I was disturbed from my thoughts by a loud knock at the door. It couldn't be Will yet – I crept softly towards the door, hoping to work out who it was before opening it. Luckily it didn't take too long.

"Ada? You in there?"

Molly Brown. What did she want? Will wouldn't have sent her down here – would he? I opened the door softly, sticking my head around to look at Molly. She had a concerned expression on her face – Will had sent her here.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Brown. Can I help you with anything?"

"It's Molly, Ada, Molly! Will tells me you aren't feeling yourself today."

She stepped inside with no invitation. I frowned, still holding the door open. I was determined not to lose this battle.

"I am quite alright, Mrs..Molly. Will has no right to talk about me to other people."

"Are you sure, darlin'?" She didn't believe me.

"Quite sure," I replied firmly. "I just need some rest. Alone."

"No, I won't be having that. You're coming with me."

"What?"

"It's not good for you to hide away in here all the time. What you need is some tea."

She kept talking as she pulled me, gently but firmly, outside. I glared at her as she closed the door behind us, before looking at me with a smile across her face.

"Don't feel like that, darlin'. I'm just looking out for you like I was asked."


I followed Molly Brown into the first class reception room, feeling ever more out of place in my outfit. Molly kept turning her head and smiling at me, but I wasn't having it. I just wanted to hide away in my room – what had possessed me to let her in?

Oh, good grief – Molly was making a beeline for a table near the window, currently occupied by Ruth DeWitt-Bukater and two other women. She couldn't be serious – dragging me out of my room to drink tea with these women? They didn't even like her! I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when I saw them stand up, just before we arrived. This didn't deter Molly, however.

"Hello, girls! I was hoping I'd catch you at tea!"

"We're awfully sorry, you missed it," Ruth replied smoothly. She didn't look sorry at all. "The countess and I were just off to take the air on the boat deck."

"What a lovely idea! I need to catch up on my gossip!"

Ruth seemed somewhat put out by this announcement, but the other women greeted Molly and myself politely. Molly grabbed my wrist and pulled me around.

"You look like you could do with some air, Ada," she whispered, smiling all the while.

I didn't care by this point. Molly meant well, I knew that – I just wanted to get this all over with so I could go back to sleep. We followed the other women, and happened to walk past another table where Captain Smith was sitting with the Ismays.

"Good afternoon, Ada!" Smith greeted me with a smile.

I forced myself to smile in response, before catching Bruce Junior's stare. I could almost feel my heart sinking. I felt sick again, and pulled at Molly's arm anxiously.

"Molly, I really do want to go back to my room. Please!"

She stopped and looked at me. I knew I was close to tears, and she could probably see it.

"Go on, darlin'. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's not you, Molly, really. I'm just...I'm just tired."

"Sure, do you want me to walk you back?"

I shook my head, forcing a smile. The last thing I needed was to have Molly hovering over me in my room. I just needed space to breathe.


I had just turned the key in the lock of my door when I heard a yell from down the corridor. I turned to see Jim Moody running towards me.

"Ada! Glad I caught you!"

"What do you want?"

"That's a fine way to greet a friend! I'll overlook it. Just this once."

I didn't reply, I just looked at him. He sighed and shrugged.

"Well can I come in? Just for a minute?"

I didn't want him to, but...I could do with talking to someone for a while.

"Just for a minute, then. I'm very tired."

I walked inside and he followed me, gently closing the door behind him. I turned to look at him, folding my arms as I did so. He shuffled his feet, gazing at the floor.

"Why don't we sit?" He asked eventually, gesturing towards the couch.

I shrugged, but sat down anyway. He sat beside me, silent for a few minutes, before speaking.

"Ada, I heard Will talking about you this morning."

"Will has been spreading my private business amongst the officers?"

"No, no – he was mentioning to Lights that you seemed very upset for some reason. I just wanted to find out...well, I wanted to know if you are alright?"

"Again? Jim, I don't need a nanny!"

"I'm not trying to be, Ada. I'm trying to be a friend. That's all."

"In that case, I can safely reveal to you that no, I'm not alright. Far from it, actually!"

"Oh..." he paused, remaining silent for a short while. "So what's wrong?"

"Can you please leave now? I'm very tired -" I started to get to my feet, but Jim grabbed my elbow, pulling me back down firmly but gently.

"No, Ada. I can't do that. Look, you can tell me anything and I swear I won't breathe a word of it to anyone. Not even Will. You can trust me, truly – I didn't mention the Ismay thing, did I?"

He had a point. As far as I knew, he had kept that a secret. Maybe I could trust him with this horrible secret too.

"I will tell you if, and only if, you swear never to breathe a word of it to anyone. Especially Will."

"You can count on me, Ada," he smiled reassuringly.

"Well, last night Will had to leave dinner early," I began. "Before he left he asked Lights to look after me. And Lights did his best, but Mr Ismay -"

"Sorry," Jim interrupted. "Is this Junior?"

"Yes, Junior. Anyhow, he said he would escort me to my room. Lights didn't want him to, because of what Will said, but he felt he had to because Mr Ismay is his employer, you know?"

Jim nodded, then frowned, "But wait – Lights told Will that he had personally made sure you were in your room."

"I don't know anything about that. When we got to the room, he forced me in and he...he..."

My lip began to tremble and I could feel tears start welling up in my eyes. Jim pulled me towards him gently.

"It's alright, Ada, don't cry. Don't cry."

I took a deep breath and pulled away. Jim handed me his handkerchief and I dabbed at my eyes with it.

"I'll kill him!" Jim suddenly exclaimed. I looked at him in alarm.

"No, Jim, please don't do anything! I can't let Will know!"

"You have to, Ada. In all seriousness, you have to tell him. He has a right to know."

"No," I replied obstinately. "If I tell him he won't want to marry me."

"What? Of course he will! It's not your fault!"

We both looked up when someone knocked on the door. Jim quickly leapt to his feet and walked to open it; Will was standing outside.

"Jim? Aren't you on watch?"

There was a pause, followed by a soft utterance from Jim which sounded like "Oh damn!", before he ran outside.