Without a Mother's Love (38 page)

When he reached her, he put down the lantern and shook her gently. She flopped to one side and he had to move quickly to stop her head hitting the rocky floor.Then he smelled blood. Fresh blood. My God, she was injured! He hoped he wasn’t too late. His mind raced. What should he do? Get her to the surface as quickly as he could. But how could he carry her, bent over in the tunnel?

He sat with his back to the wall and laid her head on his lap. ‘Wake up! Please try.’ He shook her again. She was like a rag doll in his arms. He had to stop the bleeding. He stretched out for the lantern so that he could see her more clearly, but it was just beyond his reach.

Then she began to groan, yell and scream, so loudly he thought she must be dying. Her body jerked as she brought up her knees and rolled away from him. He grasped her and pulled her back. In the dim glow from the lantern he saw her eyes open briefly, wide and frightened, pale in the coal-blackened face, and her screams became louder.

 

For Livvy the pain was like a wild horse that she could not deflect. It came at her at breakneck speed. It aroused her from her faint and she wished it hadn’t. Soon it would overwhelm her and she would welcome the oblivion it brought. She jolted as it hit her and opened her eyes. It was dark, but not pitch black now. There was a soft glow in her cave. And a black face was staring at her. She screamed again. But it was not a face from her childhood nightmares. She knew it. She had dreamed of it recently. This was a dream. It was . . . She fell back onto the hard rock floor.

 

Jared stared at her. In the second when her eyes had flashed open it was as though a bolt of lightning had struck him. He had seen those eyes before and had not forgotten them. He would never forget their shape, the colour, the way they were set well apart in her face. It was just a glimpse. Surely he was mistaken. Feverishly, he laid her gently on the floor and scrambled for the lantern.

He held it close, searching his jacket for a handkerchief. Carefully he tried to wipe away some of the coal dust but it did not make much difference. As he moved the lantern closer he saw that there was no doubt. It was Olivia. At the bottom of the mine and half dead from her injury, but it was her. Her now-blackened face was the one he still dreamed of and thought about constantly in his waking hours. It was the face he longed to shower with kisses and to love. He had found his Olivia! Dear Lord, he had found her at last.

A turmoil of emotion washed over him, making his body tingle with relief and joy, then with the fear that he might be too late to save her. She was the most precious person in his life, and until this moment he had thought he had lost her for ever. But his beautiful, darling Olivia was here. Not ten miles from home. He had yearned so long for her that he could not lose her now. He would not let her die. She was his life, his love.

He had to get her to the surface. But how? How could he carry her and the lantern back to the shaft? Kimber Deep had canvas slung between poles kept down there for just such a purpose. Mexton Pit had no such help. Dragging her would take the skin off her back before he reached the shaft. If he hoisted her into a coal truck how would he drag her out again without doing further damage? The bone-setters’ advice was always to leave an injured man be, if you could.

He hardly knew what to do.The roof was low so he hoisted her flaccid body on to his back, securing her arms about his neck, and took the lantern in his teeth. The heat from the candle rose and burned his face as he crawled on his hands and knees until the black tunnel joined with another and widened. As soon as he could stand he did so, dispensing with the lamp and walking into the dark with her in his arms.

He had found her. She must not die now. A dozen questions raced through his mind, but he pushed them away, concerned only with reaching the surface while she still breathed. Feeling his way with his body and legs, he lowered her onto the platform and climbed in beside her, yanking at the pulleys to signal to the surface. He could not see the ropes tighten but he felt the sway as the platform began its slow ascent.

Her clothes were soaked with blood and he felt the stickiness on his hands. God help her, what had happened down there when she was left alone in the dark? This was Jessup’s fault. Sir William would not have let this happen in one of his pits. They had a proper supervisor and checks against this happening. They wanted their colliers to work another day.

She groaned again and he sank beside her, holding her head. ‘You’re safe now,’ he whispered. ‘Safe.’

He wished he believed it, because she was in a bad way. As soon as she was at home he would ride for Adam Harvey himself. He wondered where her home was. He took her left hand and felt for her wedding ring. Well, that was still there so she had not dispensed entirely with her former life. He wondered what she had said to the people of Mexton and was astonished that word of her whereabouts had not got out.

