“I have a bottle ready in the fridge,” Angie said morosely, her voice trembling as if she were on the verge of tears again.
“Blaine is coming to get me soon,” Valerie said. “But I hate to leave you like this. Maybe you could come with us. Maud would love to meet Ethan. That would cheer you up, wouldn’t it?”
Angie set the bottle in the pot of water. Then she backed away and sat down on a chair at the table. “Joe will think I’m mad at him.”
“You could leave a note and tell him what I just said—that Maud is dying to meet Ethan. Then you and I can talk more about all this.”
Angie looked down at Ethan in her arms. “What’s even left to talk about? Joe is my husband, and this is my home. I don’t have any money of my own, so I can’t leave him, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. I love him. I just wish I knew how to get him to stop flirting with other women. He always denies it and tells me I’m imagining things. He refuses to see how much it hurts me. Sometimes I think he needs to face the possibility of losing me before he’ll smarten up.”
“Maybe that’s true,” Valerie agreed.
Angie thought about it and spoke with resolve. “I’ll take a frozen dinner out of the freezer for him. He can warm it in the oven.”
“That’s the spirit.” Blaine’s car pulled into the driveway, and Valerie went to the door to let him know that she and Angie were both coming back to the lodge with him.
CHAPTER 19
“I’ve been thinking about something,” Valerie said to Angie as they walked into the Wilsons’ kitchen.
“What’s that?”
Strolling to the sink, Valerie looked out the window. The tidy woodpile reminded her of the morning when Jeremy had split wood and she had stood with her hands in the soapy water, watching him and seeing him in a new light. He hadn’t come around in a while, and she hoped he was okay, wherever he was.
“Valerie?” Angie asked.
She jumped and turned, pushing thoughts of Jeremy from her mind. “Yes. I was going to say ... all those letters I wrote to Drew ... I never received a reply, but now I’m wondering if Joe’s mother intercepted them. Carol is the postmistress. She sees everything that comes and goes out of Valdez. If she and Frank wanted me to stay here and do what my father wanted, she would have had reason to prevent me from contacting Drew. Do you think that’s possible?”
Angie raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t put it past her. She’d do anything for a new dress or a flashy car. I always wondered how they paid for that big birthday party at the hall.”
Valerie moved to the table and sank onto a chair. “If that’s true, it means that Drew might not even know I’m having his baby. He didn’tknow when I got on the plane to come here. As far as he’s aware, I dropped off the face of the earth, and heaven knows what my father said to him if he ever came looking for me. He probably told Drew that I’d gone off to college abroad.” Valerie felt a wave of frustration, but it was followed quickly by excitement at the possibility of changed circumstances. “What if he doesn’t even know?”
“It’s possible,” Angie replied, “but please don’t get your hopes up. If I’ve learned one thing lately, it’s that men are rats. We can’t depend on them.” She paused. “I hate all of them. I think you and I should figure out a way to leave here together and go straight to Hollywood.”
Valerie rested her hand on her belly. “That sounds like fun, but I can’t let myself believe that all men are bad. Some are wonderful. Look at Blaine.”
Angie let out a strange, weepy laugh and spoke apologetically. “I know. Oh, listen to me. I’m just angry with Joe. And maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m imagining everything because of what I saw that night after Carol’s party. Maybe I’m crazy.”
“You’re not crazy,” Valerie said. “You saw him kiss another woman.”
“Yes, but maybe that happened because he’s so charming and handsome and women throw themselves at him. That’s nothisfault, and I know he loves me.”
Valerie flicked her hair out of her eyes. “Even so, he needs to understand how he’s hurting you. And if he can’t ... well, there’s always Arizona.”
Angie gave her a grudging nod. “At least I have you and Jeremy to depend on. You know—the former juvenile delinquent who steals power tools out of the mayor’s shed?”
Valerie chuckled softly. “At least he’s clever enough to get away with it, and he gives to those in need.”
“A modern-day Robin Hood,” Angie replied, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of it all.
Valerie sat back and watched Ethan kick his little legs under the flannel blanket. “How can I get a letter out of Valdez?” she asked. “Past all of Carol Brown’s checkpoints.”
Angie spoke lightly, as if it were no problem. “That’s easy. You just need to give it to one of the men on theChenanext time it comes in. Any one of them would be happy to post it at the next port or when they return to Seattle.”
“Brilliant,” Valerie said. “That’s exactly what I’ll do. When is theChenain town again?”
“They’re due on the twenty-seventh, but that’s Good Friday, so I’m not sure.”
Valerie rubbed her hand over her belly. “I’ll ask Blaine to find out, and then I’m going to try one more time. Just one more letter. And I swear if that doesn’t work, I’ll give up on Drew forever.”
