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Your Heart’s

Desire

MELODY CARLSON

New York Boston Nashville



This book is a work of ction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product

of the author’s imagination or are used ctitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,

locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Melody Carlson

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning,

uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the

publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If

you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior

written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at

[email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carlson, Melody.

Your heart's desire / Melody Carlson.

pages ; cm

ISBN 978-1-4555-2814-1 (paperback)—ISBN 978-1-4555-2813-4 (ebook)

I. Title.

PS3553.A73257Y68 2016

813'.54—dc23 2015029425



Your Heart’s Desire



Chapter 1

December 26, 1945

As the train left St. Paul station, Caroline Clark hoped

she hadn’t made an enormous mistake. What kind of mother

pulls her son out of third grade in the middle of the school

year, gives up a perfectly good job, abandons everything fa-

miliar, and relocates halfway across the country? Normal peo-

ple just didn’t do this sort of thing. Did they?

Caroline tugged at the cuff of a kid leather glove as shestudied her son, trying to gauge his emotions as he stared

out the window. Was he frightened like her, dreading the un-

known? Miffed about leaving his school chums behind? Or

perhaps he was simply curious about the speed of this sleek

silver train, looking forward to the prospects of eating in the

diner or sleeping in the upper berth tonight. She hoped his

stoic expression was just suppressed excitement over this trip.And why shouldn’t it be? Traveling more than two thousand



miles from Minnesota to southern California—what young

boy wouldn’t love such an adventure?She controlled the urge to smooth an unruly blond curl

sticking straight out from the side of his cobalt-blue cap. It

was an old habit that he’d politely but rmly asked her to

abandon not so very long ago. Keeping her hands in her lap,

she simply admired her little man. He looked so sweet in his

Sunday suit. But the pant legs, which had been let out twice,

were already too short again. He was growing up quickly. Too

quickly, she was afraid. But Joseph had always been an old

soul, wise beyond his years, even before his father died. Even

so, was he truly ready for this? Was she?

Caroline glanced nervously at her watch. Normally, she

would be behind her desk at this hour. She’d be nishing up

the morning mail and looking forward to a coffee break and a

friendly chat with Bernice. Working for the Northern Leather

Company had been a big part of her life ever since Joe was

killed in the South Pacic nearly four years ago. And she’d as-

sumed she would continue working there until she was a very

old lady. It had seemed the safe route.

Despite the freezing temperature outside, the train was al-

ready stuffy and warm. Caroline stood to remove her gray

woolen coat, neatly folding it with the inside out and laying it

on the empty seat across from them, next to her black leatherhandbag—a going-away gift from the leather company.

“Are you too warm?” she asked Joseph. He silently shook

his head no. Still focused on the view from the window, he

watched intently as the city buildings steadily melded into

warehouses that slowly ran into urban neighborhoods. Not

too unlike where she and Joseph used to live, except that their

little apartment was on the other side of the city. Only sixblocks down from her parents. She felt a lump in her throat

2 Melody Carlson



to imagine what life would be without them so nearby. Who

would Mom share coffee with on Saturday mornings?“You’re doing the right thing,” her mother had insisted in

late November, shortly after Caroline had informed her par-

ents of her baby sister’s interesting invitation. “Joseph will

thrive in the warm California climate. Don’t forget how bad

his bronchitis got last winter, or the school days he missed.”

“That’s right,” Dad had reassured her. “And if all goes well,

your mother and I will join you girls out there by next year.

Right after I retire.”

“But what if I don’t nd a job?” Caroline questioned them.

“Of course you’ll get a job,” Dad had declared. “You’ve

been a valuable employee at Northern Leather. Mark my

words, the leather company will have its work cut out for it

in nding a replacement for you.”

As she reached for the Life magazine her mother had given

her this morning, Caroline questioned her dad’s condence in

her future employability. After all, he was her dad. It was only

natural that he’d be biased in her favor. But what if he was

wrong? What if she couldn’t nd a decent job? To distract

herself from these dismal thoughts, she opened the maga-

zine, ipping past a cigarette ad, and found herself staring at

a headline that sent a chill down her spine.

. It seemed to conrm the hopeless-ness of her situation, the folly of this trip.

Certainly, it was no secret that when the servicemen came

home there weren’t enough jobs to go around. Most of the

women on the production line at the leather factory had been

let go immediately. Most of the female secretaries were re-

placed with males, all war veterans. And if Caroline hadn’t

been a war widow herself, it was likely she’d have been joblessas well.

