unsinkable love [jack dawson]

001

Still soaking wet with water, Katerina crouched near Lillian. "Beautiful, aren't they?" Katerina smiled.

The little girl smiled at Katerina before looking back to the flowers. "I'm sorry about Clarence and Oliver, their trouble makers." She apologized.

Katerina looked to Lillian, "Don't be sorry for other peoples actions, Lillian. It's their actions and their faults which means, their responsibilities. Not yours, remember that."

Katerina smiled, picking a pink flower and a white one, and tucked them behind Lillian's ear.

Lillian smiled as she nodded, before running off to find her brothers leaving Katerina soaking wet in the garden.

Lillian suddenly came to an abrupt stop, turning to the girl. "Happy birthday, Katerina." She smiled.

She frowned, "My birthday isn't for another eight days, Lillian."

"Well.. Happy early birthday, then." The girl grinned before running off happily with a handful of flowers.

. . .

Katerina Rosaline Kenneth-Astor was just a sixteen year old girl, only turning seventeen in a few days, of course. But that didn't matter.

She was raised to behave like a lady. To sit with her back straight, to walk with elegance, and dress like a princess. But she was nothing like that, especially after the death of her mother and father when she was at the young age of seven.

But, of course, you could never forget the heart shattering death of her four year old brother, her twin brother.

Katerina was set to marry Bartholomew Blake. An arranged marriage by her uncle, of course. She loathed him and her Aunt Lilly. They controlled her every move and there was nothing she could do to change that.

Her uncle knew she didn't want to marry and her father didn't want her to marry. Her mother had been a different story, but he didn't care.

He always said, "As long as you're under my roof, you will follow my rules. No exceptions."

The only way to put it was, that Katerina thought it was complete bullshit. She didn't ask for this. Her mother got to choose who she married; her father. But she never got that same choice.

Well, because, her mother thought it would be a fantastic idea to slit her wrists in front of her seven year old daughter who at the time, was still grieving the death of her father and brother.

If she were to be honest, she loathed her whole family. Everyone except Lillian, she was sweet and kind. Just like Katerina was at her age, before her mother died.

Katerina— she wanted to run. To be free, she didn't want to marry a man she barely knew for just a year. A man she was afraid of. She had a good reason to be, but only she knew that reason, she never planned on telling anyone why.

She wanted to fall in love on her own, not be forced to marry, especially a man half her age. She thought it was disgusting, any sane person would. She just told herself, 'it's just how the world works.' Right?