AN OCEAN OF EMOTION
Chapter One
Victoria
My feet hurt, my back hurt, and
my ankles were so swollen I could barely see my shoes. I eased myself down into
a chair in what was to be the baby’s room and closed my eyes for a moment. I
felt a strong kick in my midsection and my eyes shot open again.
"I see you are wanting some
attention." I patted my rounded stomach and reached over for a scrapbook
Harry had left on a table in the baby’s room. I was flipping through it,
talking to the baby as if it was already here. "This article is about your
father. The congressional inquests from the sinking of the Titanic, which
brought us together, were going on. An inquest is…well…never mind. We’ll
explain that to you when you get old enough." I skimmed the article until
I found a place to start. "I’ll read some to you. Here we go." I
started to read. "Fifth Officer Harold Lowe took the stand shortly after
Officer Charles Lightoller finished answering what was estimated to be over
fifteen hundred questions from the committee." I stopped to flip the page.
"That’s your godfather, by the way." I continued reading. "His
question and answer session was one of the longer ones given to any Titanic
passenger or surviving crewmember. One of the more notable answers from the
inquest sessions was an answer that Officer Lowe gave to a question after being
asked what icebergs were made of. After a low laugh from the gallery and a
confused look from Lowe, he cleared his throat and confidently replied, ‘Ice, I
suppose, sir.’ After a low laugh from the gallery, the senator in charge seemed
pleased with the answer. He began asking questions about why Lowe went back
when his main duty was with the passengers in the boat he was navigating. His
reply was that his duty was to protect passengers on board the Titanic. When it
sank, his duty became to rescue the survivors out of the water. Though six
people were saved, including the daughter of English steel businessman James
Metcalfe, an older, married couple, a woman who had lost her husband on board
and a couple on their honeymoon, Lowe said he would have gone back and done it
all over again. There is still no word from the White Star Line if Lowe’s
actions are going to make him a hero or make him jobless." I scanned the
photos that were included with the article. There was an artist’s drawing of
the Titanic sinking with the iceberg in the background, a photo of both Lowe
and Lightoller on the stand, another photo of some more of the officers,
including a photo of the late Captain Smith, a photo of the senator in charge
of the hearings as well as a photo of my father and me in the gallery and a few
of the more notable passengers including Madeline Astor and the late J.J.
Astor, Molly Brown, and Thomas Ismay. I squinted my eyes at the photo of Father
and me and realized that I could make out a few people behind me, including
Rose and Jack. Just seeing the drawing of the Titanic again sent chills down my
spine. I shook the memory of that night out and I tried to straighten up in the
chair, but found it next to impossible with my stomach being the size it was.
"See? Your father is the brave one. I hope you take after him."
"Who are you reading
to?"
I looked up from the scrapbook
and my expanding waistline to see my husband leaning against the door.
"The baby. I was going to come in here and put away some of the clothes
Rose and I got shopping yesterday, but decided that they could wait. I wanted
to try out this rocking chair you bought us while I looked through the
scrapbook Shannon made for our belated wedding present." I flipped through
a few more pages as Harry talked.
Harry leaned down to kiss me.
"How is it?"
I read through an announcement
for our wedding as I rocked back and forth for a moment before I answered.
"Perfect. You’ll have no problem rocking our baby back to sleep when she
wakes up. You can read her our wedding announcement." I stopped to look at
the article.
English Steel Tycoon James
Metcalfe’s Daughter, Victoria, Weds the Titanic’s Fifth Officer Days After
Sinking.
The headline was bolded and a
short article followed.
Just days after the sinking of
what reporters called the grandest ship and yet at the same time the ship that
God Himself could not sink, the Titanic’s Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe
exchanged wedding vows with Metcalfe’s oldest daughter, Victoria Anne, age
twenty. Victoria’s younger sister, Shannon, served as the flower girl and the
Reverend Henry Madison served as officiator over the ceremony, which took place
at the Astoria Hotel in New York City. When asked about his daughter’s
nuptials, James replied, "This is the happiest day in my life, the
saddest, and the toughest. It’s hard to let go of my daughter after having
raised her all of her life. All fathers with daughters know what I’m going
through. I am very pleased with the wedding and wish only the best to my daughter
and my new son-in-law." Lowe, an officer with the White Star Line, and
Mrs. Lowe will make their home in New York City after a honeymoon in
Pittsburgh, PA.
Harry looked at me and smiled.
"What makes you think I’ll be the one up? And also, what makes you think
the baby will be a girl? What if I want a boy?"
I stood up with Harry’s help. I
kissed him on the cheek as I walked out of the room. "You’ll have your
fair share of nights where it’ll be your turn to rock our baby to sleep. And as
for the girl or boy issue, if you really want a boy, then I guess we’ll just
have to keep trying for a boy, won’t we?" I started to walk out of the
hall and got a little dizzy. I stopped to lean against the wall and watched my
nervous husband rush to my side.
