A Heart's Dream — Birdie L. Etchison

Train travel promises speed, convenience, and adventure for Americans of the nineteenth century. But four young women are carrying excess baggage on their journeys. Uprooted from secure homes and forced to reexamine their positions in life, can any of them entertain Romance on the Rails? As a devoted daughter, Glenna Moore would follow her father anywhere - praying all the while for him to give up his drifting and gambling. But when he jumps train to escape the gamblers he cheated, what will become of Daddy's Girl? Charlotte Lansing is on her own now and forced to provide for her younger brother. But as her train stop nears, her life's destination is unclear. Can she trust the seedling of A Heart's Dream, calling her to a change of plans? For the first time in twelve years, Mary Sherwood is going to see her father - the man she believes abandoned her during the Civil War. Will those weighty feelings threaten The Tender Branch of her new love? Evelyn Giles is tired of waiting for her fiance to earn his fortune and set a wedding date. As she travels across California to see him, an act of Perfect Love may throw her plans off balance. Will the swaying of the coach and the clickety-clack of the train wheels lull these young women into a dream world of false romance? Or will God show them a love as strong as the steel rails on which they ride?