THE DIARY OF MRS. TOMY RYAN
Chapter Three
I ate my dinner in my stateroom, not sure
when Tommy might come for me. I was breaking some rules, but I didn’t care. I
wanted to spend more time with him. I felt like I had to. He was going to die,
and I would have to go back to my own time, never able to see him again. A
knock at the door brought me running to it. I slowly opened the door, and there
he stood. I had changed into a more comfortable dress, and one I thought would
help me fit in downstairs. Tommy was wearing the same clothes he had had on
earlier, and he was holding his hat in his hands. I was staring, and I caught
myself. "Would you like to enter?"
"Sure, I’d love to see how second class
lives."
I’m sure it was meant to be a joke, but I
wanted to stress to Tommy that I thought I was no different than him. "I
can’t say how different it will be. I know you must have minimal quarters, but
as you can see, I still don’t have all the luxuries of first class."
"I see. Not as bad as I had thought. Are
you ready to go?"
"Yes."
"Then let’s get out of here."
We walked to the party, and Tommy told me
some about his life in Ireland, and why he was going to America. His cousin had
gone there a few years ago, and had a job for him. He was not happy about
leaving his family behind, but hoped to be able to send for them.
"Surely you must have a special young
lady waiting for you?"
"No. All the girls in my village thought
me ugly."
"They must be blind," I said, and
started to blush. How obvious was I going to be? And how serious would Tommy be
about me, anyway? If I tried to tell him the truth, he would laugh in my face.
"Let’s go out on deck," I said,
trying to stall. I wanted some more time alone with him.
"Sure."
The night was a little chilly, but not so
cold that you wanted to go back inside. We walked towards the bow of the ship,
and I stepped closer to Tommy, trying to keep warm. He seemed to be able to
tell what I was after, and he put his arm around my shoulders. We walked along
the deck, looking like two lovers. I was lost in the feel of his body close to
mine. I had never felt this way about anyone and I was battling myself. I had
only met this man a few hours ago, but for once I felt like I was where I
belonged. My heart ached again, thinking about him dying. I started to wonder
how he died. He broke into my thoughts by saying, "We really should go to
the party, Kate."
"Yes, I suppose we should."
At the party, I could tell that we got a few
stares, but I was too happy to notice much. There were a few passengers that
had brought musical instruments and they were trying to play all of the
requests they got. The music was lively and there were people dancing. A small
makeshift stage was by the musicians, and I saw people on it dancing. They
seemed so happy, like they hadn’t a care in the world. Tommy led me over to a
table where Jack and Fabrizio were sitting. He pulled out a chair for me, and
excused himself to get us some drinks.
"Hello."
Jack looked over and smiled. Fabrizio was
looking at a young woman, and didn’t say anything. Jack was drinking a beer,
and had a cigarette in his mouth. I didn’t know what to say to these men. I was
at a loss. Instead of talking, I just smiled at them, and continued to look
around the room. I noticed a small girl approaching our table.
"Jack, you promised to dance with me
every night."
"Yes, I did, Cora. Let’s go." Jack
got up to go dance with the girl, and Fabrizio sighed.
"What’s the matter?"
"See the girl there?"
"Yes."
"She is so beautiful."
"Ask her to dance."
"I couldn’t."
"Yes, you could."
"No."
"Try."
Fabrizio nodded, gulped the rest of his beer,
and went over to the woman. I could tell that he couldn’t understand her, but
he was able to get her to understand that he wanted to dance. Tommy returned,
and I was more than willing to focus on him.
"Did you scare my friends off?"
"No. They found women to dance with.
See?"
"Ah. Would you care to dance?"
"I’d love to."
We went only a few steps away from the table,
and Tommy pulled me close. The warm feeling of being in his arms came over me
again. I was able to lose myself in the music, and I was having a glorious
time. We danced to several songs, and I felt like this would go on forever.
Tommy suddenly stopped, and I realized that the music had stopped. We walked
back over to our table, where Fabrizio was sitting with his lady. I could tell
that they were trying to get past the language barrier, and I silently hoped they
would. Tommy sat in the chair next to me and picked up his drink. I realized
how thirsty I was, and picked mine up, too. "Where’s Jack?" Tommy
asked.
"He went to get some air on deck. He
said it was too hot for him," Fabrizio answered. I was not interested in
where Jack might have gone; I was only interested in Tommy.
"Aw, he’s probably just upset because no
lady over ten has shown any interest in him."
I smiled at Tommy, and thought back to Rose.
She was the one he was staring at that day. If he hadn’t have stared at Rose, I
might not have noticed, and I might not have come down and met Tommy.
I had a wonderful time, and as it approached
midnight, I was sad, as I was sure the evening would end soon. It would end
much too soon for me. Jack came up to our table, and I could see that he was
upset about something. "Katherine, may I speak to you for a moment?"
This surprised me, to say the least, as I had
done nothing to interest Jack. I let him lead me to a corner, and was ready to
hear almost anything. "I just met one of the first class passengers, and I
was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Who did you meet?"
"Rose DeWitt something or other."
How on earth had he met Rose? "What do
you want to know? I’ve never met her. I’m not staying in first class."
"Oh. Then maybe you won’t be able to
help."
I looked over at Tommy. He was trying to arm
wrestle with a huge Swedish man. I smiled. "Jack, I think that, without
knowing what happened, I couldn’t help you. But if there is anything you want
from me, Tommy knows what room I’m staying in."
"Okay. I’ll let you know." He
turned and left, and I could tell that he was upset about something.
I went back to the table where Tommy was, and
gently touched his shoulder. He looked up at me, and I said to him, "I
think I’d better be getting back to my room."
"One more dance before you go?"
"Yes." I smiled, thinking that I
had truly found a man worth spending my life with. He was slated to die, and I
wanted to spend eternity dancing in his arms.