AN UNEXPECTED TURN
Chapter Ten

The next morning Gwen slowly woke to find herself in a bed, but this bed was not hers.

'Oh dear Lord, please don't say Bruce found me and took me to his suite'

She looked around and saw dresses and such strewn across the room.

'Ok unless Bruce fancy's women’s clothing this is not his suite' she thought.

Gwen sat up and stood out of the bed. Then she walked out of the bedroom and looked out at a sitting room.

"Where am I?" she asked out loud.

"Miss Gwen?" a voice called.

Gwen looked around and saw a maid coming towards her.

"Yes, where am I? And who are you?" she asked.

"You are in Molly Brown's suite. I am her maid Melanie," the girl answered.

"Oh, I thought I fell asleep in Will's suite," she said, still confused.

"Oh yes miss you did. But he brought you in here," Melanie replied.

"Where's Judy?" Gwen asked.

"I suspect that she is in your suite," she answered.

Gwen was silent for a moment, "Where is Molly and Will?" Gwen asked finally.

"Well Miss. Molly went to services and since Mr. Murdoch is a officer he would of been in the service," Melanie replied.

"Oh...would you help me dress?" Gwen asked.

"Oh course miss, then I also have a breakfast on order," Melanie answered.

The two women walked into Molly's bedroom and looked at Gwen's gowns that were hanging up. Gwen chose a gown and after Gwen bathed they put her corset on and then the gown. When Gwen's hair was all fixed up they went out into the sitting room. There on a cart was some fresh hot food.

Gwen sat down and began to eat the food, not even wanting to think about what Bruce had done to her the night before. She ate in silence as Melanie tidied up around the room. Once she finished eating she thought what a girl who was hiding from her fiancé could do. That didn't leave her with a long list of activities. She sat on the sofa and read a book that Molly had and continued to read it. Devouring each page, she loved Shakespeare. Especially the one she was reading right now, Romeo and Juliet. It was a depressing love story but it almost felt like what she was in right now. But her father did not hate the Murdoch family.

By the time she was almost done with it the door opened and in came Molly and Will. She sat up, finally happy to have some company besides Melanie and smiled at Will.

"Good afternoon dear," Molly said.

She stood up and gave Molly a hug.

"Thank you for keeping me here," she said.

Then she pulled Will into a even tighter embrace.

"You saved me last night," she said in a whisper.

He kept her in the embrace and after a moment of hugging they pulled apart.

"I don't know if you remember much from last night. We got you out of that room and you cried and cried until you fell asleep and then Will brought you in here. He was quite the hero last night," Molly said.

Gwen smiled and Will came close to blushing.

"Well anything for a woman in distress, let alone the woman I love," he said.

This time Gwen was blushing.

"Well you know what? How bout you two go to Will's suite and spend some time together. I want to do some reading," Molly said.

"Oh well just so you know Molly. I was reading your book, Romeo and Juliet," Gwen replied before walking out the door.

"Ah that’s fine, I'm reading Hamlet right now," Molly said with a warm smile.

Gwen took Will's hand, he looked out the door and after making sure no one was around they quickly walked to his suite. He unlocked the door and they went in. When they were in the room Will took his jacket off and the two sat down.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

Gwen nodded.

"Yes, it helps when your soothed to sleep by a first officer," she said with a laugh.

For the next few hours they sat on the sofa, as they had done the night before and talked. About anything and nothing. They ordered a lunch and ate with the occasional jokes. But never once talking about what had happened the night before.

"-So finally Harold decided to go along with it and he joined us in our game of pool. We were actually betting. Which was weird because of the fact that only two people can play but the other officers were betting on who was gonna win. Then when I was playing against Lightoller Harold decided to bet on me and he bet everything and I wound up loosing. He was so angry," Will finished explaining the story of something that had occurred late on the night of the tenth here on the ship and Gwen began to laugh.

"You men have nothing better to do with your time. If I get the chance I'll tell Mr. Andrews that the officers need to have something to do besides betting on who's gonna win during billiards," Gwen said.

