Titanic- The Curse

Vigilant.

The war had finally ended, the wounded could be seen walking around our city, it was soon bustling again. Josephine began learning the piano, so we bought her one, she was on it before school and after. Elisa took her to her lessons once a week, she was growing into a brilliant young lady, she truly was a lady. By this time, she was almost 12, I could sense Elisa wanted to tell her the truth, as she had almost caught me without my male clothes, but I sensed she already knew. I remember one warm July evening, Josephine had seen her friends father on a roof shirtless, it's when she asked, "father, how come you always have a shirt on, during hot days?" I told her that it's not proper for a man to to be naked around his little girl. Josephine took this and she never mentioned it again. I asked her which high school she would like to attend, she told us that she would like homeschooling, as long as she could have days out with her friends. Elisa and I discussed it, we agreed as long as she studied hard enough to get a placement in a university. Josephine promised she would work as hard as she could.

We thought that was the end of her queries, but she wasn't finished she began to ask about her grandparents. I told her as Elisa and I discussed, that her grandparents had died many years ago. It was then she said she would one day visit her grandparents graves in Ireland and in Europe once she was old enough, we had lied to her, it broke our hearts. We decided once she was 18 we would tell her the truth. We knew she knew, but she was testing us, but she was old enough to know the dangers, she also knew her friends families wouldn't allow their children around her. I began to delve further into my witchcraft, I had to protect our family from outside influences, especially if Josephine began asking her friends for advice, which we knew she would one day. I worried about the future with every year she grew, but I knew one day she would understand. I did a tarot reading and it showed me well into the future, where people like us would be treated as equals, I don't know how true this would be, but we needed an organisation among people like us. I gathered our friends, especially the women, we discussed how to keep each other's secrets, to protect each other. The women were pleased, since they had began to get odd looks for a while. I had finally got them on side. We began by writing down names of everyone like us, we spread the word, should they be discovered, they have a place to hide. Elisa and I bought a property that only our friends and acquaintances knew about. We knew that they called us homosexual, it's been a term from the late 1800's. We had learned in May in 1920, that Harvard began actively searching for people like us, it sent shivers up our spines. They didn't look at women as much as they did men, they were at more peril than us.

We had a friend, whose son was at Harvard, like his father he was homosexual and his mother passed many years before he got in, he was one of the first apprehended. The young man was expelled from the school, our friend asked us to help him, he feared his name would be leaked, we gave the young man shelter, he was a nervous wreck by the time he returned from Harvard. Elisa took him to the property, she settled him in, his father came to visit from time to time. We had to make the visits infrequent until he was ready to move on. The young man eventually began to feel better, we heard he was moving to a place where no one knew him. We learned over the years, he finally completed his degree and became a professor. We used this house multiple times that year, young men and women used it alike. It was a property that stayed a secret, well until the Second World War. Our daughter was now over 18, she was finally old enough to be told, we sat her down and told her what we were, we didn't expect her reaction, but it didn't surprise us either. Josephine replied, "mother, father, I've always known. I watched as father exited the bathroom, he thought I didn't see him, he had no facial hair, my feminine features, I seen his breasts. I don't care for what he is, he is my father. I don't wish to know who my father is." It was a relief to hear her say this. We told her that there's others like us, she told us she already knew that as well. We didn't have to tell her to keep our secret, she kept it all the years she knew. We told her about the house for people like us, she told us that we were doing a great thing. We knew from that moment on we raised her right, we asked her that when she began courting, that she keep the secret from anyone she falls in love with? Josephine replied, "father, I wouldn't be telling any future lover. Our family is our family and our secret will remain between us. I love you both too much to let you down."

The questions began after that, she wanted to know how we knew we didn't like men. I explained to her, "your mother and I have always liked men too, but when I was younger, much younger than you are now, I looked at girls in the way you would look at boys." Josephine then asks, "how did you both meet?" We hadn't had this conversation before, but I explained to her about the Titanic, how I was a survivor and I moved to this town not long after arriving, I fell for her as soon as I lay my eyes on her." Josephine began to ask if I had fallen for other women? Did her mother fall for other women. I explained, "sweetheart, I have been in love with others before, men and women, I'm your mothers first and longest love." Josephine skipped to the piano and began to play, she had began writing her own music, that one day she would sell, one day that it would make her famous. I started to feel more at ease, but I knew one day, that our little girl wouldn't be a little girl anymore. We had discovered she had her eye on a local boy, whose family we knew very well. We asked her to invite him over, we knew then one day we would have to get her a chaperone. Josephine invited him over, his name was Kenneth, he was a good looking young man, he was well brought up as well. We made a meal, we sat down with him, he talked for hours. I could see how much Josephine liked him, she blushed the entire evening. We had them chaperoned everywhere they went. The chaperone name Lizzie reported everything to us, he was the perfect gentleman. I decided to visit his parents, Elisa decided that it should be just myself and his father. I was invited in by Kenneth senior, he shook my hand and brought me to his study, he poured us some whiskey and we sat and talked about Josephine. Kenneth told me that we had raised her well, she is a wonderful young lady and if she and Kenneth decided to marry, he would happy to have us as in-laws, he was truly a treat to talk with. I really dreaded these days, I knew we would lose her eventually, but she always was a blessing in disguise. Elisa and I watched them as a couple and they really worked, he was polite, courteous, generous and was to inherit a fortune from his father once he died. Kenneths stepmother Julianna was strange, she was hard to read, I couldn't get into her head at all. This worried me gravely, but I put it too the back of my mind to see how she would react to any marriage. I will also get to the bottom of who she truly is. Our past hasn't left me, I will always be vigilant around Julianna. I always thought her father left her too easily. Kenneth informed us that his stepmother was left by her father with an aunt, i couldn't understand why? No doubt there was nothing to it, but she is strange.