Titanic

Chapter Twenty- One

"That was it for my parents. Rose saw my father in that room half an hour before titanic split and half went underwater," Heather said looking to the historians.

The two were in a trance as they looked at her. Their eyes were tearing up listening to the stories of Thomas and Elizabeth Andrews.

"That was the half he was in. The smoking room was just near the split. Rose had asked where my mother was. And he told her that she was coming to meet him. She was just checking the rooms so she could be sure everyone was out. Rose never saw her again," Heather said looking to the picture of her parents on the wall.

"So you don't know if your mother made it there in time?" One of the men asked, blinking the tears out of his eyes as he looked back to the woman.

She shook her head. Truth be told, she didn't know if her mother made it to her father or not. She could only hope they were together when they died.

Getting up, she moved to the cabinet in the corner of the room. Pulling out a box, she moved back to the men. Her daughter helping her sit back into her chair.

"These were left in my pocket. Molly was trusted with raising me. She moved to the UK so I could be closer to my grandparents," Heather said before moving to pass the papers to the men.

They stared at them in amazement. The drawings of the family were on them with a note attatched to the back of them.

'My dearest Heather, you're too young to understand now, but I know you'll get there someday. What happened on this night will be a painful memory for all of us. But you're so young, it will hurt more. I'm not certain of what will come of you or your father or myself, but know this. We love you more than anything in the world. You are our greatest achievement. I know no matter what happens there will be people to take care of you and love you. My hope for you, little bug, is that you find someone who loves you the way your father and I love each other. We want you to go on and do something amazing with your life. But don't forget us if we don't make it there with you. I love you darling girl, as does your father. Goodbye little bug, we'll see you again. Love mum and dad xxxx'

"This- this is a letter from your mother? The night the ship went down? This is.... amazing," one of the men said staring at the paper in his hands.

"Heartbreaking I think you mean," the other man said. Jabbing his friend in the ribs knowing how insensitive he had been.

"Yes but still! It's authentic. It's Elizabeth Andrews writing to her daughter," Heather didn't think she could listen anymore.

While this may be exciting for him, it was a constant reminder of the night she lost her parents.

"To say goodbye. I hardly believe I was lucky," Heather said almost angrily. He was annoying her now and slightly felt like they had overstayed their welcome.

"The lifeboat you were on, it was the one that refused to turn back. Twice," the not insensitive man spoke up again. He couldn't imagine what went through their minds that night. He didn't want to.

"Yes. I remember clearly my father and EJ Smith standing on the side of the deck, yelling out for it to return. We had too few passengers, we could've saved more,"  Heather sighed. She could hear the cries from the passengers who wanted to go back.

Molly had been one of them. However, the crewman manning the lifeboat had refused. Not wanting to chance his own life to save more.

"Molly stood up a little while later, demanding that we go back. That we could save more. I know it was her last effort to help many people and hope that my parents would get on board too," Heather said, her voice tainted with even more sadness as she thought about it.

"But he wouldn't turn back," he spoke again. He was confused by the story. How could someone not want to help people who were dying in freezing cold water.

"No. Told her he'd throw her over board if she even thought about it," Heather said, a small smile tugging at her lips when she remembered how much she admired Molly.

Until the day she died, she was a woman not to be messed with. Nobody would dare step over that threshold.

Heather longed for the day when she'd be reunited with the people she lost that night and those few in her later years. She would give anything to dance with her father or to sit with her mother once more.