1996
Ruth Aldine lived a quiet life. She had never married, which made her decision to move in with her grandmother two years ago that much easier. She had grown up close to her grandmother, and loved the early mornings with her.
Currently, her grandmother was at the pottery wheel, her hands, though aged and weathered, familiar with the wet clay. She was putting breakfast on the table, French toast and coffee, and the television was going. The newscaster was interviewing a treasure hunter out in the middle of the Atlantic.
"Everyone is familiar with the story of the Titanic, you know the nobility and band playing to the very end and all that, but what I'm interested in are the untold stories…." The treasure hunter went on as Ruth worked on getting breakfast on the table.
She looked up a few moments later, and her grandmother had a very concerned and stunned look on her face as she watched the television.
"Grandma? Are you okay?"
"Turn up the volume, honey…." Her grandmother requested.
Ruth turned the volume up just as the television showed what the treasure hunters had found: a drawing of a nude woman wearing a very heavy heart-shaped necklace.
Her grandmother's face was one of shock.
"Ah'll be God damned…."
"Grandma? What's wrong?"
"Ruth, honey, ah need to make a phone call."
Brock Lovett walked from the submersible over to the satellite phone on the ship, begrudgingly taking the phone call that just came in.
"You gotta speak up, she's kind of old." Bobby mentioned.
Brock nodded, picking up the phone. "This is Brock Lovett, how can I help you, Mrs….?"
"Darkholme. Anna Marie Darkholme, Mister Lovett." The woman responded.
"Mrs Darkholme, how can I help you?" Brock asked.
"Ah was just wonderin'….have you found the Heart of the Ocean yet, Mister Lovett?"
"...Okay, you got my attention, Anna Marie. Do you know who the woman in the picture is?"
"Oh yes, the woman in the picture is me."
Three days later, Anna Marie and Ruth were being flown by helicopter to the research vessel that had uncovered the safe containing the drawing of a much younger Anna Marie. Ruth had been stunned to learn that the salacious drawing had been of her grandmother, and was intrigued to know who had sketched it. They had packed their bags and been escorted from their home in California to this research vessel in the Atlantic.
Once they landed and were escorted into the cabin of the vessel, the crew that Brock had hired were all awaiting Anna Marie and Ruth, intrigued by this 104-year-old woman who claimed to be the woman in the drawing they found.
She sat in her wheelchair, looking into the clear container of water where the piece of paper that had the sketched drawing of her, naked and wearing a necklace of high value, was being preserved. On the corner of the paper held a date and initials.
April 14, 1912
M.E.
She couldn't help the nostalgic smile as the memories came to mind. She remembered laying on the couch, her heart pounding.
Those ice blue eyes concentrating on her as he drew her…
She opened her eyes, and saw all these young faces looking at her, adventurers who knew nothing of what had occurred that night the ship sank, or of her story.
Brock explained the history of the necklace she was wearing in the drawing, of how it once belonged to Louis XVI, and was cut into the Heart of the Ocean necklace seen around her neck.
"It was a dreadful, heavy thing. Ah only wore it this once." She commented, which got some confused looks from the crew. They didn't exactly believe that she was the woman in the picture.
"You actually think this is you, Grandma?" Ruth asked.
"It is me, honey. Wasn't ah a dish?" Anna Marie commented, earning a smile between her and her granddaughter.
Brock smiled politely. "I tracked the necklace down through insurance records. It was bought at an auction in Germany by a wealthy steel tycoon. Can you tell me the name of that man, Anna Marie?"
She wore a sly smile. "You mean Max Eisenhardt?"
Brock smiled. "One and the same. However, there is no record of Max Eisenhardt surviving the sinking, and absolutely no record of you being onboard either."
"Ah don't imagine there would be. Ah wasn't traveling first or second class."
Brock wore an amused expression. "Well, Anna Marie, I think this makes you my new best friend. Because you are the only person still alive who had knowledge of that necklace on the day the Titanic sank."
She was watching the images of the submersible, the ship resting at the bottom of the Ocean, looking so haunted compared to the mighty ship it had been.
"It's been 84 years…." She started.
"Mrs Darkholme, anything you can tell us, even if you don't remember everything…."
"Are you going to let me finish?" She rose a brow.
Brock grew quiet, a sheepish smile.
"It's been 84 years…..and ah still remember it like it was yesterday…."