Ocean's Justice

Ocean's Trial - BONUS Chapter 1

Ocean's Trial - BONUS Chapter 1

He died because you left him, my traitorous heart whispered.

I wouldn't ask again. We'd searched for wreckage for three weeks, before even the captain gave up hope and our coal stocks ran dangerously low. Every morning since the ship had arrived in port, I'd asked at the newsagent as I bought the daily newspaper. Always the same question.

"Any news of the Trevessa?"

Every day for a week, Mrs Capper shook her head sadly.

This morning, I didn't want to meet her pitying eyes and believe that William was lost.

I laid my paper on the counter and wondered where she was.

"Are you going to buy those comic books?" the elderly lady thundered. I heard a squeaky sound. "Then get out of my shop before I tan your hides!" Two small children bolted out the door, pursued by Mrs Capper, brandishing a rolled-up newspaper. Once the children were out of sight, she smiled for me. "Good morning, Maria. Just the morning paper?"

I nodded, placing two pennies on the counter.

She took my coins and tucked them into her till. "Aren't you going to ask?"

This time, I shook my head and tucked the folded paper under my arm, shuffling dejectedly out of her shop.

"The lifeboats reached land. The papers are full of it – the telegram reached London last night."

I lifted desperate eyes to her face. If she toyed with my heart, buoying my hopes only to dash them… I slapped my newspaper on the counter. "Show me," I begged.

The paper crackled as she turned the pages and dragged her finger down the columns until she reached a well-spaced headline that spanned two columns. "There. You can read it yourself."

So close. I stroked the page that could tell me William's fate – or it would, if I could only read the words. "No. I can't. Please…"

Now I saw her pity, but it didn't lance my heart the way it had yesterday. She shook out the page and squinted at the close print. "Nothing stirs the human mind more acutely or fires the imagination to greater heights than a thrilling story of heroism and endurance at sea…" She continued until she found the names of those who'd died before the lifeboat reached land. "What is your sweetheart's name, Maria?"

"McGregor. William McGregor." My voice surrounded his name like a caress, wishing the words were the wonderful man himself. The man who'd saved me, protected me, fought for me and loved me. Whose lifeboat had been separated from mine when the stormy swell tore us apart.

Her finger traced the letters as I held my breath. "Someone named Jacobali. What sort of strange foreign name is that?"

I remembered three dark-skinned men, grinning at me as they festooned the mess hall with red-painted toilet paper streamers for the chief officer's birthday party. That was the night before the ship sank. All three had been named Ali. I wondered which had been Jacob Ali. Now I'd never know. "Who else?" I managed to say, forcing back tears.

"A…Nagi. Another foreign name. Both firemen, it says. Coloured men, probably." She gave a sniff.

Firemen worked the boiler room. All the men who'd worked with the boilers were the same colour – black from coal dust, tinted red and orange in the firelight. I carefully noted her strange comment, intending to ask Aunt Merry about it when I reached home.

"Where are they?"

She peered at the paper. "Rodriguez Island, it says. Sounds foreign, too. Oh, wait…the paper says it's in the Indian Ocean, somewhere near the colony at Mauritius. That's almost as far away as India!"

The other side of the Indian Ocean – as far from me as the ocean could cast him. What were the chances he'd cross that vast distance to return to me?

"Your sweetheart's alive, girl! Why aren't you grinning from ear to ear?" Mrs Capper demanded.

I forced myself to smile. "I'll do that when I see him again. I am…relieved and happy." I hoped she didn't notice my hesitation as I fought to find the right words. Three weeks of intensive English lessons with Aunt Merry had helped, but my vocabulary was woefully limited – even with my memory. I'd begun to relive my experiences with William, a little each day and more when I lay in bed, avoiding sleep. Remembering every kiss, every caress and every word that I hadn't understood at the time, but was coming clear the more I learned.

He'd said he loved me and wanted no future without me. He'd wanted me to be his wife, but I hadn't understood what he was asking then and he'd known that, swearing he'd ask me later when I could answer. Never knowing that later might never come.

I maintained my smile as I bade her farewell, folded my newspaper under my arm, and headed home to tell Aunt Merry the good news. 

William was alive. If only he didn't believe I was dead.