UNTITLED STORY
Chapter Five
Rose and Cassie stood together on one side of
the deck of Carpathia as it sailed past the towering Statue of Liberty. Rose
could hear Cassie sobbing quietly, and she moved closer to her new friend to
try to comfort her. Soon, they were both shedding tears for the people they
loved and cared for that would not see it.
"Papa used to tell us how grand it would
be to finally be able to come to America," Cassie said sadly.
Rose didn’t know what to say to her. She had
lost a man she had only known for a few days, but Cassie had lost her entire
family. She felt selfish to have burdened Cassie with her sorrow without even
considering that Cassie had lost so much more. She put her arm around Cassie’s
shoulders, and they continued staring out over the waters.
It had started raining, and both of the girls
were shivering in the cold. As Rose put her hand in the pocket of her coat, the
cold lump that sat in the very bottom greeted it. She pulled the diamond out and
gasped as it caught the light.
"Good Lord! What is that? A
sapphire?" Cassie gasped.
"A rare diamond. It was a gift from a
man I didn’t love," Rose replied.
"Who couldn’t love a man who could give
such gifts?" Cassie shook her head.
Rose smiled slightly.
"He told me it was for royalty. But to
him I was just another possession. A showpiece he could wear on his arm. With
Jack, I felt like a queen. He didn’t have a dime, but he gave me what no one
else ever could. I felt like my existence mattered to someone."
"There are people who will pay a pretty
penny for a gem like that, Rose. Maybe you should try to sell it?" Cassie
offered.
"Right now, this is my only memory of
Jack. I want to hold onto it. And the Hockleys will no doubt have some kind of
insurance claim put on it." Rose looked at Cassie. "Please keep this
to yourself, Cassie. I feel that I can trust you with this."
"I will hold your confidence, Rose. You
are all I have now. If we stick together, we might just be able to make our
way," Cassie told her hopefully.
*****
Joshua sat drinking a cup of tea in the
second class lounge. His thoughts were of what was to come when the ship docked
in New York. Since Jack had been too sick to leave the infirmary since they
first boarded the ship, he had been alone for most of the time, except for the
occasional polite greeting or chat with some of the other passengers of his
class.
"Mr. Landsley. Sir."
Joshua heard a voice behind him. He turned
around to see the ship’s doctor standing there.
"Yes, doctor? How is Mr. Dawson?"
"He has not improved in health and will
require some attention when he returns to the shore," said the doctor
matter-of-factly. "I was wondering, sir, if Mr. Dawson is a colleague of
yours? A hired man of sorts, perhaps?"
"He is an acquaintance of mine, yes.
Only recently have I come to know him. What kind of attention might he
require?"
Joshua knew that he could not turn away from
this incident without seeing that Jack was in good health and able to fend for
himself. He was certain that neither one of them would have survived if they
had not met in the way that they did.
"He has a fever and has been resting. He
most certainly has pneumonia and will require close supervision in the coming
days. If his fever does not break, I’m afraid the outlook is grim," said
the doctor.
"I understand," said Joshua.
"If you will excuse me, please,"
the doctor said, and turned to leave.
"I will see that he is cared for,"
Joshua said to the doctor as he left the room.
"Thank you, Mr. Landsley."
With that, the doctor went out of the room,
leaving Joshua where he sat. He took a deep breath to try to clear his head. He
coughed a bit as his lungs took in the air. Being in that cold had certainly
affected him as well, he thought.
Joshua had been planning what to do once the
ship docked in New York. He wanted to help Jack, but how? He knew that Jack was
not a rich man and would have a very hard time of things if his health was bad.