Chapter 9

First Love

"I would like to ask Miss. Celina Roberts to return to the stand once more."

Celina looked up from where her head had been resting on Joseph's shoulder and her sister was asleep in her arms. She exchanged a look with Joe who held out his arms to take the child. Carefully she passed Ella over to Joe and with help from Lowe; she stood to her feet and walked over to the stand. She was sworn in and then she took a seat.

"One question we would just like to ask of you, Miss. Roberts," Senator Smith began.

She looked at him and nodded, "Very well?"

"You said you were on the deck when the ship hit the iceberg, is that correct?"

Celina nodded, "Yes sir."

"What were you doing on deck at the time of the collision? It was a bit late for a young woman to be roaming about."

Celina looked at Joseph again because he knew what she was doing. She had been returning to her room after a late night rendezvous with the officer who had been off duty at the time. Most people had been reporting about the Officer being cozy with a passenger and she was most certainly not hiding the fact as she leaned against him out of pure exhaustion during the endless hearings. But now she was being put on the stand and was expected to tell the truth and she had no idea what sort of outcome her answer could have.

"Miss. Roberts?" the senator's voice brought her from her thoughts.

"Yes sir?" Celina looked up at him.

"Do I need to repeat the question?"

"Please, sir."

"What were you doing on deck at the time of the collision?"

Celina had two answers in her head, the real one and a false one. In that brief moment she forgot that she had sworn on the Holy Bible and answered, "I could not sleep."

xxxxxx

The next morning, despite the fact that Celina and Greta were not speaking to each other, the family dined together for breakfast. After the meal was over they had the option of going to the church service for the second class passengers or up to the worship service that was led by the Captain. Celina managed to convince them to go up the first class service, purely because she wanted to see Joseph. They were dressed in their best Sunday outfits and ventured up to the service. The family sat close to the back of the church but not before Celina made sure Joseph saw she was there.

After the service was over, Greta left before anyone else. Mr. Roberts watched his daughter then looked at Celina, "Will you be joining us for lunch, love?"

Celina gave a shrug, "Perhaps."

He sighed, "I do not know what has happened between you and Greta but please handle the situation shortly. I do not like to see my children fighting."

"I know Papa," she said, "I will see about joining you for lunch and I will talk to Greta, alright?"

He nodded, "That is all I ask." He smiled then, "Well, hello Mr. Boxhall."

Celina turned on her heel and grinned, "Hello sir."

Joseph was smiling, "I am so happy that you decided to join us for the service this morning."

"Well you spoke so highly of it so I thought we should see it."

"Hello Celina!" a few of the officers said as they walked by, heading up to the deck.

"Hello!" she greeted, waving.

"Alright dear, I will see you soon I hope," Mr. Roberts kissed his oldest on the cheek.

"Bye Mr. Boxhall!" Ella said, grinning as she waved.

"Bye, Miss. Ella!" He said, watching them leave.

Joseph looked back at Celina and was about to say something when Thomas Andrews walked up to them, "Ah Miss. Roberts, how lovely of you to join us today!"

"Thank you sir," she said, smiling.

"How has your voyage been so far?" he asked, smiling.

Celina grinned, "It has been so lovely. Your ship is just..." she shook her head as if in awe, "I can't quite believe that a man created something so beautiful."

At that another man came over and joined them, "Now, now miss, we cannot go and give Mr. Andrews here all of the credit! You will boost his ego!"

Celina turned to look at this newcomer, "Hello?" she offered, completely perplexed as to who this man was.

"Miss. Roberts, this is Mr. Bruce Ismay," Joseph said, suddenly very nervous.

Her face dawned into one of realization, "Oh hello sir, how lovely to meet you!"

"I take it you have heard of me then?" The man smiled, as if he was very pleased with himself.

Celina nodded, "Yes sir..."

"I was just telling the Captain here about an incident I came across Friday evening in the first class dining hall," Bruce started.

"Oh?" Celina asked.

"Yes I walked in just as two young miscreants were retreating from the scene of the crime."

"Oh no, a crime?" She asked. Celina noticed Mr. Andrews step away carefully as if avoiding he rant Ismay was surely about to have and she also noticed Joseph refraining from rolling his eyes.

