“It was like being on a cloud.” Pansy thought for a moment. “Do you think she’ll take me flying again?”
Briar examined the straight back, narrowed eyebrows, and pinched lips of Prudence as she listened to Fanny’s enthusiastic telling of what went on in the spinning room.
“No, darling. I think that was it. Store up the memory in your heart so you can tell your own daughter one day.” Like Mam told us. Briar shook her head. Oh, the questions she had for her mam.
Miss Olive came in with a cup of tea and handed it to her. The cup rattled in the saucer as Briar took it. Now that she was safe, the shock of it all was overwhelming. In the moment, one does what needs to be done, but anything could have happened in that room. To the boys, to her.
“They told us how flammable the room was, but I had no idea it could catch fire so fast.”
Miss Olive nodded. “And you got everyone out. Your mam would have been quite proud of the woman you are becoming.”
Briar gasped, her heart warming at the thought of her mother’s approval. “You knew her?”
“We spoke once. When she first started at the mill and shared with me her concern that you’d have to join her. And you did. And now you have fulfilled her wishes for you.”
But she hadn’t. She had no home for the children, and no way to keep them together. Prudence didn’t need to protect any girl in Sunrise Valley anymore, so they were on their own. Maybe the Princes could take the children now that the spindle was gone. She’d ask them next time she saw them.
Jack interrupted by patting Briar’s arm. “I wanna watch them put out the fire an’ see the fire wagon come. May I go back?”
“No, you curious thing,” she said with a smile, happy that she’d thought of another way to keep the children together. “You’ll want to join right in and carry a bucket.”
“Can I?” Jack’s face lit up at the idea. “Please, Bri? I want to make sure Henry is okay.”
“Let’s watch on the porch.” Briar was worried about Henry, too. He would want to go to the exact location where the fire started to make sure the spindle was gone. He’d need to know he and his family really were free.
By the time Briar and the children had gotten to the door, a flood of boardinghouse girls in their nightclothes came streaming down the stairs, all blurry-eyed and wanting to know what was going on.
“Was that the fire bell?”
“What’s happening?”
Miss Olive came in to restore order. “Listen. Listen, girls. Our mill has caught fire. But don’t you worry. You are all safe here. I’m sure they’ll have it out in no time.”
“Fire!” The flood of girls continued out the door, pushing Briar and the children outside with them.
The dancing orange glow stood out against the dark sky. There were distant shouts and clangs from the horse-drawn fire wagons. All the boardinghouses up the road had their doors open and the mill operatives spilling out of them to see what was going on.
Miss Olive wouldn’t let her girls get closer. She stood on the street with her arms open and waving her charges back into the yard. “Stay put. You can see just fine from here.”
“Briar! You’re back,” someone called out, noticing her standing with the children. Quickly, the mill girls gathered around her. “Are you feeling better?”
“Completely healed,” she said, glancing at Miss Olive.
“Look at that,” said Lizbeth as there was a distant crash and a flare of orange. “There go our jobs.”
“We can move to the new mill,” said someone. “They’ll take us since we don’t need training.”
Ethel shrugged. “We can check with the other factories in town first. Shame to leave all our friends.” She smiled at Briar and Mim.
Briar smiled back, watching the fire reflected in her friends’ faces. They’d grown so close these last few weeks together. She couldn’t even imagine the hole they would leave behind if they moved to Burlington. She squeezed in between them and tucked her arms in theirs.
Briar no longer wanted to leave Sunrise Valley. She wanted to be near her family and the three fairies. And Henry. She rested her head on Ethel’s shoulder. But with the spindle gone, there wasn’t reason for any of the fairies to stay in the valley. What would they do next? The Prince family? Would they all leave? Briar still didn’t know what was going to happen to the children.
“You okay?” Ethel asked.
“I will be,” Briar answered. Her whole life could change now that she’d decided she didn’t want it to.
By the time the sun rose, the fire was under control. The main building was a loss, but the surrounding outbuildings had been saved.
The boys had done their best to stay awake, but after Miss Olive brought them blankets, they each found a cozy spot in the parlor and fell asleep, much to the amusement of the mill girls.