If Stanford was smart, he would stay away from Hephzibah, at least until the Titanic docked, but though he may be intelligent, he was not wise. He was a fool in love who took the risk of being discovered in order for a few more moments with Hephzibah. After breakfast, it was a game of cat and mouse with Pa; he was the cat, keeping a keen eye and sharp ear out for his rebellious son, and the engaged couple were the mice, scurrying away.

Hephzibah and Stanford hid in the third-class area most of the morning and told Fiddleford of their plans. He was almost as ecstatic as Stanley was and gave Stanford and Hephzibah his deepest congratulations. Fiddleford made them swear to send him letters when this was all over and they happily agreed to keep in touch. After lunch, they went back to the library and hid in the back corner. Hephzibah, again, read to Stanford, sending him into a short nap and she put down the book to follow his lead.

According to Stanley, Pa was out at another elegant dinner, so Stanford and Hephzibah hid in Stanford's bedroom and snacked on peanuts and champagne. They sat on his bed and talked all night, the minutes and hours flying by like a seagull over the endless sea of time. Hephzibah was sitting with her legs crossed, her boots on the floor, as Stanford told of the time he and Stanley discovered the Jersey Devil.

"... so Shanklin the Stab Possum ran to the net and cut the Jersey Devil loose with his teeth! The Devil flew off and breathed fire, scaring the stupid Sibling Brothers and making them fall off the pier and into the sea! The Devil flew off into the sun and no one has seen it sense, and no one ever believes that not only did we see the devil, but had it in a trap for thirty seconds."

"Jesus, Mary, n' Joseph." Hephzibah swore and popped another peanut into her mouth and threw the scraps of the nut into the small bucket they had to keep the room clean and the bed comfortable. Hephzibah shivered, cupped her hands together, and breathed hot air into them.

Stanford sat up in bed and took off his trenchcoat. "Are you cold?"

"M'fine." Hephzibah said and made to pull her own jacket around her tightly out of habit, but she had left it on her bed today. She then smiled and leaned forward to lie by Stanford's side, who was sitting against his headboard and about to give Hephzibah his coat, and he happily wrapped his arms around his secret fiancée as she held him for warmth. "Better." She said smugly before nuzzling her cheek against his chest.

Stanford chuckled, kissed the top of her head, and understood the gleam in her eye when she looked up at him. They met in the middle for a kiss, which was supposed to be a quick peck on the lips and then back to storytelling, but the kiss became even deeper. When they slowly separated for air, Hephzibah marveled at Stanford's appearance and took the hand he held up to her lips and gently kissed each of his six fingers. Stanford was frozen as Hephzibah laid by his side and kissed his birth defect. Some people didn't even want to touch or look at his hands, let alone kiss them. Stanford's gut squirmed when Hephzibah kissed each of his fingertips lightly; he decided that the squirming feeling was a good thing.

When Hephzibah was done, she looked into Stanford's eyes when he was still. She smiled gently, seeing the insecurities he had, and he was determined to demolish them. "Put your hands on me, Stanford." She breathed, barely above a whisper.

Stanford smiled lovingly at Hephzibah and kept one arm wrapped around her, but he put his free hand on her cheek to feel her soft skin with his thumb. His hand then held her chin, he kissed her, and while they kissed, his hand trailed down to her breast and the kiss deepened while Stanford massaged his fiancée and Hephzibah pulled him closer by his trenchcoat, letting her sink into the bed as his body advanced on top of hers gently.

If they were cold earlier, they weren't anymore. The couple took full advantage of the bed they were on and lived their day like it was their last. When the deed was done, they were both hot and sweaty and naked, Hephzibah's body covered by Stanford's, who laid on top of her and was also cautious of crushing her, but Hephzibah didn't seem to care, for she kept him close. They both breathed heavily, panting, and Hephzibah bit her lip with a smile when she noticed Stanford's trembling.

She moved a hand from his back to his cheek and then whispered with a slight chuckle in her voice, "You're shakin'."

Stanford held back a laugh and smiled as he caught his breath. "I'll be fine." He assured Hephzibah, leaned forward to give her another kiss, and then admitted his lack of energy by lying on her chest for relaxation.

