Chapter 6
Cal's Story
"Did I ever tell you girls that I was a passenger on the Titanic?" Mr. Hockley asked his girls whose identical brown eyes widened in shock.
"No, Daddy you didn't!" Said Lavinia, a little hurt.
"Was it awful?" Rosalie sweetly, putting her small white hand on her father's stubble. "Did you very nearly drown?"
"Rosalie, darling, don't ask such things." Scolded Mrs. Hockley from the sofa.
"It's quite all right dear," Assured Mrs. Hockley. "And yes, Rosie I did almost meet my maker but we are getting ahead of ourselves aren't we?" He said in a deep, embellished tone in order to captivate the twins more. "I haven't even told you about Rose yet." He looked at me then, his deep amber eyes sizzling through me as if trying to draw something from my features, maybe even my mind to help him with his story.
"Rose Dewitt Bukater, yes." He said quietly. "A lovely thing to behold." His eyes burned holes unto mine. "Her hair was as red as a rose itself, her skin as creamy white as milk, and that smile, full and radiant, it could light up a room." I was so mesmerized by the passion in his words that I almost didn't realize the Rose he spoke of was kind of like me.
"But her beauty was not skin deep, oh no." He said with just as much exaltation as he had expressed before. "She loved Art, mostly Picasso and Monet, and Literature, Sigmund Freud was his name, she was always quoting him. And she was independent, fiery. I liked that. Plus, she had all the class and grace of a monarch. Yes she was stunning."
The twins were practically drooling, hanging on their father's every word. Even Mrs. Hockley looked a little more attentive than usual. Nathan just stared at me like it was his father who was voicing his thoughts for me and all he had to do was catch my eye for him to convey his feelings.
"We were engaged in the winter of 1911. It was a very stressful time, Rose's father had just passed away and her poor mother needed the reassurance that her daughter was going to be in a stable relationship with her father gone." he said it so formally yet, I couldn't help feeling he meant something other than stable relationship when he said it, but I was the only one who seemed to notice it.
"We were headed back to the States for our engagement gala in Philadelphia and Rose insisted we go on the finest ship in the world, the Titanic. It was Rose, her mother and I boarding the ship along with our servants of course. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, quite chilly too. I remember walking up the gangway onto the ship with Rose on my arm and how animated she was about the voyage and the engagement. I'd never seen her so excited." He said, phasing out.
"It was a lovely voyage too, luxurious, calm. The dining saloon was palatial, with the beautiful grand staircase, and exquisite oak paneling, and the large glass dome overhead, if only you could have been there!" He seemed lost in his own memory.
"Rose was as content as ever. She was such saint too. She befriended this steerage boy, even invited him to dine with us one night! If only you could have been there! What a laugh that was!" The twins and their mother laughed as did Mr. Hockley. Nathan coughed a little but didn't say anything.
"Get to the sinking Daddy!" Urged Lavinia. "What happened to Rose?"
"Well, Rose and I had a spectacular time on Titanic. We were in love." he said, nostalgically." But then, on our fourth night the ship hit an iceberg and all hell broke loose."
"Caledon!" Said Mrs. Hockley, shocked.
"Well, Madeleine, it's true. You were there as well if I recall correctly." he said, raising his eyebrows.
"You were!" Asked Rosalie, incredulously.
"A different story for different time." Interjected Mr. Hockley. "Anyways, on that night, Rose and I had fought, for a reason I can't remember. It was a stupid fight; it shouldn't have occurred if each of us had remembered our place."
"What happened?" I felt compelled to be the one to move the story along, yet I felt I knew what was going to happen already.
"Rose was reluctant to leave, we all were. No one could believe a ship as large and majestic as the Titanic would founder." His brow furrowed and his voice began to crack. "I tried to get her into a lifeboat with her mother, but she wouldn't go without me. She began to worry about the people in steerage trapped below and somehow she got away from me to try and help them escape." he messaged his chin with his thick fingers, looking on the verge of tears.
