“THIS,” SAID CHERRY, “IS PRETTY WONDERFUL!” SHE BEAMED at the others around the festive table with its autumn fruits and flowers. Her family beamed back at her. “For once all four Ameses are together, and isn’t it nice?”
“I feel a little selfish, not asking some of the relatives for Thanksgiving dinner,” Mrs. Ames remarked.
“Just us is fine,” said Charlie. “Besides, that leaves us more turkey.”
Mr. Ames, who could carve only when standing up, muttered that it was about time Charlie took over this chore. But when Charlie obligingly stood up to help, their father said, “Never mind, thanks. No chores for either of you kids when you’re only home for the holiday.”
“I won’t make any speeches about what it’s worth to me to be here today,” Cherry said. “Even for a few days’ leave.”
She had flown to Hilton, Illinois, from New York and this evening she would have to fly back again. If her old friend Ann Evans hadn’t had family matters to tend to, she might be able to stay at home longer. On the other hand, if Ann Evans Powell hadn’t needed someone in a hurry to substitute for her, Cherry would never have secured the nursing job in a New York department store, two weeks ago. And it was a fascinating job.
Conversation lapsed for a few minutes as the Ames family concentrated on Edith Ames’s Thanksgiving feast.
“Best bird we ever had,” said Mr. Ames happily.
“Especially considering that I popped him into the oven and went off to church services with the rest of you.” Mrs. Ames added, “Cherry helped me with the dinner, you know. Honey, when you get married, remember that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“I don’t see Cherry getting married in any hurry,” Charlie said. “Not until she finds someone she likes better than nursing.”
Cherry glanced up; she had been thinking how different her big, comfortable, leisurely home was from the high jinks at No. 9 Standish Street in Greenwich Village. She had merely intended to visit the Spencer Club girls for a few days; instead, she’d inherited Ann’s job, and stayed on with her old classmates from Spencer Nursing School.
“All right, smarty,” she said to her brother. “Since you’re so knowing, I’ll surprise you and tell you there is someone in my romance department.”
“A handsome young doctor? Couldn’t be anything else.”
“Now don’t tease Cherry about her nursing,” their mother said gently. “Anyone who’s been as devoted as she has—”
“Who’s the lucky young man?” Mr. Ames demanded.
“Oh, Dad! It’s nothing much, really. I mean not so soon.” Cherry turned rosy to the roots of her dark curls. “Mostly I’m teasing Charlie. I understand he’s interested in someone himself.”
“Won’t talk?” Charlie laughed. “Then neither will I.”
“Who’s ready for second helpings?” Mrs. Ames asked.
Cherry knew her mother’s tactful maneuver of pretending to be uninterested, and knew perfectly well that the subject would come up again later. She was glad, though, to have a respite from her brother’s teasing. When they had been small, growing up together, and then particularly in their teens, Charlie with his teasing had been the bane of her existence.
“Come on, Cherry,” said her father, “tell us his name.”
Cherry’s dark eyes danced and she shook her head. “I’ll tell you, though, about a pretty special person who really has me interested.”
“Someone at Thomas and Parke’s?”
“Yes, Mother. That department store is chock-full of interesting people. It’s a whole world in itself. Well, her name is Mrs. Julian. Anna Elizabeth Julian, and from the few words we’ve exchanged, I think she’s someone I’d like to know better.”
Cherry’s family peppered her with questions. She tried to answer everybody at once, and enjoy Thanksgiving turkey at the same time. No, she hardly knew Mrs. Julian—Cherry was so new on the job she didn’t know many people yet—but liked the young woman’s lovely, fragile appearance and friendly manner. Cherry had been struck by her extreme shyness, an unexpected trait in business. Mrs. Julian sold art objects and antiques. Fabulous things like porcelains and flowery Aubusson carpets and painted Venetian furniture and Chinese jade. Mrs. Julian apparently knew a great deal about art objects; only another woman and a man, besides the department head, were qualified to deal in these museum pieces.
“Emerald earrings that belonged to a queen, and Mother, what a collection of fans!” Cherry exclaimed. “A real treasure house, that department.… Yes, Charlie, I do spend my time in the store’s hospital. Working. Antiques are located on the same floor as the medical department, the sixth floor, along with the personnel office and the—”
Cherry broke off short. Charlie grinned.
“The what?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“We will now,” Mrs. Ames announced, “have our pumpkin pie and coffee. Charlie, dear, will you help clear the table?”
“You women certainly stick together,” Charlie complained, but he kissed their mother lightly on the cheek. “If anyone took an equal interest in my job, I’d be complimented.”
“We already know all about your job,” Mr. Ames pointed out.