Hephzibah happily let him lie there and kissed the top of his head.

Liz was sipping a cup of hot tea. Rain was pouring outside in the woods that surrounded the shack she sat in with Ford. He winced, flexed his hand by opening and closing his six-fingered fist, and sipped his hot drink. Liz sat her cup on the coffee table by the couch, concerned for the old man she was interviewing.

"Are you okay, sir?"

Ford chuckled and smiled warmly at her. "The rain does not do my arthritis any good. It will pass. Now, where was I…?"

"You and Hephzibah were waiting for the three days to be up." Liz said softly, not wanting to point out the cold, hard truth that the Titanic would never dock in New York. "Sir… what was it like when Titanic hit the iceberg?" She asked gently, not wanting to open any old wounds, but she had come to hear the whole story, and she wanted every detail.

Ford hummed in thought and looked down at the wood burning stove that sat on one corner of the living room, not too far from a little TV. "Depends who you ask. Some men died instantly, like the ones Hephzibah and I ran by in the engine room. Fiddleford later told me that he had been asleep and woke up from the violent shaking and the ear-ringing noise. Stan said he was drinking in the smoking room, flirting with some women, and they only felt a small tremble. Hephzibah and I had guessed that Pa would be back in our suite soon, so we went up to the main dock to stargaze when it happened. I remember, we were sitting on a bench. Hephzie was wearing my coat, and we had a blanket over our shoulders as we renamed the constellations. We looked down to level when we saw a huge iceberg glide right by the ship. It was too close for comfort, sliding along the ship, and a chunk of ice fell when it hit a ladder on the ship. It shattered by our feet and I held Hephzie tighter as we watched the iceberg pass us by. We even looked down at the ship below us and tried to convince ourselves that it only scratched the exterior of the ship, that everything was fine, but the crew around us started to panic, and our instincts told us that something was very wrong. When I took Hephzibah with me to my suite to put on a new trenchcoat, we were confronted by my father."

Liz's jaw dropped and she listened closely as she sipped her cup of tea quietly.

Stanford had just slipped on a trenchcoat, one still on Hephzibah, and the blanket they had brought with them to stargaze was draped over Hephzibah's shoulders. She saw Stanford shiver out of the corner of her eye, so she removed the blanket from herself and wrapped it around Stanford's shoulders and arms. He held it close to himself as his blood ran cold under his skin at the sight of his father standing in front of the door and glaring daggers at his son.

"So, you've been running around with this fifthly tramp, have you?" Pa growled.

"Pa, stop it." Stanford said coldly and took her hand, making her take a half a step closer to him. "She's wonderful and perfect in every way."

"She's a Negro." Pa snarled and stepped forward. "You can do so much better, Stanford!"

"I don't want 'someone better'! I want her!" Stanford said firmly, his heart pounding in his chest, for, as childish as it was, he still feared his father, but he feared losing Hephzibah more.

"Don't be stupid." Pa snarled and quickly grabbed Hephzibah's other wrist.

"Let her go!"

The door flew open and Pa quickly let Hephzibah go, like her skin was burning him, and they all looked to see who had almost walked in on an ugly scene. Stanley was with two men who were workers on the ship. The workers appeared to be calm, but Stanley was a shade paler than normal and when he saw his family, he moved to them quickly while the men grabbed life-vests.

"We need to find that Fiddleford guy and get to the top deck, now!"

"Stanley, what's…"

"This ship's gonna be at the bottom of the ocean in an hour!" Stanley said darkly and even grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "We've got to get to the lifeboats and get the hell outta here! I don't care if it's April, we're stranded in the middle of the Arctic and it's cold enough to kill a man!"

"No," Pa said and shook his head. "No, God himself couldn't sink this ship…"

"Well then God just gave us a giant middle finger!"

"Stanley." Stanford said in a warning tone and removed Stanley's hands from himself. "He is right, Pa. Titanic is made of iron, it most certainly can sink."

"And it will!" Stanley said and started to grab as many blankets as he could find and carry. "Have you morons got the vests?!"

"Yes, sir, make sure everyone is dressed warmly."

