AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Thirty-Five
Victoria
Rose and I spent the better part
of the night talking and laughing. We were both too nervous to get any sleep.
"Have you and Harold decided
where to live?"
"No. We haven’t,
really." I reached over to the nightstand to turn back on the light.
"The congressional inquests are coming up, and I don’t know where the
White Star Line is going to send him. He may be able to get a station here in
America, but it may also mean us moving back to England."
"I, for one, want you here.
You’re the only friend I’ve got since I did what I did."
I looked over at Rose. "Do
you regret it?"
She traced the outline of the
stitching on the quilt on the bed. "Do I miss the lifestyle? Sort of. Do I
miss Cal? Hell, no. Do I miss Mother? That’s a hard one."
"What do you mean?"
Rose sighed. "Look at what
she forced me into. She only wanted me to marry Cal to keep her in the
lifestyle she’s grown accustomed to. She didn’t give a damn whether I loved Cal
or not. She just wanted me to marry him and make him happy by giving him what
he wanted."
I was confused. "Which
was?"
"Cal wanted two
things--children and a wife whom he could control. Cal always reminded me that
he controlled me and I was under his watch. I believe, at times, he thought of
me just as one of the workers in one of his mills that he could command. My
only issue was at least those workers got paid. I didn’t. My mother also
pointed out that any future children would also be known as heirs to the
Hockley fortune. That’s all he cared about. He didn’t care who he married as
long as she looked good, could be controlled and manipulated, and could produce
heirs to his fortune."
"Well, at least you’re out
of that lifestyle now. You and Jack are free to do anything you two want. Where
are you going to live?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Jack and I haven’t really thought about it. Obviously, we can’t stay here
in the hotel the rest of our lives, though it is a nice hotel. But we do need
to figure something out."
"Father will pay for the
room as long as you need him to. He already told Harry that we could stay here
together until the inquests are over with. Then it’s up to the White Star Line
as to where we go next."
"He offered to get Jack a job.
Did he tell you?"
I shook my head. "Can you
imagine those two working together in the middle of the ocean on a ship?"
"Almost as bad as the two of
us on our own when our husbands are out sailing the world. They’d be gone for
at least two weeks at a time, and we’d be on our own. I don’t know about you,
but I can’t cook or clean. We’ve always had attendants and maids who can do
that."
I laughed. "Harry and I have
already had that discussion. I’m determined to do all this on my own, but he
said we could hire a maid just until I learn how to do things. I’m determined
not to let my children grow up with attendants and not know how to do normal
things. I don’t want them growing up in the lifestyle I had. It’s no lifestyle.
It’s a prison sentence."
Rose got a faraway look for a
moment before she spoke. "At least your father wasn’t trying to marry you
off into a life you didn’t want with a man you didn’t love." I watched her
get out of bed and walk to a small table in the sitting room. "Want anything
to drink?" I shook my head, and she fixed herself a glass of water, then
got back under the covers. "It’s so nice to be able to do things all on my
own."
"It’s just water,
Rose."
She held the glass up to examine
the fine crystal design etched into it. "I know, but having someone wait
on you hand and foot gets really old really quick."
"I never really minded it.
Our attendants knew when to excuse themselves."
Rose nodded absentmindedly.
"I guess so." She yawned. "Ready to try to sleep?"
I nodded. "I can try, but I
doubt if we will be able to." I reached over and turned off the light.
Harry
Jack and I finished eating dinner
and figured since we probably wouldn’t sleep, we’d pass the time by playing
cards. On exactly the fourth round of Jack beating me, I was about to give up.
"I already owe you my next
paycheck. Can we call it quits?"
Jack got a good laugh at my
misfortune. "I suppose so." He began to gather the deck of cards and
started to flip them around.
"Where did you learn to deal
like that?" I was watching as he expertly cut the deck, and then with
almost magical fingers, played the cards off one another until they flipped out
perfectly.
"All over. Mostly watching
dealers from alleys waiting on my pa to get done gambling. Ma didn’t want me
going, but I’d sneak away when she wasn’t watching to go watch my pa play. He
used to deal just like this." Jack played with the cards some more.
"What about you? How’d you get into sailing?"
"I refused an apprenticeship
with my father. I didn’t want to go into the family business. I wanted to
branch out, try something different. I set sail for the first time at fourteen.
I haven’t regretted it since. I told my dad I wasn’t going to work for anybody
for nothing. It’s sort of driven a wedge between my family and me, but they
understand and have come around."
"Do they know about
tomorrow?"
I nodded. "I sent a wire
earlier about the wedding and about the Titanic’s inquests. My parents, I’m
sure, expected me back a lot sooner than the USA Congressional Inquests are
going to allow. I can’t wait for them to meet my new bride. I haven’t heard
anything back. There is a huge time difference, though. I expect a reply
tomorrow or the next day."
Jack nodded. "Are they going
to be upset about your wedding and them not here?"
"Probably. But I’m sure that
once they meet Tory, everything will be all right. I’m sure she’s dying to meet
my parents, as well as my siblings."
