From the corner of her eye, she saw Ruby grin before she stepped into their room.
Penelope turned her attention back towards her father, offering him a small smile. “I just wanted to see whether we had plans for luncheon. If a table had been booked or…” She trailed off as her father stepped aside to let her enter.
“We have a table booked in the dining room. It is rather soon, so we’re getting ready to go. We had planned to see if you wished to join us,” her mother answered as her father shut the door and headed to the sofa. Her parents’ room was pretty much the exact same as her own, even down to the bunks, the bottom of which held her mother’s nightgown.
“Of course. I didn’t even realise that was the time.” Penelope knew it had been around noon when the ship had finally left Southampton. They weren’t crossing the Atlantic yet but heading to a place in France to pick up and drop off more passengers. “Let me go and freshen up.”
Before either of them could say a word, she turned and left their room.
It was strange how they were the people to whom she owed her life, and yet, spending more time with her parents than necessary just made her uncomfortable. There was always a suffocating silence that made her feel unwelcome. It almost made her wish she were married, so she didn’t have to constantly be around them.
When she entered her room, she found Ruby on the floor by her luggage, sorting through the clothes.
She had removed her hat and taken her blonde hair down, letting it cascade down her back in soft ringlets. It seemed so intimate, so improper, to see her in such a carefree, undone state, but Penelope would have to get used to it—they would be sharing a room for a week, and that meant that certain boundaries had to be lowered.
“I do hope that you got the right room.” Ruby stopped her organising and turned to face Penelope, lips tugged into a smirk that made Penelope want to trace it with her tongue.
“I did, yes. I just came back to get ready for luncheon…”
Penelope hovered slightly, glancing down at Ruby for a moment. Then she stepped around her luggage to get to her own and quickly sorted through her belongings until she found a lavender cardigan and pulled a brooch out of her small jewellery box.
Once she had everything she needed, she removed her coat—a beautiful navy wool decorated with buttons and a capelet draped over the shoulders. Then she pulled the cardigan on and secured it just at the top edge of her corset with the brooch.
She had no doubt that her father wouldn’t be too pleased, but she wasn’t going to sit through the meal in her coat, regardless of if she was surrounded by strangers or not.
“It’s a bit of a shame we’re not on the other side of the ship,” Ruby announced. She still sat on the floor, sorting through her belongings. Penelope watched as she removed a large, leather-bound book from her case and carefully set it on the floor.
Penelope’s gaze was focused on the book as she asked, “How so?”
“The crew have taken to calling the corridor on that side Scotland Road.” Ruby’s plump lips curved into a wry grin. “It seemed fitting for you.”
Penelope finally turned away from the book. “Why would they call it that?” Her father had told her that the ship had been built in Ireland, was registered in Liverpool and set sail from Southampton. What did it have to do with Scotland?
Ruby cocked her head to side. “The street in Liverpool? A lot of the crew hail from there…you’ve never heard of it?”
Penelope felt her cheeks beginning to redden. “No. I’ve never been out of Scotland before now.”
Ruby hmmed, saying nothing more for a long moment. Penelope worried that perhaps she had proven herself an utter fool now, and Ruby would want nothing more to do with her, when she spoke again. “It’s my stamp collection.” Ruby reached for the book and flipped it open, revealing countless stamps placed on thick paper, with small notes written underneath.
Ruby turned it around and allowed Penelope a better look, finding that the notes contained information about where and when Ruby had gotten the stamp, as well as some small comments. “Mammy started it with me.” Ruby turned the book back around and gently brushed her fingers over the pages. “Every time I go over, the family has some new ones for me.”
Penelope didn’t know what to say. She had known that stamp collecting was a thing that people did; she had just never met anyone who did it. Or been inclined herself.
Ruby closed her book over and set it aside, behind herself, almost as if to protect it from Penelope’s gaze. She smiled at Penelope. “I must suggest you try the scalloped veal when you get to the dining room. I’ve heard it is rather delicious on the White Star Line ships.”
“Oh!” She tried to hide her surprise at the sudden change in conversation. She swallowed and offered Ruby a smile. “Thank you. I shall give it a try.”
Not wanting to linger awkwardly, Penelope hurried off to head to luncheon with her parents.
It seemed that they both had a better sense of direction than she did, for they found it without any sort of trouble. She wished that it had rubbed off on her.
On Ruby’s recommendation, she ordered the scalloped veal, along with a lemon tart. She wasn’t really surprised that Ruby had been right about the meat being utterly delicious, she just hadn’t expected to enjoy it as much as she had.
Once they had finished their luncheon, she joined her mother and father on a walk around the Bridge Deck.
On more than one occasion, Penelope felt her gaze flicker to the Promenade Deck above them. It was mostly concealed from view thanks to the low walls, but each end of the ship was open to allow the First Class passengers some variety in their walking area. It also meant that, if the weather was bad, they would still be able to walk and enjoy the view without getting wet, thanks to most of it being covered by the Boat Deck.
The women she saw up there wore the most stunning dresses, paired with large hats that were decorated with fruit or flowers or birds.
