Chapter 1 – Moving On

A/N: Story takes place 6 months after the end of "An Adventure to Remember and a Memory to Forget." Rose and Jack have bought a house using the money from the sale of the Heart of the Ocean necklace and Rose has helped buy a house for Harry and Victoria (Torie) next door to them as a thank you present for helping her out of the life she was in and keeping her secret safe. Harry got Jack a job working for White Star Lines and they are all living in the suburbs of New York City. Shannon is in school in the States and Victoria's father still travels from England to America on business, but has been staying in America with his daughters as much as possible. Both Torie and Rose are now with child. Rose is slightly ahead of Torie in her pregnancy.

This new story is in memory of my dear, sweet horse who passed away 3-1-07. Her name was Misty. She was my baby.

Victoria/Torie

"I have got to sit down."

My feet hurt, my back hurt and my ankles were so swollen I could barely see them. I eased myself down into a chair in what was to be the baby's room and closed my eyes only for a moment before I felt a strong kick in my midsection and my eyes shot open again.

"I see you want some attention." I patted my rounded stomach and reached over for a scrapbook Harry had left on a table in the baby's room. I was flipping through, talking to the baby as if it was already here. "This article is about your father. The congressional inquests from the sinking of the Titanic, which brought us together, were going on. An inquest is when the members of Congress…" I stopped when I realized that the baby would be too young to understand what an inquest even was. "Well, never mind. We'll explain that to you when you get old enough. Tell you the truth, I'm old enough to understand and I still didn't understand what the inquests were for when I was there. To be honest, it was as if the members of Congress were trying to blame anyone and everyone about the sinking."

I skimmed the article until I found a place to start. "I'll read some of it to you. Maybe that'll get you to quit kicking me in the stomach." I started to read, 'The ill fated ship's Fifth Officer Harold Lowe took the stand shortly after Officer Charles Lightoller finished answering what was estimated to be over 1500 questions from the committee.' I stopped to flip the page. "That's your godfather, by the way." I continued reading. 'His questions and answer session was one of the longer ones given to any Titanic passenger or surviving crew member. After going through the events leading up to the sinking, Officer Lowe began answering questions about his actions during the sinking as well as after the ship sank. One of the more notable answers from the inquest sessions was an answer that Lowe gave to a question after being asked what icebergs were made of. After a low laugh from the gallery and a confused look from Lowe, he cleared his throat and confidently replied, 'Ice, I suppose, sir.' The senator in charge seemed pleased with the answer as he ignored the laughs from the gallery and continued the questioning of Fifth Officer Lowe. With the next part of the inquests underway, the senator began asking questions about why Lowe went back to rescue passengers still in the icy waters of the north Atlantic when his main duty was with the passengers in the boat he was navigating. His reply was that his duty was to protect passengers on board Titanic. "I could hear in my conscience that this was the thing for me to do. I would never have been able to live with myself if I had ignored the cries of the passengers in the water. I am human and I could not ignore the plight of the suffering in the water. When the ship sank, my duty was not only to help the people in my lifeboat stay alive, but it also became to rescue the survivors out of the water." Though six people were saved, including the daughter of steel businessman James Metcalfe as well as a married couple, a woman who had lost her husband on board and a couple on their honeymoon, Lowe said he would have gone back and done it all over again. "I know in my soul that I did the right duty. There was no other option as far as I was concerned." There is still no word from White Star Lines if Lowe's actions are going to make him a hero or make him jobless.'

I looked over the photos that were included with the article. There was an artist's drawing of the Titanic sinking with the iceberg in the background, a photo of both Harry and Officer Lightoller on the stand, another photo of some more of the officers, including a photo of the late Captain Smith and Officer William Murdoch, a photo of the senator in charge of the hearings as well as a photo of my father and me in the gallery and a few of the more notable passengers including Madeleine Astor and the late JJ Astor, Molly Brown and Thomas Ismay. I focused my eyes at the photo of Father and me and realized that I could make out a few people behind me, including Rose and Jack. Just seeing the drawing of the Titanic again sent chills down my spine. I shook the memory of that night out and I tried to straighten up in the chair, but found it next to impossible with my stomach being the size it was. "See. Your dad is the brave one. I hope you take after him."

