Chapter 5

The next morning Grace and Madelein met in the park. Madelein left her baby home in the charge of a nanny. They chatted for a while then got up to walk a block to a tea shop.

Frank hadn't given up but he had some important business in London that needed his personal attention. He wrote a love note to Grace and told he would be away for a while. He caught an ocean liner to get him back to London in a hurry so he could do whatever had to be done and return to New York City as soon as possible.

Madelein broached the subject of Frank Maloue after a month of exhausting every subject under the sun. They sat having tea in Grace's parlor when she brought it up.

"Everyone knows that Frank is pining for you and you won't give him a chance to court you."

"He courted me for a year. He called on me several times a week. I felt that I could tell him how much I loved him. I wrote him a letter, gave it to him, and he promised to answer me. To say the least, he turned me down. He said he could not return the same affection I held for him. Then without a word, he and his mistress takes off to California. I was devastated. I honestly believed my life was over. I wanted to die but I kept breathing. I had loved him so much that I would have prostrated myself and kissed his boots. He threw me aside like some piece of trash and went all the way across the country to escape me. His mistress had died in San Francisco and he came back a year later saying that he had a change of heart. In the meantime my love had turned to hate."

Madelein listened to her without comment. "You know that there is a fine line between love and hate. I disliked my husband at first but he was so kind to me I couldn't resist him. I gradually fell in love with him. It wasn't until he died on the Titantic that how much I fully love him."

"I never was interested in any man until Frank Maloue walked into my life that night at the Astor's dinner and ball. I fell in love with him right then and there. I knew he had some strange mannerisms such as leaving an affair without mentioning anything. I also knew of his mistress. I didn't care if he had someone on the side. I just had to be first in his eyes. If he wanted to sleep with that girl ocassionly, that would be his perogative. As long as he fathered our children, kept me satisfied in all ways, and planned for our future together, I didn't care."

Madelein move closer to Grace and took her hand in hers. "Do you go to church at all?"

"Yes, every Sunday. Why?"

"Do you listen to the sermons?"

"What are you getting at?" Grace frowned. She knew that Madelein was nervous by how clammy her hand was.

"If you go to the right church, the man in the pulpit preaches on what Jesus said about forgiveness.

"I am not Jesus. I'm a woman who gets hurt easily," Grace replied.

"No, you aren't Jesus but you should listen to His words. It's all about love and forgiveness. When they had crucified Him, what did He say? He asked the Father to forgive them because they didn't know what they were doing."

"I never gave that a thought."

"If Frank tries to talk to you, will you listen to him? Not his words but how he says. We women know what's from the heart and what are lies."

"I don't." Grace shook her head.

"Well I do," Madelein said. "I have had over ten proposals of marriage since I was brought back from the Titantic. I knew they were because I am wealthy. They didn't want me but it was my money they were after. The man who comes and asks for my hand in marriage and I know it is only me he wants, I will marry him."

"I received a brief note from Frank this morning. He states he still loves me but he has some personal business to take care of in London. Most likely he is on a ship right now."

"Allow me to give you some advice. Listen to his every word. See if it is from the heart or just empty words. If you want, I could sit in another room and listen in. Then I will give you an honest assessment if he really means it or not."

"I can't change overnight," Grace argued.

"No, but it will be one step. If he wants you this badly, there has to be something there that you can latch on to."

Frank was leaning on the deck one night after dinner. He looked into the sky wondering if the world was going mad. The Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been assassinated that very day in the city of Sarajevo. Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofie were slain. He was contemplating what would follow when a young woman joined him.