“There’s no doubt in my mind you will,” Sally replied.
When they were finished eating, Agnes immediately started clearing the table, but Belle stopped her.“No, you have a great deal to get done this afternoon.Let me get the dishes.”
“Are you certain?”Agnes asked.
“Yes.It’s how I do my share when I can’t be out hunting.”
“I’ll take my leave then.There’s so much to do!”Agnes was excited now, ready to tackle all the fish on her own.She wanted to show the other ladies—as well as Jasper—that she could get it all done.
On her way home, she decided to process each net separately.It wouldn’t feel quite as overwhelming that way.
By the end of the day, her hands felt as if they were frozen from handling the cold fish, but the work was done.She had just enough time to make supper.She used some of the greens she’d gotten that morning, a few of the Eskimo potatoes, and made a pie as well.There were ripe blueberries, and there was nothing she liked more than blueberry pie.She promised herself she would take some time to make a blueberry pie filling and can it so she could have pie throughout the winter.
When Jasper arrived home, she was exhausted but feeling very proud of all she’d accomplished that day.There were new strings of fish in the smokehouse, supper was ready, and the pie smelled delicious.
Jasper looked around the room, as if he were expecting to see something he didn’t.“Did you really get all those fish processed?”he asked, sounding impressed.
She nodded.“And I took gingerbread cake to sell, and I gave two salmon to Mrs.Johnson to thank her for lunch yesterday.”
“You did well.I was questioning whether you could actually do it all, but I see you can.”
“It’s certainly not easy, but it is possible,” she replied, walking to him to kiss him.“Supper’s ready.I’ll serve it while you wash up.”
As they ate, she asked him about his day.He sighed.“I was in the sawmill all day.Sometimes it’s nice, but I actually missed chopping down trees while we were traveling.”
She grinned.“You love your work.I’m glad!I worried I was doing all the work that was enjoyable while you were toiling away at something you hate.”
“No, it might seem silly to you, but I enjoy my job a great deal.Not as much as I enjoy coming home to you, but I’m not sure anything would be better than the feeling I get when we’re together.”
She smiled, touched by his words.“I must confess.I feel the same when you come home from work.”
“Did you get a good amount of fish today?”he asked.
She nodded.“About the same as yesterday.I hope you don’t mind that I fixed salmon for supper.It was much easier than having to search for something else to cook.I know Belle’s cold house is full, but I feel a little guilty for taking anything from it before I’ve contributed.”
“I can understand that.I will say that with the volume of fish you’re pulling in, you’re doing more than your share.And you’ll provide everyone with milk, butter, and cheese.”
“That’s true.I’ll probably even churn the butter myself and gift them the resulting balls.We’ll see how my time works out.I can’t wait for the goats to arrive.”
“Don’t be in a big hurry,” he said.“We still have to build the barn for them.”
“That’s this weekend, right?”
He nodded.“And Everett is once again donating the wood.We’re going to need to stack hay all around the walls for them to stay warm throughout the winter.”
“Where will we get the hay?”she asked, not having thought of that.
“Oh, at the end of summer, before the freeze, we’ll go out with scythes and get as much hay as we can.Sally will need some for her pigs as well.We talked about it last weekend.We want the grass to get taller first, though.”
“Is there enough grass to get them through the winter?I can’t believe I never thought of that.”Agnes worried that raising goats would be too difficult without enough hay.
He nodded.“There’s so much along the riverbanks, and there’s so much river here that no one lives near.Even when someone does live on the river, they will most likely be happy for us to remove some of the excess grass.We’ll probably do that the weekend after we build the barn.We may build the cold house in between, but I think that will wait better than the grass.It needs to dry in the sun before it’s truly usable.”
“All right.I’m glad you know more about the subject than I do.”She rubbed the back of her neck.“I didn’t take the time to read anything else about goats today.I need to make sure I put in some time every day learning what I can.Today was about proving to myself I could handle all the fish on my own.”
“And you did,” he said, covering her hand with his.“We’ll learn together.”
“I suppose we will.”
