THE SHIP OF DREAMS
Chapter One
Mac Dawson sighed sadly as she stood in the
bedroom she shared with Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, the four daughters
of the Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Mac found it hard to believe that her time
of living in luxury would end within a few hours. Mac was the daughter of a
poor man named Jack, who was an artist, but her mother had died right after she
was born, and Jack had brought Mac to Russia, her mother’s birthplace, and for
a while they had lived in the peasant village of St. Petersburg.
Mac gazed out the window, watching as the
Tsar was directing one of the imperial family’s personal horses and carriages
through the gate, and a grin spread across her face as she remembered how she
and her father came to live here. One particularly dull and rainy afternoon
three years back, Mac had been romping around the streets of the capitol with
two of her friends when they came across the main gate of the Alexander Palace.
As a dare, the boys had told her to slip through the bars, run up, and touch
the front steps, so she had. Unfortunately, Olga and Tatiana, the two eldest of
the Grand Duchesses, had been playing tennis in the front yard and had spotted
her. After an almost-kidnapping, Mac had been brought to Nicholas, who had
asked her quite a few questions, and in turn allowed Mac to ask him any
questions she wished to have answered.
What she found out would be the key that
would change her life forever. She found out about Alexei, Nicholas’ son and
the heir to the throne, and the Tsar had been looking for an extra guard to
protect him. Mac told the Tsar about her father, telling him that he was
wonderful with children and would make a perfect candidate, so Nicholas sent
Jack a scroll asking him to come to the palace for an interview. From that
moment on, Jack and Mac were considered family, and spent three glorious years
living at the palace.
"Mac, what are you doing just standing
there? Do you have all of your things packed?" Olga came to the doorway of
their bedroom, her arms folded, and was tapping her foot on the rug. Mac
blinked and turned, frowning a bit, for she had not realized that she strayed
into her daydream mode, and felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Yes. All of my things are packed. Why?
Are we leaving?" She felt her heart sink, remembering why she and her
father were leaving, and which mode of transportation they were taking.
*****
About three months ago, Jack had fallen
seriously ill with pneumonia. After he’d recovered, the Tsar had eventually had
to dismiss him from his duties as Alexei’s guard, for he was too weak to take
on anything that was too strenuous. "You are from America, are you
not?" the Tsar had asked after he had pulled Jack at the beginning of the
week.
"Yes, sir. I am," Jack had replied
softly.
"Jack, the White Star Line has just
announced that their new liner, the Titanic, is taking its maiden voyage on the
tenth of April, and I have managed to book three third class tickets. The first
and second class passes were gone. I am sorry."
"Three?" Jack cocked his head.
Nicholas leaned forward with a smile.
"Anastasia desperately wishes to go with you," he whispered.
"She is very attached to Mac. I have allowed her a six month visit to the
United States, if you would not mind having her."
Jack grinned. "That would not be a
problem at all, your highness. Mac would like that very much."
"Good. Here are the passes," the
Tsar announced, reaching into his desk and pulling out three medium-sized
yellow sheets of paper. "I will keep them safe until it is time for your
departure. For now, just rest as much as you can. I do not want you to overwork
yourself."
"Thank you."
"You are welcome. You may go now, and I
do believe you will want to break the news to your daughter."
Jack nodded, before leaving the room.
*****
"Mac! Come on!" Anastasia rushed
into the room, passing Olga on the way, and grabbed Mac’s arm. "Our bags
have been put into the carriage, and we are getting ready to leave. Your father
is outside saying good-bye to everyone, and I am sure you will want to do that
properly as well."
Mac nodded, feeling very sad as she took one
last look at the large bedroom before following her friend out into the long
corridor. They hurried towards the Grand Staircase and descended to the main
ballroom, and charged through the main double doors and outside.
"There they are." Jack laughed as
he lifted Mac into his arms when she approached him. "Are you ready,
sweetheart?" He nuzzled her and she giggled.
"Yes, Papa. I am ready."
Alexandra came up to her and knelt down so
that she was eye-level with the child. "You have brought me such joy in
all of your years here," she told Mac quietly. "I am going to miss
you so very much."
Mac choked on tears and embraced the empress
in a tight hug. "I am going to miss you, too," she sobbed. The Tsar
himself knelt down beside his wife, and also pulled Mac into a tight hug.
"Take care of your father, Mac. And take
care of yourself. Perhaps one day we will meet again." He smiled and
cuffed her cheek gently, and she laughed.
"I hope so," she agreed. Then, it
was time to say good-bye to the other grand duchesses, which was a very teary
occasion, but it was worst when she got to Alexei, who rested his forehead
against hers.
