Chapter Five
Aaron was thrilled with the stew for supper, and Myrtle couldn’t help but grin at his compliments. “I hope someone’s raising rabbits,” he said as he pushed away his fourth bowl of the stew. “I want to eat that all the time.”
“I was talking to Agnes about that today. I love rabbit stew as well. We think Lula might be willing, but we’ll need to talk to her about it, and then figure out how to trap rabbits without hurting them.”
“If someone will agree to raise them, I’ll go out and catch the rabbits with my bare hands.” He patted his stomach. “I can’t remember ever being so full, and it feels great. I wanted to eat another six bowls.”
“I’ll put a container of it in your lunch pail tomorrow. And some fresh-baked bread of course.”
He eyed what was left of the loaf she’d served for their supper. One heel and nothing else. “I think I’m going to get fat being married to you.”
She laughed. “I enjoy cooking and baking.”
“You should start a restaurant.”
“I’m thinking about it. It would be a bakery, and I’d have a different soup every day of the week.
Then people could come in to buy a whole pie, or sit and eat one slice.
I could do a special of soup, bread, and a slice of pie every day.
” She sighed. “They’re lofty dreams. It won’t happen overnight. ”
“Just so you keep feeding me, I’ll be thrilled to help with trapping rabbits, building a bakery and restaurant, or just making pens for someone to keep the rabbits. But I think I will need rabbit stew every day for the rest of my life.”
She grinned. “Wait until you taste my jelly rolls.”
He smiled. “Soon, I hope?”
“Absolutely!” She frowned for a moment. “That reminds me. I need a wagon. Preferably one that I can switch out wheels for runners so I can use it year-round.” She pushed the drawing she’d made across the table to him.
“I want different sections for different types of baked goods. One big section for bread, and smaller sections for pies and cakes. I’m not an architect, but I drew up something I think would work really well. ”
He glanced down at her drawing, studying it carefully. “I could build that this weekend if I can find the wheels. Runners I can do easily. I’ll talk to the others at work and see if anyone has some old wheels lying around.”
“I don’t know if there will be other building projects this weekend, but this needs to be my top priority. I had to make three trips to the store and one to Belle’s today. If I could just put everything in the wagon all at once, I’d have more time to bake. And cook. I won’t forget to cook.”
“I’ll do everything I can to make it happen,” he promised, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.
“Thank you.” She stood and poured the pot of water she’d heated for the dishes into the basin. “After I finish the dishes, I’ll serve the pie.”
He opened one eye. “Pie? You made pie?”
“Sure did. Do you have room left?”
“I’ll manage somehow...” He smiled. “You know, when I first saw you with your friends in Skagway, I was certain things weren’t going to work out between us. If I’d let you cook on the trip here, I would have known you were my soul mate much sooner.”
Myrtle put her hands on her hips and spun around to look at her husband. “Oh really? So, you only care about me because I cook for you?”
He chuckled. “You have some good attributes other than your ability to cook...”
“I’d better!” She had a smile on her face as she washed the dishes though. Her ma had always told her the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Based on Aaron’s reaction to her supper, he’d be following her around like a lost puppy dog in a week.
*****
Myrtle met with the other women in Maggie’s cabin for lunch the following day. She took the loaves of bread along with her, and plopped one in the middle of the table to go along with their meal.
“I’ve decided to make desserts for half of us one day, and the other half the next day,” she announced. “That way, I’ll have a steady stream of treats for the store as well.” She briefly explained that Aaron would be making her a wagon to make deliveries easier.
“And I’ll help with your deliveries today,” Agnes said.
“Agnes and I talked yesterday, and we have another idea. Would anyone be willing to raise rabbits? We thought it would be good to breed and butcher them. I love rabbit stew!”
Agnes nodded emphatically. “Myrtle’s rabbit stew is delicious.”
“I actually brought some of what I made for supper last night. I hope you all love it as much as Agnes and I do, and you’ll want to raise rabbits.”
Lulu, Josephine, and Ella exchanged glances. “We’ll talk about it, and I’m sure one of us will do it,” Josie said.
Myrtle smiled. “Thank you!” Myrtle went to the door and carried in the pot with her stew in it.
She tucked all the bread into a pillowcase to carry it easily, and in her other hand she’d carried the pot by the handle, the lid tightly on it.
“I warmed it up just before I left, so it should still be hot enough to eat.”
“I made a pot of Belle’s duck and dumplings, so we can all have some of each, or choose which one we want,” Maggie said.
As they all ate together, Belle told a story from hunting with Lula the previous day that had them all laughing.
“I’m really hoping to get a bear within the next couple of weeks.
I think that would give us enough meat for the entire winter.
Or three more elks.” She poked the air with the spoon she was using to eat the rabbit stew.
“I love the idea of one of us raising rabbits, though. It wouldn’t put quite as much stress on us hunting next year. ”
“But someone would need to butcher the rabbits. I know I couldn’t do it,” Maggie said.
Myrtle took a deep breath. “I’m not certain whether I could either. As much as I love to eat rabbits, I don’t think I could kill one.”
Belle shrugged. “I have no problem butchering the meat for my family’s meals. None at all.”
“I don’t either,” Lula said. “It’s not my favorite thing to do, but I can.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter who raises them, as long as Lula or I butcher them,” Belle said.
Maggie shook her head. “I’ll stick with foraging. I couldn’t eat a bunny I’d named Lola or Bugs or Daffy.”
“You could always name them all stew!” Lula suggested with a grin.
After they were all finished laughing, they talked about having pens built for the rabbits. “We’ll need to decide who is keeping them before we do that,” Belle said. “And unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of time before winter sets in.”
