A DEEP OCEAN OF SECRETS
Chapter Sixteen
Elisabeth strolled onto the deck,
the cold breeze hitting her face hard. It made her want to walk right back
inside, but she felt at peace in the cold. She sighed and walked over to the
railing, looking out into the water lapping against the side of the ship.
Suddenly, she heard a door burst
open and a man and a woman laughing. She turned her head, and farther down the
deck were Rose and Jack, laughing in each other’s arms. Jack was in a first
class overcoat, and Rose was just in her beautiful white and pink dress, very
similar to Elisabeth’s. They didn’t notice her, and Elisabeth turned her head
back around to stare out into the dark.
Rose and Jack had been having the
time of their life. Rose’s laughter faded and she placed a finger on Jack’s
lips for him to stop, too. "When this ship docks, I’m getting off with
you."
Jack smiled, and said, "This
is crazy!"
Rose smiled, too, and laughed.
"I know! That’s why I trust it." Jack’s eyes lingered on her for a
minute. Then he pulled her into a fierce kiss. They stayed like that in each
other’s arms as their breath swirled around their faces in the freezing air,
but they didn’t even feel the cold.
Up in the crow’s nest above them,
Fleet was watching the young couple. He nudged Lee, who was also up there. They
both peered over the side and glanced down at Jack and Rose. "Look at
that, would ya?" He smiled.
Lee laughed. "They’re a
bloody sight warmer than us!"
"Well, if that’s what it
takes to get warm, I’d rather not!" Fleet joked, and they both laughed,
trying to keep warm in the cold.
On the deck, Elisabeth was
smiling at Jack and Rose. She turned back around and looked out into the water.
Suddenly, her smiling expression started to fade into worry. Her brows
scrunched up in confusion as she stared out into the night ocean. A form lay
dead ahead in front of the Titanic, looming in the darkness.
Elisabeth was confused.
"What the…" She trailed off.
In the crow’s nest, Fleet was the
first to see the iceberg five hundred feet out in front of them. His expression
fell and all of the color drained out of his face. He started to ring the
emergency bell. "Bugger me!" he breathed. He picked up the phone and
called the bridge. "Pick up, you bastard!" he cried loudly, his eyes
never leaving the shape in front of them.
On the bridge, Sixth Officer
Moody picked up the phone calmly. "Yes. What do you see?"
Fleet was practically screaming
into the phone. "Iceberg! Right ahead!"
Moody looked shocked. "Thank
you." He set the phone down. He called to Murdoch. "Iceberg right
ahead!" Murdoch looked out to sea and saw the massive shape in the
darkness. His eyes grew wide, and he ran to the engine room telegraph.
"Hard to starboard!" he screamed to Quartermaster Hitchens at the
wheel. Moody repeated the order, and Hitchens began to turn the ship at the
wheel.
Elisabeth was on the deck, still
at the rail, realizing what it was. It was in clear view, and she dodged away
from the railing just as the side of the ship scraped along the iceberg, chunks
of ice flying everywhere. Jack and Rose jumped back farther, not hit, but a
chunk hit Elisabeth in the arm, and immediately it began to turn red with the
pressure of the hit and blood. Elisabeth jumped on the bottom railing and
peered over the side of the ship as the iceberg floated past. Jack and Rose joined
her a second later. Elisabeth was panting hard, and some of her hair from her
bun had come undone. She stared after the iceberg with wide eyes.
Rose turned to her with concerned
eyes. "Elisabeth?" Elisabeth didn’t move or look at her, but kept
looking at the iceberg. "Elisabeth!" she cried louder. She shook her
unharmed arm, and Elisabeth looked at her without expression, her mouth cracked
open slightly, her eyes showing no emotion, curls outlining her pale face. What
had just happened?
Back on the bridge, there was
more commotion. Murdoch stood by Moody, his eyes lost. "Mark the time.
Enter it in the log," he commanded stiffly. As Moody left, Captain Smith
came out of his cabin, tucking in his shirt.
"What was that, Mr.
Murdoch?" he demanded, worried.
Murdoch looked at him without
emotion, nervous. "An iceberg, sir," he stammered. "I put her
hard a’ starboard and ran the engines full astern, but it was too close. I
tried to port around, but she hit."
Murdoch watched Smith’s eyes grow
wide. "Seal the emergency doors," he instructed.
Murdoch only nodded grimly.
"The doors are closed." Smith looked out into the water, nervous as
ever.
Back on the deck, Jack, Rose, and
Elisabeth hadn’t moved. Elisabeth was shaking in the cold. She had taken her
bun out and her curls outlined her porcelain face from the dark night. She was
nervous and scared of what was going to happen. Jack and Rose seemed to be less
concerned. They were leaning over the railing, looking down at the hull. Rose
kept brushing her red curls, hanging limply from the cold, out of her face.
"It looks all right,"
Jack commented. "I don’t see anything."