"Who are you reading to?"

I looked up from the scrapbook and my expanding waistline to see my husband propped up against the door. "The baby. I was going to come in here and put away some of the clothes Rose and I got shopping yesterday but decided that they could wait. I wanted to try out this rocking chair you bought us while I looked through our scrapbook Shannon made for our belated wedding present."

Harry leaned down to kiss me. "How is it?"

I read through an announcement for our wedding as I rocked back and forth for a moment before I answered, "Perfect. You'll have no problem rocking our baby back to sleep when she wakes up. You can read her our wedding announcement." I stopped to look at the article, 'English Steel Tycoon James Metcalfe's daughter, Victoria, weds Titanic's Fifth Officer days after sinking.' The headline was bolded and a short article followed, 'Just days after the sinking of what reporters called the "Grandest Ship in the World," Titanic's Fifth Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe exchanged wedding vows with Metcalfe's oldest daughter, Victoria Anne, age 20. Victoria's younger sister, Shannon, served as the flower girl and the Reverend Henry Madison served as officiator over the ceremony which took place at the Astoria Hotel in New York City. When asked about his daughter's nuptials James replied, "This is both the happiest day in my life as well as the saddest and the toughest. It's hard to let go of my daughter after having raised her all of her life. All fathers with daughters know what I'm going through. I am very pleased with the wedding and wish only the best to my daughter and my new son-in-law." Lowe, an officer with White Star Lines, and Metcalfe will make their home in New York City after a honeymoon in Pittsburgh, PA.'

Harry looked at me and smiled, "What makes you think I'll be the one up? And also, what makes you think the baby will be a girl? What if I want a boy?"

I stood up with Harry's help. I kissed him on the cheek as I walked out of the room. "You'll have your fair share of nights where it'll be your turn to rock our baby to sleep. And as for the girl or boy issue, if you really want a boy, then I guess we'll just have to keep trying for a boy won't we?" I started to walk out of the hall and got a little dizzy. I stopped to lean against the wall and watched my nervous husband rush to my side.

"Are you alright? Do we need to call Mrs. Miller?"

I shook my head. My housekeeper was the last woman I needed helping me right now. "No, I'm fine. I think I just did too much today. Rose and I went out earlier this morning for a walk and I think we just over did it in the weather. It was a little chilly this morning, but not as cold as it should be outside since it is mid-October."

Harry looped his arm around my waist and led me down the few stairs to our sitting area. He propped my feet up in his overstuffed chair and walked over to the fireplace and threw another log onto the fire to keep it going. "Rose and Jack are coming over for dinner. Is that okay?"

I nodded, "That's fine. I hope they don't mind if I'm not much of a hostess tonight. I'm really wiped out."

"Mrs. Miller made a huge dinner before she left to go check on her granddaughter. She said she'd be back later on tonight, but I gave her the night off. She'll be here tomorrow to make breakfast and clean up."

"Yes." I nodded as I sunk into the chair. "That's fine."

I rested for a little bit while Harry set the table and waited on Rose and Jack to get here. Rose was about a month or so ahead of me in her pregnancy. She had evidently gotten pregnant while still on Titanic, as she was almost seven months along. I had gotten pregnant shortly after our honeymoon in Pittsburgh. No one seemed to put the math together with Rose, so she was in the clear. I saw the paper lying on the table next to Harry's chair and started to read. Nothing really caught my eyes, so I just set the paper back on the table and tried to relax for a moment before another strong kick brought me back into consciousness. "You really are demanding, you know that? I can tell who your father is. Harry is just like you when he wants to be." I spoke while looking at my stomach. "I don't know how I am going to manage two demanding men in my life. Your father is bad enough."

"Now you know how I feel every time I get kicked."

I looked up to see Rose standing in the arched entrance to the kitchen area. She was about as fatigued as I was. "Rose, hello. I was resting and I didn't even hear you come in. Where's Jack? Is he okay?" I stood up out of the chair and got a hug from Rose before we both walked, or tried to at least, back into the kitchen.