Your Heart’s Desire 3



Was she a fool on a fool’s errand? Dragging her poor son

across the country, in the hopes of attaining a life that proba-bly didn’t even exist? Why hadn’t she been more grateful for

her old job? After all, she’d had a clean, warm ofce with rel-

atively nice people to work with. And although her salary had

been modest, it made life for her and Joseph a bit more com-

fortable. She’d even managed to stash away some savings—a

nest egg that she was quickly depleting.

But thanks to her little sister’s enticing letter last month,

Caroline was turning her back on all of it. What was she

thinking? She reached for her handbag, extracting the letter

that she’d probably read a dozen times. Just for reassurance.

She slowly unfolded it, skimming over the familiar words.

Dear Caroline,

First of all, I want to wish you Happy Thanksgiving.Lulu took her rst steps last month. Danny is a handful,

but at least he’s in preschool three mornings a week.

Rich got promoted to lead driver in the shipping de-

partment. That’s partly why I’m writing you. Not to

brag about Rich’s promotion, but to tell you that the

company he works for is expanding. According to Rich

there are job opportunities. But more about that later.The main reason I’m writing is to tell you about

the house we signed papers on last week. Thanks to

Rich’s GI housing loan (and Rich’s parents’ generosity)

we will move into our rst real home next week. Four

bedrooms! Can you believe it? And there’s a brand-new

school nearby. But the best news is that this house has

a nished basement with a complete apartment that we

plan to rent for additional income. I got to thinking

4 Melody Carlson



it would be perfect for you and Joseph. And you could

probably get a job where Rich works, at the chocolatefactory. So, please, Sis, say yes. The climate here is won-

derful. I know it will be good for Joseph’s health. And

my children really need their auntie. If you promise me

that you’ll pray about this idea, I will promise not to

keep nagging you about it.

Love,

Marjorie

P.S. Don’t tell Mom and Dad yet, but I’m expecting

again. In June. I need my family nearby!

Caroline refolded the well-worn letter, slipping it back

into her handbag. Although it was reassuring to have a place

to stay, it wasn’t as if Marjorie could offer them free rent. They

clearly needed the rental income to help with their housepayments. Just the same, it was a good opportunity. If only

Caroline could land a decent job.

She looked back at Joseph, still glued to the window. “Are

you having fun, honey?” she asked in a tentative tone, not cer-

tain she wanted to hear his honest response. What if he said

no or that he was unhappy?

“Sure, Mom.” He turned to give her a slightly somber-looking half smile.

“Are you excited about seeing your aunt and uncle and

cousins?”

“I guess so.”

“Are you sad that we left?” She braced herself for his an-

swer.

He shrugged. “I’ll miss my friends and school. And

Grandma and Grandpa.”

Your Heart’s Desire 5

2015-09-17 19:20:51 5



“Don’t forget that Grandma and Grandpa want to relocate

to California, too.” She reached for the bag her mom hadgiven her this morning. Mostly it was food and things for

their trip. But she pulled out the book her dad had con-

tributed. “This is a resource book about California,” she told

Joseph. “Grandpa thought you might like to read it during

the trip.” She opened it up to the rst page, pointing to the

beautiful photo of a white sandy beach peppered with colorful

sun umbrellas and tanned people in swimwear. “Look at this,

Joseph. Can you imagine what it will be like to swim in the

ocean for the rst time?”

He took the book, peering down into the photo with what

seemed genuine interest. “The Pacic Ocean,” he read out

loud. “The California shoreline is 840 miles long.” He looked

impressed. “I bet Minnesota isn’t even that long from one end

to the other end.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not,” she told him.

As Joseph continued to read the book, sharing random tid-

bits of California information from time to time, she began to

relax a little. Maybe he really was having a good time. And

maybe she hadn’t made such a ridiculous mistake after all. Be-

sides, she reminded herself, she had done just as Marjorie had

suggested. Caroline had prayed about this big decision. Right

from the start, she had prayed long and hard. And it seemedlike the doors had opened. In fact, after she gave notice at

work, she’d had a real sense of peace about everything. And

she couldn’t wait to see Marjorie and the children. If she could

only nd a good job, it would be perfect. And she wouldn’t

even complain if the only work available was on the assem-

bly line. In fact, she might actually welcome a job that didn’t

involve her secretarial skills. Besides, she’d always been quitefond of chocolate!

6 Melody Carlson

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