A Hope Beyond by Judith Pella

the actual creation of a rail line was a long, drawn-out process of obtaining state charters, detailing surveys, and purchasing land. Not to mention that most of the equipment used in building such a line would have to come from England. It could literally take years until ground-breaking ceremonies were a reality. So it was just a matter of keeping the investors satisfied that plans were actually moving forward, in spite of the visual lack of evidence.
    But none of this concerned him half as much as how he might encourage Joseph Adams to take less of a personal interest in the running of the P&GF Railroad. It would be impossible to keep the thing strictly a paper railroad if Joseph kept such an active hand in the project. Then, too, Carolina Adams could prove to be just as big of a problem for him. He would have to somehow figure a way to occupy her so that she wouldn’t be wise to his conniving. He pondered this matter for a time before dozing off to the jostling of the carriage. His last conscious thoughts were of his wayward son and the unexpected void his absence had created.

9
Questions of Love
    A week after Hampton Cabot had kissed her, Carolina still found it nearly impossible to eat, think, or sleep properly. Having tossed and turned most of the night, she sighed and forced herself to sit up in bed. She was exhausted in trying to dispel the strange emotions and sensations that crept upon her when she least expected it.
    I’m not in love with Hampton, she reasoned. I just can’t be. She fell back against the bed pillows and tried to rationalize her turmoil. It was just a kiss. One kiss. My first kiss.
    “That must be it!” she said and jumped out of bed. “It lingers in my mind because Hampton was the first man to really kiss me.”
    She paced her room, the nightgown of white lawn flaring out behind her. For days now she’d been nearly heartsick. She’d been confident that she was in love with James Baldwin, but when Hampton kissed her it created a shadow of doubt in her mind. It was almost as if someone had placed a veil between her heart and the memories of James.
    She flung open the wardrobe doors and studied her day dresses for a moment before choosing a dark plum-colored wool. Chilled to the bone, Carolina quickly dressed herself and was pulling on heavy black stockings when Miriam appeared.
    “I s’pose yo didn’t sleep a wink last night neither,” Miriam said, throwing back Carolina’s curtains. “Yo’s gwanna run yo’self into a grave, Miz Carolina, iffen yo don get mo rest and food.”
    Carolina dismissed her worry. “These have been hard times, Miriam. Don’t pretend with me that your rest comes any easier. And I’ve noticed that your waistline is considerably smaller than before Mary died.”
    Miriam nodded. “Times is hard and that’s a fact.”
    Carolina took a chair at her dressing table and allowed Miriam to comb her dark brown hair into a simple chignon. Her mind trailed back to her earlier thoughts as Miriam worked in silence. Hampton wanted her, of that there was no question. But for what reasons, she was uncertain.
    I’m from a good family, she rationalized. But then, so was he. He’d been orphaned and taken under her father’s wing some years ago, and through Joseph’s trust and tutelage, Hampton had matured and gained the highly respectable position of being the family’s commission merchant. She knew that her father paid Hampton quite well, so she doubted money would be the sole motivation for a proposal. But Hampton also looked at her in a way that she’d seen other men look at Virginia. It was a look that many called passionate, but to others it was pure and simple lust.
    Miriam finished with Carolina’s hair and left to attend to Virginia and Georgia. Carolina moved across the room to look at her reflection in the cheval mirror. She had definitely blossomed into a woman. She ran her hands down the curving sides of her body and found a shapeliness there that even a