Chapter Seven
Agnes couldn’t believe how much fun they had the next day.
She outlined what she was looking for in the smokehouse, and the men went off to take care of it.
She and the other ladies worked on making the net, speaking of things that had happened at the hotel, their childhoods, what they loved most about being married, and Alaska.
Everything seemed to always come back to Alaska.
After their noon meal, the men took her out and showed her the new smokehouse. It was just what she’d been looking for, and she was excited to use it. They attached the nets to poles, and she was ready to start part of her duties for the enterprise her friends had started.
“I can’t believe it was all finished so quickly,” Agnes said as the others got ready to go home.
“We work hard when it means more food for the winter,” Everett said with a smile.
“And we work hard when we know it will please our ladies,” Tom added.
This was the first time she’d met the men other than Jasper, and she found she liked them all a great deal.
Tom seemed like he loved Sally with all his heart, which pleased Agnes a great deal.
It was good that she’d married someone who was loving.
“We’ll be back next weekend to build a barn for those goats you have coming in. Jasper said you’re going to try your hand at making goat cheese, and I’m excited to hear it.” James patted his belly. “I do like cheese.”
“I hope I can do it justice,” Agnes said with a smile.
“If we have anything to base those hopes on, I have to say, that gingerbread cake was delicious,” Everett said. “You’ll have to give Belle the receipt.”
“I’d love to have it,” Belle said, “but I won’t sell it at the store. It’s your receipt. You should sell it. Bake several small ones, wrap them in cloth, and take them to the store. Katie would return your cloth the next day, and you’d have more money in your pocket.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that the men are that excited for anything sweet...” Agnes said with a frown.
Everett laughed. “The men in this town are so excited to have sweets again. You ladies could charge double or triple what you do, and the shelves would still be bare at the end of the day.”
“I’d feel like I was taking advantage of Katie!” Agnes said.
Belle shook her head. “Katie keeps a portion of each sale. She earns money from our hard work. She practically begs for us to do more, but we have too many other things that need to be taken care of to devote that much time to baking. Truly, I think the next woman who comes here to marry should open a bakery. She wouldn’t have to sell, because Katie would do that. She’d just have to bake.”
“Hopefully someone will do that,” James said. “Maggie needs to do less now that our baby is almost here.” Belle could tell he was excited about the baby by the way he looked at Maggie and draped an arm around her shoulders.
Maggie walked to the door. “Let’s go home, and I’ll feed you,” she said to James.
“Man, I do love hearing those words.” James grinned at Maggie and kissed her nose.
For a second, Agnes was startled by the public display of affection, but she understood that social niceties were not as strict in their frontier town as they had been back in Massachusetts.
As the others left, Agnes turned to Jasper. “I had so much fun today!”
Jasper laughed. “You’ll have as much fun when we do this again next week. Lunch was wonderful. All the other men were raving about how good it was.” He tilted his head to one side, studying her for a moment. “I think you may be a keeper.”
She giggled, walking closer to him and wrapping both arms around his middle. I hope so. I think you’re a keeper as well.”
He took her out and showed her the nets and how they’d hung them. It was so much like Sally’s set up that she knew it would be relatively easy for her to master her craft. “Do you like it?” he asked.
She nodded. “Absolutely. It’s going to be fun trying to keep up with the fish, I think.”
“I know it will be.” Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, they headed back into the house. “Are you going to feed me supper?”
“I’ve already fed you twice today. You don’t mean to say you expect three meals per day? That’s excessive.”
He chuckled. “Let’s just have what’s left of that lunch you made.”
“Sounds good to me. I think next week, I’ll plan to send a gingerbread cake home with each of the couples. And I may spend tomorrow baking more of them and try selling them. Why not? I enjoy baking, and we have what we need to make them.”
“Just save a little bit of your time and energy for your husband,” he said. “I get first pick of the cakes.”
“You don’t need a whole cake!” she said sternly.
