The Lady and the Mountain Doctor (Mountain Dreams Series Book 2) by Misty M. Beller

Author:Misty M. Beller [Beller, Misty M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Misty M. Beller Books, Inc.
Published: 2015-04-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

It must have been a quarter hour later when Miriam heard male voices inside the headframe. Shouts mostly, one or two sharp words called over the noise of the metal. With another ear-piercing squeal, the gears ground to a halt, leaving behind a silence so eerie it raised goose bumps on Miriam's arms.

A white cloud drifted from the opening. Miriam blinked. Men walked inside the hazy fog. The dark movement of their boots was visible at the bottom, and as the cloud cleared, caps and dark faces appeared at the top.

"Is that…steam?" She couldn't take her eyes from the uncanny sight.

"Yep. The men have worked up such a sweat underground, when they reach the cold air at the surface, their clothes freeze stiff. The steam is the heat from their bodies melting their frozen clothing."

The miners trudged toward the road, limited words spoken between them. Every few seconds, one of them would cough. Weariness weighed down every step they took, pressing down broad shoulders so they looked like a defeated lot of men. Miriam's heart squeezed and tears burned the backs of her eyes. Everything in her cried out to help these men, but what could she do? They'd put in a hard day's work, but it was likely the same thing they did every day. Week after week.

That horrible squeal sounded again, sending Miriam's heart into double time at the suddenness of it.

"The cage is going down to bring up another load of miners. Shall we head back now?" Alex's thumb rubbed her arm through the coat.

"All right." Miriam swallowed down the lump in her throat.

As they drove, the image of those faces, so soot-streaked they were almost black, played over and over in her mind. "Alex."

"Hmm…" His chin rested on her hair for just a moment.

"Why would men keep working in the mines? It looks like a terrible way to live. Down in the ground all day, not coming to the surface until dark. So exhausted they can barely walk home. Why don't they find other jobs?"

Alex was quiet for so long, she almost looked up to make sure he was awake. At last he spoke. "For most of them, it's the only work they know how to do. They're not skilled at a trade, like blacksmithing or carpentry. A lot of them came over from Ireland. Some during the potato famine years back. There's nothing else for them to do. In the cities, they would starve to death." He stopped speaking, and his shoulders lifted as he inhaled a deep breath. "It's an awful life."

With a flash of awareness, Miriam saw Alex as a boy in that life. He was Irish. He'd come from a big city. Had his family almost starved to death? But his father was skilled, right? Hadn't Alex said he was an apothecary? Did that mean Alex's life had been different than so many of his countrymen? She didn't dare ask. How did one go about inquiring if a man came from

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