Chapter 1

15 May 1876

***

     Jamie Suthurst’s mother walked in from the kitchen, wiping her large, thin hands on a dishrag. “Are you still reading that book, Jamie? We’d be the talk of the town if you told anyone, I’d say. Is it so terribly interesting?”

     “Oh yes, mother. The way the author describes the characters, you’d think they were walking about our very own village right now. And, really, all she’s saying is that a woman has the right to leave a man who abuses her, especially if it will save her children. I can’t see as how that’s so sinful.”

     Jane Suthurst smiled at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “Well, you and I may think that way, but remember how religious most people are in this area, and that they seem to think a woman’s whole duty is to please her husband, no matter what that entails, as long as it doesn’t make him look bad. I do miss the discussions of London, occasionally, don’t you?”

     Jamie sighed and closed her book. “I do, but at least I’m going back. I feel bad leaving you here with papa and Edmund, who have so taken to this mining idea I fear you won’t have any company at all, except for those gossipy women from the village hall.”

     “Oh, don’t you worry about me. The first moment you have to yourself, I expect you to come back and share all that hard won knowledge with me!”

     They were still laughing and making plans for Jamie’s departure when the front door crashed open. Both of them gasped and stood as a group of men made their way through the door, carrying something heavy.

     “Bed. Now,” huffed one of the dirty men at the front.

     Jane pointed to the back room, asking “What? What’s going on? Who’s hurt?”

     Following the men, they both gasped when they set their burden on the bed and backed away. Edmund lay on the bed, a blood soaked handkerchief wrapped tightly around his head, his eyes closed and a deep bruise already appearing on his collar bone.

     “Oh my God. Edmund! What happened?” cried Jane as she moved to his side, feeling his forehead and placing a palm on his cheek.

     “We don’t rightly know, Mrs. Suthurst. He was out supervising the mine at Acorn Bridge this morning, and Mr. Suthurst was over on the other ridge looking at the new dig site at Kirby Thore. I went to ask Edmund a question about some tools, and found him on the ground. It looks like some rock fell in while he was in the mine. He’s lost a mighty amount of blood, ma’am.”

     “Jamie, go get some hot water and clean rags. Has someone sent for Robert?” Seeing one of the men nod she turned back to Jamie. “Go down to the surgery and get Doc Crabtree.”

     “It’s already been done, ma’am. He should be here any minute.” 

     At that moment, Robert Suthurst had flown through the door, calling “Where is he? What happened? Jane?”

     She looked up at her husband as he shoved his way into the room, worry etched in deep lines across her forehead. “He’s unconscious, Robert. Did you see Doc Crabtree on your way up?”

     “I’m here,” came a rasping voice from the front room. “If you gentlemen would be good enough to give him some breathing room and perhaps wait outside, or, even, get back to your respective work, I’ll be able to see what I’m doing.”

     Doctor Crabtree entered the room with his usual air of somberness as the other men shuffled out. “Now. Let’s see. Mrs. Suthurst, if you would be so kind as to move to the end of the bed so I can get a look at his injuries? Excellent. Thank you.”

     The village doctor leaned over Edmund and after removing the blood sodden linen, gently probed the wound on his head, pushing aside chestnut brown hair soaked in blood, and then did the same around the now blackened and swollen bruise on his collar bone. Opening his black medical bag, he dug until he found the Dettol, and then swiftly swabbed the head wound with the antiseptic.

     “Now. Mr. Suthurst, would you please hold the young man’s legs steady, so that while I stitch his head he does not move about too much? Thank you.”

     Jane and Jamie watched as the doctor began stitching the long gash on Edmund’s head, but he didn’t stir.

     “Right.” Doctor Crabtree tied off the stitches and said, “Well, it will likely scar, but I’m much more worried about this swelling in his chest. We’re too far from a hospital to get him there, so I’m afraid we’ll have to wait and see. If he seems to be bleeding internally, I will have him bled, of course, but with this kind of injury all we can do is wait.”

     “See to your mother, Jamie!” Robert said, just as Jane was about to sink to her knees. Jamie led her to a chair and quickly brought her a glass of water, and then stared at her twin in horror, one hand pressed to her heart, which felt like it would break, and one pressed against her pale cheek.

