Olive is determined to have her cousin Neil as her husband and won't allow anything or anyone to get in her way. So when her younger cousin Queenie is evacuated from London and begins to attract Neil's attention, Olive does all she can to avert the relationship. When warnings and threats fail, Ol...
A short, stout, florid man, George’s skipper stood at the foot of the bed twirling his flat cap in his hands. ‘I’m devilish sorry, Missus Buchan, it was a terrible thing to happen, and the other lassie said you lost the baby, and all. I ken it doesna help, like, but for what it’s worth, you’ve my...
They were still very close, and although their classmates were at the age of trying to attract the attention of the opposite sex, they were only interested in each other. This did not escape notice, and Roddy especially was the butt of many barbed remarks, but he didn’t respond, even when another...
‘I slept like a log,’ she informed Mrs Watson, ‘and I havena had any more pains.’ The woman smiled. ‘Aye, well, it’s been a false labour. That often happens. It could be days yet before it starts in earnest. Sit you down there, and have some porridge. Jimmy’s in the lavvy the now, and he’ll be go...
All leave has been cancelled, but I can’t say any more. It might be a long time until I see you again, and I’m really sick about it. We got a 48-hour pass last week, so I went to Porthcross again, as I didn’t have time to come to Aberdeen. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while, but re...
‘It was Jeems Duncan an’ Mysie an’ Jamie,’ he told his wife, ‘runnin’ to the quarry like the devil was chasin’ them. Surely Sandy wouldna ha’e fell doon the hole?’ ‘You’d best go an’ see,’ Pattie advised, ‘an tak’ a rope wi’ you, in case the bairn’s got stuck.’ Her face grew grave. ‘If he’s went ...
‘So you’ve managed to come at last, have you? I’d given you up altogether.’ ‘Sorry, Aunt Janet.’ Stephen was about to make an excuse, but the old woman tossed her head and pulled her woollen cape more tightly round her shoulders. ‘Nobody considers me. It’s always self, sel...
Despite talking about it for hours the night before, what had happened was too momentous to be pushed to the back of their minds. ‘What?’ ‘What’ll Innes Ledingham do when he finds out Janet’s not there?’ ‘I suppose he’ll start looking for her.’ ‘And he knows how close she was to me so he’s bound ...
‘You know why,’ he told Pat, shy of elaborating again. ‘I want to sort things out in my own mind. You know, I want to be sure.’ ‘I don’t know,’ Pat admitted. ‘I’ve never had a real girlfriend – for long enough.’ ‘We’d better get you over that hurdle as soon as we can,’ Willie laughed. ‘I don’t kn...
She would have thought that she would want to keep her maid-cum-companion rather than have her leave after less than a year, but it wouldn’t make the slightest difference to the decision she herself had made. She was not going to begin a medical degree course even if her employer had promised to ...
She had wanted to watch young Nicky growing up, even though it pulled at her heartstrings to be powerless to claim him as her son. Yet … probably it was best this way. Alistair was so unstable that, if they’d stayed in Lee Green, she couldn’t have trusted him not to blurt out his suspicions to Do...