A Maiden's Voyage

by Rosie Goodwin

  ‘I thought the police might be looking for me for murder, you see,’ he told Colleen. ‘So I didn’t dare tell you my real name. And, Flora, shortly after I got here I went to Constance’s aunt’s address and she told me that it was actually Connie who had died on the Titanic and that you were still here somewhere. I’ve been looking for you ever since not realising that you were here all the time right under my nose. And you …’ His eyes became soft as he turned his attention to Colleen. ‘The longer I knew you the harder it was to go on with the lie but I was scared that if I told you the truth about me being on the run you’d want nothing more to do with me. And then when you told me that you were thinking of going home to Ireland … Well, I knew that was the end. I couldn’t marry you when I was using a false name, could I? So I had to let you walk away. But as God’s my witness I’ve not known a moment’s peace since so I decided the only thing I could do was come and tell you the truth. I was terrified that if I didn’t you’d go back to Ireland and I’d never see you again because …’ He blushed furiously. ‘Because I love you, you see!’

  ‘Oh, you stupid, stupid man,’ Colleen scolded as she wrapped her arms around him. ‘I would still have loved you too, no matter what you had done, so I would!’

  ‘As it happens you’re not a wanted man,’ Flora was able to tell him when the two finally drew apart. ‘Ma wrote to tell me that the woman who fell down the stairs survived but she didn’t know where you were so she had no way of letting you know and the police caught whoever was responsible so there’s no reason that you can’t go home now if that’s what you want.’

  A look of relief flashed across his face but then he slowly shook his head. ‘In future my home will be wherever Colleen is, if you’re still interested in me, that is.’ He gave her a smile that melted her heart before looking back at his sister. ‘And I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to apologise enough to you, Flora. You must be so ashamed of me.’

  Flora shook her head. ‘You know one of the old sayings our ma was always fond of, People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. How can what you did be any worse than what I did when I pretended to be Connie? Her Aunt Alexandra was so kind to me when I first came. I’m so ashamed of what I did and I live in constant fear of being found. I’ve no doubt she must hate me now.’

  ‘But she doesn’t,’ Ben told her. ‘When I went to see her, she was more concerned about your whereabouts than angry with you.’

  ‘Really?’ A little weight seemed to lift from Flora’s shoulders. If the police hadn’t been informed of what she’d done perhaps one day she could go home too? And maybe, just maybe, Jamie would give her a second chance.

  Ben reached for her hand across the table. ‘Oh, Flora, we’ve both made mistakes, and God knows, I’ve been a fool, but I could never hate you. When I found out you were alive, I wanted to dance down the streets.’

  Flora looked into his sincere brown eyes and her own filled with tears. Standing up she went around and, as Ben stood too, brother and sister embraced for the first time in nearly a year. But considering all that had happened during that time, it seemed more like a lifetime. Then Flora pulled gently away and left him and Colleen to be alone. Jia Li had just come downstairs after hearing the voices in the café and now she asked anxiously, ‘Is everything all right? I hear voices …’

  ‘Everything is very all right,’ Flora told her with a broad smile. ‘In fact, they’re even better than all right. Colleen is in there with her Will who it turns out is actually my brother Ben!’

  ‘I am not understanding this,’ Jia Li answered, bemused. ‘You must be explaining it more to me.’ And so slowly Flora did just that and by the time she had finished Jia Li was smiling.

  ‘This very good, yes?’

  Flora nodded. ‘Very good. Now bring that plate of cakes through would you, while I make the tea.’

  Jia Li obligingly did as she was asked and when Bai joined them shortly after, wondering where his wife had got to, the meeting took on a party atmosphere. Eventually, Jia Li and Bai returned to their room and Flora went next door so that Colleen and Ben could have a little more time together.

  Sitting at one of the tables in the café, their hands clasped on the table, Ben and Colleen couldn’t stop talking as Ben finally felt able to be truly open with her. After a while, Colleen said, ‘There is just one thing you should know, Ben.’ The name felt strange on her lips. He had always been Will to her. ‘You see, I t’ought I would never see you again so … so I’ve booked a passage back to Ireland. I did explain to you, didn’t I, that me mammy was in need of some help now that me daddy’s gone? I sail early in May.’ Her eyes filled with tears at the unfairness of it all. She had thought she would never see him again and now, just when he had come back into her life, she would have to leave him.

