"Where have you been?!" Melissa stood with her hands on her hips and looked at Valkyrie with an angry gaze. "Do you know how worried we have been for you?! One moment you were behind us, talking to Tanith, to in the next second be gone without a trace! And don't think I don't understand that Tanith was covering for you!"
Valkyrie walked past her mother without looking at her. She greeted her father who was sitting in one of the armchairs in the family room. Desmond greeted her back as he smoked his pipe and gave Valkyrie a small smile. "Did you have a good time on your excursion?"
"A very good time," Valkyrie replied, giving her father a smile back before walking into the bedroom.
Melissa followed her daughter into the bedroom and closed the door behind them so she could talk to her without being disturbed. "Valkyrie, don't you dare ignore me! I want you to tell me what's going on. Now."
"Nothing is going on, mom. I decided to play soccer with Skulduggery and some of the third-class kids. No harm done because nothing happened. I did a good deed today and that it what the other people in our circle is going to think as well."
"How dare you mix with that class? Do you want the last of your father's good reputation to disappear?! We have it hard enough as it is, Valkyrie! Never mind what the people here on the ship think, it's mostly Caelan and his family's opinions that I'm worried about! Do you want him to call off the engagement?! How can you be so selfish?!"
"Am I the one being selfish?!" Valkyrie shouted, turning so she could look into her mother's eyes. "I am the one who gives up my life so that you and dad can continue to live in luxury and glamour! I'm the one who will live the rest of my life with a man I don't love and who won't treat me well, but I'm giving up my life because I love you!"
Melissa's eyes filled with tears, and she took a step back, as if Valkyrie had struck her. She took a deep breath before saying "Don't you think I know, Valkyrie? Don't you think I am very aware that you are sacrificing your whole life for us? If I could turn back time and make your father back off that damn deal, I would! I wish there was another way, but I don't know what else we can do! I'm terrified that all three of us will end up on the street! It's not a future or a life I want to wish on anyone."
Valkyrie looked at her mother but said nothing. She could see her mother's worry and fear reflect in her eyes. Valkyrie also felt a big worry and fear of what could happen to all three of them if Caelan suddenly decided to call off the engagement. She had spent many sleepless nights pondering over solutions that could solve their financial problems, but each time she had come up empty handed.
Melissa took her daughter's hands in her own and hugged them. "Forgive me if I rambled on. I just do not want you to cause any problems for yourself that you will come to regret later."
"Don't worry, mom. I'm not about to do anything that could jeopardize this engagement. I will marry Caelan if he still wants me after this trip. I'm simply taking advantage of being able to do things that I won't be able or allowed to do when I'm a married woman."
Melissa smiled a sad smile and embraced her daughter in a tight hug. The two women stood like that for a long moment before Melissa let go of Valkyrie. She gave her daughter a warm smile before tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I'll let you get ready for dinner now. It wouldn't look good if we were late."
"You do know that nice people always come last, right?" Valkyrie replied with a smile, making her mother laugh.
Melissa turned and opened the bedroom door. She was just about to close it again when she stopped in the middle of a movement. She stood still for a second before turning to her daughter again and said "Valkyrie, can you promise me one thing?"
"What, Mom?"
"That after tonight you will not see Skulduggery again. I do not trust that young man."
Valkyrie raised an eyebrow but didn't answer. Melissa put her free hand on her hip and gave Valkyrie a stern look. The two women stood like that for a moment, just looking at each other before Valkyrie let out a deep sigh and turned away from her mother. She walked over to the closet and took out a burgundy dress that was embroidered with small pearls along the sleeves, around the chest and most of the lower part of the dress. She also took out a pair of white, elbow-length gloves and laid the clothing on the bed.
"Valkyrie, answer me!"
"I thought you wanted me to get ready for dinner."
"Don't you dare be sassy towards me, young lady!"
"I'm not either, I'm just telling it like it is."
"Leave her alone, Melissa," Desmond's voice was heard saying from the common room, causing Melissa to angrily turn on her husband.
"Mind your own business!" She turned back to Valkyrie. "Promise me, Valkyrie."
Valkyrie sighed as she rolled her eyes as she turned her back to her mother so she wouldn't see. "Yes, mother, I promise to stay away from Skulduggery for the few days that's left of this trip."
"Good," said her mother, relieved. "Good, then we agree." Melissa smiled at her daughter's back before walking out of the bedroom and closing the door behind her.
The moment she was left alone, Valkyrie sat down on the bed and put her hands on her face. She took a deep breath to bring her high heart rate down and try to gather her thoughts. She knew that her mother only wanted her best and that it was her fear that made her act the way she did. Despite this, Valkyrie couldn't help but feel anger and frustration as she felt that her mother should be happy for her that for once in her life, she was given the opportunity to do things that she had never had the opportunity to do before and which would be taken away from her the moment she said "yes".
"Nothing I can do about it now… I will just have to try and enjoy this last night with Skulduggery as much as I am able to. I must try to take him aside during the evening and explain the situation to him. He'll surely understand, and I'll make sure I thank him for everything he's done for me in the short period we've gotten to known one another," Valkyrie told herself.
