FINDING LOVE IN THE PAST
Chapter Twelve
It was 4:10, and James had just
gotten on board the Carpathia, their rescue ship. The passengers from James’
lifeboat were the first aboard the Carpathia. While everyone was rushed inside,
James wanted to wait for Lily, despite the cold and fatigue. A steward came by
and gave James a blanket and hot chocolate.
Four Hours Later
James was still waiting on the
boat deck for Lily. He watched as lifeboat after lifeboat was brought on board
with the survivors. Finally, the last lifeboat approached the Carpathia. He
searched the lifeboat with difficulty. The lifeboat was so crowded that the
sides of the boat were only inches above the waves. At last, he spotted Lily.
She was shivering from the cold.
Lily’s POV
Twenty Minutes Later
Lily finally came aboard. She was
shivering from the cold and could barely stand still. A steward gave her a warm
blanket. After she thanked him, she looked around for James. Then she saw him.
Their eyes locked. She started to walk towards him as fast as she could, then
increased her speed. When she reached him, they embraced. Lily had tears of
happiness running down her face. "James! James, you’re here! I was so
scared that you wouldn’t make it."
"Lily, you have no confidence
in me." They broke apart and James wiped the tears from Lily’s face.
"I would never leave you like that."
"I was so scared."
"I know. I was, too. Let’s
go inside now. You’re freezing."
When Lily and James got inside, a
steward directed them to the library, where beds were set up for passengers.
Since there were only a few rooms left for the passengers of the Titanic, a lot
of people had to sleep in either the library or the smoking room. When they
entered the library, Lily explained to James why her lifeboat was the last to
be brought aboard. "Well, since the lifeboat could carry at least
twenty-five more people, at daybreak some passengers from Boat 14 came aboard.
We also took on passengers that were on top of the lifeboat that was turned
upside down. With all the extra weight, it took us a long time to reach the
Carpathia."
It was about three o’clock when
Lily and James woke up from a nap in the library. There had been an
announcement that a list of all the survivors was available, and that there was
going to be a small church service for all those who were lost at sea. When
Lily and James reached the dining room, where the list of survivors was posted,
they waited until the crowd passed. As soon as most of the crowd passed, they
scanned the list. They noticed that in steerage Linda wasn’t on the list. And,
of course, John wasn’t on the list, either. They moved on to first class. They
searched and found Kathleen on the list. They looked for a long time for Max’s
name. After checking more than once, they realized that he hadn’t survived.
"Oh, my God…" James
whispered under his breath.
"How could he…?" Lily
trailed off. Tears formed in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away.
"We should find
Kathleen," James said. He and Lily walked out of the room.
After exploring room after room,
they finally found Kathleen sitting alone on a bed. They walked over to her as
quietly as they could. "Kathleen?" Lily asked gently.
Kathleen looked up. She had red
rims around her eyes. The look on her face told them that she knew about Max.
"Lily! James!" She stood up slowly and hugged both of them. "I’m
glad that you’re both alive."
James said quietly,
"Kathleen…um…when I was still on the Titanic, I saw Max. He gave me
this." He pulled out the letter and handed it to Kathleen. "He told
me to give it to you."
Kathleen opened the letter, her
hands trembling. She read the letter once to herself and more tears appeared in
her eyes.
Lily said, "Maybe you should
sit down." Kathleen sat down on the bed. Lily and James sat down in front of
her.
Kathleen looked up at James and
Lily and said quietly, "I’m sorry. Want me to tell you what the letter
says?" When she got no answer, she read the letter in her hands out loud.
"Dearest Kathleen,"
she read. "If you are reading this letter now, it means that I am no
longer with you. It also means that you are alive and safe, which is most
important to me. It also means our baby has survived. Please take good care of
him. You will be a wonderful mother. Tell him that his father loved him very
much. I know that we shall meet again, even if it takes us many lifetimes. But
we will find each other, and we will have the life we always dreamed about
together. Please take comfort in knowing that I will love you and our child
always and forever. Until we meet again. Max."
Lily had tears in her eyes.
"Baby? What baby?"
Kathleen paused before answering.
"Well, we just found out two days ago that I’m pregnant."
It was a moment before Lily said,
"I think Max would have made a great father."
Kathleen nodded. "He was so
excited when we found out. You should have seen him. He was so happy. My dream
had come true, you know? I wanted to fall in love and have a family. My life
was perfect. Then…then, when the Titanic sank, my dream sank with it."
James said softly, "Everything
will be fine. Don’t worry."
"I don’t know what to
do!" Kathleen exclaimed. "I can’t go back to my parents."
"Why?" Lily asked.
"Well, it all started when
Max and I first met. It was at my debut more than a year ago. We saw each other
across the room, and the rest is a blur. We talked practically the whole night.
I remember that when I had to leave, Max kissed my hand and said, ‘Until we
meet again.’ My father never liked him. He thought that Max wasn’t good enough
for me. My father kept telling me to marry for money so I’d be taken care of,
but I didn’t care about that. He forbade me from seeing Max ever again. But
that didn’t stop us. Over the next month, Max and I met in secret and soon we
fell in love with each other. Everything was perfect, and for the first time in
my life, I was happy. Then all hell broke loose. My parents betrothed me to
some man twice my age. While they planned my wedding, Max and I were searching
for a way out of my engagement. For the longest time, we couldn’t think of any
solution."
Lily was astonished. "What
happened? How did you get out of your engagement?"
"Well, I tried to put off
the wedding plans. I hid the wedding invitations. I also claimed I couldn’t
decide on dresses for the bridesmaids. That held off the wedding for six
months. My parents didn’t realize I didn’t want to get married to the man they
chose. On our one year anniversary, Max and I went to the park for a late night
stroll. We were walking when Max told me that he loved me more than anyone else
and he asked me to marry him. I felt the same way, and I said yes. Of course,
it was a problem, though, since I was already betrothed. When I told my parents
that Max had proposed, they were enraged and moved up the wedding so it would
be the next month. The only solution to my problem was that Max and I should
elope. I escaped from my parent’s mansion and left a note. Soon, Max and I were
married and we spent our honeymoon in Europe."
James finished, "And you two
were coming back home on the Titanic."
Kathleen nodded and more tears
fell. "I don’t feel very well. I’m going to go to the doctor on board and
then I might as well send word to Max’s parents. Thank you both so much for
comforting me." Kathleen stood up and slowly walked out of the room.
*****
James and Lily were walking down
the hallways of the ship. Now what do we do? James thought. They
continued to walk for a while, and then there was a slight popping noise coming
from behind them. They turned, and there was the time turner in the middle of the
floor. "Where did that come from?"
"I don’t know. Let’s go back
to Hogwarts, please." They both walked towards the time turner and picked
it up at the same time. The hallway started to become blurry. All James and
Lily knew was that they were going back to Hogwarts.