His neck ached from looking upwards. His eyes stung from the falling grit, but eventually he detected a pale hint of moonlight penetrating the blackness. He stood up. ‘Bring another lantern. Quickly! Help me here. Secure the platform first.’ He picked her up in his arms. She was groaning again, weakly now. ‘Take her from me. Careful, man, she’s hurt.’

Jared hoisted her limp body across the gap and Sam took her from him. He clambered out. ‘Here, give her back to me. Do you know her?’

Sam held the lantern close. ‘Oh, aye, that’s the new lass.Went down with old Wilton this morning. You don’t suppose she were hurt an’ all and never said owt?’

‘It’s likely. Where does Mr Wilton live?’

‘Farmhouse Lane. End cottage afore you get to the cobbler’s house.’

‘I’ll take her there.You turn off the steam pressure as I showed you and lock up. Make sure the keys go back.’

‘Right, sir.’

Jared didn’t hear him. He was already on his way.

He fell against the cottage wall, his arms and back aching. ‘Mr Wilton!’

The door opened, casting a shaft of candlelight over the threshold.

‘Sarah?’

‘Jared!’

‘I thought you were leaving.’

‘I was on my way to the carrier but one of my dad’s neighbours caught up with me and I came back. Dear Heaven! That’s Livvy!’

‘She was left behind and I fear she is badly injured. There’s a lot of blood—’

‘Wait a minute. I’ll clear the kitchen table. Here, put her there for now. Can you light me another candle? There, on the mantelshelf.’

When he had done that and placed Olivia as gently as he could on the table, he said, ‘I’ll fetch the apothecary.’

‘No, there’s a lot of blood. I might need you. My father’s asleep and there’s no one else. I’ll send Sam from next door.’ Sarah picked up a heavy metal ladle and knocked on the kitchen wall.

‘He can take my horse.’

They heard the wail of a child through the wall.‘You’ll wake your father, too,’ he said.

‘I’ve given him a sleeping draught. I - I’ve decided to take him with me to Northumberland. He can’t stay here with a bad arm.’

Sam came in through the open door and Jared despatched him for help. ‘Give Mr Harvey this guinea and impress on him the urgency.’

‘What shall I tell him?’

‘Say nothing. Tell him it’s for Mr Tyler.’

When he had gone, Sarah asked Jared what had happened to Livvy.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘She was left behind when they brought your father out. She may have been hurt at the same time.’

Sarah was searching Olivia’s near-lifeless body for wounds. She lifted her tunic and unbuttoned the thick trousers, peeling them away from the bloodied skin. She had seen this before when helping her mother in the village and frowned. Jared could hardly believe there was so much blood. ‘What is it?’ he asked anxiously.

‘She’s not been injured by falling rock. She’s lost a baby.’

Chapter 29

‘Lost a baby?’ Jared breathed.

‘I’m certain. And is still bleeding. She’ll die if we don’t stop it. I’ll fetch more linen.’

His eyes searched hers as though for a sign that this was not true. ‘What can you do?’

‘My mother kept a mixture in the cupboard. I’ll make it up.’

Jared now wished he had gone himself for Adam Harvey. He paced the kitchen, listening to the clock on the mantelshelf tick away the minutes. He supported Olivia’s head and shoulders while Sarah spooned the potion between the pallid lips. It seemed to revive her and she groaned again.

She opened her eyes first, and her mouth to scream, but no sound came. Her eyes rolled and she fell back in another faint.

‘Will she live?’ he asked anxiously.

‘I don’t know. Ask your Mr Harvey when he gets here.’

‘Should we get her upstairs?’

‘Can you carry her?’

 

Livvy roused again as Jared lowered her onto the narrow bed. She drank some water and groaned as anxious eyes stared at her in the candlelight. She was too exhausted to scream. Her mind was jumbled with memories of stormy seas and dark mines. There were black faces everywhere, black faces with white teeth, and white eyes looking at her. Then they had walked away and left her to die. Her body ached. She was hurting all over, alone and frightened, and she heard a distant sound in her head, a wailing, long and whining . . .