"The last time I saw her, she was running down the grand staircase into the rising water to save a steerage boy." He said with hate. "I waited and waited for her to reappear at my side so we could find a lifeboat together but-"
"Oh, Daddy." Lavinia cried, hugging him around his neck, Rosalie copied her, forcing themselves to sob so their father would comfort them.
"There, there." He crooned. "I did never see Rose again and it was heart breaking. But if it wasn't for Rose and the Titanic I would have never met your mother. And that would have been an even greater tragedy." The twins bobbed their ebony curls and wiped the tears from there rosy cheeks.
"It's just a shame that necklace was lost." Said Mr. Hockley bitterly. "I would have loved to be able to present it to the girls as a coming of age gift."
"What necklace?" Rosalie asked greedily.
"Ah, yes Le Cour de La Mer." he said, deep in his memories. "A very rare diamond. It belonged to Louie the Sixteenth." The girls' eyes lit up. "It was a gorgeous necklace, with the diamond cut into the shape of a heart. I had presented it to Rose as an engagement present on that voyage and it unfortunately was lost along with Rose."
I was suddenly lost in my own memories. I was just about four. Mother was just about to have Jack and my father was working extra hours around town to earn extra money. I was so bored that I usually found myself scavenging the house looking for something to occupy my attention. I came across the necklace while playing with my mother's makeup in my parent's room. It was hidden beneath a false bottom in my mother's dresser drawer. It was deep blue heart strung upon a chain of clustered white diamonds. It still shone despite the coating of dust. I fell in love with it as any six year would when presented with a glittery object.
My mother walked in, to call me down for lunch and saw me with the necklace cupped in my hands. She snatched it from me right away, stuffing it back inside her drawer. She scolded me and told me never to speak of it ever. And I never did, not to anyone. But I never forgot it.
"Is something wrong, Miss Dawson?" Mr. Hockley inquired, interrupting my reverie.
"No. No, I'm sorry, sir. I was just...thinking." I said, but he looked suspicious.
"Of course you were." He said." You know, you remind me so much of her, of Rose I mean."
"Thank you, Mr. Hockley." I said warily, for never had seen so much lust in someone's eyes, than I saw in Caledon Hockley's at that very moment.
After dinner that night, Mr. Hockley kept insisting that he escort me home personally. I rejected profusely but when Nathan said he'd come along I felt safer. As long as he didn't also insist on meeting my parents.
"How quaint." Mr. Hockley commented as his driver pulled up to my small two floor town house. It wasn't much, just red brick building jammed between two other tenements, but I hadn't known anything else.
"I like it." Nathan proclaimed. "It's very urban."
"I have to leave now. Thank you for the lovely evening." I said politely, giving Nathan swift peck on the cheek.
"May I meet your parents, Miss Elizabeth?"He implored."Since you are obviously involved with my son, I think it would be prudent to at least been acquainted."
"Uh..." I wanted him to meet my parents, I wanted to know why my mother was so afraid of them, but I didn't want to be caught lying again. "I sorry, I don't think it's such a good idea. It's really late they're probably quite upset with me."
"Nonsense. Nate, stay in the car. I will walk Elizabeth to her door." There was so much intent in his face I was afraid to contradict him.
Reluctantly, I stepped out of the car and shuffled toward the front door. I heard the other car door slam and heavy footsteps start to follow me, but I was too afraid to look back and beckon him forward. I could almost feel his hot breath on my neck as I knocked on the door. It felt strange not to just walk in but I suppose this is how I had to do it. The door opened and my mother appeared looking troubled.
"Eliza, you've been out an awful long time. Are you alright?" She asked, pulling me into the warmth of the foyer.
"Mother, I'd like you to meet-" I turned around looking for Mr. Hockley, but no one was there, the street was empty.
"Who?" she asked. My Dad came in looking serious.
