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As dusk settled over the horizon on the third day at sea, Darcy sat at their table in the dining hall, quietly eating dinner and passing looks to Lizzy.

They’d found that moment, where comfort in silence passed between them with only a glance, as though they’d lived through a lifetime in just a few short days.

Darcy hid a private smile. Everything felt so…

right. The moment passed and his usual thoughts assailed him.

He knew that when contentment beckoned, inadvertently, his mind would catastrophize.

The worrisome idea that he couldn’t possibly remain this happy must have shown on his face because Lizzy shot him a quizzical look. “I—” he began.

A loud cry jerked his attention away as the shout of “Iceberg” rang out, startling many of their fellow diners.

Some eased up from their seats and gaped out of the walnut-framed windows of the dining salon.

Others even left their tables to peer out at the blueish behemoths that shone eerily in the moonlight.

The warning was heeded this time, but Elizabeth dropped her fork with a clatter on the china plate. Darcy held on to the sides of the table as he felt the ship steer off to the side.

“ Oh my dear.” A motherly woman, Mrs Hampton, who had shared their table with them yesterday alongside her husband, placed her napkin on her dinnerplate and rushed over. “Are you quite all right?” She touched Elizabeth’s arm.

Lizzy stayed pale and silent. They’d mentioned nothing to anyone aboard about what they’d faced, trying so hard to keep focus on all the good.

From the tightness of her lips and her failure to meet his eye, Darcy knew Elizabeth was trying to maintain her composure. He took her hand from across the table.

“ Good heavens, whatever is the matter?” asked Mrs Hampton.

Elizabeth gave Darcy a tight nod.

“ We’re travelling home after escaping with our lives from the Titanic ,” he said simply. “If you’ll excuse us.”

Taking Elizabeth by the arm, he rose from the table with her, and Mrs Hampton gracefully stepped aside before hurrying off to whisper to her husband.

As they made it out of the hall, Lizzy stopped for a moment and shook her head. “Let’s get our coats.” She pulled him forward towards the second-class staterooms. “I want to stand on deck.”

“ What? Wait.” He tried to pull her to a stop. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I—”

“ I want to watch those things all night if need be. I can’t bear to be belowdecks. Not now.” She trembled against him as he protectively pulled her close.

“ All right. I’ll stand watch with you.”

Once they stood at the rail, a field of icebergs drifted all around like a silent, deadly army.

Lizzy sheltered against Darcy, her arm around his waist, both of his enclosing her. The air was frigid but unmoving, the sea still as glass. An echo of the night they nearly lost their lives. She shivered in his arms.

“ Are you sure you don’t want to go inside? It’s a brutal night.” He shifted stance against the frost. They’d stood there for more than an hour as the ship inched its way between the icy sentries. “Perhaps a cup of tea in the reception room, and then we can resume our watch. All right?”

She said nothing, only loosened her grip on him, and they retreated to a nicely appointed lounge with red and gold upholstered chairs and paned windows set into oak-panelled walls.

It looked like a drawing room one would see on land, and only the sway of the ship as it slowly and meticulously made its way betrayed that they were at sea.

Darcy became aware that he was staring at Lizzy as if she were an explosive that could detonate at any minute, so raised his gaze from time to time to admire the beamed and coffered ceiling.

She didn’t speak, and he didn’t press her.

He knew himself how irritating it could be when someone attempted to jolly him out of his dark moods.

Best let it run its course and let it pass.

If he was honest, he had to admit that with the sea strewn with treacherous mountains of ice, he much preferred to be awake and on deck to observe the Olympic ’s passage through the maze.

“ Would you mind very much if I left for a moment to enquire as to our progress through the ice field?”

The sound of his voice startled her as she jumped slightly, her teacup rattling in the saucer. She shakily navigated it back to the table. “Oh, I think that’s a very good idea. I’ll stay here and warm up a bit.”

He drew his coat on again and went out to seek an officer. When he returned, Elizabeth stood at the window, and for a moment she didn’t turn back to acknowledge he was there.

“ Lizzy,” he said gently. “The captain said that they might lose as much as six hours in the ice field, but he doesn’t want to take any chances.”

Her eyes widened. “You spoke with the captain?”

