The River Folk
Page 38
Her father was at her side. ‘Throw him this, love,’ he said gently as he handed her a piece of coal from the cargo they were carrying.
‘It’s no use, Dad,’ she said, her voice breaking. ‘He . . . he’s not forgiven me.’
‘Go on, love. Just try it.’ He pushed the piece of coal into her hands and hurried back to the tiller.
Lizzie balanced it in her hand and then threw it towards Tolly. It landed a little way beyond him, then rolled down the slope, coming to rest at his feet.
If he picks it up, she told herself, he loves me still. Or even if he smiles, or just – just waves. Anything, she found herself praying, just to show me that he forgives me. Please, oh please, Tolly. Don’t you know how much I love you? Don’t you know it was you all the time? Only I was too blind, too stupid to see it.
She found she was holding her breath as slowly the ship slid by the man standing on the bank. Tolly was perfectly still, his gaze upon her following the movement of the vessel as it carried her by him. Across the expanse of water, they stared at each other. The young man, solemn-faced, the girl, her dark eyes anxious, her lips parted.
Then slowly, oh so slowly, Tolly bent down. His fingers grasped the piece of coal and then, just as slowly, he straightened up. A smile spread across his mouth as he raised his hand to wave to her.
For a moment, tears blurred her vision as she raised her own trembling hand.
Behind him, Susan moved out of the cottage doorway and came to stand beside her son, linking her arm through his.
Susan waved too, although she was looking not at her, Lizzie noticed with surprise, but at Dan.
Lizzie turned to glance at her father, standing with his hand resting on the tiller of his ship. His gaze, however, was not, for once, on the river ahead, but on the woman standing on the riverbank.
The smile, which lit his eyes with a happiness for so long unknown, spread across his face and, as Lizzie watched, Dan raised his hand and waved to Susan.
The River Folk
Born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson moved to the coast at the age of seven and so began her love for the sea and the Lincolnshire landscape.
Her ambition to be a writer began early and she had her first novel published at the age of twenty-five. This was followed by thirteen further titles, including Plough the Furrow, Sow the Seed and Reap the Harvest, which make up her Lincolnshire Fleethaven trilogy, and her most recent novels, The Fisher Lass and The Tulip Girl. Married with two grown-up daughters, Margaret Dickinson combines a busy working life with her writing career.
www.margaret-dickinson.co.uk
ALSO BY MARGARET DICKINSON
Plough the Furrow
Sow the Seed
Reap the Harvest
The Miller’s Daughter
Chaff Upon the Wind
The Fisher Lass
The Tulip Girl
Acknowledgements
My birthplace, Gainsborough, is the inspiration for the setting of this novel although the story is entirely fictitious. I am very grateful to the members of The Delvers Local History Group (Gainsborough) and also to the Gainsborough and District Heritage Centre, for information and help received from their publications and exhibitions.
The Maid Mary Ann is modelled on the keel Comrade, now owned by the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society. My sincere thanks to the members of the society and, in particular, to the crew of Comrade for a wonderful day’s sailing on the Humber and for answering all my questions. (Any errors are mine, not theirs!)
My love and thanks to friends, Barry and Margaret Watson. Thank you for coming sailing on the Humber with me, Barry, and for not jumping ship when I was allowed to take the tiller!
I would also like to pay tribute to the book, Humber Keels and Keelmen, by the late Fred Schofield, formerly owner of Comrade. This book was a wonderful source of inspiration and information.
As always, my love and thanks to my family and friends for their loyal encouragement and support and special thanks to Zoë and Scott for setting up my web site. www.margaret-dickinson.co.uk
First published 2001 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2011 by Pan Books
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ISBN 978-1-447-21753-4 EPUB
Copyright © Margaret Dickinson 2001
The right of Margaret Dickinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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