Page 11 of Mail Order Mukluks (Brides of Alaska #1 | Brides of Beckham #68)

B elle woke early, surprised that the spot beside her on the bed was still empty. Now she was worried. She’d told him to go away, and he had, but had he been hurt? Alaska wasn’t civilized. What if a bear had found him? Or a wolf?

She said a prayer for him, begging God to let him be safe. She’d been an idiot for fighting with him. She needed to learn to control her temper. If he was still alive, she’d do just that.

She went about her morning chores as if everything was normal. When she got to the store around ten, there were two men in the corner of the store whispering to each other. She ignored them and went to the counter, giving Katie the baked goods she’d made, and the eggs she’d gathered that morning.

Belle didn’t make small talk, not caring to speak. She had work to do.

As she turned to leave the store, one of the men who had been whispering in the corner walked to her, removing his hat and holding it over his chest. “I saw that the boss slept in his office last night. If you’re thinking of getting a divorce, I’d marry you.

I don’t mind you’ve been married before. ”

Belle stared at the man for a moment, thankful to know that Everett was all right.

“I’m not planning on getting a divorce, but thank you for the offer.

” Without another word, she walked around the man and went straight home.

She fixed lunch for herself and Everett and put it in a pail, which she put into a basket with bowls, spoons, and a glass bottle filled with water, carrying it to his office.

He’d started the fight, but she’d engaged in it as well.

She needed to apologize for her behavior and give him something to eat.

She was certain he hadn’t eaten since lunch the previous day, and he wouldn’t come home for food.

The man was too stubborn for that. No, she would have to be the one to bend this time.

And she would do better about fighting with him in the future.

When she reached his office, she could hear him shouting at someone. She waited until a contrite-looking man had left and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Go away!” Everett yelled.

Pasting a smile on her face, Belle took his words as an invitation to come inside and tentatively opened the door.

“I thought you’d be hungry. I know you didn’t have supper last night or breakfast this morning.

So, I made a rabbit stew, and I brought it with me, so we could have a picnic in your office. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

She ignored the look on his face and spread the blanket she’d brought with her, carefully setting the basket she’d filled with food onto it. She took the cork stopper out of the bottle of water and poured two glasses.

When she was finished setting everything up, she looked over at Everett, who was gawking at her as if he’d never seen a woman before. “Join me.”

Everett stood and walked to her, sitting across from her on the blanket. “Why are you doing this?” he asked after a moment.

“Because I told you to leave last night, and it was a horrible thing to say. I’m so very sorry, Everett. It takes a lot for me to get angry, but I do have a temper. I never should have let you see it though. You’re my husband, and you mean a great deal to me.”

“I...”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she said. “Just eat your lunch.”

He shook his head. “No, I do need to say something. I’m sorry as well. I’ve been stressed about this deadline, but that’s no excuse for treating you badly. I shouldn’t have scolded you in front of Mrs. Johnson. It was wrong of me. You were only trying to help.”

She smiled at him, nodding. “Then all is forgiven, isn’t it?”

Everett nodded, taking a bite of his rabbit stew. “This is delicious!” he said, looking surprised.

“Rabbit stew is one of my favorite meals. I boiled all the rabbits last night, and I’m going to debone them and can them this afternoon. Then we can have rabbit stew this winter. I think I’ll hunt for more if you like it too.”

“The rabbits will be better this fall, but they’re good now too. They molt in the fall, and their furs aren’t as nice.”

“I planned to save the pelt to make a child’s coat from it. Should I not save these and just get more in the fall or winter?”

“I would. I mean, keep the pelt. We can use it for something else, I’m sure. But I wouldn’t make a coat from it.”

Belle nodded, so happy that the tension between them had passed.

“I’ll do that then. Perhaps a pair of slippers would be nice from the pelts I have now.

” She sighed. “I will go back to foraging and wait for rabbits in the fall, I guess. If they’re better then, it doesn’t make sense for me to waste my time now. ”

“That’s what I’d do.” He finished his bowl of food and sighed. “Thank you for bringing me lunch. I was hungry enough that I was acting like a bear to everyone around me.”

