FORMALITY
Chapter Ten
"Where in God's name is
it?" Robert asked as we stood at the Grand Staircase, looking for the
doctor.
"I have a map," I said,
taking it out of my bag. I found it on C Deck, all the way back.
"Your headache will be gone
before we get there!" Rob laughed. We found it after fifteen minutes of
wandering, and the doctor gave me some aspirin.
"Would you like to rest a
bit, Belle?" Rob asked. I nodded.
"I know the perfect
place," I said, taking his hand.
"Where?" Rob asked,
following along.
"The library!" I said
as we got into a lift. When we got to the library, Rob and I sat down between
two rows of shelves and fished out random books to read. We must have been
there quite a while, because soon the room was empty. My watch read five
o'clock, so I assumed everyone was getting ready for dinner. Rob's stomach
growled, making me laugh. I turned and looked at him. He was sitting on the
floor next to me.
"Let's order some food from
my room and skip dining with everyone else," Rob suggested.
"Sounds lovely," I
whispered in his ear.
*****
Once in his room, we rang the
bell for a steward. Mark came to the door.
"Can I help you?" he
asked.
"Yes, I'd like to have two
soup and sandwich meals from the a la carte restaurant with fruit and
cheese," Rob said, and whispered something to Mark, but I couldn't hear.
"Right, then. I'll have them
brought in immediately," Mark said, leaving. Rob closed the door, came
back into the room, and sat down at his small table. I had picked up a book,
which was filled with pages and pages of Rob's handwriting.
"That's my poem book. I'd
like you to have it," he said.
"Really? Thank you." I
smiled at him. I flipped through the last few pages. They were love
poems--about me. My eyes grew misty.
"These are about me," I
said. Rob nodded, smiling slightly. I got up out of my chair and sat in his
lap, kissing him.
A knock at the door separated our
kiss. Our food was brought in, along with a bottle of champagne.
"Here's to finding our
cloud-castle," Rob said, raising his glass. I raised mine.
"To our cloud-castle,"
I said as we tipped glasses. We laughed and talked just like we were old
friends. It felt so perfect, so complete.
"Mmm…I love chicken dumpling
soup. This is almost as good as my grandmother's!" I said, sipping the hot
broth from my spoon.
"She makes good soup?"
Rob asked.
"Definitely! My father got
the recipe from her for the servants to make, but it didn't taste as good. So,
my father makes it himself," I said, eating a dumpling.
"He makes it himself? That's
a laugh!" Rob said, smiling.
"He does! Just don't tell
anyone. Nobody knows except me and my family," I said.
"And me."
"And you." I smiled.
We talked about what museums we'd
been to and who our favorite artist was.
"Well, as of now, I'd have
to say Mr. Dawson. I just love that drawing!" I said. Rob nodded.
"He's a pretty talented
man," he said. I agreed.
After our food was cleared away,
Rob put on some music through a gramophone. It was Irish music!
"This is my favorite
music," he said, moving tables and chairs aside. He grabbed my hand and we
began dancing around his room, just us two. You could probably hear us in the
adjoining rooms, but we didn't care. He swung me around and around the room. I
was squealing with laughter.
We stopped for a while and he
taught me a jig. Well, some of it. I caught on pretty quick to the first parts.
After that, we sat on the couch,
catching our breath. Rob pulled me closer to him and I leaned my head on his
shoulder.
"You're amazing. You know
that?" he whispered, kissing my forehead.
I closed my eyes against his
shoulder.
"I want to be with you,
Rob," I said, opening my eyes again and meeting his lips.
Suddenly, we felt a faint
rumbling for about ten seconds straight. Rob got up and looked out the small
porthole.
"My God! An iceberg just
floated by!"