Ada stopped and looked down at her feet. There was the spot. She stepped across it, then continued toward the table.
“Cookies again?” Amos said, grabbing one. He winked at her. “You’re spoiling us, Ada.”
She couldn’t speak. Her mouth gaped open as she pushed out, “Jah.”
At the same time, Amos held the soft, frosted cookie inches away from his nose. He sniffed, then dropped it onto the tray of cookies.
“That smells awful.” He glared at Ada, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “What did you put in those?”
“I thought you’d like them.” Ada swallowed, fighting to hold back her tears. “The frosting has anise in it—”
“Anise?” He pushed the tray toward her as he sat in a chair. “What’s that? Poison?”
“It’s a flavoring . . .” Ada let her voice fade as Amos took a long drink from his thermos. “I can bring you a different kind from the store.”
He nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Make sure they’re good.”
Ada took the tray and started for the hallway to the store, stumbling over the rough place in the floor. Vernon’s cackling laughter followed her.
The tears were flowing by the time she reached the store. She breathed a sigh of thanks when she saw that Rose was alone.
“What happened?”
Ada shook her head and hiccupped again. “He didn’t like them.” She put the tray on the bakery case and filled a box with a dozen frosted star-shaped cookies that glistened with white sugar crystals.
“What did he do?”
“He didn’t like how they smelled. He didn’t even try them. But I promised I’d bring him a different kind of cookie.” She closed the box and started for the workshop again.
“Wait,” Rose said. “Are you sure you want to give him something else after he refused the ones you made?” She pointed toward the gingerbread cookies.
“I need to make it up to him. I want him to see that I can make him happy.”
Ada hurried toward the workshop, ignoring Rose’s voice calling after her.
Matthias had been looking forward to his lunch break and Ada’s weekly delivery of cookies, but then Leroy had asked him to come along to a customer’s house. When Amos and Vernon had delivered the cardinal clock earlier in the week, the case had been damaged.
“I want you to see how I handle customer problems like these,” Leroy said as he drove toward Middlebury. “The Wilsons were understanding about the damage when they called, but I want to make sure they’re happy before we leave today.”
The Wilsons were an older couple who lived in a duplex on the far edge of Middlebury. Matthias remembered that Ada had mentioned them, and that they had celebrated their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary recently. When Mrs. Wilson answered the door, Mr. Wilson waved at them. He looked frail and rested in a chair the entire time he and Leroy were there.
Mrs. Wilson showed Leroy the damaged case. “I hate to complain, but Bert said you would want to know what happened.”
“He was right,” Leroy said. “Whatever goes wrong, we want an opportunity to make it right.” He motioned for Matthias to examine the case. “What do you think?”
Matthias knelt down. The skirting along the front edge of the clock was splintered. He felt along the back of the splintered area. The skirting was a separate piece of wood from the main case.
“It will be a simple job to replace the splintered part with a new piece of wood. We only need to find one that will match it.”
Leroy knelt beside him, then rummaged in the bottom of his tool chest and pulled out a finished skirting that matched the splintered one.
He winked at Matthias. “Don’t look so surprised. When Mr. Wilson called and described the damage, I went ahead and made a replacement.”
Matthias grinned back at him. “I suppose you only brought me along to hand you the tools you need.”
“Nope. I need you to hold the clock steady so I can work.”
As Matthias held the clock securely, careful not to put any pressure on the stained-glass inserts, Leroy visited with the Wilsons while he worked. “Are you looking forward to spending Christmas with your family?”
“We are spending Christmas Eve with our church family. Other than that, there are only the two of us.” Mrs. Wilson sat in a chair next to Mr. Wilson’s and took his hand. “We’ll spend a quiet day remembering our Savior’s birth.”
Leroy knocked out the broken wood with his hammer. “That’s the same way we’ll spend Christmas Day. We plan to spend Little Christmas with our married daughters and their families on January sixth. We’ll exchange presents with them then.”
Mrs. Wilson nodded. “On Epiphany. We celebrate then, too, remembering the wise men who visited Jesus.”
Leroy checked the fit of the new wooden skirt, then applied glue to it and pressed it into place.
“How many children do you have?” Mr. Wilson asked, his voice sounding strained and tired.
“We have four daughters,” Leroy said as he and Matthias eased the clock back into place. “Two are married, and we still have two at home. You probably met Rose and Ada when you came to the store to buy the clock.”
“Oh yes, we did. Such nice girls. You are very blessed, Mr. Weaver. And this must be your son,” Mrs. Wilson said, smiling at Matthias.
“We are blessed,” Leroy said, then patted Matthias’s shoulder. “But Matthias isn’t our son. He’s a fine employee, though.”
Mr. Wilson leaned forward in his chair and winked at Matthias. “Then you should snatch up one of those girls for yourself, young man. Don’t let another day go by without finding a good wife.” He looked at Mrs. Wilson. “Life is too short as it is. Don’t wait to take hold of God’s blessings.”
Matthias felt his face burn, but Leroy turned the conversation away from him as he made sure the