"Good, then let's move!"

Pa growled to himself like an angry bulldog and followed the two men out. Stanley followed his father, and Stanford and Hephzibah followed him, side by side. They reached the top deck and awed at the horrendous scene.

It was like the boats were pieces of meat and the people were starving animals. Workers who were doomed from the start were trying to keep order, having women and children take the boats first and then lower them safely, but with men scrambling for a way off this death sentence and women and children begging to stay with their fathers and husbands, chaos reigned the side of the boat.

"Oh my God." Hephzibah breathed as she was handed a life-vest and she slipped it on over clothes.

"How many people were on Titanic, again?" Stanley asked out loud to anyone who had an answer.

"Two-thousand, two-hundred and eight." Stanford said, having a head for numbers, but then corrected himself. "Nine. Two-thousand, two-hundred and nine."

"And how many lifeboats did they say there were on that stupid tour went on?" Stanley dared to ask.

Stanford swallowed. "Twenty. Enough for one-thousand, one-hundred and seventy-eight people. That's a little over half of the people on this ship."

"What THE HELL were they thinking?!" Stanley yelled and kicked the nearby wall, making a loud bang noise. He then swore colorfully as he hopped on one foot, wondering if he had managed to break a toe.

"They were thinking that this ship is unsinkable, son." Pa sneered with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah well this unsinkable ship is gonna kill hundreds of people if nobody does anything!" Stanley yelled as he stood on two feet, his ears catching too many distrustful noises.

"It's alright, darling, another boat is coming for all the daddies!"

"I'll see you soon, love."

"Mummy!"

"Hold her hand, sweetie, that's a good girl."

"Get BACK! Or I'll shoot you like the dogs you are! GET BACK!"

"Ford! Hephzie! Stan!"

The three young adults turned and saw a young man running towards them. "FIDDLEFORD!" They shouted at the same time.

Fiddleford, also in a life-vest, paused in front of them and breathed heavily with his hands on his knees. "H-H-Hephzie! There's… there's a boat for ya! Right by this side! Get on, quickly!"

"No." Hephzibah said firmly and shook her head. "Have someone else take it. Have a mother n' her children take it."

"No!" Stanford said and took her hand. "You're taking it! Lead the way, Fiddleford!"

The men ran ahead, pushing through the crowd, with Fiddleford leading the way and Stanford dragging Hephzibah by her hand.

"Stanford, no!"

"Hephzibah, please, come on!"

"No!"

It was like Stanford was suddenly experiencing tunnel-vision. All he could think about was getting Hephzibah out of here. Stanley was right. It didn't matter how good of a swimmer any of them were. They were all dry out here in the air and it was already freezing. That water would give them all hypothermia and kill them if they didn't stay dry. If Stanford could prevent that from happening to Hephzibah, than so be it.

They reached the boat and Fiddleford pointed ahead. "Ya need t'go now, Hephzie!"

"NO!" Hephzibah yanked her hand free from Stanford's grasp and then said in a calmer tone, "I won't leave y'all alone. I'm stayin' with ya."

Stanford stepped forward and removed the blanket from around his shoulders and wrapped it around his secret fiancée. "It'll be okay, Hephzibah, get on the boat."

"No, Stanford! I won't leave!"

"Hephzibah, please, we'll be fine!" Stanford begged and put his hands on her arms to hug her goodbye. Hephzibah put her hands on his shoulders to keep him close. Stanford smiled at her and said, "We'll get out of here, it'll be fine, just go."

Pa, who had fallen behind from the looks of it, hurried to the men and woman and huffed, "There's a lifeboat for us on the other side of the ship! We can all get out of here, but we need to go NOW!"

Stanford grinned and turned back to Hephzibah. "There, you see? I'll see you again soon, just get on the boat."

"No, I…"

"Go on, Hephzie, get on!" Fiddleford urged.

"But…"

"Hey, it'll be fine. Ford and I sail all the time, remember?" Stanley added. "We'll get out of here, just go."

"I…"

Someone grabbed Hephzibah's arm and pulled her into the boat. Stanford took a step back to make separating from her easier, and she was on the lifeboat. Hephzibah was fitted into the boat like the last sardine of a can.

