AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Thirteen
I watched Father walk outside to
talk to one of the stewards in the hall. I sneaked into my room, opened my
door, and listened. He was speaking with one of the stewards when the Countess
of Rothes came outside.
"Excuse me. Why have the
engines stopped? I felt a shudder." The Countess was obviously distraught.
Then again, it’s been my experience that it doesn’t take a lot to get these
upper class ladies in a tizzy.
The steward answered her, ever
calm. "I shouldn't worry, ma'am. We've likely thrown a propeller blade.
That's the shudder you felt. May I bring you anything?"
The countess started to say
something as she watched Mr. Andrews walk by with something in his arms. She
shook her head as she replied, "N-no. Thank you." She smiled at
Father and me and quietly shut her door.
I had the same look on my face as
I watched Mr. Andrews walk by. There was something wrong. Mr. Andrews, a
normally cheery man, had a pained expression on his face mixed with a look of
great worry. I quickly shut my door before Father saw me eavesdropping.
He came in not too long after
that. He called Belinda, Melissa, Franklin, Shannon, and me into his stateroom.
"I am afraid I have some bad
news. I have been informed that the ship has struck an iceberg. I am unsure as
to the damage, but the steward I spoke with has asked us to remain calm and to
remain in our rooms until further notice. I suspect they are going to inspect
the damage, do any necessary repairs, and then we’ll be on our way." Father
smiled at Shannon, who was too young to understand the full extent of what was
going on. "Not to worry. Everything will be all right." I watched the
expression on his face. It held uncertainty. It had the same look as Mr.
Andrews’s face as he walked by my door.
Father excused himself and the
rest of us. I watched Melissa and Belinda walk back to their room. I was
scared. I needed to find Harry. I figured he might be out on deck, so I grabbed
my coat and headed out the door just in time to see Rose and Jack headed to her
room.
"Rose, where have the two of
you been? Father says that the ship has struck an iceberg."
Rose lowered her voice.
"Yes, I know. Jack and I saw when it hit. We were on the lower decks and
barely missed getting hit by a chunk of ice that fell off the berg. We heard
two of the White Star Line employees talking. Evidently it made a pretty big
gash. We came up here to warn Mother and Cal."
I nodded, and Rose motioned for
me to follow, so I did. When we got to Rose’s room, Cal was drinking something
and Rose’s mother looked like she was about to faint, but she looked like a
woman who enjoyed the dramatics. The Master-at-Arms was also in there.
"What’s going on here?"
Rose asked.
Cal looked up, obviously mad. I
barely got inside the door before Cal’s manservant shut it behind me. I noticed
a wink that the horrid man gave Cal as he walked in front of Jack. I wondered
what that meant.
"I see." Cal stopped.
"Two things dear to me have disappeared. Now that one is back, I have a
pretty good idea where the other one is." Cal pointed to Jack.
"Search him."
The Master-at-Arms took off
Jack’s jacket while another one of the security people searched his pants’
pockets. Rose had a horrified look on her face. She finally spoke up.
"We have an emergency here,
Cal. We don’t have time for this. The ship…"
Rose was cut off when the
Master-at-Arms found a very beautiful necklace in Jack’s pocket. "Is this
it?" he asked as he held it up.
Cal snatched it out of the man’s
hand. "Yes. That’s it." Cal motioned for the Master-at-Arms to arrest
Jack, and he put handcuffs on Jack’s wrists.
"This is horseshit! Rose,
you know I didn’t do this! That guy Lovejoy put it in my pocket."
Rose was horrified. "He
couldn’t have."
Cal coolly said, "He could
have done it while you put your clothes back on, dear."
I was confused. Why did Rose have
her clothes off? Did she get dirty? Then it hit me. The smile she had on her
face earlier…I realized what they had done. She had done the same thing Harry
and I had. It all made sense now.
I watched as the Master-at-Arms
took Jack out of the room, still handcuffed and yelling at Rose that he didn’t
do it. Rose’s mother took her by the arm, and Rose struggled and came to me.
"Jack didn’t do this,
Victoria. I know he didn’t. We’ve got to prove it. Promise me you’ll help
me."
I nodded before Rose’s mother
heard what we had to say. We were interrupted by the steward we saw in the
hall. "Excuse me, but captain’s orders require for all parties in the room
to dress warmly and come up to the main deck."
Cal was annoyed. "Not
now!"
The steward, unnerved by Cal’s
yelling, walked to the coat closet and handed each of us a lifebelt.
"Please put these on. And dress warmly. It’s quite cold out. May I suggest
top hats and coats?"
He saw how upset Rose was.
"Not to worry, miss. I’m sure it’s just a precaution." Rose nodded,
and he walked out of the room.
"I need to go get my sister.
I will meet you up top." I started to walk off. Rose ran behind me.
"I’m going with
Victoria." Rose’s mother started to say something, but Rose slammed the
door in her face before she could object.
"Damn it. I know Jack didn’t
do this. We’ve got to find out where he went." Rose started walking
faster. I stopped long enough to tell Father I was going up to the deck to see
what was going on and I’d meet them up there. He said for me not to waste any
time.
