Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh Page A

went to examine the second room. Katie and the others followed, with Paddy complaining that he was hungry and what was Brian looking for, anyway?
    It seemed clear to Katie that Brian hadn’t shared with his younger brother the news of his new and very pretty shipboard acquaintance. Maybe he was afraid his brother would try to steal her. And Paddy himself had no doubt been too busy fostering his own long list of female acquaintanceships.
    Marta was seated at a table near the rear of the room. But when Brian saw that she was surrounded by the friends she was traveling with, he ducked back out of the room. “Let’s eat in the first one, then,” he said gruffly, and again led the way.
    “What was that all about?” Paddy queried, but Brian had already chosen a table and was helping the two children with their chairs. Marta’s name wasn’t mentioned. Paddy took a seat beside Eileen, and seemed surprised when Brian failed to take the empty chair next to Katie’s. He frowned, looking confused. After a moment, he got up and slid into the chair. “You shouldn’t be sittin’ here all alone,” he said gruffly, aiming a hostile look at his brother. “What’s ditherin’ him, anyway? He’s not taken a shine to that nanny, has he?”
    Katie laughed. “Eileen? She’s engaged. To a boy from Cork. And Brian can sit anywhere he wants to.” Thinking he had sat down beside her out of a sense of duty, she said archly, “And I can take care of meself, y’know.”
    He looked at her. “Aye, you can. But you shouldn’t have to. ’Tis Brian’s job.”
    Brian wasn’t sitting that far away, just two chairs down. “Hush!” Katie remonstrated, putting a finger to her lips. “’Tisn’t his job at all, and I don’t know where you got such an idea. ’Tis my job, now that I’ve left home, and my job alone.”
    Paddy looked unconvinced, and might have continued to argue had not the little girl, Bridey, complained loudly that she wanted nothing but bread pudding for dinner and Eileen hadn’t better give her anything else or she would throw it on the floor.
    Everyone around them laughed.
    The food could have tasted like sawdust, and still Katie would have been impressed. She felt as if she were dining in a fine restaurant, and tried very hard not to feel self-conscious. If she was going to spend her life entertaining in public, she really would have to become much more sophisticated, she decided. She would begin practicing now, by behaving in a ladylike, grown-up manner and not exclaiming over every wonderful thing that she saw, as if she had never in her life before seen anything wondrous. Which wasn’t exactly true, because she had seen one or two castles in her lifetime, and anyway, the rugged coast of Ireland was a thing of beauty all by itself.
    But she couldn’t help exclaiming over the food. Not only was there enough of it on her plate to feed herself and two others, but the sausage was wonderfully spicy, the mashed potatoes hot and creamy, the apple-and-rice side dish perfectly seasoned, at least to her palate. She hadn’t eaten much during their long trip to Queenstown, and it had been a long day for her. She was starving. It seemed to her as the table became laden that she had come to exactly the right place.
    Once or twice during the pleasant meal, she wondered again why Paddy thought it was Brian’s job to look out for her, but each time the thought occurred to her, Paddy was deep in an animated conversation with someone else at the table and she didn’t want to interrupt.
    When she was full, Katie lay down her fork and smiled widely. She felt warm and safe and satisfied. Her da had been right. Traveling on the Titanic was a wonderful way to get to America.

Chapter 10
    Thursday, April 11, 1912
    After dinner, Max insisted they all go next door to the Parisian sidewalk café. “Of course,” he added with a smile, “there is no sidewalk and it is not, technically speaking, outdoors. But it is decorated to