Page 9 of Echoes on the Wind (Borrowed Time #2)

I was awoken the following morning by the front door slamming shut downstairs. Gwyn was still asleep on the floor beside the bed, entangled in a mass of sheets, and sunlight was pouring in from the uncovered window.

Using my one working elbow, I attempted to push myself into a sitting position, but it slipped off the edge of the mattress and hit the bed frame with some considerable force. I let out an odd, whiny laugh as I hit my funny bone, and Gwyn, startled by the noise, jolted awake. Realising what I was trying to do, he helped me sit upright, then perched on the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Did I sleep all night? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You seemed peaceful,” he said through a yawn. “I thought you could do with the sleep. How are you feeling?”

“Better. My ankle doesn’t feel so sore. I think I’ll be able to walk on it if I don’t put too much weight on it. My arm still hurts, though. ”

He leaned in to inspect my bandaged arm, giving it a nod of approval, though I don’t think either of us knew what he was looking for.

“Do you have to be at work today?”

“I don’t have to be anywhere that you aren’t.”

“That’s not really an answer,” I said, screwing my face up at him.

“Well, technically, yes. But I’m not going in.”

“Won’t they fire you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. I’ll say I was sick. There’s no way I’m spending 12 hours down that mine when I’ve only just got you back.”

“Well, that’s responsible,” I said sarcastically. “Though to be honest, I wouldn’t be sorry to see you find work elsewhere. I heard your chest yesterday. It sounded awful.”

“It’s not so bad,” he said, trying to play it down.

“Can’t you find work in the fields again, somewhere?”

“We’ll worry about that later. Aren’t we looking for your brother today? Are you absolutely sure it was him you saw, not just someone who looks like him?”

“We’re twins, Gwyn. I’d recognise him anywhere.”

“Well, that’s as maybe, but I’ve been here for months now, and I’m sure I’d have noticed if I’d seen someone walking around with your face.”

“You said yourself. You’ve never been over to those offices before. You could easily have missed him.”

“Perhaps, or he could have been visiting from somewhere else, and nobody there will have any idea who he is.”

“Well, it’s as good a place to start as any. ”

He helped me to get cleaned up and dressed, and with great effort, we managed the stairs without me falling flat on my face. The pain in my foot had eased, but I still had to hobble and hold on to him for support.

We found Betty in the kitchen, sitting in front of the stove while she scrambled some eggs. Her breathing was somewhat laboured, and she only managed a slight smile as we took our seats around the table.

“Are you alright, Betty?” I asked, and she gave me a nod.

“It’s the heat,” she replied, taking another deep breath. “It will pass.”

“Let me finish up,” Gwyn said, and he grabbed the back of her chair and spun it round to face the table, relieving her of her duties.

“Where’s Nellie?” I asked. “Should we fetch her to look you over?”

“She left for the infirmary a little while ago. There’s no need to call her back, though. I’m alright, honestly.”

“Maybe you should leave the cooking for the rest of us,” Gwyn said as he placed the eggs down on the table next to the bread that had already been laid out. “If you get sick while you’re here, your mother will string us all up.”

“What will you be doing today?” Betty asked, diverting the conversation away from her health.

“We’re going to try and find my brother,” I replied as I reached for the loaf and started cutting slices. “I saw him at the mine yesterday, I think, so we’re going to start there. ”

“Should you be going out so soon?” she asked, casting her eyes over my sling. “You don’t want to do any more damage.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m more concerned about. Will you be alright here on your own while we’re gone?”

“I’m going to wander down to the town once I get my breath back,” she replied. “The air will do me good, and Joseph said…” She paused and looked between us, her cheeks flushing pink. “Oh, it doesn’t matter,” she added, looking away embarrassed, and I flashed a grin at Gwyn.

She took just a few tiny bites from the food on her plate, then excused herself to her room to get changed, and once Gwyn and I were finished, we called out our goodbyes and left for the mine.

The walk took twice as long as my first visit, and I had to hold on to Gwyn most of the way, but I eventually limped my way to the entrance and along the road to the offices.

“I’m not going to make it up the steps,” I said as we approached the buildings on the bridge over the tracks. “Can you go and ask someone to come down?”

“Or,” he said with a smirk, “maybe I could just go on up and ask for you?”

I rolled my eyes, conceding that it would be the better idea, and sat myself down on the steps while he went to enquire if anybody knew where I might find Lee.

The yard was filled with men loading wagons with coal. Young men, some who didn’t even look like they’d reached their teens, bagged, weighed, sorted and transported huge amounts of coal, ready to be shipped around the country and beyond.