‘Hush, Olivia. Be still. You’re safe now.’

Olivia? Who was Olivia? A name from the past. A voice from the past. She opened her eyes again. A face from the past. But this face was no longer black, except for the rings of coal dust that clung round his eyes.Then the familiar features were gone, replaced by a woman’s, a stranger who pushed pillows behind her back and spooned a bitter tincture between her lips.

‘At least she’s still alive,’ the woman muttered.

 

Jared had never felt so weary. His lips were pale in the candlelight. As he sat with her in the dimness, watching her every move, he wondered how long she had been in Mexton, toiling in the pit that bore her husband’s name. All the searching he had done! Had she been working down the mine all this time? He had never thought to look for her here. Neither had Hesley. She had disappeared right under their noses. He guessed that the colliers did not know who she was. He wondered if they knew the father of her lost child.

He should not have left her. He had thought at the time it was the right thing to do, but if this was the result he had been wrong. God keep her alive, he prayed. Where was Harvey? He should have been here by now.

The apothecary arrived on horseback, ahead of Sam, and came straight into the kitchen.

‘Oh,’ he said, as soon as he saw Jared, who hurried down to meet him. ‘I expected your father. What is it?’

‘A miscarriage, I believe, sir.’ Jared picked up a candle and led him up the narrow stairs to the small chamber. Sarah stepped away from the bed.

‘But this is—’ Adam Harvey exclaimed, as soon as he saw his patient. Then he snapped his mouth shut and set about his task of examination and administration, giving orders to Sarah as he did so.When she went downstairs to make up the couch for herself in the front room, Harvey turned to Jared. ‘How long has she been here? She’s been missing for more than a year.’

‘I found her by chance. I can scarcely believe it myself.’

‘Was it your child?’

‘No, sir, it was not. I had not seen her for years until now.’

‘But you found someone to help her get rid of it.’

‘What sort of man do you think I am?’

‘The woman did it, then?’

‘Sarah? Certainly not. She’s a chapel teacher, home to see her father. Olivia - er - Mrs Mexton was hurrying for him.’

Now it was the apothecary’s turn to be surprised. ‘Mrs Mexton was down the pit?’

‘That was where I found her.’

‘How long ago?’

‘Two hours, maybe three.’

‘Well, you were already too late for her child, but you saved her life.’ He handed Jared his brandy flask.‘I attended her before, a good few years ago, not long after she was married, for something similar.’

‘You mean she has already been through this?’

‘As I remember it wasn’t so bad. She was very young. I thought she would grow out of it.You’re sure nobody helped this along?’

‘I told you, I found her a few hours ago down the mine. Surely such work would bring it on.’

‘Colliers’ wives keep going until their waters break.’

‘But they are born to it. Mrs Mexton is not.’

‘Aye. There’s something in that.’ Adam Harvey handed him a glass phial. ‘I’ve stemmed the bleeding for now. Keep her still and give her five drops of this in boiled water every two hours. Sarah has a good head on her shoulders. She’ll tend her well enough and I’ll call back in the morning.’

‘Thank you. Just one more thing.’

‘Yes?’

‘It is best if her husband does not know of this. Or where she is. Not yet, anyway. Can I count on you for that, sir?’

Adam Harvey gave a tired half-laugh. ‘You haven’t seen Mexton for a while, then?’

‘Not since his grandfather’s funeral. You were there with him.’

‘He’s worse now. It is more than just the drink. He is hardly sensible most of the time.’

Perhaps that is why Jessup has so much power, Jared thought. ‘I did not know he had deteriorated so quickly. Why was my mother not informed? She is his great-aunt.’

‘Believe me, sir, it is better that she does not see him. His new lawyer handles the banking - that jumped-up butcher’s son.’

‘Jessup?’

‘That’s the one. A gambling friend of young Hesley. He took over the family affairs after old Hesley died.’

‘Withers is no longer needed?’

Adam Harvey shook his head slowly and deliberately.

‘Jessup is no pit manager! He is the reason the mine is going to rack and ruin. He must be stopped. I’ll speak to him.’