Meg’s new gown was simple, but it felt much more elegant than anything she’d worn for weeks, except the night she’d gone to dinner with Charlie, of course. It was a royal blue color, which she knew went well with her eyes. Carrie had gotten her a charming new brush and comb set and had lovingly helped her work out all of the knots in her hair without supposing how they might have gotten there. Meg remembered there had been a crown of icicles around her head not long ago. Thoughts of the hours she’d spent in the lifeboat, soaking wet and then freezing, praying for Charlie in her mind and then aloud, made her shudder, and she pushed them away, back into a corner, into the same compartment where she kept remembrances of the awful things her uncle had done to her.“You look absolutely stunning, Miss West,” Carrie said, smiling at Meg’s reflection in the mirror.“Thank you, Carrie, but please do call me Meg,” she insiste

Charlie’s house was unlike anything Meg had ever seen before, and she could scarcely believe she was engaged to the man who lived here. While she could easily imagine it sitting out of town on a few hundred acres and still being imposing, it was situated between two other similar dwellings, though Charlie’s was by far the most impressive. It resembled a French chateau and reached at least three stories into the air, though Meg thought the turrets might count for one more. She stood outside on the sidewalk next to Fifth Avenue trying to catch her breath.“It’s stunning, isn’t it?” Jonathan asked at her elbow. “His mother picked it out. Charlie was far too busy with his work at the factory and his other interests to go house shopping.”“I don’t even know what to say,” Meg admitted. “It’s breathtaking.”“He can explain the history to you once he’s feeling up to it. At le

“Hello, gorgeous,” Charlie said, reaching for her hand, and Meg gave it to him. “How are you really doing this morning?”She couldn’t help but smile at him. His hand was much warmer now than it had been for days. The tips of his fingers were rough in spots where they’d suffered frostbite, but she was glad to see they were healing. “I’m managing,” she admitted with a shrug. “It’s nice to see you know who I am today.”Charlie’s green eyes grew wide for a moment. “What does that mean?” he asked.Meg exhaled deeply through her nose. She’d done this same song and dance more times than she could count, and since she’d brought the topic up, she knew she'd have to say more, but she was determined not to go into a lot of detail because it always upset him to learn that he didn’t know who she was. “There were times, before, when we were on Carpathia,

“Now, will your lady be returning to your side, or will you need to keep Carrie?”The question was another good one. “If you say Kelly’s new home is far away, then it wouldn’t be easy for her to attend to me here. And, I believe she was planning on staying home with the girls.” She was looking at Charlie, but she would’ve accepted a response from anyone.“I plan to give Daniel that foreman’s position that just opened up,” Charlie said to his father. “His arm is currently in a cast, but he’s a fine young man, and I know he will be able to do the work.”Mr. Ashton nodded. “Of course, I trust your judgment.”“That position will come with an apartment, and he will make enough so that Kelly can stay home,” Charlie explained to Meg.“Very good then,” Pamela stated. “That solves that. I’ll let Carrie know.”“But

Charlie was all alone in his own bedroom, sitting on the edge of his own bed, looking out the back window at the carriage house, wondering what Meg was doing. There was no way he could see her from here, partially due to the heavy drapery that covered the windows of the second story across the yard, but he imagined she was resting or possibly reading a book. He wondered if she felt all alone when there was no one with her or if she was suffering from the same sensation he was experiencing.The voices wouldn’t stop. Even when other people were talking to him, even as he formulated responses to their questions, he could hear the constant noises of screaming, crying out, in the back of his mind. While having other people nearby lessened the effects to some degree, it never made them stop. When he was completely alone as he was now, there was nothing to dull the effect, and he could distinctly hear the individual voices, make out what they were saying, and envision their fa