Martha Finley
In a frightening incident, Elsie's husband, Edward Travilla, narrowly survives an accidental shooting when friends tease son Edward, Jr., into firing a loaded pistol. The shot grazes Edward's head, and he survives with only minor damage. Soon life in the Travilla household returns to its calm routine. In the meantime, Elsie welcomes a cousin from Scotland who brings a very special talent with him as well as news of her mother's ancestral family.
Elsie
...Eight-year-old Elsie Dinsmore is enjoying a blissful Christmas holiday season with her family when a crisis arises that threatens to change her life as she knows it. Her father has made a request of her that she believes would violate her conscience, and Elsie feels she must refuse him. But he fails to see her refusal as a matter of her deep faith in God, believing that Elsie is merely being willful and disobedient.
Elsie clings to the promise
...Elsie Dinsmore is an endearing eight-year-old girl with several bewildering problems. She has never known her mother, who died when Elsie was a baby, and she longs for a close, loving relationship with her father. He, however, has sent her off to be raised at Roselands, his brothers' Southern plantation, where her teacher, Miss Day, harshly criticizes her and her cousins tease her relentlessly.
As Elsie learns to handle her problems, she
...It is time for celebration as Elsie prepares to marry her beloved Edward. Following their wedding, the happy couple honeymoons at Viamede, the childhood home of Elsie's mother in the bayou region of Louisiana. Here Elsie's faith matures, and she learns to share her belief with others in a meaningful way.
Four children—Elsie, Edward, Violet, and Harold—are born to Elsie and Edward, who experience the joys and heartaches of parenthood.
...During a stay at Viamede, the family is blessed with a new addition, Lily, "on loan" from heaven for a short time. Then Elsie takes in Cousin Molly, a young girl who has been injured in a fall. Next, Elsie befriends a nearly blind child of her former governess, and Ronald once again joins the family. As Elsie's children move from childhood into adulthood, young Elsie's heart is captured by a fine young man.