Hope Beyond (Ribbons of Steel Book #2) , livre ebook

A Hope Beyond Copyright 1997 Judith Pella and Tracie Peterson
Cover design by John Hamilton Design
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
E-book edition created 2010
ISBN 978-1-4412-0714-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
To Laura Sutter
I have been and always shall be your friend.
Thanks for being my friend.
Love, Judy
Contents
What Has Gone Before
PART ONE - December 1836-January 1837
1 / Picking Up the Pieces
2 / A Master Design
3 / Plotting Revenge
4 / Hampton s Pursuit
5 / Divine Intervention
6 / First Kiss
7 / Laying the Trap
8 / Deciding the Future
9 / Questions of Love
10 / Lucy Alexander
11 / Manipulating Fate
12 / What Might Have Been
13 / Christmas Disaster
14 / Love Letters
15 / When God Calls
16 / Annabelle Bryce
17 / Fragile Faith
18 / A House of Cards
PART TWO - February 1837-January 1838
19 / Impenetrable Walls
20 / Heart and Soul
21 / First Step
22 / Battle Lines
23 / The Baring of Souls
24 / A Day of Reckoning
25 / A Stranger s Rescue
26 / Negotiating the Future
27 / Educating Enticements
28 / The Seduction
29 / Startling Discoveries
30 / New Arrivals
31 / Reaching Limits
32 / Amy s Disappearance
33 / Blake St. John
PART THREE - June-November 1842
34 / Out of the Darkness
35 / Victoria
36 / Joseph s Visit
37 / Deceptions and Discoveries
38 / Unlocking the Past
39 / Sacrifices
40 / Paying the Piper
41 / Proposals and Promises
42 / Reconciliation
43 / Independence Day
44 / Coming Together
45 / Seeking the Truth
46 / Salvation
47 / Coming to Terms
48 / Father and Son
49 / Rough Places Plain
50 / Knowing Peace
51 / Two Hearts Unite
52 / The Gloves
53 / New Beginnings
My restless spirit never could endure To brood so long upon one luxury, Unless it did, though fearfully, espy A hope beyond the shadow of a dream
J OHN K EATS

What Has Gone Before
Carolina Adams, a young woman of spirit and determination, enjoyed a pampered life in Oakbridge, her family s plantation, outside of Falls Church, Virginia.
Growing up as one of the middle siblings in a household of seven brothers and sisters, Carolina had always been eager to understand the world around her. Young ladies of the 1830s were not encouraged to educate themselves in the ways of masculine studies such as mathematics and science, but Carolina, ever the unconventional, desired to cross those boundaries. She was especially enthralled with the railroad, which she fell in love with the first time she saw a train roar into Washington City. When her indulgent father, Joseph Adams, permitted her a tutor, James Baldwin, Carolina began to realize part of her dream. Carolina s older sister, Virginia, also hoped her dreams to be fulfilled by James Baldwin-her more conventional dreams of becoming a proper southern wife.
Carolina was thrilled to have a tutor; however, James, who was once employed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, put her off regarding the subject of railroads, causing Carolina to seek out the reason for his reticence. James had been involved in a railroad accident that seriously injured him and took the life of his friend and mentor, Phineas Davis. Thus, his delight and enthusiasm about railroad work was dimmed to the point that he actually feared riding a train again.
During his recovery James was thrust into the job of tutoring Carolina Adams, and of courting her older sister Virginia. James had not been eager to marry, desiring to establish his career with the railroad first, but his father finally pressured James toward matrimony because the failing family finances desperately needed him to make a good marriage.
What no one expected, least of all they, was that James and Carolina should fall in love with each other. James found healing in Carolina s friendship, and as she helped him come to terms with the past, James began to visualize his future with the railroad once more. In turn, Carolina found in James a man who was not threatened by her intelligence and regard for learning. She also found a soul mate with whom she desired to spend the rest of her life. Unfortunately, he had all but committed himself to Virginia, and Carolina was too insecure in her love to dare come between them, much less reveal her feelings to James. Likewise, James refused to confront his growing affection for Carolina.
