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

‘I knew you’d come round to my way of thinking of leaving the ship,’ Ruby said with a grin.

Emma snorted, exasperated, and turned to walk the other way, back to the passengers who’d sent her to fetch their coats. It would soon be dark and they’d all come inside anyway.

That evening, once more Emma found herself alone in her cabin with no sign of Ruby. Her sister was probably drinking again, though where, she wasn’t sure. Not in any of the crew areas – Martin had searched for her and reported back to Emma. Possibly she’d gone to the third-class lounge and was even now chatting up some Irish or Polish emigrant, searching for a potential father for her baby, perhaps. Maybe she wanted to find someone who’d take her and the baby on. Or maybe – Emma could scarcely believe she was thinking this of her sister – maybe Ruby wanted to trick someone into believing they were the father. No. Surely she wouldn’t stoop that low. She’d turn up eventually. Emma readied herself for bed and settled down to read a magazine that one of her passengers had finished with and handed to her.

There was a jolt, a bump, a grinding, crunching, ripping sound. And then it stopped. Emma sat up in bed, wondering what she should do, wishing she was sharing with Mary. Mary would know what to do. A moment later she noticed something else – the engines had stopped. The ship was quiet – too quiet. And still. The constant vibrations from the engines were gone. She decided to investigate, and dressed quickly. Her passengers would be wanting to know what was happening, so she’d better find out and then be on hand to tell them. Where was Ruby? No doubt she’d come running back in a moment, to ask Emma what they should do.

But by the time Emma had dressed there was still no sign of her sister. She hurried out of the cabin, bumping into Martin on the way. ‘What was that noise?’

‘I don’t know. Sounded like we hit something.’

‘But what? There are no ships anywhere near, surely?’

‘Come on. Let’s find out.’ He grabbed her hand and they hurried up the nearest stairs to the passenger decks. Emma thought the galley-ways would be thronging with worried passengers but they were quiet. There were just a couple of men wandering up and down looking for crew.

‘What’s happened, miss?’ one asked her, clutching at her arm.

‘I don’t know. I’m going to find out. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, sir,’ she replied, and walked briskly after Martin.

She went up to the promenade deck, where Martin was already talking to a couple of officers. Pushing open a door to the outside deck, she gasped as the cold air hit her, and wished she’d put on a coat as well. Martin turned as she approached. ‘We’ve hit an iceberg, Officer Boxhall says. There’s a hole in the side, under the waterline.’

‘Oh my God.’ Emma clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘So water is coming in?’

Martin nodded. ‘But we’re not to worry the passengers. The ship’s unsinkable. The bulkheads will hold.’

‘All right. I’ll go down to answer questions and reassure people then. Any sign of Ruby?’

‘No.’ Martin caught hold of Emma’s arms and pulled her into a hug. ‘I don’t like this. Not at all. Whatever happens, Emma, be strong tonight. And remember, I love you.’

She gasped. He’d never said that to her before. She raised her head and stared at him, and in response he dipped his head and kissed her – not the chaste little pecks he’d given her on occasion before, but a deep, firm kiss that sent shivers through her.

‘Ahem, to your duties, stewards.’ One of the officers was hovering nearby, a smirk on his face.

Emma broke away from Martin, blushing. The situation couldn’t be that serious if the officer was laughing at them kissing, could it? But he was right – they had duties to attend to, and she also needed to find Ruby. She’d promised Ma she’d look after her sister, and if the ship was holed, that was surely an occasion when she should keep her sister by her side until the emergency was over?

As they went back along the promenade deck Emma noticed the calmness of the sea – it looked like a silken sheet, a lake of molten silver.

‘So beautiful,’ she whispered. She wished she could fetch a coat then just stay there for a while, gazing at the stars and the sea and wondering at the sublime loveliness of it all.

‘I’ll see you later,’ Martin said, grinning at her as he pushed open the door and went inside. ‘If I find Ruby I’ll keep her with me.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied, hurrying after him. On ‘F’ deck he turned left to his allocated cabins while she turned right to hers. There were a few more passengers milling around, wanting to know what was happening. Most were in their night clothes. She reassured people as much as she could, fetched them drinks, and generally carried out her usual duties for a little while.

And then one of the officers came along the galley-way and told her to get everyone up, dressed, and into their life jackets.

‘Life jackets! Is it that serious then?’

‘Just a precaution, tell them. But everyone should dress warmly and come up on deck now.’

‘Are we … are we in trouble?’

The officer gazed at her as though assessing how much to tell her. Finally he nodded, and leaned in close to speak into her ear. ‘Yes. We are sinking.’

She widened her eyes and held his gaze for a moment. He was serious. Deadly serious. She wanted to gasp and scream that it wasn’t possible – the ship was supposed to be unsinkable. But she couldn’t react like that – she was crew, she had duties to attend to. With an effort she gathered herself, nodded, and left him to follow her orders. There were lifeboats, there