Gravy (Three)

They survived the Great Depression and World War II, but will they survive the peace? He's an Army veteran with combat fatigue and she's a nightclub singer with her own scars. Can they make it together? Less
Struggling to act normal, whatever normal means, Connor William Conroy, a farm boy just back from combat in the Southwest Pacific with shell shock meets a girl, but he doesn’t remember how to behave—and then there are the flashbacks.

Nightclub singer Bobbi Bowen joined the Women’s Army Corps because the nightclubs were cutting back on live entertainment and her band members were getting drafted. Now she’s building and repairing radios for B-24 Liberator bombers and singing in a nightclub when she’s off duty. And then, she meets Connor.

As a WAC, Bobbi understands Connor better than most, but he’s been through frightening experiences that may affect him for the rest of his life. He’s seen and done things she can’t even imagine. Of course, Bobbi has had her own frightening experiences in nightclubs where she’s worked, as well as living in the chaos of a city where many live on the streets. Accustomed to not only noise, city lights, and glamour, she also knows poverty and despair. That’s what drove her into the nightclubs in the first place.

Bobbi has always thought farmers were poor and dumb, but Connor’s given her a whole new way of thinking about them--AND his father drives a Chrysler New Yorker. The family must be prosperous,and if Bobbi knows one thing for sure, it is that she doesn’t ever want to be hungry again. Besides, Connor’s tall, dark, and handsome. She thinks he’s The One.

Does she dare give her heart to this dangerous man?

Just so you know a bit about me, I've been a truck driver, a farmer, an environmentalist, and a mother of sons all grown now. I'm a hugger of trees, lover of old folks, history, quirky science, and books. My mother's parents were restaurateurs and I like to try new recipes, although they don't always come out the way I expect. I'm deeply concerned about human resiliency and how families and communities contribute to it-or not. Because I grew up in one, I'm particularly interested in extended families who have close relationships with the places where they live. This novel seeks to bring together a family with the wisdom and support of several generations with a family with no ties. As a farm kid, I got a hands-on introduction to one three-quarter-section piece of land-not by riding over it on a tractor, but by walking every hill and fencerow. It's provided me with a strong concern for the health of that land and the entire planet. I must have my hands in the dirt, so every summer I disappear into my garden(s) where I grow fruits and vegetables as well as flowers. I live in town now, but my favorite parts of my double corner lot are the native grass and wildflower plots. They're nearly self-sustaining now. My writing qualifications include an awful lot of living, some of it hard. I've worked most of my adult life as a writer, more than a decade as a public information officer for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and later for Martin Luther Home Society. My work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including the MLH quarterly news magazine for which I provided most of the copy and photos. I have also published two award-winning memoirs, a collection of essays describing my home on the plains, and two novels related to this one.