by Tess Oliver
The continuous miner had finally stopped behind us. The roof and ribs of the mine groaned and creaked before collapsing. The ground beneath me shook, throwing me off my feet. I landed hard on my side. The wind was knocked from me. As I struggled to get it back, I sucked in dust. I fell into a coughing fit and couldn’t find enough clean air to recover.
I squinted up ahead but could no longer see Dawson or his light. Still coughing, I pushed to my feet, taking tiny sips of the acrid air. I made my way with only the light of my helmet to lead me.
It seemed as if I’d been walking forever, alone and in the dark. Then voices and alarms and red flashing lights showed me the way out. I reached the surface. The daylight was completely muted by the float dust.
Kooley, one of the supervisors, grabbed my arm. “Kellan, thank god you’re all right. Is Dawson with you?”
“He was ahead of me, but there was another collapse and I lost my footing.” I looked around. “Dawz!” I yelled.
“Haven’t seen him come out yet,” Peters, the man in charge of head counts, yelled back.
I turned to go back in. Kooley grabbed for my arm, but I yanked it out of his reach. “Braddock, you can’t go back inside.”
I pushed back through the curtain of dust and headed back down the passageway to find Dawson.
Chapter 33
Rylan
I placed my suitcases down at the entry to the dining room. Dad was sitting alone at the massive mahogany dining table having a poached egg as if everything was perfectly fine. He looked up from the newspaper next to his plate. “Rylan. Your mom went into the city to shop.” He spotted my suitcases. His white brows lifted. “You’re leaving?”
“Don’t look so shocked, Dad. Besides, it’s what you wanted, me away from this town, away from Kellan. It seems, once again, your plan was a success. This one might even pass the seven year limit of the last plan.”
His beard twitched. “You’re not making sense. Come sit down and have some breakfast. I certainly don’t want you to leave here mad at us.”
“Too late, Dad.”
He put down his fork and leaned back against the chair. “Rylan, I’m sorry about Chase. You are right. It was a bad decision.”
I walked into the room but didn’t sit at the table. “I know what you did, Dad.”
“Rylan, you’re talking in circles. Come sit.”
“I don’t want to sit. And I’m not talking in circles. You’re just not listening. Grad night. That awful night when you saw your little girl inconsolably broken. You were the cause of it. You paid Jason Meade to threaten Kellan to stay away from me.”
The expression on his face was one of guilt and resignation. He wasn’t even going to try and deny it. “I only told him to let Kellan know that his job was in question if he continued to keep in touch with you.” He fingered the newspaper. “I didn’t realize that Jason had some old scores to settle himself. I never would have told him to hurt the boy. That was all on Jason. You were leaving off to college. I just wanted to give you a chance to start fresh without ties to Bluefield.”
“You mean without ties to Kellan, the unsuitable match for your daughter. Then, even knowing just how awful Jason was, you paid him again to break us apart.”
His lips drew thin, nearly disappearing completely behind his white facial hair. “I merely told him that if he had any opportunity to find something that would—”
“Break my heart? Well done then, because you’ve succeeded again.” Tears filled my eyes. “Dad, you were a wonderful father, and you always supported me in everything I did . . . but this. I’ve been in love with Kellan since I was a teenager. That has not ever changed.” A loud, irritating bell sounded in the distance, but I was fully into the speech I’d been practicing in my head all night. I worried that if I stopped, I might lose my nerve. “But our relationship, the one between us, has become brittle. And I don’t know if it will ever be strong again.”
I knew my words would sting, but the look on his face was not hurt. He’d tuned me out and turned his head toward the sound of the bell. That’s when it hit me. It was a sound I’d heard twice as a little girl.
My throat went dry. “Is it from the mine? The alarm that something has happened?”
His phone rang before he could confirm it. “Yes, this is Merritt.” His face blanched nearly as white as his beard. “Any casualties or trapped miners?”
I grabbed the back of the dining chair to keep myself upright.
“I’ll be right there.” He avoided looking at me.
“Dad, what is it? What’s happened?”
“A collapse. I need to get over there.”
I followed closely at his heels as he went to collect his hard hat and coat.
“I’m coming with you,” I said. “Everyone else in town, anyone with a loved one down in that mine will be there. I will be too. Waiting for my loved one.”
