Free Remembering the Titanic by Diane Hoh Page B

I’ll be there.” If her voice quavered just a bit at the thought of openly defying her mother for the first time in a year, Max didn’t comment on it. “What if it rains?”
    Max laughed again. “It wouldn’t dare.” His voice softened then. “Elizabeth, I’m glad you’re back. I’ve missed you a lot. We can have a great summer.”
    It was nice to hear Max so excited. He’d seemed so unhappy lately. Or maybe “intense” was a better word. Not the carefree, confident Max she’d known on the ship. But then, she hadn’t been herself lately, either. She didn’t even know who her “self” was anymore.
    That would all change now. If she just stuck to her guns and didn’t let Nola’s theatrics change her mind. Because Max was right. No matter what her father had asked of her on the Titanic on that last, terrible night, he would not demand that she live her mother’s life. That would be too cruel. Her father had not been cruel.
    “I’ll see you on Saturday,” she said into the telephone. “And Max? I love you.”
    “I love you, too, Elizabeth.” He sounded in better spirits than he had in a long time. In a year, perhaps.
    Now all she had to do was show up on Saturday, in spite of her mother’s best efforts to drag her on yet another shopping foray.
    Feeling more hopeful than she had in a very long time, Elizabeth went upstairs.

Chapter 8
    “Y OU WILL DO NO such thing.” Nola’s voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “Joseph has the car ready. When Tessie has finished with my hair, we are going shopping, Elizabeth.”
    Tessie, a small, dark-haired woman whose nimble fingers were arranging Nola’s thick, fair hair, tightened her lips in disapproval as Elizabeth began arguing with her mother. “I promised Max! And I’m keeping my promise. Haven’t you always said a lady should never break her word?”
    “You had no business making such a promise in the first place. You knew we had this shopping trip planned.”
    Elizabeth threw up her hands. “We always have a shopping trip planned. Most of our lives are spent shopping! We spend more time in Lord & Taylor than we do at home. Why don’t we just set up cots there so we don’t have to go home when they close?”
    Tessie, who had four children of her own, clucked her tongue, shook her head, the message being, If any of my children were to talk to me that way….
    Elizabeth ignored her. “I’m going on a picnic with Max. I’m going to have some fun for a change. I’m not an old lady and I’m not going to live like one.”
    Tessie gasped in shock, and Nola’s beautiful face went bone-white. Elizabeth had scored a direct hit on her mother’s vanity.
    Realizing her mistake, she floundered. “I … I didn’t mean you were old , Mother, you’re not, of course you’re not, everyone says how young you look. I just meant … all those ladies who go shopping every afternoon and then meet later for ice cream sodas, well, they’re all married , and have children. I … I feel out of place with them, that’s all I meant.”
    “My friends are not old , Elizabeth,” an only slightly mollified Nola said coldly. “And you know perfectly well we do more than just shop. We spend a great deal of time doing charity work. We care about the unfortunate poor. And some of us have been very active in establishing memorials to the victims of the Titanic .”
    Elizabeth frowned. What did any of that have to do with a picnic in the park? Max was waiting for her. If she disappointed him again…. “I’m going, Mother. I don’t want to be late. Max already thinks you’ll change my mind for me. If I don’t show up on time, he’ll go on without me.”
    Nola’s demeanor changed suddenly. She sagged in the pink upholstered chair, her head went down, and her voice lowered to almost a whisper. “What would your father say, Elizabeth, if he saw you defying me like this?”
    Elizabeth had been prepared for this familiar tactic. Nola used it when all else