A Promise for Tomorrow by Judith Pella

Listen to me, Carolina. You’re weary from carrying our child and your heart is heavy-laden with the concerns of this household. Give me a chance to work through my problems with Victoria. We’ll make things right; you’ll see.”
    Carolina tried to smile. “I know you’ll do your best.”
    “I will,” he said, kissing her forehead. His hand came to rest on her abdomen. “Soon,” he whispered. “Soon our child will be here and things will be much better.”
    “I pray it is so,” she replied, noting that Victoria had returned and was watching them with a sad expression. “I’m going to go rest,” she told James, nodding in Victoria’s direction. “I’ll leave this matter to you two.”
    James had given Victoria ample time to clean up the broken figurine and retreat to her room before he attempted to go after her and speak his mind. He felt new strength in the fact that Carolina had stood beside him in dealing with Victoria. He thought of Ben Latrobe’s words and how children were given to playing games with their parents. He could see how Victoria had worked at them both, and now he longed to reach out and find a way to meet the child on her own level. Somehow he had to show her that he loved her as much as Carolina did.
    “Victoria?” He came into the nursery to find the child staring in silence out her bedroom window. “Victoria,” he spoke her name again, this time a little more sternly.
    She turned, acknowledging him with a glance, then returned her attention to the world outside her window.
    “We need to talk,” James said, taking a seat at the miniature table Victoria used for her studies and playtime.
    She turned, eyed him suspiciously, then finally spoke. “You are going to send me away, aren’t you?” Her voice was quite refined for a six-year-old.
    “What?” James was so stunned he couldn’t believe his ears. “Send you away? Where in the world did you get that idea?”
    She shrugged. “Are you?”
    “Never!” declared James adamantly. “Is that what has you worried? Do you feel the need to test my love for you?”
    Victoria’s lower lip quivered, and James thought for sure she might start crying at any moment. He patted the chair beside him. “Come sit here and tell me why you feel this way.”
    Victoria pushed back her dark hair and got up from her window seat. She took the chair James offered her and folded her hands in a fashion that James knew best as her church pew pose.
    “Victoria, I know you think I’m too hard on you, but the truth is, it’s because I love you and care about the person you become that I discipline you.” He looked at her, softening his expression in order to make her less afraid. “Sometimes mothers and fathers have to be stern with their children. It’s important to set rules and have limitations; otherwise, everybody would simply do whatever they felt like doing.”
    “I like to do what I feel like doing,” Victoria admitted in childlike honesty.
    “So do I,” James said with a smile. “But it isn’t always prudent.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Sensible. Doing whatever we want, when we want, isn’t always the sensible or the right thing to do. Sometimes we have to do things in order to be helpful to others, or we might have to obey certain rules in order to be safe—like when I’m working with the railroad. Understand?” Victoria nodded, but James could tell she was still not completely convinced.
    “Victoria, you must understand something,” he began, reaching out to take hold of her hand. “I am your father now. Just like God is our heavenly Father, and—”
    “God is Jesus’ Father,” Victoria interrupted quite seriously.
    “Yes, He is. But we become His adopted children when we accept Jesus as our Savior. He accepts us as His own and He loves us more than we can ever know. It’s like that with you and me. You are my adopted daughter, and I accept you as my own and I love you more than you can ever know.”
    “But you have