She put on the dress and some makeup before putting on the gloves. She met her own gaze in the mirror and took a deep breath before walking out of the bedroom and following her parents out to the dining room. Caelan and Bliss were already there along with most of the other first-class passengers. As soon as Caelan caught sight of Valkyrie, he walked up to her and gave her a smile.
"Valkyrie, you are truly beautiful tonight."
"Thank you, Caelan," Valkyrie replied, giving him a cold smile back.
"I see Mr. Pleasant hasn't turned up yet. It does not bode well."
"He is coming."
Caelan raised an eyebrow and was about to reply when he found that it had become very quiet around them. He turned to see Tanith Low entering the dining room, escorted by Skulduggery Pleasant wearing a fine suit and a big smile on his face. He politely greeted all the passengers and took the opportunity to joke with some of the men, which lightened the mood in the room.
Valkyrie smiled when she saw her friend and Skulduggery. Her smile grew even bigger when she saw Caelan's annoyed expression. She heard her mother let out a snort behind her before whispering to her husband "He's just trying to tune in. Don't be fooled."
"Mom, stop. Give him a chance."
"I feel I must agree with your mother, Valkyrie. You can't trust anyone from the third class. They do everything to get close to us so they can rob us of all our riches. They have no conscience, and it has happened on more than one occasion that they have murdered to come over money."
"Skulduggery is not like that! Don't talk about him like that when you don't know him! You don't know what he's been through!"
Caelan gave Valkyrie a look she couldn't decipher, and she didn't like the small smile that played at the corners of his mouth. Caelan didn't respond to her little outburst and instead walked over to Skulduggery. He extended his hand towards him and Skulduggery took it without hesitation. The two men looked into each other's eyes and Valkyrie understood that they were fighting some kind of silent power struggle. She had no idea which of them had the upper hand.
"Welcome Mr. Pleasant. I see you have managed to find a handsome suit for this special occasion. It really pleases me," Caelan said, letting go of Skulduggery's hand.
"Thank you so much, Caelan. It's a pleasure to be here and get to know you all. I must say I am very impressed. Unfortunately, we don't have it this nice down in third class, so this is a welcome change."
"How is it down in third class?" one of the young women asked curiously. "I have heard that you live very cramped, that you have no furniture except bunk beds and that it is very cold down there."
Skulduggery turned to the woman who had spoken and gave her a smile. "It's not as airy as you have it up here, that's true. We have furniture, but far from as comfortable and many as you have. It is true that we sleep in bunk beds, and it is common to live with three other passengers as there are two bunk beds per cabin. Some of us share a cabin with families that has children."
"And with whom do you share a cabin, Mr. Pleasant?" asked a man.
"I share a cabin with my dear friend Ghastly Bespoke and two other young men. In fact, it is thanks too Ghastly and the other men down in the engine room that the Titanic can move on the water at all. He works with shoveling coal into the furnaces."
"So interesting! But now I think it's time for dinner. Shall we sit down at the table?" Caelan said, demonstratively putting his arm around Valkyrie in a gesture that showed everyone she belonged to him.
"Lead the way," Skulduggery replied, escorting Tanith to the table.
Valkyrie, Caelan and her parents sat on one side of the table while Tanith and Skulduggery sat across from them. The rest of the first-class passengers spread out around them and just then the waiters brought forth the food. Everyone immediately started chowing down on the delicious food and for a while the only sounds to be heard were cutlery moving against plates, the chewing of food and people drinking wine.
"So, let's hear a little more about you Mr. Pleasant. We would like to get to know the man who saved the life of our beloved daughter," said Desmond to silence the silence.
"There's not much to tell, I'm afraid. I grew up in the forests of Ireland with my parents and four siblings: an older brother, two younger twin sisters and a younger brother. My father is a logger and an alcoholic, so my childhood was not always so bright. My brother and I were taught early on to be able to defend ourselves and our younger siblings against our father's wrath. As soon as we were old enough, we started helping around the house by taking on some odd jobs that gave us extra money that made our lives a little easier."
Valkyrie couldn't help but notice the silence, the horror on the women's faces, and the astonishment of Skulduggery's honesty on the men's faces after his story. She was proud of Skulduggery for being so open about his childhood, because she felt that more people in the first class needed to be aware that there were people out there who were not as well off as themselves and that that was the reason why some people went to such lengths as for example murder to survive.
"I'm… uh… sorry to hear that," her father said, clearing his throat. "How is your home situation right now?"
"My brother is taking care of my twin sisters who go to a nice school where they will have the chance to study further, which in turn will open many doors for them. My brother has a job and earns enough money to support all three of them. My mother and youngest brother still live with my father and my brother protects my mother from the worst of the abuse because he is old enough now to fight back, which has caused my father to back down considerably."
"Good to hear. As a thank you for saving Valkyrie's life, I'll make sure to send a little money to your mother and brother so they can hopefully tear themselves away from your evil father and have a better life. It's the least I can do."
