AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rose and I stayed up in the
sitting room, talking even more after Harry left. She fussed over the dark
bruise on my cheek.
"You know, Cal hit me
once." She looked down at her feet, ashamed of herself for telling me.
"What happened?"
"We were getting ready to go
out when we were still in England. I didn’t want to go, so I had Trudy, my
maid, dress me in something so inappropriate that Cal would make me stay home.
Well, it didn’t work. Cal tried to fire Trudy for doing that to me until I told
him that Trudy only did what I asked. He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me
upstairs to my room. He told me that I’d learn to respect him, come hell or
high water, or he’d throw me out on my backside, closely followed by my
mother." She touched her face in remembrance of where Cal hit her.
"He slapped me hard. It sent me flying across the room and my cheek caught
the brunt of it when I stumbled into my closet door. I told everyone I tripped
coming down the stairs so as not to alarm Mother. Everyone we were with that
day bought my story of falling. No one would even consider that Cal hit me. I
guess everyone thought he was too good for that, or that he could never get that
violent. Well, trust me. He has a temper, as I see you’ve already found
out."
I nodded slowly. "In more
ways than one. My shoulder is killing me, though. Dr. Willard said it’d be all
right in a few days." I thought to myself for a moment. "Oh! What am
I going to tell Father when he sees me tomorrow?" I got up to nervously
pace around the room. "He’s going to think Harry hit me. How am I going to
convince him otherwise, and how am I going to explain it? I don’t want to bring
Cal up in this, as it might lead to his discovery of you. Then what would I
do?"
"Tell him the truth. Tell
him you fell up on deck and caught yourself on the way down. Just don’t tell
him the whole truth."
"He’ll never buy it. He
always knew when Shannon or I were lying to him. I can’t just tell him I fell.
He’ll never believe it."
Rose got up and started looking
through Elizabeth’s closet. "This can be your answer." She held up a
boot with one of the heels broken off. "Elizabeth said the heel snapped as
she was getting ready to put it on. Just tell your father that you were wearing
them when the heel broke and you fell, hitting yourself on the deck chair.
Leave the boots out by your bed for effect." Rose got the other boot out
of the closet and tossed them in the general direction of the bed. "There.
Perfect. It looks like I helped you take them off after you got injured. Just
tell your father that it was so late when it happened, you didn’t want to
disturb him, so Harry took you to the ship’s hospital. It has to work. Just
make sure Harry doesn’t tell your father the truth."
I stood up and inspected the
broken heel of the boot. "I hope you’re right. I really hope you’re right.
I hate lying to Father, but I’ve already done it twice."
Rose looked confused.
"Twice?"
I nodded. "Promise you won’t
say anything." Rose nodded, so I continued. "Father asked if Harry’s
and my relationship went anywhere it shouldn’t have. I lied and said no. But
it’s happened twice."
Rose turned a deep shade of red.
"When was the other time?"
"Right after we boarded. It
just happened, and I admit, I was the one who started it."
"You’d better be careful.
You know what happens to young girls who engage in that kind of behavior before
marriage."
"Rose, may I ask that you
look into a mirror? You did the same thing."
She was silent, knowing I had a
point. "You’re right. And you two are getting married in a few weeks
anyway. It’s not like it matters."
We talked for a little bit longer
before getting into bed and turning out the lights.
The Morning of April 17th
Harry’s POV
"Lowe. I need to speak with
you."
I turned around to see Lightoller
talking to me. I rolled my eyes, but decided to humor him. "And in what
way may I help you?"
He took me by the arm and led me
to a quiet corner of the hallway we were in. "I heard you got into a
scuffle on deck last night with a passenger. Care to explain yourself?"
I was astonished. "How did
you find out?"
"Doesn’t matter. I also
heard a girl got injured. Tell me you didn’t hit her."
"Lightoller! You know me
better than that. You know I’d never hit a lady."
Lightoller was quiet for a
minute. "That didn’t sound like something you’d do, but the rumor is, she
was injured because you shoved her into a chair. If I see Miss Metcalfe later
on, is she going to be injured?"
I began to see red as I realized
what was happening. "That unimaginable bastard. How dare he do this to
me?"
"Who did what to you?
Harold, talk to me."
I looked at Lightoller, and all I
could muster was, "Cal. Hockley. Cal Hockley. Did he tell you? Did he
start anything?"
"Look, I don’t know who did
what. All I heard was from another passenger who saw you hitting a young lady.
She said you had an argument with her husband, she fell, and you chased her
husband off. I’m just trying to get the facts straight before any discipline is
handed out. Now, I’ll ask you again, did you hit Victoria?"
I began to feel my blood boiling
over. "I’ll kill him." I started to turn to walk off, but Lightoller
stopped me before I could do anything. "It was Hockley. That miserable
bastard hit Victoria. He had Victoria in a grip that left bruises on her
shoulders. He had his hand raised to hit her again when I grabbed it and
twisted it behind his back. He let go of her and she fell. I didn’t hit her.
Lightoller, I love her. Why would I hit her?"
Lightoller sighed. "I
figured he had something to do with it. He’s been on a rampage ever since that
fiancée of his was killed. He’s been threatening lawsuits and demanding we send
out a crew to find her body."
