KATERINA ROSALINE ASTOR
⭒❃.✮:▹𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐰◃:✮.❃⭒
April 12, 1912.
"Forgive me, If I don't seem happy to be forced to leave my home along with the only remembrance with my parents to it."
ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-
April 4th, 1912.
"You're going to New York, and you are marrying Benjamin! It is not your decision, Katerina! John has already bought our tickets to board the ship to take us to New York."
"I'll never love him, Lilly! You're a fool if you think I'll ever forgive you or John for this. You're monsters!" the sixteen year old girl screamed, storming out of the room.
Katerina walked outside of the big mansion where herself and her aunt and cousins were staying in with her uncle.
She kept walking— she didn't know where she was going, she just kept walking. She was angry, furious, even. She didn't want to be near her family right now.
She made it to the garden— it was beautiful. It had all sorts of colorful plants, flowers— they were blue, pink, yellow, and white, along with many other colors.
She admired the beautiful colors, that is, until she was shivering from being drenched with brisk chilled water.
She turned to see two little boys and a little girl— the little boys each held a now empty bucket, while the girl stood a few feet away from them, admiring the flowers on the patch of green grass in front of her.
They weren't just any little kids— her cousins. From Lilly's side of the family. The little boys— Clarence and Oliver and the little girl, Lillian.
"Clarence, Oliver— have you gone mad?!" Katerina shouted, annoyed. It was the third time this week they had pranked her. They poured water on her, covered her in flour from the kitchen, and they put honey in her shampoo.
Basically, they did anything to get on her nerves. Just like Lilly, something they had in common.
Who knows, it probably ran in the family.
The boys ran off, leaving their sister alone with Katerina.
Katerina noticed how she admired the beautiful colors of the flowers in the garden, just as she was doing. Coming to the garden calmed her. She'd come here whenever she had gotten into an argument with her family.
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?
Wrong.
Very, very wrong.
Being a first-class citizen wasn't the glamorous life everyone perceived it to be. In all honesty, it wasn't the life Katerina wanted to live. She wanted a life that you couldn't predict where tomorrow could take you. A life of Adventure.
Katerina despised the cocktail parties and the fancy dresses, she wanted adventure. An adventure that would take her across the world, where she would fall in love. Where she would fall in love with someone she knew. Who she loved. Not the monster she saw in Bartholomew.
But, she thought it was hopeless as she was boarding the Titanic in a matter of minutes. As soon as she stepped foot onto that ship, she lost all chances of gaining her freedom from her abusive, toxic, and controlling family.
click click.
The carriage door opened, revealing a stewardess. Katerina looked up at the friendly man, taking his hand.
Bartholomew stood beside her in the streets. She glared at the man, the crowded chatty streets making it hard for her to hear him clearly. "We've arrived, and soon enough we'll be married, my love." He whispered in Katerina's ear, sending chills all over her body as he snakes his hand around her small waist, kissing her cheek.
She hated being touched by Bartholomew, because, well, she hated him. Also because she hated being touched by a man who not only claimed to "love" her, but begged her to sleep with him. Although she was the only one who knew about that night, eleven months ago. Not only eleven months ago, but the death anniversary of her brother.
That was the night he forced her to sleep with him. But what could she do? Run?
It's not like she had anywhere to go. Her Uncle John and Madeleine, Aunt Lilly and cousins— well, they were the only sense of family she had left.
If she left Bartholomew, she'd have to leave her family behind. It's not like they'd believe her. Her aunt would just claim she was seeking attention. That's all she ever did according to her aunt.
Madeleine was practically her age and married to her uncle. Which is one of the reasons why she never referred to her as 'Aunt', just Madeleine. It seemed off to call a girl nearly her age her Aunt.
"I don't see what all the fuss is about, it's a ship, Bartholomew. Even more— It's no bigger than the Mauretania." Katerina sighed as Bartholomew led her through the streets with her Uncle John, Madeleine, and Aunt Lilly behind them.
Her aunt insisted that her cousins stay behind with their father, her uncle George. She said they'd be a distraction to the wedding. She also claimed this was Katerina's birthday gift from Uncle John, to her.
It wasn't much a gift to her if she wished to be anywhere but here. South Hampton was her home, it was the only memory she had left of her parents. But here Lilly and John were, taking that away from her too.
Just like everything she once had with her family.
Love, freedom, happiness. At least, she didn't think of killing herself when she was in her home with two loving parents.
Bartholomew sighed, "You can be blasé about some things Katerina, but not about Titanic."
Katerina looked up at the ship, noticing the dried gold painted letters 'TITANIC' it was beautiful, the colors, the style, and the blue water it sat on was mesmerizing. Well, besides the fact it was colder than a glass of ice water.
That's what her uncle told her about the water anyway. She had no idea if that was true.
"It's over 100 feet longer and much more luxurious than the Mauretania." Bartholomew added.