"Yes miss. Two people were in the dining hall after hours eating and drinking tea and they broke the china!" He shook his head, "Quite despicable."

Celina stared at him because she wasn't quite sure if she should laugh or if he was being serious. She finally decided he was being serious, "That is truly terrible. Do you have any idea who did it?"

"I have a clue," she noticed he was nodding his head toward Lowe and a young girl that he was standing with, "But not substantial enough evidence."

"Right," Celina said, slowly.

"Ah well it is lunch time and I have other duties I must attend to as the President of the White Star Line. It was very lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss. Roberts," he extended his hand.

Celina took it and shook it politely but she felt a wave of unease about her, "It was lovely to meet you too, sir."

He nodded at Joseph and then left the room.

Celina waited till he was out of ear shot, "He is a very...interesting character."

Joseph laughed, "No kidding." He shook his head, "I was going to get a bite to eat and then I have a shift, would you like to join me?"

She sighed, "I would love to but I think my father wants me to dine with them today. You could always maybe come and join me?"

He pretended to think about it and then laughed, "Of course, let's go."

"Goodbye Mr. Andrews," Celina called before leaving the room.

The two walked down to the second class dining hall together and after a moment they spotted her father and sisters. "Mr. Boxhall will be joining us," Celina said to her father before they sat down.

Mr. Roberts had a bit of a smirk on his face, as if he knew that Celina and Joseph had something, but he refrained from commenting on it. "Very lovely," he said to Celina and Joseph.

Throughout the meal, Celina felt her heart swell as she watched Joseph interact with her family. Ella climbed into Joseph's lap as he told her stories from his childhood and life at sea. He answered Mr. Robert's questions and had no problems answering even more personal questions about his life growing up. It seemed as if the meal was the kind of meal you would have when the father was going to possibly give his blessing over a marriage, however of course, Celina wasn't even engaged to the man.

After lunch it was time for Eleanor's nap so Celina and Joseph carried her to Celina's stateroom.

"Tell me a story, Joe!" Ella cried as Celina placed her younger sister in the bed.

Joseph was standing right outside of the stateroom and looked at Celina, "May I come in?"

Celina smiled, "Of course."

He stepped inside the room and set his hat down on the sofa before sitting down on the bed beside Ella. Celina sat down on the sofa, her hands idly picking up the hat and playing with the brass buttons while she listened to the story. Soon enough, Joseph was standing up as Ella had fallen asleep. He helped Celina to her feet and checked the time, "My shift is starting soon and I have to work through the dinner time," he told her.

Celina sighed, she had been hoping he could join them again for dinner, "Oh well."

"Well I get off at about ten and then I will probably head to the officers dining area to scrounge up some dinner. Will you join me?" He asked.

She pretended to think about, "Oh I do not know. Meeting you late at night might be considered quite a scandal," she joked.

Joseph rolled his eyes, "Say yes?"

Celina giggled, "Ten and I will meet you at the bridge or at the very least on the deck, just in case I get stopped by my father or something."

He sighed as he thought about lunch time, "Do you think everything with lunch went alright? I think he knows something is between us and so I wanted to be careful to answer everything properly."

She nodded, "I think you passed his test."

Joseph's relief showed on his face, "Good..." He glanced at the clock again, "I better go if I plan on getting to work on time."

Celina nodded, "Okay, I will see you tonight."

He wrapped his arm around her waist, his hand resting on her back as he pulled her to him in a kiss. "Tonight," he said, grinning as they broke apart.

Celina kissed him again and the pushed him towards the door before tossing his hat at him. She stepped outside of the bedroom and watched him rush off to head upstairs.

"Celina?"

She turned to see her father standing right outside of his room, he had obviously just seen Joseph leave her bedroom, "Can we talk?" he asked.

She knew from his tone his suspicions about his daughter and the officer were confirmed, but she wasn't sure if he was mad or concerned however, she was about to find out...

xx

A/N- Bit dramatic...I may not get to update for another day or so because I can't take my computer to school tomorrow because I'm going to have to use my study hall time to actually do homework...so at the latest I will have another chapter by Tuesday for you. We're up to the afternoon of the sinking and during the church scene with Ismay I was once again refereeing the story "Everything's Not Lost," so please, if you haven't read it yet, go read it and tell my best friend how amazing she is.

Please review and be awesome!