Page 11 of Echoes on the Wind (Borrowed Time #2)

“I can’t believe we actually have an empty house,” I said as Gwyn got up the next morning to search for his clothes.

I’d insisted on him sharing my bed instead of using the cot, and in an effort to do no further damage to my arm, he’d balanced precariously on the edge of the single mattress for most of the night. Sleep wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it hadn’t exactly been either of our priorities.

The rest of the household had risen early. Nellie shouted her goodbyes first, before the first light had even come through the window, and Gethin had done similarly about an hour later. Within ten minutes of him closing the front door, Betty had left, too, leaving the two of us alone for a whole hour before Gwyn had to leave for work.

“You’ve made me late,” he said, leaning over the bed to kiss me, though he didn’t seem in any particular rush to leave. “Will you be alright getting about today? My shift doesn’t finish until nine, and I don’t know what time everyone else will be home. ”

“I can manage,” I replied. “Most of the swelling is gone, and I’ve only got to go as far as the main road.”

“Try not to be so argumentative with Lee today.” He pulled a shirt on over his head but caught me rolling my eyes and paused, grinning at me. “I’m serious. He’s got every right to be angry. I know it wasn’t your fault, but you don’t help yourself sometimes.”

I pulled the pillow from behind me and tossed it at him. “You’re supposed to be on my side. I’m not having you both ganging up on me.”

“Just remember to use your brain first and then your mouth,” he said with a grin. “You’ve a tendency to get it the wrong way around.”

I gasped, feigning offence, and he laughed at me as he ducked clear of the second incoming pillow. “Right, get to work. I’ve had enough of you today, and it’s not even 9 am.”

“It’s a good job you love me,” he grinned, then he grabbed my head and kissed the top of it, and made his way to the door. “I’ll see you tonight.”

I took my time getting ready for the day, finally heading out around lunchtime, and slowly made my way to the high street.

For most of the length of the street, the shops only lined one side, and there was a clear view up the grass banking on the opposite side, all the way up to the house. A little further along, though, foundations had been cut into the banking, ready for more buildings to be built.

Unlike Cwm Newydd, which seemed ancient even by the time I’d arrived there in 1889, there was a freshness to Bryncoed, if you could overlook the dust and dirt that the mine pumped over the town every day. None of the buildings looked more than about thirty years old, and it was obvious that the town was still expanding due to the amount of people employed by the mine.

That growth likely explained the lack of Welsh I heard, too. Job prospects at the mine brought families from all over, and there was a vast mix of accents to be heard around town, but almost all of them were speaking in English.

The high street didn’t lack for anything, and as I wandered slowly along the pavement, I peered into shops selling clothes, toys, bikes, and saddlery. It was in one of them, a pharmacy, that I caught sight of Nellie.

Despite the cold, the door was wedged open, and the familiar sound of her laughter caught my ear as I passed, bringing me to a stop to look in. Counters ran along the three outer walls of the store, and behind them were dozens of shelves filled with medicines and medical aids. At the top counter, Nellie stood with a basket tucked into the crook of her elbow while the chemist leaned on the glass, telling her something that must have been highly amusing, given the spirited laugh that was echoing out onto the street.

“Tom,” she said, waving me inside as she spotted me. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce you properly before. This is Will.” The smile disappeared quickly from her face, and she looked between us before shaking her head and correcting her over-familiarity. “I mean, Mr Angove. Mr Angove, this is Mr Jacob, who I was telling you about. ”

“You can call me Tom. It’s fine,” I said, giving him a nod.

He stood upright from leaning on the counter, towering several inches above me and more than a foot over Nellie, and offered me a warm smile. “It’s nice to meet you again, Tom. Nellie speaks very highly of you.”

“Glad to hear it,” I replied, smiling at them both.

An odd silence fell between us as we stood there, and I pursed my lips and rocked on my heel, waiting for someone to say something.

Nellie decided to take the lead and held up her basket between us. “Well, thank you again for the supplies,” she said. “You’d think the infirmary would let me use their stores.”

“Well, I won’t complain about the custom,” he replied.

He pointed at the till with a grin, then, in an attempt to seem casual, he leaned his elbow down onto it. The bells inside made a dreadful din as multiple keys went down, and the cash drawer thrust forward, smacking into his abdomen.

I stifled a laugh, and Nellie cast a stern glance in my direction, but I could tell by the curl of her lips that she was struggling just as much as I was.

“Well, I best be off,” she said. “Thomas?”

She cast her eyes towards the door, and I took my cue to leave. With a slight dip of my cap towards Mr Angove, I followed her out onto the street.

