THE UNEXPECTED COINCIDENCE
Chapter Three
Daniel awoke with a smile on his
face, and luckily, today he remembered that the bed was not near any walls, and
therefore did not fall out of bed like yesterday.
He leapt out of the satin sheets
and made it quickly. He dashed into the bathroom and had a quick bath to clean
himself up. He didn’t know why he wanted to look good all of a sudden, and he
had never cared much about his looks beforehand.
He decided against wearing his
heavy suits and grabbed a white shirt and black trousers, although for him this
counted as too dressy. He didn’t want to appear too casual to Keisha.
He slipped into the paneled
sitting room and saw Keisha, fast asleep on the couch, looking warm,
comfortable, and clean, a complete contrast to the cowering woman he had met
just yesterday. He felt like he had a duty to take care of this woman, to see
that she did not just go hungry as soon as she reached America. He knew that he
would never see her again after the maiden voyage had reached its course, but
he didn’t want to stay melancholy for the rest of the trip. He knew that he had
a large attraction to this woman.
He walked over to her and sat
down on the edge of the couch, hoping that he would have to use extreme
measures to wake her up.
It transpired that his weight was
enough to wake the sleeping woman, for she sat up immediately, and grabbed him
in a headlock.
Daniel was more surprised than
hurt. He didn’t realize that she would do this to him when she awoke. He had
not expected a warm reception; for life on the streets must require a person to
be focused all the time, sleep with one eye open.
"Morning, Keisha," he
managed to say. Her arm was squashing his throat.
He felt the arms lose their grip
around his neck, though they were still there. He used her horror to swing her
from her feet and bring her close to him, locking her arms behind her back.
"Never underestimate Daniel
James Taylor," he said, looking the shorter woman directly in the eyes.
They stood together like that for
what seemed like eternity, only to be broken by a loud coughing in the corner
of the room.
Daniel let her go quickly and
turned to face his fully dressed cousin standing in the doorway. Caught in an
intimate position, Daniel tried to gloss it over.
"Morning, Kathy. How are you
on this fine day?"
He used his snobbish voice he
saved for dinner parties.
Needless to day, his upper class
voice did not help out of this situation. He decided that he needed to get out
of the uncomfortable situation as soon as humanly possible.
"I will have breakfast in
one of the restaurants. Good-bye Kathy, Keisha." He gave them both a nod
before exiting the room at top speed.
He cursed himself for thinking
irrationally and tried to remind himself that he would never see Keisha after
the trip.
Needless to say, his rational
mind was not responding after the closeness he had shared with Keisha just a
few moments ago.
He went to the Veranda Café and
ordered a cup of lemon tea to calm his nerves.
Daniel noticed the odd looks he
was receiving from the rest of the First Class passengers, obviously put off
with his state of dress and longer hair. Truly shallow, Daniel thought,
taking a sip of his tea.
Daniel noticed the DeWitt
Bukaters and Cal making a beeline for him, obviously hoping to catch him, no
doubt to ask him to dinner.
He genuinely smiled at Rose, who
seemed distant today; she smiled at him, briefly locking eye contact, allowing
him to see the distress in her eyes.
What’s wrong with her? he thought, hoping that he would have a
chance to talk to her later.
This time Daniel remained
seating, not bothering with etiquette when his mind was elsewhere.
He murmured a small hello to
everyone and immediately went back to processing his thoughts and drinking his
tea.
"Penny for your thoughts,
Daniel?" Cal asked, puncturing Daniel’s thought train.
He knew that he must have looked
detached, almost upset about something, but he did not want to share it with
the rest of the table, who were now all looking at him with interest. Rose sat
beside him, turning to face him properly. She placed a hand on his forehead.
"My, Mr. Taylor, your
temperature is off the roof. You must come out for a breath of fresh air. Come
now, and I will guide you."
Daniel tried to hide his
confusion from the others, but he stole a perplexed look at Rose, who glared
back.
Catching on, Daniel tried his
best to look ill.
"It must be the sea. I do
not think I have adjusted to it yet. Maybe a breath of fresh air is all I
need," Daniel said to Cal and Ruth, who looked concerned, although Daniel
noticed that Ruth’s was faked, not that he had expected much else.
The redhead escorted him out of
the restaurant, steering him out to the deck. She didn’t stop walking until
they were on the poop deck, far away from anyone who might overhear. He saw her
look at the stern strangely, although he did not question it.
