“She’s having another of her bad days.”
Bad days for Sophia Martin came more and more frequently as time went on. Annie’s mother had never been a strong woman, but she’d held up well enough until their father died. Shortly thereafter, the money he’d left them had run out, forcing them from the home she’d loved so much, leaving them to move from relative to relative, to anyone who would take them in, and Sophia had bounced from good to ill health regularly.
Angus Martin, a widower, their father’s cousin, had taken them into his home just weeks ago, after corresponding with Sophia. He’d been agreeable enough with the arrangement—free room and board for the four of them in exchange for cooking, cleaning and running his house while he tended his farm.
All of that had changed the minute they arrived and he got a look at Willa, Sophia’s middle daughter. Now he barely spoke to any of them, and Sophia had taken to her bed more and more often.
“You’re only taking one dress?” Camille asked.
Annie eyed the blue gingham gown she’d pulled from the wardrobe cupboard. She only owned three, and this was her favorite, though she seldom wore any of them.
“For church on Sunday,” Annie said.
“Won’t you wear a dress all the time in your new job?” Camille asked.
Annie glanced down at the clean trousers and shirt she’d just changed into. Josh Ingalls had hired her in these clothes, so surely it was all right if she wore them.
“Here, take all of them, just in case.” Camille pulled the other two from the wardrobe cupboard, then glanced at those left behind. “You could try to alter Willa’s dresses and take them, too. She won’t be needing them for a while still.”
Annie shook her head. Willa’s dresses didn’t have enough hem to accommodate Annie’s height, but that wasn’t the reason she wouldn’t take her sister’s clothes.
“It will just make her cry,” Annie said.
“Again,” Camille said, not unkindly. “Everything makes her cry.”
Annie couldn’t blame her sister for crying all the time. She was pregnant, after all. Pregnant, sixteen years old and not married.
Willa would have been married, probably, if Evan Keller’s parents hadn’t turned up their noses at the idea of their son being interested in someone with such limited financial resources. They had bigger and better things planned for their boy, and had whisked him away on an extended trip in the East.
Two months later, when Willa realized she was pregnant, there had still been no word from Evan. Shocked and humiliated, Sophia had arranged for them to move here with their cousin Angus, far away from the scandal. They hadn’t escaped it, though. The talk had started soon after their arrival. Whispers, at first, then rumors. Angus’s attitude hadn’t helped anything.
“I’ll miss you, Annie,” Camille said.
Annie threw her arms around her little sister. She hated leaving her behind, leaving her alone to manage the house, their mother, their sister and their cousin. But, even at so young an age, Camille was a strong girl, with the ability to let most of life’s problems roll off her. She found escape in endless hours of reading.
“I have a surprise for you,” Annie said, stepping back. “I wasn’t going to tell you for a while yet, until I was positive I could manage. But now that I have this new job and I’m making more money, well, I don’t see a reason to wait.”
Annie dropped to her knees beside the chest in the corner. It contained the few family treasures they hadn’t sold off or bartered away. She dug to the bottom and pulled out a pamphlet.
“The Hayden Academy for Young Women,” Annie announced. “You’ll attend in the fall.”
Camille just stared at the pamphlet for a moment, then finally took it, holding it by the edges. “A school? In Richmond?”
Grinning, Annie nodded.
She frowned. “Oh, Annie, it’s not one of those schools where all you learn is how to pour tea and curtsy properly, is it?”
“No, silly. It’s a real school where they teach mathematics and literature. All the things you’re interested in.”
Camille shook her head. “But how? We can’t afford this.”
“I’ve corresponded with the head mistress and explained our situation. She agreed to let me pay your tuition a little at a time,” Annie said. “But since I’m the Ingallses’ nanny now, I can pay for it easily.”
“Really?” Camille looked longingly at the pamphlet, then at her sister. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Oh!” Camille threw her arms around Annie and hugged her hard, then gasped. “I have so much to do to get ready. I’ll find the schoolteacher here and see if I can borrow some books. Maybe she can tutor me.”
Seeing the excitement on Camille’s face pleased Annie no end. Her sister had always been a studious girl, and deserved to go to a good school. But Annie had been motivated to send her by something more.
There was no need for Camille, too, to endure the scandal of Willa’s pregnancy. That’s why Annie had picked a school in Virginia, far away from Wisconsin. True, there were many good schools closer, but with the great distance, the gossip wouldn’t likely follow her.
A little shudder passed through Annie, and she said a quick prayer that Josh wouldn’t hear of the scandal himself. Surely, it would jeopardize her job as nanny to his children. And if he fired her, how would she pay Camille’s future tuition and school expenses?
“I’d better go,” Annie said, aware suddenly of how long she’d taken to pack. A driver and wagon belonging to Josh waited out front for her.
“I’ll come by to see you in a few days,” Camille said, helping to carry her things through the house, “if that’s all right.”
“Let me know if there’re any problems here,” Annie said, though she couldn’t imagine there wouldn’t be, what with Willa, their mother and cousin the way they were. “Any problems you can’t handle, that is.”
As the driver loaded her things in the wagon, Annie went to her mother’s room, hoping to tell her goodbye. But, as usual, she was sleeping; Annie didn’t wake her.
Since Willa spent most of her time walking through the fields, and Angus was working, there was no one but Camille to share a farewell as Annie climbed up on the wagon. They pulled away and she turned on the seat, looking back. Camille, her smile radiant, waved from the porch.
Gradually, the house faded in the distance. Beside Annie sat a strange man. Ahead of her, a new life and—
Josh Ingalls.
She crossed her arms over her middle, the early evening air suddenly feeling cool. Of all the aspects of her new life that awaited her, why had Josh floated into her mind?
And why did those thoughts make her stomach feel so funny?
She