Every time she caught herself staring, she would quickly avert her gaze and try to focus on what her father was saying as he explained the ship’s engineering and design elements that Penelope didn’t particularly care about.
Penelope clasped her hands in front of her body as she looked up. From where she stood, she could see not only the Promenade Deck, but the Boat Deck at the very top, those huge funnels giving off a light-grey smoke as the coal-powered engines pushed the ship through the waves.
“There…seems to be very few lifeboats up there,” she said, raising her finger to briefly point. Her father followed her gaze with his brows furrowed. “Are there more on the other side or somewhere else?”
Her father was silent for a second before he let out a low laugh as he shook his head. “Oh, my dear Penelope. This ship is unsinkable. The lifeboats are purely a precaution.” He reached out and pinched her cheek with more force than he probably realised, and she flinched away from the touch. “You are a woman, Penelope, you shouldn’t worry your pretty head about such a thing. This ship was built by some of the finest men.”
Penelope gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath in through her nose. Before she could say something she’d regret, she made her excuses and quickly retreated to her cabin.
Thankfully, this time she didn’t get lost.
Still, she was relieved when she entered and found Ruby stretched out across the sofa, reading a small book—The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Penelope saw—for she could use the distraction.
Ruby’s hair was braided down her back. Penelope could only assume that she had pinned it up when she had left for luncheon and had then promptly taken it down when she’d returned.
At Penelope’s sudden entrance, Ruby looked up from her book before folding it over, keeping her place with her fingers still trapped between the pages. “Goodness, you look riled up about something.”
“I…�
�� She shook her head and leaned heavily against the door, pressing her hand against her stomach and feeling the stiffness of her corset underneath. “What is it with men believing that, just because we’re women, we know nothing? That we can form no opinions of our own?”
She promptly regretted her words when she realised that Ruby might really be a traditionalist. She didn’t know her. And maybe she’d just made things awkward with the woman she’d be sharing a room with for an entire week.
Ruby raised her brows high. “That is because men are birdbrained fools,” she said flippantly, and returned to her reading.
It seemed to take her a long moment before she realised that Penelope was still just standing there, leaning heavily against the door and staring at her, eyes wide with wonder.
When she did, she cocked her head to the side and grinned. “I do hope I didn’t shock you.” Her blue gaze was teasing, and she spoke quickly, which made the Hs in certain words disappear completely. “But I meant what I said. There was this one lad back home who refused to believe me when I said I wasn’t interested in him. It took me being on the arm of another man for the message to finally sink in.” Ruby finished with a loud sigh and a roll of her eyes. When Penelope didn’t say a word in reply, she asked, “Everything all right over there?”
Penelope pushed away from the door with a shake of her head. She swallowed, trying to hide her disappointment. Of course, it seemed only plausible that Ruby would be interested in men—hadn’t Caroline always said that what Penelope felt wasn’t common?
“It is. Thank you for understanding.” She ducked down to sit on the edge of her bed.
“Not a problem.” Ruby turned her wrist, glancing at her watch. She tucked a small bookmark between the pages of her book and set it aside on a rather large pile of books that hadn’t been there earlier. It contained many familiar titles that Penelope had read at a young age. “I must go, I’m afraid. If I don’t see you at dinner, I’ll see you before bed.”
She was gone before Penelope could reply or even enquire about the children’s novels Ruby had brought aboard. Her hands covered her burning cheeks, and she allowed herself to fall backwards, lying down on her bed with a groan.
She did not mean it like that, Penelope hissed at herself, closing her eyes with a sigh. She readjusted herself to get a bit more comfortable, keeping her feet dangling over the edge. She didn’t want to let her boots touch the clean linens.
Penelope forced her mind to quiet, trying to ignore the thoughts of Ruby, of Caroline, of her parents. She focused on nothing more than her breathing until, without really meaning to, she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Three
Penelope was awoken by a gentle shake of her shoulder. She groaned and turned towards the source, frowning when the face before her wasn’t her mother’s.
Instead, it was a blonde beauty with large blue eyes and plump lips pulled into a dazzling smile. It took her a long moment to even remember that she knew Ruby.
“What time is it?” Penelope reached up to wipe the sleep from her eyes.
Ruby stepped back from her. “Just after six on the ship’s time. You’ve not been sleeping too long, but I thought you’d like to see Cherbourg now that we’ve docked.”
Penelope pushed herself from the bed, dusting down her clothes and tutting at how dishevelled she looked. There was a large crease down the side of her skirt.
“Cherbourg?” she repeated. France had always been one of those places she wished she could have visited. Everything seemed so forwards, so fashionable, so beautiful…
Pushing such thoughts to the back of her mind, Penelope focused on Ruby. Her hair was fully pinned up, and she still wore the gorgeous lace dress that made Penelope wonder why she was in Second Class when she looked like she belonged with those ladies on the Promenade Deck. She would have fitted in easily.
“We won’t be here for long, an hour or so at most as I understand it. There aren’t as many people to pick up here as there were in Southampton. It will probably be the same with Queenstown tomorrow.”
