Chapter Six
That evening, Agnes fried some of the salmon for their supper, planning to serve the smoked salmon to everyone the following day at lunch. She was thrilled Sally had told her she would need to feed everyone, so she would be prepared. She also made a large gingerbread cake to share with all of them.
When Jasper arrived home from work, he sniffed deeply. “Something smells delicious.”
Agnes smiled. “I made fresh salmon for supper and a gingerbread cake for everyone tomorrow. I’m excited to get the smokehouse and nets for the salmon ready.
Sally showed me how to catch, clean, and smoke the fish today.
I feel like my head is bigger because my brain is bulging with knowledge.
Does it look bigger to you?” She set supper on the table.
He laughed. “I can’t believe you said all that in one breath! No, your head looks exactly as I left it, and I hope it remains as it is. I happen to like it exactly the way it is.” He leaned down and kissed her before washing his hands.
“It was a remarkable day,” she told him.
“I can tell. Did you get the goats ordered? Should we build the barn first?”
“Yes, I ordered the goats, but it will be ten days before they arrive. I went with adults, so we’ll get milk sooner. I can’t wait to taste the fresh goat milk our nanny goats will produce.”
He chuckled. “You sound so excited about all the work you’re taking on. I hope you’re not biting off more than you can chew.”
She scoffed. “I spent years at that horrible hotel working twelve-hour days. This won’t be nearly as bad. At least that’s what Sally tells me. She said it’s so much better working for your own future and not making some rich man even richer.”
“I agree with that. I’m excited as well. Just a bit concerned you’ll try to do too much.”
She shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I promise!” As they sat down to eat, she talked to him about the smokehouse Sally had.
“I think I want it to be much bigger. She can only hang about ten fish per day. I’d like to be able to do at least thirty or forty.
It sounds like fish is one of the main things to eat during the winter here. ”
He shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’ve always just eaten—”
“Jerky and hardtack,” she finished for him. “Sally said her Tom was the same way. And as I’m learning, there may be a couple of nights of jerky and hardtack, but the thought makes me ill. There were far too many days of jerky and hardtack.”
“The journey would have been much longer and harder for you if we’d taken time to fish or hunt and forage along the way. We did what was smart, even though it wasn’t as palatable as your cooking always is.”
Agnes shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m not complaining about it. I simply wish things could have been different, and I have no desire to eat those things again.”
“I promise I won’t bring it up again, though you brought it up this time, and not me.”
She laughed. “I suppose I did. I had a wonderful afternoon with Sally, and I got to meet Herbert, who will be the father of the bacon we eat in the future.”
“Herbert? Tom has mentioned how Sally has that pig following her all around.”
“Sally also loaned me a book on homesteading, so I’ll at least have an idea of how to care for the goats before they arrive.
I’ll start work in earnest this week with the fishing, and by the time I feel like I have that down, we’ll have goats!
” Agnes sighed happily. “Just think of the baby goats. Don’t you love baby farm animals? ”
Jasper couldn’t help but smile. “It sounds like you had a wonderful day. Did you see the other ladies?”
Agnes nodded. “It seems we all eat lunch together every day. Then we can let the others know if we need help with something. Maggie wasn’t up to her usual foraging today as her babe was active all night, and she got no sleep.
So, after I worked with Sally, I did some foraging.
I didn’t find nearly as much as yesterday, but you are eating Eskimo potatoes I found all by myself. ”
“They’re delicious.” As she kept talking about her wonderful day, he watched her, never having imagined her being so animated about work. She was a good woman, and he appreciated her willingness to buy the goats with her own savings.
When she took a pause for air, he asked, “Do I get a piece of that delicious smelling gingerbread tonight?”
She shook her head. “I made us a smaller gingerbread cake for just the two of us. I didn’t think you’d be able to resist if you could smell it, and I’m sure there’s nothing else to smell.”
He grinned. “Is there more fish?”
“There is. And more potatoes as well. I helped clean these fish after we pulled them from a net. I think I want my nets set up just like Sally’s, but I want more of them.
Four at least.” She stood and got him more food.