"I would also like to donate some money," said a man on the other side of the table, and it wasn't long before all the men at the table had decided to give Skulduggery and his family money.
Valkyrie could see Skulduggery's eyes glaze over with held back tears and she gave him a smile as their eyes met. She raised her glass in a toast and said "Let's toast to Skulduggery and all his family. For a better life!"
"For a better life!" it echoed in the dining room, and everyone raised their glasses in a common toast before drinking.
"Thank you all. You have no idea what this means to me."
"It is only natural that you should help someone who needs support. So, let's hear what you're working on, Mr. Pleasant? And how come you're on board here on the Titanic? Do you have someone waiting for you in New York?" Desmond asked.
"I don't have a permanent job at the moment but jump from place to place. I simply jump in where workers are needed."
"Then I guess you've seen a lot and you're good at a lot of different things."
"Yes, you can say that. I have no one waiting for me in New York, but I am heading to America for the same reason as many others on this trip: for the chance to start over. It's actually only thanks to lady luck that I'm sitting here, because I didn't have a ticket to begin with. Ghastly and I won the tickets by playing a game of poker. The person who had them was desperate and thought that if he used the tickets as the top prize, the rest of us would become more careless, which in turn would make it easier for him to scam us out of our money and win."
"I guess that tactic didn't work too well considering you're the one sitting here and not him?" Valkyrie said laughing.
Skulduggery laughed as well, which made some of the other men join in as well. "Quite correct, Ms. Cain. He didn't take the loss too well, which is to be expected. If it hadn't been for me learning to defend myself thanks to my father and for Ghastly being a boxer, I don't know if we would have made it out alive."
"And we are all very glad that you did," said Desmond, raising his glass to Skulduggery.
Valkyrie could see that most of the men around the table were very impressed with Skulduggery, but there were two people who didn't look very pleased. Her mother and Caelan eyed Skulduggery with suspicion and Caelan also found it hard to contain his jealousy. This didn't surprise Valkyrie one bit because she knew that no matter what Skulduggery did or said, none of them wanted her to see him again.
Something she was pleasantly surprised by was that her father seemed to like Skulduggery. He was the one who had talked to Skulduggery the most and who had asked the most probing questions. If it hadn't been for Desmond, none of the other men probably would have taken an interest in Skulduggery, which made Valkyrie happy because this meant she at least had one significant person on her side.
The people around the table continued to ask Skulduggery questions for the rest of the dinner: what was it like growing up in the middle of the woods far from the nearest town, what had he and his siblings done to pass the time, where had they gone to school, how it was jumping from job to job, what he thought his future would look like.
Skulduggery politely answered all questions and added some tongue-in-cheek comments and jokes, which made both the men and women laugh. When the dessert was eaten and the women started talking about how late it was getting, Desmond turned to Skulduggery and asked if there was anything else he wanted to say before they went their separate ways.
Skulduggery let his gaze wander over all the people sitting around the table before his gaze settled on Valkyrie. "You never know what hand you're going to be dealt next. You want to take life as it comes, to make each day count."
"Well spoken, Skulduggery! I couldn't have said it better myself. Let's make a final toast to those words. To make each day count!"
Everyone at the table except for Melissa and Caelan raised their glasses and toasted, causing Valkyrie's body to fill with such anger that she had to clasp her hands under the table so no one would see. She understood why her mother and fiancé didn't like Skulduggery, but that they had the guts to so openly show their displeasure made her blood boil. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds to calm herself down.
"Before we say goodbye, I'd like to say a big thank you to Caelan for inviting me here so I could have a chance to get to know you all. I think we should give him a toast as well," Skulduggery said looking at Caelan with a big smile on his face while his eyes radiated nothing but coldness.
Caelan flinched at Skulduggery's words but quickly recovered and raised his glass with a stiff smile along with the others. "Thank you, Mr. Pleasant. It was my pleasure."
The women stood up and excused themselves before starting to walk together towards their cabins, except for Tanith and Valkyrie who stayed behind. The men also stood up and walked over to another table at the other end of the dining room where brandy and cigars had been set out. Caelan reluctantly turned to Skulduggery and asked him if he would like to stay a while to drink some alcohol and smoke a cigar.
Skulduggery shook his head. "Unfortunately, I must decline your offer Caelan but thank you for asking."
"Then I'll have to thank you once again for saving my fiancée's life and I hope you continue to have a pleasant journey." Caelan shook Skulduggery's hand before turning and sitting down with the other men.
"You were incredible, Skulduggery! They practically ate out of your hand!" Tanith exclaimed, laughing. "I've never seen them listen so interested to someone before."
Skulduggery laughed before turning to Valkyrie. He took one of her gloved hands in his own and raised it to his lips. He kissed the back of her hand as he looked into her eyes. "Would you and Miss Low like to come with me down to the third class for a real party?"
Valkyrie looked at Tanith who nodded. She turned to Skulduggery with a mischievous smile on her face before saying "We'd love to."