Before (A Damon Salvatore - Titanic Love Story)

II

               THE halls of the ship were chilly, which I should have expected. The halls of the Titanic were rather cold as well, although with the technology engineers have access to now, I kind of expected it to be warmer. The cold never really bothered me, but I wasn't immune to feeling the difference in temperature. I looked over to my sister, to make sure she was alright, knowing she was sensitive to the cold. She was sitting in the wheel chair while we walked, and had a familiar look on her face. She was excited, but she masked it well. No one else would have noticed, but as some one who has spent over a century with her, I was an expert on knowledge of Rose. My thought were interrupted by Brock, stating that we were coming up to our destination.

             "Alright, here we are. Just follow me in here..." He sounded distracted, but there was an underlying sound of interest in his voice. I realized then, that he was interested in hearing what my sister had to say about the artifacts. Although it was obvious he was still skeptical.

              We followed him into the room, Elizabeth pushing Rose forward, with me following behind them. Once we stopped, I stood next to rose and waited patiently for the man to continue. He left for a moment, to talk to one of the specialists, telling them to pull the drawing for our inspection. They did so immediately, and once it was set up we moved closer to take a look. 

            Rose was first, of course. I could immediately sense that she was already breaking into her vault of memories. Her eyes fluttered shut, and I leaned over her right side to look for myself. A short gasp left my lips, and my hand covered my mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut, in fear every one would see the tears forming inn my eyes. My other hand reflexively laid on my sister's shoulder, and her hand flew to cover my own. 

           "Louis XVI wore a fabulous stone that was called the Blue Diamond of the crown, which disappeared in 1729," I hear Brock's voice start, and I Thank the heavens for the interruption. I don't know how anyone reacted to my gasp, and I mentally take a note to control myself a little better. The last thing we need right now is some one on this ship getting suspicious... 

          "About the same time old Louis lost everything from the neck up," He continues, and everyone's attention goes to him. "The theory goes that the crowned diamond was chopped, too. Recut into a heart like shape that became known as The Heart of The Ocean." As he explains, he shows a picture to rose, and I mentally laugh. She, of course, knew what it looked like. "Today it would be worth more than The Hope Diamond," He finishes.

          My sister scoffs, shaking her head slowly, "It was a dreadful, heavy thing. I only wore it this once."

         "You actually think this is you, Nana?" This time, Elizabeth spoke up. We had kept Lizzie in the dark about several things, and now I was beginning to wish we hadn't.

         Rose looked up to her grand daughter for a brief moment and said, with humor in her voice, "It is me dear, wasn't I a dish?" I laugh softly, and Brock does as well. 

         My sister looks up to Brock from her seat, as Brock began to speak, "I tracked it down through insurance records; an old claim that was settled under terms of absolute secrecy. Can you tell me who the claimant was, Rose?" As he said this, he knelt down to her eye level, and my sister let her eyes drift back to her drawing. 

         "I should imagine someone named, Hockley." She says, her words dripping with amusement. I let a smile form over my lips as the man standing next to Lizzie gets excited over Rose's statement.

         "Nathan Hockley, that's right," Brock responds with admiration written all over his face. "Pittsburg steel tycoon. The claim was for a diamond necklace, his son Caledon, bought his fiancée. You. A week before he sailed on Titanic, and it was filed right after the sinking. So the diamond, had to have gone down with the ship." My sister looked from him, to her drawing, and back to him as he continued. "You see the date?"