Chapter Ten
When Myrtle went back inside, she set supper on the table along with his two desserts. They ate in silence, each of them refusing to back down. Myrtle was certain Aaron was being ridiculous, and he was equally as certain she didn’t respect him or his opinions.
She cleared the dishes and washed them, and then immediately changed into her nightgown. He was still sitting at the table when she closed her eyes to go to sleep. Or at least pretend to go to sleep. She had no desire to make love with him with how he was acting.
She felt the bed give on his side after a long while, but she kept her eyes tightly closed.
She didn’t even want to accidentally touch him in his sleep.
Perhaps she’d been on her own for too long, but she had a mind in her head, and a drive to do more, and she wasn’t going to kowtow to him about the business she was building. Why would she?
Upon waking the following morning, Myrtle immediately got to work on her baking for the day.
The meat pies had gone well, so she decided to make more of them, putting one in his lunch pail.
She was still angry, but she was able to see his side of things now that she was further from their fight.
Perhaps she had been a bit premature in speaking with Katie.
“What are you making for desserts today?” Aaron asked after dressing and moving to the table for breakfast.
“I made meat pies again. And I’m making cupcakes and the cobbler with the cookie base. It went over well with all my friends.”
“I loved it too. I don’t think I ever told you that,” he said, looking down at his food. He was still a bit annoyed with her, but he could understand her excitement and enthusiasm.
“I’m glad. There’s a piece in your lunch pail, along with a meat pie.”
“Thank you! I appreciate you making it for me.”
“Of course. It’s a wife’s job to see that her husband is fed.”
“I guess it is,” he said. “Is it also her job to listen to her husband’s counsel?”
“It is. And I will endeavor to do better at that.” Myrtle chose her words carefully, because they were the only apology he was going to get.
“Be careful about showing favoritism to the different men,” he said softly. “I don’t want to hear about you being in love with yet another man...”
“Trust me. I won’t make that mistake again.” Inwardly, she was upset that he’d brought it up, but she had shown poor judgment.
There was a knock at the door as she stood to wash the breakfast dishes.
It was Josie, carrying a bag with knitting needles sticking out of it.
“Oh, I’m so glad you came!” Myrtle said.
“It’ll be nice to have company while I work.
” Realizing she hadn’t said a word about Josie coming over, she explained, “Aaron, Josie will be joining me in the mornings. That way I will have someone to chat with while I bake.”
“And I get to have someone to talk to while I knit,” Josie added.
“I hope you ladies enjoy your morning then.” Aaron stood and shrugged on his coat, scarf, gloves, and hat. He took his lunch pail and left, for the first time not kissing Myrtle goodbye.
After he was gone, Josie asked, “What’s wrong with him?”
Myrtle opened her mouth to tell her friend what had happened, but then closed it again.
She didn’t need to be gossiping about her own husband.
Instead, she shook her head. “Would you like a muffin while you work? I have a few left from breakfast this morning. Oh, and I’m making meat pies to sell today, so if you’d like one of those, I’d be happy to give you one. ”
Josie looked thoughtful but seemed to take the subject change in stride. “I would like a muffin if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I used some of the blueberries Belle dried early this summer. I think they turned out well. I’ve wondered if muffins would be something I could sell.
..” She didn’t mention the bakery at all.
She was going to have to be happy with doing all of her baking from her home for the time being.
“I’m sure they would!” Josie gladly accepted the muffin and the cup of coffee Myrtle placed on the table in front of her. “That muffin looks delicious!”
“I made a dozen for breakfast. I ate two, and Aaron had eight. I guess he thought they were good.”
“I don’t know how you keep up with baking so much and keeping your house so tidy. Do you ever just sit down and let the voices in your head talk to you for a minute or two?”
“Oh, no! The voices in my head want me to do many things I shouldn’t. This way, I keep them under control,” Myrtle said, grinning at her friend.
“Probably for the best then.”
Josie watched and chattered as Myrtle baked more cobblers. “Remember, one of those is for Jack and me.”
“I won’t forget,” Myrtle said. “I need one for each of the eight couples, and then one for Katie and her husband, and I’ll sell the rest.”
“Do the men always bring their own pie pans and plates for you to fill?”
Myrtle nodded. “I do have a few plates I keep on hand, but the men know it will cost them far less to wash their own plate and bring it back to me.”
“It seems you have all the men in the whole valley trained!”
“I wish I did.” Especially Aaron. She wanted to train him to let her have her way about things. Of course, that wasn’t happening. He had his own opinions, and he wasn’t afraid to share them with her, whether she liked it or not.
Josie helped Myrtle pack the wagon before they went to Maggie’s house for lunch.
They each removed cobblers to carry them into the house for the other ladies.
“They’re all mixed berry,” Myrtle said. “And I have meat pies if anyone is interested in those.” She always felt the need to offer what she made to the other women first. They had provided the ingredients after all.
Myrtle didn’t participate much in the conversation with the other women. She’d already spent the morning with Josie chatting, and she needed to do some serious thinking about the disagreement she’d had with Aaron. Was he right? Had she been premature in asking about a lease for the bakery?
She sighed. She probably had been. Though she hadn’t intentionally made anyone feel that she was interested in them romantically. Myrtle didn’t even know the man’s name, and he was telling people she was interested in him?
After lunch, Josie again walked with her to the store in town.