He stopped for a second. I was sure he’d say no. He nodded and we hurried out to the car.
It seemed all traffic, both wheeled and pedestrian was heading toward the mine. A roof fall or explosion was rare nowadays, thankfully. But there was never any way to ignore the fact that the people who went down into the mine each day were putting their lives at risk.
The sight of red flashing lights and emergency vehicles sent an icy shiver through me as Dad pulled his car up to the parking area. A crowd of worried onlookers stood embracing and comforting each other as they waited for news.
“You’ll have to stay back here with the others, Rylan.” Dad put on his yellow hard hat and headed toward an area that had been roped off with caution tape.
I walked to the circle of townsfolk who were waiting for news. Some of the miners had already emerged unscathed and were giving quick hugs and reassurances to their loved ones before heading back to the hub of activity near the entry to the main. I scoured the chaos and the blur of coveralls and miner’s caps for the familiar face, for my reassurance, but I couldn’t find Kellan.
“Rylan Merritt, right?” a woman’s voice said from behind.
I spun around. It was hard not to show shock. It wasn’t the fact that Lilly Upton had dared to approach me as much as it was the terrible black and blue marks on her face.
It took me a second to find my voice. “Yes. Lilly, right?” She was of course the last person I needed to see at that moment. I briefly wondered if she was there to wait for Kellan too. At the moment, I didn’t care as long as Kellan was safe.
She glanced back toward the mine. “Just came up to make sure my dad and my friends were safe. Kellan went back inside. He came out but found that Dawson was still trapped inside. He rushed back in.” She glanced over the heads of the onlookers. “Doesn’t surprise me though. That’s just the way he is.” She pointed to her face. “Kellan saved my life. I heard there was a picture going around.”
I opened my mouth to talk, but she placed her hand on my arm to stop me.
“I didn’t have anyone else to call. He risked his life and came to Browning.” Tears clouded her eyes. “He loves you.” She laughed weakly, but it seemed to strain the cut on her lip. She reached up and pressed her fingers against it. She took a deep breath. “Much to my dismay and to the dismay of half the girls in this town. Kellan Braddock has only ever had eyes for one person and that is you. Just thought you should know.”
I swallowed hard to keep from crying. “Thank you, Lilly. And I hope things get better for you.”
“They will. Especially now that I’m back here in Bluefield. Guess this dirty old town is hard to let go of, eh?”
I nodded. “It really is, Lilly.”
She placed her hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be coming out any minute.”
“Yes. I’m sure too.”
She walked away. The crowd was thinning as some of the miners
had been released to go home. There would be no more work today. It seemed most of the workers were out and some of the sense of urgency had diminished. I still couldn’t find Kellan or Dawson anywhere in the sea of faces. With the chaos slightly lessened, I decided to break past the barrier of onlookers. I moved closer to the action.
Tommy was wandering around looking more than a little uptight.
“Tommy,” I called as I raced to him.
He turned around. He, like the others, was covered head to toe in black dust. “Rylan.”
“Have you seen them yet?”
“No. I guess the collapse was in the room they were working. Kellan came out fast, but when he heard Dawson hadn’t emerged, he went back inside.”
Dad spotted me and walked over.
“Dad, I’m not going to go any closer. Is there any word about Kellan and Dawson?”
“Nothing yet. They are the last two still inside. Rescuers went as far as they could, but the roof fall was extensive in the area they were working.”
I covered my mouth to keep from crying. Dad put his arm around me.
Tommy pointed toward the mine entry. “There they are!”
Cheers and clapping thundered through the air. I hopped up on tiptoes but couldn’t see over the heads. Tommy’s hands suddenly clamped around my waist and he lifted me up like a parent might lift a kid to see a passing parade. I cried in relief as I watched the two men, both covered so heavily with float dust that they were hardly recognizable, walk out of the mine. Dawson had his arm around Kellan’s shoulder and his left foot was dragging behind.
“Shit, Dawz must have broken his leg,” Tommy said, his voice wavering with obvious relief.
Dad headed in their direction. I followed. He turned and started to tell me to stay back, but the determined look on my face assured him that wasn’t going to happen. By the time we reached the staging area where the medics were checking the injured, Dawson was being lifted onto a gurney. Kellan stood with him until they rolled him toward the triage area.
