Read Online The Miner's Lady by Tracie Peterson - Free Book Online Page B

over here!” She waved and pointed to them. “See, Mama, the boys are fine.”
    â€œWhere’s your papa?” Mama questioned as her sons closed the distance between them.
    â€œHe’s . . . he’s trapped, Mama.” Marco’s expression was grave. “I don’t know how bad it is. Alfredo and I had just headed up the shaft to see a load of ore to the top. Then the explosion came. We don’t know what happened.”
    Mama’s eyes remained dry, but Chantel could hear the sorrow in her mother’s voice as she pounded her fist against her breast. “Cuore del mio cuore.” Heart of my heart.
    It was something Chantel had often heard her mother calltheir father. She put her arm around Mama’s shoulders and looked to Marco. “What are they doing to get them out?”
    â€œThere’s a whole team down there digging.”
    As if to offer proof, someone called out, “They’re bringing one up!”
    The crowd fell silent. It was a heavy, eerie silence that wrapped itself around the gathering like a shroud. Chantel gave a shiver, but not from the cold. Father Buh moved toward the shaft opening. When the man’s lifeless body was brought out of the mine, the priest knelt beside him.
    â€œI cannot see who it is,” Mama said, gripping Chantel’s arm hard.
    â€œIt’s not Papa,” Alfredo said. He moved away from them to draw closer to the dead man. In a moment he returned. Across the way a woman began to wail in anguish. “It’s Paulo Conti,” he said, meeting Chantel’s eyes.
    The painful waiting continued, punctuated by the sobbing of several women. As the women figured out which of their family members were safe and which were unaccounted for, the crying grew louder. Many of the Panettas’ dear friends gathered around the family to offer Mama and the family comfort. Each knew it could well be their loved one buried beneath the rubble next time.
    â€œThey’re sending another one up.”
    Marco and Alfredo hurried toward the shaft opening. Machinery hummed and the ground even shook a bit. Chantel knew her brothers would let the family know if it turned out to be their father. She saw her sister, who was busy scanning the crowd for Orlando.
    â€œSecure the hoist!” someone called.
    Hearing this, Chantel moved away from her mother. She knew the other women would see to her and for reasons beyond her understanding, she needed to see what was happening. She drew closer to the shaft tower where earlier she’d seen Dante. He wasn’t there now, but several other men were.
    Boldly, knowing it wasn’t her place, Chantel moved toward the men. “Do they know what happened?” The men looked at her oddly. “My father is down there—he’s one of them.”
    Understanding instantly filled their eyes. “Premature explosion,” one of the men explained. “A charge went off in the area where the men were working. No one knows why. It collapsed the stope.”
    The blood- and dust-caked body of the next man surfaced, and Chantel could see that it wasn’t her father. She didn’t know who the man was, but he was hardly more than a boy. Father Buh moved from Mr. Conti’s body to the still youth. The priest moved the boy’s arm to place it atop his body, revealing a broken bone through a huge gash in the forearm.
    She shuddered and turned—right into the arms of Dante Calarco. He said nothing as she pushed away, but when their eyes met she could see his sadness. “Orlando?” she barely managed to whisper.
    â€œHe’s fine. My father, too.”
    She nodded. “My father . . .” She couldn’t say anything else.
    â€œI know,” he replied in a whisper.
    She looked back to where the Conti family was lifting up the body of their fallen loved one. Sadly no one came forward for the younger man. Chantel felt a deep sorrow for the