"How many do you have?"
I smiled as I thought about the
answer. "Too many, it seems." I told Jack about my siblings, and I
watched him. "How many do you have?"
"Not a one. Only child. I
often wondered what it’d be like if I actually had any brothers or sisters or
close kin. I’m sort of like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind."
I was confused. "A
what?"
"That’s the Welsh in you,
huh? A tumbleweed is a bunch of dried out, dead weeds. When the wind gets them
going, they roll like balls."
"I have never heard of it
before. Interesting. Where do they live?"
"Deserts, mainly. Arizona,
New Mexico. Been to both places on my way out to Santa Monica,
California."
"Where haven’t you been? I’m
a sailor and you’ve been more places than I have."
"Well, up until a little bit
ago, New York. Never been here before. I like it. A little too crowded for my
tastes, but I could get used to this lavish lifestyle." Jack used a fake
accent on the last part. He stood up and ran his thumbs behind his suspender
straps and stuck his nose in the air. "Remind you of anyone in particular?"
I laughed again. "Snobbish
rich folks?"
Jack sat down again next to me.
"Do you think Rose thinks about Cal or if she misses him?"
I ran my fingers through my hair.
"I don’t know about that situation very well except for what Tory told me.
No person, Rose included, should ever be forced into a life like that. I could
see how upset she was and how distant and cold she was when I first saw you and
her together on the Titanic the night you saved her."
Jack was astonished. "You
saw that?"
I nodded my head. "Tory and
I both did. I was on deck with her and saw the crewmen run by to see what was
going on. We saw that you didn’t hurt Rose."
"She tried to kill
herself." Jack looked up from his cards as he spoke. "She was that
bad off. She was hanging off the back of the ship trying to jump. I talked her
over. When she tried to climb back over, she slipped on something on her dress.
When she fell, she screamed, which alerted the crewmen to us."
I was floored. "Are you sure
she was trying to kill herself?"
"Harold, she was on the
opposite side of the railing, holding on, getting ready to let go. I stopped
her."
"I had no idea. Tory didn’t
tell me. Thank God you were there for her, in more ways than one. You saved her
both by talking her back and by taking her away from the life she lived. In
that aspect, no, I don’t think that she thinks about the old life, if you will.
She’d be an insane person if she did. Look at what she has now. She has you,
she has your love, and the promise of a cage-free future. What could that
bastard Hockley promise her other than a life in a loveless relationship and
children who are only on this earth because they look good in the family
portrait?"
Jack was about to say something,
but we were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "Who in the world
could that be at this hour?" I got up to go check, and to my surprise,
there were Lightoller and Moody.
"Bloody hell! It’s your last
day as a free man, and what are you doing? Sitting here in your room like a
good husband in training?" Lightoller reached out and pulled me into a
hug. "Congrats, man. Congrats. You’ll be happy. I know it."
Moody, a little bit shyer than
Lightoller, just shook my hand and offered his congratulations as well. He held
up a few bottles of beer. "Got these at the bar down the street right
before they closed. I figured we could all enjoy one on your last night as a
free man." He gave a bottle of beer to everyone, and we sat down at the
table Jack and I were using as a card table.
"I’d invite you all to play
cards, but this one is a bit of a lucky one." I pointed at Jack.
"He’s already taken me for my next paycheck."
Lightoller cracked his knuckles
in front of him. "Aye. I think we can take him, can’t we?"
Moody nodded.
"Perhaps." He cracked his knuckles, and Jack laughed as he brought
out the deck of cards again.
We played cards, laughing and
telling stories of sailing, life, and our pasts. Everyone had a good time.
"I hear Victoria’s father is
planning on walking both ladies down the aisle."
I looked at Lightoller.
"That’s what I hear. I’m not sure how he’s planning on doing it, but he
has two arms. I guess it’s all right for him to give both of them away."
"I’ve been sailing with you
for a number of years now. If you need me to help you with one of the ladies,
preferably Victoria, I’d be willing to show up tomorrow and lend the services
of my arm."
I knocked him on the shoulder.
"You’ll do no such thing with Victoria. If Jack doesn’t mind, Rose would
probably be all right with the arrangement of Mr. Metcalfe walking his daughter
and you walking Rose, since her father isn’t living anymore."
Lightoller nodded. "Just let
me know. We’re both planning on being there tomorrow, so if you need us, we’re
there for you, Lowe."
"Who said you are
invited?" I looked at Jack and winked. "Distinguished guests
only."
Moody acted hurt. "So,
you’re saying that we’re not invited to our mate’s first wedding?"
"If you’re going to beg, I
guess the two of you can come. But Harold’s told me some stories about your
time out on the sea, so no fish in the wedding punch bowl, please." Jack
couldn’t hold a straight face as he was talking. I had told Jack about the time
Lightoller played a joke on another officer by putting a fish inside the punch
bowl on a trip we took.
Lightoller knew immediately what
we were talking about. "I promise. No fish."