Once We Were Read Online Free

ridicule when they reached New York.  He watched the last passengers stumble onto the deck. Survivors, but ghosts all the same.
    He never saw a sight so tragic as a young woman pulled from the last boats. She'd seen all fire and brimstone. She was bad news to the women refusing to surrender hope.  She was Titanic, a rare beauty transformed into a hollow skeleton. They draped a blanket over her shoulders. She never thanked them. She never moved a muscle. He saw the ruin of the ship again in her eyes, from the moment it struck the ice berg to the moment it was swallowed in two. He saw it all and it broke his heart. He could never imagine what loss she must endure and figured she needed assistance until she was well.
    “ Something hot to drink, miss?” he offered. Her haunting eyes turned on him. They were so glossed over and horrific that he was sure she'd cracked. A crewman approached them with pen and clipboard. “Could I get your names, please?”
    “ Blaze Eastman,” the man replied.
    “ And yours, miss?”
    She stared blankly at him. “Madam, he will be requiring your name for the passenger list,” Blaze told her.
    “Cora,” she whispered. “Harlow.”
    “ Thank you.” He turned away.
    “ Sir,” Cora called. She hesitated but proceeded carefully. “Are...are there any more boats, sir?”
    “ We've not accounted for all of the twenty. There are reports that two were  overturned during the night but there were no passengers inside,” he told her.
    “ And of the crew? Are there any officers on board?”
    “ Only four officers accounted for. Their names are here.” He showed her the list. Cora's eyes scanned it over and over. Saier was not among them.
    “ What about Beatrice Luckett? Anyone by that name on board?”
    “ No, ma'am. No Beatrice Luckett on my list.”
    “ Thank you,” she whispered.
    “ I am very sorry, miss.” He gave his sympathies and continued taking names.
    The only way to watch a ship sink into the Atlantic was to hope. Hope that Ioan would keep his promise and meet her when morning broke. She never allowed herself to explore the alternative. Ioan didn't belong with the lost. She couldn't handle the idea.  “I am here for you, Cora. I will take care of you,” Blaze comforted her.
    “Another one in bound!” a crewman shouted. Deck hands rushed to the ladder and dropped the ropes. Cora scrambled to her feet but her knees were still shocked. Blaze took her arm over his shoulder to support her. “He needs immediate medical attention!” someone shouted from the water. “Have you a doctor aboard?”
    “ Grab the hammocks! Quickly! How many are there?”
    “ Two dead! One dying!”
    Cora forced herself to the rails. “Miss, please stand back,” the crewman instructed. He didn't want to encourage other passengers to imitate her, but she wouldn't hear him. The hammock swung on deck. Her heart sped. She barely got his name out. “Ioan!” She frantically felt his face for warmth. “Ioan, you're so cold!” she declared. “You're like ice!”
    “Nonsense,” he said. “You don't understand the meaning of it.”
    Cora's teardrops rolled onto his face. “I don't know what to do,” she said. “Do I laugh or cry? I want to kill you.”
    “Miss, please step back. This man needs a doctor,” the crewman told her.
    “ He needs someone to look after him,” she persisted. “So he won't fall asleep.”
    “ Get him below decks so he can warm up,” the crewman instructed his men. “The ship doctor will refer him to a hospital in New York.”
    “ God, I'm going to America,” Ioan said reluctantly. “Really, blokes, that isn't necessary. Patch me up with a bandage and put me on a ship back to England. I'll be better off there.”
    “ Stop complaining and be grateful they're taking the trouble,” Cora told him.
    “ And they leave me to the gobby American girl,” Ioan remarked.
    “ You're not doing such an awful job yourself,” Cora answered. His eyes blinked heavily.