UNEXPECTED THINGS
Chapter Two
Cora sat down and cried. She had
enjoyed the first fifteen minutes of being on her own, having escaped her
mother’s watchful gaze, but now she lost and alone...and scared. Around her,
the crowd didn’t seem to notice or care that a little girl sat in the corner,
wailing for her mother. Maybe they were too busy, or maybe they couldn’t hear
her above the noise of the crowd, but no one stopped to help.
"Can you hear that,
Cal?"
Cal Hockley stopped impatiently
beside his wife. "What?" he asked quietly. First Prudence had wanted
to go to the charity event, and then this fair, full of low-lives and no-goods.
"Can you hear that?"
she asked, oblivious to his discomfort. "Can you?"
Cal listened, in spite of
himself. Crying. The faint crying of some young child. It was hard to
distinguish from the other loud sounds, but now that he carefully listened, he
could hear it.
Prudence walked down a small
makeshift alley as the sound got steadily louder. "Look!" she said in
dismay. "Some commoner has left their child here. Now, really." She
glared at Cal crossly. "Can you believe that, Cal, dear? Letting their
children run off and get lost? It’s disgusting!"
Cal agreed quickly. He couldn’t
have cared less. Let the scum do as they liked! But he had been reminded
strongly of something that happened almost six years ago, a shameful event he
had committed on the Titanic long ago. "Come, Sweetpea," he said
quietly, clearing his throat. He tried to lead her away.
"Cal, honey," she said
defiantly, "we can’t just leave her here. That would make us as bad as
them."
Cal kept his cool. He was good at
that, at least when others were around, but he demanded authority, and Prudence
knew that.
"Please," she begged.
"What if it was Oliver?" she asked, referring to their son.
"Fine, but this had better
not hinder me. I can’t be late for my meeting."
Prudence rushed towards the
child. "Hello, dear," she said, eyeing the girl with pity and
disrespect, if at all possible in one glance. "What’s your name?"
*****
"Are you sure you haven’t
seen her?" Rose was desperate.
"No." The man shook his
head. "Not at all, ma’am, but I hope you find her."
Rose rushed off, breathless,
without saying thank you--she was too worried. Cora had been missing for so
long! What if she was hurt? Or worse? Panic was rising within her. She had to
find her! Oh, why did she run off? If only Jack were here, he would know what
to do. Minutes passed, and she continued her desperate search. She was almost
in tears when she heard a voice.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
She turned around, and there was
Cora, burying herself in her arms. "Oh, Cora!" She hugged her hard.
"Don’t you ever, ever run off on me like that again! Do you understand?
You scared me!"
"Ahem."
Rose looked up to see who was
standing next to her. A lady, well-dressed in elegant clothes and very
expensive jewelry, was clearing her throat. "Is this your child?" She
nodded towards Cora.
"Yes," said Rose, a
little uneasily. She definitely didn’t like this woman.
"I suppose so!" she
snapped. "You should be ashamed of yourself, letting your child get lost
like that."
Rose got to her feet, holding
onto Cora’s hand tightly. "Excuse me," she said loudly, putting on
the same classy, well-spoken manner that she had been so used to.
The lady seemed taken aback.
"I don’t know where you learned to speak like that, but if you speak in
such a manner, I would expect you would take better care of your
children."
Rose narrowed her eyes.
"This is absurd!" she said angrily. "Cora is my child, and I
take good care of her. She escaped my eyes for less than a minute, and she was
gone." She paused. "What would you know, with maids and all caring
for your children?"
The woman, whoever she was,
opened her mouth to retaliate. Rose turned to walk away when a voice sent
shivers down her spine. "Sweetpea, did you find her mother?" Rose
spun around in horror--and came face-to-face with Cal.
Cal actually took a step back. He
looked like he had seen a ghost, and a frightened squeak escaped Rose’s lips.
"What?" Prudence looked
between her husband and the strange woman. "Have you two...met
before?" She gave Rose a strange look. "Well," she demanded,
"have you?"
Cal cleared his throat and
quickly tried to go back to his carefree and strict manner. The red-haired
woman stared as if she were in shock. "We’ve...met," said Cal
quietly, his eyes gazing at Rose’s beautiful face, traveling down and finally
resting on her belly. He cleared his throat again. "I see. This
child...she’s yours?" He spoke slowly, in a strained voice; it sent
shivers down Rose’s spine.
Rose turned to look at her
beautiful daughter, who was confused at what was going on. "Yes," she
said, somehow finding her voice. "Why wouldn’t I have a daughter,
Cal?" she added, regaining some of her fiery independence. "I see
you’ve moved on."
Suddenly, Prudence gasped.
"It’s her, isn’t it?" she asked, quickly turning to Cal. "My
God. It’s her." Cal nodded his head slightly, yet his eyes never left
Rose. "You!" snarled Prudence. "Rose, I’ve heard about you!"
"What lies did Cal feed you,
then?" snapped Rose, losing her temper. "That I was some crazy little
girl with silly ideas in my head? I’m happy, if you haven’t noticed."
Cal grabbed hold of his wife’s
arm. "Come, Prudence," he whispered. "Let’s not waste our breath
here. Come on, sweetpea." That was just like Cal, running away before the
truth came out.
"Sweetpea?" she asked
loudly. "Wasn’t that my pet name, Cal?"
Prudence swung around in shock.
"Pardon?"
"Sweetpea," repeated
Rose. "That was my pet name."
Cal went a shade whiter. Prudence
narrowed her eyes, but was unable to speak. Rose watched her carefully,
ignoring Cora, who was getting impatient and pulling on her arm.
Then, suddenly, Cal got mad. It
was a long time since he had gotten so mad, and it was the first time he had
had an outburst that was not hidden from the public eye. "Why don’t you go
back to him?" he whispered. "Back to your gutter rat."
Rose’s pale face flushed. She
narrowed her eyes. How dare Cal call Jack that? How dare he! Before she knew
what she was saying, before she could stop herself, the words escaped her lips.
"Missing the Heart of the Ocean, Cal?" Suddenly, all the noise seemed
to disappear. Everything seemed deathly quiet. She’d made a mistake--a big
mistake. "Come, Cora," she whispered quietly, but before she could
walk away, a stabbing pain brought her to her knees.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
Prudence watched in horror as
Rose fell to her knees. In truth, she hated the woman. She had heard all about
her and her silly business, but at the moment she wasn’t too fond of Cal, either,
and she was a good person--she’d help anyone in trouble. "Are you all
right?" She rushed to the beautiful woman’s side. She was clearly in
distress, gasping with pain. "Cal!" She spun around and angrily
shouted at her husband. "Cal, get help! I think she’s gone into
labor."