Come, Josephine

Chapter 7

1927

   The next few days raced past. Jack, Mamma and I fell into a cozy routine as if we had always been together. We worked on the farm, and mamma went into town each day to work at the tailors.
Jack said he had restarted his farm after he returned home, taking cattle and hay from farms he had given his previous stock to. He rebuilt the barn his parents had died in across from the ruins, and worked hard each day to turn a profit and care for his stock.
   As I got to know Jack better, I realised he was a lot like mamma. He was silently strong, like she was, and secretly wise. He seemed to know a great deal about so many things, and as he regaled us with stories of his travels, I could feel mother and I growing closer to him.
Jack often told stories of squid boats in Monterey and drawing portraits in Paris. In those tales, he
spoke of nearly everyone kindly- apart from when he spoke of the Titanic.
He rarely spoke of it, and mostly stuck to the lighthearted moments when he did, yet he seemed to struggle over that fateful night. He spoke of Caledon Hockley in a tone which made mamma's shoulders square. His eyes fell into darkness over the stories surrounding Ruth DeWitt Bukater too, my grandmother portrayed as the villain she was.
When he spoke of such painful times, his voice occasionally cracked, and mamma took hold of his hand. It was a subtle movement, but enough to make her feeling clear to us all.
I knew she loved my father - Jack - dearly. With his azure eyes and open heart, he hid nothing. He offered a safety that I knew she required.
   So each day, we moved on with our lives, almost discarding  our fears and concerns about the man that hunted us. Jack would take us to the lake most afternoons, after he had finished work on the farm and mamma had returned from mending clothes at the local tailors. I would often help Jack during the day, and continue to maintain my studies alone as our local town did not have a school.
   Sometimes, Jack would take his older team of horses to the lake too. He told us their names were Winnie and Poppy, and that he kept them on the farm for the odd job which required a steady team. They were two large, imposing creatures whose backs stood level with the top of Jack's head. He lead them with ease, and they lowered their heads to meet his kind eyes.
One day, while walking to the lake, mamma turned to Jack, laughing, "this walk feels longer every time! In a moment, Josie and I will be asking for a ride on one of those horses!"
He took her hand, comfortably, and smiled, "Josie, can you ride?"
"Yes!" I swung at his shoulder and he dodged me, "none of the side-saddle stuff too. I can ride like anybody else!"
He matched my laugher, and took my hand in his other, "care for a ride?"
"What, really?" I looked over at mamma for approval.
She turned to Jack, "are they safe?"
"Of course they are," he smiled over at me, "they're old too, so they're a steady pair."
He asked mamma to take their reins, and he brought me over to the side of Winnie, the tallest. He hoisted me up in the air, and I clambered on the great beast.
My head swam from the height, and he chuckled at the surprised look on my face.
Jack turned to mamma, eyes sparkling, "Rose, would you like a ride?"
Her lips curled and she marched to the side of the second horse. Smiling, she hitched her skirt in the air, places a hand on the horse's withers, and lifted a leg for Jack to boost her up.
He laughed joyously, and he made his way to her side. He helped her up in one swift movement, and she thanked him as she scrambled onto the horse's unsaddled back.
Jack returned to the horses' s heads and lead them the rest of the way to the lake. Winnie and Poppy walked even slower than before, as ot aware of how nervous we were.
   When we made it to the lake, Jack didn't stop for us to get off,  but instead led the horses into the water.
   As mamma screamed her protests, Jack simply laughed, "don't worry, it's wide here and they know their way around."
   The horse's played and splashed in the water for a while, until I finally slipped down into the water myself. It was so cool and soothing I was glad I had left my boots at home. Jack sat on the shore, laughing.
   We were all happy, and that's all that I could ask. They always seemed so eager to live, and nothing seemed so make them smile wider than the simple things.
   I only wished we had come home sooner.