"I do wish you did not have to go,"
he whispered. "You are the--the best friend I have ever had."
Mac nodded. "I know, Alexei. And I do
promise to write to you."
"Do not forget me," Alexei
whispered.
"I never will," Mac promised before
turning back to her father, who was hugging Olga, Tatiana, and Marie.
Eventually, Jack turned to shake hands with Nagorny, who told him, "A
pleasure working with you, Jack. Keep well."
Jack nodded. "I’ll do my best," he admitted.
Anastasia’s lower lip was trembling as she
hugged her parents and her siblings, who were telling her to have a wonderful
trip and to be extremely careful about keeping her identity a secret on the
ship and in the country.
"I will, Mama. I promise,"
Anastasia replied, when her mother begged her to write as soon as they reached
New York.
"And do not lose your camera,"
Nicholas added with a wink. "All right. We must not miss the train. It is
time to go." He climbed into the carriage and nodded to his passengers,
who, with final waves and kisses, climbed in after him. Anastasia and Mac
continued to wave out the rear window of the carriage until the palace
disappeared from sight, and then they turned back around, each looking at each
other sadly.
"This will be so exciting!"
Anastasia whispered. "I get to go to America!"
"And I get to go home," Mac added.
Jack smiled softly to himself, but he hated
the idea of leaving this amazing lifestyle behind. He had gotten used to
staying with the imperial family, attending balls and enormous feasts, fancy
clothes, and it had taken him nearly a month to find his way around the palace.
He glanced at the Tsar, who was busy steering the horses down the muddy path,
still slippery from the previous night’s rain.
"Jack?"
Jack looked over his shoulder and realized
that the youngest grand duchess had spoken to him, and was grinning from ear to
ear, her eyes twinkling. "Yes, Anastasia?" he replied.
"Have you been to New York before?"
He laughed. "Once or twice when I was a
child."
"Is it as big as St. Petersburg?"
she asked.
"It is."
"Are there palaces?"
"No, I am afraid not." He laughed.
"You’ll get to see it soon enough,
Ana," Mac promised. "Trust me." She winked, and her friend
giggled.
The ride to the train station took a good
hour and a half, and soon Jack, Mac, and Anastasia said their final good-byes
to Nicholas, who remained in the carriage before boarding. They sat down after
placing their suitcases in the overhead compartments. Mac and Anastasia sat
side by side, and Jack sat across from them.
"Girls, this is going to be a very long
ride, so I hope you brought things to keep you occupied," he warned.
"I am still not feeling very well, so I am going to try and rest a
bit."
Mac cocked her head. "You’re not feeling
well, Papa?"
Anastasia pulled War and Peace out of
her knapsack and opened it to the front page, starting to read from the
beginning, even though she had read the book several times already.
"Would you like to use my sketchpad and
paper, love?" he asked, reaching into his own knapsack and pulling out the
thick, leather folder filled with paper and a box of charcoal pencils.
"Okay," Mac agreed, and he handed
everything to her.
"Use both sides of the paper,
honey," he warned, before leaning back against his seat, and watching as
she flipped through his old drawings of the imperial family and other people he
had met through his life. Anastasia looked over and grinned when she saw what
Mac was doing, and asked if she could have a piece of paper, too.
"Sure," Mac agreed, and handed her
a few sheets and a charcoal pencil as well.
"Thank you, Mac." Anastasia nodded
respectfully, and both girls began drawing. Then, she leaned over to Mac.
"The queen of the ocean," she whispered. Mac nodded. "The
grandest ship in the world…" Anastasia continued dreamily. "Even
bigger than the Standart!"
"That's right," Mac said, starting
into one of her big lectures. "They say she's unsinkable. She's the
biggest ocean liner ever built. She can hold up to three thousand people in
her. She is also the most expensive and luxurious ship ever made. I heard that
John Jacob Astor himself would be on it."
"Who's he?" Anastasia asked
curiously.
"He's the richest man in America,"
Mac replied matter-of-factly.
"This is going to be the best trip I
ever went on," Anastasia said, her eyes gleaming.
"Really?" asked Mac. "More fun
than that African safari?"
"Yep!"
"More fun than Moscow?"
"You bet!"
"More fun than seeing the Russian ballet
with your Grandmama?"
"Well..." Anastasia dragged.
"I don't know about that." Mac smiled a grin that would taunt anyone.
"But maybe just as fun," Anastasia put in. Jack laughed from the his
seat. He was finally going home. Back to America, and not only that, but he
would be making his grand entrance on the Titanic.