Mary could not be much older than Olivia. As a very young girl, she had come to work for her parents just after Will had been born.
Olivia had already lost Louella; now she would lose Mary as well. She blinked away such melancholy, annoyed with herself for so many mawkish thoughts.
Mary reached out and patted Olivia’s hand, which had been resting on the table. “I wouldn’t trade you for the world. And I love being with you, you know. We never get bored, do we? We cook, we bake. And together we’ve turned that plot of rocks outside into the most enviable garden in all of England.”
Olivia had not even considered that she’d have to abandon her garden.
She’d plant a new one at the Smiths’. One without so many flowers but with more practical harvests.
She lifted her hand and rubbed at her chest, which suddenly ached for no reason at all.
“Baby Harvey is still fussy about his milk. And Luke Jr. has yet to smile, I swear.”
Mary rose and poured more hot water for both of them. “They’ll come around. They aren’t the first to lose their mum, and they won’t be the last.”
So practical.
A knocking on the front door had both of them lifting their brows questioningly at one another. Olivia’s heart raced.
The last time she’d had a visitor, it had been Gabriel. When Olivia bit her lip, Mary rose and disappeared into the foyer.
A high-pitched panicked voice, followed by Mary’s, speaking in a quieter lower-timbered tone, interrupted the quiet of the morning. Something had happened.
Mary was leading Freda Whitley into the kitchen, the girl’s face white as a sheet. Pieces of her red hair had escaped her mob cap and extended down her back.
“Freda, slow down and tell Miss Redfield exactly what you told me.” Mary spoke steadily, but something in her eyes belied the normal calm she always possessed.
Freda nodded, took a deep breath, and then, “The mine’s caved in. They called the vicar, and he sent word to Luke Smith’s house to tell Miss Cline. She sent me to tell you. Too much rain, there was. They don’t know how many men.” She gasped on a sob. “But there were lots of them down there, mum.”
Olivia’s heart skipped several beats. “Who was inside?”
Gabriel!
“They don’t know, mum.” And then she burst into tears. Mary pulled a handkerchief out of her apron and handed it to the distraught girl before turning to meet Olivia’s gaze.
“Edgar. My brother Edgar is working up there.” Dear, steady Mary’s eyes swam with tears as well. Olivia handedherhandkerchief to Mary.
“You must go to your mother, Mary. Freda must return to Mr. Smith’s and I’ll fetch my father.” Oh, dear God, Luke Smith was all those children had.
Olivia could not go to the mine herself. The vague thought that she’d visited the mine just a few days ago taunted her. And those men had seen her. Would they think it was her fault? She could not afford to imagine such madness, though, and thrust it out of her mind. Curses didn’t exist. They did not cause the earth to cave in where water had been eroding it. Nature did. Physics. Poor engineering.
Gabriel had told her he entered the mine and often worked beside some of the men. Had he been working inside this morning? He’d been worried about the water.
Her father must go up there. The mine sat on his property, after all.
Gabriel would require every man in the village to assist in the recovery.
Gabriel…
She could not allow herself to imagine him buried beneath the rubble…
Olivia couldn’t imagine a world without him.
“Perhaps it isn’t as bad as all that,” Olivia offered, daring to hope Freda had heard wrong and had simply become hysterical. Olivia rose in a clumsy motion, knocking the chair over behind her. When she bent down to right it, she stifled an unexpected sob.
“Douse the fire, Mary. This could prove to be a very long day.”
Oh, the children! They could not lose the only parent they had left! Olivia closed her eyes and drew a steadying breath.
