Page 48 of A Cowboy's Convenient Marriage

“I’ve enjoyed that a lot, myself,” Ada said. “I got to meet so many of the kids in the neighborhood.”

“I believe we’re seeing a few new faces in church every Sunday because of it as well,” Ms. Evie said, and Cash furrowed his brow. He had no idea what the world these ladies were talking about. He thought Ada was working herself to the bone cleaning his aunt’s house, and no one had said any differently. She had been doing cleaning, because he’d seen the results himself.

But, as Ada and Ms. Evie started talking about the house and the things that Miss Evie was thinking about getting done and Ada telling her that perhaps she and Cash would be going on a short honeymoon trip, and she might have to take a break in the middle, he tried to follow the conversation, thinking that he needed to talk to Ada whenever they were done.

What was this cookie thing?

They were only in the house maybe 30 minutes, but it felt like forever until they exited in the dark.

He was glad they had walked first, because it was chilly, and Ada shivered as they walked down the steps.

He put his arm around her.

“I’m sorry. It got chilly.”

“It’s okay. You’re warm,” she said, seeming to snuggle up against him. She put her arm around him, and he liked that.

But, it didn’t distract him from what he wanted to say.

“What was she talking about? The cookie thing?”

Ada laughed.

“Well, Aunt Karen and Miss Evie were talking about how much they loved to bake and cook and all that and how she didn’t do it as much anymore, with just you in the house, and she didn’t want to make a bunch of things that weren’t good for you. Even though there’s just something in a woman that enjoys cooking and seeing other people enjoy it, you know?”

He nodded. He supposed that could be true. He really didn’t know.

“Anyway,” Ada said as they got to the front porch steps of Aunt Karen’s house. He stopped, moving his arm around her, but shifting so that they faced each other. He took both of her hands in his. He didn’t want her to walk up the stairs and into the house before she was done telling him about this.

She allowed him to maneuver them however he wanted, and her hands didn’t grip his tightly, but firm enough to know that she wanted to hold on.

“Anyway, I had the idea of baking in the afternoon, and just handing out cookies to the kids who walked by on the sidewalk. It’s kind of crazy the people you see. So, the kids would drop in, we would give them cookies and I know you’re supposed to give milk with cookies, but we just handed out water, and a few times we made some lemonade or tea. Anyway, not only did kids start stopping, but their grandparents, who were often watching them, stopped. And then people like Ms. Evie, who are alone, started coming over. And pretty soon, before we knew it, from about two to four in the afternoon, our porch was full of people.”

“Wow. I had no idea.”

“No. That’s probably a busy time at work. But, anyway, Aunt Karen and I talked about it and we decided that might be a good time to tell stories, or have some kind of guided something with all the cookies and the people. So, I would take about ten or fifteen minutes to tell a quick story. Something I might have told my nieces and nephews before bed, just something to entertain and maybe encourage people with a little moral or some humor always works too. And then, I would talk about how they would hear more stories like that if they came to junior church.”

“I love it,” he said.

“Yeah. It helped that I also mentioned that there were cookies in junior church as well.”

She paused for a moment and then she said. “I can’t believe the kids who have never had a homemade cookie. Like, that just shocks me.”

“People are getting healthier.”

“That and moms aren’t baking anymore, so they buy packaged cookies. It’s...crazy.”

“Yeah.” He supposed that was probably true too, although he’d certainly never thought about it.

“Anyway. That’s what she was talking about. She is a regular, and I think that it gets the older people and the younger people involved with each other, you know? She had a couple of kids who were saying that they were bored go and rake out last year’s leaves from her yard. It made her happy, and they had fun playing with her leaf blower and rake. I’m not sure they ever used either one before.”

Ada sounded a little bit surprised about that too. He supposed growing up the way she had, it would surprise her that kids didn’t work like they used to. He’d seen that in his church.

Hearing her talk gave him the deepest desire to have a church again. To guide people spiritually, to be armpit deep in the Lord’s work. He wanted to dive right in, and he was glad that they had decided to go to Virginia. He was going to do whatever he needed to in order to get away from the car dealership and make that happen. He was ready to get back into ministry.

But didn’t say that to Ada. After all, that was the way he felt, and not something that he was sure was coming from God. A lot of times, when something came from God, his reaction was more of, “Lord? Do you really want me to do that? Because I don’t want to.”

It was almost always how he knew that something was from the Lord, whenever it went directly against whatever he wanted. Not that God always led him in the exact opposite direction he wanted to go. But, when that happened, it wasn’t hard to figure out that it was God who wanted it, not him.

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