A DEEP OCEAN OF SECRETS
Chapter Nine
When Rose and her mother entered
the suite, Cal was already ready, sitting on the couch in the sitting room. His
hair was slicked back and he was wearing his black tux. He glanced up when Rose
and Ruth entered. "There you two are," he said. "Elisabeth is still
getting ready. Dinner has started already. We’ll miss our table!"
"Cal, don’t be in such a
hurry," Rose complained, and strode past him into her room. She saw her
sister sitting at her vanity, putting her diamond earrings on. She turned and
smiled when she saw her sister.
"There you are." She
smiled happily. "I was wondering when you’d come back here. Did you have a
trying day with Mr. Dawson?" Rose’s mouth dropped open. Elisabeth laughed.
"I was out on deck, too. You two seem to get along very well, much better
than you and Mr. Hockley."
"I feel as if I…connect with
Jack," Rose said in a faraway voice as she opened her wardrobe doors.
Elisabeth turned back around and then stood up. She wore a beautiful black
gown. The neck was square cut, as were the sleeves where they stopped on her
forearms. At the hips, a white sash tied at the back, and the skirts doubled
into two, one white and one black, flowing past her feet and making a train.
Her dark, blood-colored hair was pinned into a bun, some curly strands left
outlining her face. On her neck was a simple diamond necklace, which she had
received from her father before he died. Rose smiled at her sister. "You
look gorgeous. Enough to make men stare."
"That is not my
intention," Elisabeth said. Rose cocked an eyebrow in slight confusion.
"But," she added slyly, "who says a girl can’t have a little
fun?" Rose cracked a goofy grin and pulled out a dress, slamming the
wardrobe door shut.
*****
The Grand Staircase was well lit
by the glowing dome above. It bathed every passenger in a warm glow, seeming
like a protecting light from above. Rose and Elisabeth entered at the top, and
Elisabeth looked over the stair railing, seeing Jack Dawson practicing his
handshake and mumbling to himself.
"There’s your lover
boy," Elisabeth joked, and Rose just smiled. She started down the stairs,
Elisabeth behind, and smiled at Jack as he continued to mumble to himself. Jack
turned and looked up her way, but suddenly did a double take. He gazed up at
Rose with amazed eyes and smiled softly. She reached the bottom of the
staircase, in front of Jack, and he gently kissed her hand. Rose smiled and
Jack broke into a big grin.
"I saw that in a nickelodeon
once and I’ve always wanted to do it." He smiled and Rose chuckled. Jack
offered his arm and Rose took it.
She saw Elisabeth trip clumsily
over the last step of the staircase, and said, "Jack, do you remember my
rather clumsy sister, Elisabeth?" Jack turned and smiled at the smaller
version of Rose.
"Of course." Jack
smiled. He reached out and kissed Elisabeth’s hands. "Nice to see you,
Miss Elisabeth." He flashed a charming smile.
Elisabeth giggled. "The
pleasure is all mine," she replied.
They began to walk and caught up
with Cal and Ruth ahead. Rose touched Cal’s arm. "Darling, surely you
remember Mr. Dawson?"
Cal began a response when
Elisabeth heard her name being called. She turned around and saw William
Thackery smiling at her, standing with a woman and an older couple. She smiled
nervously and glided over to the gathering. William smiled at her and the woman
turned around, waving a fan softly by her face. "Elisabeth, I would like
you to meet my fiancé, Annabelle Johansson. Annabelle, this is my friend,
Elisabeth DeWitt Bukater."
Elisabeth studied Annabelle. She
was no taller than herself, with straight blonde hair that was pulled up into a
bun, wearing a diamond headband near the back of her head. Annabelle had a
slim, pointy nose, small lips, and blue eyes that seemed to reach the inner
soul of Elisabeth. She wore a red dining gown, the dress having at least five
skirts. She looked at Elisabeth if she was a piece of lint for a moment.
"Pleasure to meet you,"
Elisabeth offered.
"Yes," Annabelle
replied snobbishly, deathly, whiningly, slowly. She turned to William.
"William, darling, have you been on excursions that I haven’t known
about?" It was clear she was British and of high society by her accent and
snobbish ways.
"No, sweetums, I ran into
Elisabeth last night, and we spoke for a moment." Elisabeth nearly burst
out laughing when she heard what William called his fiancée.
Annabelle turned her head slightly
and exhaled sharply, a look of confusion written on her face. And jealousy.
"Only a moment? It would have been longer if you consider her a
friend," she said innocently, waving the fan near her face.
"You had retired, I was on
my way, and—" Annabelle cut her fiancé off.
"Whatever you say, darling.
Dinner starts soon, and I think I want to eat." Elisabeth hated Annabelle.
"Of course. Until again,
Miss Elisabeth," William said. Elisabeth smiled at him. Annabelle took his
arm, and from behind her shoulder, gave Elisabeth a look of pure disgust. She
could hear Annabelle moan about how hot it was, and suddenly felt like throwing
up all over the floor. She cursed under her breath and went to join her dinner
party.
Elisabeth caught up to Rose and
Jack, with Molly Brown and Rose linked to each of Jack’s arms. She fell in step
with Molly, and Molly smiled at her. "Why, hello there, Elisabeth! I
didn’t know when you would show up!" She smiled.
"I’m here now,"
Elisabeth replied. She gazed around at the people and nodded her head and
smiled when she passed them.
