by Judith Pella
“Papa?”
Without hesitation, James handed his glass to Carolina and knelt down to receive the child. He smiled. “That word sounds very nice to me.”
Victoria’s dark eyes widened. “You like being a papa?”
“I like very much being your papa.”
“Why?” Victoria asked, and the room grew completely silent.
“Because I love you,” he replied, knowing the child’s hunger for a father’s love.
“I love you, too.” Victoria said, wrapping her arms around James’ neck and burying her face against him.
Carolina felt tears anew come to her eyes, and when she met her own father’s expression, she thought she finally understood the love and pride he felt in his children. He had given her the best of love and life, and now he happily gave over that task to another. Not because he no longer wanted the position, and not because he begrudgingly recognized her cause to sacrifice for another. No, this time Carolina knew that he understood in full. He was giving his daughter in marriage to the love of her life, and that in and of itself was a most cherished moment in his life.
Her thoughts were broken as James stood up, still holding Victoria. “So would you truly like to stay here with Grandfather Adams?”
Victoria pulled back and nodded, her brown-black ringlets bobbing.
James smiled and with the slightest glance at Carolina gave his approval. “Very well then. We shall leave you to your grandfather’s care.”
Victoria clapped her hands as James returned her to the oak wood floor. She scurried to where Joseph stood and took hold of his hand. “Here I am, Grandfather. My papa says I may stay.”
November 3, 1842, found the Baltimore Pratt Street Station alive with activity. It seemed as though the entire city had turned out to be a part of the celebration.
They were opening the line to Cumberland, Maryland. It had been a long time in coming and was the pinnacle, to date, of Louis McLane’s career with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The 7:00 a.m. departing train would hold nearly forty passengers, all dignitaries and guests of the B&O. Newspapermen sketched pictures of the belching engine and cars as they awaited the signal to start them on their journey. Several of the newspaper reporters would journey with them to Cumberland and record the actual thoughts of folks who would see their first locomotive. It was hard for even these seasoned veterans to believe that in a little under ten hours, they would arrive some one hundred seventy-eight miles from their point of departure. The atmosphere was one of sheer exhilaration and speculation.
Making their way on board with the others, Carolina gripped James’ arm very tightly, almost afraid that if she let go she would suddenly find that it had all been nothing more than a dream.
A blast of the steam whistle sent a thrill through her and caused her to tremble noticeably.
“Frightened?” James asked in disbelief.
“Never!” Carolina declared, meeting his gaze. “I’m too excited.”
Taking their seats, he grinned. “Me too. It’s been a long time in coming, and I have to admit there were times when I thought it would all fall apart. But we kept sight of the dream and brought it into existence.”
“I felt the same way about us,” she murmured softly as the train whistle sounded two more times and the band began to play loudly from the platform outside her window.
The locomotive strained to pull that first bit of weight, then slowly, like a billows pumping life into a fire, the wheels groaned and turned and pulled them forward. Inch by inch, yard by yard, they passed the station and headed west over the Carrollton Viaduct.
At last it seemed to Carolina that she was not only touching her dream but actually being welcomed to participate and share in such things. How very like God, she thought, for surely it was He who gave her the dream in the first place. And without a doubt it was He who gave her a hope beyond. Looking away from the window and into the face of her husband, Carolina offered silent thanks for her blessings.
“I love you,” she whispered.
James pulled her close, defying social proprieties. “And I love you, Mrs. Baldwin. Forever and always, I will love only you.”
With special thanks to:
Herbert Harwood, Jr.
Author of books on American railroading,
including Impossible Challenge II.
Anne Calhoun
Assistant Archivist,
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum.
Books by
Judith Pella
The Stonewycke Trilogy*
Texas Angel (2 in 1)
Mark of the Cross
DAUGHTERS OF FORTUNE
Written on the Wind
Somewhere a Song
Toward the Sunrise
Homeward My Heart
PATCHWORK CIRCLE
Bachelor’s Puzzle
Sister’s Choice
* with Michael Phillips
Books by Tracie Peterson
www.traciepeterson.com
A Slender Thread • What She Left For Me
Where My Heart Belongs
SONG OF ALASKA
Dawn’s Prelude
ALASKAN QUEST
Summer of the Midnight Sun
Under the Northern Lights • Whispers of Winter
Alaskan Quest (3 in 1)
BRIDES OF GALLATIN COUNTY
A Promise to Believe In • A Love to Last Forever
A Dream to Call My Own
THE BROADMOOR LEGACY *
A Daughter’s Inheritance • An Unexpected Love
A Surrendered Heart
BELLS OF LOWELL*
Daughter of the Loom • A Fragile Design • These Tangled Threads
Bells of Lowell (3 in 1)
LIGHTS OF LOWELL*
A Tapestry of Hope • A Love Woven True • The Pattern of Her Heart
DESERT ROSES
Shadows of the Canyon • Across the Years • Beneath a Harvest Sky
HEIRS OF MONTANA
Land of My Heart • The Coming Storm
To Dream Anew • The Hope Within
LADIES OF LIBERTY
A Lady of High Regard • A Lady of Hidden Intent
A Lady of Secret Devotion
RIBBONS OF STEEL**
Distant Dreams • A Hope Beyond
WESTWARD CHRONICLES
A Shelter of Hope • Hidden in a Whisper • A Veiled Reflection
YUKON QUEST
Treasures of the North • Ashes and Ice • Rivers of Gold
* with Judith Miller
** with Judith Pella
JUDITH PELLA has been writing for the inspirational market for more than twenty years and is the author of more than thirty novels, most in the historical fiction genre. Her recent novel Mark of the Cross and her extraordinary four-book DAUGHTERS of foRTUNE series showcase her skills as a historian as well as a storyteller. Her degrees in teaching and nursing lend depth to her tales, which spin a variety of settings. Pella and her husband make their home in oregon.
Visit Judith’s Web site: www.judithpella.com
TRACIE PETERSoN is the author of over seventy novels, both historical and contemporary. Her avid research resonates in her stories, as seen in her bestselling HEIRS of MoNTANA and ALASkAN QUEST series. Tracie and her family make their home in Montana.
Visit Tracie’s Web site at www.traciepeterson.com