A faint glow flickered from each oil lamp that hung along the wall of the tunnel. The orange light cast itself over the rough-edged slobs and rutted rock surfaces, highlighting the dampness. Lucan pulled his coat tighter, ducked his head and hunched his broad shoulders. He could see small speckles of dust floating on the air in that dim light, could see the silhouettes of the men in front of him, see the mist from their breath and hear the sound of their footsteps.
He could smell their sweat.

Lucan walked with these men, dirt-stained and dusty, worn and old before their time and wondered if there was not more to life. How many of them would see their grandchildren born?

He trudged between the rails where tubs, pulled by pit ponies, carried coal to the cage. Lucan watched his feet, felt their heaviness from the day's shift, his boots filthy and tattered.
Focusing on his hand as it held his lunch cloth, he was amazed Kat ever let him touch her. The skin was cracked and callused, the dirt so ingrained, no matter how hard or much he scrubbed, they always stayed the same.

As the cage delivered him to the surface Lucan lifted his eyes to the sky. A fog shrouded the slag piles, oppressive and dim. He slung his bag over his shoulder, took the cap from his head, returned his light to the lamp house, and then ambled along Shunter Todd Road toward the old miner's cottages that surrounded the pithead.

"Lucan!" Jas Muller swaggered toward him. Not a tall man, but sinewy and tough, his features tinged blue with coal ash. "Foreman wants tae send me back to the shallow," Jas called. With eyes bright and alive he added, "He reckons the coggers need a hand. Scarper says no, but what would he ken? He ain't been in the pit as many years." Jas huffed. "You'd reckon the way he talks he was king of the face." Wiping mucus from his nose with his hand, Jas jerked his head in disgust. "Shat 'is trousers when the roof come down in winter of eighty-two." His chest rumbled as his body shook with humour. "Shite, everywhere there was!" A spasm of coughing seized him and stemmed the flow of laughter.

"Ah... Jas, you shouldn't let him get at you like you do." Lucan scratched the back of his head and crouched on his haunches to wait until the fit was over.

"Yea, I know." Jas covered his mouth and put a hand on his chest to ease the wheeze. "But I cannae help it. Wish you'd been there to see 'is face." He wiped away his spit leaving tell-tale red and black marks on his handkerchief.

Lucan stood and continued to walk.

"Where are you now, Luc?" Jas asked. "I'll get the foreman tae put me on the same road?"

"The middle, Jas. It's drawin' more."

Jas trotted to catch up. "You know, Luc, it amazes me you can work as a faceman?"

"Why?" Lucan cocked his head and smirked. "I have two arms and two legs."

"Well, most are short and stocky like me. With your height." Jas shrugged. "I wonder how it don't hinder you?" He took off his cap and slapped it against his thigh. Dust billowed around him as he added, "They place bets you know?"

"Bets on what?" Lucan chuckled, shifted the weight of his pack and looked down on his friend.

"They wager on your stamina and strength. See if they can match you. Most give up in the end."

"Who do you put stakes on?" Lucan asked not believing what he was hearing.

"You." Jas smirked. "I've made a fair bit of money out of you when a new one comes along."

Lucan roared with laughter. "How come I've never heard about this? I might have wanted to bet on meself and make some money."

"Yea..." Jas chuckled. "And you might have slowed up. Bet on the other. We couldn't take that chance."

Lucan continued to laugh and shook his head in dismay.

"Kat had the bairn yet, Luc?"

Still smiling, Lucan thumped Jas in the arm. "No. Today perhaps."

"You'll be wantin' a loun? Every man I know want sons."

"I'm wantin' a quine, Jas. One who looks just like Kat."

"I've only daughters and I'm glad." Jas hung his head and sighed. "I wouldn't want a lad to have my life."

They walked to the corner and said their farewells.

Lucan smiled at the thought of Kat, his butterfly, pale-skinned with a sprinkling of freckles, hidden by a mass of fair curly hair. He marvelled at how they didn't seem to match but, she was perfect, made just for him. Every day when Lucan left the pit, he thought of Kat. They had been married four years and she was close to delivering their second child.

She'd be at the stove preparing his meal. Thick bread spread with dripping and toasted over the fire so you didn't know it was stale. They'd sit across from each other and drink strong tea from tin mugs. Kat didn't care that they couldn't afford pretty china ones but Lucan knew for her next birthday he would buy a special one, just for her, and when things improved, he hoped to move Kat and the children to a better place.

The street was alive with people ending their day. A wagon full of cream canisters tumbled by. Its wheels jolted in a water-filled pothole. Lucan jumped back to avoid the splash.

Turning into the lane where his house was, Lucan sat on the step to take off his boots. He heard Covey calling for his mama to open the door so he hid out of sight. Covey's small face peered through the gap, he frowned, sure of his father's return.

"Arr!" Lucan growled and lunged at his son; his hands held like claws.

Covey squealed and ran inside.

Lucan followed, stamping his feet on the flagstone floor. "Where is he woman? Where is me meal? I be wantin' geat for tea this evening, for I am very hungry," he roared as he continued to stomp about the room.

Shrieking, Covey skidded around the table and hid in his mother's skirts.

Wrapping his arms around his wife, Lucan nuzzled her neck and rumbled, "If I can't have boy, then woman it be."

She laughed and slapped him lightly with the knife she was using to spread dripping on his bread. "Lucan. Stop. You'll be givin' him nightmares next!"

