Ice & Iron (Titanic)

Chapter 13

 I decided to order a chocolate drink from the café. And while I drank it, I thought about what I would do next. By the time I finished, I had a plan in my mind. The only question about it though, would it play out in real life that way it would in my mind? Hopefully Joe would understand and listen to what I had to say.

I did the long walk from the café to the stern. Some fresh air and watching the water behind the ship would calm me a bit more.

"Stacey?" I heard a voice behind me. Female.

"Hey Ellen," I said. "How are you today?"

"Good," she replied. "Hazel and Annie have been wondering where you have been."

"Sorry," I sniffed. "Something happened before and I'm not sure what is going to happen next."

"That's no good," said Ellen. "Do you want to come down in Second Class and we can talk?"

"Sure," I replied. "I don't really want to be around many people at the moment."

"We can go into my room," offered Ellen. "My parents and the twins will hopefully be out of the room."

"Won't they notice that I'm a passenger from a different class?" I asked, as we walked towards the Second Class quarters.

"No offense, but you look like one anyway," Ellen said. "You'll fit right in."

"No offense taken, it's true," I said.

We walked straight into Second Class on E Deck without a problem and down one of the corridors. Looking around, I noticed straight away that it wasn't as big or fancy as First Class. Since Olympic and Titanic both have a similar structure and layout, this would be where we would stay, no matter which ship we travelled back to Southampton on. Ellen opened the door to her family's room and we stepped inside.

The second class rooms were bigger than I expected, but for a family of Ellen's size, it would be a bit crowded with everyone inside. The room had a linoleum floor and mahogany furniture. There was a large sofa, wardrobe, dressing table and beds including bunks.

"Probably a bit smaller than first class," Ellen said.

"It's bigger than I expected," I replied. "At least I know what the return voyage is going to be like."

"Hazel and Annie should be here soon," said Ellen. "I was meeting with them anyway."

No sooner than she said that, there was a knock on the door. "Come in!"

The door opened and both Annie and Hazel stepped into the room.

"Stacey!" Annie exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" asked Hazel. "You look sad."

"What's wrong?" Ellen said. "You can tell us."

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "So ever since I met this boy, Joe, in first class since the first day of the voyage, I've been keeping the identity of my stepfather from him. I later found out that he doesn't like Murdoch because of something that happened on another ship last year. But he saw me talking to another officer yesterday and assumed that the Fifth Officer is my stepfather, not Murdoch. He hasn't given me any chances to tell the truth. Then at lunch before, Murdoch came into the dining saloon to visit Mother and I before doing more of his duties, and Joe found out. I ran away, so I don't have if anything has happened between him and Mother. But part of me doesn't want to find out."

All three girls had been listening intently.

"Wow, that's awful," Hazel sympathised. "He doesn't sound very nice."