Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic: A Novel of the Titanic

by Suzanne Weyn

  “Ha!” Ninette hooted. “Benjamin has ten fortunes. He’ll never miss it. And Mimi will look like a goddess in a dress designed by Lady Duff Gordon.”

  “But who will make the dresses?” I asked.

  “Chérie!” she cried, laughing at my naiveté. “Third class is teeming with seamstresses and tailors who would die for the chance to make the extra cash.”

  “Can they work that quickly?” I questioned.

  “Of course they can!” Ninette said confidently. “There are hundreds of them down there.”

  By our third day out at sea, Emma, Amelie, and I were finally relaxed that no one would question our presence aboard the ship. In fact, the stewards had gotten so used to seeing us in Blythe and Mimi’s rooms that they greeted us with friendly nods when we passed them.

  Mimi sent an invitation list that included Mr. Stead as well as Colonel Astor and his wife. “Imagine the wedding present you’ll get from them!” Blythe cried when she heard they were coming.

  Besides the Astors and Duff Gordons, the list also included many other wealthy friends of Ninette and Mr. Guggenheim’s, including a Mrs. Brown, whom some called “vulgar” behind her back but who I thought was a lot of fun, always telling funny stories and laughing at them louder than anyone else in the room. They also invited a very sweet elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Straus, who had started a magnificent department store called Macy’s that I remembered passing on the way to the Waldorf-Astoria.

  “And we must invite the movie actress Dorothy Gibson,” Ninette insisted.

  “Why must we?” I asked.

  “Oh!” Ninette cried. “Because she is famous and beautiful, and vivacious—très jolie! What a reception this will be!”

  Li was also invited, and so were the LaRoches. I didn’t see much of Tesla, so I extended his invitation through Thad. By the afternoon before the wedding, I still hadn’t heard if he was coming. I needed to know; since he was a vegetarian, I wanted to make sure they served something he would enjoy eating.

  “Has Tesla told you if he plans to come?” I asked Thad.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you,” Thad replied as we walked along the deck. “Yeah, he’d like to come, but he and Astor will have to duck out so Tesla can demonstrate his next invention to Astor.”

  “Does it have to be that night?” I objected.

  “Apparently so; that night the ship will be in the perfect location for Tesla’s demonstration.”

  “Why?” I pressed.

  “Tesla has been spending a lot of time in the telegraph room. He’s driving the operators mad wanting to know about every message received from other ships at sea. They’ve thrown him out more than once, but he just keeps coming back. He’s determined to know if the ships are sending any warnings.”

  “Warnings about what?” I asked.

  “Ice. He’s demonstrated to Astor that his machine can shatter a vase, but Astor wants to see if it can really break up an iceberg.”

  “Does Tesla expect we’ll have a problem with ice?” I asked.

  “He’s hoping so,” Thad replied.

  Thad was supposed to spend the rest of the day working with Tesla but Tesla had one of his spells that forced him to lie silently in his darkened cabin. Thad immediately came and found me in Li’s room. “Jane, come out. We can spend the day together,” he called through the door.

  I answered with a hot curling rod in my hand. I had been making a futile attempt to make curls in Emma’s fine hair. “I can come back later,” he said when he saw the rod and Emma seated on a stool, her hair down around her shoulders.

  “No, Jane, you go out with him,” Emma offered with a resigned sigh. “My hair was just not meant to curl. I’m going to give up on this and go find Amelie out on deck.”

  I gave her shoulder a quick pinch of thanks. She knew how much I wanted to spend the time with Thad.

  I noticed he was wearing a blue wool pea jacket. “Is it cold?” I asked.

  “There’s a cold wind. Wear a coat,” he advised.

  He and I hurried together up to the first-class deck. The sky was a field of blue with fat clouds rolling lazily in it. Thad took hold of my hand. “Is this all right?” he checked.

  Smiling, I nodded. It was more than all right. To be walking hand in hand with Thad on the deck of the Titanic was perfect happiness. A brisk breeze whipped past, pushing us forward. A woman’s feathered hat blew past us like a great winged bird sailing by. Thad leaped for it, snapping it out of the air.