He nodded. “Who would know better than he? I mentioned that we had survived the Titanic and he assured me that his instructions were clear from the shipping line: he was to take no risks for the sake of speed; he was to keep in constant communication with all ships within radio distance. I have confidence in him. I really do.” He was also doing his best to be reassuring, but her expressions changed chameleon-like as he spoke, and he couldn’t read her.

“ I’m warm now,” she said eventually. “I’d like to go back on deck. You needn’t stay with me.”

“ I am at your service, Mrs Darcy… always.”

That last word seemed to settle her a little. Donning their coats, hats, and mufflers, they headed back on deck and stood watch until the wee hours and the icebergs finally left them in peace.

***

The evening before they were to dock at Southampton, Elizabeth stood at the rail in the moonlight, watching the sea clouds sail across the sky, dusted with silver. She felt calmer, not entirely at ease. A strong hand on the small of her back let her know that Darcy joined her.

“ I’d like to kiss you… but this hat.” He brushed a thumb along the rim. Prodigious ostrich feathers fluffed all around the cap, and a wide brim kept all and sundry at arm’s length.

“ You bought it for me, Mr Darcy, to my objections, as I recall.” She reached and ran her fingertips along his cheekbone. “You’ll just have to wait until we are alone, and I remove it: the waiting will enflame your ardour.” She returned to her watch.

“ My ardour doesn’t need inflaming.” He chuckled and leaned next to her.

“ Besides, there are people about…” Then in her best New York accent, she said, “What’s a madder wich ya, doncha have any class?” She snickered at her own joke, and then tilted her head as he laughed with her.

He then pulled her hat off and kissed her—not the chaste kiss, but the urgent and passionate kiss they exchanged only when alone together, away from prying eyes.

“ Mr Darcy.” She gave him a slight push and put on her best mock-indignation.

“ Is this guy bothering you, miss?” A gruff voice sounded over Darcy’s shoulder.

He glanced back then had to look up slightly to a man with a face like a pie dish with a nose that seemed hammered flat by someone. The man was massive.

“ Oh.” Elizabeth quickly stepped in. “It’s all right, thank you sir. This man is my husband.”

“ Oh.” The giant grunted and turned away.

Elizabeth couldn’t contain herself a moment longer and laughed until tears ran down her cheeks.

“ So you think that was humorous.” He was trying mightily to remain serious, which made her laugh all the more. Taking her in his arms, still clutching that silly hat, he kissed her again.

“ I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in all my life.” Her merriment spilled out of her and he gave her a huge grin. She threw her arms around him.

“ I know I haven’t,” he whispered into her hair, and then when she raised her head, he kissed her forehead. “Come along. One more turn ’round the deck and then to bed. Tomorrow, we see family.”

Oh, yes. Family… the families.

***

The Olympic safely docked in Southampton, and Lizzy watched the crew finally let down the gangplanks with maddening slowness. Tears threatened again, but this time she had a handkerchief of her own at the ready.

“ All ready?” Darcy slipped his arm around her waist. He tried to look serene and nonplussed, but from the high colour in his cheeks and the softness around his eyes, he was as excited as she to set foot again on British soil.

From the top of the gangplank, Lizzy scanned the crowd. She thought she caught Kitty leaping in the air and waving a handkerchief, but it was too great a distance, and she wasn’t sure.

They made their way to the pier, towards the shore, and through the crowds.

A sudden flash blinded her, then another, then voices assailed them from every direction.

“ Is it true, Mr Darcy, that you gave your place to another and then swam away from the Titanic ?”

“ Did you two marry in New York? Did you meet on the Titanic ?”

Lizzy couldn’t even tell which direction the questions came from as she raised a hand to shield against the blinding lights.

“ What lifeboat were you in, Mrs Darcy?”

“ Is it true that you are a suffragette?”

Elizabeth clutched Darcy’s arm and tried to get her bearings as blobs of blue light floated in her gaze. The acrid smoke from flash powder sullied the air. Journalists. They surrounded them. How utterly peculiar.

“ Gentlemen, I don’t see how any of this is your business. Now leave us alone.” Darcy cut through the chaos.

“ Oh, come along, sir.” Another voice rose above the tumult. “All you survivors are of national interest. You need to give us some sort of a statement.”

Darcy waved the journalists away to no avail, and he kept Lizzy close to his side as they persisted in following them as they approached the crowd waiting for the passengers.

Elizabeth turned this way and that, more annoyed now at the wall of reporters separating her from her family.