THE GRACE OF THE SEA
Chapter Four
April 11th
A Beautiful April Afternoon
Cassandra and Grace still sat at
the table, grinning profusely. It wasn’t unusual for Cassandra to be like this;
she was always happy, but Grace was another story.
"My, my, you’re all
smiles!" Montgomery said to his daughter. She didn’t acknowledge this
statement. "Grace, darling?" She now looked up to see the table all
looking at her.
"Yes?" she asked, her
blue eyes open widely. The color of her dress made her eyes stand out even more
than usual that afternoon.
Montgomery cleared his throat.
"I was just saying that you seem awfully happy," he said.
"You’re pleased with the news, I take it."
"News? Oh, yes, about
Benjamin. I’m very pleased," she said with forced enthusiasm.
Cassandra knew her dear cousin inside and out, and could sense she was hiding
something. Her happiness when she first reached the table was genuine, but now,
with her father, there was something false about her smile.
Throughout lunch, Cassandra
continued pondering this as she observed Grace’s behavior. During meals, she
always was the quiet one who only spoke when spoken to. However, before she had
always shown an interest in the conversation, at least. Now she seemed to be
concentrating on a string bean with an odd sort of fascination, as she used her
fork to move it across the plate in circles.
From the other side of the dining
saloon, a clock began to chime. This anticipated sound brought Grace’s gaze up
from her plate and to the clock immediately. It was two o’clock. She took her
napkin from her lap onto the table and began to excuse herself. Her face had
brightened up considerably, as she was clearly glad to be able to leave.
"Ah…yes, I almost
forgot," Elizabeth said. The table looked up. "This morning, Grace
lost her direction and ended up in steerage. Some person down there damaged her
book in some way. They’re meeting to discuss how he will pay Grace back."
Grace was continually looking back at the clock, noting all the seconds she was
wasting standing at the table, trying to get away.
Cassandra nudged Grace’s leg.
"Your book?" she asked.
"Not now," Grace
whispered back through gritted teeth. Speaking up now, Grace said, "I told
him I would meet him at two. I hadn’t thought lunch would continue on past
that."
"Why such haste?"
Cassandra asked. "Why not sit for a bit longer? This steerage boy can wait
for a bit, can’t he?" She looked around the table for agreement, and
received nods. Cassandra looked up at Grace with a satisfied grin on her face.
"Breaking promises is not a wise thing to do to me," she said under
her breath.
Grace scowled at her cousin.
"Actually, I really must be going. Perhaps Cassandra can tell you about
her newest acquaintance, Douglas Johnston." The table immediately erupted
in comments about him. Grace backed away from the table, pleased with her
retort. Cassandra looked back at Grace and gave her a look of defeat. Grace
smiled, then hurried out of the room. As Cassandra watched Grace whisking out
the door, she realized that there was much more than her book on her mind.
Once out on the promenade deck,
Grace began heading aft towards the lower decks. As she walked past the
windows, she paused to look at the reflection. "Oh, dear," she
whispered, then began to meddle with her hair and dress. She attempted to
smooth out the wrinkles acquired during lunch on her blue dress and tried to
secure loose strands of hair that had fallen out of place. She was finally
pleased with her appearance and continued aft.
The west coast of Ireland was
still at its full size not far behind the stern. The Titanic had only started
steaming off minutes ago. Tommy was leaning on the rail, taking in all he could
of his one and only home that he was he was never going to see again.
Left behind on the coast were his
mother and sister, who had tearfully bade him farewell as he headed out to
America. Along with tears, looks of hope had adorned their faces--hope that
Tommy would be able to find work, hope that he would send money for them to
join him, and hope that their family would be together once again.
Tommy felt alone standing there,
watching everything he had ever known being slowly swallowed by the horizon. He
was almost at the point of regretting leaving his family when he turned his
head just in time to see something that totally alleviated any of his doubts.
There, standing on the deck, highlighted by sunlight, stood the first person he
had met on the day when he started a new life for himself.
Grace had paused at the gate to
the lower decks. She had to make sure one last time that her hair was all in its
proper place and that her dress had no wrinkles. As she did this, Tommy turned
back to the ocean and busied himself with his hat.
She unlatched the gate and gave a
nod to the steward monitoring it. Grace’s shoes clunked quietly on the wood as
she nervously approached Tommy from behind. She was barely a few feet away from
him when he turned around, his eyes wide and mouth open slightly in shock.
Grace inhaled sharply at his sudden motion.
"Hi," Tommy breathed.
"Hi," Grace replied. An
awkward silence followed as they continued to just look at each other.
"About your book,"
Tommy started.
"My what?" Grace asked,
still caught up in the meeting. "My book. Yes. Right."
Tommy said, "That is why
we’re here."
