Rose gazed up at the Statue of Liberty, rain soaking her face and hair. Much like the immigrants that survived the sinking, it gave her hope. No longer would she endure the abuse of her mother and Cal, now she was free. Her heart pained when the image of Jack's eyes fluttered in her mind.
Then, she felt a heavy weight in the coat pocket, of Cal's cost pocket. Rose felt a hard, cold object, and pulled it out to admire it. A heart shaped, blue gem, no diamond. The Heart of the Ocean.
"Dat er vakkert!" An oddly familiar voice said. Rose turned around to see a blond woman pointing at the diamond. "Beautiful."
"Helga?" Rose asked, recognizing the third class girl. The woman nodded.
"Rose De... DeWi..." Helga stuttered, trying to pronounce Rose's name.
"No, Dawson, Rose Dawson." Rose responded with. Helga smiled, and clutched her heart as tears began to fill her eyes.
"Mitt navn er, ummmm, my... name... is Helga DeRossi." Helga said, her voice breaking as she allowed herself to cry.
"Rose?" A young voice, probably a English girl, asked. Rose's gaze shifted down to see Cora, a young girl Jack knew.
"Cora!" Exclaimed Rose. The young girl rushed to Rose, barely able to hug her around Rose's waist. Rose kneeled to hug her back. When Rose stood back up, she held Cora in one of her arms. Then she extended her hand out to Helga, who smiled and took her hand. The three girls looked at each other before looking up at the Statue of Liberty.
"What will we do now?" Cora asked, her voice breaking. "I can't find my father." Helga nodded, her tears mixing with the rain on her face.
"We stick together, we can all work as seamstresses." Rose began, turning her head to face the three girls. "We're all each other has left."
"Min mor, min far..." Helga began, her voice trailing off. Helga flailed her arms and wrapped them around Rose and Cora. "T-together for all the time."
"Yes." Cora said, picking her head off of Rose's shoulder. Then, Carpathia pulled into Ellis Island, Titanic's remaining passengers had finished their journey.
"Alright then, all third class passengers must go through a medical inspection before being registered. Tonight all families will placed in holding rooms." A male voice said, but the rest of his instructions were drowned out by the chatter of the surviving passengers.
Rose, Cora, and Helga were herded off of Carpathia. Rose clamped onto Cora's hand, and Helga was clutching on Rose's arm. The three of them were pushed by the flow of the crowd, into a large building with rows and rows of doors. A man dressed in a uniform, was pushing Rose's shoulder into an open door. Rose was so tired she could barely tell what was going on.
"Inspections are tomorrow." The man said sternly before slamming the door. Rose looked to one of the three tiny beds and saw Cora had already fallen asleep. From Titanic to the Carpathia, Cora was long overdue for a deep sleep.
"Alright, all of you to your designated inspection rooms." An employee knocked on the door at sunrise. They rubbed their eyes after hearing a door slam. They had nothing, only the clothes from when the Titanic was sinking. The three girls slept in their under garments.
"I'll take Cora, can you handle this by yourself?" Rose asked, holding onto Cora and looking at Helga. Rose's eyes lingered as she saw Helga pull up her stockings. Helga turned around and nodded, and the three of them walked out their room.
Helga was shaking as she opened the door to the inspection room. Helga was led to a medical table to lie down on. The doctor gave a quick inspection, checking her hair for lice, drew some blood, and various others. He left the room for a few minutes and entered with some papers.
"Helga DeRossi, after your inspection we have only one thing of interest. You are pregnant, Mrs. DeRossi." The doctor said with a small smile, with Helga laying on the medical table.
"Pregnant," Helga said, not knowing the meaning of pronunciation of the word.
"Yes, congratulations." The doctor said, leafing through the medical papers. "You may join the two girls you were traveling with."
Helga left the room, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Rose came up from behind her and grabbed her hand. She was holding Cora, who was sitting on her hip. The three girls smiled as they walked into the main room. It looked like a bank, with rows of uniformed officials behind glass, sifting through lines of hundreds of immigrants.
"Names," The man behind the glass called to the three girls who stepped up in line.
""Rose Dawson."
"Cora Cartmell."
"Helga DeRossi."
"Listen, I'm sorry for what happened on Titanic, but I must ask. How are a young American woman, an English girl, and a woman with an Italian last name and Norwegian accent traveling together?" The man asked interlocking his fingers.
"You see... Cora and I are half sisters, same mother different fathers. I was born in Philadelphia, but when I was ten, my father died and my mother married an English man and I lived in England. That's why Cora has an English accent. Helga is Cora's governess, and she is Norwegian, but her Italian husband died in Titanic." Rose said, frowning and pulling Cora closer to her. "My mother and step father also perished."
"Right, well then, welcome back to New York City. The next ferry takes off in five minutes, and I see you three have already been through the medical inspection. Speaking of which, Mrs. DeRossi congratulations. You all came just in time." The man said stamping three separate papers, folding them, and handing them to Rose. "Next!"
"Helga, Cora, we have nothing now. We will find jobs, but even then we'll struggle. There will be nights when we are sleeping on the streets, but we will stay together.
Cora giggled as Rose took her hand and dragged her outside. Helga was running after the two of them, smiling as they saw the ferry docked in the harbor. The three girls walked away from the lines of people and found the large exit door. A large line of people were shuffling into it. Helga, Cora, and Rose picked up the pace as the ferry became larger.