"Yes, Jack is fine. He's outside with Harry I think. Harry just told me to come on inside. He said that you were in here resting. I just let myself in through the back door." Rose pulled back the curtains to the window above the kitchen sink. "Harry is showing Jack something, though I'm not entirely sure what it is." We watched as Harry was motioning with his hands, but we never could figure out what they were doing. Rose helped me bring the food to the kitchen table as Jack and Harry came in when we were done.

"This looks great. Tell Mrs. Miller that her efforts are surely appreciated." Jack sat down at his place at the table after helping Rose into her chair. Harry helped me into mine then fixed drinks for all of us before he sat down and blessed our food. We spent the next hour or so talking and boring the men with baby talk. When the talk of babies got too much to handle, Harry suggested that Jack talk about the vacation he and Rose had taken. Happy for the change in topic, Jack told us about the trip that he had taken Rose on. It wasn't much, but it was a short vacation to New Jersey to look at the leaves as they changed colors this late in fall. She said it was a nice get away and they enjoyed what would probably be their last vacation before the baby came.

When we had finished with our dinner, Rose helped me clean up while the boys went next door to escape the girl talk. She was helping me wipe down the dinner plates. "Are you scared?"

I looked down at my stomach again, "Sort of. I do wish I had my mother here to help me out, but it's just me and the baby and Harry even though Shannon has told me more than once that she'd be my babysitter no matter what. I was more than welcome to pull her out of school if need be."

Rose laughed, "I remember those days. I used to feign illness so mother would keep me home from school. She eventually caught on and summoned the doctor to give me injections every time I was ill. I eventually caught on to what she used to do and just began skipping whenever I could. I never had much in common with those girls anyway. They only cared about two things – debutante balls and who your future husband was going to be. If it didn't fall into either one of those two categories, they didn't care. You know how I am. I'm anything but that. There are truly people in this world who were shipped to the wrong address and are living lives that they weren't meant to live."

I looked at my friend as she was trying to erase a painful memory of her past. "And you were one of those girls until a certain person came and saved your life. Do you think your mother would be happy for you right now if she knew?"

Rose sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "If this was Cal's baby, then I'm sure she would be. That's all she cared about. She just wanted me to marry him and have his children. She wanted children that would carry on the Hockley name and look good in family portraits. Mother never understood what it was like to be me. She arranged for my engagement to Cal simply because of the amount of money he was worth. She didn't give a damn about me or my happiness, only to make sure she stayed within the social circle to which she thought she belonged. It still angers me to think about it." She stopped to catch her breath and continued, "But that's all in the past? I've got what I want right now with Jack." She rubbed her stomach. "I've got a baby on the way and a great husband and my two best friends living next door."

I smiled, "Have you thought about any names? Harry and I aren't even going to be able to agree on one I'm afraid. He's convinced this is going to be a boy and I'm okay with having Harry Junior running around, but his pick for a girl's name? No, thank you."

"Jack and I agreed pretty quickly on the names. Jack likes the name James for a boy and Angela for a girl and I was in full agreement with him on that. I was going to suggest those two names, but he beat me to it."

I was shocked, "You are naming your child after my family?"

Rose slowly nodded, "You and your father are the reason we are here today. If it wasn't for your father's generosity and your discretion, I'd be married to Cal, probably as far along in my pregnancy but it'd be his baby instead. I'm never going to be able to thank you. It's the least we could do. I'm just sorry I never got a chance to meet your mother. From what little bit your father has talked about her, she sounded like a wonderful and special woman."

I sighed, thinking of my mother. "I'd give anything in the world if she'd be here now with me." I stopped to wipe a tear out of my eyes and looked at Rose. "So should I name our baby Rose or Jack?"

Rose laughed, "If you wish."

A/N I know this chapter was a bit slow, but it's setting up for the events to come. Please R/R! And if you are new to the story, I urge you to go and read my other Titanic FF, "A Adventure to Remember and a Memory to Forget." It'll explain why things are the way they are.