  ‘But that’s just a few weeks away.’

  ‘I know,’ she muttered miserably as he stroked her hands. ‘But there’s not’ing I can do about it now. I’ve already writ to tell me mammy I’m comin’ an’ I can’t go lettin’ her down now, can I?’

  Ben stared off into space for a while then a smile slowly formed at the corners of his lips. ‘Of course you can’t let her down,’ he agreed. ‘But there’s nothing to stop me coming with you, is there? … As your husband of course.’ He grinned at her shocked expression and dropped to one knee. ‘Look, I’m not making a very good job of this, am I? What I’m trying to say is, Colleen, will you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me, please?’

  ‘Is t’is some sort of a joke?’ Colleen frowned.

  Ben shook his head. ‘It most certainly is not! So … I ask again – will you please say you’ll marry me? This hard floor is making me knee ache something chronic!’

  Colleen grinned from ear to ear as she playfully cuffed his ear. ‘O’ course I’ll marry you. Why, I t’ought you’d never ask,’ she giggled, and as she bent her head to his and their lips met she felt as if she were the luckiest girl in the world.

  Chapter Forty-One

  ‘Lordy … you mean to tell me I have another weddin’ to organise?’ Hattie said the next morning when she arrived at work to be met by a bright-eyed Colleen who quickly explained what had happened the night before. ‘And just fancy your Will turnin’ out to be Flora’s brother. They do say it’s a small world, don’t they?’ In actual fact she was tickled pink and thought how beautifully things had turned out for Colleen. Tilly was getting better by the day, Jia Li and Bai were happy and finally things were working out for everyone … apart from Flora that was, and Hattie couldn’t help but notice the faraway look that came into her eyes more and more of late.

  ‘And now we’ve got the rest of ’em sorted out why don’t you think about writin’ to that young man you left behind? I’ve heard you mention him from time to time and I’ve a notion you think a lot more of him than you let on,’ Hattie said, during a lull in customers. Flora was just about to interview yet another applicant for the job of cook-cum-waitress because up to now the ones she had seen had been totally unsuitable for one reason or another.

  ‘Why would I want to do that? We weren’t that close,’ Flora lied defensively as she thought of all the unposted letters tucked away in her drawer.

  ‘Oh, come on now, pull the other one, it’s got bells on,’ Hattie chuckled. ‘You can’t kid a kidder, you know, girl. Why, there’s times when you walk about the place with a face like a wet weekend on you so perhaps it’s time to do something about it!’

  ‘You don’t understand!’ Flora sniffed. ‘I was more interested in an adventure on the Titanic and seeing New York than staying with Jamie. He’s hardly going to forget that easily, is he now?’

  Hattie shrugged. ‘That all depends on how much he thought of you.’

  The shop door opened then and there was no more time for discussion as Flora hurried away to interview the latest applicant but Hattie had certainly got her thinking.

  As Flora and the middle-aged woman took a seat she thought she looked
faintly familiar and then she realised where she had seen her before. She had worked in the laundry with her. It seemed like a very long time ago now.

  ‘It’s Hilda Nelmes, isn’t it?’ Flora held her hand out and the woman shook it. She was tall and thin with dark hair that was tinged with grey here and there but from what Flora could remember of her she’d been a very hard worker. ‘I recognised you from the laundry.’

  ‘Why, of course.’ She raised her eyebrow. ‘My, that was some to-do with Yung Huan, wasn’t it?’ She shook her head. ‘To tell the truth none of us were sorry when we heard what had happened to him. He was a bad lot. Taken down more than enough young girls, he had. It’s broken his mother though. Did you know she’d closed the laundry and gone back off to China? Best place for her, if you were to ask me. It was slave labour working at that place and I never heard her say a kind word to anyone. But anyway, that’s why I’m here. It was a job at the end of the day and now that’s finished I need another one.’