Torn by his conflicting feelings toward the two sisters, and pressured by family expectations, James allowed himself to be carried along by events, soon finding himself engaged to Virginia. But eventually realizing he could not marry a woman he didn t love, James broke off the engagement with Virginia. However, in order to save her from too much social embarrassment, he allowed Virginia to publicly break the engagement herself. Then, unable to face Carolina and the social ostracism his ungentlemanly behavior would cause, James left Oakbridge and Washington for a position with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a job that would take him far away to unsettled lands. Carolina, steeped in sorrow over the recent death of her baby sister Maryland, found the loss of James to be just as devastating.
To help Carolina through her desolation, her father, a man of deep faith, led her to a rekindled hope that is found in Jesus, and Carolina gained a deeper, more personal faith in Christ. Her desires for the future, an education, a working involvement with the railroad, and James Baldwin were all a part of her distant dreams, but with her newfound faith, Carolina learned there is a hope beyond. . . .
Part I December 1836-January 1837
These railroads-could but the whistle be made musical, and the rumble and the jar got rid of-are positively the greatest blessing that the ages have wrought out for us. They give us wings; they annihilate the toil and dust of pilgrimage; they spiritualize travel!
-N ATHANIEL H AWTHORNE
T HE H OUSE OF THE S EVEN G ABLES
1 Picking Up the Pieces
Carolina Adams gave a halfhearted glance at the list of Christmas gift advertisements in her current issue of the American Railroad Journal . She was far more interested in the articles about advancements in locomotive design. The railroad magazine, a gift from her tutor and friend James Baldwin, was not only her window into the world of railroads but also a pleasant source of news from around the country, sometimes even the world.
She was well aware of the fact that the Journal was not the most acceptable reading material for young ladies of sixteen, but upon its weekly arrival to Oakbridge Plantation, Carolina avidly read it from cover to cover. It was her link to the railroad, and the railroad had become her link to the future.
Very few people understood her love of this smoke-spewing beast. Railroads and locomotives were subjects best left to men. And, in a society where many people believed that such knowledge could very well cause a woman to go insane, Carolina had to fight hard to be allowed even a glimpse into such subjects. Only her father and James truly understood. But James was gone and her father was terribly preoccupied these days.
So, it seemed at times the technical pages of the magazine offered her far more than information. In a way, her moments alone with it were a kind of comfort, a link to when times had been carefree and happy.
Ladies hats by Willington and Tombs, she muttered to herself, glancing back at the open page. For the best specimens of ladies and misses satin and beaver hats. She noted this advertisement, thinking again of Christmas. Her sister Virginia had a far greater appreciation of such finery than Carolina. Perhaps a hat would make a nice gift for her.
Thinking of Virginia caused Carolina to put down the magazine with a morose sigh. For weeks now, Virginia had barely spoken a civilized word to her. The death of their baby sister Maryland had naturally put a great damper on the holiday spirit, but for Virginia it was magnified by the fact that her betrothal to James Baldwin had been dissolved. Carolina had the distinct impression that Virginia blamed her for the entire matter. And just maybe Carolina did deserve some of her sister s ire. James had been Carolina s tutor for a few short but glorious months, and during that time Carolina and James had become friends. Unfortunately, Carolina had also fallen in love with her teacher.
Sighing again, Carolina left her mahogany writing desk and ambled to the window. It was here, in her favorite spot, that Carolina felt most at home. The window seat had always offered her much comfort and tranquility. She pulled up her knees and placed her dainty pink slippers on the brocade seat cover. At sixteen, she had been properly presented to society, and instructed and trained in the ways of running a plantation household.
Living just west of the country s capital, near Falls Church, Virginia, Carolina had also enjoyed a strong political background. This pleasured her in ways that she could never share publicly, for what young woman of such genteel upbringing would dare to boast an interest in the government?
On the surface of things, she appeared to have all life could offer, yet she felt trapped like a bird in a cage-like the slaves who worked on her father s plantation. She knew her life was better by far than that of the poor souls whose only future was to work their master s land, but she felt as helpless in deciding her own