“He seems nice,” I said with a chuckle as we walked along the pavement.

“He is,” she replied, ignoring my amusement. “And his daughter is such a sweet thing. ”

“Oh, he’s married?”

“Widowed. I never met his wife.”

“That’s tough,” I replied.

“So what brings you down into town today?”

“I’m meeting my brother. In here, actually,” I said, pointing toward the tearoom we’d stopped in front of.

“You found him? That’s wonderful news, Tom.”

I had planned to tell her about it over dinner the previous evening, but the tension in the house had been icy, and we all spent much of the meal in silence.

“Would you like to come in and meet him? He should be here soon.”

“I’d love to, but I’m running rather behind. Why don’t you invite him for dinner one evening? I’ll make something nice.”

“Sounds good,” I said, and with a nod of her head, she carried on up the street to the infirmary.

According to the clock inside the tearoom, I had about ten minutes to spare, so I ordered myself a tea and took a seat at the window to await his arrival.

It was much like any other curbside cafe I’d been to back home, filled with people reading newspapers and gossiping about the events of the day. It had a charm about it, though. A quaintness. There were no heavy machines brewing vast quantities of hot drinks, and no three-page menus filled with unpronounceable coffees; just three serving girls watching over two brass kettles, two cake selections, and everything served in fine china on silver trays over freshly pressed tablecloths.

From my seat at the window, I had a good view of the street, and I watched the activity of the town as I waited on my brother. A siren blared from the direction of the mine, causing me to jump and spill some tea, but nobody else, either inside or out, paid any notice to it. Within a minute, the bottom end of the road filled with men piling out of the site, covered in dust and dirt. A shift change, perhaps? Or maybe a lunch break? I didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought as I spotted my brother weaving amongst them, standing out from the crowd with his smart clothes, washed face, and styled hair.

He gave me a wave through the window, then pushed through the door and sat down in the empty chair opposite me.

“Did you get me anything?” he asked, but with one look at the single cup on the table, he waved to one of the waitresses, who came and took his order of tea and a scone.

Ignoring Gwyn’s warning entirely, I just came straight out with the one question that had been playing on my mind since I last saw him. “Why did you lie about the house?”

His face contorted like he was offended by my bringing it up, but I held his stare until he answered.

“I didn’t lie.”

“You weren’t honest, though. You knew I thought it was yours.”

“Tom, if you’ve just come here looking for a fight then I’m going to walk back out of that door.”

“I don’t want to fight, Lee. I never wanted to. I came here because you asked, but you can’t blame me for having questions of my own. What was that even about yesterday? You’ve never been that cold with me before.”

“Jesus,” he said, and he slapped his hand down on the table, causing my teacup to rattle in its saucer and a man on the table next to us to drop his paper down and peer over it. Lee gave him an apologetic smile, then dropped his voice down to a whisper and leaned over the table towards me. “It’s not about you, Tom. I’m the one who was left alone for two years in the middle of bloody nowhere, so I’m sorry if I’m pissed off about it.”

“I told you that I was sorry.”

“I know you did. Over and over. But that doesn’t make it any easier. I didn’t know if you were alive or dead, or if you’d run off to make a new life and completely forgotten about me. I waited two years for you, hoping you’d show up, and then when you did…”

His pause was punctuated by his order arriving at the table, and we both smiled at the waitress until she left us alone again.

“When you came back after you disappeared, we sat in my flat and I listened to you spill out every last detail of what had happened to you. I’m not saying you had it easy, but you didn’t exactly do too badly for yourself, either. You made friends and found family who took you in. You learned a trade. You made a life, Tom.

“When I got here, I had none of that. I came straight to the city to look for you because they told me that’s where I’d find you, but I couldn’t get help from anyone. Nobody put a roof over my head or showed me how anything worked. I had nobody, and you were supposed to be there with me. I was robbed, I was beaten, I had to sleep under a fucking bridge. And I had to do it all, desperate for a drink.”

I held the spoon in my cup and stared at it as I idly stirred circles through my tea. I couldn’t meet his stare, and it wasn’t because I still felt guilty, but it was because I felt ashamed. Even when he’d tried explaining to me at the house about how difficult things had been for him, I’d waved it off, even unconsciously, as not being so bad because he was in a good place now. What I hadn’t taken time to consider was how hard it had been to get there. I could remember how difficult it was when I first arrived in the past, but I had people helping me from the very beginning. It was nothing in comparison to what Lee had had to go through, and it took him spelling it out for me to realise that.

“I let you think that the house was mine because I needed you to think I could do it on my own; that I hadn’t just come here and fucked everything up. I needed you to see me as a success because I never want you to see how low I got. I’m living in one of Awbrey’s dirty old mining cottages and I was ashamed.”

