The Maidening Ceremony

Chapter Nine - Scene 1

In 1893 my family decided to make the long trip from England to America. I was nineteen years old and did not want to leave my home, but what choice did I have – my father had a business opportunity he could not pass up. If I had stayed behind, I would have had no family left.

We boarded the ship on a sunny day in June. My parents were optimistic, they thought the clear sky was a good sign we would have a smooth voyage. They had never sailed before, but knew of the tragedies that occurred at sea. They choose to ignore them.

The second day of the journey, I met Samuel. He was six years older than me and heading to America to visit family. He did not plan on staying forever. I saw him for the first time at dinner; he was traveling alone and asked my father if he could join our table. The seat beside me was empty. It became his for every meal.

Samuel was vivacious – so full of life. Everything he said was said with laugher in his voice. Everything he did was done with lightness in his step. It only took a couple of days for me to fall completely in love with him, it took him even less time to fall in love with me. Not because I was vivacious or full of life; he said he saw me boarding the ship, my head held high, but sadness on my face. It intrigued him. So he sought me out – found our dinner table, sat beside me, and by the end of the meal knew he wanted to marry me.

"I cannot explain it," he said, "I knew nothing about you, really, just that you had a sweet smile and a respect and love for your parents which is beyond admirable."

We spent hours walking about the ship together, talking, learning about each other: falling even deeper in love with every conversation, every step.

"What will we do in a few months when you have to go back to England?" I asked one day, a week into the voyage.

"You will come with me," he answered without hesitation.

"I cannot leave my family."

"I will be your family. We will get married in America, before the ship leaves to go back, and then it will be you and I forever."

"Forever," I said, beaming, taking his hand.

"Is that a yes?"

"You did not ask a question."

"Millicent, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" His arms immediately flew around my waist and he drew me to him. We had only known each other for seven days, but I knew. I knew he was the person meant for me forever.

My parents did not take the news as well as I hoped. They thought we knew too little of each other and the decision was hasty based on the romanticized situation of spending sixteen hours a day together on a ship far away from the real world, but they also trusted me and wanted me to be happy. They would have been the biggest simpletons in the world if they could not tell how happy Samuel made me.

I thought I was the luckiest girl on earth, but the next day, my luck changed.

The rain started softly, barely a mist; Samuel and I were on the deck walking and talking as usual, so he found an umbrella to hold over my head. Twenty minutes later, the umbrella was no longer enough. The water hit us in sheets, we scrambled to get inside, laughing at the fools who choose to stay on deck and wait out the storm. Our laughter did not last long.

The winds picked up, waves pitched the ship around like a spinning top. We watched, helpless, as some of those fools went overboard. The ship's crew rushed to save them, throwing life preservers into the black ocean, struggling to release row boats, but no one was recovered and the ship continued to rock dangerously on the waves. The wind howled so loudly, I could not hear Samuel's voice speaking reassuring words in my ear,

The ship lurched as a bolt of lightening struck the center of the upper deck; the crack of the wood as it splintered apart almost drowned out the roar of the storm. Screaming from the lower decks could be heard through a pause in the agony of the winds.

Samuel yanked me backwards as some object hurtled towards the window we had been looking out of. Glass shattered, but he had shoved me behind him; the glass shards scratching into his torso and arms as he held them up to protect his face and neck, but thankfully causing no serious injury.

He spun around. "The ship is going down, Mills." He gripped my shoulders tightly, looking me fiercely in the eyes. "Stay with me to the end."

I nodded, my entire body shaking in fear. "Forever," I finally managed to whisper.

"Forever," he agreed. Without wasting another second, he took my face in both hands and brought his lips down on mine, hard. It was my first kiss and my last. "I love you, Mills," he yelled over the wind.

"I love you, too."