The Lost Sister, Kathleen McGurl [best desktop ebook reader txt] 📗

‘Why have you done that?’ Emma asked her, pointing to it.

‘I’ve a few important things in there. Hopefully this will keep them safe.’

‘Important? Like what?’ Lily asked, and Emma guessed she was wondering if there was anything back in the cabin she should have brought out. To her surprise, Violet blushed as she answered.

‘A precious ring, from someone I care about, and … a toothbrush.’

‘A toothbrush!’ Despite the critical situation they were in, Emma could not stop herself from laughing. ‘Why on earth?’

‘After the Titanic, on the Carpathia, I was unable to get hold of one. So I decided I would never again be parted from my toothbrush.’ Violet thrust her chin defiantly into the air, which made Emma laugh all the more.

‘Ems, we are on a sinking ship, and you are laughing at a woman who’s saving a toothbrush,’ Lily said, and now it was her turn to hurry them along, up the stairs and onto the boat deck.

‘We’re late!’ Violet gasped, and the three girls leaned over the side to see dozens of lifeboats already in the water, rowing frantically away from the ship.

‘Why are we steaming forward?’ Emma said, remembering how the Titanic had cut its engines immediately after the impact, and the ship had floated calmly as it slowly filled with water. The Britannic, however, seemed to be on full steam ahead.

‘Captain’s trying to reach shallower water, and ground the ship,’ a crewman told her. Then he shouted, ‘There are women here!’

Emma realised the people on deck still waiting to get into lifeboats were all men. There were far fewer women on board – the nurses plus a few female crew like herself – and they’d obviously all come straight up and got into the first boats. She felt hands grabbing her, pulling her through the crowd to the front, and it was all she could do to keep hold of Lily’s hand. Violet was pushed through too and they were helped onto the next lifeboat. It was filled with crew men, the three of them being the only women on board.

Lily was whimpering quietly, and Emma squeezed her hand to calm her. ‘It’ll be all right. We’ll be lowered down, and once in the water the crew men will row us away from the ship. We’ll be safe, we’re on the lifeboat.’ And we’re together, she wanted to add, feeling a surge of relief that she had kept Lily with her, got her onto the lifeboat. This was how it should have been on the Titanic.

But they were not safe yet, she knew it. Once the boat was full, the crew began lowering it down the side of the ship. Britannic was now listing to starboard severely, and their port-side lifeboat scraped its way down the side of the ship, catching at one point on an opened porthole before freeing itself with a jolt.

The lifeboat hit the water hard, sending them falling into the middle of the boat. How well Emma remembered this moment from leaving the Titanic! The crew men got their oars out quickly and began rowing. The lifeboat was heavy and hard to manoeuvre and rowing seemed to make little difference to their position as the water churned around them. Britannic was still steaming ahead. Emma was clutching Lily’s arm, and Violet, sitting on the other side of her, also had hold of her hand. They were safe, they were in the lifeboat, it was a mild day in the Mediterranean with land in sight – so different to the ice of the north Atlantic. They’d soon be on dry land.

And then Emma saw the people in the lifeboat lowered just before theirs were all abandoning it – jumping into the water and swimming away. ‘What are they doing?’ she screamed. ‘Why are they getting in the water?’

The crew of her lifeboat looked where she pointed, and then frantically shouted. With horror Emma realised that the lifeboats – theirs included – were being sucked towards the fast-revolving propellers at the rear of the ship, where they would surely be chopped into pieces by those enormous steel blades. No amount of rowing could get them away from the ship. Their only chance was to abandon the lifeboat and swim for it …

Chapter 27

Harriet

During the following weeks, Harriet’s life fell into a pattern of working on house-move related tasks in the morning, eating a quick lunch, and then going to the hospital for the afternoon visiting hours. Often as not she’d call in at a toy shop or sweet shop and buy something small for Jerome – an activity comic, a set of Lego figurines, a pack of chocolate buttons. Anything to see his eyes light up and to give him something to look forward to. She brought things for Sally too – magazines, a tube of expensive hand cream, bars of her favourite Green and Black’s chocolate. Anything to make life a little better for her during this difficult time.

Jerome had got through the first part of the preparatory treatment. He’d borne it all well, and had made some friends in his ward, with whom he played or watched TV daily. Sally had spent many nights at the hospital – but not all. One day Jerome had said to her, ‘Mummy, why don’t you go home and stay with Daddy tonight? He must be lonely, and I’ll be all right on my own.’ It had broken Sally’s heart but she’d done as he suggested and the unbroken night’s sleep had done her good.

Harriet had to wear protective equipment when she visited him – a mask that Jerome laughed at, saying she looked like a bank robber, and robes he said made her look like one of the hospital cleaners. The treatment was suppressing his immune system so it was essential to keep him protected from any germs she might be carrying.

There came a day when Sally told her she could no longer