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Back Time to Say Goodbye Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Chapter Forty-Five
  50. Chapter Forty-Six
  51. Chapter Forty-Seven
  52. Chapter Forty-Eight
  53. Chapter Forty-Nine
  54. Chapter Fifty
  55. Chapter Fifty-One
  56. Chapter Fifty-Two
  57. Chapter Fifty-Three
  58. Chapter Fifty-Four
  59. Chapter Fifty-Five
  60. Chapter Fifty-Six
  61. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  62. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. Also by Rosie Goodwin
  65. About Rosie Goodwin
  66. Welcome to the world of Rosie Goodwin!
  67. A Letter from Rosie Goodwin
  68. Cissie’s Roast Chicken
  69. An extract from Rosie Goodwin’s next novel
  70. Prologue
  71. Chapter One
  72. Love Rosie Goodwin?
  73. The Days of the Week collection
  74. Mothering Sunday
  75. Tales from Memory Lane
  76. Memory Lane Advert

For too long he had wallowed in self-pity. Too late he realised that it hadn’t been his birth mother’s fault that she had abandoned him. And Sunday had always loved him, deep down, he knew that. She’d cared for him from when he was a little child, how could he ever have doubted her love? Even when she had first learned that he was her husband’s illegitimate son, she had never been unkind. Instead, she had done her best to make him feel that he belonged. If he thought about it now, it was the war that had changed everything. Coming home scarred and with those terrible nightmares … And then Kitty had died, and though he loved Maggie by then, Kitty had been his first, childhood love and he had grieved for her.

He shook his head. Maybe everything would have been all right, if only his Maggie had lived. Maybe he wouldn’t have let bitterness cloud his mind. He had loved Sunday fiercely when he was a child, after all. Why had he not allowed her back into his heart? He had never realised what he had until it was gone and now there was no one to care what became of him. Tears burned his eyes as a great wave of loneliness washed over him. He was quite alone now; he had no one. But no, as he stared across the floating jetsam Maggie’s lovely face appeared through the snowflakes; she was smiling and holding her arms out to him.

‘Come on, darling, there’s no need to suffer anymore,’ Ben heard her say softly, and he felt a measure of peace settle in his tortured mind for the first time in many years. Behind him he could hear the clanging of fire engine bells as they raced from place to place struggling to put out the fires caused by the latest wave of bombings. The air was heavy with smoke, but it didn’t matter anymore, Maggie was waiting for him.

‘I’m coming, Maggie.’ Ben held out his arms and stepped forward and as he dropped into the water and slipped beneath the floating debris, he was heedless of the cold as it closed over him. For the first time in years he was at peace and he smiled.

Chapter Fifty

Sunday stared at the large envelope that Cissie handed to her curiously.

The postman had just delivered it and it looked official. ‘I wonder what this is?’ she said, sitting down at the kitchen table to open it.