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

that starts at half past nine,’ Emma said. ‘So we’d better be packed tonight and ready to leave at seven.’

‘I’ll be up to see you off,’ Ma said.

‘So will I,’ chipped in Lily.

Emma smiled. Both Ma and Lily seemed excited for them, and not bothered at all by the idea of them both going away. So different to when she’d first gone to sea. It was only Ruby that was tearful today, but Emma supposed that was natural as Ruby was leaving home for the first time.

As planned, early the next morning the sisters hugged Ma and Lily goodbye then made their way to the docks. At the end of the street Ruby turned and looked back at the house. There was something wistful in her expression. It was her first time away from home, Emma realised. She linked arms with her sister. ‘Come on. You’ll feel better once you’re on the ship and the adventure has begun.’

Ruby smiled and walked on, and soon they boarded the Titanic. The quayside was teeming with people – passengers and crew, sightseers wishing to see the ship leave, journalists hoping for quick interviews with notable passengers. Carriages and motorcars delivered first-class passengers and their huge volume of luggage. Many brought their pets with them – pampered lapdogs who’d be largely looked after by the stewards while on board.

On board Ruby was shepherded off for a tour and initial training immediately, along with a few other people new to the job. Emma had a little longer to settle into her cabin, down on ‘E’ deck. She was sharing with Ruby this time – it had made sense for the sisters to be together. Mary was along the galley-way sharing with another stewardess named Ann – an older woman who’d been working on the liners for many years. Emma noted there were a few improvements in the layout of the staff cabins compared with the Olympic. Thomas Andrews had asked the Olympic crew for any recommendations they’d like to make, and it seemed he’d listened to them. In the stewards’ cabins, there were now two separate, small wardrobes rather than a shared larger one, and the bunks had been placed in a way that gave more privacy.

Violet was also on board, and she came to knock on Emma’s cabin door to say hello.

‘Good to see you here,’ Violet said. ‘Another maiden voyage – we’ll be experts at them soon! I hear your sister has signed on too?’

‘Yes, Ruby’s here, and sharing with me. She’s just gone for her tour and initial training.’

‘They’re not getting much training this time, are they? We’re sailing later today. You had much more, on the Olympic.’

‘I did, yes. But this time nearly all the stewards worked on Olympic so we know the layout. I suppose they think that us old hands can help the new ones out.’ It felt strange to consider herself an ‘old hand’ but after eight voyages on Olympic Emma supposed that she was. She’d only missed one voyage – and felt herself lucky to have missed it. It was the one where the Olympic had collided with HMS Hawke in the Solent. The ship had to go back to Belfast for major repairs after that. Violet had been on board and told her all about the sickening crunch of the impact, and the fear that although the Olympic was supposed to be unsinkable, was it really? The crew had been relieved when the ship managed to limp safely back to Southampton to be patched up enough to allow her to sail back to the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Emma had a long break between voyages in autumn 1911 as the full repairs had taken six weeks to complete. She’d enjoyed the time off, glad she hadn’t had the traumatic experience of being on board during the collision, but had missed the wages.

‘Well, I’ll see you later. I’ve still my cabin to sort out, and it’s not long before the passengers come on board. My first-class people won’t be here till later though – they’re embarking third class first as there’s so many of them. All looking to start a new life across the Atlantic, I suppose. I’ll call by later to meet your sister.’ Violet waved a hand and hurried out, leaving Emma to finish her unpacking.

It didn’t take long – she had packed and unpacked her trunk so many times now she knew exactly where she wanted to put everything. She placed the photograph of her sisters beside her bed as usual – even though on this voyage she had one of her sisters with her. Once finished, she gazed at Ruby’s trunk, and decided she might as well help her sister out and unpack that one too. She felt a pang of guilt as she opened it, but reasoned that as the old hand on the ship, she knew best where everything should be put. It wasn’t as though it was a stranger’s trunk – it was only her sister’s.

She was halfway through when she found something unexpected. A cream knitted shawl that she recognised – Ma had used it to swaddle Lily when she was a baby. Emma hadn’t seen it for years. It was too small for a grown woman to wear on her shoulders. Why had Ruby packed it? She was mulling this over, still holding the shawl, when the cabin door opened and Ruby returned, looking flushed and happy. ‘What a ship! It’s so beautiful – those first class staterooms … wait, what are you doing? Why are you going through my things?’ Her mood switched instantly and she grabbed the shawl out of Emma’s hands.

‘I was just unpacking your trunk.’ Emma waved a hand in the direction of the cupboards. ‘Trying to be helpful.’

‘Well, don’t. They’re my things, I’ll unpack them myself.’ Ruby threw the shawl back into her trunk.

‘Why have you brought that shawl?’ Emma asked.

Ruby’s chin went up defiantly. ‘Because I like it.’ She turned