AN UNEXPECTED TURN
Chapter Seven
Gwen sat in silence, she ate her
food alone. While yes Judy was in the room she felt so alone. Gwen sat there,
wishing her mother was there. She had not wished for her mother more so than
she had been doing these past two and a half days. Nearly three days of being
on this ship, nearly three days of having to endure Bruce Ismay. As she sat,
absorbed in her thoughts there was a knocking on the door. Gwen didn't even
bother with looking up. Judy stood up and answered the door. On the other side
stood Molly.
"Hi, is Gwen here?" she
asked in a soft voice.
"Yes ma’am, shes eating
dinner right now. May I ask who is calling?" Judy asked.
"Molly Brown," the
woman said.
"Miss Gwen, there is a Molly
Brown here to see you," Judy said as she turned to face Gwen.
"She can come in," Gwen
said, ever so softly.
Judy stepped to the side and let
Molly enter the suite.
"Gwen whats the
matter?" Molly asked as she took her coat off and set it down on a chair.
Gwen looked at Molly with her
eyes already glistening from silent tears that had been falling.
Molly rushed over to her and sat
down.
"Darling whats the
matter?" Molly asked.
"Everything!" Gwen
cried.
Molly pulled her into a embrace
as she cried.
"Whats the matter? Whats
happened?" Molly asked.
Gwen pulled away and looked at
Molly.
"Molly I'm in a engagement
that I want nothing to do with, I can't stand Bruce Ismay. I told my father
this and he doesn't care! All he cares about is me having money and social
class. Molly do you think it a sin that I love another man?" Gwen asked.
"No, I can understand
completely. I can't blame you either, of all the men your father had to choose
he chose Bruce Ismay? That man gives me the creeps, and as if we don't already
know who he is. He continues on telling the whole world that he owns the White
Star Line. Get a grip is all I can say about him," Molly replied.
She was quiet for a moment and
then continued, "Who's this fellow that you love?" Molly asked.
Gwen was also quiet, not sure if
she wanted to admit it or not.
"Will Murdoch," she
said finally.
"Ah, that explains it.
Actually that explains a lot," Molly answered.
"Explain what?" Gwen
asked as she wiped her face.
"Well why you ran off this
morning when Will was with us. Why you weren't at lunch and why Bruce was so
incredibly rude to Will tonight at dinner," Molly said.
"Bruce? What did he do? How
was he rude?" Gwen asked.
"Well Will sat down with us
first. Then Bruce showed up and had this glare at Will the entire time, and was
really rude. Saying things that were uncalled for, until before Will even got
his dinner he stood up and left. I ate my food and decided to come and check on
you," Molly explained.
"What was Bruce
saying?" Gwen asked, her temper rising slightly.
"Well he said something
along the lines that Will needs to keep his tongue in his mouth. Thomas and
Will were making a joke about something to each other but Bruce heard and
muttered something about Will keeping his tongue in his mouth. I wasn't totally
sure what he meant by it. Then Madeline inquired where you were. She said she
had wanted to speak to you since today at lunch but you weren't at either meal.
Will was keeping to himself, it seemed you were a touchy subject or something.
So anyways Bruce said you were in your room and then I heard him mutter about
if Will had kept his hands to himself she would of been there at lunch and
dinner," Molly finished explaining.
Gwen sat there speechless, he had
not only embarrassed Will. But with her not being there he also embarrassed
her.
"I can't believe he said
that. Did everyone hear?" Gwen asked finally.
"Well I noticed Madeline and
John whispering about something and they kept casting glances at Will. Finally
he stood up, excused himself and left. What happened between you two?"
Molly asked.
Gwen looked down at her feet, she
really did not want to go there.
"We...sort
of...kissed," she said slowly.
"Well whats wrong with that?
I kiss men on the cheeks and such all the time," Molly replied.
"Well we didn't kiss on the
cheek. I kissed him on the lips and he kissed back. If father and Bruce had not
of come in right at that moment I don't know what could of happened," Gwen
admitted.
"Ah, I see. Have you
admitted to Will that you love him? Apparently he must have feelings for you,
but have you?" Molly asked.
"Well no, I can't. That’s
one of the reasons I stayed in my room today for lunch and dinner. I was scared
of seeing Will," Gwen answered.
"Who cares what your father
and Bruce say? You can see Will. They can't stop you, in all honesty once we
reach New York you'll already be an adult. The legal age is sixteen. If you
wanted to you could leave your father and Bruce with Will and they couldn't do
anything about the relationship," Molly said.
"Except one thing, Bruce
said that if I ever see Will again he'll fire Will from the White Star Line.
Then he will proceed to make sure that Will can not get a job with any ship
company's anywhere," Gwen replied.
"Ah, I see..." Molly
said.
"Yes, so you see I can't see
Will again. I care about him to much. If he lost his job because of me I'd
never forgive myself," Gwen said.
"Did you ask Will what he
thought about that?" Molly asked.
"No, I just simply told him
that I was not going to cause him to loose his job and then to please
leave," Gwen answered.
"Well how do you know he
isn't willing to sacrifice his job for you?" Molly asked.
Gwen looked at the woman,
"Molly even if he was willing I would never let him do that!" Gwen
replied.
"Alright it was just a
suggestion. But you know what? As long as your unhappy I'm gonna be unhappy. We
still have at least four more days on this ship. I'm taking you to see
Will," Molly said.
"Molly I can not go see
Will. Do you not understand? If I see him Bruce will fire Will!" Gwen
cried.
"Bruce can't fire Will if he
doesn't know you've gone to see him! You need to at least know if he returns
the same feelings that you have for him," Molly said as she stood up.
Gwen remained seated, she wasn't
totally sure about this.
"Gwendolyn, how can you live
the rest of your life not knowing if he cares about you the way you care about
him? Now come on, my suite is no where near Bruce's and Will has a room just a
couple of rooms away from mine," Molly said.
Gwen slowly found herself
standing up. Judy gave Gwen a coat to cover the fact she was wearing the same
gown she had been wearing that morning. Then Gwen walked out with Molly. Molly
went out first to make sure no one was coming or going and then she and Gwen
went out in search of Will Murdoch.