When I could finally face him, he was staring out of the window, his gaze distant and focused on nothing in particular, and I reached my hand across the table to his. He still wouldn’t turn to look at me, but he held his fingers tightly around mine, and as his jaw clenched, a single tear rolled down his cheek into his stubble.

“I love you,” I said, breaking the silence between us. “And I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through, Lee. I didn’t mean to be so selfish.” I tugged at his hand until he’d look at me again, and I pursed my lips together into an apologetic smile, hoping it would be enough to convey just how truly sorry I was. “I’m so proud of you. I hope you know that. You should never feel ashamed. ”

He pulled his hand from mine and wiped the back of his wrist against his cheek, then took a sip from his tea. “I love you, too. Dickhead!” When he finally smiled at me I thought I was going to burst into tears, and for the first time since he’d arrived, I could feel the tension leave my shoulders.

“Letitia seems really nice,” I said, wanting to take the conversation somewhere easier.

He smiled again as he focused on his teacup. “Tish, yeah, she’s amazing. I’m sorry I rushed you off yesterday before you got a chance to meet her properly,” he said, looking around the room as though he was worried someone might be listening. “It’s just Mr Awbrey, her father, he’s kind of a dick. You showed up out of the blue, and then Tish came home early… There was a lot going on. If he’d have come home as well, he’d have just grumbled about having a house full of people. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that, especially with Gwyn there. He doesn’t exactly speak highly of the men from the pits. He doesn’t speak very highly of me either if I’m honest.”

“He sounds like an arse,” I said, taking a sip of tea and settling back in my chair. “So what’s his story?”

“Edward J. Awbrey the Third,” he said with a mocking tone. “Came down from Yorkshire years ago when Tish was still a baby. He tells everyone he made his fortune in coal, but Tish told me it’s all inherited, and the mines came later. He had three, but this is his last, and it’s struggling. There’s too much competition, and he’s overcharging for coal to stay afloat.

“There’s nearly five hundred mines between here and Pembroke, and he just can’t compete. Everything’s falling apart, and there’s no money to sort any of it out. It’s only a matter of time until we have a disaster like that one in Lla… Llan… I don’t know how you say it. That other Welsh town. Awbrey doesn’t care, though. I had to close Pit 5 last week because of the firedamp levels, and he was furious, but the buildings are old, the machines are worn down, and the men are exhausted. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

“Gwyn works down there,” I said, horrified by what I was hearing.

“Then you should tell him to find a new job,” he responded. “Awbrey bought that place over twenty-five years ago and has barely put a penny into maintaining it since. We’ve had so many low-level accidents lately that we’ve got a safety inspector coming out soon to ensure we’re playing by the rules. Even if by some miracle an accident doesn’t close us, we’ll be out of money before the end of the year if things don’t turn around.”

“Jesus, Lee. Why are you still there?”

“Because I love Tish. I really love her. If I want to marry her, then I have to keep her father onside.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, leaning in towards him. “You can love Tish without working for her crook of a father.”

“He doesn’t think I’m good enough for her. Says I’m not from the right stock. But from the moment we met, we were crazy about each other. He tried to put a stop to it, but she’s really headstrong. It’s one of the things I love most about her. She told him straight that if he didn’t give his blessing for us to get engaged, we’d elope. He gave in, albeit begrudgingly, and eventually offered me a job. He didn’t want his daughter married to a wagon driver, so it’s only to save face. It’s a good wage, though, so I put up and shut up.”

He kept staring around the room as he spoke, as though he was paranoid that we were being listened to, and it was putting me on edge.

“What exactly do you do there?” I asked.

“Paperwork, officially,” he replied. “But he’s got me doing everything. I’ve actually only been at Black Hill for a few weeks. He had me working at his mine in Bridgend until he sold it off last month. Now I’m handling the books and finances here, and I’m trying to divert some funds to get new equipment in. It’s just a bit here and there, but he doesn’t go anywhere near the pits, so I’m hoping he won’t notice. It’s not easy, though. We just keep sinking more into the red.”

“Why doesn’t he just cut his losses and sell up, like he did with the other one?”

“The other mine is on prime land, with strong seams. It’s also not so old. There’s plenty of money to be made there, he just managed it poorly. But this one? Nobody in their right mind would take it on in the state it’s in, and it’d cost a fortune to put everything right. He’s stuck with it, and he’s too bloody stubborn to change while he still can. If that place goes under, there’ll be over four hundred men out of work. And if it goes boom…” he raised his arms, not needing to finish.

