A New Beginning

Chapter 61: Second Chances

Chapter 61: Second Chances

"Now Rose I think this dress would look just lovely on you,"

Rose rolls her eyes. Her mother had found the bridal magazines that both she and Emma had been looking through and insisted they sit down to look at them. Rose practically bit through her tongue knowing this was one of the reasons she ran away in the first place, to avoid the heinous wedding planning and her mother's opinion. Emma was also not very thrilled with this extra wedding planner; Ruth was insisting on the fanciest dresses and the most expensive...well, anything. Rose's mother was even trying to force her to buy a dress even though Emma was insisting on wearing her mother's dress.

"Mother it's much too small," Rose insists, showing off her growing bump. "And much too expensive."

"Rose this is your wedding day, you should beautiful."

"She will look beautiful, Mrs. DeWitt," Emma insists. "In something that she picks."

"I'm just saying a wedding is the most important day of a woman's life and she should look her very best."

"Mother there's more to life than just a wedding," Rose says. She puts a hand on her stomach. "Besides, I think the birth of a child is much more important than just a fancy party with cake."

"My father used to joke about that weddings were just funerals with cake," Emma smirks.

Rose giggles slightly. Ruth ignores the comment and flips through another magazine.

There's suddenly a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Rose says, wanting to get some space from her mother.

She opens the front door to see a tall man, with stubble around his very square jaw. He had bags under his soft blue eyes that had seen many sad things in his life and wrinkles indicating his ageing face. His brow crinkles in the moment of stillness and his white blonde hair leans in with his expression. His entire face moves into a rather bright smile when he sees the glowing young woman.

"We meet at last," the man says.

Rose looks rather stunned. "May I help you?"

"I'm Mr. Calvert, the private investigator."

"Oh," Rose's eyes go wide for a few moments and she needs to take a step back. This was not the man she had expected Cal to have hired to track her down. He was quite a nice-looking man, perhaps in his fifties and had gentle blue eyes, much like Jack's. He wore a light brown suit with a matching tie and wore a hat that cast a shadow on his face in the afternoon sun. He also carried a brown leather briefcase in one of his hands. "How... How may we help you?"

"I have a few things to finish up with your mother, Mrs. DeWitt Bukater."

"How did you know she was here?" Rose says suspiciously.

"I was your middleman," Henry answers. "I passed the letters between you and your mother."

"Oh..." Rose says. "Right."

"I'm sorry, but I may have ended up examining a few of them to make sure there wasn't any poison or something like that in them." The man appears turns red in embarrassment. "Might I come in for a few moments?"

Rose hesitates.

"Who is it, Rose?" Emma asks and she too does a double take at the man standing at the door. "May I help you?"

"I'm terribly sorry Ms. Carson. I'm Henry Calvert...the private investigator who I promised to that you would never see again. I'm sorry I've had to break that promise, but I have a few things to discuss with Mrs. DeWitt Bukater."