“Queenstown?” At Ruby’s nod, Penelope frowned. “In Ireland?” Penelope’s mind rarely worked quickly on the best of days, never mind when she had just been woken up from a nap. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry. I just… If we’re stopping in Ireland, why were you and your family in Southampton?”
Ruby’s thick brows pulled down, almost until her eyelashes touched them. “I was born in Ireland, but my family moved to England when my father got a job as a valet to a duke about ten years ago.”
“Is that the reason you’re going to America now?”
“Sort of? My father is up in First Class, sleeping in a small room in the duke’s suite, for valets and ladies’ maids. We have family in New York. They emigrated a few years back. When the duke visits America, we stay with the relatives, and Daddy visits whenever he can.” Ruby then smoothed her hand down over her dress. She seemed to notice Penelope take in the splendour of it, for her lips twisted into a grin. “It’s a hand-me-down from the duke’s daughter. She doesn’t have a maid to give her old clothes to, so because Daddy has been with them for so long, they give him her clothes for me.”
“I bet it suits you better than it did the duke’s daughter.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Already, she could feel her cheeks begin to warm, and she cleared her throat in a desperate attempt to distract herself, which only made the flushing worse. “So… Does that mean you’ll be returning to England? You’re not moving to America?” Penelope tried her hardest not to feel disheartened at that thought.
There was a twinkle in Ruby’s blue eyes that spoke of mischief as her grin shifted slightly, turning to something a bit more…self-deprecating. “Unless I find a stunning husband in the couple of months that we’re there, then yes. I shall be returning to England at the end of it all.”
Of course. Penelope wanted to smack herself—first Caroline, going off and getting married without a word to her, and now Ruby, her latest crush, had plans to marry as well.
Would she ever find someone who felt like she did?
Then again, she knew that her parents would be desperate to see her married as well. And she wouldn’t be able to convince them otherwise.
“I understand that feeling all too well,” she said instead of voicing any of her thoughts. “I know that as soon as we’re settled, I’ll be expected to do whatever I can to secure a husband.” Penelope gnawed on her lower lip. Ruby hadn’t shied away from her outburst over her father earlier, so Penelope knew that she wasn’t a traditionalist, but whether she believed in women’s rights was another thing. Still, there was something in her gut that told her to take the risk.
“I asked Mother if she’d let me attend university, get an education—nothing too extreme, I was thinking English or History—before I settle down, but I doubt that’ll happen. She’ll have to talk it over with my father, and he will say no. I know it.”
Ruby shook her head. “Do you ever get tired of listening to men? Of having to run every little thing you do by one?” She pushed a stray curl behind her ear. Her lips curved into a wry grin. “Though, I must confess, I don’t know what’s worse—a lifetime in America or a lifetime in England.”
Her words startled a laugh from Penelope. That had been half the reason she had fought so hard to stay behind.
Ruby offered her a smile. “Come. We can continue this conversation on deck as we take in the wonders of France.”
Penelope dusted herself off before thinking better of it and pulling her coat from the wardrobe. At the very least, it would cover the wrinkles that her nap had pressed into her clothes.
Ruby reached for an embroidered navy shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders. It offered a stunning contrast to the white of her dress. It was so delicate, and from the way Ruby’s hand smoothed over it, Penelope could tell it had a special meani
ng to her.
Penelope caught Ruby’s gaze and said, “It’s braw.”
Ruby’s hands once more caressed the fabric. “It was Mammy’s.” Ruby cleared her throat and straightened. “We’d best get a move on. Don’t want to miss it.”
Ruby took off and Penelope followed, fastening her coat buttons.
When they stepped onto the deck, Penelope felt her heart leap to her throat.
The docks were just as busy as Southampton’s had been, with people cheering as Titanic lowered its anchor ready for the smaller boats that would bring passengers to the ship and take those wanting to disembark ashore.
Penelope stumbled towards the railing so that she could get a better look at the city. There were many dock buildings around her, warehouses and offices—shops making the most of such a busy area. It was still light enough that the gaslights didn’t need to be lit, but the sun was slowly setting, casting the area in a beautiful orange hue.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it? People always say that, after a while, seeing new sights becomes boring. But I don’t see how that’s possible.” Ruby’s hands tightened around the railing. They were so close to Penelope’s that all she had to do was reach out with her pinkie finger and they’d be touching. Instead, she kept her fingers to herself, tightening them further around the metal lest they betray her. “Even if you had to visit the same place,” Ruby continued. “Each time there’d be something different because the people there would be different—the world is always shifting, changing. And it’s always stunning to see.”
Penelope hmmed and settled her elbows onto the railing, watching children run about the docks excitedly as their parents shouted after them. Her attention then moved towards the odd-looking boats that were bringing new passengers aboard.
One held those in First Class and Second Class, if their general appearance was anything to go by. She saw a middle-aged man with short hair and a long, slightly chubby face, who was with a woman dressed in the latest fashion, wearing a large ostrich feather on her hat and several strings of pearls around her neck.
The Breath Between Waves Page 2