"Do you believe me? Hockley
was the one who hurt Victoria, not me. She’s got a black eye and a sprained
shoulder. I took her to the ship’s doctor last night and got her fixed up. I’d
never hurt her. I love her."
Lightoller looked at me. "I
know you do. But I had to ask. It didn’t sound like something you’d do."
He checked the time on his pocket watch. "Look, it’s breakfast. I need to
go send a telegram to the misses, letting her know I’m docking tonight so she
won’t worry. She’s already been through enough. You just keep your temper in
check, and whatever you do, leave Hockley alone. Let me deal with him."
I nodded as I watched him walk
off in the direction of the telegram office. I began to slowly walk towards
Victoria’s room, hoping she hadn’t left for breakfast yet. I wanted to escort
her. I ran into her father and sister in the hallway, speaking with another man
who was onboard the Titanic.
"Mr. Metcalfe. How are you
this morning?" I extended my hand and he shook it. "Shannon, nice to
see you, too." She smiled and hid behind her father.
"Officer Lowe. So great to
see you. Were you headed to pick up my daughter?"
I nodded. "Yes, sir, I was.
We’re to have breakfast together. You and Shannon are welcome to join us."
I swallowed a lump in my throat, scared as to how he was going to react when he
saw Tory.
I knocked on the door and heard a
faint voice telling us it was open. I opened the door and a strange woman was
in the sitting room.
"Mr. Metcalfe. So good to
see you. I see you found Shannon." Mr. Metcalfe nodded. "And who
might this be?" She walked to me. "Elizabeth Wilson. And you
are?"
I shook her hand as I replied,
"Titanic’s Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, ma’am."
"Oh, so you’re the Harry
I’ve been hearing so much about."
I blushed slightly. "I do
hope that all of what you’ve been hearing is good."
She nodded her head. "Very
good." She turned her head when Rose and Victoria came into the room.
"Ah…ladies. There you are. I have two handsome gentlemen who are ready to
take you to breakfast." Victoria did her best to hide her bruised face with
an upswept hairstyle, but her father still noticed.
Victoria’s father got a look at
her. "Good gracious, Victoria! What on earth happened to you?"
"It’s nothing Father. I
simply slipped up on deck last night when Rose, Harold, Jack, and I were
walking after dinner. We wanted to take in the night air before bed. The heel
on my boot broke and I slipped and fell." She motioned to a pair of boots
lying beside her bed. I saw Victoria’s father’s eyes check the boots, then go
back to his daughter.
"My, oh, my. Are you all
right? Did you see the doctor?"
She nodded. "Yes, sir.
Harold took me to the doctor’s office last night. He said that my shoulder was
sprained slightly and the black eye will heal on it’s own in a few days.
Nothing serious."
I locked eyes with Victoria while
her father wasn’t looking. The look she gave me was a look that was begging for
me to go along with her story. She silently pleaded with me, and I gave in.
"The ship’s doctor said she
is going to be fine. The sling is just a precautionary measure to keep the arm
still and avoid any further trauma to it." I hoped I sounded convincing.
Mr. Metcalfe kissed his daughter
on the forehead before turning to me. "Sounds like you’re a handy man to
have around. You’ve helped my daughter twice."
I nodded. "Anything I can
do, sir."
We sat with Officer Moody and
Jack, who joined us. We all had a great time talking and getting to know each
other. Victoria’s father excused himself to go attend to business, and Shannon
asked to be excused to go play with her newfound friend on board. Victoria’s
father nodded before he got up and kissed Victoria on the forehead.
"Take care of this one for
me, will you?" he spoke to me. I nodded and said I would.
Moody had gotten up to go take a
nap, and that left Rose, Jack, Victoria, and me at the table.
"I didn’t think we’d be able
to pull that one off." Rose looked at Victoria and me.
"Me, either. I thought
Father was going to see through this."
Jack was confused. "See
through what?"
Rose explained to Jack how Victoria
got injured and the story she came up with to cover it. "You mean Cal hit
Victoria? Cal did this?" Jack was furious.
Rose slowly nodded. "Yes.
But all is not lost. Officer Harold got one good hit in on Cal. I heard he
might have a broken nose."
I let out a small laugh at Rose
calling me Officer Harold. "Yes, I hit him. I don’t know about the broken
nose, though. But I did get him good."
Jack spoke up, "Too bad that
wasn’t me. I’d give my left arm to hit that bastard just once."
I took another drink of my water.
"It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Another officer on board reprimanded
me. Come to find out, that lady Cal was talking with saw our altercation and
told him that I hit Victoria."
"She did what?"
Victoria exclaimed.
I nodded my head. "Lightoller
stopped me this morning and asked me for my side. I told him what happened and
he said he’d take care of it. I just hope he believed me. He said he did."
"I’ll tell them you didn’t
hit me. Rose can vouch for it. I told Father we were all together. We’ll all
stand up for you if something happens." Victoria’s eyes looked up at me,
and all I saw was compassion.
"I love you," I
whispered in her ear where no one could hear us. "I think he believed me.
He said he did, at least, and we’ve been sailing together for a while now. I
should hope he’d know I’d never hit a lady."
I was terrified that Cal’s power
would have me thrown off the ship, or worse, fired from the White Star Line.