"Are you all right? Do we
need to call Mrs. Miller?"
I shook my head. My housekeeper
was the last woman I needed helping me right now. "No, I’m fine. I think I
just did too much today. Rose and I went out earlier this morning for a walk
and I think we just overdid it in this weather. It was a little chilly this
morning."
Harry looped his arm around my
waist and led me down the few stairs to our sitting area. He propped my feet up
in his special chair, walked over to the fireplace, and threw another log onto
the fire to keep it going. "Rose and Jack are coming over for dinner. Is
that all right?"
I nodded. "That’s fine. I
hope they don’t mind if I’m not much of a hostess tonight. I’m really
tired."
"Mrs. Miller made a huge
dinner before she left to go check on her granddaughter. She said she’d be back
later on tonight, but I gave her the night off. She’ll be here tomorrow to make
breakfast and clean up."
I nodded as I sank into the
chair. "That’s fine."
I rested for a little bit while
Harry set the table and waited for Rose and Jack to get here. Rose was about a
month or so ahead of me in her pregnancy. She had evidently gotten pregnant
while still on the Titanic, as she was almost seven months along. I had gotten
pregnant shortly after our honeymoon in Pittsburgh. No one seemed to put the
math together with Rose, so she was in the clear. I saw the paper lying on the
table next to Harry’s chair and started to read. Nothing really caught my eye,
so I just set the paper back on the table and tried to relax for a moment before
another strong kick brought me back into consciousness. "You really are
demanding, you know that?" I spoke while looking at my stomach. "I
don’t know how I am going to manage two demanding men in my life. Your father
is bad enough."
"Now you know how I feel
every time I get kicked."
I looked up to see Rose standing
in the arched entrance to the kitchen area. She was about as fatigued as I was.
"Rose! I didn’t even hear you come in. Where’s Jack?" I stood up out
of the chair and got a hug from Rose before we both walked back into the
kitchen.
"He’s outside with Harry, I
think. Harry just told me to come on inside, that you were in here. I just let
myself in through the back door." Rose pulled back the curtains to the
window above the kitchen sink. "Harry is showing Jack something, though
I’m not entirely sure what it is." We watched Harry motion with his hands,
but we never could figure out what they were doing. Rose helped me bring the
food to the kitchen table. Jack and Harry came in when we were done.
"This looks great. Tell Mrs.
Miller that her efforts are sure appreciated." Jack sat down at his place
at the table after helping Rose into her chair. Harry helped me into mine, then
fixed drinks for all of us before he sat down and blessed our food. We spent
the next hour or so talking and catching up. Jack had taken Rose on a
mini-vacation to New Jersey to look at the leaves as they changed colors late
in the fall. She said it was a nice getaway and they had enjoyed what would
probably be their last vacation before the baby came.
When we had finished with our
dinner, Rose helped me clean up while the boys went next door to escape the
girl talk. She was helping me wipe down the dinner plates. "Are you
scared?"
I looked down at my stomach
again. "Sort of. I do wish I had my mother here to help me out, but it’s
just me, the baby, and Harry, though Shannon has told me more than once that
she’d be my babysitter, no matter what. I am more than welcome to pull her out
of school if need be."
Rose laughed. "I remember
those days. I used to feign illness so Mother would keep me home from school.
She eventually caught on and summoned the doctor to give me injections every
time I was ill. I eventually caught on to what she used to do and just began
skipping whenever I could. I never had much in common with those girls
anyway."
I looked at my friend as she was
trying to erase a painful memory of her past. "Do you think your mother
would be happy for you right now if she knew?"
Rose sighed and shrugged her
shoulders. "If this was Cal’s baby, then I’m sure she would be. Mother
never understood what it was like to be me. She arranged for my engagement to
Cal simply because of the amount of money he was worth. She didn’t give a damn
about me or my happiness, only to make sure she stayed within the social circle
to which she thought she belonged. It still angers me to think about it."
She stopped to catch her breath and continued, "But that’s all in the
past. I’ve got what I want right now with Jack." She rubbed her stomach.
"I’ve got a baby on the way, a great husband, and my best friend living
next door."
I smiled. "Have you thought
about any names? Harry and I aren’t even going to be able to agree on one, I’m
afraid."
"Jack likes the name James
for a boy and Anne for a girl."
I was shocked. "You are
naming your child after my family?"
Rose slowly nodded. "You and
your father are the reason we are here today. If it wasn’t for your father’s
generosity and your discretion, I’d be married to Cal, probably as far along in
my pregnancy but it’d be his baby instead. I’m never going to be able to thank
you. It’s the least we can do."
"So, should I name our baby
Rose or Jack?"
Rose laughed. "If you
wish."