If Tomorrow Never Comes

Two Souls United

"That was the last time Titanic ever saw daylight," Caroline Montgomery spoke. 

Brock Lovett changed out the tape in the minicassette recorder.

"So we're up to dusk on the night of the sinking. Six hours to go," he mumbled. Off to the side, Lewis Bodine was pacing back and forth.

"Don't you love it? There's Smith, he's standing there with the iceber warning in his fucking hand--excuse me, his hand, and he's ordering more speed."

Brock shook his head. "Twenty six years of experience working against him. He figures anything big enough to sink the ship they're going to see in time to turn. The ship's too big with too small a rudder, it can't corner worth a damn. Everything he knows is wrong."

Caroline ignored this conversation. She was twirling an art-nouveau comb with a jade butterfly on the handle in her hands. It had once been beautiful. It was once her mother's.

...

Andy was overwhelmed by the opulence of the room. The beautiful woodwork and satin upholstery was like a dream. She set her sketchbook and drawing materials on the marble table.

"Will this light do? Don't artists need good light?" Miranda asked, moving about in the stateroom.

"Zat is true, but I am not used to working in such 'orreeble conditions," Andy croaked in a bad french accent, causing Miranda to laugh.

"Hey, Chanel!" Andy gasped as she spotted a mockup laying on a wood table. She crouched next to it, observing a wide flowing skirt. Miranda was surprised at the recognition.

"I did a drawing of a woman wearing this exact dress in Paris, and I went and looked for the collection. I thought the use of color from the bottom of the skirt up was brilliant. I saw Coco Chanel once, through a hole in this garden fence in Giverny. I love her work." Andy stared at the mockup for a bit longer until she noticed Miranda going into a wardrobe and working the combination of a safe. She was fascinated.

"Irv insists on lugging this thing everywhere," Miranda explained.

"Should I be expecting him anytime soon?" Andy asked.

"Not as long as the cigars and brandy hold out."

Clunk! She unlocked the safe. Miranda met Andy's eyes in the mirror behind the safe as she opened it, removing the necklace. She held it out to Andy, who touched it nervously.

"What is it? A sapphire?" she asked.

"A diamond. A very rare diamond, called the Heart of the Ocean."   

Andy let it go, gazing at wealth beyond her comprehension.

"I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, wearing this," Miranda requested. Andy nodded simply, another drawing to do.

"Wearing only this," the editor finished. Andy flushed and looked to her surprised, only to find Miranda smiling before she retreated into her own room.

Andy stayed in the sitting room, sharpening and laying out her pencils like surgical tools. She was ready.

Miranda emerged moments later, wearing a silk kimono and a butterfly comb that held back her white hair. She took the comb out and approached Andy.

"The last thing I need is another picture of me looking like a porcelain doll," she tossed Andy a dime. "As a paying customer, i expect to get what I want."

The beautiful editor took a step back, parting the kimono. The blue stone lied against her creamy breast. Her heart pounding as she lowered the robe.