“Then I’ll go to the store and buy one. You can’t stop me.”
She laughed. “I’ll make you one for your lunch at work on Monday.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea! Smoked salmon, fried potatoes, and a gingerbread cake. I could eat that for every meal.”
“We’ll have smoked salmon coming out of our ears in another week!”
“So glad to hear it!”
*****
The Sunday church service was very different than anything Agnes had ever experienced.
She learned a lot, as they delved into the scriptures in a way she had never seen a pastor do.
There was a lively discussion led by Mr. Johnson, and they all sang hymns.
It felt much more casual than church had felt back home.
It was good to be surrounded by other believers again.
To her surprise, Katie asked her and Jasper to stay for the noon meal. “I want a chance to get to know you better,” Katie said. “I know the other ladies, but I would like some time with you without the others. It’s easier to get to know someone that way.”
Agnes looked at Jasper, and at his nod, she smiled and agreed. “We’d love to stay. There was something I wanted to speak to you about anyway.” She followed Katie back behind the store to her kitchen. “How may I help you?”
Katie smiled. “I made a roast. I’ll get it out of the oven and serve it. If you’d like, you can set the table.”
“I’d love to.” Agnes spotted the dishes on the counter, where Katie had set them. When she walked into the dining room, the two men were talking about the salmon she would fish for and smoke.
“Smoked salmon would be a good thing for us to sell. If there’s extra, don’t forget the store,” Mr. Johnson said.
“We won’t,” Jasper replied, leaning back from the table so Agnes could set the dishes down.
She hurried back to the kitchen, preferring to speak to Katie when they were alone. “I made a gingerbread cake for our lunch yesterday. The men all praised it and suggested I sell it here at the store. How do you think that would go?”
Katie smiled. “Wonderfully! And when your goats come in, we can serve it with whipped cream.”
“Oh, that does sound tasty,” Agnes replied. “I won’t promise to do it more than once. I need to see if there’s any time left after I get the fishing part of my day over.”
“We’ll sell your smoked salmon as well! And if you ever pull in too much to smoke, we’ll sell it fresh. I do enjoy salmon, and Mr. Johnson isn’t up for fishing like he used to be.”
Agnes decided then and there that she would bring fresh salmon to the store as a gift for the Johnsons, so she could thank Katie properly for having them over for lunch. “I won’t forget. I suppose you know how the ladies set up our little enterprise?”
Katie laughed. “I do! And I love it! We’re going to need to expand the store if you all keep going with it. Oh, it’s so nice to have other women in town!”
“I don’t know how you were here so long without other women. I’d be in a lunatic asylum,” Agnes said. She was glad Belle had gone first.
“My daughter didn’t marry until about five years ago. Until then, there were two of us.”
“Still, you spent four years as the only woman in town? You are a strong woman.”
After the meal, as they were walking home, Jasper asked, “Did you have a good time with Katie?”
“Oh, yes. She’s a dear. I’m glad we had some time to get to know one another,” Agnes responded.
“Shall we check your salmon nets when we get home?”
“Why did it not occur to me that we would already have some! Yes! And you can help me with the first haul.”
“Oh can I? Can I really?” Jasper’s grin told her he was teasing her.
“Of course you can. I’ll allow it.”
He chuckled. “Is everything set up how you want it? Do you know how you’re going to clean them?”
Agnes nodded. “Sally taught me a lot on Friday. I think I can make it work now that you men have done your part. But the first few days, I may need a little help.”
“I will definitely help today. If you find it’s too much for you, I’ll help you some after work.”
She frowned. “I don’t want you to spend your evenings helping me clean fish. No, I’ll get it done while you’re at work.”
“Just remember, I’m always willing to help. It’s a big task you’ve taken on.”
“And I plan to do it to the best of my ability.”
Instead of going inside when they arrived home, Agnes walked straight to the nets.