He had a smug grin on his face, "Your niece is much too hard to impress, Lilly."
Why couldn't he just marry the ship if he loved it so much for its qualities?
It'd save Katerina the trouble of it.
Better to marry a ship for its qualities than marry a young girl for her body, right?
Sorry, to marry a young girl for her body and to beat her.
Oh, was that not mentioned yet?
whoops.
Lilly gazed at the leviathan, "So, this is the ship they say is unsinkable."
"It is unsinkable. God himself could not sink this ship!" Bartholomew exclaimed.
This entire entourage of rich Americans is impeccably turned out, a quintessential example of the Edwardian upper class, complete with servants.
Bartholomew's valet, Tristan Collins, was a tall and impassive, dour as an undertaker. Behind him emerge their maid, but also a family friend to Katerina.
A white star line porter scurries toward them, harried by last minute loading. "Sir, you'll have to check your baggage through the main terminal, round that way—"
Bartholomew nonchalantly hands the man a fiver. The porter's eyes dilate.
Five pounds was a monster tip in those days.
Bartholomew smiled, "I put my faith in you, good sir." He put a hand on his shoulder, "See my man." He told, gesturing to Collins.
"Yes, sir. My pleasure, sir." the porter obliged, grateful to the man.
Bartholomew never tired of the offer of money in the unwashed masses. It was one of the many things Katerina hated about the man.
The porter walked off with Collins, following his instructions. "These trunks here, and 12 more in the Daimler. We'll have all this lot up in the rooms."
The white star man looked stricken when he saw the enormous pile of steamer trunks and suitcases loading down the second car, including wooden crates and steel safe. He whistles frantically for some cargo-handlers nearby who come running.
Bartholomew breezes on, leaving the minions to scramble. He quickly checks his pocket watch.
"We'd better hurry. This way, ladies." Bartholomew ushered.
He indicates the way toward the first class gangway. They move into the crowd. Josephine Reid, Katerina's maid, hustles behind them, laden with bags of her mistress's most recent purchases. Well, things Bartholomew and her aunt insisted she get. Though, things too delicate for the baggage handlers.
Bartholomew leads, weaving between vehicles and handcarts, hurrying passengers. Mostly second class and steerage and well-wishers. Most of the first class passengers were avoiding the smelly press of the dockside crowd by using an elevated boarding bridge, twenty feet above them.
They pass a line of steerage passengers in their coarse wool and tweeds, queued up inside movable barriers like cattle in a chute. A health officer examining their heads one by one, checking scalp and eyelashes for lice.
They pass a well-dressed young man cranking the handle of a wooden Biograph "cinematograph" camera mounted on a tripod. Daniel Marvin, whose father founded the Biograph Film Studio is filming his young bride in front of the Titanic. Mary Marvin stands stiffly and smiles, self conscious.
"Look up at the ship, darling, that's it. You're amazed! You can't believe how big it is! Like a mountain. That's great."
Mary Marvin, without an acting fiber in her body, does a bad Clara Bow pantomime of awe, hands raised.
Bartholomew is jostled by two yelling steerage boys who shove past him. And he is bumped again a second later by the boys' father.
"Steady!!" he yelled to the lower class passengers.
"Sorry squire!" the man apologized, yelling.
The Cockney father pushes on, after his kids, shouting.
"Steerage swine. Apparently missed his annual bath." Bartholomew chuckled, causing Katerina to frown.
"Honestly, Blake, if you weren't forever booking everything at the last instant, we could have gone through the terminal instead of running along the dock like some squalid immigrant family." Lilly sighed.
"All part of my charm, Lilly. At any rate, it was my darling fiancee's beauty rituals which made us late." Bartholomew told, blaming the young and defenseless girl.
Though she wouldn't just stand by whilst he blamed her. "You told me to change." She told, defending herself.
"I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, sweetpea. It's bad luck."
"I felt like black." She mumbled.
Blake guides them out of the path of a horse-drawn wagon loaded down with two tons of Oxford Marmalade, in wooden cases, for Titanic's Victualling Department.
"Here I've pulled every string I could to book us on the grandest ship in history, in her most luxurious suites... and you act as if you're going to your execution." He told, playing the victim.
Maybe she was going to her own execution, at this rate of his belittling words, she didn't know.
Katerina followed behind her Uncle, Madeleine, Lilly and her finacée along the ramp that led to the deck.
Katerina looks up as the hull of Titanic looms over them...a great iron wall, Bible black and sever. Bartholomew motions her forward, and she enters the gangway to the D Deck doors with a sense of overwhelming dread.
There were thousands of people aboard the ship. But one thing kept nagging at Katerina's mind.
"If it's unsinkable as they say, why build it of iron? Iron is one of the heaviest materials that is surely to sink." She commented.
"Oh, stop it, Katerina! Your acting as if we're going to hit an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic!" Bartholomew laughed causing her to frown.
