She quickly dredged one of the ducks in flour and heated up an iron skillet.She’d already put Eskimo potatoes on to boil.She’d make a nice gravy and a can of carrots to go with them.It wasn’t a perfect meal, but it would fill them.
And of course she’d kept a loaf of bread for their supper.It was too bad he’d been grouchy with her earlier.
When Everett got home, she could see the strain on his face.He washed his hands in silence and took his seat at the table.“Supper isn’t ready?”he asked, sounding angry.
“Yes, it’s ready.I just need a minute to serve it.”She wanted to tell him if he was going to be angry if supper wasn’t on the table when he got home that he should plan to cook for himself, but she could see that he was stressed about the deadline.
As soon as he saw the fried mallard, he grumbled.“You killed a chicken when I told you not to, didn’t you?Do you even know how to listen?”
Belle resisted the urge to fling his plate full of food at his face, but she’d worked too hard on it to waste it.“I did not.”She placed the food in front of him and took her seat.
“Then what did you do?”
“It’s one of the ducks we shot yesterday.”
He seemed to deflate a little.“It smells good.”After his first bite, he smiled.“I never would have thought of frying a duck up this way.”
“I’m making do with the ingredients I have on hand or can find.”
“Appreciate it.”
“It doesn’t sound like you do!You fussed at me in front of Katie today, and that wasn’t fair to me.If you’d told me you didn’t want me giving the men a specific time I’d be in the store, then I wouldn’t have.You can’t be angry with me if I don’t follow some unknown to me rule you have in your head!”
“You should have the sense to know that my men need to work during work hours!”
“I didn’t tell them to be at the store at that time.I simply told them I would drop everything off then so they could come as soon as they had some free time.”She couldn’t believe he was blaming this on her.It didn’t make any sense at all.
“I’m finished discussing this,” he said, calmly eating his meal and refusing to look at her.
Belle wanted to tell him that he was finished discussing it because he knew he was wrong, but she held her tongue.She didn’t want to fight with him.She wanted to go back to the way they’d been just days before.
She washed dishes in silence, and he read his Bible while she knitted.Even she could hear that her knitting needles sounded angry.
When she was calm enough, she set her knitting needles and the work she’d done on a sock onto the table and changed into her nightgown.She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of apologizing because she’d done nothing wrong.No matter what his warped mind told him.
She fell asleep curled onto her side, facing away from him, and she didn’t even notice when he got into bed with her that night.
*****
BELLE WAS STILL ANGRYas she made breakfast the following morning.She put his plate in front of him, and she sat down herself, but she didn’t speak.
“Breakfast is good,” he told her.
She nodded but didn’t speak.
When it was time for him to leave for work, he bent down to kiss her goodbye, but she turned her head so his kiss landed on her cheek.He couldn’t treat her like a stupid child one moment and like his wife the next.She wasn’t going to put up with that sort of behavior.
She baked bread and made snickerdoodles, dropping them off at the store at ten along with the eggs from that morning.When Katie asked her what was wrong, she shook her head, saying everything was fine.
But it wasn’t fine.Her husband was a ridiculous man who scolded her when she’d done absolutely nothing wrong.
Instead of making strawberry jam as she’d planned that day, she left the cabin with his crossbow and a quiver of arrows.Walking through the woods by herself wasn’t exactly smart, and she knew it, but at that moment, she didn’t care.She had to walk off her anger, or she really would be dumping his supper over his head that night.
She stepped into a small clearing and spotted a rabbit.It took her seconds to shoot it.By the time she started home, she had six rabbits strung along her back.Rabbit wasn’t her favorite meal, but it was food, and it wasn’t bacon.Funny how she’d always loved bacon, and now it seemed she’d had too much of it.
When she got home, Everett was waiting for her.“Where were you?”he demanded.
“Hunting,” she replied, seeing no need to waste words on him.
