Chapter 10
After lunch Harlean was kept close by, by her Uncle. He trusted Harlean, but the fact that rumors were now going around about his young niece made him un-easy. For that he kept her around, taking her around the ship and showing her the use of different rooms.
But he knew that she was quickly bored, and had a look of wanting to get away. Unfortunately for her sake, he didn't allow her and instead asked Harlean to stay in her Suite until supper.
She sighed but nodded and then began to walk back to the room, upon walking past some of the other first class women she saw them whispering among themselves, but at once stopped and watched her as she walked by and up the hall.
"Holly, have you heard anything said about me today?" she asked upon returning to her room.
Holly looked up from where she was reading a book, "No miss, I can't say that I have," she answered.
"Oh…" Harlean took her hat off and set it down onto the reading desk.
"May I ask why miss?" Holly asked as she closed her book and came over to begin to help Harlean take her hair down.
"Oh I don't know, it just seemed that women were whispering…and when I walked by they stopped, and my Uncle…he would not let me go on by myself for the rest of the afternoon. He would not say why either, just that he wanted me close by. Then when he finally decided that I was bored, he said I was to return to my Suite until supper time, when he would come and pick me up," Harlean explained.
"That's odd," Holly commented.
"Tis," Harlean said softly.
She sighed and then walked into her bedroom where she took off her gloves and set them onto her vanity, Holly came in with Harlean's hat and hair clips and she proceeded to put them away.
"I suppose I will take a nap, wake me when the dinner bugle is sounded, alright?" Harlean said.
Holly nodded and then began to help Harlean out of her gown, down to her shift underneath all her clothes and corset. Harlean then pulled back the covers on her bed and crawled under them.
The last thing Harlean thought of before going to sleep was Harold's smiling face, and how they had grown in their relationship over the last few days.
XX
"Look at this one, he wants his private train to meet him, la de da. We'll be up all bloody night with this lot!" Harold cried in frustration.
Jack smirked, "You'll be up all bloody night," he said.
"Oh yeah?" Harold replied.
"Yeah!" Jack said, laughing.
Just then an officer appeared in the door, "Here," he handed Harold a paper.
"Your joking me," he said, exasperation in his voice.
The officer shook his head and then turned to leave.
"Bloody hell!" Jack began to type back, "Christ," he whispered. He looked at Harold a moment, "It's that bloody idiot on the Californian."
"Tell him to sod off," Harold replied.
"Oh I'll do more than that," Jack said with a grin.
Jack sighed, "Keep out, shut up, I'm working," he tapped out furiously.
XX
"Arrogant bastard!" the operator in the messaging room of the Californian said to an officer that had come to deliver the message about the ice.
"What's wrong?" the Officer asked.
"I try to warn him about the ice and he tells me to shut up," he answered.
He then held the head phone away, "And listen to that spark, he must be right on top of us."
"What's he sending now?" the Officer said now.
"Poker business good…" the Messenger sighed, "Well that's it for me, I'm shutting down," he stood up and flipped a switch then another. He grabbed his coat and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The officer was standing by the railing looking out at the ice field, the men exchanged goodnights and the Messenger walked off.
XX
The thing that woke Harlean up that evening was a large tremor that shook the whole room, and then Holly's cries from her bedroom.
She slowly got out of the bed once the shaking had stopped and fumbled for her lamp, "Holly?!" she called.
The door flung open, "Holly why did you not wake me up for supper?" Harlean asked in a tired voice.
"Well miss I tried, but you would not wake. When your Uncle came, he thought it best to let you sleep, please forgive me," the girl said.
"Never mind that now, I need to dress…something is wrong. Ship's don't just shake like that…something has happened," Harlean said.
Holly set her lamp down and went to the wardrobe where she pulled out a long sleeved dress, it was simple enough. Something she usually wore around the home, it was a dark blue with very little beading on it. But it was a warm dress. They quickly tied Harlean into her corset, and helped her into the dress.
She grabbed her coat, put on her shoes and headed for the door as she slid on her gloves, "I will be back soon, I just want to see what's happened, alright?" Harlean asked.
Holly nodded.
"Get dressed as well, something could be the matter, and if it is, it would be best if we are prepared for it," Harlean paused and noticed the intense worry in Holly's face, "It's probably nothing, likely a propeller blade or something, but it doesn't hurt to be ready. shouldn't be long," Harlean then flung open the door and began to walk up the hall, just then behind her Thomas Andrews came up, carrying scrolls under his arm.
"Mr. Andrews' sir!" she called, as he walked right past her.
The man stopped for a moment and looked at Harlean, "Ah Miss Carpenter, what is it?" he asked.
"What's happened sir? The tremor woke me up," she asked.
"I do not know yet, I'm going upstairs right now to find out," he answered.
"I was headed upstairs myself," she replied.
Thomas nodded; there was no time to protest, and the two rushed upstairs together. But when they reached the door, Thomas headed towards the bridge and Harlean rushed to the Messaging room.
Harold was at the desk sending out a message.
"Harold what's just happened?" she asked.
He stood up and looked at her, "I don't know Harlean," he paused and looked at Harlean's face, no hint of makeup on it at all, "Though you clearly woke up," he said.
"Sparky didn't wake up," Jack said from where he was about to go behind the curtain and sleep, Harold had only just woken up, Harlean cold tell from the bags under his eyes.
She sighed, "What do you think it is?"
"I don't know, though I'm sure we will find out soon enough," Harold answered.