  A woman laughed and clapped in delight. “Well done, young man. Thank you ever so much.” It was jolly Mrs. Brown.

  Thad handed her the huge hat.

  She returned it to her head, jabbing a long, pearl-headed pin into it, attaching it to her mountain of hair. The boa of black feathers at her neck ruffled in the wind. “Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to wear all these feathers in a stiff wind,” she said with a chuckle. “Don’t be surprised if you see me airborne off the bow of the ship.”

  This image made me laugh. “I hope not,” I said, smiling.

  “Aw, don’t worry about me. Nothing ever happens to me. I was born under a lucky star,” she said good-naturedly.

  “Do you think there is such a thing?” Thad asked her.

  “I’m sure there is, young man,” she replied. “I can tell you’re lucky.”

  “How can you tell that?” Thad asked.

  Mrs. Brown threw her head back and let out the most raucous guffaw I’d ever heard. “Could it be more obvious? Look at this lovely young woman at your side! Don’t you see the stars in her eyes when she looks at you? Could you be any luckier?”

  I was beginning to blush, but then I noticed that Thad was red as Mrs. Brown’s hat. Smiling broadly, Mrs. Brown thumped him on the back. “Ain’t love grand?” she said as she began to walk off. “I hope you enjoy every second of it, kids.”

  We couldn’t help but laugh.

  “It is grand,” Thad said more seriously once our laughter had subsided.

  “Love?” I asked.

  He nodded and stepped closer to me. “I love you, Jane.”

  Peering into his blue eyes, I tried to read his expression. Was he telling the truth? It took only a second to decide that he was.

  I rested my hand on his sleeve. “I love you, too.”

  He lowered his head and I tipped my chin up to meet his warm kiss. This kiss felt different than yesterday’s kiss. This kiss was like a promise, tender and heartfelt. It was slow and deep.

  There was something flowing between us. Was it energy? Electricity? Spirit? Whatever it was made me feel so connected to Thad in a way I had never felt with another person, not even my sisters.

  When we were done kissing, he kept his arms around me. My cheek rested against his chest, enjoying his warmth. “I feel like such an idiot when I remember that I almost let you get away from me,” he said softly. “Mrs. Brown is right. I’m so lucky to be on this ship with you.”

  “I don’t know if it’s fate or luck,” I said. “I’m just so happy to be here with you. I never want this trip to end.”

  Thad took a folded white piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket. Opening the paper flat, he began to write. “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.” On the paper he wrote these words: Thad loves Jane.

  Then he began creasing the paper. I quickly realized he was making another of his paper gliders.

  With a quick pitch, he launched it over the side of the ship. A current of wind instantly snapped it up, whirling it in a circle before it leveled out straight.

  Thad loves Jane. How wonderful it sounded.

  “It’s out there now,” he said, putting his arm around my waist. “There’s no taking it back.”

  Chapter 29

  On the morning Mimi was to marry Victor, I met Thad for breakfast inside the dining salon. “So, this is the big day for Mimi,” he said.

  “It is,” I agreed, smiling. “And for Tesla, too.” Dropping my head, I checked ar
ound for any sign of the thug in the derby hat. Thad had caught a glimpse of him the day before, but he’d ducked out of sight before Thad could get ahold of him. When I was sure he was nowhere near, I whispered to Thad, “Has Tesla heard any more about the…you know…ice?”

  Nodding, Thad spoke in an equally low tone. “Last night at ten thirty a ship called the Rappahonnock sent a severe ice warning.”

  “I hope it doesn’t disrupt Mimi’s wedding,” I said.

  “Don’t worry—Tesla will have his device ready to bust up anything that gets in our way. That thing can crash buildings and take down bridges. What’s a little ice?”

  I remembered well what Tesla’s earthquake machine could do and felt less worried.

