Rose awoke to the beautiful sunshine and birds chirping. She looked down at Jack who was still nuzzled in her arms, fast asleep. They had been married shortly after their arrival in New York and had found a small apartment that wasn't far from where Jack worked. It was a nice community with other new families. They had made a few new friends since, including there next door neighbors, the Vanbeeks. Kaitlyn and James Vanbeek were a nice young couple with two adorable children, David and Sarah. Rose and Kaitlyn had been inseparable since the day they met. Since both Jack and James had refused to let their wives work, Rose and Kaitlyn spent most of their days together.
"Jack darling, you'd better get up so you won't be late for work." Rose said as she stroked his hair.
"Mmph…" was the only reply she got. Rose smiled as she untangled herself from Jack's embrace. She slipped on her robe and slippers and walked into the kitchen to make Jack's breakfast.
As she began setting the plates of food on the table, she heard Jack come into the kitchen. "Smells good."
"Well, good morning sleepyhead. Looks like you finally decided to get up. I made you some eggs and bacon. There's some coffee on the counter and your morning paper is sitting on the chair."
"Looks great! Thank you Rose." He said as he dug in. He opened the paper and started skimming various articles. In the calendar section, an article caught his attention. Rose was now in the bedroom getting dressed when Jack called for her to come out.
"What is it Jack?" She said as she made her way to Jack.
"Come look at this article." He said as he pointed to the bottom of the page. Rose sighed and read it aloud.
"Caledon Hockley, son of wealthy steel tycoon Nathan Hockley, was recently married to Emelia Smith of Philadelphia. Last March, Caledon had been engaged to Rose Dewitt Bukator. While returning from their tour of Europe in April of last year, Rose parished on the Titanic. Since her death, Caledon has been taking care of Rose's mother, Ruth Dewitt Bukator. Caledon later met Emelia, who had been one of Rose's peers in school. The two fell in love and are now happily married."
"So you know this Emelia Smith?" Jack asked.
Rose chuckled then replied "Yeah, Emelia was one of the most stuck up girls I have ever met. Emelia and I go back a long way… we've been doing cruel jokes on each other ever since the first day of school. I remember when we were at summer camp one year. Emelia and her little friends slept in the cabin next to ours. During the night, we put molasses on her pillow and all over the floor so when they woke up the next morning, they had a bit of a slip in slide and a horrible mess. Of course that wasn't it- we had also rigged a little devise that held a bag of feathers would pour feathers all over the room when they woke up. She looked like a gigantic chicken! It was so funny! I remember we got sent home for the summer after that. My mother was furious! That's when my parents decided to send me to boarding school in New York. Unfortunately, that was the same school that Emelia went to. Of course, there were the usual frogs in her bed, fabric dye in her bath oils and so on. I was later kicked out of that school for being 'constantly disruptive and a negative influence on other students'. Shortly after that, my mother found a much stricter boarding school located in Boston. But that wasn't the end of Emelia and I. We ended up going to finishing school together. During graduation, they held a ceremony outside. We had to walk down this aisle to receive our certificate, and as fate would have it, I was placed directly behind Emelia. When we were all lined up at the end of the aisle, I stuck this stake that was like a foot long nail into the train of her dress. Since the ground was soft I didn't have much trouble at all. When it was her turn to walk down the aisle, she started but for 'some odd reason' she wouldn't move. Completely embarrased, she tugged and tugged but it would budge. She finally pulled with all her force and ripped the back of her dress off. I think that was the best one ever. Of course nobody figured out who really did it, but I think my mother had a pretty good idea that it was me. That was one of the best days of my life, as well as one of the worst. That night during the celebration dinner, I met Caledon Hockley." Her smile vanished but soon returned when she thought about what a perfect pair she was with Cal.
Jack had been laughing throughout her little stories and to tell you the truth, was quite surprised at just how mischievous Rose really was/is.
"Man, you really were a handful! I don't even think that some of my experiences could top some of the things that you did to her! Man…" He said as he shook his head laughing. Jack looked up at the clock and suddenly felt rushed. "Oh man! I'm late for work. Thanks for breakfast and story time. By honey." He said with a chuckle as he quickly grabbed his coat, gave Rose a quick kiss and headed out the door.
Rose shook her head and smiled. "After all those years of trying to make her life a living Hell, I think her marriage is going to top them all." She thought to herself as she cleared the table and headed over to Kaitlyn's apartment.
Chapter 10
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