I wanted to shake Nora. At last the penny dropped and she jumped out of bed, dressed and ran out with Robert. I glanced at the suitcases, but instead reached for the leather satchel containing our identity papers and money. I could hardly lift the cases by myself, let alone run with them. As an afterthought, I lifted my books and stuffed them into the satchel. When I left the cabin, Nora and Robert were halfway down the corridor, running toward the second-class stairway.

“Nora! Wait!”

As I ran, passengers opened their cabin doors and peered out, looking confused. A porter, the one who had escorted us onto the ship, was urging them back inside. Most nodded and did as he said. I wanted to scream at them to run, but I was almost out of breath, and Nora and Robert were getting far ahead of me. I pounded up the stairs after them as they raced across the second-class deck. I shouted again, but by then I had lost sight of them. I stopped and bent over to catch my breath. Anxious passengers milled around me. The sounds of children wailing, and the shouts of crewmen filled my ears. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I had lost track of Nora; there was nothing I could do for her, but it occurred to me then that I could at least do something for Dom and Maeve.

I retraced my steps back down to steerage, pushing through hordes of people coming toward me. Icy water swirled around my ankles as I ran along the corridor and pounded on Dom’s door.

“Delia?” Dom’s earnest, open face peered out at me, his sister Maeve behind him. I reached into a pile of life belts on the floor, thrust two at them and told them to follow me. They did what I said without a word.

When we reached the second deck, an older woman came toward us. “Get into the boat, my pets,” she said, indicating myself and Maeve.

She led us across the second-class deck, where women were being eased down into a lifeboat. “Get in there, dears,” she said, “before it’s full up.”

“B-but what about you?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about me, my dear,” she said. “They’re not letting men into the boats—women and children only.” She gestured to a man with a gray beard. “I won’t leave my husband. We’ve been married forty years, and whatever happens we’ll face it together. Go on, now!”

* * *

When we reached the lifeboat, I breathed a sigh of relief that it had not yet been loosed from its mooring. Dom and I tried to lift Maeve into it, but she struggled so violently against us, we had to let go of her.

“No, please,” she cried. “I want to stay with Dom.”