Her Restless Heart Part 20

Jacob stood on the porch of Mary Katherine's house-well, the house of her parents-holding a ca.s.serole.

He felt a little silly. He didn't know any Amish man who'd ever done such a thing. Men helped each other with carpentry, with plowing or harvesting.

Not with a ca.s.serole when someone had been in the hospital.

What was next? He'd be attending a quilting or a social visit of some kind? But this was the perfect excuse to stop by and see how Miriam was doing.

Well, if he was honest with himself, he was here to see Mary Katherine, not her mother. He hadn't seen her for more than a week-not since her mother had been admitted into the hospital.

Mary Katherine opened the door, and he watched her smile bloom on her face.

"Gut-n-owed."

"Gut-n-owed."

"I brought this." He held out the ca.s.serole. "It's just a tuna ca.s.serole."

"I love tuna ca.s.serole."

"Mary Katherine, who is it?"

The brusque voice of her father made her flinch and her smile fade.

"It's Jacob," she called back into the house.

Her father came out of the kitchen and regarded Jacob. "Thank your mamm for the food."

"Actually, I made it, not my mother."

Her father frowned at Jacob. "You made it?"

Jacob nodded.

"Men don't cook."

Shrugging, Jacob held out the ca.s.serole. "Well, I'm learning. It isn't fair to expect my sisters or my mother to be making all my meals."

Her father grunted and accepted the ca.s.serole. "A man your age should be married and have a fraa to cook for him."

Jacob glanced at Mary Katherine and saw her trying not to grin.

"Yes, well, I don't think a man should get married to have someone cook for him."

"Mary Katherine, pour your friend a cup of kaffe," he said as he turned to carry the ca.s.serole into the kitchen.

She lifted her brows at him, and Jacob nodded. "Danki, I'd love one." He took off his coat and hat as he walked, and she took them from him to hang them up.

The scent of coffee filled the kitchen. It smelled a lot better than what he brewed. He'd have to get her recipe.

He bit back a chuckle. Now he sounded like a fraa, thinking about asking for a recipe. Taking a seat at the table, he watched Isaac pull a fork from the silverware drawer, then peel back the foil covering the ca.s.serole. He scooped up a bite, put it into his mouth, and chewed. Swallowing, he gave Jacob a disbelieving look.

"How is it?" Jacob asked him.

Isaac shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't toss it to the pigs."

"High praise indeed," Jacob told him dryly.

They looked to the stairs when they heard them creak as Miriam descended.

"Jacob! What a nice surprise. Did you come to join us for supper?"

"He came with supper, Mamm."

"I see," she said as she walked into the room. She stopped next to her husband. "Looks like you want supper early."

Jacob rose and pulled out a chair for her. She still looked too pale to him.

Isaac glanced at the clock and nodded. "Sounds gut to me. I don't see anything else started."

Mary Katherine started to say something and then stopped. She took the ca.s.serole and put it on the top of the stove, covering it again with foil to keep it warm. Then she poured three cups of coffee and set them before her parents and Jacob.

"I'll just put together the rest of the meal. It won't take any time."

Jacob watched her move around the kitchen, opening canned pickled vegetables and tomatoes from her mother's garden. She dumped two big jars of peaches in a baking dish, mixed up a batter and poured it over the top of the peaches, and then set the mixture in the oven to bake.

Isaac s.h.i.+fted in his chair and seemed to glare at his daughter. "What's taking so long?"

Mary Katherine set a plate of sliced, just-baked bread on the table. "Everything's ready. I'll get some plates."

Miriam pushed back from the table. "I can help-"

"Absolutely not," Jacob said.

"But-"

He put a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her as he got to his feet. Reaching into a cupboard, he withdrew four plates and set them on the table.

"You still remember where things are stored from eating with us years ago," Miriam said with a fond smile.

Nodding, he reached into the silverware drawer for forks, knives, and spoons. "You made some wonderful meals. I'd have been here every night if my own mamm hadn't said I was making a pest of myself."