Will laughed and soon the two were quiet, not knowing how they got to that point they soon found themselves kissing. With the other making the kiss deeper, and not wanting to pull apart. Then in that instant they began something which was the turning point in their relationship. Something that neither would forget, for as long as they lived.

*****

"Damn it! My fiancée is missing and I can't find her!" Bruce yelled at the group of officers that had all been rounded up. Or at least all of the officers that were on duty. Which did not include Will, or Moody. But Bruce and Gwen's father Henry had gathered every on duty officer, steward, and stewardess. All in the attempt to find Gwen.

"Whoever finds her will have a deep raise into their salary. By a increase of seventy-five percent!" Bruce exclaimed.

Everyone looked at each other, now the race was on. It was dumb really to get excited over the fact that if they found Gwen they would receive so much money but they couldn't help it.

"You are all dismissed! Now find Gwen!!!" Bruce shouted.

Then all of the officers, stewards, and stewardess went off in the search of the missing girl. But it was a ship, unless she had jumped off there was only so many places she could be.

*****

About an hour later there was a knock on his door. In his best attempts to not disturb the now sleeping Gwen he stood up, put on a coat and went to answer the door. On the other side stood Harold.

"Hello Harry," Will said.

"Hello Will, I came by to ask you something," Harold said.

"Sure, ask away," Will replied.

"Well Mr. Ismay has us on a wild search for his fiancée Gwendolyn Wilde. You haven't seen her have you?" Harold asked.

"No, I haven't seen her in at least two days," Will lied.

Harold stood for a moment longer, "Alright then, well don't forget. I'm going off duty soon. Then it's your lovely little eight or ten hour shift tonight," Harold said with a laugh.

Will laughed back and then after a nod he watched as Harold walked off and tried another door. Then he closed the door and let out a sigh of relief. He hated lying to his friend but in order to keep Gwen safe from that rapist he had to. And it's not like anyone would believe them if they told everyone about what Bruce had done to her last night. He would lie to everyone just to keep his name clean. Will slowly picked up a bit around his suite and then got dressed for the night shift. Then he left a note for Gwen and went on to his shift.

By the time Gwen woke up it had to of been eleven o'clock.

'Great, sleeping that long is not going to help me when I want to go to bed tonight,' she thought.

She sat up and looked to find herself in Will's suite. Then she remembered everything that had taken place before falling asleep. Then Gwen crawled out of bed and then after putting on her coat she snuck over to Molly's suite and went in.

When she entered the room Molly was reading and her maid Melanie was cleaning the room.

"Well good evening darling," Molly said when she saw Gwen.

"Good evening," Gwen said as she stifled a yawn.

"You missed dinner, Bruce sat there the entire time talking about your disappearance. Stopping for just once as he bragged about a ice warning that the telegraph men had received, saying it was rubbish," Molly replied.

Gwen sat down as she imagined the scene, Bruce sitting there and declaring that as being Bruce Ismay no ice-berg was going to stop his attempt to get to New York by Tuesday night.

"What time is it?" Gwen asked.

"About eleven-thirty. I'm thinking about going up and getting something to drink. Why do you wanna know?" Molly responded.

"So I could figure out when Will's shift is over. He still has about six hours," Gwen said.

Molly was silent for a moment, "Well then. I am going to head upstairs. See you in a bit," Molly said.

Then she put on her coat and went up to the dining saloon.

"Melanie, could you help me change into a fresh dress?" Gwen asked.

"Of course miss," Melanie replied.

The two women went into the bedroom and Gwen put on a gown. Then she went back into the sitting room and read a bit more of Romeo and Juliet. She was nearly done with the story when she felt it.

A shudder causing the room to shake. She looked at Melanie who stood still with fear. Once the shaking subsided Gwen stood up and looked around.

"What in the world was that?" Gwen asked.

"I have not the slightest clue miss," Melanie replied.

Gwen walked to the door and slowly popped her head out, just as she did she saw the back of Bruce's head walking up to the deck. She quickly shut the door and leaned against it.

"Something must be wrong, Bruce is getting involved," Gwen said softly.

"I hope everything is alright," Melanie said.

Gwen nodded, but then. Not thinking it was much she went back to the sofa and sat down.

Chapter Eleven
Stories