Chapter 2
Millie
“Ow.” I reach my wet hand up to my head as it throbs, and sharp pains shoot through the top.
“She’s waking up.”
“Mom?”
But it can’t be my mom. The person who spoke was definitely a man. More strange voices surround me, all of them male.
“Where did she come from?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t see any women in the room.”
“Make room, gents.” This voice is deeper, somehow softer.
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is bright blue eyes, the color of the sky.
Why is that familiar?
But everything else is blurry, so I blink a few times. My head is still pounding.
“What the hell is a woman doing in here?” This voice is gruff, harsh.
“Language, Remington. The lady is awake.”
“She’s no lady if she’s in here during men’s swim.”
Swim—that’s right. I fell in the pool. The bang must have been me hitting my head.
Finally, the blur fades, and bending over me is the handsome man I saw at the pool.
Or is he? He has the same handsome, chiseled features, but his hair is a shade lighter, and he’s not in a swimsuit. He’s fully dressed in a Titanic-era men’s suit, but it’s soaking wet. I guess he jumped in and pulled me out. I can still hear the water splashing around beside me. He must be someone else, but he looks so much like that man I saw earlier.
“Make room, lads,” he says calmly. “Miss, are you all right?”
“I-I think so,” I say. “But my head—"
He nods and waves all the men back.
I frown when he moves to the side, and I see a ceiling above me. “Why is there a roof?”
“What’s that now?” He looks up and back down at me. “We’re in the pool room, Miss, F Deck on the RMS Titanic.”
“RMS—” Titanic 2 doesn’t have that in the name.
“The woman is crazy,” the gruff man snaps. “She has no idea where she is, and she wandered into a men’s swim. Scandalous.”
More voices come from every direction.
“She’s probably from steerage. Those people are like that. No doubt trying to find a man of means.”
“I bet you’re right.”
“The security around here is atrocious. I’m complaining to the captain immediately.”
The kind, handsome man talks to me again. “I think you should get to the doctor right away. But I believe we’re going to need to carry you up there.” All the men around him back away as if they’re allergic to me.
What is wrong with these people?
“Well, looks like I’m going to need to carry you,” he amends. “Perhaps I’d better properly introduce myself first. My name is Will Stewart.”
I just nod, not quite ready to do much more talking yet, especially around all these angry men.
“Are you comfortable with me taking you to see the physician?” he asks. “I’d better get to you D Deck to see Dr. O’Loughlin right away. I need to warn you, though, it is quite a jaunt.”
I could have a concussion, so I’d better get checked out. I nod again. I can’t say I’m going to hate having this guy carry me anywhere.
He slides his arms under me gently, one at my shoulders and the other under my knees, and scoops me up in his arms like I weigh nothing. Just about everyone in the crowd of men is still grumbling as we pass, and their faces are full of scorn. I’ve never seen a group of people so angry about having to help someone in an emergency.
Several of them are still complaining about a woman in the pool for some reason, and every one of them is dressed in period costumes, most in swimsuits but a few in formal looking suits. I guess they’re really intent on sticking with the role playing.
Even though we’re both soaking wet, it feels good being in Will’s strong, protective arms. It doesn’t seem to matter that everyone else is mad at me anymore, especially once we’ve passed them all. He opens the door with his back and gently pulls me with him before it closes behind us.
It’s more relaxing without all those mean men around, and I finally find my voice. “Your clothes,” I say, nodding toward his drenched suit. “Why are you dressed in a suit by the pool?”
He chuckles lightly, and it rings in the air like music. God, even his laugh is gorgeous. “I wasn’t there to swim,” he explains. “I was just taking a tour of the pool facilities.”
“How did the pool get inside?” I ask.
He frowns. “You must’ve hit your head pretty hard. The pool was built inside that room. Where else would it be?”
That’s not right. Why would he try to confuse me? He seems so nice. “No, it’s outside on the top deck. The sun was in my eyes.”
“Miss, you must be confused due to head trauma,” he insists. “Maybe you’re thinking of another pool.”
I shake my head. “No, the one on Titanic 2.”
“Two?” he asks.
I nod as we walk by a woman who’s holding hands with a young boy. Both are in perfect period clothing. She gasps and covers the boy’s eyes as we walk past, and she hurries in the other direction.
