A week later, Will and Michael were packed and ready for the trip to Australia. Fran stood in the kitchen with the men in her life. She felt sad at Michael’s leaving and, hugging him close, she whispered, ‘Take care. I love you.’ Tears trickled down her cheeks.
Michael gently brushed them away. ‘I’ll be back. And I’ll write to you just as soon as I can.’
She hugged her father. ‘Enjoy yourself, Dad. Love you.’ Then they were gone.
Tina was happy and settled back in her flat. Small it might be, but it was her and Julie’s home. She still missed Joe. He would always be her first love and Julie’s daddy. She was beginning to enjoy life again. She was going to the pictures with Wendy, a girl she met at the college enrolment day. Wendy had asked Tina to go with her to the Young Farmers’ New Year’s Eve dance as a guest of her two older brothers and she was thrilled to be going. Nancy was happy to have Julie to stay for the night.
‘The last day of 1959,’ Nick said, as the old year was fading fast. Fran and Nick were having a celebration meal with Rufus and Helga at their home, Helga having revised her opinion that Nick posed a threat to their safety.
‘I’ll drink to that,’ said Rufus, and they all raised their glasses.
By eleven-thirty, Helga was yawning and looking very tired.
Fran nudged Nick and said, ‘Helga, Rufus, would you mind if we went now? We’ve had a lovely evening, but we thought we’d see the new year in at home.’
They said their thanks and good wishes and, as Fran and Nick walked down the lane hand-in-hand, they stopped to gaze up at the clear night sky of burnished blue. ‘It’s so beautiful and clear after the rain.’ Fran sighed, her eyes brilliant with happiness, mirroring the millions of tiny stars twinkling above.
Nick’s answer was to take her in his arms and kiss her passionately. ‘I’m a lucky fellow,’ he whispered.
‘And I’m the luckiest girl,’ Fran replied, her heart singing with joy.
On reaching High Bank House, they went through the yard and onto the riverbank. From here, they could see the lights of the town and, as clocks struck the hour of midnight, church bells pealed and river craft sounded their hooters, welcoming in the New Year of 1960.
‘Happy New Year.’ Nick stood behind Fran. His arms were wrapped around her body, his hands on the swell of her belly, when the baby within her kicked. And it kicked again.
‘A footballer or boxer,’ said Nick.
‘A dancer,’ said Fran.
Boy or girl, it didn’t matter. She already had a son and daughter, Nick’s stepchildren.
‘Our very own baby,’ Nick whispered, turning her round to him, his lips seeking hers. The stars twinkled down on the lovers locked in a passionate embrace.
After a while, they wandered round the side of the house, through the sleeping garden, arms entwined around each other. The scent of the late hardy rose, sheltered by the lea of the house, filled the magical night air. Fran breathed in its soft fragrance and sighed with contentment. ‘So happy,’ she murmured.
Hand in hand, Fran and Nick entered by the front door of High Bank House. As it swung open, they stood for a moment, then, stepping over the threshold, they let the old house embrace them. It welcomed their love, their creative energy, the new life to be born and their future.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank my dear friend, Dorothy Hailstone, for her invaluable support and encouragement during the writing of this book.
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About the Author
SYLVIA BROADY was born in Hull and has lived in the area all her life, although she loves to travel the world. It wasn’t until she started to frequent her local library, after World War II, that her relationship with literature truly began and her memories of the war influence her writing, as does her home town. She has had a varied career in childcare, the NHS and the East Yorkshire Council Library Services, but is now a full-time writer.
sylviabroady.blogspot.com
@SylviaBroady
By Sylvia Broady
The Yearning Heart
The Lost Daughter
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
11 Wardour Mews
London W1F 8AN
allisonandbusby.com
First published in 2011.
This ebook edition published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2018.
Copyright © 2011 by SYLVIA BROADY
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–2374–4
The Yearning Heart Page 27