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

‘Well, it is good that the child was saved. You have done well,’ Emma said, but Violet seemed too shocked to respond. Emma put a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder and squeezed, hoping the gesture said more than her woefully inadequate words.

Along with Ann they made their way through the ship, to the areas that had been made available for the Titanic’s passengers. Violet and Ann found a bench on deck and sat down wearily.

Emma wanted nothing more than to sleep, but first she had to search for Ruby. And Martin. But every time she thought of Martin she realised that there was little hope that he’d have survived. There were very few men amongst the Titanic survivors. Just the seamen who’d been assigned to the lifeboats, and the few officers who’d been in charge of each. But the Carpathia was still picking up lifeboats and there was talk that it would stay in the area and search for survivors in the water, so there was still hope. She forced herself to stay strong. Martin had told her to stay strong, no matter what happened.

And he’d told her he loved her.

She began a tour of the decks, calling Ruby’s name. As she walked, Emma realised her feet hurt – there’d been a few inches of freezing water in the lifeboat. Her feet had been numb sitting in the boat but now were hurting as they warmed up. Gently she pulled back blankets from faces of women who’d lain down, sleeping or just staring blankly into space. She asked Carpathia’s crew members, describing her sister, and was directed to a makeshift hospital set up in what had been one of the ship’s first-class dining rooms. There, a doctor was attending to a number of people with small injuries, sustained when they’d fallen into lifeboats. Some of Carpathia’s passengers were helping him.

‘Sir, I am looking for my sister,’ Emma said, and described Ruby.

He looked at her with tired eyes. ‘I cannot recall each patient. Please, have a look around. There are more people from the Titanic in some of the cabins. Maybe she’s there.’

‘I’ll take you,’ said a young woman who’d been rolling bandages and placing them on a tray. She caught Emma’s arm and led her along a galley-way. ‘I’m so sorry for you all. It must have been awful.’

‘It was,’ Emma said, but found she did not want to say anything more. What she’d seen and heard was indescribable.

The young woman introduced herself as Caroline, a first-class passenger on the Carpathia. ‘We are all doing our bit for you poor souls,’ she said. ‘Here are the cabins that have been turned into sick rooms.’ She tapped on a door and opened it. Emma scanned the beds but there was no Ruby. She noted however that three extra makeshift beds had been crammed into the cabin. She had no idea how many Titanic survivors the Carpathia had picked up, but the rescue ship did look as though they’d done everything they could to prepare for the extra passengers and to do what they could for them.

‘She’s not there,’ Emma said to Caroline, and the other woman closed that cabin door and took her to another. Still no sign of Ruby. Her feet pained her more and more with each step.

But further down the galley-way in another cabin, a woman in a Titanic stewardess’s uniform lay huddled on a bed facing the wall. Emma darted into the room. ‘Ruby? Oh, Ruby!’

The woman turned over, her face ashen. She had a large bruise on one side of her face and was nursing a bandaged arm. It was Mary.

Emma fell to her knees beside the bed and hugged her old friend, being careful of her injuries. ‘Thank goodness you are alive!’

‘I was on a lifeboat – I don’t know which one. I fell as I jumped into it, did this.’ She waved her arm feebly.

‘You need to rest. You’re safe now. Can I just ask – did you see Ruby at all?’

‘Ruby?’

‘My sister.’

Mary shook her head. ‘I’ve not seen any others, only you.’

‘Violet and Ann survived. They were on the same boat as me.’

‘Thank God.’ Mary leaned back and closed her eyes.

Emma kissed her forehead. ‘I’m going to go now, and see if Ruby’s anywhere to be found. I’ll come back and see you later.’ She hauled herself to her feet and left the cabin.

‘Found her?’ Caroline had been waiting outside and smiled as Emma came out.

‘Found my friend, but not my sister. Is there anywhere else?’

There was, and Emma followed Caroline to several more cabins, then down into steerage where once again, Carpathia’s passengers had been condensed into fewer cabins to make space for those from the Titanic. Emma went from room to room, calling Ruby’s name, but had no luck. Her feet were in agony, but she forced herself to keep going. She was looking out for Martin too, although she knew there was no real hope of finding him. At last, at the far end of the lowest deck her knees buckled and gave way. Caroline caught her as she fell.

‘You’re exhausted, poor love. Come on, if you can walk let me find you somewhere to lie down and get you a nice hot cup of tea with plenty of sugar. I’ll keep asking for your sister. Ruby Higgins, is it? If she’s on board, we’ll find her, don’t worry.’

But what if she isn’t on board, Emma wanted to say, to scream at this kind and gentle young woman who was doing all she could for her. What if Ruby had not made it into a lifeboat? What if she was at the bottom of the sea, trapped inside the Titanic, or still out there in the water, floating frozen in a life jacket like so many other poor souls? ‘I promised Ma I’d look after her,’ she whispered, as Caroline hoisted her to her feet, an arm around her waist, and led her back up to an open