The World Over

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

William’s POV

   “Edith!” I called into the house as I heaved my bag up the wooden steps and stood in the hallway of the house in front of the steps.

   I had been longer than I had anticipated; the men at father’s – well mine – business were not listening to what I wanted. I promised them I would make the trip to England three times a year to oversee the important aspects of the company and to deal with any major deals and I would also let them carry on running the business like my father did but they said that I was not capable of doing such a thing living in New York and over several days we battled it out until I fired one of the ring leaders and soon the rest followed in suit into the plan that I wanted.

   I did not get this job willingly but if they were just going to not listen to me, then it makes me more than frustrated. I just wanted to get everything done and get home and during the second week I felt like they were keeping me in London on purpose because they knew I wanted to get back.

   What they do not know however is that I am planning on making the centre of the business here in New York and having the business over in Southampton and London open just for the history. They would all keep their jobs but their roles would be dwindled significantly, I did not trust them at all. They worked for my father and had known my father a long time; they did not seem remotely pleased that his wayward son would be taking over.

   And besides, in New York and if we are ambitious enough, America, we would have an even bigger market for our furnishings company and when is more customers a bad thing? As my father taught me, there is not. The more chance you get of getting your name out there the better. I did not learn an awful lot from my father but how to be a good business man I did. Everything I knew is what I learnt from that man and I would be a terrible liar if I said I did not miss him.

   My father always thought with his head, his heart may as well have been stone. He did care for me and my mother but it was not like your conventional relationship but I did get along with him. My father and mother cared about our appearance of the family and to an extent even I did. I mean, if I did not I would not be telling everyone that Edith was already my wife.

   The only difference between us is that my heart is not made of stone and I have always been a man who thinks with his heart more than my mind and Edith is the only person who could truly make me happy.

   The patter of feet coming from down the stairs made me look up to see the ecstatic look upon Edith’s face. Dropping my bag, I anticipated her hug and swung her around in my arms. I had missed her so much, I hadn’t realised how much I relied on her when I was apart from her. When we were in bed, we always talked when we weren’t getting up to other activities and she always listened to me and having to sleep in an empty bed was lonely.

   “Oh William!” She breathed into my neck as I held her to my chest, no space in between us at all. We had been separated for nearly three weeks and it had felt like forever.

   “I am so glad I am home,” I admitted as I placed a small, chaste kiss on her lips before letting her go and placing her back on her feet.

   “How is everyone?” I asked as I picked my bag back up.

      “Fine, your mother and Elizabeth have been bonding and everyone from the Titanic disaster has left now. It has been so lonely without you.”

   “I feel the same, how is the school?”

      “Oh it is going to be perfect!” She cried with the happiness shining in her eyes. She then went and told me about everything that has changed around the place since she has been gone and even spoke quite passionately about the suffragette movement. Seeing her speaking about the school was the most uplifting, she really seemed like she has been really involved in everything and it felt so good. I was afraid I was pushing my project onto her but it really does not seem to be the case.

   “William,” she started and I stared at her expectantly as we sat at the dining table with a cup of tea in our hands. “Could I teach cooking at the new school?”

   My mood darkened a little at her request. I had asked nicely that she stay at home and bond with Elizabeth and I would then consider her position but not seeing her for a while must have made me a different man as I found myself saying yes. “If you would enjoy that, I do not see anything wrong, but I would like your mother to co-teach with you.”

   “But who would look after Elizabeth?” Edith asked.

      I chuckled, “What I meant is that you have half of the classes and your mother has the other half,” I smiled and she sighed in relief.

   “Oh thank goodness,” she breathed.

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   In the July of 1912, we started inviting some parents and children to come and see the school and for the children to take the tests. The ages we were admitting were seven – eighteen and we had every department up and ready.

   George Eastman and a few other investors who have helped along the way have donated cameras and other items to help and everything was ready. Apart from the beds, which were being delivered tomorrow before noon, we were set to go.

   As I stood outside of the school next to Eastman, I could not help the pride from swelling in my chest. A photographer from the New York Times was here to take photos and there were a red ribbon separating us from the school.

   With a snip of the scissors from George, the ribbon fell to the ground and the crowd erupted into applause which made me swell with pride.

   It was madness from what Edith and I have achieved but I believed we deserved this new happiness – Edith deserved it. She had been through so much in her relatively short life and now we were going into the next phase of life together and forever and I could not wait.

   “Okay everyone, we are going to place you into smaller groups so we can take you on the tour!” George announced happily and with a short nod of the head, Edith and her mother started placing them into the groups and we all broke off into four groups – me, George, Edith and her mother.

   I had about twelve people in my group and I was really excited. “Hello, I am William,” I introduced and they all waved then after that we went inside as a collective group with me telling the parents and prospective students about the different facilities we had to offer and by the end I felt like I had all the parents backing.

   Which was really good because the more potential students that we had the more prestige the school had. This was to help students have a place to exercise their mind and the bigger presence in the country it has and the more funding the better. It was all going so well.

  Edith was waiting for something bad to happen, last night she was worried. She kept becoming paranoid that the school or our family was somehow going to crumble in front of her eyes. I wanted to rid all of the thoughts from her mind but from what she has been through, I knew that she would not be able to escape them anytime soon and it was heartbreaking.

   But I had also made it my mission to try and save her from them. She had been through too much, nothing else could happen to her and if they did, God was a cruel and harsh man.