"LOWER AWAY!"

There was a jolt that made some women gasp and hold their children closer, and Hephzibah steadied her booted feet on the boat, her eyes glued as Stanford, Stanley, and Fiddleford stood in a row at the edge of the boat and watched it being lowered to the sea. Hephzibah bit her lip. The men smiled at her, comforted that she would be safe and that she would live.

"It'll be fine, Hephzie." Fiddleford called.

"Just focus on kicking the sea's ass for us!" Stanley yelled with a laugh.

Stanford chuckled at his brother and looked down at Hephzibah. He didn't know if he would live, or if they would ever see each other again, even if they both survived, so in case this was it, he wanted to give Hephzibah a goodbye that was nothing but the truth. "I love you."

Hephzibah swallowed.

Stanford was suddenly punched in the face, on his right cheek. He held it and looked to find that it had been his own father that gave him a left-hook.

"HEY!" Stanley yelled, but Stanford outstretched his arm to keep from any more harm being done.

"WHAT did you say, you pathetic freak?!"

"We don't have time for this! We need to get to that boat…"

"There is no boat! I just said that to get her outta the way, but we'll make it a reality…"

"Stop her!"

The men were distracted when they heard a commotion going on down on Hephzibah's lifeboat. She stood on the edge of the boat, leaped to a nearby rope, and climbed it up to the floor below them.

"HEPHZIBAH, NO!" Stanford yelled and leaned down the side of the Titanic. "STOP! HEPHZIBAH!"

But Hephzibah had already jumped through the window and was running down the hall. Stanford turned and ran for his life, pushing people out of the way. Stanley and Fiddleford followed him.

Hephzibah was not an idiot. She knew that the chances of three men leaving the Titanic was unlikely. If anyone was in danger of dying it was them. As Hephzibah had gotten closer to the ocean and farther from her friends, her eyes had been glued to her fiancé. She couldn't leave him alone to die. Hephzibah, suddenly, had a plan. Everything clicked in her head, like a key turning a lock, and she knew what she had to do if she wanted to save some lives tonight. So she jumped off the lifeboat and climbed back on the Titanic.

Hephzibah ran as fast as she could down the halls. She went into the Grand Staircase, right below the domed ceiling, and she saw Stanford running down the stairs. "STANFORD!"

"HEPHZIBAH!" They met in the middle and Stanford held her so tightly around the waist that he might have hurt her, but he was too worried for her life and too relieved to hold her again to care. "Hephzibah, you're so STUPID!" Stanford yelled and kissed her lips. "You're so stupid, Hephzibah!" He kissed her again and again. "Why did you do that?! WHY?!"

Hephzibah laughed and cupped his face with both hands. She smoothed his right cheek with her left thumb and said, "I jumped in after ya."

It took Stanford a minute to understand her, but then he remembered what happened the first time they met, how she was willing to jump in after him if he had jumped off the Titanic. Of course things wouldn't change. Hephzibah was still willing to jump in after him and try to save his life. Stanford grinned, laughing as well, but with tears in his eyes, and he blinked them away before kissing her.

Hephzibah kissed back passionately and only pulled away to say, "I love you, too, Stanford."

Stanford only kissed her again, and hugged her around the waist. Her arms hugged him around the neck and her face was buried in his shoulder. Unknowing to either of them, Stanley and Fiddleford were standing at the top floor, watching from the wooden rail with big smiles on their faces.

"Those two are gonna be the death of us." Stanley chuckled under his breath.

Fiddleford chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "I reckon they might."

Hephzibah and Stanford separated from their hug just enough to look around the giant room they stood in. People were running around, scrambling, panicking. People of all classes were here and scrambling for a way to live. While Stanford's mind was quickly racking itself for ideas, Hephzibah smiled courageously and said quietly, "I have an idea."

Stanford let her pull herself away and she climbed up the stairs to the clock, right between the floors. Hephzibah pulled out her golden harmonica from her pants-pocket and she blew the longest, loudest, high-pitched note she could, mimicking a whistle. The room was still as people covered their ears and moaned. Even Fiddleford and Stanley winced and clapped their hands over their ears.

