GRATITUDE
Chapter Five
The next day, the couple spent
the day the way they normally spent the day. Breakfast, walking, spending some
time in their suite talking, lunch. Then, while Thomas would have to run some
errands, Arabella would talk with her few friends on the ship. Then Arabella
would work on her story and then afterwards they went to dinner. When they
reached the dining saloon, they stopped for a moment to speak with JJ Astor and
his wife, Madeline.
While the two men spoke, Arabella
looked around and noticed Rose standing a little ways up with Molly Brown
and...the boy from the night before, Mr. Dawson, as Rose had called him.
Arabella smiled and then pushed a strand of her black hair out of her eyes that
had fallen from the top of her head. A few minutes later, Rose, Molly, and Mr.
Dawson came up to them all.
"We'll see you later,"
Thomas said. Then he and Arabella walked over to their table. At the table,
Colonel Gracie was already seated.
"Good evening,
Colonel," Arabella said as she sat down.
"Good evening, Thomas, Arabella,"
the Colonel said.
Thomas sat down beside Arabella
and smiled at the Colonel. "Good evening. How are you this evening?"
Thomas asked.
"Very well. Thank you,"
the Colonel replied.
The rest of the people who sat
with Arabella, sitting in between Thomas and Molly, were Rose on Thomas's other
side, then Cal, Ruth, Bruce Ismay, Colonel Gracie, the Countess, Guggenheim,
Madame Aubert, and the Astors. After they ordered, Arabella was saying
something in a whisper to Molly when she heard Ruth speak up.
"Tell us of the
accommodations in steerage, Mr. Dawson. I hear they're quite good on this
ship," she said.
Arabella rolled her eyes and then
looked to Jack.
"The best I've seen, ma'am.
Hardly any rats," Jack replied.
Arabella grinned and then grinned
wider at Ruth's disgusted smile.
"Mr. Dawson is joining us
from third class. He was of some assistance to my fiancée last night," Cal
spoke up.
"And where exactly do you
live, Mr. Dawson?" Ruth asked after seeing Jack turn down some caviar.
"Well, right now my address
is the RMS Titanic. After that, I'm on God's good humor," Jack said.
Arabella smiled at this. She
liked the thought. But then she lost her grin when Ruth spoke.
"You find that sort of
rootless existence appealing, do you?" she asked.
Molly and Arabella both looked at
Ruth, annoyed.
"Well...it's a big world,
and I want to see it all before I go. My father was always talking about going
to see the ocean. He died in the town he was born in, and never did see it. You
can't wait around, because you never know what hand you're going to get dealt
next. See, my folks died in a fire when I was fifteen, and I've been on the
road since. Something like that teaches you to take life as it comes at you. To
make each day count," Jack said.
Molly raised her glass.
"Well said, Jack," she stated.
Colonel Gracie then raised his
glass in agreement. " Hear, hear," he stated.
"To making it count,"
Rose said.
Everyone at the table raised
their glasses and drank at the toast.
"How is it you have the
means to travel, Mr. Dawson?" Ruth asked.
"I work my way from place to
place. Tramp steamers and such. I won my ticket on Titanic here in a lucky hand
at poker. A very lucky hand," Jack replied.
"All life is a game of
luck," the Colonel said.
"A real man makes his own
luck, Archie," Cal replied.
Rose looked at Thomas and noticed
Thomas was out of the conversation completely. He was busy jotting notes in his
notepad.
"Mr. Andrews, what are you
doing? I see you everywhere, writing in this little book," Rose said. Then
she took the notebook and looked at it. "Increase number of screws in hat
hooks from two to three. You build the biggest ship in the world and this
preoccupies you?" Rose asked.
Thomas smiled sheepishly and then
looked to Arabella with a slight smile.
"He knows every rivet in
her, don't you, Thomas?" Ismay asked.
"All three million of
them," Thomas replied.
