White Star Line crew members were pulling women from the boat and helping them into the lifeboats. “Get on the boat, I’ll get another one,” said Jack. “No, I’m not going on without you,” said Rose. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Hurry and get on or there won’t be any more spots left.” “Go on missy, there’s on more spot left,” said one of the crew members, pulling her away from Jack. Rose grabbed the hands of the other women in the boats and pulled herself in. Rose never took her eyes off Jack. Sobbing, she stared at Jack. He stared back at her. Rose looked at all of the sad fathers still on the ship, who would not get to see their children grow up. She saw Jack looking at her. She didn’t want to leave him. As the lifeboat reached another level of the ship, Rose moved to the front of the lifeboat and jumped, hanging on tightly to the side of the ship.
“Rose!! What are you doing!?” Jack saw her jump and ran down to where she was. As Rose ran around the ship, longing to hold Jack in her arms, she ran into Cal. She didn’t even think twice about it. She pulled the ring Cal gave her off of her finger and threw it at him. She spit in his face and ran as fast as she could to find Jack.
She saw him and ran to his waiting arms. “I love that you didn’t go. I love it that you didn’t go. Why didn’t you?” he asked, hugging and kissing her tightly. “You jump, I jump remember?” Rose said, smiling. “You jump I jump,” Jack repeated, nodding and smiling and putting his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “Come on. We have to stay on the ship as long as we can,” said Jack, taking her hand and leading her to the top of the ship where everyone was sobbing and boarding the few remaining lifeboats.
They stood near the railing of the ship, pushing people out of their way; never letting go of each other’s hands for fear they would get separated. Taking her hand and putting his arms around her, Jack hugged Rose tightly. Rose was scared, but she tried to hide it. She was glad that she wasn’t like some of the other girls or men; all alone. She looked around at the chaos on the ship, and saw others like her without someone like Jack to help them. And she was even more grateful Jack was there. All of a sudden, the ship began to move. The people remaining on the ship screamed, for fear of what awaited them when the ship would reach the bottom on the ocean.
‘What’s going on?” Rose asked. “I don’t know, I don’t know,” said Jack, trying not to panic for fear of scaring Rose. Rose grabbed Jack’s hand tighter. “Rose, listen to me. Are you listening?” he said firmly. Rose nodded, even though she was scared she listened as best she could. She had never seen Jack as firm as he was being now, but she knew it was important and she had to listen. “The ship is going down. After you go under, keep kicking for the surface and don’t let go of my hand. We’re going to make it. Trust me,” said Jack. “Do you trust me?” he asked, looking at her for an answer. “Yes Jack, I trust you,” she said, nodding.
“This is it, here we go,” said Jack. Rose said a Hail Mary under her breath. As the ship went under, she squeezed Jack’s hand as tight as she could without hurting him and took a deep breath. Rose got really scared. What was going to happen to them? She didn’t know. She listened to Jack and kept kicking for the surface. She reached for Jack’s hand, but it wasn’t there. She moved her hand around, trying to feel for his hand, but she couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t hold her breath anymore. She came up to the surface and took a deep breath. She looked around but didn’t see Jack. “There you are!” “Jack!!” exclaimed Rose happily. “What’s that for?” asked Rose, pointing to the two pieces of wood he was using to float on. “They’re to float on. Here,” he said, giving on to her and helping her on it.
He pulled her closer to him and held onto her so she wouldn’t float away from him. “So what now?” asked Rose. “We just wait a little bit until they get the boats organized, and then we can go home. I think I will definitely be writing a letter to the White Star Line about this,” said Jack. “That’s for sure,” laughed Rose, “It’s so cold.” “Don’t start that now. We won’t be here too much longer. They just have to get the boats organized and then we’ll be great,” said Jack. “Brr, brr,” said Rose, shivering. Jack began to sing,” Come Josephine, my flying machine going up she goes, up she goes,” said Jack, trying to smile. He wanted to keep Rose’s mind off of the cold and he tried as hard as he could to make her happy.
It was getting very cold. There was ice in their hair, and their bodies were very cold. There were better off then most of the passengers in the water, since they had something to keep them out of the freezing water. Rose looked around and saw passengers floating, who were now dead in the cold icy water. “We’re gonna make it Rose, I promise you. I promise you we’ll make it,” said Jack, shivering. Even though he was cold, he wanted to keep Rose calm, so he kept talking and singing to her.
They lay there for what seemed like forever, talking just to keep from freezing to death. Even though it was hard to keep talking, they did. “Rose?” “What is it Jack?” she asked. “Do you love me?” Rose smiled, but looked at him like he was crazy. “Of course I do, you know that,” said answered. “Will you do something for me if I asked you to?” “Of course I would. You know I would. Anything.” Jack swallowed, shivering a little. “Will you marry me?”
Rose gasped as much as she could in the cold night air. “Yes,” she answered. Jack pulled her piece of wood closer to his and kissed her lips. “Your lips are cold,” laughed Jack. “Brr, brr. Yours are too. I can’t feel my body,” said Rose. “Don’t give up now. We’re gonna make it, don’t worry,” said Jack. “What’s that light?” asked Rose. “I don’t know,” said Jack, sitting up and looking towards the light. “It’s a boat Rose!” shouted Jack. “We’re saved!!” Jack took Rose’s hand and sat up. “Hold on just a little bit longer and then we’ll be out of here,” said Jack.
He pulled Rose off of her piece of wood and brought her through the freezing water to where he was. He grabbed her tightly, running his cold hands up and down her arms, trying to keep her warm, though it didn’t work.
They waved their hands in big motions, trying to signal the boat. “Hey! Over here!” they yelled as loud as they could. The crew member moved the light back and forth, looking for anyone alive. “Is anyone alive out there? Is anyone alive?” he kept shouting over and over. They saw Jack and Rose, and started steering towards them. The boat seemed to be taking forever to get to them, but it was coming.
As the boat pulled near them, Jack let go of Rose’s hand and some of the crew members helped her into the boat. Then they helped Jack into the boat. Jack hugged Rose tightly and kissed her. “Didn’t I promise you we’d make it?” said Jack, smiling. Rose smiled back at him.
The next morning, Jack rolled over and looked at Rose as she slept. He quietly got up from the bed and pulled something out of his bag and held it in his hand. He crawled back into bed and pulled the covers back over him. He turned towards her and putting his hand on her shoulder, shook her a little bit. Softly he whispered, “Rose, wake up.” Rose turned and looked at Jack, opening her eyes slowly. “What is it?” she asked. “I want to do this right,” he said. He reached under the covers and pulled something up. “Rose, will you marry me?” he asked, holding out a pretty ring. Rose smiled, “Yes,” kissing him as he slipped the ring on her finger. All the rest of the day she held her hand out and admired the ring. She couldn’t wait until she could walk down the aisle and they could be together forever.