Miriam's expression turned dreamy. "I always wondered if you and-"

She pressed a hand to her chest as a pan clattered on top of the stove.

Everyone looked at Mary Katherine. Her face red, she picked up an empty metal baking pan from the floor. "Sorry."

Seating herself at the table, she served the ca.s.serole. Jacob watched for her reaction as she put a forkful of the ca.s.serole in her mouth. She liked it-he could tell from the way her eyes half-closed as she chewed appreciatively.

"The recipe called for crushed potato chips on top, but I didn't have any so I used crushed cracker crumbs."

"Imagine having a mann who can cook," mused Miriam as she helped herself to a slice of bread. "Imagine how nice it'd be to have someone to help occasionally."

"It's a woman's job to cook," Isaac muttered, spooning up another healthy serving of ca.s.serole.

"But a wife sometimes helps in the fields, and you always said that's a mann's job," Mary Katherine pointed out.

He shot her a look Jacob would swear could have burned a hole in her. "No smart mouth from you."

Finished with his meal, he let his fork drop to his plate. "Is the dessert done yet?"

"No, there's a few more minutes left."

"Your mother would have had it ready," he said, scooting back from the table and standing abruptly.

Mary Katherine flinched at the harsh sound of his chair being sc.r.a.ped back on the wooden floor.

"I'm going out to the barn," he told them. "Got to check on Ned's foreleg." He glanced at Jacob. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Grabbing his jacket, he pulled it on and left them, slamming the door behind him.

The noise was as loud as a gunshot in the quiet room.

Jacob glanced furtively at Mary Katherine. She sat, pale with two spots of color burning on her cheeks. Her mother looked just as miserable.

What he'd just observed explained a lot about Mary Katherine, Jacob thought. He had another piece of the puzzle to understanding the complicated, conflicted woman that she was. He got up, brought the coffeepot to the table, and refilled their cups.

"Don't know what he was thinking, leaving me with two lovely ladies," Jacob said gallantly.

Mary Katherine gave a short laugh. "Schur, Jacob," she said, rising as the oven timer went off. "It's the peach cobbler that's not safe from your attentions."

11.

Naomi, Anna, and her grandmother showed up the next afternoon.

When Mary Katherine opened the door, they stood smiling, their arms loaded with bags and boxes. And parted to show another visitor.

"Jamie!"

She grinned and threw her arms around Mary Katherine. "I asked if I could come along."

Glancing around, Jamie lowered her voice. "Thought we'd beard the lion in his den."

"You're safe. He's in the barn."

They crowded into the house.

"My, my, it's a party!" Miriam exclaimed from her seat on the sofa.

"I hope you're up to it," her mother told her, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

Naomi and Anna bent to kiss their aunt and carefully hug her.

"This is Jamie, Mary Katherine's friend," Leah said.

"Ya, I saw you at church that day I got sick."

Jamie shook her hand. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Someone's been taking very good care of me." Miriam pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders and smiled at Mary Katherine.

She patted her mother's shoulder. "How about we have some tea with whatever's in that bakery box?"

There was a chorus of agreement.

"Let me help you," Jamie said. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed to Mary Katherine that there was an exchange of glances among the women.

"I wanted to talk to you alone," Jamie said without preamble as they entered the kitchen. "I hope it's all right with you."

Mary Katherine tilted her head and studied her friend standing there and chewing on a purple painted fingernail in a nervous gesture unlike her. "What's going on?"

"Well, I went by the shop to see you, and I caught them when they were really busy."

"That's good. There was a bit of a lull for a while."

"I love that place. You know that." She laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm babbling."

"A bit. What's going on?"

"Well, I started helping this one customer. You know, I was telling her about your things while she was looking at them, and she bought two pillows. And a throw you made. Oh, and one of those adorable cupcake hats that Anna makes."

Jamie took a deep breath and blurted out, "So your grandmother hired me."

"Hired you?"

She nodded. "Just for ten hours a week. Until you come back."

"Did you lose your job?"

Jamie shook her head. "Remember, they cut back my hours. So I was thinking about finding something, and before I could, it just happened."