“Lee, you need…”

I trailed off as I spotted Betty through the window. She gave me a faint smile, then pushed through the door before coming to a stop at our table, looking a little tense .

“Betty, is everything alright?” I asked, concerned that she’d worn herself out coming down to town again.

She pursed her lips and nodded, then pulled her shawl tightly over her shoulders as she smiled nervously at Lee.

“Betty, this is my brother, Lee,” I said, and her cheeks flushed red as he rose to his feet and extended his hand. “Lee, this is Betty, who I’ve told you about.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr Jacob,” she said.

“Lee is fine,” he replied, taking his seat again. “It’s so good to finally meet you. I’ve heard all about you.”

“Good things, I hope,” she replied, keeping her eyes low. It seemed she hadn’t entirely lost her nervous disposition.

“Betty, can I get you anything?”

“Thank you, but I’m here with Joseph,” she said, her smile widening.

“Where is he?” I asked, seeing no sign of him, and she pointed out of the window to the bench across the street. When he noticed us looking, he raised his cap, and I gave a puzzled wave in return. “Why isn’t he coming in?”

“He says he’s not allowed,” she replied, and her smile melted away.

“What? Why not?”

“Why do you think?” Lee said, raising his eyebrows at me.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I said, and Betty’s eyes bulged at my language. “Sorry, Betty, I didn’t mean to swear. It’s just so stupid. ”

“It’s alright,” she said, putting on a brave face. “We’re going to the park anyway, so I should get going. I’ll see you at home later.”

I watched her wander to the counter to make her order, then when she was out of earshot, I turned my attention back to Lee.

“I forgot how fucking backwards this place can be sometimes,” I said. “He saved my life this week, but he’s not even allowed to come in and order a coffee. Is that even the law?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “But it’s the law of the owner, and her friend there isn’t in a position to argue. These times aren’t exactly progressive. And that’s another reason I didn’t want you around Awbrey,” he added. “If he ever got wind of what you and Gwyn get up to in your spare time, he’d be straight onto the constables. He’s got form.”

“Sounds like a wonderful family you’re marrying into,” I said sarcastically.

“Tish isn’t like her father, and you know I love you no matter what, but there’s no changing some people. Like I said, the guy’s a dick.”

The bell on the door rang again, and Betty waved through the glass before making her way across the street to Joseph. His face lit up as she approached, and I watched them for a few seconds before they disappeared into the crowd.

“Look, I need to get going,” Lee said, putting his cup down on the table and bringing my attention back inside.

“Wait,” I said, grabbing his hand. “I know it’s going to take some time, but are we ok? ”

He fell silent as he stared at me, and I couldn’t tell if he was trying to find the right words, or still undecided about how he felt. In the end, he just nodded.

“I really am sorry,” I added.

“Where are you staying?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Church Street. Up on the hill,” I said, pointing up the bank opposite the tearoom. “Number 14.”

“I know it. I’ll come see you after work sometime this week.”

“Nellie told me to invite you to dinner actually. You should bring Tish.”

“We’ll work something out. Right, I really have to go. I’ll see you soon.”

He stood up and kissed me on the forehead, then scuffed up my hair before heading outside and breaking into a jog towards the mine.

I tossed some coins onto the table to pay for our drinks, then with a wave of thanks to the waitress, I stepped out onto the pavement, right into the path of an oncoming cart.

“Sorry fella,” the man pushing it called out, and I bent down to rub the spot on my leg that it had connected with. “Wonky wheel. I’ve had to stick to the pavement the whole way.”

“It’s ok,” I said, waving it off. “I should have been looking where I was going.”

The cart was piled high with large, heavy-looking sacks, and the wheel at the front looked ready to give in under the weight. He set it down, blocking the pavement, then came around and stood next to me, leaning against the tearoom window .

He pulled off his cap and scuffed a hand through his dirty blonde hair, then pulled a cigarette from behind his ear and lit it up. “Are you sure your leg is alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” I replied. “I’ll just add it to the list of injuries.”

I held up my arm in its sling, and he let out a small laugh alongside a plume of smoke. “Accident-prone, are you?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, it’s a good job you’ve got a sturdy leg. If this flour had gone over, Mr Carter would have broken my arm, too. I haven’t seen you around here before, have I? I’m Ellis.”

“Tom,” I replied. “I just moved here a few days ago.”

“I knew it,” he said, smiling widely. “I’d definitely remember if I’d seen you before.” He flicked his cigarette into the road and grabbed the handles of his cart, giving me a final nod. “I better get this down to the bakery. It was nice to meet you, Tom. I’ll see you around.”