AN ADVENTURE TO REMEMBER AND A MEMORY TO FORGET
Chapter Eight
When dinner was over and the men
stood up to go to the smoking room, Jack bent down to kiss Rose’s hands. I saw
him slip her a piece of paper. I saw the look in both of their eyes when he
left the room.
"Rose, what’s that?" I
whispered while pointing to Jack’s note.
She opened it and read it. Then
she passed it to me. ‘Make it count. Meet me at the clock.’
"Are you going to meet
him?"
Rose looked at me. "Should
I?"
"Of course. I have my own
plans for after dinner. You tell your mother you’re going with me and I’ll tell
Father I am going with you. We can both do what we need to do."
Rose nodded and we told our
respective parents what was going on. When we walked out of the dining room
together, we looked at each other and giggled.
I left her at the clock with Jack
and they took off to a third class party in their dining area. Rose said she’d
find me later. I had my own plans. Harry was waiting on me.
I made my way to the place where
I met Harry last night. I got there before he did. I was glad I stopped by my
state room to pick up my coat. It was a little colder tonight than it was last
night.
"What a chance meeting we
have here." I smiled as I heard a thick Welsh accent behind me. Harry
walked up behind me and kissed me on the side of my neck. I realized then that
it wasn’t the air that caused shivers to go down my spine. I turned around to
face him.
"Chance huh? I wouldn’t go
calling it that. Fate or could it be that you wanted me to meet you here?"
I said.
"You got me there. And here
I was thinking we were supposed to meet on purpose." He said as he kissed
me on the lips. "Are you cold?" he asked.
"No, why?"
He smiled, "You’re
shivering. I was going to take you some place out of the cold, but if you’re
not cold, we can stay here."
"Since you put it that
way…" I stopped for a minute. "What did you have in mind?"
Harry looked around. "Do you
trust me?"
"Why wouldn’t I?" I
replied coyly.
Harry took my hand and led me
towards the front of the ship. "Be quiet when you walk through here."
He stopped at the corner of the officer’s quarters and peered around the
corner. "It’s safe. Come on." He led me into his room. He ushered me
through the door and did one last look before shutting us both inside.
"Welcome to my world"
he said as he gestured to his quarters.
I shifted uncomfortably in my
boots. I swallowed hard. "This is yours?"
He looked at me funny.
"Well, it is until we dock in New York. Then after that, probably on my
way back to England. After that, it could be anyone’s." He smiled at me.
"I take it you’ve never been in a room with someone like me all
alone?"
"No I haven’t. I’m not
really sure what to do." I said as I cleared off a spot to sit on the bed.
Harry sat next to me. "We
don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I just figured in here, we
could at least have a little bit of privacy." He leaned in to kiss me. I
let him. I knew I was going to get into severe trouble if anyone found out but
I didn’t care. He did something to me. Something that I had never had happen
before.
I pulled away. "What’s
wrong?" He asked.
I got up and smoothed a wrinkle
out of the bottom part of my dress. "I can’t be here." I looked
around the room before my eyes settled back on Harry. "It’s not proper for
me to be here alone. If my Father found out I was here, he’d throw us both
overboard."
Harry laughed. "He won’t
find out if you don’t want him to." He moved in closer to me. He put his
arms around my shoulders and held me close to him. It felt good. He started to
turn me around to face him. He whispered in my ear, "and I told you,
nothing has to happen unless you want it to" which was followed by another
sweeter and longer kiss. I reciprocated and realized I didn’t want the night to
end.
Harry stopped. "I know you
don’t want anything to go any farther and I respect you for that. By just being
here today with me is going well beyond the boundaries that you usually stay
within."
I stopped a minute. "You are
right. But it feels good to break through the boundaries every now and again. I
could get used to this." I leaned in for another kiss.
We stayed in his state room for a
good hour, just talking and getting to know each other. I learned Harry had
been sailing now going on fifteen years and had left home at an early age after
a problem with his father. I told him how I grew up without a mother and only
with Shannon and my father. We really seemed to hit it off.
"It’s getting late. We
better get you back to your room otherwise your father will have the Master at
Arms hunting both of us down." He stood up and held his hands out. I stood
up too and interlaced my fingers with his. He pulled me close and I rested my
head on his shoulder and he held me. I did not want to go back.
"I don’t want to go
back." I looked up into his eyes.
He kissed my forehead. "I
know. But I need to get you back before we both get into trouble."
He opened his door and peered
out, checking for anyone who might see us. When he didn’t see anyone, he led me
back to the deck of the Titanic.
I was a little cold. Harry put
his arm around my shoulder to bring me in closer to keep me warm. We walked to
the entrance to the hall where my room was. He kissed me goodnight and I
watched him walk back towards his room.
I opened the door and walked
towards my room. I ran into Rose who was obviously a little drunk. She ran over
to me, still had that same smile on her face when she met Jack at the clock.
"How’d your party go?"
I asked as I met up with her. We both started towards our room.
"I had a wonderful time.
Mother would not agree nor would she let me live if she knew what I did, but
you know what, I don’t care. I am alive now thanks to Jack. How’d your date go
with the ship’s 5th officer?"
I sheepishly looked at the carpet
in the hallway. "Fine."
Rose put her hand under my chin
and brought my eyes up to meet hers. "You love him! You have that look in
your eyes. Oh how I wish I had that with Cal but mother doesn’t care. She only
cares about the money." She stopped and leaned against a wall. "Don’t
let it go. If you like Officer Lowe, let him know." She unlocked her door
after she said she’d see me at breakfast the next morning after Sunday
services.
I let myself in my room and
changed before falling into a deep sleep.