One of the men, who’d been barking orders at a group by the weighing station, doffed his cap to me as he crossed the tracks under the bridge. “Looks like you’ve been in the wars, Mr Jacob,” he said before disappearing into one of the buildings nearby.

His words caught me by surprise but ultimately gave me hope. He’d obviously confused me for my brother, but the fact that he knew my name, Lee’s name, was proof that he was known around these parts. Now I just needed to hope that someone could point us in his general direction.

When Gwyn returned a few minutes later, he had a smug grin on his face and a piece of paper clutched in his fist. “I’ve got it. The woman gave me an address.”

“Let’s go then,” I said, pushing myself up onto my feet. “Do you know how to get there?”

“I do,” he replied, then he looked me up and down and screwed his face up at my injuries. “But you can’t walk it. It’ll take us all day with your leg like that.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“I could always put you in a barrow and push you there?” he said with a grin. “But a wagon is probably best, don’t you think?”

He let out a high-pitched whistle, catching the attention of a man several metres away, who was sitting on top of a horse with an empty loading wagon attached to the back.

“Can you take us to Victoria Gardens?” he shouted. “There’s a thruppence in it for you.” The man looked dubious, and Gwyn dug some coins from his pocket and began counting them. “A sixpence?” This time, the man tilted his head towards the cart, and Gwyn flashed me a triumphant grin.

He helped me onto the back, leaving my legs hanging just inches from the ground, and as he held my waist to keep me steady, the wagon driver shouted, and the horse began to move.

“I’ve never done this before,” I said excitedly, feeling a rush from our mode of transport despite the generally slow speed.

“Don’t let it ever be said that I don’t help you travel in style,” he replied with a grin.

I stared around the high street as we drove through, getting my first real look at it without the confines of a carriage or Betty’s head blocking the view. There were clothes shops and grocers, jewellers with fancy displays, and confectioners showing off trays of sweets. A pub called the Crown Inn stood out on one of the corners, and a chapel sat nestled between a police station and a bicycle store. Unlike Cwm Newydd, which had a single pub and post office, Bryncoed was bustling and new, and there seemed to be very little need to ever leave. Everything anyone could want was all there on the main road.

A little further along, we turned right into a more residential area. Unlike the cramped terraced side streets branching off the main road, this one was lined with trees, and tall, semi-detached houses stood on either side.

At the end of the road, we turned again into an even grander street. Four large houses, all detached and walled off from each other, circled around a cul-de-sac with a huge flower bed at its centre. The trees that surrounded the street were pruned neatly, the cobbled road was swept to perfection, and even the streetlamps looked like they’d been polished to a shine. It was definitely the fanciest area I’d seen on my travels around the town.

The cart driver circled around the flowers until he was facing back the way we’d came, and Gwyn helped me to get down before tossing him his payment and dipping his cap in thanks.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked as we hobbled over to the pavement.

“Well, it’s only been a few days for me,” I said, “but for him… God knows how he’ll react. Which one is it?”

He pointed to the house nearest us with two huge pillars on either side of its gate, each engraved with the word ‘Langcliffe’ in their upper stones. Nervously, I stepped under the neatly pruned topiary that arched over the entrance and stared through the iron bars at the imposing black door in the centre of the building.

Gwyn put a hand on my shoulder, sensing my nerves, but it did little to calm them.

“How did he afford all this?” I whispered, mostly to myself.

“Maybe we should go and ask him,” Gwyn replied.

I took a deep breath and looked to Gwyn for reassurance, then when I could put it off no more, I pushed through the gate and limped along the patterned tile path to the house.

“Are you ready?” he asked, and in response, I grabbed the heavy knocker on the door, and slammed it down three times.

“He’s going to be so pissed off,” I whispered .

As Gwyn opened his mouth to reply, the heavy door pulled open slightly. A woman in a maid’s uniform appeared in the gap, then jumped back, startled by the sight of me.

She looked over her shoulder, confused, then back to me again, her face pale. “Erm, Mr Jacob, I think it’s for you,” she called out.

I could hear rushed footsteps in the background that seemed to match the thumping in my chest, and as they got closer to us, the woman turned again, bowed her head, and then hurried away without a word. A moment later, the door swung open fully, and I was face-to-face with my brother once more.

He froze on the spot, silence hanging over us, and despite all the things I’d rehearsed in my head, I could think of no words to convey just how bad I felt.

“Lee, I’m…” I started, reaching out my hand, but his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, and he slammed the door in my face.