Just then they heard a group of men's voices Harold glanced at Harlean as they both heard the Captain say he was going to stop in the Messaging room for a moment to alert the messengers. Just then Harlean brushed past Jack and hid behind him, "Hide me," she whispered.
He nodded, knowing they would both be in trouble if Harlean was discovered in there at nearly midnight.
"We've struck an iceberg and I'm having an inspection made to see what is has done to us. You'd better get ready to send out a call for assistance, but don't send it until I tell you," Harlean heard the Captain say.
"Yes sir," Harold replied.
The men waited till the Captain was gone and then Harlean stepped out from behind Jack, "Thank you," she then looked at Harold, "An ice berg? He sounded worried, I hope it's nothing serious," she said.
"I'm sure it isn't," Harold commented, though he wasn't so sure himself.
XX
The Captain walked in with Thomas Andrews and a few other officers, they moved some things off of the desk and Thomas laid out a blue print of the ship.
"This is most unfortunate Captain," Bruce Ismay said, clearly sobered up by now.
"Water, fourteen feet above the keel in ten minutes…in the forepeak, in all three holds, and in Boiler Room Six," Thomas Andrews said as she pointed out the different rooms on the paper.
"That's right sir," the officer to Thomas' left said.
"When can we get underway, damn it?" Bruce demanded.
"That's five compartments!" Thomas nearly shouted; emotion in his voice as he prepared to tell the officers Titanic's fate.
Thomas looked at the Captain, alarm on his face, "She can stay afloat with the first four compartments breached, but not five…not five," Thomas moved his hand to the head of the ship, "As she goes down by the head…the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads at E deck…back and back, there's no stopping it," he explained.
"The pumps, if we open the," the Captain began but was cut off by Thomas.
"The pumps buy you time, but minutes only…from this moment on, no matter what we do…Titanic will founder," Thomas finished, looked down and then back to the Captain who had a look of horror on his face.
"But the ship can't sink!" Bruce suddenly cried.
"She's made of iron, I assure she can, and she will. It is a mathematical certainty," Thomas replied.
"How much time?" the Captain then asked slowly.
Thomas looked at the blue print with his beloved ship on it as he thought, "An hour, two at most," he said softly.
"And how many aboard, Mr. Murdoch?" the Captain asked this time.
"Two thousand…two hundred souls on board sir," Will answered, emotion also laced in his voice.
The Captain turned to Bruce, "Well I believe you may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay," he said.
XX
"So what happened?" Jack asked as he walked out of the room, fully clothed.
"The ship gave a large tremor, before I could think Harlean came running up here because it woke her up," Harold explained as he grabbed a chair from the corner of the small room where the bed was and let Harlean sit down on it.
Just then before Jack could ask another question the Captain came in, Harlean stood up quickly and was about to say something but her Uncle held up his hand to keep her silent, "Jack prepare to send out this message," he ordered.
Jack grabbed the headphones and put one to one ear and left the other open to hear the message, "CQD…sir?" Jack asked as he watched the Captain write something down on a piece of paper.
"That's right, CQD…the distress call, that's our position," he handed Jack the paper and then took his hat off, "Tell whoever responds that were going down by the head and need immediate assistance," he said.
Jack looked at the Captain in disbelief, who then averted his gaze to Harold and then to his niece whose face had gone white.
The Captain sighed and left the room.
Harlean stood up and looked at Harold, "I'll be right back," she said.
"Okay," Harold said slowly.
She kissed him on the cheek and left the room, going after her Uncle.
"Blimey," Jack said as he began to tap.
"Maybe we should try that new distress call," Harold said a second later, he walked over to the desk, "SOS, it may be our only chance to use it," he said in a some what joking manner.
Jack smiled and then nodded, where he then began to tap out SOS.
XX
"Uncle!" Harlean cried as she went running after him.
The Captain stopped and looked at her, "What is it?"
"The ship…it is truly sinking?" she asked slowly.
He nodded, "Yes dear, I'm afraid it is. Mr. Andrews just told us, now please dear…go and get another coat, get Holly and I want you up on the deck. Were uncovering the boats and I want you on the first one away from this God forsaken ship," he sighed, "I should have never brought you with me," he whispered.
"Uncle I would not have missed this for the world," she replied.
"But if you had not come, your safety would never have been a problem…I wouldn't have to deal with Bruce Ismay telling me that you are seeing some Officer and now the entire ship is whispering about it and."
Harlean cut him off, "Wait…what? I am not seeing some Officer," she said.
"Well Bruce Ismay said that he heard two women whispering about it," he replied.
"Well since when does Bruce Ismay the drunk matter? I…I think I have fallen in love, but not with an Officer. What I do is no ones business but my own," she said stubbornly.
The Captain sighed, "Harlean for now just go and get your things. They are going to be boarding the boats and I want you out of here, now go," he said.
She sighed and looked at him for a moment later; Harlean then turned and went for the First Class Entrance. The Captain sighed and then began to walk off, "Sir! Sir!"
He turned to see Harold running towards him, "The Carpathia says their making seventeen knots sir, full steam for them sir," he said.
The Captain looked at the message Harold had just handed him, "Their the only one responding?"
"The only ones close sir, they said they can be here in four hours," Harold answered.
"Four hours?!" the Captain cried.
He was silent and the nodded, "Thank you Bride."
Harold nodded, turned and ran back to the messaging room, "My God," the Captain whispered…
XX