As she pulled in the first, she remembered she was still in her best dress.
“I’d better change. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.
” Jasper nodded. “I’ll do some of it while you’re inside. We want to get them out while we can.”
She changed quickly, pulling on an apron that completely covered the front of her dress.
She wanted to get as little fish smell on herself as possible.
She carefully chose the fish to throw back and the ones to keep, which went into a basket she’d found for just that purpose.
“Oh, that one’s not a salmon,” she said, pulling a fish out of the basket.
“I know. But we had two of them, and I thought they’d make a nice supper.”
“Good idea! I’ll fry them up for us.”
They went to each net, putting the fish they wanted to keep into the basket, which was much too heavy for Agnes to carry when they were done. “I think I’ll need to make two trips,” she said, laughing, while Jasper carried the basket inside.
“At least at first. I don’t think it will be long before you can carry a full basket.”
She hurried ahead and opened the door for him, and he put the basket on the table. Finding the huge pot she’d set aside for this task, she carefully went to work cleaning the fish. “We need to save all the heads and guts for Sally’s pigs.”
Jasper nodded, throwing the parts that would be wasted otherwise into the pot. “I can carry this over to their home while you cook supper if you’d like.”
“That would be wonderful,” Agnes said. “Thank you for your help.”
They worked mostly in silence, needing to focus on the task that wasn’t quite familiar. It took hours to finish, and Jasper looked at her. “This is going to take up a great deal of your time.”
“Only in the beginning,” she said. “I’ll get faster as I become more familiar with the task. It will become second nature.”
“I’m sure it will. I just worry you’ll be doing too much.”
“By the time the goats arrive, I’ll have a rhythm down. Don’t worry so much.”
Jasper grinned. “I suppose I do worry too much.”
“I’m stronger than I look,” she said confidently. All her life, people had underestimated her because she looked delicate. But she was strong, and she’d get the job done. It wouldn’t be easy at first, but she’d get to the point where it would be.
As soon as they were done, with the whitefish set aside for their supper.
Now she would go to her smoker, start the fire that would smolder for days, and hang the fish.
She and Sally had done it together, so it was a little difficult for her to do on her own, but she insisted Jasper let her do it.
She didn’t want him to feel like he needed to do a full day’s work and then come home to help her with her work.
Once the fish were successfully hanging, she felt as if she’d accomplished something great. “We did it!”
He chuckled. “We sure did!” They went back to the house and he picked up the pot of guts and heads. “I’ll take this now.”
“And I’ll start supper.” What she really wanted was to sit down and rest, but she also didn’t want him to think she was too weak for the job she’d agreed to do, so she moved to the stove and started their supper.
She made a large batch of fried potatoes, fried the fish, and made a salad with fresh ingredients from Sally’s garden.
She still wanted to make several gingerbread cakes after supper, but she’d worry about that when the time came.
Soon, supper was ready, and Jasper was back from his errand, bringing the pot with him. “Sally said to thank you for the guts.”
Agnes grinned. “And I’m sure she phrased it just like that.”
He nodded. “She’s something else.”
“She’s my dearest friend,” Agnes said. “Well, sit! Supper’s ready.” She’d made enough for him to take for lunch the following day.
She put their plates on the table, and he smiled. “This looks delicious.”
“You said it was what you’d want for your lunch tomorrow, so I made enough for you to take it.
It’s not smoked salmon, but there should be more than enough whitefish for you to take with you.
” Knowing that their diet would be a great deal of smoked salmon through the long winter months, she planned to cook something else the next day. She’d have to raid Belle’s cold house.
As soon as the supper dishes were done, she whipped up the batter for several gingerbread cakes, wanting to see as soon as possible how they would sell. If they went well, she’d be able to make them all winter to keep their income up.
While she baked, she daydreamed about what it would be like to spend the long nights with Jasper. He was a good man, and she was happy that she’d answered his ad. Life would be better from this moment on.