  After breakfast, we strolled on the first-class deck once again. Sometimes at the back of the boat—the stern—we would look down at the small outside deck given to the third-class passengers. It was called the “poop” deck. It was often crowded with children or men playing soccer.

  That morning, there were only a few children playing. “Where are they all?” Thad wondered.

  “Probably inside, putting last-minute touches on the dresses for the wedding,” I guessed.

  “Jane,” Thad said seriously, “we have to figure out how we can see each other once we get home. I’ve been given a second chance with you and I don’t want to be stupid again. I couldn’t stand to be without you.”

  “I don’t want to be away from you, either,” I replied. The very idea of it made me heartsick. “We live miles apart but…I just had a thought. It’s crazy…”

  “What?” he asked eagerly.

  “Oh, I was just thinking…if my article on Tesla wins, I’ll be living in New York City. I’ll probably hear one way or the other when we get home.”

  He grasped my hands excitedly. “That’s it! You’ll win. You have to win,” Thad said. “It will solve the entire problem.”

  “It would be wonderful, but we can’t count on it,” I cautioned.

  “It’s a sure thing! Once Tesla sells his inventions to Astor tonight, there will be a huge amount of interest in him and the invention. The timing on your article is phenomenal. It’s bound to win!”

  “You’re pretty sure Astor will like what Tesla shows him?” I asked.

  “He’d be crazy not to! It’ll make his fortune even bigger than it already is.”

  I looked out at the choppy, white caps of the ocean and imagined Thad and me together in the city—on our own and wildly in love. I could almost see us kissing on the sidewalk, in restaurants, in museums—arm in arm and kissing endlessly.

  And then that annoying part of me that felt fearful when everything seemed so perfect kicked in. “What if I don’t win the contest and Astor doesn’t want to fund the inventions?” I asked.

  Thad was undaunted. “I’ll get a job with Westinghouse Company in Buffalo. With references from Tesla, they’d be sure to hire me.”

  “You’d leave Tesla?”

  “I’d convince him to move. He likes Buffalo. But, if I had to, I’d leave him—for you, I would.”

  “But you want to design planes,” I reminded him. “Does Westinghouse do that?”

  “Westinghouse invests in new inventions. It will be all right.”

  Being with him like this was everything I had always dreamed it would be.

  Thad pulled me into his arms. “Jane, I can’t be without you,” he said, his voice filled with passion. “I don’t ever want to be apart again. Do you feel the same?”

  “See the ocean, Thad,” I said. “That’s what my love for you is like.”

  Don’t ask me how I could be so sure after such a short time together that I would love Thad for the rest of my life. But I was absolutely certain of it.

  Mr. Stead thought all of us had the potential to be psychic and predict the future—at least a little. Gazing up at Thad, I saw my own future.

  “We could be engaged when we get home,” Thad offered. “It could be a long engagement, if you don’t feel ready for marriage. I don’t care, really.”

  I reached up and kissed him with all the passion and love I felt.

  “Does that mean yes?” he asked.

  Tears of happiness swept into my eyes. “Yes! Yes!”

  Chapter 30

  Thad took me for lunch in one of the first-class restaurants. We sat in lovely wicker chairs at a beautifully laid table with sparkling china. We must have looked like two happy fools, because we just sat there grinning at each other, too blissfully in love to even need to speak much.

  I was engaged to Thad. I’d said the word yes and it felt like the smartest thing I’d ever said.

  “Let’s not tell anyone we’re engaged until after Mimi’s wedding,” I suggested. “I don’t want to take away from her excitement. She should be the center of attention.”

  “All right,” he agreed. He smiled into my eyes and I smiled back.

  Everything was so perfect!

  The rest of the day was spent down in third class with the many seamstresses Lady Duff Gordon had hired to make the dresses she’d designed. What a different world it was down there, compared to the splendor of first class, and even second class. I’d hardly given it a look when we first came on board, but now I paid more attention, peering into the many open doors of the various cabins.