It wasn't her fault she was actually using her brain, for all Bartholomew knew, his head was empty.
No brain, no nothing. He was nothing, to her.
He obviously wasn't educated. It was the Atlantic if the water was colder than a glass of ice water. Surely, there could be icebergs. Icebergs that could possibly damage the ship if they were to hit one..
Katerina had made it to her own suite, and per her request, she had her own room, separate from Bartholomew. Which her uncle thankfully agreed to. Though Lilly wasn't happy about that, Bartholomew was just next door to her through a conjoined room. Sadly, it wasn't as much distance between them as Katerina had hoped.
Titanic was the ship of dreams, to everyone else.
To Katerina, it was a slave ship.. taking her back to America in chains.
Outwardly, Katerina was everything a well-brought-up girl should be.
But inside, she was screaming.
Her suite consisted of one bedroom, one bathroom, a sitting room, a study, and a 50-foot wide balcony right by the bed.
Katerina stood by the bow of the ship, she explored some of the ship earlier. But there was always more, especially when it was infamous Titanic.
Suddenly she saw something jump out of the water, she stepped up onto the white starboard railing and gazed down to see a large pod of dolphins. The sight of it was beautiful, something she had never gotten to see as a child.
But, she was Katerina Rosaline Kenneth-Astor. She didn't get to experience a lot of things a normal child would. Things her cousins had yet to experience.
"Beautiful view, huh?" A bright voice asked, she turned to see a tall, tan, blonde man behind her, also enjoying the view.
She looked between the man and the view, realizing she was still on the railing, she looked down as she Slowly stepped down from the railing. "Yes, I suppose it is." Katerina replied, not wanting to be rude and ignore him like her family typically would.
The man certainly wasn't in first class by the looks of him, but she could care less about that.
Her family would. But, she wasn't like them. She didn't judge people by their looks. She saw people for who they were, she didn't see people for their money like Bartholomew and her uncle did.
Her aunt Lilly would always lecture Katerina on a daily about how the third class was filled with filthy and absurd dirty men that would steal from her.
But, oh, was she wrong.
And Katerina decided she was going to prove her wrong. This one time.
Some say that was her father in her. Seeing the best in people and not judging them for who they are.
All she cared about was that he wasn't Bartholomew, hovering over her every breath and practically begging her to sleep with him.
"A beautiful view, for a beautiful lady." He smiled, causing Katerina to let out a dry chuckle as she turned in his direction, now looking at him.
The wind blew his blonde hair into his face, his hands settled in his pocket as he squinted his eyes from the sunlight.
"Thank you, Mr...?"
"Dawson— Jack Dawson" He offered his hand, and she took it, shaking it.
"Thank you, Mr. Dawson."
"nono, Jack." he corrected.
"Jack." She stated, testing the word out. She'd never addressed a man by his first name before, it was always 'sir' or 'Mr.'
"You seem surprised to see the dolphins.." He said.
Katerina didn't look at him, she continued staring at the dolphins. "Well, I've never really seen one before,"
"Really?" He asked, surprised.
"I suppose this is the best part of this 'gift'" She sighed, not expecting the man to be listening to her.
"Gift?" He inquired.
She looked up at him, "Oh, nothing.. Just, my aunt and uncle claim our tickets to board the ship were my birthday gift, one day from now." She told, surprisingly not holding back to the new stranger she'd just met.
"It's your birthday gift?" he asked, looking at her for an answer.
She let out a soft laugh, "Unfortunately."
"You don't seem to be too happy about it."
"Forgive me, If I don't seem happy to be forced to leave my home along with the only remembrance with my brother to it." She sighed.
"At least you get a trip to the states," He reasoned.
She glanced at him, only to look back at the rare view of the horizon.
She didn't even seem to happy about going to America, only because it wasn't even her choice. Only to be married. Jack noticed this, but decided against saying anything.
She knew she should be getting back to her cabin, knowing the lecture from Lilly was already awaiting for her.
She sighed, turning to him. "Well, it's a pleasure, Jack. I best be getting back. I hope to see you soon hm?"
"Wait! I- I never got your name. What's your name?" He asked eagerly, turning to Katerina as she turned to walk away.
She turned to him, "Well, Mr. Jack Dawson.. I suppose that's for me to know and for you.. to dot dot dot." she whispered in his ear, before walking off.
"Seriously?!" He laughed as Katerina walked up to stairs to first class.
"Enjoy your view!"
This girl was a mystery, but he liked that about her. It excited him, he hoped he would see her again.
But, if only he knew how seeing her again would affect the consequences she had to face from her arrogant and controlling family.
Some of those consequences, could be violent.
Who knows, she could end up injured in a violent, non-consensual relationship. Or, she could end up trapped in a life she didn't want to live.
A life she didn't want to live.
A life she didn't want to live at all.