As Vernon answered with a snorting laugh, Matthias squirmed in his chair. He hardly knew either of his co-workers, but he couldn’t let Amos’s comment slide by. “Ada’s a nice girl.”
Amos laughed. “A nice girl? Nice and plump. She would eat her husband out of house and home.”
“Is that all you think is important in a girl?” Matthias worked to keep his voice even and pleasant. “A girl like Ada would make a fine wife for anyone.”
“What do you know about it?” Amos laughed even harder. “Guys like you and Vernon couldn’t even get a prettier girl to talk to you.”
Matthias took another bite of his sandwich, working to ignore the other men. Ada’s lovely face came to his mind, her pink cheeks glowing from the cold air on that first morning he came to work. He couldn’t think of a prettier girl than Ada.
CHAPTER THREE
On the second Friday of the Great Cookie Campaign, Rose reached around Ada’s shoulder and grabbed a cookie off the cooling rack.
“No more of that!” Ada said, shoving Rose aside with her hip. “These cookies are for the guys in the workshop.”
“You mean they’re for Amos,” Rose said, giving Ada a playful shove in return.
“Shh!” Ada frowned at her sister. “No one is supposed to know about that.”
“You mean the Great Cookie Campaign? Don’t worry. Mamm is upstairs and Dat is still in the barn doing his chores.” She took a bite of the cookie. “Mmm. You haven’t made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in a long time. These are delicious. Do you think Amos will like them?”
Ada sighed. Last week had been disappointing, with Amos devouring the cookies and ignoring her. “I hope so. He seemed to like the molasses crinkles, but he still didn’t act as if he knew I was there.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“Of course I did. I even asked if he liked them.”
“What did he do?”
“He ate another cookie and went off to work.”
Rose leaned against the sink, watching her mix up another batch of gingerbread. “He’ll have to notice you today. Just smile and be nice to him.”
The dull headache that had plagued Ada all week started up again. She put her mixing spoon down and looked at Rose. “Do you really think he will? You don’t think I’m going to be an old maid?”
Rose shook her head. “You won’t be an old maid. Not with the way you bake.”
“But Amos never looks at me. I don’t think he even notices anything I do or say.”
“Maybe he isn’t the one for you. Maybe the Good Lord has someone else in mind to be your husband.”
Ada pressed her lips together. If the Good Lord had someone else for her, he would have shown up by now, for sure.
“Nee, it can’t be. Amos is the only one for me.”
“What about the new boy? Matthias?”
“I’ve known him forever.” Ada went back to her mixing. “We were in school together before he moved to Wisconsin.”
“So what’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing.” Ada paused, picturing Matthias in her mind. His smile was the thing that struck her the most. His smile was friendly, and she never got the feeling he was making fun of her. “Nothing is wrong with him. He just isn’t Amos.”
“And Amos is perfect.”
Ada almost agreed, then she saw the teasing look on Rose’s face. “All right, he isn’t perfect. But he is so good-looking, he must be nice. I just want to get to know him so I can see what he’s like for myself.”
“As long as you’re sure, then I’m on your side.” She snatched another cookie, then grabbed her shawl from the hook. “I’m going out to gather the eggs. Let me know what Amos says when you deliver those cookies.”
“I will,” Ada said, pouring the gingerbread batter into the cake pan.
But later, at the end of the noon break when she took the plate of cookies into the workshop, Amos wasn’t there.
“He telephoned the office this morning,” Dat said, helping himself to a cookie. “He said he was sick today.”
“I hope it isn’t anything serious.”
“Nothing the weekend won’t cure.” Dat went into his office, a frown on his face.
Matthias smiled at her as he took a cookie from the plate. “I wouldn’t worry about Amos. He’ll be fine on Monday.”
“Oh.” Ada looked at the plate in her hand. So much for getting Amos to notice her today.
Vernon patted the table. “Set that plate down here, Ada. I’ll eat Amos’s share.” He chuckled, sounding more like a cackling hen than anything else.
Ada set the plate on the table, next to a toy horse. When she looked at the horse again, she saw that it wasn’t a simple toy. Picking it up, she ran her fingers along the horse’s mane, the curves making it look like the horse was facing into the wind.
“Who made this?”
Matthias took it from her, turning it in his hand, rubbing a rough spot on the horse’s flank.
“I did.” He set it back on the table, where it balanced perfectly.
“It looks just like a horse.”
He grinned. “I hope it does. I’m making it for my nephew’s Christmas present.”
“You have several nephews, don’t you?”
“Five, if you count the baby.”
“Are you making horses for all of them?”
He opened his lunch box and set a cow on the table next to the horse. “Not just horses, but cows and pigs, too. My Dat made barns for the boys last year, so I had the idea of making animals to go in the barns.”
Ada picked up the cow. It was about four inches high and held its tail along the side of its flank, as if it was swishing a fly.
“They are very realistic. I’ve never seen such fine work.”
“It’s just a toy.” Matthias shrugged. “I make them in my spare time.”
“What else do you make?”
He glanced at the clock. “We have time before I need to start working again. I’ll show you what Leroy asked me to work on.”
He led her to a workbench. A vise held a piece
