Chapter 5
Andrew
Dumfries
April 10, 1912

"My goodness, please save some for the rest of us, Grace!"

Andrew Hume looked up from the score he was studying at the kitchen table, only to see his wife, Alice, reprimanding his second daughter. Grace had helped herself to a large serving of oatmeal in addition to the scones the cook had set out. Grace, who was the largest of all the women in the family, put some back on the large serving platter, her face flushed red.

"Good idea," Alice said, settling herself next to Andrew at the table. "You'll need to watch your figure if you want to fit in your dress for the church social this Saturday."

Andrew nodded. "Your stepmother's right. It's about time you start thinking about how much you eat. You're nearly eighteen. The men in Dumfries won't want to marry a woman who eats as much as them!"

There were tears in Grace's eyes, but Andrew simply ignored her and went back to his score study. Grace and he had always clashed with their differing personalities. Perhaps it was because she had been named after his late wife who had been weak when they had married and had grown weaker still after the birth of five children. But perhaps it was also because even though she had the temperament and name of her mother, she looked the most like Andrew of all the children. She had his thick, curly dark blonde hair which was not suitable on a girl, making it grow outwards rather than down her back like the rest of her sisters.

Heavy footsteps came barreling down the stairs, breaking the tension in the room. Kate, the youngest daughter, came into the dining room clutching a newspaper, followed closely by the youngest of the Hume children, Andy. Kate was still young enough that she still wore her hair in two, dark plaits down her back. Andy was the spitting image of his older brother, right down to his lopsided grin and curly, blonde hair the exact same shade as Kate and Andrew's.

"Titanic sets sail for New York from Southampton," Kate read aloud, a smile on her face. "The largest and most luxurious ship ever made by man, deemed unsinkable due to the engineering of the ship's architect, Thomas Andrews."

The entire kitchen fell silent as they all listened to Kate. The two oldest Hume siblings, Nellie and Jock, were on the very ship Kate was reading about.

"Among the most prestigious passengers are the Mr. and Mrs. Astor, Lady Duff-Gordon, and Colonel Gracie. The Titanic has the finest officers and crew in all of Britain, including world renowned musicians."

Andrew slapped his hand on the table, letting out a laugh. "Ah, there it is!" he exclaimed. "Our boy, Jock, playing for the wealthiest people in the world!"

Kate continued to read the rest of the article aloud while the family continued on with breakfast. Andrew listened intently while Grace simply poked at the food on her plate, still fighting back tears.

"I wish Jock would have taken me," Kate sighed, sitting down at the table when she had finished reading. "Why does Nellie get to have all the fun?"

"It would have been better if he had taken you," Andrew said to Kate. "Nellie doesn't have an ounce of musicianship in her, unlike you. You could've accompanied him as the band's pianist."

Kate gave a large smile, flipping a plait over her shoulder. It was no secret that Andrew preferred his two sons and Kate over Nellie and Grace. Unlike Grace, Nellie was the spitting image of her mother both in physical appearance although the two eldest Hume sisters both had their mother's soft temperament. Nellie had her mother's dark brown hair, almost black, and her strikingly dark brown eyes as well. Nellie had moved out and married the local hotel owner, making it no secret she wanted to escape living with her stepmother. Andrew had been relieved, as seeing Nellie every day made him feel like the ghost of his late wife was still haunting him all these years later.

"I think it was the right thing for Jock to ask Nellie to go," Grace said. "She's had such a hard time recently with Callen dying after all of those years caring for us when Mam died."

"There was no need for your sister to care for you all while I was here," Alice spat, sitting up even straighter in her seat. Andrew grunted in agreement while Grace, Kate, and Andy all glanced at one another. There was a clear alliance against Alice within the Hume household. Andrew's five children hated her and never forgave him for marrying so soon after their mother's death. Even Jock, Andrew's favorite child, had turned against him when he had remarried, choosing to leave home and live in sin with that Costin girl and her mother. And Nellie, the one he depended on the most, had left the family as soon as she could, taking the first offer of marriage she'd received just to be free of them.

"Isn't it time you went to work," Andrew said to Grace, throwing his score down on the table as he stood up. "Kate and Andy, you'll be late for school if you don't leave soon."

The three children mumbled a chorus of "Yes, Da" before at last leaving Andrew and Alice alone in peace.

"Do you see the way they talk to me?" Alice bemoaned as soon as she heard the front door close behind them. "It's a wonder why Grace hasn't moved out yet. Nellie and Jock left at their first opportunity. And why haven't we sent the two little ones to boarding school?"

"Hush," Andrew said, moving to his office. "We've had this discussion before and I do not want to have it again. I'll be in here for the rest of the morning. Don't disturb me."

He quickly closed the door and let out a contented sigh. Unseen by Alice, he had taken the newspaper Kate had been reading. His fingers lightly touched the photograph of the mighty ship nestled in the Southampton pier. Who would've thought that his Jock would be one of the musicians on this amazing ship? Jock had never taken any of his school studies seriously, except music. When his mother fell ill after the birth of Andy, Jock had left for sea and never looked back.

Andrew suddenly felt rage bubble up from within him, crumpling the newspaper in his hands.

Music had been the gift he had given Jock; he even handmade the violin that Jock had taken with him on the Titanic. Yet Jock didn't return to Dumfries to see his family, it was only to see that Costin girl. And as if to insult Andrew even further, Jock had chosen to take the most insolent of all his children, Nellie, on the grandest adventure any of them could have imagined.

He drew his eyebrows together, staring unseeingly out the window to the busy streets of Dumfries.

Jock would surely come to regret his decisions.


If you think I'm making up this family dynamic, I promise I'm not. This is all historically accurate! Let's just say this is barely scratching the surface of the drama going on within the Hume family...