An Unsinkable Love - By Terri Benson Page 0,34
rescue ship plowed on toward New York.
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An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
Malcolm was desperate. He'd been all over the ship and had yet to find his mother. Whenever he saw anyone he knew, he asked if they'd seen her. Many of the women were in a daze, hardly acknowledging his questions, their children nestled tightly in their arms. A few managed to answer, but always with a "No, sorry." He stopped more frequently to let the headache and dizziness pass before he continued. Fuzzy shadows haloed everything and he began to run into corners and tables as his depth perception faded. He'd been searching for hours and was nearly at the end of his rope when a flash of color caught his eye. An auburn mass at the edge of his vision stirred a memory and he turned sharply, stumbling. He gazed across the room. It swayed crazily. His vision narrowed to a long dark tunnel. The tiny light at the end went out.
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113
An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
Chapter 16
As she lay in the stark white room, Bree tried to put her jumbled thoughts in order. Disjointed pictures flashed in her head—vaguely remembered soothing words and cold cloths on her forehead. Feeling like she was being roasted alive. A handsome chestnut-haired man with a devastating smile. A pair of dark, leering eyes made her sick to her stomach. Dark blue eyes soothed her fear. Emeralds and diamonds shone under gaslight. A young boy desperately reached out to her.
Bree recalled the terror of black water closing over her head as she clutched the thin blanket under her chin. One moment she was shivering, the next burning.
The door opened and a woman in a starched white uniform marched into the room and took Bree's temperature. The nurse silently fluffed the pillows, tucked the blanket in and tidied the room, all the while never looking at Bree or offering a word of comfort.
A few minutes later, the door opened again and a tall, stately man entered and smiled as he walked to the bedside.
At his appearance, the nurse brightened and stepped close to the other side of the bed.
"Good afternoon, young lady," he said to Bree. "It's good to see you awake. How do you feel?"
Bree licked her parched lips.
"Nurse Danville?" At his nod, the nurse grasped a handle and cranked until the head of the bed rose to a semi-reclined position. She held a cup for Bree to drink a few sips of tepid 114
An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
water then stood beside the bed and gazed longingly at the doctor.
"To be honest, I don't feel too well. What happened?" Bree asked.
"You've had a raging case of pneumonia. Other than that and a good dunking in the North Atlantic, not much." He gave her a sympathetic smile showing lots of brilliant white teeth, and Nurse Danville sloshed water onto Bree's head.
The doctor frowned at the nurse as she apologized and stepped back, setting the cup down with a shrug of her shoulders and a silly grin.
Memories of the great Titanic tipping up and sliding down to her death flooded Bree's mind. "Mrs. DuMont!" She tried to sit up.
"Settle down young lady." He pressed her shoulders down.
"I've about got you healthy. Don't go and spoil it."
"What about Elizabeth? Elizabeth DuMont. She was with me on the ship. And when we were rescued." An overwhelming sense of panic welled up inside her at the thought she'd been abandoned.
"Well, if you mean that very handsome older woman who has been camped outside your room for the last week, Mary can fetch her right in. She's doing fine. I finally persuaded her to let me check her ribs, and she's much better now."
Nurse Danville's head had snapped around as she heard the doctor's description of Elizabeth. Her lips compressed as she stalked across the room, opened the door to briefly beckon then hustled back to the doctor's side. Elizabeth's 115
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blonde head peeked around the door and the doctor motioned her in.
As she hurried up to the bed and saw Bree's relieved smile, she heaved a mighty sigh and bent to fold her into a tight embrace. "Oh, I've been so worried about you," she whispered into Bree's ear. She straightened and wiped tears from her face with a crumpled handkerchief. "Thank you so much, Doctor Tumey. You're a godsend." She laid her hand upon his arm. Bree was sure the good doctor blushed.
Nurse Danville, who watched the exchange