Releasing her and scooping up his son, Lucan said, "Do you think I'd eat you, laddie?"

Covey shook his head and grinned. "Do it 'gain, Da. Do it 'gain."

Lucan put Covey on the floor and played until Kat said it was time for tea.

She stood beside him with plate in hand. Lucan caressed her large stomach and said, "And how is me little lass the day?"

"Lucan, the bairn may be another loun you ken."

"Yea, I ken, the bairn may be a loun, but if I keep telling the Geat, she's a quine, she will be." He grinned at Kat and continued, "So you didnae answer me, is she any closer the day?"

Kat giggled; Lucan's broad Irish brogue didn't suit Scottish terms. They just didn't come out sounding the way they should. She shook her head. "Nae... no nearer than yesterday." Kat took her seat and gave him a stern look over the top of her mug. She said, "I hope you won't be disappointed if it's another laddie, Lucan."

He chewed thoughtfully on a mouthful of food, his jaw muscles flexed in a half grin and his azure eyes glimmered  before saying, "Whatever you give me, Kat, I'll not be disappointed."  Grinning  some more he added, "But a little lassie that's just like you would be lovely."

She laughed. He filled her with his spirit and made her heart skip a beat every time he looked at her. With a mock grim look, she said, "You won't give up, will you?"

He shook his head, his heart soaring at the sound her beautiful mouth made. He loved her crooked front teeth and small delicate lips. Raising his eyebrows in thought he said, "Do you think Missus Hare would take Covey for a bit?"

Pinning him with her eyes, Kat beamed and said, "And what would you be havin' in mind, Mister Hayes?"

His smile was mischievous, it played on his face. "I'm thinkin' me wife needs to show me she loves me." Lucan released his breath and gazed at her forlornly. "That is if she feels up to it."

Kat laughed again. He was so masculine but played the child very well. She came around the table, pushed dark hair from his blue eyes, saw the sparkle within, and then kissed him. "I'll see what I can do," she whispered. Touching his face with her finger, Kat wiped the dirt from his cheek and added, "But you'll need tae be cleaner than you are before I come back."

*****

The room was walled by smoke-stained timber and dark musky shadows. Kat leaned against the old wooden doorframe and watched Lucan.  He stood like a God amongst their meagre possessions, naked to the waist, washing the grime from his body. The candlelight licked at his golden taut skin and danced across his work-hardened muscles.

He sensed she was near; his flesh rippled as his awareness felt the essence of her. She moved towards him. Lucan looked on as if in a dream. He watched as her hand reached out, and then her fingers stroked his chest. He let the washcloth fall from his grasp, gently drew in his breath and absorbed her touch. Lucan stepped forward, reached out and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. He inhaled at the feel of her skin.

Marvelling at the power she had over him, he moved closer and stared into her clear cobalt eyes. His large fingers pulled at a curl as he murmured, "You don't have to if you're not feelin' well." Barely breathing, tense with anticipation, he took a heavier breath when she smiled and released it as her hand ran over his chest and down to touch his abdomen.

Lucan's stomach muscles tightened, he studied Kat's eyes and saw the knowing within as she leaned toward him, her warm breath in his ear. "I want to, Lucan."

He held her face with both hands and brushed his lips against hers. Lucan loved the feel of her breath, warm on his neck, her skin, supple and moist against his. He undid her bodice and slid his hand under the fabric to touch her now full breasts. He rubbed his palm over her backside and drew her towards him, wanting to be pressed against her.

"God... Kat..." he sighed, pushed her gown down over her shoulders and looked at her. "You're so beautiful." Lucan bent his head, kissed her nipple and let the dress fall to the floor. In the candlelight, he admired her, drank in the sight of her, and then knelt before her.

Lucan placed his cheek against her stomach, kissed her there and felt the life it contained. He stood and lifted Kat, held her in his strong sure arms and laid her gently on the bed, before stripping off his trousers.

Smiling, Lucan slid in beside her and ran his hand over her swollen stomach once more. "Ah... Kat. It amazes me how a man's seed can cause all this". He brought his lips to hers and tasted her mouth. Lucan touched Kat's body, moved his fingers to trace her contours and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. "I love to touch ya, Kat. I love the feel of you."

Her breathing changed as she moved in time with Lucan's caress. She sighed as he kissed her neck, and whispered, "Lucan..."

He took hold of her small hip, turned her away from him, and then pressed against the warm smooth skin of her behind. The feel of her was intoxicating, intensifying Lucan's desire. The heat of his urgency seared through him, and his senses heightened against her velvety warmth. He moved backwards and forwards, put his forehead against her, closed his eyes and let the sensations he felt consume him.

Struggling to breathe, Lucan tried to hold onto the moment. His breath caught in his throat as his body surged. Taking in quick short gasps, he held Kat tighter not wanting to leave her.

When he recovered, he rolled Kat toward him and touched her face with his fingers. He looked into her eyes, played with her hair, pulled on the curls and watched as they sprang back to sit on her shoulders. "I wish I could take you away from here," he murmured. "I wish I was more skilled so I could earn more money ta buy you beautiful things."

She kissed him, smiled and whispered, "Lucan... tis only you that I need."

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed meeting Lucan, Kat, Covey and Jas.

Photo copyright. The Conservation - Coal and industrial relation.