Cold All the Way Through, But Warming

Those Who Should Never Will

AN: Sorry for the delay on this one, some personal stuff was going on and this is one monster of a chapter. Thanks as always to SparkSheDevil for all her help, and if anyone is interested in helping preserve a piece of Titanic related history, be sure to look up Saving Sundowner on Kickstarter. It's an effort to restore Charles Lightoller's boat that he used at Dunkirk to rescue many British soldiers during the evacuation. It's being run by MellissaFairLady, who is probably the biggest Lights fan out there. I kept meaning to post this before Melissa, sorry it took a while lol.

With my airsedh fluttering around my ankles, I clasped Will's arm as we joined the crowd milling around the massive set of stairs leading up to the Reichster house. It was one of the modish ones, looking more like a French château than a mansion. Liz and James joined us, and I couldn't help but grin at seeing the smile on her face. James was looking dewy eyed at her, especially when she stood a little closer to him under the excuse that there were so many people. I glanced to Will, "Don't they look just precious together?"

James immediately flushed, but Will chuckled. "Not more precious than you, love."

"Oh, stop it." I batted at his shoulder, looking to Liz. "I hope you two enjoyed the ride over."

The smile playing around Liz's lips was far too knowing. "Thank you for taking Oscar, I'll have to return the favor sometime."

"And let you take Will?" I joked, rolling my eyes. "I think I might have to decline." The scrum of people started moving, although everyone still seemed to take their time. As with any society house hosting a wedding reception, everything was polished until it gleamed and every surface was crammed with gifts. Jewelry glittered in cases, paintings were hung on the walls and plenty of new pieces of silver and flatware were displayed. I looked around, "I don't see our gift."

Will, his hand tight around my waist, shrugged. "They weren't my finest work, and Ezekiel had to finish them while we were out."

"Your gift?" Oscar, hanging behind Liz and James, spoke up. "You actually got them a gift?"

"More than that, he made it." I found myself giggling, "Six model ships, all with their new names. Just to remind them of some past foolishness." Truth be told, that was mainly for Zachary. I had sent over a rich embroidered handkerchief for Sophie alone, along with a basket containing a number of things she would need for Little Freddy. As for the parents of the groom, they should be glad I didn't spit on them.

Oscar snorted at Will's remark. "Well, at least you didn't actually spend much money on them."

"What did you send?" James glanced over to Liz as we began making our way through even more side rooms decorated with gifts and flowers.

Liz shrugged. "Father sent over a painting, I can't remember which. Not an expensive one, I know that." I chuckled at that, and we kept moving forward. I kept looking around, trying to see if Sophie had managed to influence anything in her time. It didn't look like she had, the furniture was still the same massive and overly decorated pieces that had been here the last time I had visited, years ago before Mother and Father had basically locked our house and we had far more pressing things to concern ourselves over. While I didn't know Sophie's preferred style, I had a feeling that it was much lighter than what we were currently looking at.

"Oh, look, the Reichster wall of beauties." One of the people ahead of us said, drawing our attention to a massive collection of portraits hung on a wall just before we reached the happy couple. I could see any number of society beauties rendered in loving brushstrokes and in innumerable styles, but the clear draw was the two center portraits. They were a pair, featuring women in similar poses. One, dark haired and blue eyed, the other, light haired and dark eyed. I lingered on the light haired one, seeing my eyes looking back at me, the blush of my cheek, and far more of myself than I would have liked. I had been painted in the sapphire dress I had worn to Zachary's engagement party, my jewels glittering on my chest and drawing attention to the swell of painted breasts. It was my expression that drew the attention of the viewer though, my head thrown back and lips parted in a seductive smile.