The Rose......part two

I stood up, staring at the page. My head in a whirl, my heart racing. Was it her, listed as one of the survivors? Elsie Bowerman, age 22. The age was right. I sat down heavily again, my hands shaking. If she was my Elsie, what was she doing on the Titanic? Where had she been for the last two years? 

It had taken me a long time to move on after she left me. I threw myself into my work, travelled and tried to get her out of my thoughts, out of my heart....I had a new companion, Alice, who I was very fond of but there was always something missing, she wasn't Elsie.

Elsie and I met at a cocktail party flung by a friend of a friend. I stood alone, glass in hand, knowing no one and wondering what I was doing there when, suddenly, I knew. Our eyes literally met across a crowded room, in true Jane Austin fashion. We gravitated towards each other and from then on, we were almost inseparable, until that fateful night when she disappeared into the darkness. 

I called a Steward and ordered a large brandy to steady my nerves while I thought about what, if anything, I should do. I re-read the Article. The few survivors were picked up by the Carpathia, the first ship to arrive on the scene, and transported them to New York. 

I was desperate to know if she was ok, desperate to see her, even if she was now with someone else. I thought I had closure and had moved on, but I hadn't, not by a long shot. 

I knew where she was a few days ago, but after that......

I decided to go and see her brother Jolyon, hoping he hadn't moved. I'd had no contact with him since Elsie disappeared, but I was hoping he might have some knowledge of where she might be in the US. I called a cab and urged him to hurry through the crowded streets. My adrenaline was high, my hopes, once again, raised.

Jolyon was out but his housekeeper directed me to his Shipping Company office in Leadenhall Street. He was pleased to see me and guessed straight away why I was there. I plied him with questions about Elsie, why she had run, what she was doing on the Titanic. I couldn't understand his reluctance to tell me anything and grew angry at his evasion. 

Eventually I broke him down and he related her story. Her parents had arranged a marriage for her to a rich, older Financier when she was 18. She hated it, was terribly unhappy and had a baby boy who would be two years old now and whom she adored. Her husband did not want anything to do with her, blamed her for getting pregnant. But, strangely, he doted on his son. The marriage broke up, he was cruel to Elsie and took the boy away from her to America. 

According to Jolyon, when she and I met her life changed again, but she couldn't stay with me, she had to try and get her son back and thought that if I found out, I would cast her aside too.

I pressed him for details of where she could be staying in America. I was going after her, hopefully to bring both her and her son home........