interrupt her. After the cookies were done, she would frost the cupcakes she had baked yesterday afternoon.

As she was mixing the frosting, Mamm came into the kitchen, tying her apron. She peered out the window over the sink.

“The sky is beginning to lighten up, and it looks like the clouds have scattered away. A sunny and frosty morning for the first week of December.” She patted Ada’s arm as she reached around her for her mixing bowl. “You made extra cookies this morning, I see. Are you trying something new in the store?”

Ada felt her face heat. She and Rose could laugh about the Great Cookie Campaign, but she knew Mamm wouldn’t approve.

“They are for the workers in the shop. I thought it would be a nice gesture for them, with Christmas coming and all.”

Mamm cracked eggs into her bowl. “That is thoughtful. Vernon lives alone, so I’m sure he doesn’t get such a treat very often.”

Ada held her bowl close, whipping the frosting. Vernon was a bachelor and close to Dat’s age, but everyone knew he would never marry. He might be an adult, but his mind was a child’s. Mamm was right. He would appreciate the homemade cookies.

Just then, Rose came into the kitchen. She grabbed the egg basket from the counter and tossed her shawl around her shoulders.

“Sorry I’m late. I slept in again.”

Mamm frowned. “You’re making a habit out of these late-night hours. Isn’t it a bit chilly to spend so many evenings driving through the country with Johnny?”

“But it’s fun,” Rose said. “I’ll be back in time to help with breakfast.”

Mamm shook her head as Rose slammed the door. “Those two had better get married soon. Their courting is wearing me out.” Then she smiled at Ada. “Thank goodness you don’t have a beau, Ada. You are content to stay here at home with me, aren’t you?”

“For sure,” Ada said, stirring the frosting slowly. The texture was just right. “But I might have a beau one day.”

Mamm gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Not my Ada. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ada didn’t say anything and instead started frosting the cupcakes. She swirled each one with white icing, then sprinkled red and green sugar over the top, holding her mouth in a tight line. If she opened it, she might say something that would disappoint Mamm, but if she didn’t, the tears welling up inside her might spill out. How could Mamm think she would be happy living at home for the rest of her life?

At the same time, Mamm was right. Pretty girls won beaus. Slim girls who giggled together at fellowship dinners after church had beaus. Not the girls whose apron strings were always a bit too tight.

After breakfast was done and the dishes cleaned up, Ada took the boxes of cookies and cupcakes to the store. The sun had warmed the ice to slush, even though the wind was still brisk.

As she filled the glass cases with her baked goods, Vernon’s buggy went past the store window, followed by Amos’s buggy. She smoothed her apron, trying to still the butterflies in her stomach. Rose came into the front of the store just as Ada took a deep breath and picked up the plate of molasses crinkles.

“Is Amos here already?” she asked, putting away her duster and switching on the lights.

“He drove his buggy, so he arrived earlier than usual.” Ada tugged on her skirt to straighten it.

“You look fine.”

Ada gave her sister a smile of thanks, then saw the new worker, Matthias, ride past the window on his bicycle. She took another deep breath as Rose gave her shoulder a little push.

Matthias hung his coat on the hook next to Amos’s and Vernon’s, then unwound the wool scarf from his neck. As he hung his hat on the hook with his coat, the door leading to the store opened and Ada came into the workshop with a plate of cookies in her hands.

Her cheeks were bright red as she let the door close behind her. Matthias smiled, waiting for her to look his way. When they had been in school together, he had been convinced she didn’t like him at all. Unlike some of the other girls who huddled in groups and giggled whenever he looked their way, Ada spent their recess and lunch times sitting with a book, engrossed in whatever story she was reading. The longest conversation he ever had with her was last week, when he talked with her in the furniture store.

Ada didn’t look his way but shifted from one foot to the other as she stared at Amos and Vernon. The two men were sitting at the lunch table, drinking coffee before the clock struck eight. They didn’t notice as she stood there, her eyebrows peaked and her lip pulled between her teeth. The rosy cheeks had faded. She took a step back toward the door. The plate tilted to one side and the cookies slid toward the edge.

Matthias crossed the space between them in two strides and tipped the plate up until it was level again.

He grinned when she gave him a startled look. “I didn’t want you to spill the cookies. They look delicious.”

She laughed, the sound tight and strained, and tightened her grip on the plate. “Would you like a molasses crinkle?”

“I was hoping you’d offer me one.”

“Ada! What do you have there?” Amos’s voice echoed in the quiet workshop. “Cookies? Are they for me?”

Matthias eyed the cookies, ready to choose one when Ada spun around to look toward Amos, pulling the plate out of his reach.

“I made them for you and everyone in the workshop.” She walked to the table, nearly tripping over a rough spot in the cement floor.

Amos sat up and reached for the plate, a grin on his face.

“Denki.” He grabbed a cookie and shoved it into his mouth, then handed the plate to Vernon.

By the time Matthias reached the table, Amos had grabbed two more. Ada’s

Вы читаете An Amish Christmas Recipe Box
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