  ‘Have you ever worked in a café before?’ Flora questioned and the woman shook her head. ‘No, I won’t lie, I haven’t, but I’m a quick learner and I’m not afraid of hard work. And I’m a pretty mean cook, even if I do say so meself.’ She winked at Flora in a friendly fashion. ‘I had to be with five growin’ boys to feed.’

  ‘So you wouldn’t mind helping out in the kitchen and serving in here?’

  Hilda shook her head. ‘I’ll do whatever is needed and gladly.’

  Flora smiled. The woman was just what she was looking for. Clean and tidy and friendly too. She quickly told the woman what hours she would work and what the wages would be and when Hilda smiled in agreement they shook hands on it.

  ‘I can start right away, if you need me to,’ Hilda offered helpfully. ‘All me lads have grown an’ flown the nest now so time is heavy on me hands since Mrs Yung closed the laundry. It’ll be nice to have somethin’ to do again an’ a bit o’ money comin’ in.’

  ‘In that case go straight through to the kitchen.’ Flora pointed her in the right direction. ‘Jia Li and Hattie will show you the ropes and you’ll meet Colleen shortly. She’s just popped out food shopping.’

  By the end of the day it was obvious that Hilda was going to fit in perfectly and she and Hattie were getting on like a house on fire.

  ‘It’s nice to have someone nearer to me own age to chinwag to,’ Hattie said happily as she collected her hat and coat. ‘Not that I don’t enjoy workin’ wi’ you young ’uns,’ she added hastily. ‘But now I’d better get home an’ get our Ernie somethin’ to eat before he goes off to see Tilly.’

  She went on her way humming merrily just as Ben arrived, and suddenly Flora felt like the odd one out. Colleen had Ben now, Jia Li had Bai and it made her feel lonelier than ever, although she was thrilled to see them all so happy.

  ‘I’m going next door. Can I leave you to lock up?’ she tactfully asked Colleen, guessing that it would give her and Ben some time alone. They had a lot to talk about and lots of plans to make for their future. Colleen had told her earlier in the day that they were going to set the date for the wedding for just before they sailed to Ireland and Ben had said that he would be going to the booking office to change the single berth that Colleen had booked aboard the ship for a double and buy a ticket. They would be husband and wife by then after all.

  Suddenly they were all immersed in wedding plans again and Colleen had a permanent smile on her face. Like Jia Li she had opted to have a quiet wedding and she and Hattie happily went off to buy the material for her dress one cold and windy morning.

  When they arrived back at the café Colleen’s cheeks were rosy and her eyes sparkling as she showed them all what she had chosen. It was a heavy white satin and Hattie could hardly wait to get started on it.

  ‘It’ll be straight and ankle length with a chiffon overlay but we’ve bought lots of pearls and sequins to sew on it so it should look wonderful with Colleen’s red hair,’ Hattie told them excitedly. ‘She’s agreed to wear a little veil an’ all,’ she went on approvingly. ‘We thought perhaps she could wear a little halo of spring flowers on her head to match those in her bouquet. I’m tellin’ you, she’s goin’ to look the bee’s knees by the time I’m done wi’ her. But, Flora, it’s down to you to sort Ben out with a new suit. You know what men are like. They’d get married in their work clothes if it was left up to them.’

  ‘I could do the flowers,’ Hilda suggested. ‘I used to work in a florist for a time so I’m pretty good at flower arrangin’.’

  Colleen beamed. Everything was quickly falling into place and she had never felt so happy.

  Later in the week Flora took Ben off to the little Jewish tailor in the next street where he was fitted for a suit. It would be the first one he had ever owned and he seemed quite pleased about it.

  ‘I can wear it when I first meet your mammy,’ he told Colleen fondly. ‘I want to make a good first impression.’

  Colleen gurgled with glee. ‘Then happen it’ll be the only time you do wear it for a while once we’re there,’ she warned. ‘There’ll not be much call for smart clothes when you’re workin’ on a smallholdin’, though you could wear it to church on a Sunday o’ course. I just hope you’ll not find the work too hard, so I do.’

