AN UNEXPECTED TURN
Chapter Fourteen
Gwen sat in silence, sitting on
her grandmothers sofa. She was slowly taking sips of the hot raspberry tea that
had been specially brewed for her, raspberry being Gwen's favorite.
Her younger siblings had been
told to go upstairs and her grandparents and brother Peter sat beside her,
watching her.
"Gwen dear?" her
grandmother asked.
"Yes grandmother?" she
replied.
"Dear can you talk about it
at all?" she asked.
Gwen looked from her grandmother,
to the lemon in her tea, then to her feet.
"I'd prefer not to. To many
things happened that night, if I begin to tell you the tale then I might begin
to make a fool of myself in your living room," Gwen answered finally.
Her grandmother nodded,
"Very well dear, that’s probably the best."
"I do want to return to
Liverpool. To home, and raise Matthew and Colette," Gwen stated after a
few moments.
"Gwen dear, I don't know if
that’s wise. You have had such a horrible month," her grandmother said.
"Grandmother I need to
return to Liverpool, first I would like to go down to Scotland to visit someone
but I need to be home in Liverpool. To feel close to father and mother. I
believe that they would want me to raise Matthew and Colette. Peter is sixteen,
he does not need me. But...I think I need my brother and sister," Gwen
replied.
"Well dear, what’s in
Scotland?" her grandmother asked.
Gwen was silent, she did not want
to answer the question.
"When I was on Titanic I
made friends with a man from Scotland. I...I would like to go and visit with
his family. He d-died," she said slowly.
"Oh, well that’s very lovely
of you. To want to pay your respects to his family. Very well then, your
grandfather and I will go to the train station, buy you three tickets. One to
your destination in Scotland, then one from Scotland to Liverpool. Where in
Scotland do you need to go?" she asked her granddaughter.
"Dalbeattie," Gwen
answered.
"Very well. While your
grandfather purchases the tickets I will get you some pocket money. Enough to
last you for a few days in Scotland and until you get home to Liverpool. In
your fathers desk drawer is his bank information so you will be able to access
the money. Being his oldest he left most of his fortune to you. Seeing now as
how my only son has died then our fortune will go to you and your brothers and
sister," her grandmother replied.
Gwen nodded, "Thank you so
much grandmother," she said.
"Alright, if you need
anything just ask Martha or Ben. We will go out now," her grandmother said
as they rose to their feet.
Gwen stood and hugged them both
and then her grandparents went out into the car and left. Once they were gone
she sat back down on the couch. Colette came downstairs and silently watched
her sister. Peter stood up, thinking she wanted to be alone and he left for the
yard to sit in the garden. As Gwen sipped her tea she saw her reflection in a
mirror.
Since the accident she had seemed
to of lost weight, not eating as much. If eating anything at all, when she did
eat it would always just be soup. She had not bothered with wearing any type of
makeup for her face, Will was dead. There was no point in it anymore. As she
thought about it she had not worn any makeup since the night of the sinking. As
she stood and looked at this girl she realized something. She was not seeing
Gwendolyn Wilde. This was some stranger, a woman she had never seen before. The
Gwen Wilde that she knew was a cheerful, strong, outspoken, confident woman.
But this woman that stood before
her was sad, confused, broken hearted, and depressed. As she continued to
observe herself she felt the tears coming.
Why? Why had she met Will
Murdoch? If God knew that Will would die along with her father then why had he
sent Will to her? Why would he make her go through this pain, the pain that she
now felt every day and just might feel for the rest of her life. Then the tears
came up and she broke down onto the floor in sobs.
Colette saw her sister and went
running to her.
"Gwen? What’s the
matter?" she asked soothingly.
Gwen looked up at her younger
sister, but the tears continued to fall.
"Colette I've lost the two men
that meant the most to me in the world. They both died because of that damn
ship! I hate Titanic, I hate the ice berg, I hate the ocean. I do not know what
to do anymore," she sobbed.
Colette wrapped her arms lovingly
around her sister.
"It's alright? God has a
plan. I do not know who the second man was but the first man I know was daddy.
It will be fine, I promise," Colette continued to say soothingly.
"How will everything be
alright? God sent me a man who I fell in love with on that ship. Then he took Will
away from me. To make it all worse the last few days on that ship I spent them
upset with daddy. I was angry with him and he put me on the lifeboat and I did
not even tell him I love him! The last thing he said to me was 'I'll try to get
on a boat' then Will he...the last thing that he s-said to me was 'Tie that
tightly!' He didn't want me on the ship anymore though. But I couldn't just
leave him!" Gwen said to her sister in between sobs.
"Y-you fell in love with a
man on the ship? No wonder your even more messed up. What happened to
him?" Colette asked as she rocked her sister.
"He s-shot himself. I do not
know why but he did. Right in front of me," Gwen answered.
Just then Matthew and Peter
walked into the room.
"Gwen?" Matthew asked
in a small voice.
She looked up at her little
brother and then to Peter and burst out into harder sobs.
Peter walked over to his sister
and sat down on the floor with her.
"Gwen it will be alright. I
promise you it will. I know you are having a difficult time looking at me since
I look like father. But I promise you, it will be alright," Peter said.
Gwen tried to nod and stop the
tears but she couldn't.
"If...if you say so,"
Gwen said through the cries.
Peter hugged his sister and she
calmed down a bit. Just then they heard the front door open. Gwen wiped at her
face to hide she was crying and she stood up.
"Children?" her
grandmothers familiar voice called out.
"Yes grandmother?" they
all called.
The four went into the main hall
and saw their grandmother and grandfather waiting for them.
"Well Peter when we were
buying the tickets I know you do not need to rely on Gwen but I thought you may
want to go home to Liverpool. So we bought you all tickets. One for you all to
go to Scotland which leaves first thing tomorrow morning. Then in two days we
bought tickets for you all to get on a train leaving Scotland which will take
you all the way to Liverpool," their grandfather said.
"Oh thank-you
grandfather," Peter said.
"Oh grandmother,
grandfather, I can't thank you enough," Gwen said.
Her grandmother opened her purse
and handed Gwen a stack of notes.
"That should be enough money
to get you all through the week," her grandmother stated.
"Thank you again," Gwen
replied as she took the money.
"Now put that in a safe
place and get changed. Supper will be in a short while," her grandmother
said.
Gwen nodded and after hugging
each of her grandparents she went upstairs to her room and changed into a gown,
but not bothering with her hair or makeup. Gwen stuffed the money in her bag
where it would be safe and then she went downstairs for dinner.
The next morning the four Wilde
children woke early so that they would reach the train station in time. They
ate a breakfast and then they all got into the car with their grandparents.
When they reached the train station they said a goodbye to their grandparents
and then got onto the train. As they sat in their compartments Matthew colored
and Colette read a book with Peter. But Gwen was silent, she was going to meet
the man she loved parents. Usually when a woman met their loved ones parents it
was because they were engaged. But she was going to these people who were
probably grieving over their son and what was she going to say to them?
'Hi I'm Gwendolyn Wilde, except
now I'm using your son’s name because I fell in love with your son on the
Titanic,' yes she could see the conversation now. As the train rolled along she
slowly found sleep taking over her. Hoping that maybe when she woke up this
would of all been a nightmare.