A Tender Heart
A sweet, clean historical romance. Mary Edwards has been waiting for someone to love her all her life. Her mother abused her emotionally, and her father neglected her. When she falls in love, she's sure it's forever, but her father puts an end to her dreams of marriage when he refuses to let her marry the man. As she pines for her lost love, Mary is unaware that her father has something else to tell her, something that will change her life forever. Long ago, he struck a deal with a man in Colorado, a deal that involved an arranged marriage between his daughter and the man's son. The time has come for him to fulfill his end of the bargain, and Mary is expected to travel across the country and marry a stranger. With little time to persuade her father to reconsider, Mary frets over her future, and before she can change his mind, her father dies. Mary's mother, who had little love for her husband and even less for her daughter, uses Mary's dilemma as a way of escaping her boring life in Pennsylvania. She takes Mary to the train station and barely says goodbye to the anxious young woman. Mary is now on her own, facing an uncertain future, and hoping that whomever meets her at the train station in Colorado, will be the one to bring love to her tender heart.