“Sally told me that we ladies will make the nets while you men build the smokehouse but then you’ll set up the nets for me. ”
“If that’s how they did it for her, I’m certain we’ll do the same.” Jasper was sincerely surprised at how much she’d talked since he’d gotten home. It was like the promise of hard work had given her new life.
“I wish you’d helped with the other projects, so you’d know what we’re getting ourselves into tomorrow, but at least I’ll be able to pass on how things went to the next girl who comes.”
“If I’d been certain I’d have a wife who would want to work as hard as the others, I would have gotten involved more. But for all I knew, I’d sent for a ne’er-do-well.”
“There were a couple of those at the hotel, but they never lasted long. They’d be caught in a corner reading when they were supposed to be working, and then it was all over. A lot of women came and went over the years.”
She sat down to watch him eat his third fish, waiting until he was ready for dessert to serve her own.
“Thank you for this delicious meal, and I’ll have to thank Tom’s wife tomorrow for providing the fish.”
“I helped!” she said.
He chuckled. “I know you did. And soon you’ll be doing a lot of the fishing yourself. Tom isn’t sure that Sally will still fish if you’re doing as much as we think you will. She’s doing a great deal more than any one person should be.”
“We’ll see. I’ll let her know when they all come over tomorrow morning that I’m willing to take it all on if she’d like me to.”
“So, the ladies will come at the same time as the men?” he asked. “That surprises me.”
“Why? We have to make the net, and to be honest, I’m not even sure how to do it. I’ll need the other women here.”
“I suppose you will. Tell me how Sally’s nets are set up, so I can visualize it. I want to be ready to work as soon as they all arrive.”
She briefly explained what she’d witnessed that afternoon.
“She can pull in a net on her own. That’s why I want four nets.
I would like to be able to do them one at a time.
My goat chores won’t be as heavy as the fish will.
At least I don’t think they will. I haven’t finished the entire section on goats yet. ”
“Are we planning on eating all those goats?” he asked.
“Some of them, I’m sure. Mostly, we’ll be using their milk. We’ll make butter, cheese, and whipped cream, and it will be fresh from our own farm!”
“You could sell any surplus butter and cheese. Cream and milk as well. Do you plan on breeding a lot of goats, or will you stick with just a few.”
“I want to breed them and get our own herd. Katie—Mrs. Johnson—told me there are a couple of men down the river who raise goats. We can trade some kids for others so they won’t be breeding with their own siblings.”
“I was wondering about that. It sounds like you have everything under control.”
“I certainly hope I will by the time they arrive. Right now, I’m reading up on making cheese. I do love cheese, but I’ve never made it, so it will be a whole new experience for me. And our goats will keep making us money throughout the winter. It will be good.”
After their cake, which Jasper praised as the best he’d ever eaten, she quickly did the dishes while he milked the goat they had.
As he walked out into the cool night air, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself over her excitement.
She had so many grand plans, and he was thrilled she was jumping into life as an Alaskan wife with such gusto.
She was good for him, his Agnes, and he hadn’t been sure that marriage would agree with him.
He had found himself grinning at odd times during the day as he thought about his pretty wife.
Nothing had prepared him for how he would feel about her once she’d arrived.
She hadn’t been nearly as fun in her letters to him, and he’d almost expected a dour wife who would do “her duty” but not be happy about it.
Thankfully, she was nothing like he’d thought.
When he went back into the house, she had finished the dishes and already changed into a clean nightgown.
He walked to her and simply held her close for a moment.
“I wasn’t sure about sending away for a wife, but now that you’re here, I know you are exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Here with me, learning about how to live a good life filled with salmon and goats. ”
“Salmon and goats. At least it’s not all of one all the time. I think you’d get tired of me chattering on about just one topic. This way, you get two things to listen to me babble about.”
“I could listen to you talk all day.” He kissed her then, and they didn’t speak for a very long while as they made love.
Afterward, she lay in his arms and wondered if they’d made a baby. She’d thought it was what she wanted most in the world, but she found she liked being alone with Jasper. They needed a little time to just love one another before a baby entered their lives.