     Robert leaned against the wall, staring intently at his son as though silently urging him to open his eyes.

     He never did.

Chapter 2

     Two weeks after the funeral, Jamie’s parents existed in a fog of despair, going about their affairs with a numb, stoic countenance. Their only son had died, and Jane was now too old to have another child. The world had become a bleak, sad place without their son’s good humor and optimism. The prospect of Jane leaving for University left both of her parents feeling bereft.

     Jamie made a decision, and one grey morning sat with her mother and father at the breakfast table.

     “I’m not going. You need me here, to help with the mine. Yes, I know you have plenty of workers,” she had said, anticipating her father’s interruption, “but you know as well as I do that this is a family enterprise, and it takes all of us to make it work. Without Edmund,” she swallowed hard, keeping the tears away, “you’re a hand short. I can handle it, and learn what I need to. I’m not going. I’ve already sent a letter explaining the situation, and requesting the option to write again should circumstances change.”

     She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her jaw muscles visibly clenching, as she prepared herself for a lengthy argument.

     Her father stared at her for a long time, his lips pressed into a thin line, and her mother drew circles in a drop of water on the table with her fingertip.

     “At twenty-two, you’re old enough to make your own decisions,” her father said, surprising her. “But you should know, Jamie, mining is hard, physical work, and if you put off going to London to work here, you may never get there.”

     Taking a deep breath, she said, “I know. I am aware of that. But you taught me, papa, that it’s family first, always. Edmund was my best friend,” her voice cracked, and she had to take a moment to compose herself, “He was my best friend, and he wanted this mine to work. I won’t let him down.”

     Jane put her hands over her face and began to weep quietly. Robert got up and put a strong arm around his wife, his own tears falling freely from the same pale blue eyes he had passed on to his children. Reaching out, he drew his daughter to him and held his two girls close, as they mourned and continued on, together.

***

     There had been a steep learning curve for Jamie. She came in from the mine sore, her body aching so bad she thought she would never move again, only to force herself to get up at dawn the next day and do it all over again.

     She found, as well, that working in a muslin skirt, bustle and bodice was ludicrous. The skirt got tangled around her legs as she attempted to navigate the mine, got underfoot when she bent to check the rock quality, and got trapped against the rough hewn rock walls when she went to check on the workers. The bodice kept her from breathing correctly while exerting herself, and she found herself dizzy more than once from lack of breath. Her legs were cut, bitten, and scraped, as were her arms. Her long chestnut hair, too, got in the way. It would blind her when the wind blew, often causing her to stumble, or get in her mouth when she was yelling directions at the miners, and was always horribly tangled when she got in at night.

     So, one night she had entered into Edmund’s room, and silently thanking him, took out his pants, boots, shirts and braces, and then repaired to her bedroom mirror.

     The next morning, she entered the breakfast room and sat down.

     “Oh, dear God. What have you done?” her mother whispered, holding her chest.

     “I can’t be expected to mine in a dress, mum. And my hair was getting ruined. I can grow it out again when the time’s right.” Jamie ran a hand through her short cropped hair and grinned at how light it felt.

     “But your clothes, Jamie. What will people think, you wearing men’s clothes? And your beautiful hair, Jamie. It just, it just…”

     “Well, the men will probably raise an eyebrow and then see it as practical, and the women will gossip and be secretly envious of my ability to wear comfortable clothes. Honestly, mum, do you have any idea how much more comfortable men’s clothes are?”

     Jane had sunk down into her chair and stared at her only daughter, who now looked overwhelmingly like the son she had only just lost, with her chestnut brown hair cut just below her chin, and her tanned, strong arms and sharp jaw line.

     Her father had entered and stopped short, staring at Jamie. “Hmph,” was his only reaction as he picked up his coffee cup and continued to look at her with an inscrutable look on his face.

     “Makes sense, I suppose,” he said as they walked out the door together to start the day.

     “See?” Jamie smiled crookedly over her shoulder at her mother, and ran a hand over her head. Her mother just shook her head and gave her daughter the smallest smile in return.

