Titanic ~ Unsinkable Love

~{ FOURTY }~

Hello there! If you are still here, after all this time, you defo have my heart. I decided this story deserves an ending, as well as you, reader, deserves to know what comes next. Thank you so much, Phoebe, for helping me through it, and I'm also thanking everyone who supported and has shown love towards my work, y'all are so much appreciated in my heart. I hope you guys enjoy the next decisive chapters! 

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~{ rose's pov }~

Philadelphia, April 24th, 1913

The letter was written. Josie's stuff, packed. Everything ready for that night.

However, I wasn't ready to board on a ship. I had longed for this day to come. After months seeking, I would find my own freedom again.

The ship, RMS Olympic, was my only way out, the single chance I had to lock the past behind, once and for all. Even though Caledon agreed on keeping Josephine — who I suspected knowing the truth —, the marriage ceremony  was scheduled for April 30th, only six days from now. There was no time to be afraid.

It had been three weeks since I gave birth. I was glad that I could spot my own feet again, even though my belly was still tumid and my breasts swollen. I only had headaches due to the lack of sleep, what every parent must go through in the first months.

Until the wailing began one more time. I ran to her crib, settled in my own room, since I insisted on taking care of her in her first weeks of life. Another boundary I would never get the point of, was to leave the children at the maids own care. The ladies in this society would refuse to nurse their babies when they cried for them, or even to breastfeed them. The way some of them were so careless about their kids filled me with disdain.

Gingerly, I enfolded my arms around Josie's tiny body and prompted her head on my shoulder, soothing the sweet melody of her song's name. She kept crying her lungs out, and I attempted to figure out what could've been the reason, when she was already fed, clean and well rested.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I laid her in my arms, still singing the soothing melody as I rocked her gently. Until she calmed down, stopping with the squeals.

"You're a radiant little girl." I whispered softly, stroking the few blonde curls sprouting in her head as my lips curved up. "We are going on a long trip tonight, just me, you and daddy." Her mouth opened in a smile, as if she could percieve the words said.

So, as an escape from reality, I grabbed the book A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which I had been reading to her, and carefully locked my room before leading us to the garden. Spending time with my daughter was a great way to forget about the concerns and the people around.

I sat on the grass, shoulders prompted on the trunk of the same tree from the night Jack and I met for the first time in that house.

Josie began to stir her hands towards the dragonfly that flew nearby, squealing with excitement in my arms.

"You really like flying things, don't you?" I chuckled, watching the dragonfly fade away in the bright azure of the sky. "Well, I'm sure you will like this part of the story, Josie..." I began to read the story, even though I knew she wouldn't get a word I read.

The wind eventually stirred the mulches above us, some of them being carried down, towards us. I watched Josephine make a grimace, on the edge of crying when a single greenish leaf fell on her forehead. "There's no need to be afraid of." I soothed, delicately grabbing the leaf and taking it off her face. Then, I placed a kiss on the same place. "You're so much like him." I whispered, stroking her chubby cheek with my thumb as I watched peace overcome her expressions again. Every time I looked into her ocean blue eyes, I saw him; and if I gazed deeply in them, I could find a glimpse of us, of what we used to be.