When Marthe returned home, Gérard told her about his discovery. Rather than getting angry, she sat calmly and explained the story to him.
When she was a child, her grandmother had given her some advice on how to maintain a happy marriage:
Whenever she was angry with her husband, she should knit a doll instead of arguing.
Gérard was deeply moved to discover only two dolls after 52 years of marriage . It meant that his wife had only truly been angry with him twice.
But one question remained unanswered.
The real secret of the safe
Gérard then showed the envelope filled with money and asked where the money came from.
Marthe smiled before answering.
Each time she knitted several dolls, she sold them at yard sales and put the money aside.
That’s how she had accumulated that sum over the years.
This revelation transformed their surprise into bursts of laughter.
Because behind this secret lay above all a long life made of patience, humor and complicity.