The man she’d given the extra cookie to the day before stood with his chest puffed out.
She’d seen paintings of peacocks with their feathers fluffed up all around them as they tried to impress the peahens.
That’s exactly what he looked like to her at that moment.
She was careful not to make eye contact with any of the men—but especially the man who loved her sugar cookies—as she offered her meat pies and cobblers.
When she mentioned they were made with sugar cookie crusts, the one man puffed his chest out even further.
“Aaron suggested I make crumbles with my sugar cookies because he loves them so much. You should all thank him for the idea because I think they are one of my favorite treats. I think they’ll be a favorite of all of you as well. ”
Hopefully, that would let the man know she wasn’t planning on leaving her husband for any reason.
When they arrived at the store, Katie asked about the lease.
“I’m going to wait on that for a while. I need to have someone working with me. Aaron is afraid I’m going to wear myself out,” Myrtle said.
Katie nodded. “I do think that’s a real worry for your ladies. You all work so hard! I know you worked hard at the hotel as well, but it almost seems excessive.”
Myrtle shrugged. “But now we work for ourselves. We’re building our own futures and not lining a rich man’s pockets.”
“I can see how it would be tempting to spend every waking moment working toward your future. I did that when we first opened the store. If someone pounded on my door at midnight, I’d open the store for them to buy what they needed, because every cent helped.
I don’t do that anymore, so no knocking at my door in the middle of the night!
” Katie grinned as she said it. She knew her friends had better manners than that.
As Myrtle watched, Katie tucked two meat pies and an entire cobbler aside. “Mr. Johnson loved your cobbler so much. He even had all that was left for breakfast this morning.”
“I’m so glad!” Myrtle said, smiling.
“If you’re open to special orders, we’d like two of those every Saturday. One for us and one to serve after our service.”
“I can do that! Maybe I’ll bring one for service as well to make sure everyone gets a piece.”
Katie laughed. “It would be good advertising. And the group is getting big enough that it would be welcome. I think I’m going to start serving coffee as well.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Myrtle said. Two cobblers every Saturday. Saturday would just be a cobbler day from now on. Why not?
Josie stayed for a little while after they got back to the cabin. She wiped the dishes after Myrtle washed them. “This brings back memories,” Josie said. “How many shifts did the two of us take washing dishes?”
“Way too many,” Myrtle said, laughing. “I was starting to think my fingers would always be wrinkled.”
After the last dish was dry, Myrtle immediately started supper. More whitefish had been dropped off, and she knew it was a good way to apologize to Aaron...and she’d decided he deserved that apology.
Josie watched for a minute before pulling on her coat. “I should go. My Jack needs supper too.”
Myrtle nodded. “You got your cobbler, right?”
“Oh, thank you for reminding me! It’s on the table. I didn’t want to risk you selling it.” Josie picked up the cobbler. “I’ll bring your pan back tomorrow.”
Myrtle’s eyes narrowed. “I honestly don’t know whose pan that is. I just use whatever I can get my hands on.”
“You need more dishes for your bakery business.”
“I do. Someday.”
Josie hurried off toward her home, and Myrtle finished fixing supper, putting the cobbler into the oven to warm just a bit. She knew Aaron preferred his cobbler warm.
When Aaron arrived home, he stripped off his coat and hung it on the hook by the door, slowly unwrapping his scarf and removing his hat. “It’s getting colder every day.”
“I know. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive an Alaska winter.”
He chuckled. “Just keep baking. With both ovens going, we don’t even need the fireplace.” He quickly washed his hands as she put their plates on the table.
“Whitefish!” he exclaimed.
“Agnes brought more by today. She keeps at least two fish for us every day.”
“I’d eat only whitefish all winter and not get sick of it.”
Myrtle shook her head. “I think I would. Thankfully, we have bear, moose, rabbit, and venison to choose from. And salmon of course. Lots and lots of dried salmon.”
“We’ll eat like royalty.” Aaron shook his head. “And to think. Up until a month ago, I was content eating hardtack and jerky for every meal.”
“I don’t know how you didn’t go crazy. I had a hard enough time for the month we were traveling.
It was terrible!” she said as she set his plate on the table.
“I want to apologize for going against your wishes and talking to Katie yesterday. I was looking at it differently than you were, but still, I should have listened to you. Forgive me?”
He took her hand, pulling her into his lap and surprising her.
With the way he usually attacked his food, she was shocked that he was delaying his meal, even for a moment.
“I do forgive you. And several men came to me today and told me you did nothing wrong by giving Rod an extra cookie. They said he blew it all out of proportion.”
“I’m glad they told you how it really was,” she said. “I would never flirt with another man. You’re the man I’m married to. The man I love. Why would I flirt with someone else?”
“You love me?” he asked, blinking a few times. “Are you certain?”
She nodded. “Of course I’m certain. I never say anything I don’t mean.”
He pulled her head down until their lips met, and he kissed her long and hard. “I love you too, Myrtle. Already, it’s hard to believe that I was ever able to survive without you at my side.”
She looked into his eyes for a moment and saw the truth shining from them. Resting her head on his shoulder, she said, “I’m glad it’s not just me.”
His hand stroked her back for a moment. “Would you mind moving to your chair so we can eat?” he whispered. “I mean, I love you and all, but I’m hungry!”
Myrtle laughed. Now he was acting like Aaron again. And that made everything right with her world.