"His blood and soul are in
the ship. She may be mine on paper, but in the eyes of God, she belongs to
Thomas Andrews," Ismay stated.
Arabella smiled that for once
Bruce was not taking credit for something he didn't do.
"Your ship is a wonder, Mr.
Andrews. Truly," Rose said.
"Thank you, Rose,"
Thomas replied with another smile.
After dinner, while the other men
retreated to the smoking room, Thomas and Arabella said good evening to their
tablemates and then returned to their suite. As they were walking, Arabella
began to feel faint and while still on the deck, she went running to the side
to throw up over the side of the ship.
"Arabella, dear, are you all
right?" Thomas asked.
"Yeah. I just felt ill. That
was strange. My stomach just began to churn and I felt the need to throw
up," Arabella answered.
"Maybe we should see the
ship’s doctor," Thomas said.
"Maybe we should. Just to be
safe. I know it's not seasickness. I never get that," Arabella said as
they walked to the first class doctor's office.
The doctor took Arabella behind a
screen to examine her, leaving Thomas outside the office. About fifteen minutes
later, Arabella emerged from the office.
"Well? Is everything all
right?" Thomas asked.
"Yes. I'll tell you in
private," Arabella said.
Thomas looked at her, confused,
and then led her to their suite.
Once inside, Arabella sat down on
the sofa with Thomas.
"Thomas, the doctor believes
that the reason why I felt ill is because I might be with child," Arabella
said.
Thomas looked at her as if he had
misheard.
"What?" he asked.
"The doctor said I felt ill
because I'm possibly with child," Arabella replied.
Thomas smiled and pulled Arabella
into a embrace, not wanting to even think about what happened when his wife
Helen had given birth to a baby. After they pulled out of the hug, they stayed
up talking for about an hour and then they went to sleep.
The next morning, Arabella and
Thomas woke, dressed for the morning church services, had some breakfast on the
promenade deck, and then went up to the dining saloon right where church was
held. After the service, Arabella and Thomas went around and gave Ruth, Rose,
and Cal a tour of the ship. When they were on the bridge, Thomas was explaining
something when Harold Bride came up, holding a Marconigram, which he handed to
Captain Smith.
"Another ice warning, sir.
This one from the Baltic," Harold said.
"Thank you, Sparks,"
the Captain said. Then he looked at the nervous Rose. "Not to worry. It's
quite normal for this time of year. In fact, we're speeding up. I've just
ordered the last boilers lit," Smith replied.
Thomas scowled slightly before
motioning the group towards the door.
As they were out on the boat
deck, Arabella was looking at something when she heard Rose speak up.
"Mr. Andrews, I did the sum
in my head, and with the number of lifeboats times the capacity you
mentioned...forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone
aboard," Rose said.
"About half, actually. Rose,
you miss nothing, do you? In fact, I put in these new type davits, which can
take an extra row of boats here," Thomas said, with a gesture towards the
boats. "But it was thought...by some...that the deck would look too
cluttered. So I was overruled," Thomas continued.
Arabella rolled her eyes,
remembering Thomas telling her that it was Bruce that had demanded they be
taken off.
Cal took his cane and hit the
side of the lifeboat with it. "Waste of deck space as it is, on an
unsinkable ship!" he said.
"Sleep soundly, young Rose.
I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's all the lifeboat you
need," Thomas said.
They continued on with the tour
with them not noticing Rose was pulled away from the group.
After the tour, Thomas went on
his usual check on the ship, and as much as she wished to not spend time with
Ruth DeWitt Bukater, she went and had tea with them.
Arabella sat listening to the
conversation, but observing the distant Rose.
"Of course, the invitations
had to be sent back to the printers twice. And the bridesmaids’ dresses! Let me
tell you what an odyssey that has been," Ruth said and then continued on
talking about the wedding.
A few moments later, Rose stood
up and left and Arabella was feeling tired, so she left for her room. When she
returned to the suite, Thomas was taking some notes and Arabella went to lay
down and take a nap.