"LISTEN UP!" Hephzibah yelled and pocketed her instrument. "We all know there's not enough lifeboats for us all, all cuz some asshole in a suit decided that safety wasn't a number one priority."

A man with wavy gray hair looked down at his shoes shamefully.

"But we can MAKE some!" Hephzibah shouted above the crowd. "I look 'round this boat n' I see is two men who are experts on boat-buildin'," Stanford and Stanley grinned when they knew who Hephzibah was talking about. "An engineer," Fiddleford had an idea of who Hephzibah had in mind and puffed out his chest proudly. "N' a bunch of wood n' material that's gonna end up at the bottom of the ocean unless we put it to good use! We can't save the Titanic, but maybe we can at least build some rafts to keep up from freezin' to death, but we all gotta work together!"

"Why should we work with you?" One man challenged.

"If ya have a problem workin' with a black woman, that's on ya, but I actually wanna live to see the sun rise, so I'm gonna get to work n' do what others failed to do!" And with that, Hephzibah marched up the stairs to the nearest wooden door, threw herself against it so hard it came off the hinges and fell, and she picked it up to use it to start building a raft.

Stanford just watched her, jaw dropped, too hazed to do anything. The whole room was silent until Stanley clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

"I don't know about any of you guys, but I wanna see Ma and Shermie again." Stanley said clearly to the whole room and helped Hephzibah carry the door down the stairs.

Stanford shook his head to clear it and joined them on the floor. "Stanley and I can help build! We need as much as wood as we can get!"

"I can draw up blueprints n' calculate weight of people t'rafts!" Fiddleford said.

"The water hasn't reached the dining room yet! You men, we'll be scavengers and start there!"

"I saw some emergency axes down some floors! You two, follow me!"

"I'll start grabbing some extra clothes!"

"Here, let me help!"

"The crew is still sending out signals! Help is coming!"

"The closest ship is the Carpathia, but it won't get here in time! We just need to last until it comes!"

"MOVE!"

"It was unlike anything I had ever seen." Ford said, his bones hurting him less as the rain outside was steadily ending. "While many first-class men were looking elsewhere for safety or had given up, many second and third-class passengers had come to help. We divided and conquered. A group of people, men and women, collected everything from wardrobes to doors to tables to mattresses to rope. Another group of people worked with Stan and I to build the rafts accurately. All those years of built-building as kids had really paid off. Fiddleford was assigning people to rafts by their weight so whoever was on a makeshift boat would remain dry. Hephzie used her harmonica as a whistle and directed people on where to go and what to do. Everyone, children, mothers and fathers, people of all classes, were working together to try to live."

"That sounds amazing." Liz awed and scribbled down notes in her journal. "You all saved so many lives that night."

Ford smiled and looked at the fire that roared in the wood-burning stove. "I don't know much about fate or God's work - when it came to the Titanic, I wasn't even sure if I believed in a god, because if there was one how could He let such a terrible thing happen? - but it seemed like we had all been placed on that boat for a reason. Maybe Hephzibah and Fiddleford did win those tickets for a reason. Maybe I had visited that university for a reason. Maybe I made Stanley go with me for a reason. Whatever the reason for us being there, at that moment I was grateful that we were all there and could help each other."

Liz gave a nod of understanding, a nod Ford saw out of the corner of his eye, and so he adjusted his glasses and went on with his tale.

"Titanic all worked vigorously for over an hour and a half. We had to work at a steady pace, as the Titanic sunk and more material couldn't be reached or used and we carefully let people go off of rafts. They were still freezing cold, some rafts letting a little water in due to weight, but at least they didn't have to worry about dying. We tried to find Pa and get him off the ship, but we couldn't find him and trusted that he could take care of himself, though Stan sneered he didn't care if he survived or not. Hephzie made it her personal mission not to leave us, claiming that if anyone tried to get her to leave again she would jump into the ocean. I couldn't have that, obviously, so we worked on helping as many people as we could. By now, we were outside of the Titanic and water was creeping up on top of the boat. We suddenly heard four explosions from below, and we knew the ship would skin within ten minutes."