That’s odd.
“Can you tell me how you ended up in the water, miss?” he asks, seemingly not noticing the woman and the boy.
“My mom was taking a photo, and I stepped back,” I explain. “I guess I slipped.”
“There were no other women in the room, certainly none with camera equipment,” he replies.
“She was using her phone.” More people pass, and not one of them is wearing regular clothes. At least there were a few people on the deck around the pool before I fell in who weren’t taking everything so seriously..
“Phone?” He crinkles his brow. “Goodness, this is serious,” he adds with a whisper. “You seem to be very confused. Can you tell me your name?”
“Millicent Baker.” More people pass, all in period clothing. Most seem to overreact to us, which I find odd. I guess it’s because his suit is all wet. “Everyone calls me Millie.”
“Well, Millie, it’s a pleasure to meet you, though the circumstances are less than ideal,” he says. “Worry not. We’ll get to the bottom of this soon,” he says. “Dr. O’Loughlin is good at what he does, I’m told. He’s the ship’s surgeon and very experienced.”
He’s said the name before, and it dawns on me why it’s so familiar. “O’Loughlin was on the original RMS Titanic.” With Mom’s obsession about the ship, I’ve heard the name more than a few times.
“Yes, he’s here on the Titanic.” He takes a light breath and looks at me. “I’d better pick up the pace.”
He does just that, holding me a little tighter as he breaks into a jog. I lock my fingers together behind his neck to hold on tighter. Now that we’ve picked up speed, the breeze is giving me a chill, though the parts of me that are making contact with him are warm, and I feel pleasant tingles inside from his closeness.
Closing my eyes, I relax a little in his arms. My head is still throbbing, but I’m having fewer of those sharp pains. I want to find my family. I don’t understand why they weren’t right there with me. “Can you find my mother, please? Her name is Isabelle Baker. My sister, Allison, is also on board. They were right there with me when I fell in.”
He shakes his head. “You must be confused from the fall. There were no other women in the room at all.”
“I don’t understand why they would leave me,” I say. “They saw me hit my head and fall into the pool. I must’ve hit it on the corner of the other side of the pool when I slipped backward. We were just taking a picture.”
“Maybe they were afraid they’d get in trouble.” He shrugs his shoulders but keeps up the jog, turning toward a flight of stairs. We descend a flight or two. I can’t really keep track. My head is swimming.
“Why would they get in trouble?”
“It was the men’s swim time, Millie,” he says as we turn a corner.
“But—”
“We’re here.” He cuts me off as we reach the doctor’s office, and Will bursts through the door.
An older man with a big mustache comes forward. “What’s the trouble here?” He looks at Will with a crinkled brow as if he’s doing something wrong.
I’m so confused. The man is in old-fashioned clothes with a hat something like a ship’s captain, and he looks a lot like the photos of the Titanic doctor I’ve seen in Mom’s documentaries. A nurse runs in behind, complete with the triangle hat, floor-length long-sleeved dress, and a white apron. I look around and there’s not a single piece of digital equipment in the room. In fact, everything looks fairly rudimentary, yet it gleams like it’s all brand new.
Something’s wrong here. This all looks too real. The Titanic 2 is a close replica, but it was modernized. Surely, the doctor’s office would have all the right equipment. What if an emergency happens out at sea? All this play-acting is going a little too far.
If that’s what it is….
“This girl nearly drowned,” Will explains quickly.
“Lay her here.” It’s clear he’s the doctor. “Why on earth was she in the pool? It’s not even noon. The women don’t have it until two o’clock.”
“I don’t know.” Will looks at me with his brow furrowed again as she sets me down gently.
I feel a chill when he steps away.
He seems to be concerned, while everyone else is mad at me for some reason, even the doctor. All I did was slip and fall.
“Well, you’d better see to your clothes, son,” Dr. O’Loughlin says. “I’ll take it from here.”
Will looks at me with those bright blue eyes. “You’ll be fine,” he assures me. “The doctor will help you. I’ll tell someone about your family.”
I nod and watch him walk out the door, my heart sinking as he closes it behind him. I look back at the doctor and nurse, and neither of them is checking my blood pressure or helping me in any way.
I don’t know what’s going on, but it certainly doesn’t feel like I’m going to be fine.