They discussed it for a few more minutes before Myrtle changed the subject. “Who wants desserts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? And who wants them on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday? I want to make a regular schedule, so that I can keep track of which families like which dessert best.”
“I’m flexible,” Belle said. “I can make my own dessert if I need one on a day you’re not providing it.”
Josie shook her head. “Look at us. Women who only served others thinking about what day we need dessert. We’ve come a long way.”
“We really have,” Maggie said. “Thousands of miles to be back together.” She shook her head. “Thanks, Belle for being courageous enough to blaze the trail for the rest of us to follow.”
After lunch, Agnes followed Myrtle home, and the two of them gathered what they needed to make their delivery to the store. “I really appreciate you helping me,” Myrtle said as they started their walk. It would still take two trips, but the company and the help meant a lot to her.
“It gives me a chance to catch up with you. How’s married life so far?”
Myrtle wanted to tell her friend that she and Aaron hadn’t yet consummated their marriage, but she felt the subject was far too delicate.
“I think it’s going well,” Myrtle said. “Aaron is a good man, and after he got over the initial shock of me bringing three of my friends, he’s been nothing but kind.
He’s going to try to get some old wheels to build me the wagon this weekend. ”
“The one you showed me?” Agnes asked.
Myrtle nodded. “He said he understands how important it will be for me to have it, so he’ll do it if at all possible.”
“We probably need to work on rabbit traps this weekend as well. I talked to Jasper about it last night, and he said he could easily make a simple trap that wouldn’t damage the rabbits. As soon as we figure out who will be keeping them, we can start trapping them.”
“That makes sense. Hopefully someone will claim the task soon.”
As they went into the store with twenty loaves of bread, Katie smiled. “Oh, I was hoping you’d be here soon! Do you think you’ll make deliveries around this time every day?” she asked.
Myrtle nodded. “I do think so. It gives me all morning to bake, and then I can have lunch with my friends, and hopefully have help delivering after. I made two dozen small cakes today. We’ll be bringing those. For now, this is twenty loaves of bread. Do you think that’s enough?”
“I don’t know if you could make enough!” Katie said. “I sell out every day.”
“That’s crazy!” Myrtle said. “I’ll see if I can do a few more tomorrow. I plan to deliver to you Monday through Saturday, but I’ll be taking the Sabbath off.”
“That sounds very reasonable,” Katie said. “I’ll happily sell what you bring me.”
“Thank you. This would be much harder without you helping us.”
*****
That weekend, Aaron made the wagon to her specifications. He worked all day Saturday and after church on Sunday, but when it was done, it was perfect. There were compartments for pies and cakes, and a large area for bread. She couldn’t wait to take it for its inaugural run on Monday.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she squealed as she looked at all of the different areas. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him.
Aaron laughed. “I hope it works out well.”
“It will! It’s the next best thing to my own bakery.” She ran her hand along the wooden side. “Will it be hard to switch from wheels to runners?”
“It’s not for me. If it seems hard to you, I’ll do it for you before work when it needs to be changed.” He turned the wagon on its side, showing her how the wheels detached. “Then you just slide the runners in here. See?”
She nodded and put them in herself. “It’s not hard at all!”
“I hope it helps you as much as you think it will.”
“I hope so too!” She kissed him again. “You’re the most wonderful husband in the whole wide world!”
He seemed embarrassed by her flattery. “I’m glad you think so.”
“Trust me. I do!” She looked behind her. “Supper’s ready if you’re hungry.”
“I am,” he said eagerly. He had come to look forward to meals. She was an excellent cook. “What are we having?”
“I made a duck pot pie. I’ve never cooked with duck before, so I hope it’s good. Belle said it was mallard.”
“I’m sure it will be wonderful. I haven’t eaten anything you made that I didn’t love.”
“Josie said she’ll have whitefish for us by tomorrow afternoon. I told her it was your favorite,” Myrtle said as she set the table.
“I can’t believe you remembered that.”
“Of course, I did! I try to pay attention when you tell me anything...especially about your food tastes. I want you to be happy.”
Aaron smiled at her. “You make me happy. And not just with your cooking,” he told her.
She served them each a portion of the pot pie. “You’re easy to please then, aren’t you?”
After supper that night, she did the dishes while he put the wheels back on her wagon, so it would be ready to go the following morning. “I’ve heard lots of men talking about your baking the past few days.”
“Oh, I’m so glad! I was worried I wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to Belle and Maggie. Belle always intimidated me a little, because it seems she’s so good at everything.”
“You don’t seem the type to be intimidated easily,” he said.
“I’m not! Belle is just really good at everything. Do you know her at all?”
“Just what I’ve seen of her at our service on Sundays, and she tends to talk to the other women, not the men.”
“But there weren’t always many women...”
“At first, she only really talked to Mrs. Johnson. And then the other women started to arrive. It feels like a real town now that there are ladies here.”
She laughed. “I never dreamed there was a place that was only populated by men. Alaska is as unusual as it is beautiful.”
He took her hand and pulled her to him. “I’m just glad that you’re here with me. It gets lonely during the long, cold nights of winter.”
Her heart beat faster as she was closer to him. “I’m glad to be here...with you.”
He lowered his head and kissed her slowly, as if testing the waters to see if she was ready for more. When she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back, he had his answer. He picked her up and carried her to their bed.
Myrtle returned kiss for kiss and touch for touch. Clothes were thrown in every direction, and when he finally joined their bodies, she knew she was right where she belonged. In bed with her husband.
After, they lay together, the covers somewhere out of reach. “We’re going to get cold eventually,” she said absently.
“But I know how to warm us both up...”