Mail Order Annie
Copyright© 2025 by DFL Runner
Chapter 2
Ewing, NJ
September 1868
Weary from the journey and from setting her few belongings in order in the small dormitory room, Annie had started to drift off as she sat on her bed when she heard a soft tapping on the door.
Startled awake, she saw a lady standing in her doorway. Her raven-black hair framed an oval-shaped face. Her features were slightly pinched, but not unpleasant to behold, and she seemed a bit older than most of the other ladies she had met today.
“Hello. Forgive me for waking you. I believe we are roommates.” She walked in and extended her hand. “I am Ava Cavill. You are?”
Annie ran her hand over her face to bring herself a bit more to consciousness as she stood up and extended her own hand. “Annie Halsey. Pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise.” She then looked out in the hallway. “Boy, bring my bags in here, please.” A young and admittedly handsome light-skinned black man appeared in the doorway with a couple of suitcases. He put them down and tipped his cap to Annie before lowering his gaze, as custom demanded.
“Ma’am,” was all he said.
Annie smiled. “My pleasure, uh ... forgive me, I don’t know your name.”
“Timothy, ma’am. Timothy Scott,” the young man replied, still gazing at the floor. “I work as a baggage porter at the hotel down the street.”
“Well, my pleasure, Timothy.”
“Yes, yes, well...” Ava produced a couple of coins from her purse and handed them to Timothy. “For your time.” She turned away from him in dismissal.
Annie frowned internally. She knew this was the way of things – how people treated Timothy and others like him – but she certainly did not have to like it.
Turning to her new roommate as she began to unpack. Annie started, “Miss Cavill...”
“Mrs.,” Ava interrupted. “Mrs. Cavill.”
“Oh,” said Annie with a note of surprise in her voice.
Ava chuckled humorlessly. “You wonder what a Mrs. is doing in school, hmm?”
“Oh ... ah ... it...” Annie stammered.
“Do not worry yourself,” Ava said airily. “Mr. Cavill and I were wed just before he went to fight against the rebellion, and then he came home in a bottle. Had I known I was betrothed to a drunkard, I would have told my father to seek a larger dowry.”
She made a dismissive gesture with her hands before picking up some of her clothes to place in a drawer. “I am, as the doctors say, barren. I’ve not had a monthly since I was thrown off a horse when I was younger. So, I choose to be part of the upbringing of many other children instead. As well, I don’t fancy the idea of depending on a man whose mistress is alcohol, so I will be the one able to secure our future instead.”
“Oh, but you are still young. The Lord blessed Sarah when she thought all was lost, perhaps He will do the same for you.”
Ava paused in her unpacking and her shoulders fell. Wearily, she sat on her bed. “Annie, I am already 25 years of age. Many women my age already have children in school. When I finish my education here, I will be 27, childless, and married to the town drunk. Teaching or selling my body will be my only means of survival. I would curse God if He gave me a child under such conditions.”
Somewhat nonplussed by how much her new roommate had chosen to reveal about herself, Annie simply nodded and said, “May I help you unpack?”
The subject of Mr. Cavill remained verboten by mutual unspoken agreement from that day forward, although the two women certainly found plenty else to talk about. The two became close friends, and also came to be regarded as the two most notable students in their class.
One evening Ava asked, “Annie, why have you not had any gentleman callers?”
Annie scoffed disdainfully. “I am not here to find a man. I am here to become a teacher who helps children find, embrace, and develop their passions. A man is not going to facilitate that endeavor.”
“Ah,” replied Ava knowingly. “You are not yet a woman, then?”
She laughed at the scandalized expression on Annie’s face. “Please. I know every woman claims to remain pure until their wedding night, but how many of your friends actually did? Did you? Speak freely, I won’t tell anyone.”
Annie started to deliver a sharp retort, but realized Ava was right. She knew several of the young women of her town had become intimately familiar with the boys of the town to varying degrees. Even here in Ewing, a woman occasionally explained her bed being found empty in the morning by claiming to have returned to the dorm late and forgotten her key, so she simply stayed elsewhere that night. Although unspoken, it was frequently assumed that “elsewhere” had been at the home of her suitor.
Annie merely shrugged and smiled. “No. I have not been with a man to any extent, and this is the truth. I think any prospective suitors were afraid of my four brothers. But I admit you are correct. I was one of the few girls of the town who could honestly say that.”
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