The Point of No Return
Prologue
Mary Ryan knocked twice on the doorframe of her father's study before walking in and plopping down in one of the chairs across from his desk. Used to this behavior, Jason looked up at his daughter, waiting for her to ask for whatever it was that she wanted.
Not one to beat around the bush, Mary started in once she had his attention. "Dad, what can you tell me about our family history? We have to write about it for our senior papers, and I honestly have no idea of anything before Grandma and Grandpa. And that only really gives me three of the seven pages I need."
"Well, looks like you need to investigate the basement," Jason told her. "I think, under the stairs, there are some of your great-grandmother, Emma's old things. There are probably some pictures and old records in there somewhere. Unfortunately, she was pretty close-lipped on the past, so I can't tell you much. Only that she settled down in New York in 1912 after her husband died, and then she had my dad in 1913."
"Right," Mary sighed and nodded. "Thanks Dad." She started to leave and then turned back to him. "I'll give you a shout if I uncover any deep dark secrets, okay?"
"Okay," Jason laughed and shook his head. The idea of his grandmother having deep dark secrets was ridiculous.
OooOOooO
"Alright, there has to be something good in this one," Mary sighed as she reached the last box. It was labeled simply with 1912-13 written in Great-Grandma Emma's looping cursive. Most of the other boxes had been filled with things Emma had saved from when Sam – Mary's Grandpa – was a boy. They were filled with baby clothes, toys, photographs, and a few school things of his. But nothing that Mary felt she could use for her paper. And, frankly, she didn't have high hopes for this last box either.
The first thing in there was a fancy floor-length dress, which had once been pretty but the skirt had been badly stained and it was now falling apart with age. While she couldn't quite write about the dress, it gave her a spark of something. The Ryan family had never been a rich one, at least not as far as she knew. One of the few things she knew about Emma was that she had worked two jobs for most of her life, since she was supporting herself and a child alone after her husband had died. How could she have possibly afforded a dress like the one in the box?
The traces of a smile came to her face as she set the dress aside and then dug deeper into the box. At first there were just a few more personal affects – an old corset, shoes, and some hair pins. But then she found what she really needed. What better thing to provide a family history than a great-grandmother's diary?
When she first opened the decaying book, a few folded pieces of paper fell out. After a cursory glance – just enough to know that they were only newspaper clippings and Grandpa Sam's birth certificate – she decided she would look them over later. She turned to the first page and began reading.
20 April 1912
I still can't believe it was real. I still feel like I might wake up any minute and find myself still on the ship. I'll wake up and talk to Rose over breakfast while we both try to ignore Cal and her mother. Then we'll both sneak down to the 3rd class deck and make our plans to get off the ship with Jack and Tommy.
Oh, God . . . Tommy. Just thinking of him makes me want to run to the ocean and let the water take me. All I want is to be with him again. The five days I had with him were the best days of my life. He's the reason I'm going to do this – why I'm going to write everything down. Because I can never forget him – I won't let myself forget him.
I'll never forget Tommy Ryan.
Well, hello there! It would seem as though you just read the prologue to my Titanic story. Congratulations!
~throws confetti~
Anyway, I hope it intrigued you. I will be posting the first real chapter shortly, after I finish up some last minute editing. I hope you all will enjoy it.
Regards,
Meagan.