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walked into the Mitchells’ sitting room where Dave sat, having just come off shift. The welcoming smile froze on his face and he jumped to his feet for he knew exactly what she meant.
    ‘You’ll have to tell them you can’t go,’ he said. ‘We’re getting wed on Saturday, how can you?’ His voice was assertive enough but his eyes were anxious. Karen stared at him, unhappiness welling up in her. ‘I wanted to go so badly, Dave,’ she whispered. ‘Oh, why can’t women be like men? Why do they have to choose between getting wed and having a career?’
    Dave shrugged. ‘Don’t be daft, Karen,’ he snapped. ‘Women are women, that’s why.’
    ‘But why shouldn’t I go, Dave, if you agreed to it?’ demanded Karen. ‘We could put the wedding off –’
    ‘No!’
    He stepped forward and took hold of her by the shoulders. ‘You’d rather go nursing than be wed to me, is that it?’
    ‘No! No, I didn’t mean that,’ she said, but her tone was unconvincing even in her own ears. Dave stared down at her for a moment, his face under the layer of coal dust tense and angry. Then he relaxed as he thought of a solution.
    ‘Don’t tell them you’re getting wed,’ he said. ‘Just go. They’ll be none the wiser. Then, when you’ve finished your training, you’ll get work nearer home. It’s a champion idea, really.’ He nodded his head and sat down in his chair again, resting his feet on the steel fender before the fire.
    ‘I’ll have to tell them, Dave,’ she protested. ‘And what about us, anyway? I’ll have to live in, you know. What sort of a wife will I make then?’
    ‘You’ll have days off, won’t you? I’ll be all right. I’ll be living here with me mam anyroad. I tell you, it’ll be just fine. Think about it, Karen, man, we’ll be a lot better off if you have a good job to look forward to in a year or two.’
    She stared at him, sitting in his pit clothes before a blazing fire despite the fact that it was a warm day, one of the first warm days of the year. And one part of her mind noted that even in his pit clothes, Dave Mitchell was a fine-looking man; tall for a pitman and broad-shouldered. The red-gold of his hair glinted even through the coal dust plastered to it and his blue-green eyes sparkled too.
    ‘I’d have to lie,’ she said.
    ‘No, no, lass, you won’t. Just don’t say anything.’
    Dave got to his feet and lifted a work-calloused hand to the back of her neck, drawing her to him. His eyes darkened as he gazed at her mouth; he was determined he wasn’t going to wait any longer for her. They were getting wed on Saturday even if it did mean he had to let her go off on this nursing thing she was so set on.
    ‘I wouldn’t worry about what kind of a wife you’ll make, lass, you’ll be the one I want,’ he whispered.
    ‘You’ll get me all black,’ Karen said weakly, but already her lips were tingling in anticipation of his kiss. And when he kissed her she melted into his arms, and the tingle spread over her whole body.
    ‘What’s on here, like? You two are not wed yet, you know.’
    The lovers sprang apart at the sound of Mrs Mitchell’s voice. They hadn’t heard her come in, they were so lost in each other. Karen’s face flamed with embarrassment. She looked down at her cotton dress and brushed at the smudges of coal dust she saw there.
    Mrs Mitchell stared at her with grim disapproval. ‘I think you’d better wash your face an’ all,’ she snapped. ‘This is a respectable house. I’ll not have you going out of it with coal dust on your face like that. Not when you’re not wed yet.’
    ‘Oh, Mam, leave Karen alone, we’ve not done owt wrong,’ said Dave roughly, and Mrs Mitchell softened immediately.
    ‘Eeh, no, lad, I never said you’d done owt wrong. I’m just telling the lass for her own good.’
    Over his mother’s head, Dave pulled a wry face at Karen and shrugged his shoulders.
    ‘I’ll go then,’ she said.
    ‘Aye, that’s right,’ Mrs