Gracie

Gracie
Marie Maxwell

A gripping saga, richly evocative of the period, featuring the gutsy and determined Gracie, determined to start again…Can you ever escape your past?Gracie McCabe is building a new life for herself in the Essex seaside town of Southend working alongside best friend Ruby; she’s put her past to rest and is planning her future.All that is missing is a family of her own, Gracie desperately wants a baby so when boyfriend Sean proposes she accepts without hesitation.But a chance meeting before the wedding gives her doubts and when old secrets come back to haunt her, it seems that Sean is not the rock of strength she expected him to be.Will Gracie find her happy ever after or will she be betrayed and abandoned once again?The hard-hitting and heartbreaking new novel from the author who bought you Ruby. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Dilly Court.

GRACIE

Marie Maxwell

To You, the Readers

I have so many supportive and loyal readers both of Marie Maxwell and Bernadine Kennedy and I continue to appreciate every one; I still get a thrill when someone contacts me about a book!

I remember the first ‘fan letter’ I received after my first book was published in 2000; it was hand written on a ‘thank you’ card and forwarded to me from my publisher.

It was so exciting to realize that not only had someone actually read the book, they had also taken the time to write to me about it; reader feedback is so important and I do take note of all the comments.

Nowadays feedback comes through my own website, Amazon and other assorted reader writer websites, but I’m still amazed that readers take the trouble to contact me.

So thank you for supporting me over the years, I hope you enjoy Gracie as much as Ruby. Next will be the story of Maggie who may just turn out to be a bit of a Swinging Sixties rebel!

Bernadine Kennedy

www.bernadinekennedy.com

Table of Contents

Title Page (#ud4c95ec3-3af7-59a9-9b26-146581f5a958)

Dedication (#u1e38ad3e-9773-5593-b763-b749f0e74ab4)

Prologue (#u869f4076-570f-5adb-9382-11e4d2228594)

Chapter One (#ud618fb3e-7e34-52e3-b0c2-913f8aba582f)

Chapter Two (#u92b332ba-755b-5b87-b06a-29210528b6db)

Chapter Three (#u34544379-8342-50cf-bd0a-fd3a744ed8c8)

Chapter Four (#u6737fd21-c626-5fc3-aaed-176634206d9b)

Chapter Five (#ud72039c7-86f8-514f-8430-06a5393892ed)

Chapter Six (#ubf15de79-7811-51e9-b0ea-4e09e6d407c8)

Chapter Seven (#uc6cb57dc-2adc-5602-9fd0-44a50cf6ea71)

Chapter Eight (#ua2920d4e-9d13-5f53-bdb3-704d99c13183)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Read on for an extract from Marie Maxwell’s first novel, Ruby. (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#ulink_b9c9fe79-03c9-593d-80f5-45d272386601)

‘Hello little one …’ the young woman said quietly as she stared at the baby she was meeting for the first time. ‘I’m your mummy …’

Reaching out her hand, she touched her fingers on the clear wall of the incubator, willing the tiny person inside to know she was there with her and fighting for her. As she spoke the words, she could feel her heart beating so hard inside her chest she thought it might explode with the toxic mixture of love and fear that was racing through her whole body.

‘Touch and go’ was what they had said when they’d grouped around her bed to talk about the health of the child. ‘Touch and go’ – because they simply couldn’t say if the child was going to live or die.