OLIVIA
Chapter Seven
The door to the stateroom flew
open with Cal still holding onto Olivia’s arm. Angelina and Marietta were
arranging flowers and other items in the sitting room when they entered.
"Leave us!" Cal barked at
them. The two women glanced awkwardly at each other but curtsied and quickly
left the room.
Olivia stepped back when Cal
finally released the hold on her arm. She knew she had angered him, but she was
prepared to stand her ground this time.
"How dare you disobey
me?" he asked, flinging his coat off. "I come back to find that my
wife has not only disappeared, but is acting like a commoner up on deck."
She crossed her arms tightly as
she watched him stalk around the room in agitation.
"What were you thinking,
Olivia? Or were you even thinking at all?" He stopped to look darkly at
her. "I want an answer now."
Olivia could feel her heart begin
to pound in her chest. She had forgotten how menacing Cal could look when he
was angered. But, still she couldn’t understand why he was getting so upset by
what she did. Was complete obedience really that important to him? And if it
was, what did that mean for their marriage? Was she to have no say about her
own life at all?
"Well?" he snapped.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
Finally, she found her voice to
answer him. "I did nothing wrong. I simply wanted to see what was going on
up on the deck. I asked you take me, but you didn’t want to."
"That’s right, and I thought
you understood my reasons. What was going on up there was exactly what I was
trying to avoid."
"There was nothing going on,
Cal. Why are you so upset?"
"Because," he bit out
harshly. "You disobeyed me, my darling wife. You went against my wishes.
That is something I won’t tolerate."
"Nothing happened!" she
cried in exasperation. "I spoke to no one and no one spoke to me."
Cal spun around and took her by
the arms. "I will not have my wife behaving the way I saw you behaving
moments ago. You are a Hockley now and you will learn your place. Is that understood?"
"You’re hurting me!"
Olivia gritted at him.
As if realizing what he was
doing, he stared at the hold he had on her arms. Slowly, he released her and
stepped back. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you."
Olivia stared at him in hurt and
confusion. "I don’t understand any of this, Cal. Why are you acting this
way? Is what I did so horrible that it would cause you to react in this
manner?"
Cal held himself rigid as he
walked to the fireplace and lifted his arm to rest upon the mantle. He placed
the back of his fisted hand against his mouth and stared blankly ahead of him.
Olivia was beginning to wonder if he had even heard what she said. Ever so
slowly, she stepped up behind him and placed her hands on his back.
"Cal," she said
quietly. "What is it? What has you so upset? Surely what I did wasn’t that
bad, was it?"
With a deep breath, he turned to
her and she saw the torment in his eyes. "I’m sorry for my overreaction.
It’s just when I returned and couldn’t find you, I immediately assumed the
worst."
Olivia came around and wrapped
her arms around his middle as if to comfort him. "I suppose I shouldn’t
have gone alone, but I so wanted to see the excitement."
Cal smiled sardonically. "I
forget how young you are and how impetuous you can be."
"I may be impetuous, but at
least you’ll never be bored," she teased him.
"Still, you shouldn’t have
gone alone and unescorted. You’re a married woman now and you have a reputation
to think about, not only yours, but mine, as well. That’s something Rose could
never understand."
Rose again, Olivia thought irritably to herself. All
roads led back to Rose. She felt as if everything she did and said was some
sort of invisible gauge of comparison to his former fiancée. It often felt as
if there were three of them in this marriage and she was beginning to resent
her presence there.
"Rose did everything she
could to come against me, no matter what the consequences. It was a battle of
wills and very frustrating for me. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but perhaps
you need to know. I suppose it’s being on a ship again that has brought these
memories back and have been in the forefront of my mind for several days."
Olivia looked up at him, waiting
for what he had to tell her. She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly felt
apprehensive about it.
"It’s about the Titanic and
what happened while we were on board her," he started. He stepped away
from her and continued. "This is very painful, but…" He paused.
"Rose met another man, a steerage passenger, while we were on board. He
was a gutter rat, a common piece of trash that she eventually betrayed me with.
At first, I didn’t want to believe it, but then she left me proof of her
indiscretion with him, a nude drawing he had made of her. He was an artist of
some sort, you see."
Olivia was shocked and was at a
loss for words. Could that possibly be true? Surely Cal wouldn’t lie about
something so serious. But then she remembered the rumors she had heard and she
realized that obviously there was some truth to them.
"I was devastated, of
course, but still I was willing to forgive her and move ahead. But in the end
she chose him and died with him in the icy waters of the Atlantic."
"Oh, Cal." She reached
for him. "I’m so sorry. I had no idea. How horrible for you."
"Yes, how horrible for
me," he repeated sarcastically. "I was a fool and because of my
blindness, I was betrayed."
"I would never betray you,
Cal. Never. You are my husband and I love you."
"I trusted once and was
deceived. Don’t make me doubt you, Olivia. Don’t ever make me doubt you."
"I never will. You can trust
me, Cal. I won’t ever leave you," she said, trying to reassure him.
"I know you won’t, Olivia. I
won’t let you," he growled, and pulled her close. He reached up and cupped
her face firmly. "You’re mine, and what’s mine, I keep. I expect complete
loyalty and faithfulness from you and anything less is unacceptable. I own you
body and soul. Don’t ever forget it. I lost Rose, but I will not lose
you."
Olivia could feel her pulse race
as Cal swooped down and captured her mouth hotly. He lifted her from the floor
and wrapped his arm under her legs, still holding her tightly against him.
"You’re mine," he
whispered fiercely in her ear. He swiftly carried her across the room to their
bedroom and slammed the door behind him with his foot. He stood her on her
feet, but still was kissing her passionately. "I want a son," he
breathed unevenly. "And if there’s one thing you will come to learn, I
always get what I want."