Page 58 of Haunting the Deep

I laugh. It’s hard not to like her.

“Nora!” Mollie attempts shock.

“Smile.” Nora puts her arm around Mollie’s shoulder and whistles. “A little language never hurt ya.” Her grin is mischievous. “And as me pa always said…why worry over small problems when the worst is yet ta come.”

“Mollie!” says a young woman coming out of a nearby room and walking arm in arm with a young man. Mollie hugs her.

“Kate and John Bourke. Newlyweds, they are,” Nora says to me.

I nod. I can tell just by the way they look at each other. “Are you traveling with them?”

“Them and twelve more. Fifteen lads and colleens all from County Mayo. The noise they make when they get ta singin’ after dinner is a thing a beauty.” Nora grins at me.

Three kids come running down the hall, weaving in and out of the adult passengers. A girl about ten years old stops abruptly in front of me. Her mouth hangs open.

“How can you be real?” the girl asks. Her hair is braided and she’s wearing a pink dress. There is something so familiar about her.

“I know you, don’t I? We met in a…Where did we meet?” The sparkling happiness that filled the air a moment ago wavers.

The girl continues to look at me with wide eyes. “In my dreams, you…you…” And then she faints.

Nora rushes to her and lifts her head off the ground.“Ada?”

Ada.“Is she okay?” I ask, leaning over Ada, too. There is something about not being able to place her that makes me anxious.

Nora pats Ada’s cheek, and a voice yells my name from down the hall.

I turn around to find Alexander rushing toward me.

“What are you possibly thinking coming down to steerage?” His eyes are accusatory. “You do not belong here.”

“I…well…”

He shifts his focus to Mollie. “Was this your doing?”

She looks terrified. “I’m terribly sorry, sir.”

I step between them. “No, it wasn’t her doing. It was mine.” I put my chin in the air. “If you must know, I tore my favorite lace dress. And as you probablydon’tknow, lace is incredibly hard to repair and very few people can do it well. I wanted to wear it to dinner tonight, and Mollie said she knew a woman down here who might be able to fix it. I insisted on coming down myself, even though Mollie begged me not to.” I give him a hard stare, daring him to challenge me and my desperate need for the right wardrobe.

His face softens. “Oh, well, I suppose…But you really should never have come down here by yourself.”

“Miss, I can mend it fer ya if ya leave it with the gate boy. I just need ta get this lass to ’er mum first,” Nora says from the floor, where she’s crouched down.

I release my breath. “Thanks. I’ll have someone bring it down. Tell Ada I hope she feels better.” I focus on Ada.Who are you to me?

“Shall I escort you back above deck, Samantha?” Alexander asks.

I nod and take his offered arm.

“You are just lucky I was the one who found you and not your uncle.”

Merde.My uncle. I hope he doesn’t tell him.

There is a loud knock. “Girls? Breakfast’s ready.” My dad opens the door and pushes it a few inches. “Sleep much longer and the sun’s going to set.”

I sit up and rub my eyes. “What time is it?”

“Eleven.”