Rose looked more worried.
"Do you think it could have damaged the ship?"
"It didn’t seem like much of
a bump. I’m sure we’re okay."
But Elisabeth wasn’t so sure.
"Bloody hell!" she cried, taking a step back. "Do you know how
serious this is? She hit an iceberg! I saw it! I heard it!" She pointed up
at the bridge. "And you two were too preoccupied with one another to even
notice it right out in front of the ship!"
"Elisabeth!" Rose
warned. "We saw the iceberg. We dodged it."
Elisabeth was now furious.
"Really?" she spat sarcastically. "I got hit by it!"
Elisabeth held out her arm and Rose yelped in surprise. On her left arm was a
cut from where the ice chunk’s edge had punctured her skin. It was bleeding,
and the area was red from the pressure. Jack whistled in shock.
Rose was shocked. "We need
to take you back to the suite!" They headed up the steps to the upper
promenade. Just as they reached the top, Thomas Andrews, Hitchens, and Captain
Smith passed by, Andrews holding his blueprints.
"Can we shore up?"
Smith asked.
Andrews replied, "Not unless
the pumps get ahead." They headed down to the well deck. Jack looked at
Rose with a new expression. Elisabeth was messing with her arm, and Rose was
looking up at Jack.
"This is bad," Jack
said quietly to her. Rose looked like she was fighting to make a decision.
"We have to tell Mother and
Cal," she replied.
"Now it’s worse."
Rose looked up at him. "Come
with me, Jack." Then a soft smile spread across her full red lips.
"You jump, I jump, right?"
"Right." Jack nodded at
her grimly, and Rose grabbed Elisabeth’s arm. They entered the B-Deck foyer and
walked into the corridor. Lovejoy was there at the entrance, waiting for them.
"We’ve been looking for you,
miss," he said, but nobody paid him any mind. They glided past him, but as
Lovejoy caught up, he quietly slipped the Heart of the Ocean into Jack’s
overcoat pocket. Elisabeth looked at him, wondering why he was so close to
Jack, and they all entered suites B52, 54, and 56. Cal, Ruth, two stewards, and
the Master-at-Arms were in the sitting room, waiting for them. Cal jumped up
when he saw Rose, trying not to spring onto Jack. Ruth saw Elisabeth’s arm and
yelped.
"Elisabeth, what happened to
your arm?" she cried. "Come. Let us clean that up." Before
Elisabeth could protest, Ruth grabbed her and led her to the water closet.
Rose didn’t know where to start.
"Something serious has happened," she said quietly.
Cal looked straight at Rose.
"Indeed it has. Two things dear to me have disappeared tonight," he
growled. "Now that one is back…" He glared at Rose. "…I have a
pretty good idea where the other one is." Cal looked directly at Jack in
disgust. "Search him."
Elisabeth re-entered the room,
her arm wrapped in gauze from the emergency kit in the water closet. She had
overheard the conversation and was confused. "Cal, what are you doing? Why
are you searching Jack?" she asked, holding the gauze tighter. The
bleeding had subsided.
Rose was confused, too.
"Cal, we are in the middle of an emergency—"
"Is this it?" the
Master-at-Arms asked after he searched Jack’s pockets. He held up the Heart of
the Ocean, shimmering in the light. Rose was stunned, and needless to say, so
was Jack. Elisabeth’s eyes grew wide. Jack had stolen from them?
"This is horseshit!"
Jack cried in disbelief. "Don’t you believe it, Rose! Don’t!"
Rose’s expression looked like she
was having a war inside of her head. "He couldn’t have," she said.
"I was with him the whole time."
"Perhaps he did it while you
were putting your clothes on, dear," Cal said quietly to Rose. Obviously,
he had found the sketch of Rose that Jack had drawn of her completely naked.
Rose was staring off into space.
Jack looked over at Elisabeth,
who he considered a friend. She slowly brought her hand to her mouth. She was
in utter shock. "Elisabeth, don’t believe it. I didn’t do it!"
Elisabeth didn’t say anything. "They put it in my pocket, Rose!"
"Not even your pocket, son.
Property of AL Ryerson, eh?" Lovejoy said, holding up Jack’s coat.
"That was reported stolen
today," the Master-at-Arms said.
"I was going to return
it—" Jack started in protest.
"An honest thief?" Cal
taunted. Jack tried to lunge at him, but was held back by the Master-at-Arms,
who handcuffed him. Rose couldn’t even look at Jack. She felt hurt and
betrayed…he began to shout to her as he was dragged into the hall, but she
didn’t look up.
"You know I didn’t do it,
Rose!" Jack cried. "You know me!" Rose just watched him being
dragged away, a tear falling down her cheek.
Elisabeth walked over to her
sister, leaned closer to her, and whispered, "Something isn’t right."
Rose couldn’t respond—she was too much in shock.