"Ain’t nothin’ to it, is
there, Jack?" Molly asked, beaming. "Remember, they love money, so
act like you’ve got a lot of it and you’re in the club." Molly proceeded
ahead, and Rose, Jack, and Elisabeth stayed where they were in front of their
dinner table. Their party was busily talking.
"There’s the Countess of
Rothes," Rose said, pointing discreetly to a woman with dark brown hair.
"And that’s John Jacob Astor, the richest man on the ship. His little
wifey there, Madeleine, is my age and in a delicate condition. See how she’s
trying to hide it?"
"Quite the scandal,"
Elisabeth added playfully, leaning closer to Jack so she couldn’t be heard by
other people, waving and smiling to another couple. Jack laughed.
Rose nodded towards a couple
talking with Cal. "And over there, that’s Sir Cosmo and Lucille, Lady Duff
Gordon. She designs naughty lingerie, among her many talents."
"Very popular with the
royals," Elisabeth added again playfully, and then nodded her head towards
another couple. "That’s Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress, Madame
Aubert. Mrs. Guggenheim is at home with the children, of course." Jack
nodded.
The dinner party proceeded to
their table, and on the way, Rose spotted JJ Astor and his wife standing near
the doorway. Rose, Jack, and Elisabeth stopped in front of them. "JJ,
Madeleine, I would like you to meet Jack Dawson." Rose gestured to Jack.
Madeleine shook Jack’s hand.
"How do you do?" she asked. Jack nodded.
Astor shook Jack’s hand next.
"Are you of the Boston Dawsons?" he asked.
"No. The Chippewa Falls
Dawsons, actually," Jack replied. Astor nodded as if he’d heard of them,
then looked puzzled.
Madeleine whispered girlishly to
Rose, "It’s a pity we’re both spoken for." Elisabeth heard and
giggled. Rose smiled and blushed.
*****
"He must have been nervous,
but he never faltered. They assumed he was one of them…a young captain of the
industry, perhaps. New money, obviously, but still a member of the club. But Mother,
of course, could always be counted upon…"
*****
The party was now seated around
their table. Rose sat by Cal, Mr. Andrews beside Rose, and Elisabeth beside the
master shipbuilder. They formed a circle, and it seemed that Ruth DeWitt
Bukater was head of the table.
"Tell us of the
accommodations in steerage, Mr. Dawson," Ruth said, letting everyone know
he was third class. "I hear they’re quite good on this ship."
Jack looked taken aback for a
moment, then regained his composure. "The best I’ve seen, ma’am. Hardly
any rats." Everybody laughed.
"Mr. Dawson is joining us
from third class," Cal said. "He was of some sort of assistance to my
fiancée last night."
"As it turns out, Mr. Dawson
is quite a fine artist," Rose complimented. "He was kind enough to show
me some of his work."
"Rose and I differ in our
opinion of fine art. No offense to you, Mr. Dawson," Cal said. Jack waved
his hand.
The waiter came around to Jack.
"And how do you take your caviar, sir?" he asked.
"No caviar for me, thanks.
Never did like it much," Jack replied, and the waiter moved on.
"Where exactly do you live,
Mr. Dawson?" Ruth asked, biting into her caviar-laden toast. Rose and
Elisabeth felt like slapping their mother for all of her questions.
But Jack took them well.
"Well, right now, my address is the RMS Titanic. And after that, I’m on
God’s good humor."
"And you find that sort of
rootless existence appealing, do you?"
Jack looked hurt in a way; Rose
sent him a look meaning he didn’t have to answer the question. But Elisabeth stared
at him with curiosity, wondering what he would say. "Well, yes, ma’am, I
do. I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s going to happen. I mean,
I’ve got everything I need with me. I’ve got the air in my lungs and a few
blank sheets of paper. Just last week, I was sleeping under a bridge, and now
I’m on the grandest ship in the world, dining with all you fine people."
Jack raised his glass at the waiter. "I’ll take some more of that."
He saw Cal grab a cigarette, but he didn’t have a match. He threw him a box.
"Oh, here you go, Cal." Cal caught it off guard and stared at Jack
Dawson. "To make each day count," Jack concluded.
Elisabeth broke into a smile.
Molly nodded. "Well said, Jack."
"Hear, hear," Colonel
Gracie agreed.
"To making it count," Rose
said, raising her glass in a toast, staring at Jack with new wonder in her
eyes.
"To making it count."
Everyone held up their drinks and replied. Elisabeth took a long drink and set
the glass down. She watched as the drink settled and watched as it stopped
swishing as if it had made its life count. And that was exactly what she was
going to do. Make her life count.
But Ruth would not have enough,
mad that Jack had scored a point. "And how is it that you have means to
travel?" she asked.
Jack was very annoyed, but didn’t
show it. "I work my way from place to place. Tramp steamers and such. I
won my ticket on the Titanic in a lucky hand of poker." He stared directly
at Rose. "A very lucky hand." Rose blushed.
"All life is a game of
luck," Archie said, taking a drink from his glass.
Cal shook his head. "A real
man makes his own luck." Elisabeth shook her head slightly in disgust.
"But where does the luck
come from?" she asked Cal, making an obvious point that he could not
answer to.
"Looks like Miss Elisabeth
here truly does have her own opinions about things," Thomas Andrews said,
chuckling. "No arguing to that, eh?" Everyone nodded and mumbled
responses. Elisabeth looked around.
"I certainly do have my own
opinions, Mr. Andrews," Elisabeth said to him, and he wiped his mouth with
his napkin.
"Of course, dear Elisabeth,
of course."