  The cabins were tiny; some had two bunk beds so that a family of four could squeeze into the small space. There were almost no windows at all. People lived from their suitcases since there was only one narrow dresser in each room, and after four days at sea, many of the rooms had grown quite disheveled. People called to one another from across the halls and moved freely in and out of one another’s rooms. It reminded me a bit of a floating village.

  The work station for the dresses had been set up in the rear section of the third-class eating kitchen, which consisted of rows of wooden tables and benches. There was no shortage of sewing machines, since a great many of the third-class women were shipping the machines to New York, where they intended to make their living from them. Those not working on a machine were occupied with handwork such as cutting and pinning or hand stitching buttons and collars and hems.

  My sisters were all there for their dress fittings. I ached to tell them about Thad and me, but held firm to my decision to keep it a secret until after Mimi’s wedding. It was only fair that she should be the one everyone was thinking and talking about. It was her wedding day, after all.

  “It seems more fun down here in third class,” Emma said, standing on a table in her bare feet as a seamstress, a plump Italian woman with her hair caught up in a red bandanna, pinned the hem of her bridesmaid dress. She had resigned herself to the fact that her fine brown hair would not take a curl, and so had braided it prettily in a thick plait that started high on her head and ran down the back of her neck.

  Amelie nodded in agreement from the chair where she sat, arm outstretched across a table while a seamstress sewed on one of the many covered buttons that ran up the side of her dress’s narrow sleeve. She’d swept her hair—equally as fine as Emma’s—into a graceful coil at the nape of her neck.

  “How can you say that this is better?” Blythe cried. She looked so comical with her hair set in a blizzard of white rags just waiting to produce gorgeous curls that would be swept atop her head for the wedding. “I’m so glad we’re not crammed in down here. It’s too warm. There’s no air.”

  Mimi stepped out from behind a makeshift dressing room that had been constructed from sheets tossed over a stack of chairs. She was wearing the white wedding gown Lady Duff Gordon had designed just for her.

  We all stared at her, mouths agape in stunned admiration.

  In fact, the entire room, which had only a moment before been abuzz with animated female chatter, was now silent.

  The dress was utterly modern and completely breathtaking. It had none of the ballooning, flounced skirts of traditional dresses but was all fluidity and smooth lines. It was made from a snowy white satin that shimme
red from its straight-cut neckline all the way down the form-skimming body to the end of its long skirt that swirled around Mimi like a glowing cloud on the floor. The long sleeves started just below Mimi’s shoulders and were made from the most exquisite white lace.

  The lush, creamy white sheen of the dress was in dramatic contrast with the luxurious black pile of shining hair atop her head. Ninette’s private hairdresser had whipped it into an a breathtakingly elaborate style, complete with glistening crystal ornamental hairpins.

  Mimi was nothing short of magnificent. She looked like a princess from a fairy tale.

  “You could be on the cover of a fashion magazine,” Blythe murmured reverently.

  “You like it?” Mimi asked, and was answered by a wave of applause. She beamed with pleasure. I hoped I would always see her looking so happy.

  The wonderful moment was abruptly interrupted by a man careening into the room. It was the thug with the derby hat, though now he clutched it in his hand as he ran to the far end of the kitchen.

  Thad raced into the room after him.

  The man scrambled up onto a table, attempting to climb through an open high window leading out to the poop deck. Thad raced across the room and lunged at his legs, pulling him back down.

  With a forceful swing, the man punched Thad in the face, knocking him down, and then raced out of the kitchen.

  The women nearest to Thad surrounded him. One blotted his face carefully with a wet cloth to wipe away the blood. Another came with a towel filled with ice from the kitchen. I hurried to his side. “Thad, are you okay?”

  He dabbed his sore nose tenderly and winced. “I can’t tell if it’s broken.”

  “No broken, just hurt very much,” the woman who had wiped his face assured him in accented English.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I found him in our room and chased him all over the ship until he ran down here. The room wasn’t even tossed around, so I think I must have interrupted him before he had a chance to steal anything. Tesla usually naps at that time. He would have been there if he hadn’t had a sudden urge to go back to the telegraph room for the thousandth time.”