One couple, their last customers of the afternoon, purchased Ada’s favorite clock. She loved the stained-glass panels Dat had inserted into the tall case, depicting a pair of red cardinals.
“Cardinals mate for life,” said the Englisch woman, Mrs. Wilson. “I’ve always thought of them as a symbol of a long and happy marriage.”
Mr. Wilson winked at Ada as he handed Rose a card with their address on it. “Until I met Mary, I thought a marriage could either be long or happy, but not both. She proved me wrong.” He put an arm around his wife’s shoulders and gave her a gentle hug. “Guess how long we’ve been married.”
“Oh, Bert. It isn’t fair to put these girls on the spot like that.” Mrs. Wilson laughed as she gave her husband a loving look.
“I’ll guess,” said Rose. She grinned at the couple as she handed the receipt to Mr. Wilson. “I think you’ve been married for forty-five years.”
Mr. Wilson turned to Ada. “Now it’s your turn. What do you think?”
Ada concentrated, noting the comfortable way Mrs. Wilson laid her hand on her husband’s shoulder and the soft look in Mr. Wilson’s eyes.
“I think you’ve been married longer. Maybe fifty years?”
The couple looked at each other. “You’re both wrong,” said Mr. Wilson. “Our wedding was fifty-five years ago today.”
“You must have been very young,” Rose said.
Mrs. Wilson giggled. “We were. Bert joined the army before he graduated from high school, and we wanted to get married so I could go with him when he finished boot camp. He was eighteen and I was sixteen.”
“I was stationed all around the world. Germany, Iceland, Korea—”
“And I followed him all the way.” Mrs. Wilson’s eyes grew misty. “Until he was sent to Vietnam. Then I stayed behind, worrying and praying for two years before he came home.”
Ada couldn’t imagine living in a different country or having a husband who was fighting in a war. “Do you have children?” she asked.
Mrs. Wilson shook her head. “The Lord never blessed us with little ones, but he gave us each other.” She gave her husband another loving look. “This clock is very special. We first saw it in your shop here last summer and decided to save our money until we could buy it.”
“I hope you enjoy it for a long time,” Rose said as Mrs. Wilson buttoned her coat in preparation to leave.
The older woman didn’t answer, but a tear trickled down her cheek.
“Now, none of that,” Mr. Wilson scolded as he took her hand. “We promised each other there would be no tears today.” He looked at Rose and Ada, his own eyes glistening. “This is our last anniversary together, and our last Christmas until we meet in heaven. I won’t be here next year, according to the doctors, so this clock will have to keep Mary company until she joins me.”
Ada’s own eyes grew damp. “Keep in touch, won’t you? Stop by the store whenever you want to and let us know how you’re doing.”
“Do you hear that, Mary?” Bert kissed her cheek. “I’m not leaving you alone. You have friends wherever you go.”
The couple waved their farewells and Rose locked the door after them, turning the Closed sign to face out the window.
“They were nice people, weren’t they?”
Ada wiped her eyes, then started boxing up the few remaining cookies from the bakery case. “Such a sad story, though. She will miss him so much when he passes on.”
“But she has a lot to be thankful for,” Rose said as she took money and papers out of the cash drawer and put them in the deposit bag to carry to the house. “They’ve had a long life together and have many memories to look back on.”
Ada finished with the cookies and started walking through the store, straightening merchandise as she went. When she passed the cardinal clock, she stopped and ran her finger over the red bird on the front. The bandage on her finger made her think of Matthias and her cookie delivery that day.
“I forgot to tell you,” she said, giving the beautiful clock one last look before moving on to the next display. “Amos didn’t come to work today, so he wasn’t there for his cookies.”
“What did you do with them?”
“I gave them to Vernon and Matthias. Even if Amos wasn’t there, at least someone could enjoy them.”
“Did Dat say where Amos was?”
“He called in sick, but Dat said it in a funny way, like he didn’t believe that Amos had told him the truth.” Ada turned an ornament on the little display tree so that it faced the front. “Amos wouldn’t lie, though. Would he?”
Rose closed the cash drawer with a thump. “I don’t know him that well. He’s your beau.”
“He isn’t my beau.” Ada took her shawl from the hook. “I just want him to be.”
“You don’t if he is untruthful. If he lies to his boss, he’ll lie to his wife, too.” Rose tossed her shawl around her shoulders and flipped off the light switch. “I already locked the door. We’ll go out through the workshop.”
Ada started down the dark hall. “But I don’t know if Amos lied. What if he’s really sick?”
“You’ll have to wait until Monday and ask him.”
Rose pulled the workshop door open. The big room was dark except for a light over Matthias’s workbench and a lantern shining from Dat’s office in the far corner.
As Rose crossed the open area to Dat’s office, Ada walked over to Matthias’s workbench. He was bent over another piece of oak, inserting another inlay. Three finished blocks were on the bench next to his work area.
“You’ve gotten a lot done this afternoon.”
Matthias grinned at her but didn’t stop his careful, methodical work. “I wanted to get all four legs this far along, so the glue can dry overnight. Leroy said I can come in and work on them tomorrow.”
“Did you
