with a twinkle in his eye. He already knew what was in store for his grandson. He soon turned his attention to Marion.

"Don't worry, my child. I've already contacted your grandparents just earlier today. Your grandfather is a very close friend of mine." The old man says, then gave a small, but heartwarming smile to her. "You should also hear from your father soon. He's looking forward to your wedding."

"Thank you." Marion sniffed. She too felt as if Jesse's grandfather was also her grandfather.

Soon, it was time for sleep. A gentle breeze began to blow against the house, the creaking sounds of the dry wood was making everyone sleepy. Jack and Rose went to their rooms, and Fabrizio and Karl in another, along with Jesse's father. The old man and his wife had Jesse's room, and that left Jesse and Marion sleeping on the hardwood floor. With his grandfather watching his grandson in the dimly lit room, Jesse prepares a blanket and make-shift bed for his bride-to-be, while he chose to sleep directly on the floor, as he has done many times. They both kissed, before Jesse blew out the kerosene lamp. He carefully made his way to the potbellied stove, and poke at the remaining embers, before joining Marion on the floor. The fire smoldering in the potbellied stove, and ashes were popping as the fire slowly extinguished itself. Meanwhile Jack and Rose prepared to go to sleep, the wind was now picking up outside, blowing against the sides of the house and brush, and the house creaked with each gust of wind. A lone coyote howled in the distance, as Rose walks over to the other side of the bed, before she started crying again.

"Come Josephine, my flying machine…" Jack sings, as he calms Rose.

"It's up she goes, up she goes…" Rose sings between her tears. She finally manages to slip into her nightgown before crawling back in the bed. Jack puts his hand on Rose's stomach, and Rose met him there. They both kiss, before Jack blows out the kerosene lamp.

"Where to, miss?

"To the stars."