The Lost Sister by Kathleen McGurl (i can read book club .TXT) 📕

let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Just sit here, Rubes. Ma wants us on the same ship, and that’ll be Olympic. It’s the ship I … oh, there’s …’ She’d spotted Martin across the hall. ‘Wait there, Rubes. I’ll be just a moment.’

She hurried over to Martin, and only just managed to stop herself from flinging her arms around him and kissing him. Here was not the right place for all that! ‘Martin, come and meet my sister Ruby. She’s hoping to sign on as well, today.’

‘You said she might. I’ve already signed on for Olympic, as we agreed. I was here early. Been waiting around hoping to see you.’

‘And here I am.’ Emma caught his hand and pulled him back through the throngs of people to where she’d left Ruby. ‘Where is she? She was here …’ She looked around, but there was no sign of Ruby. ‘Just like her to wander off,’ Emma grumbled.

‘She’ll not have gone far. Not if she wants to sign on.’

He was right. Emma sat down to wait for her name to be called, with Martin beside her chatting happily.

A few minutes later a triumphant-looking Ruby came striding across the hall to them, waving a brand new Seaman’s Discharge book. ‘Done it! They’ve taken me on. You’re looking at Ruby Higgins, stewardess second class, RMS Titanic, sailing 10th April, 1912.’

‘Titanic! But we said—’

‘You said. I wants to be on the new ship. You do what you like. Who’s this?’ Ruby indicated Martin, who’d stood as she approached.

‘Ruby, this is Martin Seward. He’s a second-class steward I’ve been working with, and have become, er, friends with. Martin, my sister Ruby.’

‘Delighted to meet you,’ Martin said, shaking Ruby’s hand.

‘Likewise. Ems, why have you not mentioned Martin at all?’

‘Haven’t I? Oh, well …’

‘Miss Emma Higgins, please,’ a clerk called out. Emma hesitated. If Ruby was on the Titanic, then she too would need to sign on with that ship, to keep her promise to Ma. But Martin was going to sail with the Olympic. She felt torn. The thought of being on board without Martin, not seeing him for a month or more … but then, she’d promised Ma, and Lord knew Ruby needed watching …

‘Martin, I—’

‘You want to stay with your sister?’ he said quietly, taking her hand.

‘I promised our Ma. I have to.’

He nodded, his eyes full of understanding. ‘So you must. Go on – explain to the clerk, they’ll switch you over.’

Emma squeezed his hand and hurried over to speak to the clerk. It was not a problem. They were grateful to have more experienced stewards and stewardesses on the Titanic. Soon her discharge book was stamped, she’d signed the Articles for the new ship, and was returning to Ruby and Martin.

‘I’ll be with you,’ she said to Ruby. ‘On Titanic.’

Ruby’s expression was an odd mix of annoyance and relief. ‘Well, I don’t need babysitting, but it’ll be fun to be together, I suppose. Grand name for a ship, isn’t it?’

Chapter 11

Harriet

The cruise was over all too quickly. Harriet and Sheila had visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and strolled alongside the city’s canals. They’d skipped the excursion to Bruges from Zeebrugge as both had been there before; instead they’d decided to spend the day on the ship doing various different activities. At Guernsey the ship docked at St Peter’s Port, and it was a short stroll into the tiny town centre.

‘What a dear little place!’ Sheila remarked to Harriet. ‘And so much history all around. Definitely somewhere I want to come back to for a longer visit.’

Harriet had agreed. A week touring Guernsey followed by another week on Jersey would make for a perfect summer holiday. Maybe Sheila would accompany her. This cruise had proved it was possible to have a fun holiday without John, even though she still missed him so much.

They disembarked in Southampton and waved goodbye to the ship. ‘Until next time, dear QM2,’ Harriet said.

‘Or we could try the Queen Victoria next time,’ Sheila said. ‘It’d be fun to compare the Queens.’

They travelled home by taxi and train, and en route Harriet phoned Sally to find out how Jerome was and invite them for dinner on Sunday.

‘He’s much the same as when you went away,’ Sally said, ‘and thank you, we’d love to come for Sunday lunch.’

Harriet was pleased to hear Jerome was no worse. ‘I’d have felt so guilty,’ she said to Sheila after the phone call. ‘I’ll be glad to see him and judge for myself at the weekend.’

‘Ah, bless him. He’ll like the bits and bobs you’ve bought for him, won’t he?’

Harriet had been unable to resist buying several small toys and trinkets from each place they’d visited, plus a toy model of the ship itself. She couldn’t wait to see him again, her dear little grandson.

When Jerome was feeling up to it, Harriet promised herself that she’d take him to the beach again. She lived only a ten minute walk from the golden sands of Bournemouth – along a couple of tree-lined streets, cross the Overcliff road and down a zig-zag path that led to the promenade. At the bottom of the zig-zags at the end of a row of beach huts was an ice-cream stall that was open all summer and also sometimes out of season at the weekend if the weather was good. Jerome could never be persuaded to set foot on the beach until she’d bought him a cornet. ‘It’s not a proper beach without ice-cream,’ he’d say with a laugh.

The last time she’d taken him to the beach was the previous summer, before his diagnosis. It was only a couple of months after John’s death, but Harriet had insisted she keep to the tradition of having Jerome to stay for a few days during every school holiday. On the first day it had rained so they’d stayed indoors and baked chocolate chip cookies, then played games and watched DVDs, and had burgers with oven-cooked chips for tea. On the second day