For a Mother's Sins (40 page)

‘No.’ Molly turned to him in alarm. ‘He’s not putting the price of his ale up, is he?’

‘Nope, it’s a bit more serious than that. He wants to wed our Lizzie. He’d have asked you first but daren’t, so he asked me.’ John grinned and put his arm around
Molly’s waist, pulling her close.

‘Our Lizzie? Married?’ Molly was frightened of losing her daughter. It made it worse that Lizzie was her only child, and looked set to remain that way.

‘She’s twenty, Moll. It’s time to let her go. Look at them.’ John held Molly tight, kissing her neck gently as the outline of Lizzie and Dan could be seen kissing beneath
the middle arch of the viaduct. ‘Remember what we went through – spare her that heartache. Give them your blessing and put poor Dan out of his misery.’

Molly nestled into John’s embrace. ‘I hope they’ll be as happy as we are. If they are, they’ll survive anything.’ She looked into his blue eyes. ‘I love you,
John Pratt. And, aye, let’s have a wedding – think of all the ale we can sell! Happen she’ll be given a bit of the brewery if she marries old Sam’s eldest.’

Happily totting up the potential profits in her head, she bustled back to the inn to serve her customers.

John sat for a moment, watching her, then got to his feet to follow.

What a woman! Wilful, wild and a right handful – but she was his and his alone.

Poor Paddy

Traditional Irish Folk Song

Author’s Note

The Settle-Carlisle Railway was built by the Midland Railway Company, after a dispute with the London and North Western Railway over access to Scotland via the LNWR route.

It consisted of seventy-two miles of track, with seventeen major viaducts and fourteen tunnels blasted through the seemingly impossible hillsides. Construction began in 1869 and lasted for seven
long years with over 6,000 men working on the line, with little to supplement muscle power other than dynamite and temporary tramways to haul materials. Hundreds of navvies and their families died;
some were killed in accidents, others in fights and smallpox outbreaks. The building of Batty Green (Ribblehead) Viaduct caused such loss of life that the railway paid for an extension to the local
graveyard at St Leonard’s, Chapel-le-Dale. Memorials commemorating the deceased can still be seen within the chapel.

The Settle-Carlisle line is one of the most scenic train rides within the UK. The steady ten-mile pull up from Settle Junction to Blea Moor – known to generations of enginemen as
‘the Long Drag’ – passes between the three peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside. The line then climbs on, passing through Dentdale and upper Wensleydale to reach its
summit at Ais Gill (at a height of 1,169 feet, the highest point in mainline England), before entering the wide valley of the River Eden and reaching its final destination in the busy border town
of Carlisle.

For a Mother’s Sins

Diane Allen was born in Leeds, but raised at her family’s farm deep in the Yorkshire Dales. After working as a glass engraver, raising a family, and looking after an ill
father, she found her true niche in life, joining a large-print publishing firm in 1990. Having risen through the firm, she is now the general manager and has recently been made honorary vice
president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Diane and her husband Ronnie live in Long Preston, in the Yorkshire Dales, and have two children and four beautiful grandchildren.
For a Mother’s Sins
is her second novel.

Also by Diane Allen

For the Sake of Her Family

First published 2013 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2013 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-230-76916-8

Copyright © Diane Allen 2013

The right of Diane Allen 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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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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