"Rose, are you all right?
You seemed distant in the café," he said to her, hoping that she would
reveal what was on her mind.
"I’m...fine, Daniel, really,
but I know there is something you are hiding from us. They may be too shallow
to see it, but that does not mean that I am. Please, tell me. I am your friend
here, and you are mine."
Daniel knew she hadn’t shared her
problem, but he decided to let it drop. He was truly touched by her concern,
even though he thought it was misplaced.
"All right. I will tell you,
although you must not tell a living, breathing soul. All right?" Daniel
asked, looking at her straight in the eyes, trying to see if she would keep her
promise.
"I can tell Cal, then,"
she whispered under her breath, causing Daniel to frown in worry. "Yes, I
promise to keep it a secret," Rose swore in her normal voice, sincerity in
her eyes.
Daniel nodded and proceeded to
tell her about finding Keisha, getting her a ticket, and his realizing that he
was falling for her badly. She gasped in a few places and shook her head a few
times as well.
"Do you think I am
crazy?" Daniel asked, once he had finished the retelling, carefully
missing the moment he had shared with Keisha this morning.
"To be honest, if you love
this woman, then no, I think you are wonderful, but remember she is a criminal.
She boarded this ship illegally and is only safe now that she has found you.
God knows what other crimes she has committed."
Daniel nodded at Rose’s wise
words.
"For a seventeen-year-old,
you seemed to have skipped the growing up phase," Daniel said, looking at
the girl beside him.
"I was forced to grow up too
fast," she murmured, looking out to sea.
"You’d better get back. They
must be wondering where you are. Just say that I was sick and I will join them
for dinner this evening, if that’s all right."
Rose nodded at Daniel’s comments
and turned to move away and go back to the café.
"Rose!" Daniel called
when she was a couple of feet away. "Don’t do anything foolish," he
advised, knowing that something was wrong with the girl; something she didn’t
wanted to explain.
She did not turn around, only
stop for a second or two to process his remark. She carried on her way, leaving
Daniel to lean over the rail and stare at the endless depths of ocean. There
was nothing but sea in sight. All land had disappeared form the horizon, giving
Daniel an odd feeling of foreboding and loneliness.
He smiled as the wind blew his
dark hair from his shoulders. The savage force felt like it was cleansing him
from all thoughts and emotions, as if he was given a fresh start to work with. So
this is what they mean when they say that the wind blows your cobwebs out, he
thought, laughing out loud as a strong burst of wind caused him to stagger back
a little.
"I didn’t know that first
class guys laughed," an American voice said, causing Daniel to turn on the
spot.
His eyes were met with a man
around the same age as himself with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He could
tell that the man was in steerage, probably prejudiced against all upper class
people, but the tone in his voice showed a friendly curiosity that was not
present in the upper class regions of the ship.
"Ignore him; he’s not worth
the trouble," an Irish voice said, a voice that belonged to a man wearing
a battered bowler hat and smoking a cigarette.
"Oh, he asked a question, a
fair one at that, and yes, first class guys do laugh when they are not in a
room with shallow bastards," Daniel replied calmly, even though the wind
was causing his hair to fly about his eyes and face.
The men looked astonished at his
answer, causing him to laugh again.
"How did you guess I was
first class? Judging by the looks I received during breakfast, I thought I look
like I had come from the slums of New York," Daniel said, causing the
Irishman to drop his cigarette on the deck. "My name is Daniel," he
said, moving over to shake the men’s hands in turn, causing them to look even
more surprised.
"You are too clean to be
from the slums," the American man said once his confidence had returned.
"My name is Jack, and this is Tommy," he said, a friendly smile on
his face.
Daniel was once again shocked at
how genuine the people were down here. He thought they might have been slightly
resentful of being in the company of such a well-off man, one who outshone them
in both importance and worth.
He was soon introduced to many
people, who were all slightly apprehensive at being so near an important
person.
Soon enough, the people became
comfortable around him and talked about many things.
"You don’t know how good it
is to have a conversation with someone that doesn’t involve politics and
business," Daniel told Tommy, which caused the man to fall into hysterics.
"Come to a party tonight if
you want in one of the halls in steerage. You will find it. Just follow the
music," Jack said, obviously hoping to talk to him some more.
Daniel smiled at his kindness and
turned to face him from his sitting position, for he had been kneeling on the
deck, playing with the children.