"Mr. Hockley, he was just behind me I heard him!" I insisted, searching the road for any signs of a shadowy figure lurking in the offing, but there was none. And the car was gone.
"Jack." said my mother, fearfully, pulling me farther into the house. "Jack, go look!" My father went outside as mother pushed me through the kitchen door and sat me down in one of the chairs.
"What were you doing with him." she snapped. I could just feel the anger and upset building up inside of her, but she was holding it in for the sake of the two sleeping boys upstairs.
"Nothing." I said. "I ran into him on my walk. He recognized me from his party and decided I shouldn't walk home alone at night." I flinched at the lie that just escaped my mouth. I had never been a liar, rather a pretender. Why couldn't I just tell them the truth about Nathan? Because I loved him too much, that why.
"Please," she muttered. "Of course he just happened to be walking by when-" She stopped herself before she divulged too much information. My dad walked in, shaking his head.
"There's no one out there, Rose." He said. "Are you okay Lizzy?" He said, bending down and squeezing me like I was some four years old who just scraped her knee. That was the only thing I liked about my mother. She treated me like I was a young, very naive young woman while everyone else still seemed to think I was little Lizzy Dawson, the little red haired girl who was too scared to leave her father's side but too restless not to misbehave a little bit. I wished they could see me for me and not for who I once was.
"I'm all right, daddy. I just got a little sidetracked. I promise I won't lose track of time again." I said, knowing I really could never keep that promise either.
"What counts is that you alright. Right Rose?" My mother still had a very tense expression on her face, like she was a child just denied her right to play.
"Just stay away from Mr. Hockley from now on, am I understood?"
"Yes, mother. I will stay away from Mr. Hockley." I said. But I couldn't guarantee he'd stay away from me.
"Thank you, Eliza. Now please, go to bed. It's late." She said coldly. I opened my mouth to contradict her but my father put a hand on my shoulder, warning me to pick my battles. So I left the room, stomping halfway up the stairs and pounding my feet against the middle step so it sounded like I had gone all the way up and into my bedroom. Then I leaned against the wall for awhile listening to the clank of dishes in the wash basin before someone finally spoke.
"Do you think he knows?" Said the low, melodic voice of my mother. "About us, I mean. Do you think Eliza told him?" She sounded terrified.
"If she did, I don't think she did it on purpose." My father said earnestly. "And I don't think she knows about him either. Remember we chose not to tell them."
"Yes, I know. We told them we meat in New York. Nothing about our pasts, or how we met. And that was good enough for them. I'm happy we did it. It's saved them lot of confusion."
"I don't think it's going to work for very much longer, Rose." He said. "If you haven't noticed, Eliza isn't the little kid who listens to everything we say anymore. She starting to find things out for herself. I think we ought to tell her before she hears it from someone else." There was a crash of metal as my mother dropped a pan onto the floor.
"But what are the chances that Eliza would meet Cal in such a big city as Santa Monica! He knows, Jack. He knows we survived and he's using Lizzy to get to us, I just know it! What if something bad happens?" She said, a bit of a sob in her voice.
"Nothing bad is going to happen." Said my father reassuringly. "Eliza is a smart kid. If we tell her the Hockley's are bad news she'll stay away."
"I'm not so sure anymore, Jack. That child used to adore me so much." She said, sniffling. "Now all she wants to do is be by herself and think and draw. She never does what I tell her to anymore."
"If I remember correctly you didn't have much regard for your mother's rules either, Rose Dawson." He chuckled. "I really didn't either at that age. Let her gain her independence. We just gotta watch out for her more now that Cal's coming around, but I wouldn't worry Rose. She's a survivor like us, remember. She'll be alright."
"I hope so." Sighed Rose. The way my parents said it, I hoped so too.
A/N: I know Madeleine Astor didn't marry Cal after the Titanic sank but this is a fictional story so let's just pretend she did, with no disrespect to anyone of course. Cheers!=)- Emmy