"Yes, it is." Grace
seemed a bit discouraged when Tommy said that. She thought that he had felt
something for her when they had met only hours ago, as she did for him. Perhaps
she was just mistaken. "I just thought..." She trailed off.
Tommy thought he knew where she
was going with this last statement. "Thought what?" he inquired with
a large grin, concealing his chuckles.
Grace looked up at Tommy’s smile.
"Are--are you laughing at me?" she asked, surprised and slightly
exasperated.
"No, no, I’m
just--"Tommy started.
"You’re just laughing at
me!" Grace finished his sentence, her hands on her hips.
"All right," Tommy
said. "S’pose I was laughin’ at you. What then?"
"I would be offended."
"Then what?"
"I would leave."
"Why?"
"Because you offended
me!" Grace said loudly.
"Are you gonna leave,
then?" Tommy asked skeptically.
Grace paused. "Do you want
me to leave?" She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for an answer.
Tommy thought for a minute.
"Well, if you want to..."
"You didn’t answer my
question!" Grace argued.
He looked at her for a moment,
studying her facial expression. "No. I want you to stay." Grace
smiled at Tommy, who shyly smiled back.
"I wasn’t going to leave,
anyway. You still have to compensate me for the damage you caused to my
book," she teased, taking a few steps towards the rail, looking at the
foam emitted from the propellers.
"Maybe once we reach New
York I could purchase you a brand new book!" Tommy played along, picking
up on the faint sarcasm in her voice.
Grace said, "It’s a
beautiful April afternoon. We’re on the grandest ship in the world. Perhaps you
could enjoy this day with me, and then we can call it even."
"Sounds fine with me,"
Tommy agreed.
"Good." The two
continued to look at the ocean behind the ship. The outline of Ireland could be
still seen. A conversation started about Ireland between the two, in which
Tommy told her about his family.
One topic led to another, and
Grace and Tommy continued to laugh and joke all afternoon, completely losing
track of time. The sun was beginning to descend beyond the horizon as they
walked in circles around the poop deck.
"Oh, dear," Grace said.
"How long have we been at this?"
Tommy checked his pocket watch.
"It’s near six o’clock."
"I must be getting back. My
parents probably are questioning whether or not I’ve gotten lost once
more." She laughed.
Tommy felt a bit disappointed. He
had wanted this afternoon to go on forever. "Well, can I at least walk you
to your room?"
They headed up to the gate to the
upper decks. Their conversation picked up once more as they entered the first
class corridors on B-deck. In no time, they were standing at the door to B-63.
Grace stopped in front of the
door, her hand on the knob. She turned around to face Tommy standing there.
"So, good-bye, I guess..." she said.
"Yeah, g’bye. I had a great
time today," Tommy told her.
"Me, too," Grace
replied. She held her hand out for a handshake, not knowing what else to do,
even though she wanted so much more. Tommy took her hand. Grace pulled his arm
until he was face-to-face with her, then kissed him. She pulled away quickly,
surprised at what she had done, as was Tommy.
Grace said, "I’m so sorry. I
don’t know what came over me. I just--"
She was stopped as Tommy brought
his lips to hers once more. Grace leaned against the door and wrapped her arms
around Tommy’s neck. They were suddenly parted as the door opened, causing
Grace to fall back into her room, bumping into a confused Cassandra at the
door.
Tommy quickly turned away,
pretending to not have been doing anything, thinking it was Grace’s mother at
the door.
"Grace?" Cassandra asked,
confused. "Who was that at the door?" She poked her head into the
hall and saw Tommy’s back to her.
"I’ll tell you in just a
moment. I need to take care of something quickly," Grace responded. She
walked into the hall and closed the door behind her.
"Who is that?" Tommy
asked.
"Just my cousin," Grace
said. "If my mother or father find out about this, I don’t know what’s
going to happen!"
"Will I be able to see you
tomorrow?" Tommy asked.
Grace sighed. "I can’t
promise anything."
Tommy thought for a moment.
"Saturday night. Meet me in the third class general room, okay?"
"All right. I’ll promise
that. I’ll try to find you tomorrow," Grace said. Tommy nodded, then
started down the hall. He turned around and gave Grace a kiss, which she
willingly accepted.
Tommy headed down the hall as
Grace stepped back into the room and closed the door tightly, facing Cassandra,
allowing her curiosity get the best of her. Grace let out a sigh, then began to
tell her everything.
A few doors past B-63, Tommy
nodded to a man in a suit who was standing in the hall. He had just noticed
him, but quickly forgot about him as he continued down below deck.
A steward approached the suited
man and said, "Mr. Montgomery. Your wife, Elizabeth, asked me to find you.
She’s in your stateroom at the moment."
Montgomery nodded to the steward,
yet his eyes didn’t leave the steerage man who was just kissing his daughter.