3.
~ Eames felt his stomach grow sour as his mother, Aunt Percy and Charlotte talked and gossiped after dinner in the ladies parlor. He wished Ariadne would come home from her visit with Fredrick and his family. Life was boring at Blue Rivers without her to divert his boredom.
Charlotte had turned up at his mother's invitation for lunch, then the women had given her a tour of the grand house, followed by visiting that sounding like the clucking of hens.
Eames wished another male presence was there. He found he was even wanting Arthur there so that he could have someone to talk to who wasn't interested in clothing, the up coming season, or Mrs. So-and-So's daughter who had run off with the groomsman.
Arthur was wonderful in that he didn't care about such things. His cousin was practical to the last and would not have allowed himself to be roped into the ladies parlor with this horrible Charlotte Williams sitting so close to him as the three women discussed decorating.
"Of course my portrait had to be re-hung." Aunt Percy was saying.
"Now it clashes with everything." Juniper said scathingly.
"Is it my fault you have such poor taste?" Lady Percy said.
Eames felt Charlotte move closer to him as the two women bickered. He automatically shifted away from her.
If Arthur was here, he would have excused himself in the rudest way possible and gone to the library. Eames wished he has some of his American cousin's bravado just now. His manners were too ingrained into him and thus he was forced to listen to the women of the house cluck and chatter all day long.
It was late, there was another snowfall underway, and Ariadne still wasn't back yet from her visit. It had turned into an all day affair with Fredrick and he was getting worried.
Finally, he saw headlight out the window and sat up a little straighter. He heard Miles walking across the hall to welcome Ariadne and Olivia home.
He resisted the urge to run out of the ladies parlor an yell at her for being so late.
It was all he could do not to casually look out the window and see her.
The women in the room seemed to notice that the outsider had returned and their tone of talking stopped abruptly. Lady Percy pretended great interest in her painting and Juniper wore a secretive smile and wouldn't look directly at anyone.
Eames heard Ariadne's foot steps in the hall and the sounds of them not going to the ladies parlor, but up stairs. Eames' friend avoiding the party that didn't want her.
"Thank God." Juniper whispered and Charlotte giggled.
Eames jumped to his feet and raced out the door.
There his great love was, holding the sleeping toddler in her arms and being greeted by Maura.
"You're back." he said breathlessly. Not bothering to disguise his own happiness.
She turned to look at him. Her face a little distracted looking.
"I'm back." she said and gave the baby to her maid to put to sleep.
"We've been waiting for you. Mother and Aunt." He said and waved at the ladies parlor when he knew the women there were straining their ears to overhear their conversation.
"I'm tired." Ariadne said.
"Did you have a good time?" Eames asked.
'Please let her have had a horrible time. Please let her hate Fredrick and say she never wants to see him again.' he thought.
"I did have a nice time. Fredrick's family is very nice." she told him as Maura carried Olivia upstairs.
"Oh." Eames said and put his hands in his pockets.
'Good. Good for her. I had a nice time to.' he thought bitterly.
"We had a fine time with you gone." he said in a voice much harsher that he intended. "Charlotte came over and stayed the day. It was good have her here. To have someone to talk to."
She gave him a cold look.
"I'm sure it was." she said at last.
She shifted on her feet.
"So, things are going well for the two of you?" she asked.
"Very well." he said with a false brightness he felt sure she would see through.
"So... Charlotte is... is she still here?" Ariadne asked tentatively.
"Yes. Would you like to meet her?" he asked and took her hand.
~ Ariadne took a deep breath and allowed her friend to lead her into the ladies parlor.
"Oh, Ariadne, Dear." Juniper said with transparent cheerfulness. "How was your visit? I know it must have been nice to spend time with people more befitting your social status."
Ariadne recognized the thinly veiled insult and let it roll off her.
"It was very nice. Fredrick is lucky to have such a delightful family. I don't think Olivia and I have felt so welcome by any family since we came to England." she said.
Lady Percy balanced slightly and Ariadne caught sight of the fabled Charlotte.
She was a slim, pretty young woman. Her face was intelligent and it was obvious that she came from good breeding. She lacked none of the homeliness of common people.
"Charlotte Williams." Eames said and stood behind Ariadne as if she were a shield.
"Pleased to meet you." Ariadne said as Charlotte stood to her full and graceful height. Making Ariadne feel like a stupid, ugly dwarf next to her.
"So you and Mr. Fredrick Hays?" Charlotte said. "I think you would make a charming couple."
"I think so to." Ariadne said and suddenly felt so plain, so out of place against these women in their dinner finery. Their beaded dresses, their ancestral home, their assurance of their place in this world.
She could tell by the way they avoided looking at her that these women didn't want here there. She was an intruder. She was an inconvenience.
"In fact... Fredrick had made me an offer of marriage... and I've decided to accept." Ariadne said bravely.
"What?" Eames barked.
"Oh dear, that's wonderful news!" Exclaimed Juniper. "Such an appropriate match!"
"Yes, Fredrick is a fine you man." Lady Percy said darkly.
"And you'll be living with him in Town, certainly. Taking Olivia with you." Juniper added.
"Yes, Fredrick wants us to be married before he goes to war." Ariadne told them and avoided Eames.
She sensed he was breathing hard and her body gave a slight tremble.
"Yes, it's wonderful." she heard him growl.
Eames stepped away from her and stood next to Charlotte.
"I wanted to wait to do this; Charlotte and I are going to be married as well." he announced.
His Aunt and mother mother both cried out in shock and joy.
"Oh, this is so wonderful, Charles!" Juniper sang. "We'll have the wedding soon at the chapel!"
"The sooner the better." Eames said and didn't look at Ariadne as his bride looked like a happy well fed cat.
~ New York City ~
~ November, 1914 ~
~ Cobb stepped into the working class restaurant and scanned the dirty men there.
The talking, the jerking profanity and loud drunkenness stopped when the well dressed lawyer walked in.
Cobb was out of place in such an environment. A fact made cleared when all eyes were on him as if he had just sprouted a second head.
He swallowed hard and looked around the room. Hoping against hope, he wouldn't see him here.
It couldn't be real. It was too insane to be real.
He saw the young man in a dim little booth. His thin body swallowed up by the workman's coat he was wearing. The woolen cap pulled over his head made him look like another person entirely.
Cobb ignored the odd stares and went to sit across from the man.
"Can I get you anything?" the waitress asked.
"Coffee." Cobb asked. "Have you eaten?" he asked the man.
"Not hungry." his new friend said.
"You sure? You look like you could use a good meal, sir." Cobb implored.
"Don't sir me." the man growled and Cobb noticed how hallowed his eyes looked.
The waitress nodded and left them in peace.
"Why are you just now contacting me? It's been five months." Cobb asked.
The man lit a cigarette and didn't answer.
"I was arrested. Drunken disorderly in Brooklyn. Spent three months at welfare island. Just got out." he said.
"Why didn't you contact me before? Or better yet, right after the damn thing happened? I'm not hard to find." Cobb growled as the waitress brought his coffee.
The man across from him looked troubled.
"It wasn't easy. I was sick... I don't know what I was. I started working in the ship yard. The thing made sense." he said.
"Nothing makes sense here." Cobb said harshly. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
The man in the wool cap shook his head.
"I know. I know this is complicated. I wasn't sure if I should even contact you." he admitted.
Cobb leaned back in his seat and looked him over.
"What happened, Arthur?" he said at last. "Why didn't you tell us you survived the sinking of the Empress?"