I broke through the line of miners and emergency workers. I stood a few feet away. He hadn’t seen me yet. He looked dazed and tired and relieved and dirty. Very dirty. His blue eyes, the only thing still visible through the dust, landed on me. He stared at me for a second as if he was trying to figure out if I was just an illusion.
But I wasn’t. He wasn’t. Everything between us was real. I raced to him, tears of relief filling my eyes and my chest aching to be in his grit covered arms.
“I’m covered in dust, Lanie,” he warned as I dove into his embrace.
“Thought I’d lost you.”
“You can never lose me, Lanie. Never.”
“Kellan,” Dad’s deep voice came from behind. Kellan reluctantly lowered his arms.
I turned around. Dad lifted a brow at my charcoal covered clothes and face. “Dad—”
“Kellan,” Dad continued, “the supervisor will have to write you up for going back into the mine.”
“I understand,” Kellan said. “I’d do it again.”
Dad nodded. “I’m sure you would.” He walked forward and stuck out his hand.
Kellan stared down at my dad’s clean palm for a second before placing his grit-covered hand in my dad’s.
“Even with a reprimand, there isn’t anyone out here who didn’t consider it a true act of courage. Most of us would like to think we had friends who would risk their lives for us, but few of us really have that.” Dad’s beard was beginning to catch the dust from the air, and the snowy white hair was beginning to turn gray. He looked at me as he continued. “It seems I’ve been an ignorant ass.” He turned his attention to Kellan again. “I’m sorry.”
Kellan nodded.
I put my arms around Dad and hugged him tightly.
“Can you ever forgive me, Rylan?” he asked.
“I imagine in time. Besides, your punishment will make you think about what you’ve done.”
“Punishment?” he asked.
“You have to tell mom that I’m staying and that I’m going to be with Kellan whether she likes it or not.”
“Sounds fair. Now, I’ve got to go meet with the board to find out just how much damage has been done.” Dad walked away.
I turned back to Kellan. “I should never have doubted you. I won’t let it happen again.”
His arm curled around me and he pulled me into his embrace. “See that you don’t.” He kissed me. “It’s only ever been you, Lanie. I love you.”
Chapter 34
Rylan
I pulled my coat tighter around me and stood behind Kellan as he fiddled with the padlock on the gate. “I can’t believe you still have the custodian’s keys.”
He pushed the gate open and we snuck inside the school grounds.
I glanced around. “Everything looks smaller and less intimidating.”
Kellan reached back and took hold of my hand. He led me across the track toward the pale yellow school gym. The sun had just set, and the fringes of winter were upon us, making the air bitterly cold.
Kellan pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head. “You’re right. The place does seem smaller now. I was so fucking glad to get out of here.”
We crept past the girls’ locker room. “I was glad never to see the inside of that smelly locker room again. And don’t get me started about the leathery faced old biddy who taught physical education. Her whole day consisted of blowing that damn whistle and yelling at us until the veins stood out on her leathery neck.”
Kellan shot a quick glance at the locker room. “I kind of liked the inside of that locker room.”
“Oh?”
“When you girls were in changing, we guys would jump up and grab the ledge of those upper windows to look inside. The glass was clouded, but you could get some nice glimpses if you pulled yourself up at the right moment.”
“Jeez, almost wish you hadn’t told me. Perverts, the whole lot of you.”
“Pretty much.”
We reached the utility door that led to the roof. He unlocked the door, and we slipped inside. It was cold and stark and much how I remembered it. Kellan’s strong, callused hand was wrapped around mine again too. Just how I remembered it.
“Maybe I should have dragged out my satin grad night dress. Guess it might have been too cold.”
He peered back at me as he led me up the metal steps. “Think that’s how the trouble started last time too.” He unlocked the door to the roof and we stepped outside. It was still the unsightly maze of air conditioner units and electrical boxes.
“Exactly why are we here again?” I asked.
“Wanted to celebrate your new job at the local newspaper and your parents’ new acceptance of me and of us. And . . .” He led me to the side of the roof where he’d left me standing that night seven years ago. He stopped and turned to me. “I thought we could start this whole darn thing from the beginning.” His hands took hold of my face and he kissed me.
Tommy’s story is next!
Dirty Talk
Coming soon
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