  Ben kissed her tenderly. ‘I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,’ he assured her genuinely. ‘Flora will tell you it’s been my dream to live in the country and do that sort of job since I was knee high to a grasshopper.’

  Hattie, who was watching them, grinned. ‘Will you just look at that pair, why what wi’ them an’ Jia Li and Bai moonin’ over each other I don’t know which way to look!’ She glanced over at Flora and once again noted the sadness in her eyes. She knew the girl was hiding her own troubles and her heart went out to her.

  The wedding was set for two days before the young couple were set to sail for Ireland. Colleen had already decided that once she was home she and Ben would have another wedding at the Catholic church her family attended and so she would be able to wear the dress again. With this and the fast-approaching date in mind, Hattie was frantically sewing into the early hours to make sure that Colleen’s dress was finished on time and as good as she could possibly make it.

  As the big day drew closer, Colleen got a bad attack of pre-wedding nerves.

  ‘What if Ben doesn’t adapt to life in the country? He’s always lived in cities, so he has,’ she fretted to Flora.

  Flora chuckled. ‘He’ll love it,’ she assured her friend. ‘He’ll not only be getting the woman he loves but the lifestyle he’s always craved, so stop worrying.’

  At last the day of the wedding dawned, and it was a bright and clear May morning with the promise of sunshine to come. As they all helped Colleen get ready Hattie nodded towards the window.

  ‘Would you just look at that sky now.’ She sighed happily. ‘Don’t they always say the sun shines on the righteous?’

  Colleen turned then to survey herself in the cheval mirror in her bedroom. Hattie had done a wonderful job with her dress and it shimmered and sparkled with every move she made.

  ‘Come on then,’ Hilda ordered bossily. ‘Let’s get this crown and the veil on you now. I don’t want it wilting.’ She had been up since the early hours of the morning fashioning the crown from tiny rosebuds, sweet-smelling freesias and baby’s breath, and it was truly beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the bride whose head it nestled on.

  Colleen had chosen to wear her long, luxuriant hair loose, as Ben liked it, and it curled down her back and sat on her shoulders in shimmering waves, a perfect foil for the snow-white dress and veil. Hilda had also made her a small posy of flowers to match those in her headdress and when she was completely ready she hardly recognised herself in the looking glass.

  ‘You look absolutely stunning,’ Flora told her with a catch in her voice. ‘But come on now, Ernie is downstairs waiting for you in his best bib and tucker all ready to give you away and I don’t want you keeping my brother waiting.’<
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  The others had drifted off downstairs by then and now Colleen’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at the girl she had come to love like a sister.

  ‘I’m so happy I feel like I could fly,’ she said solemnly as she took Flora’s hands in her own. ‘But I’m going to miss you so much! We’ve been t’rough a lot together since we’ve known each other, haven’t we?’

  ‘We certainly have,’ Flora agreed, her own voice gruff. ‘But you and my brother were written in the stars. You’re perfect for each other and I know you’re going to be really happy together. And it’s not as if we won’t keep in touch, is it? I shall write to you every single week … well, perhaps every single month. I’ve never been much of a letter writer.’ She hugged Colleen warmly, careful not to crease her dress, then, her voice firm again, she ordered, ‘Now downstairs with you else we’re going to be late and I don’t want my brother thinking you’ve stood him up.’ And so, arm in arm, they left the room.

  Downstairs everyone was dressed up in their Sunday best, smiling and happy and they all agreed that Colleen looked absolutely beautiful, causing Hattie to puff out her chest with pride. Suddenly every minute she had spent labouring over Colleen’s dress was worth it. Jia Li had chosen to wear her own wedding dress again for the special occasion too and would act as Colleen’s bridesmaid.

  It was a happy group that piled into the two cars that Flora had ordered to take them to the register office and they were happier still when they saw Ben’s face. At the first glimpse of his bride-to-be he looked so proud that they thought he might burst.

  The service was simple but sweet and Colleen and Ben had eyes only for each other. It was as if they were the only two people left in the world and by the time the registrar pronounced them husband and wife there was not a dry eye in the house.

  There followed the customary throwing of rose petals and rice on the steps outside and then it was back to the café for a good old knees-up.