In My Heart Forever - 9781793373335

Sheila Friel was born into a large family in west Donegal in the early 1920's.Like most other children born in this part of Ireland Sheila was destined to emigrate when she reached her middle to late teens. Emigrants from west Donegal traditionally went in search of a livelihood in Scotland and especially to the Gorbals of Glasgow in later years.Shortly before Sheila's departure she attended a dance in the local hall.There she met an old school pal called Jimmy Gallagher.In the following months Sheila and Jimmy fell in love.They both knew that Sheila would soon depart for Scotland and they both set out a plan to meet up in Glasgow where they would marry.They bade farewell soon afterwards amid great sadness before Sheila set out on her journey to Scotland on the Derry boat.After an exchange of letters Sheila received a letter from Jimmy informing her that he would have to postpone his trip to Glasgow.His elderly parents informed him that the family household would be left to him as he was the eldest son.Sheila was devastated but was willing to wait until an opportunity would bring herself and Jimmy together again.In the following months letters between the pair became infrequent until Sheila received a letter from her mother that Jimmy Gallagher had made his former girlfriend pregnant and was compelled to marry her.Such was the power of the Catholic church in Ireland sex before marriage was considered to be blasphemous.Sheila was broken hearted but realised that life had to go on.Despite this she became somewhat of a recluse and rarely ventured out from her place of work.On one Saturday night Sheila was invited to join her sister and friends to a dance in the Locarno ballroom in Glasgow.There she met a tall good looking man called Jack Baxter.The problem was that Jack was a Scottish Presbyterian, while Sheila was a staunch Roman Catholic.Despite their differences they eventually fell in love and married.Soon afterwards Sheila became pregnant and a daughter was born called Aine.After much discussion they agreed to rear the child as a Catholic on condition that the next child would be brought up in Jack;s religion.When a son called John was born Sheila was determined that the child would never be baptised or reared as a Presbyterian.This created great tension in the family and when Jack was seriously injured at work he began to drink heavily.There were many serious arguments and rows before Sheila decided to return to Ireland with the two children, unknown to Jack.This broke Jack's heart as he felt that he would never see his children again.Sheila and her children settled down in her home village of Sruthan where her children attended the local school.Sheila was determined that her children would receive a good education that would lead to a professional occupation.She was determined that they would never have to emigrate as she had.Sheila often thought about her first love Jimmy Gallagher.She was aware that he had married and was the father of two girls.She also knew that the marriage was loveless and didn't last.Jimmy's parents had died and he decided to seek work tunneling in the north of Scotland.It was well known that Jimmy Gallagher had never lost his love for Sheila Friel.He never became involved in any type of relationship after his failed marriage.Sheila was aware by now that Jimmy was due to retire and return to Ireland where he had built a little cottage on his farm.Some months later Sheila answered a knock on her door.When she answered it a tall grey haired man stood there.She knew immediately that this man was Jimmy Gallagher.They immediately embraced and with tears in their eyes they held each other for what seemed like an eternity.Their love reblossomed and they spent many lovely times together.Jimmy decided to surprise Sheila and booked two flights to Glasgow from Belfast.There he booked both of them into an exclusive hotel before visiting the areas of Glasgow where they had planned to meet many years before

• | Author: Ian John Cunningham
• | Publisher: Independently published
• | Publication Date: Jan 10, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 322 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1793373337
• | ISBN-13: 9781793373335