"I have to attend dinner
first, but afterwards I will come down and visit you all, and I will bring
someone with me," Daniel said, pausing to see if bringing Keisha down was
a good idea. He would have to ask her, but if she did not stand up to the
prejudice at all, the prejudice would remain forever. "Be in for a
surprise," Daniel added as he withdrew his pocket watch and exclaimed at
the time. "Bloody hell. I am going to be late for dinner. I have already
missed lunch."
He looked at Jack once he had
said that, and realized that he had been hungry on one too many occasions, and
realized how missing one meal must seem normal to him.
"Sorry, that was
insensitive," Daniel said, shaking his hand quickly. "I must
go."
He said good-bye to everyone and
even hugged some of the children he had grown fond of.
He sped along the ship, finding
his way to his room in five minutes. He burst into the richly decorated room to
find Keisha calmly reading on the couch with her legs crossed up under her. She
looked up as he burst in, cheeks red from the cold and hair a tangled,
blown-about mess.
"You look a bit
weathered," Keisha said simply, trying to hide a laugh.
He walked over to her and
collapsed next to her on the couch. "You are going to a party
tonight," he stated, looking at her closely, trying to see her reaction.
She sighed, placed her book down,
and looked at him in the eyes, focusing her large brown eyes on his.
"In case you haven’t
noticed, most people treat me like something smelly they have stepped in, and I
doubt your upper class people would be any different," she said, as if she
was explaining the matter to a child.
"Who said it was upper
class?" he asked, causing her to raise her eyebrows at him. "Are you
game? If I promise that at any sign of prejudice, we are out of there?"
Daniel looked at her deeply, hoping that she would agree.
"Okay, then. Come here after
dinner. I am guessing I don’t have to dress up." He knew she was only
doing this for him, which made him even more grateful.
"Right. I will pick you up
after dinner. I have to get ready."
Daniel stood up and left for his
room, where he found Katherine putting some clothes away into his wardrobe.
"How has she been
today?" he asked her in an undertone while hugging her.
"Fine. Missing you,"
Katherine answered quickly, fixing him with her cool blue eyes. "I will be
in my room if you need me," she said in a clear voice that he was sure she
had to cover their conversation.
Daniel laughed at her secrecy and
quickly dressed in a tuxedo, and then carefully slicked his hair back.
He left the suite with a nod at
Keisha and sped towards the Grand Staircase.
He descended the stairs quickly,
not bothering saying hello to anyone as he passed them. He knew that he was damaging
his reputation, but all he wanted was a good night out with Keisha.
Later, Daniel. You have to sit
through this first, he
told himself, hoping that he would not make a fool of himself.
He walked over to where Rose and
Cal were sitting and was welcomed with many greetings and shaking of hands.
He sat down as soon as he could,
and complained several times of the wait between courses.
"Do you have somewhere to
be, Mr. Taylor?" Ruth asked the third time his impatience had gotten the
better of him.
"Well, not really, Ruth, but
I am feeling rather tired from my illness and I am wanting to recover for
tomorrow," Daniel said, carefully avoiding looking into her hawk-like
eyes.
Ruth seemed to buy his excuse,
but Rose looked at him from across the table, noticing that Daniel was lying,
for she had come up with the lie herself.
He excused himself from dessert,
not wanting to stay around these people any longer than he had to.
"Do join us for breakfast
tomorrow, Daniel," Cal said calmly, smoking a cigar.
Daniel, who had been at the point
of escaping, cursed under his breath and smiled and nodded slightly, hoping
that he would be ill tomorrow morning.
He carefully dodged around the
tables, smiling and nodding at anyone who offered a greeting.
The route back to his room was
unnoticed and rather lonely, not that he minded.
He quickly entered his suite and
noticed that Keisha was sitting on the floor, next to a crumpled figure. There
were dark stains on the floor that looked horribly like blood.
"Keisha, what
happened?" Daniel asked, entering the suite and taking off his jacket, not
yet realizing who the fallen figure was.
She turned to him, tears in her
eyes. "I’m sorry. I was having a bath, preparing for our party, and when I
came back into here, I found…" She broke off into tears. For Daniel, the
tears validated her story.
He leaned down and hugged Keisha
tightly, hoping to comfort her. He froze still as soon as he recognized the
woman on the floor, blood smeared across her porcelain skin, unmistakably dead.
It was Katherine.