‘I hope it stops raining for Saturday, although that’s of little concern, compared to what you’ve been through today, Father.’ Lucy looked at her shaken father and knew that losing Providence Row would be hurting him. ‘You’ll have to rebuild,’ she said quickly.
‘No brass, lass. And anyway the land’s not fit to build on, and who’d want to live next to the flay-pits again? We were glad to leave it all behind. No, we’ve got to let it go and make the best of what we’ve got. At least we will have got you off our hands, come Saturday, and we know that you’ll be looked after and cared for. It’s up to me to make sure the rest of the family are looked after and get decent jobs. I don’t want my three lads working in the pits; they deserve something better. It’s a mucky, hard job and it doesn’t pay that well. Let me be the last generation to work there.’ Bill looked at his family and silently thanked the Lord that he was still with them and had survived the afternoon’s events.
By the following morning the rain had eased and the sun was trying hard to break through.
‘There’s enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers,’ Lucy said as she opened the front door of High Ground and looked out on the sodden moorland, with abundant white-watered springs gushing down the hillside. ‘I’ll go and rescue my chrysanthemums from Adam. They’ll keep now, if I pick them for Saturday. But I’ll walk to the flay-pits with you first, Father – not that I’ll relish seeing the devastation the storm has brought.’
‘Well, you both take care. I’ll not be coming with you, as it’ll break my heart. It was our first home, and I know it wasn’t the most glamorous of places, but it hurts to think there’s nothing left of it now.’ Dorothy sighed. ‘I bet folk will come to look at it from far and wide – there’s nothing they like more than revelling in somebody else’s misfortune.’
‘Aye, I know. That’s why we’ve got to be away. It’ll be a shock for the workers that left early yesterday – they’ll not know what’s happened.’ Bill pulled on his jerkin and donned his cap as he made for the door. ‘Your skirts will be sodden by the time you get to Black Moss, there’s that much water on the ground.’ He looked at Lucy, thinking she must be more desperate to see Adam than the flowers, if she was to accompany him to work and then go on to Black Moss.
‘It doesn’t matter, it’s only water. If I don’t go today, I’ll never get there, as it’s the eve of my wedding tomorrow and we will all be too busy. Adam’s got Ivy and her husband visiting, although they are staying at the Brown Cow in Keighley. And I want my last day of being single to be with my mother at home.’ Lucy pulled her shawl around her shoulders and waited for her father.
‘Very well then, but you’ll be upset by what you see.’ Bill looked at Dorothy and shook his head. There was no convincing Lucy to stay at home, despite the mud and rain that would ruin her skirts.
Bill was right. There was a crowd gathered around the sinkhole and what remained of Providence Row when they arrived at the flay-pits. The gable end, which had been upright when Bill left, had now also fallen into the abyss and, along with it, a small part of the yard. Bill felt his stomach churn and his head go light as he realized it was the lime pit that held their secret that had slipped into the chasm. He looked down into the depths of the hole and hoped that nothing of their deeds was visible. People around him shook their heads and patted him on the back, muttering words of consolation, before talking amongst themselves and looking at Bill and his daughter.
‘Well, there’s not much left, is there?’ Lucy looked around her at the destruction. ‘Looks like it’s taken the lime pit as well,’ she said, not adding any other comment, but knowing that her father knew full well what she was thinking.
‘Aye, happen for the best, lass. Things always happen for a reason. Perhaps it was time to move on. The old place knew it had been abandoned, and so nature reclaimed it.’ Bill paused. ‘At least I still have my living, and that’s the main thing. Time to get these gawping workers of mine back to work, else they’ll look down that hole all day. They can do that when they help me fill it in, with the rubble and soil from up above the flay-pits. Time to bury the past and move on. What’s done is done, and there’s no going back. You go and see that fella of yours and enjoy your life, because it will be over all too soon, and there will be things that come and challenge you both in your life that you can do nothing about.’ Completely out of character, Bill gave Lucy a swift hug and then pushed her on her way to the man who had replaced him in her heart. She had all her life in front of her, and he was sure it would be a better one than he could ever offer her, if Lucy stayed at home.
‘I’ve missed you.’ Lucy held Adam close. ‘I know it’s only been a few days, but I’ve counted the minutes, even the seconds,’ she whispered as he kissed her and looked into her eyes.
‘And I have missed you. The place doesn’t feel the same nowadays if you are not here,’ Adam whispered. ‘Not long now, and you’ll be here permanently as my wife.’
‘I’m not staying, as we both have
