The River Flows On

by Maggie Craig

  ‘It’s time, is it?’

  ‘Aye, it’s time, hen. And I think I’ve waited long enough. Don’t you?’

  ‘Who else is there with you?’ There was a bright light behind his head. It was dazzling her, but she could make out some faces - her father, her mother, her face younger and softer, a child in either hand - the twins, of course - Eliza and Ewen. Was that Neil James she saw beside them?

  ‘Have you said all your goodbyes?’

  Kathleen Cameron Baxter smiled. ‘Just one last one.’ She turned for a final look at the Clyde, flowing on as it always had done. As it always would.

  ‘Come on then, lass. Time to go.’

  Kate turned to Robbie, her face filled with joy. Then she put her hand in his, and together they walked towards the light.

  oOo

  The River Flows On by Maggie Craig

  Copyright (c) Maggie Craig 2011

  This book was first published in print form

  by Headline Publishing.

  Original version and this new revised digital edition

  (c) 1998 & 2011 by Maggie Craig

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events within it,

  other than those clearly in the public domain,

  are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons,

  living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Acknowledgements

  I should like to thank Mrs Margaret Hamilton and Mrs Grace Peace, both of whom started their working lives as apprentice tracers at John Brown’s in Clydebank shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. These two ladies gave generously of their time to answer my questions, and supplied me with a great deal of useful information.

  For help in guiding me through their archives I am indebted to Pat Malcolm of Clydebank Library and Claire McGread of the Glasgow School of Art.

  Books by Maggie Craig

  Fiction

  The River Flows On

  When the Lights Come on Again

  The Stationmaster’s Daughter

  The Bird Flies High

  A Star to Steer By

  The Dancing Days

  One Sweet Moment

  Non-fiction

  Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ‘45

  Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the ‘45

  When the Clyde Ran Red

  Footsteps on the Stairs: Tales from Duff House

  Contributor to:

  Twisted Sisters: Women, Crime and Deviance in Scotland Since 1400

  &

  The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women

  Maggie Craig is a Scottish writer and historian. She is the author of the ground-breaking and acclaimed Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 and several page-turning romantic and historical novels set in Glasgow and Edinburgh. She comes from a family where writing is considered an entirely normal thing to do and numbers among her forbears Robert Tannahill, the weaver-poet of Paisley.

  To learn more about Maggie and her books visit her website at http://www.maggiecraig.co.uk