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Chapter Ten
The following morning, after preparing breakfast for the two early rising boarders and sending them off with wishes for a good, and in miner Gabe Horne’s instance, safe day, Eddy was in the kitchen putting together Whitman Brown’s omelet. He liked onions with the eggs, so she was chopping one when he sauntered in.
“Good morning, Eddy.”
She didn’t look up. “Good morning.”
He came over to the table. “You know, it’s a shame your skin is so dark. You’re well spoken, clean, mannerly. You’d make someone a perfect wife, but—”
She did look up then. “Do you always insult women with knives in their hands, Mr.Brown?”
Upon viewing the gleaming blade, his eyes widened. “Uh, um... ”
She pointed said knife at the doorway. “Leave.”
“I wasn’t trying to insult you. I was just stating fact.”
“Go!”
He bid a hasty retreat.
Wondering where he’d been when the Good Lord began handing out brains, she went back to what she’d been doing.
Once his breakfast was ready, she took the piled-high plate out to the dining room, placed it on the table in front of him, and without a word returned to the kitchen.
She was still grumbling to herself when Sylvia entered. Eddy asked her, “Why is Whitman Brown such an ass?”
Chuckling, Sylvia replied, “I believe his overly inflated head is responsible. Has he gotten your goat already this morning?”
Eddy related his backhanded compliment, to which Sylvia replied, “I do wish he’d find someplace else to board, but he always pays his rent on time, and because of your cooking the only way he’ll probably leave will be when Mr.Pringle the undertaker hauls him away.”
“Arsenic can help that along you know.”
“True, but outside of killing my boarder, what are you planning for the day?”
“I have to go over to Vera’s for my fittings,” she groused. “I also promised her treats for her customers, so I made a batch of sweet wafers last night and put the dough in the cold box. Once I bake them, I’ll fancy them up by rolling them around a fork while they’re still warm.”
“I’ve never seen that done before.”
“I’ll bring you a few once they’re ready. What are your plans for the day?”
“Going to Janet’s and get my hair done, then attend this afternoon’s meeting of the Lincoln Club over at Rhine’s place. Would you care to come along?”
She remembered Sylvie talking about the club when she was first introduced to Zeke. Even though the meeting was being held at Fontaine’s saloon, she was interested in what the group was doing on behalf of the race. She was also interested in finding out if Zeke had returned to the city. He’d left about a week ago to do some carpentry work up in Reno. “What time?”
“Around three.”
“Count me in.”
“Good.”
Sylvia departed and Eddy took her wafer dough out of the cold box and began rolling it out. Next, she used her smallest biscuit cutter to produce little circles, rolled each circle paper thin and placed them one by one on the tin baking sheet. Once they went into the oven, she had to kept an eye on them so they wouldn’t burn. When they were done, she removed them from the sheet and gently rolled each wafer around the handle of a fork. They ended up resembling straws and would be a perfect accompaniment to whatever beverage MissVera planned to serve, be it coffee, tea, or punch. As promised, she took a few into Sylvia’s office, along with a cup of coffee.
Sylvia took a bite and her soft moan of delight made Eddy smile and ask, “Good, aren’t they?”
“Oh my, these are heavenly. Can we add these to our Sunday offerings?”
“I don’t see why not.”