She didn’t tell him he was acting like a bear before he was hungry because she didn’t want to hurt their tentative truce. “Would you enjoy rabbit stew for supper again?” she asked as she set a plate of snickerdoodles between them.

“I would. That was delicious. My ma would make rabbit stew on occasion, but it was never as good as yours. If you ever meet her, please don’t tell her I said that!”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” She took a sip of her water. “What’s the deadline you’re working on?”

He spent the rest of their meal, explaining exactly what still needed to be done for Friday’s deadline. When she finally picked up the remains of their picnic to take them home, he kissed her. “Thank you.”

She didn’t ask what he was thanking her for because she already knew. It wasn’t for the meal...it was for the olive branch.

*****

A FTER THEIR PICNIC , Everett was much more subdued for the rest of the week. Belle could tell he was busy, and he was still worried about the deadline, but he was no longer angry with her.

She went about her business, hunting more mallards and putting them up for winter. She found more strawberries and more Eskimo potatoes.

On Thursday morning of the following week, Katie went foraging with her again, showing her how to identify wild parsnips and nagoonberries, which Katie explained were a small raspberry that grew in the area.

Belle tried one of the nagoonberries as they harvested them. “These are even better than regular raspberries! I’m going to have a hard time saving enough for jam.”

Katie laughed. “Wait until the salmonberries are ripe! You’re going to love them!”

“I think I’m going to be making jam all summer long.”

“I do. I wish I could talk Bernard into watching the store more often because I would spend my days foraging and making jam for winter.”

“I can always make extra...”

“Make as much as you can. I’ll buy what we can use and sell the rest in the store. The men are very appreciative of all you’ve done, and I’m sure they’d buy them up as quickly as I could put them on the shelves.” Katie winked at Belle. “You can’t waste all the good stuff on that husband of yours.”

Belle grinned and thought about Katie’s words for a moment. “How often does he get into those moods?”

“Only a couple of times per year. And he will be gentler with you. At least I think he will.”

“I hope so. It was a rough few days.”

Belle didn’t say anything else about Everett’s mood, and Katie didn’t pry for which Belle was thankful. She didn’t want to complain about her husband.

Belle had taken to taking a bag she’d made out of linen to carry with her when she foraged because she could take more home with her.

Every time she took more jars down into the cellar, she felt good about herself.

The shelves were filling, and she would continue to fill them until there was nothing else to forage, and then she’d fill them with chicken, rabbits, and hopefully moose, bear, and venison.

That afternoon, Belle stayed in the woods and foraged a little more after Katie went back to the store. Usually, she had something to can every afternoon, and she certainly could have made jam, but she wanted to be able to do more at a time than she had been.

She lost track of time and when she realized how late it was, she rushed home to find Everett already there. “Are you all right?” he asked. He looked worried.

She nodded. “I’m so sorry. I was picking berries and lost track of time. I’ll get supper started now.”

“Bacon sandwiches would be fine with me,” he told her.

She laughed. “All right. Those are easy, and we have some of the bread I baked yesterday. Katie showed me how to find wild parsnips and nagoonberries today, and I’m excited to make jam out of the nagoonberries. I may have eaten more than went into my bag.”

“Who could blame you?” he asked, winking at her. “I’m looking forward to eating that jam.” He looked into the bags she’d set on the counter until he found the nagoonberries and popped a few into his mouth. “The men complained that you didn’t take fresh-baked goods into the store today.”

She sighed. “I wanted to get more foraging done. What did you tell them?”

“I told them if they wanted to eat baked breads and such, they should get their own wives. I even gave a few of them Mrs. Tandy’s address.”

“I should write to some of my co-workers from the hotel and tell them to go see her. I’d love to have more women around.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Everett said. “More women would mean more food, right?”

She shook her head. “You and that ever-empty belly of yours.”

After supper that evening, she sat down and wrote to Elizabeth, telling her she would send friends her way. And then she wrote to her closest friend at the hotel. Maggie O’Malley would be excited to join her. They’d talked about it a lot in the week before Belle had left the hotel.

“I’ll take these letters to Katie in the morning.” The mail came into the general store every Monday and went out the same day. They weren’t a big enough community for daily mail.