A New Beginning

Chapter 62: Her Father's Legacy

Chapter 62: Her Father's Legacy

Ruth DeWitt Bukater's stay at the Carson/Whitman/Dawson home lasted much longer than any of them had anticipated; which was fine to a point as Mr. Calvert came looking for her the following days. He brought her flowers one time and offered to show her around Central Park as well as other areas of the city that she had never been to before. It gave the rest of them some space and every evening, Ruth came home with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

Rose watches from a distance, an uncomfortable distance. Seeing her mother so happy and almost carefree was a bit alien to her and the fact that a man was willing to court her also surprised her. But no matter how happy her mother seemed, Rose still couldn't get rid of this awful feeling in the pit of her stomach. She thought it could be mistrust or hatred, even jealousy, but none of them seemed likely. She could only determine that the feeling was betrayal on the part of her mother.

Rose's father had been a wonderful man. So, loving and full of life, much like Rose herself and he was a caring person. He always had time for his daughter when her mother didn't. He had always encouraged Rose to follow her passions and her own path, being more concerned about her life than his own. When he had the financial problems, he hid it well from his family, keeping it a secret until after his death. Why he kept it a secret was beyond Rose, maybe he was doing it to please her mother as he knew status and position were always very important to her. Perhaps even more than her own family. This added to the stress of secret keeping may have been what ultimately led to his death from heart failure. Rose had spent more time now thinking about those last few months of her father's life.

She had only been about eleven or twelve years old, enrolled in boarding school and private etiquette sessions, which were what Rose now called, a waste of time. On nights that she was home, she can remember trying to find her father to play games with her or read to her like they always did, but often she found his office door locked. This was very unusual as Rose always remembered that her father would let her in to explore or just keep him company. She'd knock often asking if he could play with her. Sometimes she would get a response like "later my child," or "not right now," but more often she only got silence. Rose remembers sitting outside his office door for hours on end, waiting and wondering when her father would come and play with her. She'd wait until her nanny came to get her ready for bed, leaving her bitterly disappointed and sometimes angry.

Being only eleven or twelve, Rose couldn't comprehend what was really going on behind the closed door, but now she wished she could have back then. She could have insisted that her father takes breaks and rest, put those worries aside for a little while. Something ultimately became part of his downfall. The doctor told her mother that it had been heart failure from pure exhaustion as well as excessive amounts of alcohol which had destroyed his liver. Rose had always remembered that her father usually was a moderate drinker, whiskey or a glass of wine, but it was only clear to Rose now that the reason her father locked the door was to prevent his wife and child from seeing him coming apart and drinking himself to death.

Rose could remember the day her father died like it was yesterday. It was a bright and sunny day and she had spent most of it with her nanny out in the garden as well as in the family library with her etiquette tutor. It was almost tea time when Rose heard frantic footsteps and shouting coming from down the hall. Rose, of course, wanted to investigate, but her nanny kept Rose in her room, with the woman guarding the door. It was a long time before Rose grew tired of waiting. She tried to throw a fit, something she regretted deeply now, acting like a spoiled brat while her father lay dying in his room. She wanted more than anything to know what happened and why everyone was so stern and quiet. Eventually, her nanny forced Rose to go to bed, leaving the child upset and confused. Rose remembers sneaking out of her room and down the hall as the nanny had been distracted at the time. She stopped when she heard the doctor telling her mother that her beloved father wouldn't make it to morning. The heart attack had been detrimental to his body and there was no way he could recover.