Charlie worked in Indianapolis, near home, in the engineering division of a large automotive plant. The only fault he could find with his job was that it did not involve airplanes—he had flown as an Air Force pilot—but at any rate he was working with machinery and speed.
In fact, he sprinted out with the platters so fast that his mother pleaded for the safety of her best china. Mr. Ames refused to help this once, and sat contentedly in the armchair at the head of the table.
“Faster, you slaves. Cherry, that’s a mighty pretty red dress you’re wearing. Matches your cheeks.”
“Thank you, Dad. You always were partial to red.”
“Well, I’m partial to my daughter. If there’s a young man in New York you’re interested in, I’d like to have a look at him.”
“Why, Dad! I’m not that serious.”
Her father grunted. “You never can tell what will happen.”
During the balance of dinner, Cherry’s mother kept the questions to what nursing in a New York department store was like. The two Ames men were foiled.
This Thanksgiving afternoon was gray and windy, not a promising day for a walk. The big house grew quiet. Charlie went across the street to see Bob Pritchett. Cherry’s mother was resting now, for some neighbors had promised to come in later. Her father was in the living room reading a book. How quiet it was! For a few moments Cherry stood listening to the tick of the grandfather clock on the stair landing. It hadn’t been peaceful or quiet at the girls’ boarding school where she recently had been nurse-in-charge, but it had been a lot of fun! This new department store assignment was fun, too, though it certainly was never very quiet in New York!
“Well, if I enjoy the peace and quiet at home so much,” Cherry challenged herself, “why don’t I stay home? There ought to be two of me, one to go gallivanting around nursing, and one to stay home and love it.”
She did care deeply for this house, and for this small town. Her grandparents, and their parents, had lived here. As she went up the long staircase Cherry touched the polished stair rail, which had heel nicks where she and Charlie used to slide down. In her own bright red-and-white room she gazed out at the garden and yard below. The lilac bush brushed her windows with bare branches, and her mother’s flower beds looked straggly. Perhaps she was lucky, with winter setting in, to be returning to a great city with all its activity and brilliance. And new people to get better acquainted with, like Tom Reese and Mrs. Julian.
Cherry was halfway through her packing when her mother peeked in.
“What are you smiling to yourself about?”
“Come in, Mother.” Cherry pulled the door open and offered her mother the small slipper chair.
“I hate to see you packing. This visit has been so short.”
“Awfully good, though,” Cherry said. “We’ve talked constantly for two days and two evenings now. We had so much news to catch up on.”
“Yet in all our talking you didn’t mention any romance.”
Cherry laughed and ran her hand through her dark curls in a gesture of despair.
“All right, all right! His name is Tom Reese, he’s assistant to the store manager, and besides that, he supervises the sixth and seventh floors. He sort of floats around the store wherever he’s needed. But his office is right next door to the medical department.”
Cherry’s mother smiled. “Is he very nice?”
“As far as I know, yes. I know him only in the store. Everybody there likes him. Tom Reese has been very nice and helpful to me, helping me step overnight into Ann’s job.”
“Well, it all sounds pleasant,” said Mrs. Ames. “I suppose you and he and everyone at Thomas and Parke’s will be extremely busy with the Christmas rush?”
“You’re so right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
The ringing of the doorbell interrupted their conversation.
“The Pritchetts!” Cherry’s mother exclaimed. “And I haven’t even washed my face! Cherry, go downstairs and help Dad entertain them.”
Cherry always enjoyed seeing their old neighbors again. Presently the Galloways came in to join the Ames family on Thanksgiving afternoon. But the ones Cherry most wanted to see—Dr. Joseph Fortune and his daughter, Midge—had driven up to Chicago for today. However, news of them was good; Dr. Joe seemed happy in administering the Hilton Clinic, and Midge was struggling through high school in her usual harum-scarum way. So Cherry felt satisfied about the Fortunes.
Old friends might be the best, but as dusk came, Cherry wished the visitors would not stay much longer. She had only an hour left before plane time. Finally, their neighbors understandingly left.
Then, with the living room cleared, and only the four Ameses occupying it, no one could think of much to say.
“Hope you have a good flight, Cherry.”
“I think I will, Charlie.”
A pause. Mr. Ames contributed: “The weather prediction is clear.”
“They’re not always right, though,” said Cherry’s mother. “Still, I see a star is out.”
The hands of the clock went around so slowly that Cherry realized, half-ashamed, how much she longed to be on her way. To be up to her ears in nursing and people! She said good-bye lightheartedly to her family.
“Good-bye, honey, and good luck—your new job sounds intriguing,” Cherry’s mother said. “But promise me you’ll be home for Christmas! You, too, Charles.”
They promised to try their best. Cherry quickly kissed her father and mother au revoir. Then Charlie drove her to Hilton Airport.