Instead of going to the staterooms right away, John led Lily towards the decks so they could watch the dock and the crowd of people disappear from sight, something he had done every single time he was on a boat whether it was personally or with the military.

And from what he had been told, Lily was a lot like him. Which made what he did much worse than he originally thought. It was all for her safety and the safety of his reputation.

"Is Mr McCarty going to meet us at the dock?" Her voice was quiet, so quiet that he had to lean closer to hear her. "No, sweetheart, you are going to come stay with me and

Madeline for a while." He returned.

"I don't have to go to another boarding school do I?" "We will talk about that when we get to New York, right now, just enjoy this."

The Colonel squeezed her shoulders and smiled when she called out her own goodbyes to the crowd.

"I am so sorry!" A blonde man said as he and another man with dark hair and olive skin bumped into them. "It's quite alright. No harm done.' John said as Lily turned to look at the men, she was studying them closely, trying to size them up. Unlike their family, she didn't look down her nose at people who were considered below them.

Like the third-class passengers. There had been rumors about how the boarding school that Lily attended had them working at soup kitchens and different places. Something that John wished that his family would have been able to do.

Especially his sister.

"I am Jack Dawson.' The blonde man said holding his hand out to the Colonel who glanced at his niece who inclined her head before shaking his hand, "And this is Fabrizio."

"I am John Astor and this is my niece Lily." John was surprised when she turned into him shyly, she was normally a friendly girl always going through and introducing herself first and asking if she could do anything to help. But this, this was different.

This wasn't his Lily.

"It's nice to meet you." Jack grinned before sending a wink towards Lily who flushed bright red and turned her face away so they wouldn't see how easily she blushed.

"We are going to our rooms.' The older man commented as he started steering them away, already muttering teasing words to Lily, "Enjoy your trip."

"Wow." Lily breathed seeing the stateroom that she and Rosalie were going to be sharing, she had been used to the small dorm room at school and the almost equally drab bedroom in the penthouse where she spent a lot of her childhood.

Her best friend nodded her head in agreement, her eyes lighting up in excitement. "This is going to be fun Lil." The blonde commented, "And you get to celebrate your birthday here!" The younger girl pulled a face, the last thing that she wanted to do was celebrate her birthday, she had never really been celebrated before, she was more of a burden than a cherished member of the Astor family.

The only person that really celebrated her before was the Colonel and later Rosalie.

"And I have already talked to the stewards." Madeline said from the door that connected the sitting room to the stateroom that she and John were in, "You deserve to be celebrated Lily, and we will make sure that this is a birthday that you are never going to forget.' The fact that she was never celebrated by her adoptive parents made her so angry and disappointed. "You don't have to go through all that trouble." The younger Astor girl commented shifting her weight from one foot to another, "I am not worth it.'

"Lillian!" Her uncle scolded from behind his wife, he wouldn't care but this was Lily, and other than his own daughter and Madeline, he loved her more than anything, "Don't talk like that."

"It's the truth Uncle." She huffed, "Your sister has even said something along those lines." Her best friend was glowering from beside her, she had heard all about it repeatedly in the two years that they had been roommates and friends.

"How about this?" The young Mrs. Astor commented, "What if you two girls go explore for a while before we go to dinner." There was something that her husband wasn't telling her and Lily and something that she needed to get to the bottom of.

With a little child-like squeal, Lily grabbed a hold of her friend's hand with her free one while the other crammed her hat back on her head, there was one thing that Lily loved to do and that was explore, they had gotten in trouble for sneaking off when they went to the Tower of London to go see the Crown Jewels and the armor from past wars. Rosalie laughed and reminded her that she did need her arm.

"What in the world is going on John?" Madeline asked as she spun to face her husband, he was staring after the two girls whose laughter and apologies were floating down the hallway, "You never reacted like this before." His mustache twitched, this was one secret that he never wanted to come out but it was time. Especially after hearing Lily's depicted thoughts and how she thought she wasn't worth much if anything at all.

"She is my daughter."

"She is WHAT?" The water goblet that Madeline just picked up slipped out of her fingers and shattered on the cherry hardwood floors.

'She is my daughter, my sister raised her as her own. And I realize that was a total mistake."

He should have owned up to it years ago saying that she was his, after a lapse of judgement and a one-night stand that ended up with her birth mother dying but he was too proud to say anything about it.

"You think it was a mistake? That poor girl!" Madeline was absolutely floored even more so that Lily had gone through hell and back first living with John's sister and being mistreated then being a boarding school away from her own flesh and blood. "You need to tell her John, and she needs to be living with us once we get to New York." There was a finality in her voice that he had never heard before.

Maybe it was because she was going to be a mother herself or it was because of how messed up everything was with Lily. But it all needed to be fixed. He had already taken steps before they left on their honeymoon by adding both Madeline and Lily to his will.

"I will."