Rose and I hurried to get to the
boat deck. I scanned the crowds, looking for any sign of Harry. I saw a few of
the officers that he had introduced me to, but I didn’t see Harry. I was
beginning to get worried.
"He’s on the other side.
He’s been looking for you." I looked up to see Officer Lightoller speaking
to me.
"Thank you. If you see him,
tell him I’m all right." He nodded and went back to the davits that were
holding the boats up. I stood there and watched for a moment while the officers
and the other crew members were scurrying around, trying to unlock the covers
and chains off of the boats.
"There you are. We’ve been
looking everywhere for you, miss." Cal’s manservant walked up. He grabbed
Rose by one arm and me by the other. "Your father will be happy to know
where you went." I looked at Rose. She began to struggle with the man’s
grip. He only tightened it. "Stop struggling!" Rose calmed down. The
manservant walked us back to Cal and Rose’s mother. I scanned the crowd for my
father and sister. Cal seemed to know what I was doing.
He pointed to a lifeboat that was
being lowered. "Your father was in that boat with your sister. He began to
worry about you, and I told him that we’d ensure your safety. He said that was
fine as long as you got into a boat."
I wanted to shove him overboard.
Scum like him didn’t belong in a boat. I just nodded. A pleasant woman called
out to Ruth to get in.
Rose’s mother looked around. She
spotted an officer who wasn’t paying attention to anything but his work.
"Will the lifeboats be seated according to class?" When she got no
answer, she laughed softly. "I hope they’re not too crowded."
Rose looked horrified. She
grabbed her mother. "Oh, Mother, shut up! Don't you understand? The water
is freezing and there aren't enough boats. Not enough by half. Half the people
on this ship are going to die."
Cal spoke up. "Not the
better half. It’s a pity I didn’t keep that drawing. It’d be worth a lot more
by morning."
I watched Rose’s expression as a
flare shot up into the sky. It illuminated the horrified and disgusted look on
her face. "You unimaginable bastard."
Cal smirked as he threw a
lifebelt over into the boat where Rose’s mother was. She called out to Rose to
get into the boat. She grabbed my hand as she started to step backwards.
"Rose, what are you doing?
We need to get into the boat!"
Rose just shook her head at me
when I finished speaking. She backed up even farther, still holding my hand. I
stepped back with her. She turned around to walk off. Cal caught up with her
and grabbed her shoulder. He spun her around to face him, yanking me with her.
He was yelling at her as he
spoke. "Where are you going? To him? To be a whore to a gutter rat?"
She looked at him with a blank
expression on her face. Her reply caused him to take a step back. "I’d
rather be his whore than your wife." Cal reached out to grab Rose again.
She spit all over his face. She grabbed my hand as we ran towards the entrance
to our staterooms. I could hear Rose’s mother’s frantic calls out as we ran away.
Rose was unfazed. We kept running until we reached the entrance to the doors.
She yanked the door open and began to call out for Mr. Andrews. He was helping
people out of their rooms.
"Mr. Andrews! Mr.
Andrews!" she called out as he turned around.
"Victoria, Rose. What are
you doing here?" He began to lead us towards the door we had just entered
through. "You have to get to a boat immediately. You remember what I told
you?"
Rose nodded. "No! Not yet!
Where would the Master-at-Arms take someone under arrest?"
"There’s not enough time.
Both of you go now."
Rose was steadfast. "I’m
doing this with you or without you, but without will take longer."
Mr. Andrews saw the concern in
her eyes. He explained how to get down there. We thanked him and took off
again. We passed another White Star officer on our way down to the crewman’s
passage. It wasn’t Harry.
Harry’s POV
I was instructed to keep an eye
on some of the crew members while we were loading the boats.
Lightoller was next to me,
barking out orders to the other crew. "Move that davit over there."
He walked off as he was pointing.
I looked back over my shoulder
and saw that the crowd of people was growing. Any minute, they’d realize that
there weren’t enough lifeboats and half of them would wind up in an icy grave.
It was not a thought I wanted to entertain. I kept my mind on work.
One of the other crew members
walked up to me. "It’s weird, you know."
"What is?" I was
watching the crew members unhook the boats while he was speaking.
"I just ran into two first
class ladies in the hall. They were dressed to come out here, but looked to be
doing something else rather than come out. They are guaranteed to get on a
lifeboat."
My heart sank. I knew without a
doubt the identity of both of the ladies, but I had to ask. "What did they
look like?"
He described Victoria and Rose
perfectly.
"Damn them both." I got
really frustrated.
"What’s wrong?" he
asked.
"Damn it. Nothing is wrong.
She’s just being stupid. Why did she do this?" I began to walk off. I
needed to find them.
"What’s stupid? Who did
something stupid?"
I was stopped by Lightoller
before I could get any farther. He wanted me to begin helping load another
boat. Victoria and Rose would have to wait. I’d have a stern talking to her
when I saw her again. I had to see her again. I loved her too much to lose her
now.