Voices of the Morning
Page 23
Bridget bit down hard on her lip and spoke through the lump in her throat. She hadn’t expected such kindness and was totally overwhelmed.
‘I will...and...thank you. Thank you all.’
The crowd nodded, grinning, then moved off, calling out their Christmas wishes to her. She couldn’t respond because she was crying too hard and her hankie was soaked with tears by the time she went back to Billy in the kitchen.
‘Did you hear that, Billy?’
‘Aye,’ he said, swiping at his own damp eyes with a shaking finger. ‘I should have come out and thanked them, but...’ He choked on his words.
‘So, Billy Flynn, will you be staying?’
He looked at her and said nothing for a long time and her heart all but stopped beating. Then she saw his face crumple and the tears roll freely down his face.
‘If you want me to, Bridget.’
‘Silly sod! Come here!’
Almost knocking the kitchen table down in their haste, they rushed into one another’s arms and clung together as if in that one gesture was the meaning of life, and of love.
When the sun rose and spilled pink and gold over the thick blanket of snow on Christmas morning Billy opened his eyes and looked at the beautiful face of Bridget as she slept, still snuggled in to his side. Outside, there was birdsong and, in the distance, the sound of a brass band playing Christmas Carols. They were the sweetest voices of the morning bringing him untold joy. The past no longer mattered for this blessed, wonderful day, was the first day of the rest of his life.
The End
June Gadsby books published by Books We Love
June Gadsby books also published
by Books We Love
To The Ends of the Earth
The Glory Girls
A Touch of Magic
The Rose Carousel
When Tomorrow Comes
The Ironmaster
Voices of the Morning
The Raging Spirit
The Red Earth
About the Author
June Gadsby, author of multi-genre novels – historic, romantic suspense, wartime thrillers.
A miner’s grand-daughter, child of a broken marriage from the north-east of England, June stunned everybody when, at the age of eight she announced that she was going to be an ‘author’, rather than the artist they all thought she would rather be. Leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, the future didn’t look too bright, but her family didn’t want her to aim too high. However, June taught herself shorthand and typing and got a job in Newcastle upon Tyne as an office junior. Writing apart, she also had ambitions to be a secretary. She put herself through night school and got high O-level grades in English and Art. Gradually, she worked her way up through the secretarial ladder, building a good reputation for herself, which got her to the top – unheard of in an age of heavily relied upon qualifications.
From office junior at fifteen to Executive / Medical Secretary and Administrative Assistant for Newcastle University’s Northern Region Psychiatric and Psychological Service, including two years as personal secretary to the notorious T. Dan Smith, imprisoned for bribery and corruption [June gave evidence for the prosecution at his trial], and an 8 year period as PA to brilliant human geneticist Professor Sir John Burn, where she was given the task to be mother-hen to the then 19 year old gold medal triple jumper Jonathan Edwards.
June had three passions that got her through those early years and they remain her passions even now. Writing, art and books. She never gave up hope of being a published novelist, despite repeated warnings that that she would never make it. Writing and painting were, they said, nice little hobbies, but unsociable pursuits that would get her nowhere.
Undaunted, June kept the painting as a hobby [though she sold quite a lot of paintings along the way] and kept writing, story after story, book after book, submitted them, got the proverbial rejection slip, though many publishers wrote personally to say that she was, in fact, a good writer, but…
Not even a bad marriage to a mentally sick and potentially dangerous man killed her ambition to become a published author, though there were times when she thought she might not live to see the day. Bad marriage over and long, complicated relationships that led nowhere, June finally met and married her present husband, Brian, who has, during their 34-year-old marriage, given her the help and support she needed. Publication came in the shape of travel articles, short stories on local radio, an article in Writers News – and the latter prompted a literary agent to get in touch and ask if he could help. In the space of ten years June saw 23 books published and the reviews were rewardingly good.
Then life took a turn for the worse – as it often does. The literary agent died, his company folded. The main publishers of June’s hardback novels also gave up the ghost and the company who took over the stranded writers were not accepting new work. June’s personal life also hit a new, all-time low, but she never lost sight of her burning ambition to continue as an author.
Today, she has signed with Books We Love to publish her novels in digital and soft cover and, best of all, she is writing again and heading in the direction she has always wanted to go – psychological thrillers – but always with touches of romance and humour.
“I’m a romantic,” says June. “And, above all, my sense of humour will always keep me going, no matter what.”
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