***

     And now, a year later, a new spring had arrived, and Jamie was ready to get back to work, into the sunshine. Of course, mining didn’t end in the winter, but it became even more tiresome with no sunlight either in or out of the mine.

     A shadow fell over her, and she glanced up to find Willie Bell flopping down next to her on the grass.

     “Hello, Willie. Are you alright, then?”

     “Yup, Jamie. How bout you? You alright?

     “Mm hmm,” she said as she popped another cherry in her mouth.

     “Crops should be good this year. They’re saying down at the mill that we’re in for a good season, and my sisters and mother are already getting the weaving area set up.”

   Willie and Jamie had been friends since she and her family had moved to the area four years ago, when her father had decided to invest in the mining industry along with his other businesses. In order to oversee his investment, they had left the smoky, pungent life in London and moved to this quaint country village near the Acorn Bank Gypsum quarry.

     Last year, right about the same time Jamie’s family lost Edmund, Willie and his family had lost their father, Phineas, to Cholera, which had also affected the youngest girl, who seemed to have lost her ability to concentrate and often had tantrums for no apparent reason. Jamie had had little reason, however, to ever speak with Willie’s sisters, since she was always down at the mine or reading, and Willie’s mother was a strict, pious woman, saving her daughters souls by keeping them locked in the house most of the time.

     “How are your parents, Jamie?”

     “Getting better with time, Willie. We’ll never get over losing Edmund, of course, but the pain is at least bearable now. How is your family recovering?”

     “My mum’s gotten worse since my papa died. You’d think we all became massive sinners the moment she buried him. It’s worst for my oldest sister, Sarah. Mum thinks if she doesn’t get her married off soon, she’ll become some horrible old maid and embarrass the family.”

     Jamie laughed, and said, “Funny. I think my parents have given up on me getting married. Looking like I do, and liking it, besides, I shouldn’t wonder I’m already considered an old maid.

     “I don’t know, Jamie. You’ve got learning, and manners, and you work hard. Some bloke will take a fancy to you, don’t worry.”

     “I’m not worried, Willie. I don’t want to get married, you see. There isn’t a single person I would even consider a possibility, let alone marry.”

     “Thanks a lot, Jamie.”

     Punching him in the arm, Jamie said, “Right. As though you haven’t been thinking about asking little Martha Lord to marry you?”

     “You’re the only one who knows that, Jamie. I haven’t had the courage to really begin courting her. Besides, what would she want with a farmers son? Her family owns The Grange, don’t you know? One hundred and fifty acres of perfect pastures. I can’t compete.” He stared out at the open green land before them with as sullen a look on his face as Jamie had ever seen.

     “Compete with who, Willie? There can’t be that many men in this village of an age to marry her.”

     “That’s what there is to recommend me? That there isn’t anyone else, so she’ll have to settle?” Willie’s face turned a crimson color and he took his frustration out on the grass in front of him, shredding it in his fingers.

     “That’s not what I meant, Willie,” amended Jamie, sorry to have upset her friend. “I mean that you’re the best man she could have, and since there’s no one else vying for her hand, you have the chance to show her what a good man you are, and what a good husband you would be.”

     Willie directed his question to the grass. “Do you really think so?”

     Jamie placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Yes, I know so. What are you waiting for? Ask her to the dance tonight.”

     “No, no. But I will ask her to dance when we get there.”

     Jamie pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at the determination in his voice. “Excellent. Well, then, I better head down to the mine.” Standing, Jamie brushed grass and leaves from her pants.

     “Will you be there tonight, Jamie?” Willie asked, knowing full well her answer.

     “Of course not, Willie. You know how the town sees me now. Esther Crabtree actually called me “unnatural” in front of my mother two days ago. Mum, obviously, felt it her duty to defend me as someone who takes care of her family before worrying about gossipy old women.”

     Willie laughed and said, “Well, I have to ask, because it would make a much more exciting evening if you did show up! Plus, my oldest sister loves to read, and I know you do, too. It would give her someone to talk to, as well as outraging my mother.”

     Jamie just shook her head and strolled down the rolling hill to the mine, smiling with cherry stained lips as she listened to Willie’s laughter behind her.

Go to Chapter 3

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