Read Westward the Dream for Free Online

They’ll see to it that their beloved B&O Railroad makes it west. After all, I’m here. What better reason will they need?”
    Kiernan frowned at this. “Aye, what better reason?”

4
    Jordana pulled her cape tighter around her shoulders. She hated the ferry ride from school to Staten Island, where Margaret Vanderbilt lived. Meggie had invited her home for the weekend, and because G.W. Vanderbilt, Meggie’s young uncle, would also be there, Jordana couldn’t resist the invitation. George Washington Vanderbilt, now in his twenties and commissioned as a lieutenant in the Union army, was a handsome, broad-shouldered man who treated Jordana as a woman of intelligence, even if she was only sixteen. He had been gone to war nearly since its inception, leaving them at the mercy of the army and postal services for communications. Now he was home on furlough, having succumbed to some illness during the Battle of Shiloh. It would be wonderful to see him again. He never failed to discuss issues of the day with her, accepting that she had the ability to reason and consider matters just as well as any of his male counterparts.
    Still, enduring the chilly harbor ride for the sake of being accepted as an adult left Jordana questioning her own sanity. Turning to Meg, she forced her teeth not to chatter and smiled. “I’ll be glad when the weather decides to stay warm.”
    â€œOh, it’s just a little storm,” Meg replied, looking heavenward. “Mother calls it winter’s last hurrah. It’ll pass before you know it, and then we’ll be longing for some shady place to cool our brows.”
    â€œYou’re certainly waxing poetic today,” Jordana teased.
    â€œI’m glad to be going home,” Meg replied. “I hate Deighton and long only to return home for good.”
    â€œWhat about me?” Jordana questioned. “Who would keep me entertained at school if you were gone?”
    Meg tossed back her hood and laughed, her brown ringlets dancing about her shoulders. “ You are the entertainment at Deighton School. No one could come close to equaling your antics. When you were scaling the building, I thought old Pruney would faint.”
    â€œShe did appear a bit pale,” Jordana agreed. “I can only thank the southern states’ rebellion for saving me from expulsion. Poor Brenton made me promise to be good until the end of this session. I don’t think he’s cut out for my kind of adventure.”
    â€œFew people are.” Meg strained to see the shore. “Oh look, G.W.’s come to pick us up.”
    Jordana grinned and suddenly she didn’t feel quite so cold. “I feared he’d be too sick. I hope he has plenty of new stories for us about West Point and his travels. I simply love hearing his tales.”
    â€œI think he simply loves you.”
    Jordana frowned. “I certainly hope you are wrong, Margaret Vanderbilt.”
    Meg looked at her in surprise. “You don’t want him to love you?”
    â€œI do not want him to love me. We’re good friends, and that is how I want it to remain. I have too much to do with my life to consider settling down to be any man’s wife. I want to learn what I can and travel. If I married G.W. he might treat me respectfully, but it wouldn’t be long until he expected me to resign myself to keeping his house and bearing his children.”
    â€œYou don’t want a husband and children?” Meggie asked in disbelief. For all her spirited nature, Meg wasn’t quite as given over to unconventional thought as her dear friend appeared to be.
    â€œI want them both—someday,” Jordana replied, waving to G.W. as the ferry approached the dock. “I just don’t want them now. This war has people acting positively daffy, if you ask me. Three of our young ladies have returned to their homes in the South, two have left to marry while their beaus are on