Page 37 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

She was completely stressed about being stuck on there, but there was nothing he could do or say to calm her down.

Except for a brief moment, sitting together on the long seat, when the familiarity between them had returned. He had been unable to stop himself reaching out to take her hand in his. As always, the pain that she suffered was his to share. They had been through so much together when they had been growing up. It was only when they had become adults with real grown-up feelings that the problems had begun, he realised.

Finally, the train stopped at Cranley junction so that they could turn around and Ethan took the opportunity to leap out of the carriage and rush along the track to see who was there.

He was concerned about his dad and grandad taking the train out by themselves as it was quite a responsibility to ensure the safety of the train and the surrounding area near the tracks.

Bob was just climbing down from the driver’s cab to change the points so that the train could return to the station when he looked up with a start. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, looking around his son, seemingly to see if there were another train somewhere on the track.

‘We hitched a ride unexpectedly,’ Ethan told him.

‘We?’ asked Bob, his grey eyebrows rising up in amazement.

Ethan moved out of the way so Bob could see Libby climbing down from the carriage to carefully make her way along the tracks.

Dodgy Del poked his head out of the driver’s cab and grinned down at his cousin. ‘Good morning,’ he said, as if there were nothing wrong with suddenly seeing Ethan standing in the middle of the railway line.

‘Del! I might have known,’ said Ethan, with a heavy sigh. ‘What on earth are you doing up there?’

‘Driving the train,’ said Del. ‘Uncle Bob here promised me that I could have a go.’

Ethan was horrified and stared at his dad.

‘Your grandad’s having a lie-in and I couldn’t get hold of you on your mobile,’ added Bob in a pointed tone. ‘So I figured you’d overslept.’

‘We did, sort of,’ said Ethan, flicking a glance at Libby.

‘Good morning, Bob,’ she said, with a soft smile. ‘We accidentally hitched a ride in one of the carriages.’

‘What were you doing in there then?’ asked Del.

‘We wanted to see how smooth your handling of the train was,’ replied Ethan, looking at his dad. ‘Please tell me he didn’t go anywhere near the gauges or actually anything that works.’

Bob shook his head. ‘He just shovelled the coal,’ he replied.

‘Would have preferred doing the steering, to be honest,’ said Del, who was looking a bit grimy and sweaty.

‘And I’d have preferred you well away from our train,’ Ethan told him.

‘I didn’t touch nuffink,’ said Del quickly.

Ethan narrowed his eyes in response to his cousin’s guilty tone of voice.

‘Well, maybe just the whistle,’ carried on Del. ‘Anyway, what were you two doing back there?’ he asked with a cheeky grin. ‘Having a bit of alone time, were you?’

His lips curled into a leer, which made Libby give an exaggerated shudder.

‘Just leave it, Del,’ she snapped. ‘The last thing I need this morning is your innuendo.’

‘My what?’ asked Del. ‘Is that the new slang or summink?’

Libby rolled her eyes. ‘How about we get back to Cranfield?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got a lot on my to-do list this morning.’

So Ethan helped with changing the points on the track before they all clambered into the driver’s cab and began the journey back to the station.

Libby shivered with the cold early-morning air and Ethan offered her his coat to wear, which she took from him gratefully.

Ethan let Dodgy Del shovel the coal whilst he stood next to the open door with Libby. As the pace of the train increased, so did the noise in the cab. They almost had to shout to be heard above the din. The faster it went, the more coal needed shovelling. Which left Ethan and Libby on one side.